State tourney puts Duluth on girls puck map
The biggest, most significant week in the history of female hockey in Duluth will be this week, when the Duluth Dynamite takes on Mankato East/West in Thursday’s 7:05 p.m. first-round game of the girls state hockey tournament.
It is breakthrough time for a strong, but comparatively anonymous group of girls from East, Denfeld and Central, who will be putting themselves on the map of top teams with their tournament appearance. And nobody knows that better than Hibbing coach Pat Rendle, whose team has won one state title and was runner-up to Apple Valley last season.
After Duluth finished celebrating their 4-3 Section 8 hockey championship victory over Hibbing, Rendle caught Duluth coach Jack Shearer in the lobby of the IRA Arena in Grand Rapids.
“Going to the state tournament will be the most awesome thing you and your girls will ever experience,” Rendle told Shearer.
Duluth, until this week, was a no-name team among those who watch the state’s elite teams. And the Dynamite will rank as a longshot in the tournament. Park Center (25-0), armed with Krissy Wendell, a junior who has scored an even 100 goals this season, is the upper bracket favorite and will take on South St. Paul (24-1) in the opening game at noon Thursday. Bloomington Jefferson (20-4-1), suffering from illness and ailments that have seen mono slow down or knock out several top players, and Mounds View (16-8-1) match up quite well in the 2:15 second game.
Duluth (20-4-1) ranks as a favorite to beat Mankato (18-6-1) in the 7:05 game, and Roseville (24-0-1) with the redoubtable Curtin sisters, Ronda and Renee, is favored to beat Burnsville (17-4-4) in the 9:15 finale.
Consipicuous by its absence is Eagan, which was beaten 1-0 by South St. Paul in the Section 1 final, as the Packers shut down the mercurial Natalie Darwitz. That prevented a Wendell-Darwitz showdown, but South St. Paul will be the best team Park Center has played this season and could surprise the unbeaten favorites.
There is still a substantial disparity between the “haves” and “have-nots” in girls hockey, and there now has emerged a three-tier level of play, with the elite teams at the top, the ever-improving middle teams, and the new and inexperienced programs at the bottom.
When two of the elite teams hook up in a game, it can be spectacular, because the absence of heavy-duty bodychecking means that teams must confront each other’s speed, skill and finesse with speed, skill and finesse of their own.
The state’s top elite teams are clearcut, as listed in the final Up North Network girls state ratings of two weeks ago: 1. Park Center, 2. Roseville, 3. Eagan, and 4. South St. Paul. The line between those elite four and the next group, which includes Bloomington Jefferson, Burnsville, Rosemount, Duluth, Hibbing and Mounds View, is blurred. The neat thing is, are those six deserving of “elite” status, or are they at the top edge of the middle group?
Section 1 took care of some of the debate, with South St. Paul’s Sarah Albrecht shutting out both Rosemount (4-0) and Eagan (1-0) to win the sectional. The state tournament will determine the rest of the discussion.
And that was the substance of Rendle’s discussion with Shearer. It was more than a congratulatory gesture of good sportsmanship, and it didn’t mean Rendle was not disappointed that his team failed for the first time to reach the girls tournament (“There is no worse feeling than losing a game like this,” he confided later).
But there is a kinship among coaches of the state’s top girls hockey teams. They are pioneers, guiding the fastest-growing sport in any high school concept in the country, and Rendle worked with a lot of the top girls in the Up North area by coaching in last summer’s ODP (Olympic Development Program). So he can assess the players and teams objectively, through his own pain.
Still addressing Shearer, Rendle said: “Tresa killed you last year, and this year she won the section for you.”
Tresa is Tresa Lamphier, the fiery scoring leader of the Dynamite. She was strong last year, but her temper got in the way of her production. In the section semifinal against Hibbing, Shearer sent her to the dressing room with eight minutes to play, because she was venting her temper by running over girls for penalties.
The word was out, and teams tried to provoke Lamphier into penalties. Hibbing did it too, in that title game Saturday afternoon. But the new, senior Tresa Lamphier accepted being knocked down and hassled on every shift, and stayed on the ice to score a hat trick. She got a hat trick in the 4-0 opening section game against Brainerd, she got the first three goals in the 5-1 semifinal victory over St. Cloud, and she made it a hat trick of hat tricks against Hibbing, running her season goal total to 45.
