Points and Prattle, Vol. XV

Good afternoon, sportsfans!

It’s a lovely, sunny day in Duluth – perfect for blogging. So, let’s get into the Points & Prattle.

• There’s a tie atop the NCHA this morning, after the Saints downed conference rival Superior last night to find themselves in a virtual tie at 26 points with St. Norbert College. The issue, being, of course that the Saints need more points than Norbert to claim the championship due to tiebreakers falling in favor of the Green Knights.
• Therefore, the scenario is pretty simple for the Saints: CSS MUST win tonight against Eau Claire if they want any chance of capturing the NCHA Regular Season title, and from there, they need help: Norbert can not escape the weekend with more than one point (two losses or a loss and a tie), so it’s time to hop on the bandwagon (for one weekend) of Wis.-Stout and Wis.-River Falls.
• Why should I preview basketball when it’s already been done? Chris Doran has the scoop on our men’s and women’s teams heading into their final home games of the regular season.
• I will mention this programming note, which is that the womens’ game tonight will air on My9, locally, and (as always) on the iFan Sports Network.
• Three Saints earned UMAC Athlete of the Week honors this past week for their part in an impressive showing by their teams: Tennis’ Katie Motley (Sr). went 2-0 in both singles and doubles matches this weekend as the Saints downed St. Thomas and Hamline. On the men’s side, Jacob Engelstad (So.) was honored after winning both of his singles matches, including being the only CSS men’s player to get a victory against St. Thomas Saturday. Looking forward, the teams do not return to the courts until next Saturday, so we’ll wait on that.
• Last, but not least, track and field freshman Justin Hanson earned his third UMAC Athlete of the Week honor after breaking three school records at Saturday’s Border Battle at UWS.
• 2009 Player of the Year Kristin Swartz (Sr.) and the defending UMAC Champion Saints softball team are scheduled to start their season next Tuesday in Rosmount, Minn., taking on Wis.-Stout under the dome.
• Saints Baseball is still 18 days away, but that sunshine I spoke of earlier is giving me spring fever. So close, so far away.
• I think that’s all we’ve got! It’s been a relatively quiet week around here, but with Spring sports on the horizon, things are about to pick up.

So, enjoy the weather, enjoy the games. Take care of yourselves, and each other.

And a happy Valentine’s Day on Sunday,
-jh