Chasing the puck

Happy Wednesday, everyone.  Hope your week is going well enough!

Had an interesting experience over the weekend, as my grandson's youth hockey team was entered into a tournament in and around South Bend, Indiana.  My wife and I would have said, well, OK, except for the location, as this was a golden opportunity (and you'll pardon the pun) to see some of the campus of the University of Notre Dame.

So we threw in and got a room as a part of the tournament block, and last Thursday set sail for Mishawaka, Indiana, which is adjacent to South Bend itself.  Made a pit stop in Milan, Indiana, the home of the "Milan Miracle" upon which the sports movie "Hoosiers" is based.  It's a real place, a little wide place in the road with a couple of stop lights and the kind of "downtown" that would look equally at home with dirt replacing asphalt on the main street and horses tied up in front of the old buildings.  We didn't go in but whatever locations were used in the movie certainly conveyed what we saw in the little town.

We also endured some lane closures and lengthy unexpected delays but the rain ended as we rounded Indianapolis and headed north on US 31.  Long trip but made it OK.  We were a couple of hours ahead of our son and his family so got a pizza and waited for them to arrive.

Game 1 of the tournament was played at the Compton Family Ice Center on the campus of Notre Dame.  This was the practice rink, but it was still nicer than most anyplace our little team plays.  Team played pretty well but lost to a bigger, stronger squad from the St. Louis suburbs.  We had lots of time but eventually got lunch at a Portillo's hot dog restaurant and headed north into southwestern Michigan for game 2.  Lost that one, also, then later went to dinner at a "family inn" that was something of a time warp, with a mark-your-menu-card ordering system and S L O W service.

Next morning the team played early at a two-rink center in what I would guess was the industrial sector of South Bend.  Team did not play especially well and lost, and we had a good part of the day to do what we liked.  Had lunch at a very nice and tasty Italian place that has a long history in the South Bend area and then went to the Notre Dame campus for some souvenir shopping and to see some of the sights on the campus.

Next stop was the Compton Family Ice Center, where the Notre Dame hockey team was hosting Wisconsin and it was quite an atmosphere.  None of us had ever attended a collegiate hockey game, and it was really something.  Complete with a pep band!  Irish won 3-0!

So the next morning was going to determine the rest of the day, as our team played VERY early in the rink in industrial South Bend.  Despite the early hour the team came back to tie the game in regulation and win in sudden death overtime!  That set the stage for the "lower" bracket championship game, back at the place in Michigan.  Another bigger, faster team.

And they won!  Not only did they win, they won 4-0!  First shutout I can remember in a while.  We all concluded that seeing the Notre Dame team take care of business the previous night inspired our players!

Long trip home but before we left a couple of the coaches and the team manager all said that my wife and I were now required to attend, since the outcome of this one was so good!

We're already talking about a tournament in January.....