Lamphier works hand-in-glove with center Leah Wrazidlo, and the entire Duluth team has followed their offensive lead to become a tight, disciplined unit. But Lamphier is responsible for lighting the offensive fire, no question. The staff of Let’s Play Hockey, a weekly tabloid, puts together the Ms. Hockey award, and did not name Lamphier among the five finalists.
Goaltender Sanya Sandahl was named among the five finalists as top senior goaltender. That is a major achievement. After recording 28 saves to beat Hibbing, Sandahl pointed out that she never played until eighth grade.
“I played for the Ice Breakers girls team in eighth grade,” said Sandahl. When asked how she could make the team as goalie when she had never played goalie before, Sandahl said: “I made the team because the other goalie trying out had never played before, either.”
Actually, Sandahl might have been left off the list of top senior goalies, except for Rendle.
“My job at ODP was to work with the goalies,” said Rendle. “I must’ve shot 10,000 pucks at Sanya last summer. She played well against us, and stole a couple goals. But nobody knows about her. The guys at Let’s Play Hockey called me to ask who the best senior goaltenders were. I told them Sandahl, and they said, ‘Who?’ ”
That’s what this week’s tournament appearance means to Duluth girls hockey. Lamphier, Wrazidlo, and Sandahl are the only three seniors on the team, and they are leading the team into the state tournament, and the city of Duluth onto the girls hockey map.
Dynamite put Duluth girls hockey on map
The biggest, most significant week in the history of female hockey in Duluth will be this week, when the Duluth Dynamite takes on Mankato East/West in Thursday’s 7:05 p.m. first-round game of the girls state hockey tournament.
It is breakthrough time for a strong, but comparatively anonymous group of girls from East, Denfeld and Central, who will be putting themselves on the map of top teams with their tournament appearance. And nobody knows that better than Hibbing coach Pat Rendle, whose team has won one state title and was runner-up to Apple Valley last season.
After Duluth finished celebrating their 4-3 Section 8 hockey championship victory over Hibbing, Rendle caught Duluth coach Jack Shearer in the lobby of the IRA Arena in Grand Rapids.
“Going to the state tournament will be the most awesome thing you and your girls will ever experience,” Rendle told Shearer.
Duluth, until this week, was a no-name team among those who watch the state’s elite teams. And the Dynamite will rank as a longshot in the tournament. Park Center (25-0), armed with Krissy Wendell, a junior who has scored an even 100 goals this season, is the upper bracket favorite and will take on South St. Paul (24-1) in the opening game at noon Thursday. Bloomington Jefferson (20-4-1), suffering from illness and ailments that have seen mono slow down or knock out several top players, and Mounds View (16-8-1) match up quite well in the 2:15 second game.
Duluth (20-4-1) ranks as a favorite to beat Mankato (18-6-1) in the 7:05 game, and Roseville (24-0-1) with the redoubtable Curtin sisters, Ronda and Renee, is favored to beat Burnsville (17-4-4) in the 9:15 finale.
Consipicuous by its absence is Eagan, which was beaten 1-0 by South St. Paul in the Section 1 final, as the Packers shut down the mercurial Natalie Darwitz. That prevented a Wendell-Darwitz showdown, but South St. Paul will be the best team Park Center has played this season and could surprise the unbeaten favorites.
There is still a substantial disparity between the “haves” and “have-nots” in girls hockey, and there now has emerged a three-tier level of play, with the elite teams at the top, the ever-improving middle teams, and the new and inexperienced programs at the bottom.
When two of the elite teams hook up in a game, it can be spectacular, because the absence of heavy-duty bodychecking means that teams must confront each other’s speed, skill and finesse with speed, skill and finesse of their own.
The state’s top elite teams are clearcut, as listed in the final Up North Network girls state ratings of two weeks ago: 1. Park Center, 2. Roseville, 3. Eagan, and 4. South St. Paul. The line between those elite four and the next group, which includes Bloomington Jefferson, Burnsville, Rosemount, Duluth, Hibbing and Mounds View, is blurred. The neat thing is, are those six deserving of “elite” status, or are they at the top edge of the middle group?
Section 1 took care of some of the debate, with South St. Paul’s Sarah Albrecht shutting out both Rosemount (4-0) and Eagan (1-0) to win the sectional. The state tournament will determine the rest of the discussion.
And that was the substance of Rendle’s discussion with Shearer. It was more than a congratulatory gesture of good sportsmanship, and it didn’t mean Rendle was not disappointed that his team failed for the first time to reach the girls tournament (“There is no worse feeling than losing a game like this,” he confided later).
