Duluth girls stand tall at state hockey meet
When the girls state hockey tournament ended, and Roseville surrounded scoring star Ronda Curtin after her four goals led an 8-2 championship game blowout over Bloomington Jefferson, members of the Duluth Dynamite could stand tall and hold their heads high.
Duluth lost 3-0 to South St. Paul in the third-place game, but the Duluth entry won its first tournament game 5-2 over Mankato, then lost a tense 3-2 semifinal to Roseville. With Roseville crushing Burnsville 5-0 in the quarterfinals and Jefferson 8-2 in the final, that 3-2 victory against Duluth was the Raiders only scare of the weekend at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
The Duluth cooperative team’s players showed all the best things about such combined teams. Imagine students from East, Denfeld and Central cheering for each other, or the enthusiasm generated by the East band on Thursday, the Denfeld band Friday, and the Central band, which genuinely stirred up the fans and the players on Saturday.
“Central’s band was the best,” said Tresa Lamphier, Duluth’s lone representative on the all-tournament team. And she’s from Denfeld.
To see the 14 girls from East, and the four from Denfeld, hugging goaltender Sanya Sandahl, who is from Central, was another warm memory to be taken from that cold ice sheet.
Indications are that the Dynamite will be disbanded for next season, but if so, it only will make this season, and the tournament weekend, more special to the players and fans.
Roseville’s Ronda Curtin, the older Curtin sister, broke open a 2-1 championship game with three of her four goals in the second period, scoring on a power play, shorthanded and at even strength. She had seven goals and four assists in the three tournament games, ran her tournament record to 33 points over four years, and completed her career as Minnesota’s all-time top hockey scorer with 249 goals, 217 assists for 466 points. For good measure, she was named Ms. Hockey by the Let’s Play Hockey tabloid on Sunday.
But while Ronda Curtin scored three goals in the opening 5-0 romp over Burnsville, and four in the title game, she was shut out by Duluth center Leah Wrazidlo, with help from Sandahl and the underrated Duluth defense. Wrazidlo’s tenacious play was overlooked by all-tournament voters, even though she also scored twice in the opening victory.
In the semifinals, Lamphier set up Rose Babst for a 1-0 Duluth lead that stood up until the 8:49 mark of the second period, when sophomore Renee Curtin scored twice, on feeds from sister Ronda. Lamphier scored on a 70-foot slapshot at 1:59 of the third to forge a 2-2 tie. Ronda Curtin then fired a long pass to spring Leah Peyer on a shorthanded breakaway that proved to be the game-winner.
Duluth wound up 21-6 after the third-place game, in which Kelly Kegley, South St. Paul’s pint-sized, fifth-year center, scored twice in a 3-0 Packer victory. Sarah Ahlquist recorded her 18th shutout of a phenomenal senior season and the Packers ended 26-2 mark.
Duluth’s experience at the tournament was clouded by the upcoming breakup. High school league rules give new teams the chance to combine with others to get started, but on a two-year basis. After that, each team is evaluated on an individual basis. Duluth got an extention for this year, but has been informed it must disband for next season.
Team athletic director Mike Miernicki, from East, knows East can field its own team next season, but is concerned about the Denfeld and Central girls. “We’ll try to have a combined Denfeld-Central team,” he said. “We hope we’ll have enough players.”
Central’s Sandahl, the star goaltender and one of the finalists for the Let’s Play Hockey’s top goalie award, which it gave to Blaine’s Katie Beauduy, and Denfeld’s Lamphier and Leah Wrazidlo, the top two scorers, are the team’s only seniors. There were few other prospects from Denfeld and Central that came out, so the question is whether there would be enough to make up a team, especially after graduation.
Duluth coach Jack Shearer became aware of the impending breakup when it was announced on Wednesday, the day before the tournament opened, but he kept the team focused on the tournament.
“South St. Paul clearly was the best defensive team we’ve faced,” said Shearer. “And their goaltender is fantastic.”
