By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
January 12 MakeitMissoula.com
Out of Big Sky tournaments losses to Montana State came a change in the rivalry. On March 7, 2009 Brad Huse’s Bobcats downed the Griz 56-54 in the Big Sky quarterfinals ending UM’s season. Since that bitter pill at Dahlberg arena Montana has taken off having won 116 games since that 2009 loss while MSU has won just 71 games over the last five and a half seasons. On March 8, 2012 the Lady Cats ended the Lady Griz season in the Big Sky quarterfinals. Over the last two and a half seasons the Lady Griz have won 57 games to the Lady Cats 39. The Grizzlies have won their last 8 against the Bobcats while the Lady Griz have won 5 consecutive against their counterparts from Bozeman.
Both the Griz and Lady Griz lead the Big Sky in scoring defense in conference play. The Griz have allowed just fewer than 61 a game while the second best mark belongs to the MSU Bobcats who are giving up just over 66 points a game.
Lady Griz junior Hannah Doran has contributed on several occasions in her first two seasons at Montana, but now Doran has hit the top of the stat sheet. Doran is leading the Big Sky in 3-point accuracy in league play. The Oregon native is shooting over 66% from beyond the Arch.
When the Montana Tech men come to Dahlberg Arena Tuesday they will bring a 7 game winning streak. The Orediggers haven’t lost a game since a defeat at a Thanksgiving tournament in Salt Lake City.
For the first time in a decade a city will host consecutive NFL title games. Seattle is the first city to host the NFC title game since Philadelphia hosted 3 straight seasons (actually going 1-2 in that span.) The Seahawks are the first reigning Super Bowl champs to host a conference final the following season since the Denver Broncos in January of 1999.
This is the fourth consecutive AFC title game the New England Patriots have played in. This is the Patriots 9th AFC title game in the last 14 seasons.
In just three weeks the UM softball team begins its inaugural season with a challenging tournament at New Mexico State. The Griz will face two teams currently ranked in the top 25 during their preconference schedule–the University of Minnesota and University of Nebraska. The top-rated team that will visit Missoula is North Dakota State who is rated 41st. For what it’s worth the 2014 Division I women’s softball title went to the University of Florida.
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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.
Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament
When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.