Discover Your Inner Hockey

Sports Illustrated's Steve Rushin, the most clever sports columnist around, devoted his space this week to the very first U.S. Pond Hockey Championships held on Lake Calhoun last weekend. Pictured are the open division champs - Almost Forty - holding the Golden Shovel.

A truly Minnesotan event, the tournament included players ranging in skill from average rink rat to former NHL star. Being Minnesota, it also included Governor Pawlenty and the Democratic mayors from both St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Pawlenty is hockey through and through and didn't pass on the opportunity to do a little trash talking:

"They play hockey like they play politics," Governor Tim Pawlenty said of the mayors. "They're a couple of hacks."

Heh.

On a side note, the Gophers beat the #1 ranked Badgers last night, 5-4. If they win again tonight they will likely steal the WCHA title from Wisconsin. God I love this team.

Love the state, love the weather, love the hockey...love everything.

Rushin captures hockey in Minnesota beautifully in his column. I'll let him take me out:

...on Calhoun last weekend, spectators pulled children on sleds, dogs gamboled off leashes, a lone man rode his bicycle across the lake. If Currier & Ives had been paired defensemen, this would have been their scene. As Haberman said, his lungs full of bracing air, "It's almost a spiritual feeling out there."

UPDATE: You have to hand it to those Badger fans. For 2 and 3/4 games this weekend they booed Phil Kessel every time he touched the puck, miffed that the Wisconsin native chose the U of M over the U of W. They were still booing him as he broke behind the Badger defense late in the third period and buried the clincher.

Gophers sweep the Badgers. Are now tied for first in the WCHA. All bets are off.