Anoka blows down Roseville offense to win AA final 4-1

SAINT PAUL — Anoka blew across the Xcel Energy ice surface like their namesake Tornadoes Saturday night, gathering force as the game progressed and overturning an early deficit to beat Roseville 3-1 and capture the schoolÂ’s first state high school hockey championship before 17,163 fans.

The heroes were many for the Tornadoes, who spotted Roseville a 1-0 first-period lead, then defused the explosive Raider offense the rest of the night, while Andrew Johnson scored the tying goal in the second period, and Craig Chapman tipped in a power-play blast by Tim Manthey midway through the third period for the eventual game-winner.

Derek JohnsonÂ’s deflected empty-net goal with 52 seconds remaining finished off the victory. Ben Hendrick assisted on the first two Anoka goals, including a remarkably clever play to set up JohnsonÂ’s tally.

Anoka (26-3-2) finished the season with an 11-0-1 stretch run, while Roseville (25-4-2) lost for the first time in 10 games, after riding an 8-0-1 run to the final game.

Both Roseville and Anoka play an aggressive, up-tempo offense but tough and unyielding defense – assets that certainly contributed to getting them to the title game. Anoka defeated Duluth East 4-3 in Thursday’s quarterfinals, then eliminated defending champ Holy Angels 2-1 in Friday’s semifinals. Roseville outlasted a tough White Bear Lake outfit 4=3 first and then harnessed Eden Prairie 4-1. Holy Angels got by Eden Prairie 2-1 in Saturday’s third-place game, the preliminary to the final.

The teams dueled through a scoreless first 11 minutes, each getting a power play without being able to convert. But at 11:41, Brandon Svendsen fed the puck ahead to Andy Carroll, speeding up the right boards. With one Anoke defender back, Carroll cut toward the slot to pick him up as a screen, then snapped a hard wrist shot just past the defenseman, snaring the net before goaltender Kyle Olstad could spot it.

The Tornadoes had a couple of excellent opportunities to tie it early in the second period, when brothers Andy and Aaron LaHoud had a 2-on-0 chance after an outlet attempt took a crazy bounce off the right corner boards and caromed right out in front. But goaltender Jerad Kaufmann went down for one save and stayed there for the second. Svendsen immediately came back on a break-in at the other end, but Olstad held firm.

It took a brilliant play for Anoka to get the equalizer at 12:51 of the second period. Ben Hendrick, a 5-foot-8 senior, carried the puck up the left boards, appearing oblivious to the fact that a Roseville defenseman had him lined up for a big hit. Turns out, he anticipated perfectly, pivoting to his left to brace for the hit, and an instant before beding slammed into the left boards, Hendrick snapped a backhand pass softly across the slot. Speeding into the zone was Andrew Johnson, catching the pass all alone and streaking to the net, where he cut to his left, waited until Kaufmann dropped to the ice, then flicking his shot up and over the fallen goaltender.

That set the stage for the third period, with the teams standing absolutely even at 1-1, with the shots 11-11.

But the Tornadoes had been getting stronger and gaining momentum as the game progressed, and they seemed stronger still in the third period, putting on more and more pressure in the Roseville end. At 7:46, RosevilleÂ’s Kyle Odegaard was penalized for high-sticking. It may have been retaliatory, it may have been from being tired and frustrated. It proved pivotal when the ensuing power play resulted in AnokaÂ’s go-ahead goal, by Chapman.

Again, however, it was the diminutive Hendrick who was involved, sending a perfect pass to center-point, where Tim Manthey, who rarely left the ice all night, blasted a slapshot through traffic at 8:42. Chapman got a piece of it, deflecting it past Kaufmann for the 2-1 lead.

Anoka outshot Roseville 22-17 for the game, thanks to an 11-6 edge in the third period. Anoka had worked so hard to gain the upper hand that even after breaking the tie the Tornadoes kept the pressure on, attacking relentlessly and preventing the Raiders from getting their offense going.

Roseville coach Steve Sertich called time out with 1:24 left and pulled goalie Kaufmann for an extra skater. The Raiders battled for possession, but the puck came loose near the left boards, and Derek Johnson tried to launch the puck out of the zone. His clearing attempt may not have been on-target, but it was partially deflected by RosevilleÂ’s Neal Carlson, trying desperately to regain possession, and the deflected puck veered down the ice and landed right in the middle of the empty net with 52 seconds remaining.

The Raiders made one last spirited bid, but Anoka goaltender Olstad held firm. An unfortunate skirmish after the save resulted in RosevilleÂ’s Collin Cody delivering a cross-check to Tim Manthey, knocking off his helmet, knocking him down, and leaving Cody in the penalty box with a 5-minute major penalty.

