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The Blizzard boys season is over as they lose 9-0 to the Superior Spartans.

I'm not going to write too much about the game but suffice it to say the Spartans were the better team. The Blizz were outmatched by the speed and skill of Superior. This is not a slam against the Blizzard, they had a fine year, they just got beat by a better team.

Hey, sometimes in life someone's better than you. Hopefully you can use that fact to motivate yourself to become better.

It was a good season for the Blizzard and I'm glad I was able to broadcast more hockey games this year than I had in all my previous years combined. Hockey is a fun sport to watch and our guys played the game the way it was meant to be played.

The Blizzard girls also saw their season come to an end with a 4-3 overtime loss to Chippewa Falls/McDonnell Central tonight in the opening round of their state playoffs.

Both teams had great seasons!

Last thought… on my way home from Superior I stopped at Arby's to get myself a juicy roast beef sandwich which I had been craving the entire night (I could almost taste the horsey sauce during the broadcast). Lo and behold I get there and the hockey team was already there. Turns out the restaurant ran out of roast beef. Yeah… Arby's ran out of the main ingredient to 80% of their menu. This is like Oreo running out of creme filling or Pizza Hut running out of cheese or something. Unacceptable. Where are we, Vancouver?

Co-West-Lakelanders, the Clayton Bears, lost to McDonnell Central last night in straight sets.

The Bears were runners-up in last year’s playoffs, losing to Catholic Central in straight sets.

Congratulations to the Clayton Bears on a terrific season!

Grantsburg is now the only representative from the West Lakeland conference still alive in the tourney.

The Pirate guys flirted with disaster all game and it finally wound up catching up to them in the seventh inning.

The Pirates fell 5-1 to the Elk Mound Mounders in the sectional semi-final game, giving up four runs in the top of the seventh to end Grantsburg’s remarkable season.

The game was close until then. Both teams scored one run in the sixth inning, then that fateful seventh inning for the Pirates. The leadoff hitter was hit, there were two or three walks and a couple hits in there that combined for four runs in the final frame.

The Mounders (what kind of mascot is that, anyway? Is it some sort of politically correct compromise? If I were a mound I’d be pretty offended) pitched extremely well giving up only four hits and striking out five. Their pitcher was in control most of the game.

The Pirates had won eleven in a row and they had a chance to win the game. They dodged early bullets by throwing two runners out at home… in the first inning! The first was Nolan Hanson to Ben Larson with Larson tagging out the advancing runner. The second came with the bases loaded and the batter bounced it to pitcher Thane Larson who threw it home for the force then Larson gunned it to first baseman Jake Ryan for a rare 1-2-3 double play.

Though the season didn’t end the way the Pirates and their fans would’ve liked to have seen, the team represented their home town well and they deserve our congratulations. They played ball like it should be and they were rewarded with a great season and a trip to Sectionals. Only sixteen teams get to do that every year.

Congrats, Pirates!

Really cool photo courtesy of Marianne Shira