Ahlquist, who may be the state’s top goalie with a 0.65 goals-against mark against tougher competition than Blaine faced, made her biggest save of the day when Lamphier broke in alone at 6:30 of the first period, when it was 1-0. Ahlquist deflected the shot up over the crossbar.
TOURNAMENT NOTES:
* South St. Paul was the top defensive team in the state, having taken out Natalie Darwitz and Eagan in a 1-0 section final, then stopping Krissy Wendell and Park Center 3-2 in a first round game at the tournament.
South St. Paul was deprived of playing in the final by the only controversial call of the tournament. Leading Jefferson 2-1 in the third period of their semifinal, the Packers made it 3-1 when Kegley broke in with an interception and shot. The goal light flashed red, but the referees discussed it and ruled no goal, that the puck had never crossed the goal line. Glenn Anderson, the goal judge, was never consulted. “The puck crossed the line and was wedged inside the post, up against the pad,” said Anderson. By not counting the third South St. Paul goal, the game stayed 2-1 until Jessica Brandanger scored on a six-skater attack with 10 seconds remaining to give Jefferson a 2-2 tie. The Jaguars won, despite being outshot 38-26, when Sharon Cole’s pass deflected off defenseman Albrecht’s skate and was poked the last inch by Lindsey Christensen at 12:44 of a second sudden-death overtime.
* Park Center’s Krissy Wendell broke the tournament single-game record with all six goals in a 6-5 consolation victory over Mounds View on Friday, after getting both goals in a 3-2 opening-game loss to South St. Paul. That put her within one of the tournament record of nine, held jointly by Hibbing’s Amber Fryklund and Eagan’s Natalie Darwitz, both in 1997. Wendell’s single goal in the 3-0 consolation final over Burnsville gave her a tie for goal record, and her two assists meant she had nine goals and two assists, figuring in all 11 Pirate goals in the tournament. “I didn’t know about any record, but I’d give all of them back if we could have won the tournament,” said Wendell, a junior who finished with 109 goals on a team that wound up 27-1. Wendell left Sunday, along with Darwitz, to join the U.S. National women’s team for the upcoming world tournament.
* Sisters Ronda and Renee Curtin and state champion Roseville teammates Leah Peyer and Erika Mortensen led the 12-player all-tournament team. Jefferson’s goaltender Dana Hergert, defenseman Bethany Petersen and forward Emily Naslund also made the team, along with South St. Paul goaltender Sarah Ahlquist, defenseman Ashley Albrecht and forward Kelly Kegley, Duluth’s Tresa Lamphier, and Park Center’s Krissy Wendell.
* Ronda Curtin’s statistics, 61-47–108, was two more than sister Renee (58-48–106). “It’s better for Ronda to get the points tonight,” said Renee, a sophomore. “It’s her last year, she should be able to get the record.” Renee, who has two seasons to go, suggested that Ronda’s scoring record might only be temporary. “I’ll beat it,” she said, laughing.
* Roseville coach Rich Kuehne has taken more than his share of criticism in his four years, although he says that’s not the reason he’s retiring to a home Up North, on Leech Lake. Kuehne leaves the Raiders with two state titles and an incredible four-year record of 103-5-2.
Gopher series could be highlight of UMD season
“It doesn’t matter how good or bad you’re season is, if you beat the Gophers, it’ll make your year.”
That used to be a primary taunt that Gopher hockey fans would toss at UMD. It would infuriate Bulldog fans, who generally would fill every corner of the DECC to see the intensity of the rivalry between the Bulldogs and the “Main U.”
Almost every year, that has been an absurd statement. But maybe not this year. This year, UMD was picked for about the middle of the pack, based on its inexperienced cast of characters, while Minnesota was figured to be a top challenger for North Dakota and Colorado College, based on the Gophers wealth of talent.