Manthey, son of Anoka coach Todd Manthey, and arguably the best player in the three-day tournament, led the Anoka contingent that also included goaltender Kyle Olstad and forwards Ben Hendrick and Sean Fish on the all-tournament team. RosevilleÂ’s goalie, Jerad Kaufmann, and Raider teammates Neal Carlson on defense and Pat Eagles and Andy Carroll up front also made the team. The rest of the all-tourney team included forward Kevin Huck and defenseman Jack Hillen of third-place Holy Angels; forward Josh Frider of consolation champ Moorhead, and defenseman Dustin Mercado of White Bear Lake.

Talented Gophers awaken just in time for Tech, playoff run

Minnesota get on a hot streak a year ago and won the NCAA title, with the only loss in the Gophers final 11-1 stretch coming in the WCHA Final Five title game against Denver. Despite losing a group of standout seniors, WCHA rivals may have been waiting all year to see the same sort of chemistry from the Gophers this season, and, after assorted injuries and other problems, the sleeping giant seems to have awakened at just the right time again.

Maybe it was the twin comebacks against Denver, where a 3-0 deficit became a 3-3 tie and then a 4-1 deficit became an 8-5 Gopher victory. Or maybe it was a 5-3 victory and 1-1 tie against St. Cloud State that produced the three points to boost the Gophers into a tie with Minnesota State-Mankato, where the tie-breaking edge gave the No. 2 league seed to the Gophers, but all seems in order for another stretch run.

Michigan Tech, the ninth-place finisher at 7-18-3 to MinnesotaÂ’s 15-6-7, and with an overall record of 10-22-4 compared to MinnesotaÂ’s 20-8-9, comes to Mariucci Arena for the first round of WCHA playoffs. The Huskies, who made an uprising in January to threaten a rise, fell back again in February, including two tough losses against Wisconsin in the last home series.

The Huskies regained some hope when they went to Duluth and stung Minnesota-Duluth 6-3, to avenge two losses to the Bulldogs at Winter Carnival in Houghton, Mich. – only to lose the rematch by the identical score. But coach Mike Sertich was his usual witty self as he looked ahead to the trip to Minneapolis.

“We beat a pretty good hockey team on their rink in Duluth, so we’re using that as a springboard for the playoffs,” said Sertich. “They’re the ones who sent us on our tailspin at Winter Carnival, and that was on our minds when we went up there. We changed some things, and went in there and played well on the small rink.”

Sertich was then asked what the difference would be going from the WCHAÂ’s smallest rink in Duluth to the vast Olympic-size 200-by-100 sheet at Minnesota.

“Not a problem,” said Sertich. “We’re practicing on Keweenaw Bay to get ready for the big ice, and the nice thing about it is the lake’s frozen over, so we don’t lose the puck.”

Minnesota, however, seems to be in perfect position, despite various problems. Captain Grant Potulny, who scored the winning goal in the 5-4 overtime NCAA final victory against Maine, broke his ankle in the first game of the season and missed the first half of the year. Matt Koalska was out with hernia surgery. Barry Tallackson struggled, and then went out with a broken collarbone. All three were expected to be major offensive leaders for the Gophers, who, instead, turned to freshman Thomas Vanek.

The lanky sniper from Austria didn’t let them down. He led all WCHA rookies in league scoring with 15 goals, 13 assists for 28 points, while overall he led the Gophers with 24-27—51, ranking seventh among all WCHA scorers in all games, and second only to North Dakota’s Zach Parise in overall rookie scoring.

Troy Riddle, also, has 24-23—47, after scoring the game-winning goal at St. Cloud last Friday, and notching the lone Gopher goal in Saturday’s 1-1 standoff.

“Thomas Vanek has exceeded my expectations,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. “I thought he’d score, but not 50 points. Early in year, Riddle and Vanek seemed to be the only two who scored for us for a while. Now, the rest have picked it up, and Riddle and Vanek havenÂ’t scored as much.

“ItÂ’s been a good year for us, because we had our share of injuries, but fortunately everybody is back at the crucial time of the season. IÂ’m proud of the kids to be able to hang in there and get their points. Potulny is back, and Tallackson is starting to play well. Been a tough year for Barry. He had 13 goals as freshman, and we thought he might score 15, 18, 20 goals this year. But he hurt his shoulder, then went off to the Junior tournament. He has been frustrated. But lately, heÂ’s been playing a lot harder, and the puck seems to find a way to go in when you’re doing that. His elevated play has really helped.”

