Voice of the Saints

Hello sportsfans,

If you are a sports fan like myself, this past week has been flooded with coverage on scandals and controversy, and while I’d like to say the VOTS will be free of that… I have to report a robbery before I get to Points and Prattle, that’s right, CSS men’s hockey senior Jordan Chong had something stolen from him this morning, and that is the NCHA Player of the Year Award. Of course, that’s just one man’s opinion, and I may be a little biased, but… the stats speak for themselves.

• On a lighter note, the Saints still led the way in conference awards today, as Chong, Dustin DeGagne (Sr.-Winnipeg, Man.), and Zach Kleiman (Sr.-Ottawa, Ont.) were all named to the NCHA First Team. Honorable Mentions include Jordan Baird (Sr.-Port McNeill, B.C.), Austin Brown (So.-Lathrup Village, Mich.), and Jeremy Dawes (So.-Winnipeg, Man.).Congrats to all the Saints who were honored!
• A lot of ink has been spilled about the Saints’ duel with the UWS Yellowjackets this weekend, so I’ll leave it at that and point you in the direction of csssaints.com for previews.
• Coincidentally, my job has also been done for me in previewing men’s and women’s basketball this weekend. They’ll close out the regular season on the road, and you can find out more about it here (men) and here (women).
• Track and field had an indoor meet last night, up in the lovely city of Bemidji, which means they travelled through that state park that goes on forever, but that’s rather irrelevant. While the event consisted mostly of Div.-II schools, the CSS women still won three events, including a top-8 sweep in the 400-meter dash. Now, that’s cool.
• The Saints will return to the track and/or field in eight days at the UMAC Indoor Championship, so they have plenty of time to rest up and prepare.
• One last track note, and that is a congratulations to freshman Jackie Thelen (Randall, Minn.), who was named UMAC Athlete of the Week for track last week for breaking three school records. Not bad.
• Softball opened their season this past week with a split of a doubleheader against Wis.-Stout. We saw some impressive performances, but thanks to rather strange scheduling they won’t return to the field for about a month. Nonetheless, they know what they need to work on before their Spring trip to Tucson, Ariz. Highlights included a complete game by Jenn Falk (Jr.-Altona, Minn.) and a two-run homer by Kristin Swartz (Sr.-Hermantown, Minn.).
• It’s been warmer the past few days in Duluth, which reminds me that we’re nearing baseball season: 11 days before the ’Dome opener.

I think that’s it for this week. I swear we’ll get back on track soon with 5 Questions. We’ll have to preview spring sports soon, so stay tuned for that. I hope to see you all at hockey this weekend, and as always, keep current at CSSsaints.com.

Take it easy,
-jh