The standings tell the story. UMD is last in the WCHA, with slim but extremely unlikely hopes of moving up as high as eighth. Minnesota, however, is sixth, ‘way below its expectations, and desperate to win twice at Duluth this weekend. There are a lot of things riding on this series: Home ice in the playoffs for the Gophers is there, redemption for a second straight season of discontented under-achieving, and possibly even job security for coach Doug Woog.
In their usual unselfish, magnanimous fashion, the Gophers might point out that since revenue-sharing is in effect in the playoffs, having the Gophers at home could make a lot of money, and having them in the WCHA Final Five might be crucial toward making some money — since the Final Five are at Target Center in Minneapolis.
Some of the players on both teams know what’s at stake, and how intense it might be.
UMD’s two senior skaters — goaltender Tony Gasparini is the third one — had different views of entering the final home games of their college careers.
“I’ve been thinking about this being my last games at the DECC,” said winger Curtis Bois. “My family is coming in from Longlac, Ontario, which is a little logging town of about 2,000, about 3 1/2 hours north of Thunder Bay. I want them to see my last weekend at home. And there’s a little extra incentive because we’re playing the Gophers. Everything is in place. You couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Captain Bert Gilling said his parents are coming in too, from Alexander, Manitoba. “It really hasn’t hit me yet about this being the last weekend at the DECC for me,” said Gilling. “It probably won’t hit me until after the season. I wanted my family to come to see us play the Gophers, just to see the atmosphere of the place. It’s unique, and it makes this series fun. I’d love to tell you that I’m going to go out and get the hat trick, but I can only say that I’ll go out and do my best, try to play hard and play smart.”
On the other side, the Gophers have players like Dave Spehar, Dylan Mills and Nick Angell from Duluth East, and Aaron Miskovich from Grand Rapids. That makes it something of a homecoming for those Up North players, and there will be a certain focus on Spehar, the former scoring champ who, a St. Paul columnist suggested, might transfer to UMD if the current Gopher coaching staff remained intact.
Spehar dismissed the notion as ridiculous. A junior, he’d have to sit out a year to play a year. Besides, the abuse he has taken from Duluth fans has made him fell less than welcome in his hometown. “Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of great friends in Duluth and it’ll always be my home,” said Spehar. “But I’d be lying if I said I enjoy playing there.”
As for wishing his Duluth East alma mater good luck in its Section 7AA semifinal against Elk River on Tuesday, Spehar said: “I can’t get up there to see it, but I called coach [Mike Randolph] to wish him good luck.”
As for UMD coach Mike Sertich, he was so worked up over the Gopher series that he and a friend went to Baudette to go ice-fishing on Lake of the Woods last weekend. The Bulldogs had last weekend off, and practiced for an hour a day last week and this to get ready for the Gophers and next week’s final series, at Colorado College.
Sertich took great care not to get verbally trapped into any incendiary statements about the rivalry.
Extra intensity for the Gophers? “I hope we play hard,” said Sertich.
What about reports that the Gophers plan to start going outside the state to recruit? “I wish I had their problems,” said Sertich.
Suggestions from Minnesota that this year’s team lacks talent? “Wyatt Smith, Dave Spehar, Aaron Miskovich, Jordan Leopold, Erik Westrum…I’ll take about six of their guys,” said Sertich.
And, if UMD is destined to finish last, couldn’t success this weekend not only knock Minnesota out of home ice, but make UMD’s season of frustrations a lot more tolerable? “When you put it that way, I guess it would,” said Sertich.
Oh, did you catch any fish last weekend? “Yeah, lots of ’em,” Sertich said. Having a poker face is probably as big an asset ice-fishing as coaching.
Duluth falls to Roseville 3-2 in girls semis
[Sub the first two paragraphs of previous semifinal story with this as a new lede…pick up 3rd graf of first story…]
Leah Peyer scored on a shorthanded breakaway midway through the third period Friday night to puncture a 2-2 tie and give Roseville a 3-2 victory over the Duluth Dynamite in a pulsating semifinal match of the girls state high school hockey tournament.