As for Tech, Lucia recalls four tough games early in the season. The teams played four times in the first month, with Minnesota going 3-0-1.

“I think tech is much-improved,” said Lucia. “Offensively, they can score some goals, and they can get around the rink. We’ve just got to focus on the short-term. WeÂ’ll worry about this weekend, and not look ahead. Our whole focus is on winning against Tech and advancing to the Final Five.”

Sertich pointed to inconsistency, particularly in goal, as affecting the Huskies and being a key this weekend. “We played very well in January when we got good goaltending, and then we didnÂ’t play very well in February, and we didn’t get very good goaltending from either kid. Our team has a tendency to look over their shoulder when things go against them. But it helps to have players like Brett Engelhardt, who epitomizes all that a leader can be. And Colin Murphy got 19 goals, and Chris Conner is everything we thought he’d be.”

Conner, a freshman, has 11-23—34, while sophomore Murphy has 19-19—38, and Engelhardt 16-15—31.

“Our dropoff point is greater than Minnesota’s,” Sertich said, referring to MinnesotaÂ’s depth. “They didn’t have Tallackson or Potulny or a couple of other guys who were injured when we played them early in season. ThereÂ’s no question that the emotion of last year carried over — they’re still the national champions, and will be until somebody beats ’em.”

Fighting Sioux hope to rebound against puzzling Pioneers

ThereÂ’s no place like home for the holidays, or, rather, for the playoffs. Just ask Dean Blais, coach at North Dakota, which dropped from what seemed like annual contention to have to go on the road for last yearÂ’s playoffs. This year, the Fighting Sioux ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the first half of the season, then dropped through most of the second half, but held on to fourth.

The “Zach Attack” led by freshman center Zach Parise may someday rival the “Hrkac Circus” for the NCAA championship days of the Tony Hrkac-based offense, but Parise is only a freshman, albeit a spectacular freshman. With the top five WCHA teams getting home ice, it should be a relief to the Fighting Sioux to have home ice, but the presence of powerful Denver, the defending WCHA champion, at Ralph Engelstad Arena promises to make the Sioux in something less than a hospitable mood.

“It’s good to be back having home ice after having to play at Minnesota last year,” said Blais, whose North Dakota club went 14-9-5 in league play to finish one point ahead of Minnesota-Duluth. The Sioux swept Wisconsin to end the season, while UMD was splitting with Michigan Tech, which proved the difference between fourth and fifth.

“We had two good games out at Denver,” said Blais. “We lost both games, but they were good games. This could be the toughest series of all, the way Denver moves the puck.”

Denver coach George Gwozdecky is aware that the Pioneers are one of the WCHAÂ’s puzzles this season. Big, strong, fast and impressive, and with outstanding goaltending, the Pioneers were the consensus pick of the WCHA coaches to win the league title. When Minnesota suffered some key injuries early in the season, Gopher coach Don Lucia was most concerned that Denver might run off with the league title.

Instead, the Pioneers had their own problems, dropping to the middle of the field, and ultimately missing home ice, finishing 11-11-6.

“We’ve had a disappointing year from our perspective, and for a number of different reasons,” Gwozdecky said. “We felt some of our strength would be up front, and we’ve struggled to score goals at times. On blue line, we also at times struggled. In goal, Wade Dubeliewicz got hurt and missed nine games.

“But now, weÂ’ve got zeroes across the board. ItÂ’s a new season, and weÂ’re going into a very tough place to play against a very tough team. If you play well, you continue to move on, if you don’t, you don’t.”

Both teams have done extremely well in nonconference games, which is why both have remained ranked among the top 15 teams in the country, ahead of, for example, Minnesota-Duluth, which has never risen above the “also received votes” category despite finishing ahead of Denver. North Dakota is ranked 11th in the polls, while Denver is 14th, and UMD is either 19th or 20th. North Dakota’s 14-9-5 league record swells to 24-9-5 overall, while Denver’s mediocre 11-11-6 league mark looks a lot better at 20-12-6 overall.

“We took advantage of our home games in the first half, and we were playing well,” Blais said. “We went 10-0, nonconference. Zach Parise is an atypical freshman. He is always dangerous offensively, and he and Brendon Bochenski carried us with their scoring the first half of the season. Exactly what happened in the second half was that teams with last change had their two best defensemen out against Zach and Bochenski. Their scoring dropped off a little. As good as the players are in this league, the coaching is so good, you can’t outmaneuver anybody.”

