Month: February 2013

USHL Standings Revisited

It’s a new week coming up so it’s time to revisit the USHL standings. Omaha had a damn fine week–knocking off Sioux Falls with a five goal second period. Figures that I was so sick that day I couldn’t manage 15 feet from the nearest sewer-connected portal so ended up missing what might possibly be the best Lancers showing all season.

Lincoln didn’t fare as well, winning two of three on the week. They lose a game-in-hand on Sioux Falls but with both Lincoln and Omaha playing three last week, the Stars still have two in hand on the Lancers.

By virtue of the fine showing, the Lancers pick up a place in the points standings on Lincoln. The unadjusted standings look like this:

TEAM GP W L OL TP
Sioux Falls 41 29 10 2 60
Fargo 41 26 13 5 53
Waterloo 42 25 17 0 53
Omaha 42 25 17 0 50
Lincoln 40 23 14 3 49
Tri-Town 41 18 19 4 40
Des Moines 43 19 22 2 40
Sioux City 40 8 22 10 26

Looking over the table after two weeks, we also see Des Moines being overtaken by Tri-Town. The Good Life trophy participants are 4-5-6 in the standings, which makes for a more entertaining introductory season for the trophy at least. Also funny how the victories are pretty lopsided between them. Omaha pwns Lincoln who pwns Tri-Town who pwns Omaha.

But I digress. The whole point of this exercise is to weigh games-in-hand into the standings to give a better picture of how the playoff race is shaking out. If we count games in hand as +.5 games, an OT loss as -.5, wins as +1 and losses as -1 we get the following table:

TEAM GP W L OL GB Playoffs
Sioux Falls 41 29 10 2    
Waterloo 41 26 14 1 -3.5  
Fargo 42 24 13 5 -4  
Lincoln 40 23 14 3 -5  
Omaha 42 25 17 0 -5.5 -0.5
Tri-Town 41 18 19 4 -10 -5
Des Moines 43 19 22 2 -11 -6
Sioux City 40 8 22 10 -16.5 -11.5

Looking here, Omaha still hasn’t quite pushed Lincoln out of the playoff picture. Also noteworthy, Sioux Falls picks up a game on most of the league in the last two weeks. Coming up, both Omaha and Lincoln have relatively easy matchups visiting Des Moines and hosting Tri-Town respectively before meeting each other for the Battles on Ice. Yours truly will be in attendance at Teh Battlez and, if all goes according to plan, highly inebriated.

See you there!

Lagunitas India Pale Ale

1) Lagunitas India Pale Ale

The first in the 2013 Taste 100 Beers Challenge. After eschewing IPAs for so long, why not make one the first in the challenge? Admittedly it’s not a style that I’m really interested in. Or, perhaps I should say it’s not a style I’ve been interested in historically but I’ve been reading For the Love of Hops the last week or two and I’ve decided to give hoppy beers another chance.

I picked up a 22oz bomber of this over lunch today along with a couple of other beers that will end up in this series. This beer pours a nice, sparkling gold color with a persistent fluffy white head. The clarity is excellent, something I’ve not approached with my own brewing. All in all, it is a pretty beer.

Right from the bottle there’s an intriguing combination of sweet cut grass and grapefruit aromas. These are not smells I remember from IPAs past. As the beer warms the citrus keeps flowering. Even after reading about the flavors the “C” hops bring for the last few weeks, this is surprisingly inviting.

The first sip is crisply bitter that just explodes into grapefruit that lingers well past the swallow, slowly fading into a tart, bitter finish. While I’ve never appreciated the gratuitous bitterness of IPAs I’ve had in the past, this works here. It’s backed up with a strong malt backbone. There has to be some good crystal wrapped around that base malt. At 6.2% ABV you get yourself into trouble because it drinks like a session beer. The recurring comparison I want to make is like drinking Squirt without all the HFCS.

On to the scoring…

Aroma: Huge floral/citrus aroma with a bit of fresh cut grass hiding in the weeds. The malt sits underneath and brings a bit of caramel that blends nicely with the floral notes. 11/12

Appearance: Deep gold with hints of copper. Brilliant clarity with a persistant, fluffy white head. 3/3

Flavor: Up front bitterness yields to a robust citrus flavor. I don’t think you’d get more grapefruit if you sliced on in half and started tonguing it. The citrus is balanced by a stiff malt backbone with sweetness to balance all of the tart/bitterness. The finish lingers on, eventually leaving you back where you started with the bitter. If I’d ding this in any way, it’s got to be the acrid aftertaste. On the other hand, it keeps you drinking! 17/20

Mouthfeel: Full body for an IPA. Maybe a bit sticky/resinous. Is this the style? Carbonation is appropriate. 4/5

Overall Impression: Had I known how good an IPA could be, I might have had one of these before now. Still wowed by the citrus that comes through with this. Definitely changed my “Why-P-A?” tune and I’m curious to know if this is indicative of the style or a special something something. 8/10

Scoring Total: 43/50
Binary Score: 1