The midnight finish and victory gives Roseville (26-0-1) a berth against Bloomington Jefferson — an upset 3-2 victor over South St. Paul in double overtime in the first semifinal. Duluth (21-4-1) faces South St. Paul in the 2:15 p.m. third-place game.
Duluth goaltender Sanya Sandahl anticipated she’d face a busy night from Roseville’s Curtin sisters, and she didn’t have to wait long to find out it was happening. But she and her Dynamite teammates played well through the first 10 minutes to hold off the offensive-minded Raiders, who didn’t show any weariness from their tough first-round victory over Burnsville.
Then Duluth got a power-play chance, and made it click at 10:02, when scoring star Tresa Lamphier had the puck in the slot, and spotted junior Rose Babst in the right circle. Lamphier slid her a pass, and Babst shot it quickly, putting it through goalie Jodi Winters.
Later in the first period, Leah Wrazidlo went off for a penalty, and Lamphier got loose on a shorthanded breakaway, but was foiled by Winters. After that, Sandahl survived Roseville’s power-play pressure and held the 1-0 lead into the second period, even though Roseville had outshot Duluth 12-2 in the opening period.
It took a special play for Roseville to get the equalizer midway through the second period. Renee Curtin slipped away to the far blue line for a long pass, and when she realized Duluth’s defense had her covered, she deftly deflected it to Erika Mortensen, breaking by on the right. As Mortensen rushed up the boards, the sophomore half of the sister act broke for the net on the left, and redirected Mortensen’s pass across the slot past Sandahl at 8:49.
Four minutes later, the Raiders struck again, when Roseville coach Rich Kuehne juggled line matchups and sent both Curtins to the far blue line. Mortensen fired the long pass to spring a 2-on-1, and Ronda Curtin broke up the left side, carrying deep before hooking a pass back across the crease for Renee’s 1-timer and the goal.
But Duluth came out strong in the third period, and Lamphier tied it 2-2 at 1:59. She broke out with a long pass from Allison O’Hara but saw two defenders ahead of her. So as she crossed the center red line, Lamphier measured a slapshot and cut loose from outside the blueline — whistling the 70-footer past Jodi Winters for the shocking goal.
The Dynamite got another power-play opportunity at 6:27, when Chelsey Brodt was penalized, but Ronda Curtin flipped a long clearing pass that sent Peyer up the middle for a shorthanded breakaway. Peyer raced in and scored with a point-blank shot into the upper right at 6:42.
Roseville spells ‘Curtins’ for Jefferson
ST. PAUL, MINN—
There was simply too much riding on Saturday night’s game for Ronda Curtin to let it become too dramatic. It was her final game of a sensational career at Roseville High School, her final year of playing with her sister, Renee — at least for now. And it was coach Rich Kuehne’s last game behind the Roseville bench.
And, oh yes, it also was for the state girls high school hockey championship.
And it was exciting, with Roseville clinging to a 2-1 lead over Bloomington Jefferson midway through the second period, when Ronda Curtin took over, scoring on a power play, shorthanded, and at even strength to wipe out Jefferson’s hopes and lead Roseville to an 8-2 victory and the state championship.
For the game, Ronda, a lanky senior center who is committed to playing at the University of Minnesota next fall, had four goals and one assist, for the tournament she had seven goals and four assists, and for her four years at the state tournament she has 33 points, a girls tournament record.
“I didn’t want any neerous game out there,” joked Ronda Curtin. “All those things, playing on a line with my sister, my last game, and coach Kuehne. And I promised [assistant] coach Tom Weaver that I’d win him a state tournament. He wasn’t there for the first one.”
Ronda wound up with 61 goals -47assists and 108 points, while Renee had 58-48–106, after assisting on three goals in the title game, but getting credit only for two of them.
“It’s better for Ronda to get the points tonight,” said Renee, a sophomore. “It’s her last year, she should be able to get the record. But I’ll beat it.”
