Hockey & Robots

Hello and welcome to a post-St. Patrick's Saturday here at the Wannaskan Almanac. Today is March 18th.

I knew Chairman Joe would be excited to write about St. Patrick's Day ON St. Patrick's Day. Five years of waiting! Wow! That's true dedication to both St. Patrick and the Wannaskan Almanac. Next year is a leap year so I'll miss my chance for a second go at a St. Paddy's post. In 2024, St. Patrick's will fall on a Sunday. This is good news for Chairman Joe, who also covers Sundays. Talk about luck 'o the Irish! Happy St. Patrick's Blessings to you, Joe! I'll be looking forward to some cheeky St. Pat squibs!

Last Saturday, as the snow blizzared around the state, the 5th grader and I snuggled into our massive recliner by the window, with a laptop in one hand and a smartphone in the other, to watch the final games of the 2023 Section 8A Boys Hockey Tournament and the Great Northern Regional Robotics Tournament.

My side of Wannaska was a flurry of excitement to see the boys' hockey team make it to the state tournament again. With an incredible season of zero losses and only a handful of pucks making it past Warroad's incredible goalie, confidence ran high. If you were a bettin' man or gal, you would have bet on the Warriors. Alas, in double overtime, Mahtomedi snuck one in, clinching the win. It was soul-crushing, folks. This would be the second consecutive upset in the eleventh hour for the Warroad boys at the state hockey tournament, concurrently with the second state champion win for the Lady Warriors. 

"No one remembers who came in second." is a sardonic quote. Maybe the world forgets, but those who land in second place; they never forget.

There were a few band-aids affixed to the boys' wounds that will no doubt help with the healing. The highest honor of Mr. Hockey went to Jayson Shaugabay and the Frank Brimsek Award for the best senior goaltender to Hampton Slukynsky. Several Warriors were selected for the all-state team. Some have already packed their bags and hit the road for the junior league. Lastly, a few guys even made the 2023 Minnesota State High School All Hockey Hair Team. "It's a mandemic. But only in Warroad," said Lou Nanne.

But, overall, the loss was devastating. Even the 5th Grader and I, who are only very occasional spectators, felt the pain.

And then we switched over to the other device to see how Team 2883, F.R.E.D. was doing.

While the hockey team vied for first place in St. Paul, over in Grand Forks, our robotics team was in the playoffs of its own competition. Just like any other sport, the strongest teams - or, in this case, Alliances (groups of 3 teams) - tend to dominate, and the outcome is often predictable. However, just like in the Mahtomedi-Warroad game, sometimes the underdog catches a break, then the world turns on its head, predictions go out the window, and the game goes wild.

In a surprising turn of events, Alliance 8 beat Alliance 5 in Match 5. "If Alliance 8 beats Alliance 5, then we have a chance because we can beat Alliance 8!" I told the 5th Grader, from the comfort of our armchair vantage point. 

My prediction came true when, in Match 12, our Alliance 7 (consisting of Team 5172 Gators from Greenbush, Team 6146 Blackjacks from Dawson, MN, and Team 2883 FRED from Warroad) beat Alliance 8. 

This momentous win brought "us" (Because isn't that how it always is? "We" absorb the identity of the team we're rooting for and transform it to "us?") to Match 13 to beat Alliance 3. That was the last match Alliance 7 needed to advance to the finals against Alliance 1, the sure-bet team to win the competition. If I were I bettin' gal, even I would've placed money on Alliance 1. 

Finals 1 match blew us all away as Alliance 7 trounced Alliance 1 with a shocking defeat of 145 to 91. Up until that match, Alliance 1 hadn't scored anything lower than 120 points. What was going on?!

Did Alliance 7 have what it took to win again? Surely, that last win had been a fluke. Alliance 1 consisted of the top 2 ranked teams in the competition. #1 ranked Team 6045 had already won the Lake Superior Regional the weekend prior.

 In the Finals 2 round, the alliances were neck and neck. "They" were ahead, then "we" inched ahead. They had more points, then we had more points.  They had more points, then we had more points. They had more points, then we had more points. It was maddening. 

The clock buzzed with Alliance 1 ahead by 2 points. As we waited for the final point tally, I said to my daughter, "It's okay if we lose this one. We would still have one more tie-breaking match."

Finally, the animated FIRST racecar appeared on the screen, then sped away to reveal that - YES! - Alliance 7 had squeaked ahead in the final tally to beat Alliance 1 by 3 points.

My husband, who is a FRED mentor, burst into tears.

The yin-and-yang of losing and winning is truly a reflection of life. We go through moments of pain and suffering as well as moments of joy and jubilation. It is the human experience. We can only hope that our lifetimes will be blessed with more wins than losses and if you're the praying Christian type, may you lean on St. Patrick's prayer of protection through it all.

“Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.”

(Don't forget to work on your All Roads Lead to Wannaska writing submission due May 1st! I also accept guest posts. Comment below, email or message me if interested and make it a great Saturday!)