Points & Prattle: The Return (Feb. 4, 2011)

Settling in to a new semester and working extensively in the office these last few months of my collegiate career, I figured it might be time to get back in the saddle here on the Voice of the Saints. Fall 2010 was such a hectic semester for me; the site sort of got left in the dust, but I’m back and ready to make up for lost time, starting with the first Points & Prattle of the new year. I’ll try to roll out some more original content as it comes to me, but for now, this will suffice. On to the points:

• This winter hasn’t been the easiest of seasons for a St. Scholastica sports fan, but there’s plenty of time left for our basketball and hockey teams to make up ground in the UMAC and NCHA, respectively.
• At the same time, there’s plenty of success and excitement when it comes to the Saints Nordic ski and Track & Field teams lately. So, we can take solace in that.
• Men’s hockey will be in action on the road this week. They’re in the cellar of the NCHA right now, but can make a move by defeating Wis.-Stevens Point and St. Norbert this weekend. The Saints had a rough time with the Pointers in the opening weekend, but revenge will be on their minds Friday night. As for St. Norbert, CSS split a weekend series with the Knights earlier this year, so winning the season series is a distinct possibility. (Preview now available)
  
• The problem for men’s hockey this season, from a fan’s point of view, is certainly consistency. Friday night, the Saints put on one of their most impressive showings of the season in defeating Wis.-Stout, and then came back Saturday night and fell in a close game to a beatable Wis.-River Falls team. Consistency will be key as the Saints look to improve playoff positioning down the stretch.
• On the same note, the Saints women’s hockey team is on the outside looking in at the NCHA O’Brien Cup tournament bracket with just a few weeks to go, sitting just two points out of eighth place. After a much deserved bye week to close out January, the Saints take on the sixth-ranked Wis.-Stevens Point Pointers at home this weekend. To say these are must-win games would be an understatement, but CSS will continue to take on the teams just ahead of them in the standings as they travel to St. Norbert and host Wis.-Eau Claire in the weeks to come.
• Yours truly will continue to be the voice of Saints women’s hockey this weekend, available on the iFan Sports Network as well as on demand at csssaints.com. Here’s the proper links: Live, On-Demand.
• The Saints men’s basketball team seems to be heating up at the right time as winners of five of their past seven against conference opponents, including a home win on Tuesday against Northland. CSS is now fourth in the UMAC which sets them up for hosting a playoff game, but if I know Coach Staniger’s squad, they’re looking for more than that.
• CSS takes on Northwestern and Crown this weekend, a pair of teams they split with earlier in the season (defeating Crown 83-67 while falling at Northwestern 64-79). It’s worth noting that 83 point vs. Crown is currently a season-high scoring output for the Saints.
• On the women’s side, the Saints have won three of their last five, including a 66-56 defeat of the LumberJills on Tuesday night. CSS is sitting fifth in the UMAC currently, and continuing their current path should land them a playoff spot, but CSS will look to improve on their 4-4 record in their second trip through the conference schedule.
• Of course, CSS will also take on Northwestern and Crown like their male counterparts. Just like the men, the Saints women split against the Storm (W 75-39) and the Eagles (L 54-69) and put out their season-high scoring output against Crown.
• I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about Nordic skiing, but I do know how to read (thankfully). So, I know that Jeremy Hecker and Waylon Manske impressed for CSS over the weekend on the men’s side, while Julia Curry led the way on the women’s side. Keep up the good work, Saints!
• Heading back indoors, CSS track & field athletes keep finding themselves on the list of weekly UMAC honors, this week led by Cyrus Beckwith and Alec Seeley. School records fell on Friday as Beckwith broke his own pole vault record and Justin Hanson finished second in the 55-meter hurdles.
• On the women’s side, Maggie Bair matched Hanson’s feat of breaking the 55-meter hurdle record. Seeley earned her UMAC honors in winning the weight throw event on the evening.
• The Track teams will both be traveling across the bridge this week to compete in Superior at the Border Battle. Preview Now Available!
  
• I spend an obscene amount of time on Twitter and surfing the internet (never at work, of course), here’s some of the winning highlights of the past few weeks:
• Did Peter, Bjorn and John (http://tinyurl.com/48jdd5a) rip off the Muppets (http://tinyurl.com/25dt246)? I say yes.
• A “comprehensive, totally understandable explanation of what’s happening in Egypt:” http://bit.ly/eJla66 Mind you: this is a tad bit outdated now, but if you’re less in the know than me, it might help you catch up.
• And finally: is Facebook making us sad? http://www.slate.com/id/2282620 -- a very interesting read for the Facebook-obsessed.

That’s all for now, folks. I hope you enjoyed the return of P&P for the week. We’ll be back next week to take another look at the playoff picture for the Saints as well as (hopefully) some more intriguing non-CSS related fun. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: 2/4/11, 11:23 AM Added preview links for men's hockey and track & field.