Kuehne said: “I’ve coached and taught long enough.” He also said he didn’t know how the Raiders would replace Ronda. Maybe the two are related. Kuehne leaves the Raiders with two state titles and an incredible four-year record of 103-5-2.
Renee Curtin, Ronda’s sophomore winger, stickhandled in for a good chance early in the first period, but Jefferson struck first, on Emily Naslund’s pass attempt that went in on the carom off goaltender Jodi Winters at 6:34. At 7:16, Renee Curtin filtered in from the left and fed Ronda Curtin for a shot that Dana Hergert blocked, only to have Erika Mortensen score on the rebound. Thirty-one seconds after that, Lindsay O’Keefe put Roseville ahead to stay at 2-1 by scoring on Alyson Sundberg’s rebound.
Hergert came up with a series of huge saves on Ronda Curtin in the second period, but at 6:41, she simply blew around the defense on a power-play rush, cutting in from the left to stuff her shot at the crease. Less than two minutes later, killing a penalty, Ronda raced end-to-end, beating both retreating Jefferson defensemen and lifting a shot that hit the crossbar, popped up high, and landed in the crease before trickling in.
Bethany Petersen got one back for Jefferson before that power play expired, scoring with a strong wrist shot from inside right point at 9:00, but at 10:55, Ronda was off again, rushing 1-on-2, deking to the inside before swerving out to the right, then shooting back into the upper left corner from 30 feet, making it a sudden 5-2 lead.
Mortensen’s second goal, set up by Renee Curtin, made it 6-2 at the second intermission, but there were more highlights to come. At 3:17 of the third period, Renee Curtin got the puck near the left boards, at her own blueline, and zipped a perfect pass between the two Jaguar defensemen. Ronda Curtin, timing her break perfectly, caught it just on the far side of the Jefferson blue line and raced in unmolested, stopping abruptly to let Hergert drop, then sliding her shot in at 3:17.
Sundberg’s goal, midway through the final period, was only frosting.
“Ronda is Ms. Hockey,” said Jefferson coach Dave Irvin, predicting today’s winner. “She’s an ambassador for girls’ hockey, and she’s so tall she can stand in the middle of the rink and touch the boards on both sides. And tonight, she was impossible to stop.”
ALL TOURNAMENT
Sisters Ronda and Renee Curtin and state champion Roseville teammates Leah Peyer and Erika Mortensen led the 12-player all-tournament team. Jefferson’s goaltender Dana Hergert, defenseman Bethany Petersen and forward Emily Naslund also made the team, along with South St. Paul goaltender Sarah Ahlquist, defenseman Ashley Albrecht and forward Kelly Kegley, Duluth’s Tresa Lamphier, and Park Center’s Krissy Wendell.
South St. Paul defuses Dynamite for 3rd place
Never before, and perhaps never again, have students from Duluth Denfeld, Central and East cheered harder for athletes from the other Duluth schools than this weekend, when the Duluth Dynamite played in its first — and apparently last — state girls hockey tournament.
The Dynamite, which consists of players from East, Denfeld and Central, wanted to go out in style, but they ran into South St. Paul — the state’s most stifling defensive team — and were blanked 3-0 in Saturday afternoon’s third-place tournament game to finish 21-6-1.
Kelly Kegley, South St. Paul’s pint-sized center who has been a star for five seasons, and who now is “almost 5-foot-3,” she said, scored the first and last goals in her final game, directing the Packer offense to victory and a 26-2 final record. Erika Hockinson scored the other goal, and Sarah Ahlquist recorded the 18th shutout of a phenomenal senior season.
Hard-fought as the game was, some parents of Duluth team members are intending to fight to overturn a state high school league decision to break up the Dynamite, but chances appear slim. There is a guideline to disband teams from school districts that combine to start programs, but a disparity in players may be a problem in Duluth.