But there is a kinship among coaches of the state’s top girls hockey teams. They are pioneers, guiding the fastest-growing sport in any high school concept in the country, and Rendle worked with a lot of the top girls in the Up North area by coaching in last summer’s ODP (Olympic Development Program). So he can assess the players and teams objectively, through his own pain.
Still addressing Shearer, Rendle said: “Tresa killed you last year, and this year she won the section for you.”
Tresa is Tresa Lamphier, the fiery scoring leader of the Dynamite. She was strong last year, but her temper got in the way of her production. In the section semifinal against Hibbing, Shearer sent her to the dressing room with eight minutes to play, because she was venting her temper by running over girls for penalties.
The word was out, and teams tried to provoke Lamphier into penalties. Hibbing did it too, in that title game Saturday afternoon. But the new, senior Tresa Lamphier accepted being knocked down and hassled on every shift, and stayed on the ice to score a hat trick. She got a hat trick in the 4-0 opening section game against Brainerd, she got the first three goals in the 5-1 semifinal victory over St. Cloud, and she made it a hat trick of hat tricks against Hibbing, running her season goal total to 45.
Lamphier works hand-in-glove with center Leah Wrazidlo, and the entire Duluth team has followed their offensive lead to become a tight, disciplined unit. But Lamphier is responsible for lighting the offensive fire, no question. The staff of Let’s Play Hockey, a weekly tabloid, puts together the Ms. Hockey award, and did not name Lamphier among the five finalists.
Goaltender Sanya Sandahl was named among the five finalists as top senior goaltender. That is a major achievement. After recording 28 saves to beat Hibbing, Sandahl pointed out that she never played until eighth grade.
“I played for the Ice Breakers girls team in eighth grade,” said Sandahl. When asked how she could make the team as goalie when she had never played goalie before, Sandahl said: “I made the team because the other goalie trying out had never played before, either.”
Actually, Sandahl might have been left off the list of top senior goalies, except for Rendle.
“My job at ODP was to work with the goalies,” said Rendle. “I must’ve shot 10,000 pucks at Sanya last summer. She played well against us, and stole a couple goals. But nobody knows about her. The guys at Let’s Play Hockey called me to ask who the best senior goaltenders were. I told them Sandahl, and they said, ‘Who?’ ”
That’s what this week’s tournament appearance means to Duluth girls hockey. Lamphier, Wrazidlo, and Sandahl are the only three seniors on the team, and they are leading the team into the state tournament, and the city of Duluth onto the girls hockey map.
Top-rated boys hockey teams stumble
Every team hopes to be playing at a peak when sectional high school hockey begins, but if there was any doubt about how close the boys sectionals and the upcoming state tournament could be, just look at last week.
Thump! Elk River, the No. 1 team in the Up North State rankings, attained the top seed in Section 7AA on Wednesday night. On Thursday, Elk River lost to Anoka, and on Saturday the Elks lost 3-2 to Blaine.
Thud! Greenway of Coleraine, riding a solid streak to co-championship of the Iron Range Conference and to the No. 3 spot in the Up North ratings, was seeded third in 7AA, and promptly lost 4-3 in overtime to Bemidji in their last game.
Whack! Eagan, roaring to the Lake Conference championship with a 20-1 overall record that was good for No. 4 in the state, was socked 7-0 by Eden Prairie Saturday night.
Boom! Roseville, at 18-3, stood seventh in state ratings but was tied 3-3 by Osseo Saturday night.
Were the setbacks part of a relaxing mode by teams once their seeding was secured for sectionals? Or were they signs of previously unexposed weaknesses that might mean they were overrated?
Roseau, which won 4-2 at Grand Rapids last Friday to complete its season at 21-1, winds up No. 1. Hastings, finishing 18-4, takes the No. 2 spot. After that, it gets wild.
We’ve got a tie for No. 3 between Greenway (17-5) and Hibbing (18-4), the IRC cochamps. No. 6 is Duluth East (17-5), which looked at the top of its game in beating Anoka 3-1 Saturday, two days after Anoka had beaten No. 7 Elk River (19-3). Consider that if all four of those teams win their first sectional games on Friday, they will convene at the DECC for the 7AA semifinals, with East facing Elk River, and Hibbing meeting Greenway.
Roseville and Hill-Murray are next, both with 18-3-1 records, followed by Eagan (20-2) and Holy Angels, which has a 21-1 record, almost entirely against Class A teams, but moves up to play AA at tournament time.
