MARILYN HAGERTY: UND hockey catches fancy of faraway fans

• Marilyn Hagerty

Marilyn Hagerty

Talk about it

Dear Shirley,

It probably would be easier to get an invitation to the Royal Wedding in England than to find a ticket for the Frozen Four hockey games that start Thursday in St. Paul.

Really! That’s all we have been hearing since we found out the UND Sioux are playing the Michigan Wolverines in the opening round of the tournament tonight. If they win, they move on to the national championship game for collegiate hockey Saturday.

There are watch parties for Sioux fans all over the country. And here in Grand Forks, there’s a free Fighting Sioux Frozen Fan Fest right here in the Ralph.

We’re watching hockey, and we are watching the Red River, Shirley. We feel pretty safe behind our dikes, but they may be closing off the bridges if the river keeps rising. And while the river rises, people have been seeing snow geese overhead — going north. It’s sort of sad when they leave in the fall. Then, to me, there’s nothing more exciting than to see them overhead in formation and going north.

Do you share that excitement when you see the snowbirds from Arizona heading north?

I was over at Mayville State University this week talking to students about community journalism. They are still waiting down there for their big late snow to melt. But they have been hearing robins singing in the morning.

April is turning into a very busy time here in the Forks. Tonight, Emily Pinkerton of Pittsburgh is presenting an American/South American folk fusion concert at Calvary Lutheran Church. She’s the sister of Louise Pinkerton, a UND voice instructor, who with her husband, Royce Blackburn, a professor of music, will be presenting Santayana Songs on Sunday afternoon in Hughes Fine Arts Center.

They must live in a world of song, Shirley. At home, they have two little daughters — Grace, 4, and Gwyneth, 18 months — and they sing to them at bedtime and during the day. They all sing so much that they have had to put a ban on singing at the dinner table.

I hope all is well with you in the heart of Tucson, and I send my love from “Go Sioux” country in the Red River Valley of the north. Marilyn

P.S.: There are three R.T. Sullivan’s places around Mesa where they are having UND hockey gatherings this evening. Sioux fans also will be gathering at the Players Sports Bar in San Diego and at Jackson’s in Denver. They will be cheering for the Sioux in Mazzy’s Sports Bar in Marietta, Ga., and at a place called the Fieldhouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

It would be fun to go to the pre-game party beginning at 2:30 p.m. today in the St. Paul River Centre. I notice that the watch parties across the country include one at Beef O’Brady’s in Beavercreek, Ohio, and another at Kells Irish Pub in Portland, Ore. There’s even one at Thirsty’s in Rapid City, S.D. Yep, Shirley, the Sioux are gathering in big places such as Nashville, Tenn., and Houston. And there will be some at Pluckers Wing Bar in Grapevine, Tex.

Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or (701) 772-1055.

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