The 20-player Dynamite tournament roster has 14 East players, four from Denfeld and two from Central. The problem is that Central’s Sanya Sandahl is the star goaltender and Denfeld’s Tresa Lamphier and Leah Wrazidlo, the top two scorers, are the team’s only seniors, meaning the few players from Denfeld and Central will be further depleted by graduation.
Team athletic director Mike Miernicki, from East, knows East can field its own team next season, but is concerned about the Denfeld and Central girls. “We’ll try to have a combined Denfeld-Central team,” he said. “We hope we’ll have enough players.”
The unity of the current team was underscored by the neat move of having each band play at a different day at the tournament. East’s band played Thursday, Denfeld’s Friday, and the Central band played Saturday. “Definitely,” said Lamphier, “the Central band was the best.”
Duluth coach Jack Shearer is aware of the impending breakup, but the team focused in well on the game at hand.
“They are by far the best defensive team we’ve played,” said Shearer. “Their goaltender is outstanding. We don’t usually get a lot of shots, and we got 20 today, but we didn’t get a lot from in close, and she stopped everything.”
Ahlquist reduced her incredible goals-against average to something under 0.7 per game. “It was fitting to get Sarah her 18th shutout in her final game,” said South St. Paul coach Dave Palmquist. “This was therapeutic for our team; it pretty well takes the sting out of last night’s double-overtime loss to Bloomington Jefferson.”
Kegley had scored at 3:20 of the first period, on a slick pass from behind the net by flashy freshman defenseman Ashley Albrecht. It was then that Ahlquist made her biggest save of the day, when Lamphier broke in alone at 6:30 of the first period. Albrecht deflected the shot up over the crossbar.
The play was even at that point, and Sandahl stood firm against a South St. Paul scramble at 10:40, but Hockinson backhanded a loose puck in from the slot for a 2-0 Packer lead.
The Dynamite kept battling, then at 10:25 of the third period, Albrecht moved in from the point to fire a hard, straight-on 25-footer. Sandahl blocked it, but the ever-present Kegley was at the left edge and quickly shoveled in the rebound.
WENDELL, PARK CENTER
WIN CONSOLATION
Park Center’s Krissy Wendell completed a record-setting first girls tournament by scoring one goal and assisting on the other two in the Pirates 3-0 victory over Burnsville in a rugged consolation final.
Wendell broke the tournament single-game record with all six goals in a 6-5 consolation game Friday, after getting both goals in a 3-2 opening-game loss to South St. Paul. That put her within one of the tournament record of nine, held jointly by Hibbing’s Amber Fryklund and Eagan’s Natalie Darwitz, both in 1997.
Wendell’s single goal gave her a tie for that record, and her two assists meant she had nine goals and two assists, figuring in all 11 Pirate goals in the tournament.
“I didn’t know about any record, but I’d give all of them back if we could have won the tournament,” said Wendell, a junior who leaves today, along with Darwitz, to join the U.S. National women’s team for the upcoming world tournament. “We’re one of only three teams to win our last game of the season, and ever since we lost, I’ve been looking forward to next year. We should be so much better.”
Wendell, who finished with 109 goals, and the Pirates, who finished 27-1, won’t have to be much better next year. But Saturday, Wendell had to share the spotlight with goaltender Amy Jones, a sophomore who stopped all 34 Burnsville shots, including a hectic second period when the Blaze outshot Park Center 18-2, to gain the shutout.
Burnsville outshot Park Center 34-18 for the game. Wendell was contained with a lot of physical play, which didn’t surprise Park Center coach John Donovan. “She was getting it all over the ice, but it’s been going on for 28 games now, Donovan said. “We call it the ‘Krissy Rule’ in our locker room. She takes a lot of stuff that would be penalties against players less strong than she is.”
Wendell scored unassisted at 1:06 of the first period, and set up freshman Katie Crass at 2:26. After that, Andrea Smith blanked the Pirates until the first minute of the third period, when Wendell assisted on a goal by Monica Deringer.
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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