Making a separate statewide Class A rating going into sectional play finds Hermantown, the odds-on favorite in 2A, rated No. 1 at 18-3-1, followed by Eveleth-Gilbert (18-4), and then Benilde-St. Margaret’s, with the state’s leading scorer in Troy Riddle, who has a chance to hit 100 points if the Red Knights win their sectional.
Warroad, Blake, Breck and then 7A challengers Silver Bay and Marshall follow, with Red Wing and Mahtomedi rounding out the top 10.
A quick breakdown of sectional favorites:
Class AA
Section 1–Rochester Mayo (with ease); Section 2–Hastings (in a waltz); Section 3–Roseville, Hill-Murray and a strong third challenger in White Bear Lake; Section 4–Anoka, with strong opposition from Maple Grove; Section 5–Eagan, although Holy Angels and Burnsville could make trouble, and beware of Bloomington Jefferson making a playoff run; Section 6–Eden Prairie and Edina look best; Section 7–The toughest of all, from a quality in quantity standpoint — Elk River and Hibbing are seeded 1-2, but Greenway might have been playing the best hockey in the state until losing its last game, and East appears to have fallen into a groove at the right time; Section 8–Roseau, easily.
Class A
Section 1–Red Wing; Section 2–Hermantown, but beware of Proctor and Chisago Lakes; Section 3–Mahtomedi, with Farmington a threat; Section 4–Fergus Falls, in a light section; Section 5–Benilde, but St. Louis Park and Totino-Grace could surprise; Section 6–Blake and Breck appear dead-even; Section 7–Eveleth-Gilbert is the favorite, but it may have to beat Marshall and Silver Bay in the semis and finals; Section 8–Warroad, again, although East Grand Forks could surprise.
Boys hockey ratings (final)
UP NORTH STATE CLASS AA
1. Roseau, 21-1
2. Hastings, 18-4
3. (tie) Greenway of Coleraine, 17-5,
and Hibbing, 18-4
5. Duluth East, 17-5
6. Elk River, 19-3
7. Roseville, 18-3-1
8. Hill-Murray, 18-3-1
9. Eagan, 20-2
10. Holy Angels, 21-1
CLASS A
1. Hermantown, 18-3-1
2. Eveleth, 18-4
3. Benilde-St. Margaret’s, 20-2
4. Warroad, 17-4-1
5. Blake, 16-5-1
6. Breck, 16-6
7. Silver Bay, 15-5-2
8. Duluth Marshall, 14-6-2
9. Red Wing, 16-4-2
10. Mahtomedi, 17-4
Duluth trips Hibbing for girls puck berth
GRAND RAPIDS, MINN.—
Tresa Lamphier scored her third goal of the game by knocking in a power-play rebound with six minutes remaining Saturday afternoon to give the Duluth Dynamite a 4-3 victory over Hibbing in the Section 8 girls hockey championship and their first trip to the state tournament.
The Dynamite will play Thursday’s 7 p.m. game in the first round of the state, at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
Lamphier, a senior at Denfeld, completed a remarkable sectional tournament with her third hat trick in three Section 8 games, having gotten three in the opening 4-1 victory over Brainerd and three more in defeating St. Cloud 5-1 in the semifinals. She has 45 goals for the season.
The Dynamite, which had ended its first two seasons with sectional losses to Hibbing, were outshot 31-17 by the Bluejackets, but goaltender Sanya Sandahl kicked out 28 Hibbing shots to earn the breakthrough trip for Duluth, which improved to 20-4-1 before a crowd of about 1,000 at the IRA Arena in Grand Rapids.
“It was exactly what our coach told us would happen,” said Sandahl. She said Hibbing’s heavy shooting was no surprise. “The most saves I had all year were 37 against Roseville, but I had 32 against Hibbing in our first game against them.”
That was a 4-0 shutout for Sandahl, and the teams later tied 2-2.
“I knew it would be a one-goal game, either way,” said Duluth coach Jack Shearer. “Hibbing is really balanced, and they have a nose for the net, which is something I’ve been trying to instill in our girls.”
The game evolved to Hibbing’s balanced attack against Duluth’s Lamphier-Leah Wrazidlo-Brandy Branch first line. And, of course, a duel between goalies Sandahl and Natalie Lamme. Hibbing coach Pat Rendle wasn’t surprised that Sandahl came up big against his Bluejackets.
“I helped coach the ODP [Olympic Development Program] in Hibbing during the summer,” said Rendle. “I must’ve shot 10,000 pucks at Sanya. I knew what she could do.”
