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Western Michigan goalie Brandon Bussi dived to deflect away a shot by UMD’s Casey Gilling. Photos by John Gilbert.

Western Michigan goalie Brandon Bussi dived to deflect away a shot by UMD’s Casey Gilling. Photos by John Gilbert.

What is an egg worth? We know eggs are healthy to eat, and for me, having an egg in the morning for breakfast is good for my mental health, too, because I can make it all the way to supper time if I have an egg for breakfast.

But is having an egg worth the chance to see one of the great football games of the season? Probably not.

That was our family plan last Sunday. I had spent the weekend watching UMD’s two hockey teams battle their way through four games at AMSOIL Arena – the men beating Western Michigan in a 5-4 thriller between two of the best teams in the NCHC and the country, then falling 3-2 in overtime, and the UMD women beating Minnesota State Mankato twice, 4-2 the first day and blowing a 2-0 lead before erupting for a 3-goal third period to solve a 2-2 standoff on Saturday.

Kobe Roth scored at 0:14 of the first period Friday night, and Matt Anderson scored his first goal of the season for a 2-0 lead.

Former Hermantown teammates Blake Biondi and Jesse Jacques scored in the second, after Western had caught up 2-2. Western scored two to open the third and tie the game 4-4, and Hunter Lellig one-timed a bullet from the top of the left circle for the 5-4 game-winner. It also was Lellig’s first goal of the season.

Captain Noah Cates got the Bulldogs started with his eighth goal on Saturday, and Connor Kelley made it 2-1 for the Bulldogs on a late second-period power play – also his first goal of the season.

But Western Michigan, a swift, skilled team that is the best in the NCHC at moving in from the points to keep the puck in the offensive zone, scored the tying goal when Ronnie Attard drilled a screened power-play shot in the first minute of the third period.

The tie stood until Josh Passolt scored his second of the game at 1:51 of overtime – costing the Bulldogs a chance to move into third place in the NCHC.

Things happen fast now for UMD, with a weekend off while Captain Cates joins Team USA for the Winter Olympics in China, then UMD faces a trip to Denver and a return home to face North Dakota – the top two teams in the league – and another midweek makeup at St. Cloud State leaves only a trip to Miami and a finishing homestead against St. Cloud State before playoffs.

The UMD women defused MSU Mankato 4-2 with a 3-1 first period on Friday, and got two first-period goals from Elizabeth Giguere on Saturday for a 2-0 first period lead. But the Mavericks battled back for a 2-2 tie, and it took a 3-goal splurge in the third period to settle a 5-3 victory for the sweep. Next up is a trip to Wisconsin this weekend, for UMD’s last big chance to gain on the top three in the WCHA.

With both hockey teams vacating AMSOIL, we can turn our attention to Romano Gym, where the Bulldogs men and women will face MSU-Moorhead and Northern State in doubleheaders Friday and Saturday.

UMD goaltender Ryan Fanti went down to stop Ty Glover’s breakaway in UMD’s 5-4 victory over Western Michigan.

Through out all the flying pucks last weekend, I had been sort of looking ahead to Sunday, when the plan materialized perfectly. My wife, Joan, and our older son, Jack, would get up early enough to get over to near Billy’s on the Jean Duluth Road and then cruise up to a couple of major road crossings so we could watch the first dozen or so dog-sled teams come by to set the tone for the John Beargrease Sled-dog marathon.

It would then be easy to hit one of our favorite breakfast spots for a late brunch, and still get home in time for the 2 pm start of the AFC championship game with Cincinnati at Kansas City.

I knew Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes were heavy favorites, but I had picked Cincinnati to win. I like the Bengals defense, and Joe Burrow is a second-year kid with ice-water in his veins, who plays quarterback the way it should be played, and Evan McPherson is a rookie who simply never misses a field goal.

