This weekend marks the border battle between the men's hockey teams from Minnesota and Wisconsin. It doesn't matter what happens the rest of the season, this is a huge series for both teams.
Most seasons, Wisconsin is a few rungs below Minnesota, so not only is this a rivalry, but it's about getting some points from a team and gaining ground in the standings.
Of course this year, neither team is in the top half of the WCHA, which hasn't happened in quite a few years. And if today were the end of the season, neith UW or UM would make the post-season.
So tonight's game was all about pride and both teams were more than a little riled up. At least 3 fights broke out and by the end, when UW was up 3-1, the frustration was coming out for Minnesota and so were the fights.
I'm super excited to be going to the game tomorrow night. I've never been to the Border Battle before and after watching tonight's game, I can only imagine what we're in store for tomorrow.
Let's hope the refs have a bit more control of the game tomorrow, as they completely let the game out of hand tonight. The teams will be more fired up and the fights will be even more likely. If the refs let the guys have as much contact as they did tonight, it's not going to end well. At one point, the play had stopped and Minnesota was doing a line change, so they had about 9 guys on the ice. Fights broke out at the Gophers outnumbered the Badgers 9-5. The refs completely lost control at that point. They didn't get the penalties right and after that, the players knew they could get away with stuff.
The ref crew really needs to keep the teams on a short leash tomorrow or the game is going to get out of hand fast.
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