This time, Hibbing scored first, on a goal by Sarah Anderson during a first-period power play. Elisha Best tied it for Duluth during a fast-paced opening period.
Two second-period goals by Lamphier had given Duluth a 3-1 lead, but Kristin Hyduke scored midway through the middle session, and Krista Simonson scored from a scramble at the right side of the net at 1:44 of the third to forge the 3-3 tie.
But the Dynamite came back midway through the final period, and Lamphier was stationed to the left of the net when ninth-grader Becky Fisher launched a shot from the left point. Lamme, Hibbing’s sophomore goalie who had taken Hibbing to last year’s state tournament final, a 1-0 overtime loss to Apple Valley, made the save on Fisher.
“The rebound was kinda bouncing toward me,” said Lamphier. “I knocked it down with my stick and shot it.”
Then it was up to Sandahl to survive the final minutes, during which both teams took timeouts to try to keep their top players fresh for the finish. Rendle pulled Lamme with a minute to go, but theDynamite held on. And took a giant step for girls hockey in the Duluth area.
Hibbing 1 1 1 — 3
Duluth Dynamite 1 2 1 — 4
First Period: 1. Hibb–Anderson (Nichols) 4:57. 1. Dul–Best (Fisher) 10:00.
Second Period: 2. Dul–Lamphier (Wrazidlo) 3:26. 3. Dul–Lamphier (Carlson) 7:03. 2. Hib–Hyduke (Nichols) 8:34.
Third Period: 3. Hib–Simonson (Northagen) 1:44. 4. Dul–Lampher (Fisher, Salyards) 8:56, Power play.
Saves: Lamme, Hibbing 9 2 3–14; Sandahl, Duluth 14 7 7–28.
Bulldogs overcome Tech 6-4 for split
It all looked so easy. The UMD Bulldogs, who had won only three WCHA games all season, took a 5-4 lead by the midpoint of Saturday night’s game against Michigan Tech, then held the lead stubbornly until the final minute, when an empty-net goal secured a 6-4 victory for a split against the Huskies.
Certainly, it wasn’t easy, but the Bulldogs overcame a shaky start by goaltender Tony Gasparini and erupted for their version of a scoring spree, with Derek Derow scoring twice, and Tommy Nelson, Judd Medak and Colin Anderson once each for a 5-3 lead.
A goal by A.J. Aitken closed the gap at 9:20 of the second period.
But if artistic points could be awarded on an empty net goal, it came when Ryan Homstol rushed out of the UMD zone against an empty net. As he crossed center ice, Homstol feathered a neat backhand pass to Scissons, racing up the left side, and he made sure of his 15th goal of the season with 54 seconds left.
The victory gave UMD three of the four games against Tech, but the lone loss — a 5-4 overtime game Friday — may have rendered Saturday’s game less important. Had the Bulldogs swept, they would have caught eighth-place Tech; instead, the split leaves them in last place in the WCHA by four points.
Scissons appreciated the feed for the empty-netter, but was most impressed with Derow’s goals. “He’s a great scorer, and it’s important to get him going,” said Scissons. “A lot of our goals weren’t pretty ones tonight, but Derek scored a great goal there.”
Derow’s first goal lifted UMD to a 3-3 tie at 0:20 of the second period. After Colin Anderson’s goal 52 seconds later boosted the Bulldogs to a 4-3 lead, Derow scored his second goal, which was a masterpiece, giving him 10 for the season.
The sophomore from Springside, Saskatechewan, carried up the left boards, ducked past a check, and turned the corner for the net at high speed, making adeft move on goaltender Todd Weninger before beating him with a shot into the lower left.
That goal stood as the winner. Tech had countered the season’s second goal by Nelson, a freshman from Superior, with a gaol by Clint Way on a long rebound. After Medak drilled a shot into the upper right corner midway through the period for a 2-1 UMD lead, Tim Laurila scored his second of the weekend and third of the season for the Huskies.
Brad Patterson’s goal on a power play deflection at 14:26 gave Tech a 4-3 lead, while the struggling Gasparini made only five saves on the nine Huskies shots of the period. After that, though, Aitken’s goal, on a rebound in the crease, was the only thing Gasparini allowed. In all, UMD outshot Tech 36-27, with Gasparini stopping 18 of the last 19 shots he saw after the rocky start.
The Bulldogs, now 4-16-4 in the league and 7-21-4 overall, take next weekend off before bracing for Minnesota in two weeks at the DECC.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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