Points & Prattle (Sept. 24, 2010)

Good morning sportsfans,

Time for an abbreviated edition of Points & Prattle for this week. We'll be back with plenty for next week's Homecoming spectacular, but I've been out of the office so much this week that I should probably get down to business on some actual work around here. So, without further adu, the points:

• Football will look to bounce back from its first loss of the season last week. The trip to Chicago was not as successful as hoped, but it’s a non-conference loss – since we’re heading into conference play this week, it’s time to look forward rather than back.
• Cross Country returns to action this week, as they will run the Roy Griak Invitational. It’s probably the biggest race they’ll run of the year in terms of volume, and probably second in terms of importance to the Conference Championship. It even has its own Facebook page.
• Men’s Soccer continues to roll, earning an overtime win off the foot of Jermaine Dacres on Tuesday afternoon over St. Thomas, their first victory over the Tommies since 1994. The Saints finally return to Saints Field for a six-game homestand starting this weekend.
• Congrats to Rob Johnson for being named UMAC Player of the Week. He was also the St. Scholastica student newspaper’s (The Cable) Athlete of the Week. Congrats, Rob!
• The Saints volleyball team is still off to their hot start, despite going 2-2 last weekend, and open UMAC play this week. The Saints start on the road, but they are road-tested, with no better proof than the fact that Paige Hardy, Nikki Hughes, and Sarah Kurtovich swept the UMAC Player of the Week honors this week.
• Women’s Soccer remained undefeated in conference play last weekend, going 1-0-1 on the weekend. They, too, return home this weekend for an extended stay. While the Saints have lacked offensive firepower, they have still been able to stay off the losing end the past couple of weeks, so things are looking up for the young Saints. We’ll see if they can start a winning streak back home.
• A reminder that I’ll be on the iFan Sports Network this weekend, lending my voice to the Saints soccer broadcasts, provided the weather holds up. You can listen/watch live here.

Well, that is it. I told you it would be abbreviated. I confined all my ramblings into a few short paragraphs. Good job, Joe! Thanks for reading. We’ll see you next week.

Points and Prattle, Vol. 3 - Sept. 25, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Happy Friday, sportsfans!

It’s time for an abbreviated edition of Points and Prattle, with a busy day ahead of me, and hopefully, an exciting Homecoming weekend for everyone here at CSS!

• As predicted right here two weeks ago, my days of announcing Saints soccer were not yet over. My career continued with the Saints men’s match against St. Thomas on Wednesday afternoon.
• The men are off to their best start since 1985 – it’s confirmed now, 1985’s team was awesome – in going 5-0-1. They are still unbeaten, but lost their winning streak in the aforementioned tilt against St. Thomas. As I called it on the iFan broadcast, the game was a battle of attrition with neither team allowing any significant scoring chances outside of the two goals scored. Freshman Josh Odukomaya netted his fourth goal of the season for the Saints, a beauty, in that one.
• Speaking of ties, despite a tie last weekend against Northwestern, the Saints women have extended their regular season conference unbeaten streak to 60 consecutive games, dating back to Oct. 12, 2003. For a point of reference, a gallon of gasoline cost less than $1.50 in October 2003. The Saints also ‘stormed’ over Crown 5-0 last weekend, with sophomore keeper Bailey Mahlum earning her third career shutout.
• Despite taking a loss in Superior, football’s Chris Doran was honored as a UMAC Player of the Week for two fumble recoveries, his first collegiate sack, and double-digit tackles in the Saints’ game Saturday vs. Wisconsin Lutheran. Congrats, Chris!
• Cross Country also saw some athletes honored, as sophomore Jimmy Linn ran his personal record of 29:47 to earn UMAC POTW honors while senior Katelyn Meger finished fifth best among NCAA D-3 runners with a season best 23:23 at the St. Olaf Invite. Congrats, runners!
• Last, but certainly not least, volleyball split in their two games in Illinois, following to host Illinois Wesleyan before responding with a sweep of Webster University. Senior Rebecca Udermann led the Saints with 27 kills on the afternoon, while sophomore Nikki Hughes had 41 digs.
• As previously mentioned, it’s Homecoming weekend, so you have your pick of the litter for games: men’s and women’s soccer starting at 2 p.m. today, volleyball at 7 p.m. today, as well as soccer, volleyball, and football tomorrow afternoon. Cross country gets a much-deserved rest to enjoy the festivities, and I am envious.
• If nothing else, my mother is a fan of 5 Questions on VOTS. I continued to ask the tough questions when I sat down with Steve Pfingsten this week. Next week, we’ll try something new, but 5 Questions will return soon.
• Also on the multimedia front, ShoutOuts! received a blast of youth this week as some top student athletes joined their coaches to invite the fans out to the game. If you’re a fan of Angie Groh or Jonny Bennett, then today’s ShoutOuts! are perfect for you. You’ll also find some from earlier in the week on our YouTube channel, now located in the “Follow CSS” section over yonder. >>>

Programming note: I’ll be on the air again this afternoon, starting at 2 p.m. calling the action for the Saints men’s and women’s soccer team taking on Martin Luther College, on the iFan Sports Network. Click here and follow the appropriate links for that. Also, I’ll be writing game recaps for this weekend’s soccer matches if you are a big fan of my writing. Which, of course, you are.