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The Blizzard boys won a thrilling overtime game against the Mora Mustangs 4-3 in Grantsburg last night. Brian Bennett scored his first goal of the season with a little over a minute left in regulation to tie the game and send it to overtime. Then in overtime with about three minutes off the clock he found himself open and ripped a wrist shot through the legs of the Mora goaltender and the celebration ensued.

It was one of the most exciting finishes I've seen in my broadcasting experience.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. ( And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it , they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

-Luke 1:1-20 KJV

The Pirates boys and girls basketball teams both lost close games tonight to the Webster Tigers in Grantsburg.

The girls dropped their fifth game of the year by the final of 55-52. The Pirates trailed 31-21 at the half, rallied big time in the fourth with some intense defense, but they fell short putting their record at 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the West Lakeland conference.

The boys game was very similar to the girls. The Tigers built a 10 point halftime lead and escaped with the victory. Grantsburg got within one during the third quarter and within two with about fifteen seconds to go in the game, but Webster stayed calm and finished the game out with some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch.

The senior-less Pirates now fall from the ranks of the undefeated in Wisconsin and go to 4-1, 1-1 in the West Lakeland conference. Webster is now on top at 2-0.

In regards to the boys game, I feel like both teams are pretty good, but not great. If these two teams were in last year's conference there is no way they'd be contending for the top spot. That's just my humble, but accurate, opinion.

 We have a couple games tonight with local interest. First, on 100.9 WCMP at 7:30 the Pirate Girls take on the Rush City Tigers in a border battle meanwhile on 105.7 WXCX we'll be covering the boys Blizzard taking on Pine City at 7pm.

I'm working the girls game while the wayward son, Dan Hinrichs, comes back and does the hockey game. (EDIT 4:30pm – Dan and I are switching games to make life a little easier with equipment and proximity issues)

The Blizz are coming off a nice conference win against Minneapolis East West (yes, that's a conference game). While the Pirate girls look to rebound from a 67-52 loss against Frederic on Friday.

I know you've been waiting for it… my newest column is up on the Sentinel's website. Thanks for reading it.

Well a new season is upon us and the schedule is out for December. We'll be doing a lot more hockey this year, which is exciting to me because there are rarely 30 point blowouts in hockey

Here's the schedule for the rest of December:

"We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction." ~ Harry A. Ironside

If I sat for any length of time and wrote down all the things God has blessed me with I would be able to come up with thousands of things. It is so easy to get wrapped up in my problems and temporary crises that the gratitude gets pushed to the kids' table. But I am so thankful to God for the life he has given me.

I'm thankful for:

A wife who inspires me

Children who adore me

An extended family that loves me

A church that cares about me

A community that supports me

A country that fights for me

And a savior, Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for me

Today was supposed to be the airing of the D3 State Championship match between Grantsburg and Cuba City. It was rescheduled to air tomorrow (Sunday, November 22) at 4pm. It's channel 40 for those with Grantsburg cable. Thanks to Deb Johnson for the heads up!

If you're interested my most recent column has been uploaded to the Burnett County Sentinel's website. It's about my wife and me going to state volleyball… alone. 

How in the world do the Pirates only get four players on the all-conference team?!? Out of 23 all-conference players named, only four are from Grantsburg.

They only went undefeated in the conference.

No conference team scored more than 19 points on them and that only happened once.

The average score of a conference set was 25-11!

The four girls who were recognized as all-conference (Emily Cole, Kortney Morrin, Annie Palmquist and Lauren Romanowski) were also recognized as part of the all-state tournament team. Three of them (Emily, Kortney and Annie) were ALL-STATE.

You're telling me that this conference is so loaded with talent that there was just no room for Larissa Wilhelm? or Kallie Thoreson? or Tiff Meyer? or Sarah Wald?

It is ridiculous that some of these players are not getting recognized! All of them would start and be one of the best players on ANY OTHER TEAM in this conference.

Look at the Flyway Conference all-conference team. They have Laconia (Grantsburg annihilated them in the state semi-finals) and Kettle Moraine Lutheran. KML is a volleyball powerhouse and won the conference. Laconia finished third. That conference recognized SIX Laconia players.

This rant of mine is not intended to take away from the other 19 girls who were recognized by the coaches… it's just to say that the process is flawed when a team can have such a dominating season and have clearly superior talent yet only four are recognized.

To me it is unfortunate.