San Francisco, riding the crest of a wave of victories and the moxie of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, would play at Los Angeles, and I had picked the Rams and quarterback Matthew Stafford who, after toiling for 13 fruitless years in Detroit, has emerged to prove he is a special quarterback with the Rams.

But that would be later.

We headed for Vanilla Bean in the Mount Royal shopping area, a place that makes great breakfasts and serves them into the afternoons on weekends (try the Popeye Omelet). But word has gotten around, and the wait would be nearly an hour for a table.

We discussed it, knowing At Sarah's Table would also feature a long wait, and we headed to Lakeside, for the New London Cafe. They serve a special with French toast, two poached eggs and bacon, ham or sausage. We were told it would be a 25-minute wait, but Joan signed us up.

It was about 11:45 a.m., so we could make it. We were seated at 12:25, and a very nice waitress handed us lunch menus. We waited, and asked her for breakfast menus, and she said they stopped serving breakfast at 12.

That apparently is a new rule, because the place is only open to 2 pm, and had been serving breakfast stuff or sandwiches through the lunch hour.

“Sorry,” she said, and refused to check with anybody despite our pleas. By then, Jack was more adamant than I was and said, “Let’s go.”

I wasn’t sure, but just then, a different waitress brought out two platters filled with breakfast – eggs and all the expected trimmings and set it in front of the people at the table next to ours.

So those people got their breakfast at 12:30, even though they had been seated after 12. We left, stung by the principle of the thing. We had come in with plenty of time, but because they couldn’t serve us until after 12, they were going to refuse to accommodate us.

OK, let’s head for Louie’s, up on 4th Street. Jack had never been there, so it would be a treat for him. Big neon sign in the window said OPEN, so I parked, and we hustled in. A waitress pointed us to a table and we sat down and studied the menu. Several minutes later, a fellow came out from the kitchen, and said,

“We close at 1, so we don’t have time to serve you.”

There was no sign on any window that Louie’s closes at 1 pm, but after we left, we found on their website, sure enough, that they closed at 1.

We checked several places by iPhone, and we stumbled onto a place called Arnold’s, on Hwy. 2 in Hermantown. We’re talking the Cloquet side of Hermantown, where Hwy. 53 meets Midway Road, but when we called to see if they still served breakfast, a great young fellow said yes, and they had a special for $11.50 – steak and eggs, with hash browns and toast, and you can replace the toast with pancakes if you choose – huge, plate-sized pancakes. I was so relieved I got my eggs over-easy, and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

We knew, of course, our determination had cost us seeing the start of the game, so we tuned it in on the car radio and during our half-hour drive home, Mahomes had proven unstoppable, and the Chiefs were crushing Cincinnati 21-3.

We got home, and I fired up the recliner while Jack hit the couch, and we started watching, even though it was a mismatch. An hour or so later, we were both startled awake and Jack said, “Look at the score!” It was 21-21.

The Bengals went on to finish a run of 24 straight points and a late Chiefs field goal sent the game into overtime.

The hated NFL overtime rule gave the Chiefs the ball and they marched toward what seemed a certain winning touchdown, but the Bengals got a deflected interception to end the threat, and Burrow led Cincinnati into Chiefs territory, where McPheerson drilled a field goal for a 27-24 shocker that sends Cincinnati to the Super Bowl next week.

We were wide awake through the nightcap, where San Francisco got a couple huge breaks and grabbed a 17-7 lead after three quarters. But Stafford resolutely brought the Rams back, throwing his second TD pass of the day, to cut the deficit to 17-14, and maneuvered into position for Matt Gay to connect on field goals of 40 and 30 yards to snatch a 20-17 victory and claim the other Super Bowl slot.

After picking both the Rams in their neighborhood duel and the Bengals in their improbable upset, I don’t care who wins the Super Bowl. Well, we’ve got a week off to figure it out.

And we’ve got a new favorite to add to our places-to-go-for-breakfast, just as we have a couple rare additions to add to where we AREN’T going in search of breakfast.