Parise, the son of former NHLer J.P. Parise, has 25 goals, 32 assists for 57 points. That’s a remarkable season for anyone, let alone a freshman, and it ranks him fourth-best among national scorers in points per game. Bochenski, a sophomore who always has had the knack of beating goaltenders, is 32-25—57, with the same overall points as Parise, and the WCHA leader in overall goals, one ahead of Peter Sejna. Obviously, their scoring is pivotal to the Sioux hopes.

“The fact that we were falling off, not knowing if we’d get home ice, has made us a better team,” said Blais. “The only question is, is there a goaltender out of our four who can make a difference?”

Gwozdecky is proud of his teamÂ’s 7-1 nonconference record, and says a key factor in DenverÂ’s demise to a .500 WCHA record was losing all four games to arch-rival Colorado College.

“To be successful, you have to have a good start and maintain your health,” Gwozdecky said. “My hat’s off to Minnesota, because they had some real health issues, but they hung in there. We’ve had patchwork lineups since November. But our nonconference record is 7-1, and we shut out Michigan State 5-0, won 4-0 against New Hampshire, and 6-0 against Miami, and those are pretty good quality teams.

“But our season has been challenging from the perspective of playing very well at times, in the season and within some games, then look like we’ve never even practiced. ItÂ’s happened a lot in recent games, and it’s a concern. ItÂ’s been a collaboration of a lot of different things. At this time of year, youÂ’ve got to start strong, stay strong and finish strong. Part of it is tactically, part mentally.”

North Dakota has been pretty healthy all season, then suddenly has a major question mark with David Hale, one of the team’s most solid defensemen. “David Hale lost 15 pounds, and didn’t have an ounce of fat on him,” said Blais. “He had night sweats, was sick. We finally got him down to Rochester, and he has a condition called IGA, which is kind of a kidney disease. He came back and skated on his own, but he’s going back down there. It hurts us a lot to lose him, but they feel they have a handle on his problem in Rochester. There’s a chance we might get him back, but right now, getting him healthy, and making a full recovery, is what’s most important.”

Denver will go with its favored goalie rotation, with Adam Berkhoel Friday and Wade Dubeliewicz on Saturday, and if it goes to a third game? “We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Gwozdecky.

For both Denver and North Dakota, ratings are important, because only one of the two can advance to the Final Five, and whichever team loses this series is in serious jeopardy as far as NCAA invitations are concerned. “We’re playing best hockey of year, but basically, if you lose to Denver, then it’s all in the hands of a selection committee,” said Blais.

UMD posts biggest surprise on a Friday of WCHA upsets

If anything was proven in the WCHA through the first month of mostly nonconference play it was that Denver and Minnesota would fight it out for league and national laurels, while North Dakota might zoom up to be their top challenger. Conversely, it seemed as though St. Cloud State, Minnesota State-Mankato and Minnesota-Duluth might be relegated to also-ran status.
And then came the weekend of November 8-9, when Denver, Minnesota and North Dakota all went into their series undefeated in league games. So what happened?
 North Dakota went to St. Cloud and was ambushed 7-3 by the Huskies.
 Minnesota went down Hwy. 169 to Mankato and promptly got stung 3-2 by Minnesota State-Mankato.
 But the biggest surprise of all came out at Denver, where Minnesota-Duluth stunned the nationÂ’s No. 1 ranked Denver Pioneers 3-2.
Never mind that on Saturday night things were reversed: The Fighting Sioux came back to gain a 3-2 overtime victory at St. Cloud, and the Gophers came back to win 7-4 in the rematch at Mankato. But at Denver, even a second-game 4-2 victory by the Pioneers failed to dampen the enthusiasm around Duluth, which returned home with a 2-1-1 record for four tough road games at Anchorage and Denver.
“I guess that Friday was a good night all across the country,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “The funny thing at Denver was that I thought Denver probably played better than us on Friday, and we might have outplayed them a little on Saturday. We’ve got a long season to go, but so far, we’ve been pretty consistent through eight games, and as young as we are, I guess consistency is the biggest surprise for our team. We haven’t had a lot of bad periods.
“We may have taken a positive step coming back against Colorado College, and then getting three points up at Anchorage.”
Before hitting the road, the Bulldogs had tied 4-4 and lost 4-3 against Colorado College, prompting CC coach Scott Owens to say: “We’re done with ’em and I’m glad. UMD is a better team than last year, and if they get those two guys – Caig and Williams – eligible, they’re going to be a pretty good club. We won three points out of four, but if we’d tied or even lost I wouldn’t have been upset.”
With that, Colorado College – all but overlooked so far – went home and smacked Alaska-Anchorage 4-1 and 5-2. With Anchorage struggling to score in the early going, that was the only series that went according to form, and with Denver, Minnesota and North Dakota all stumbling, it also thrust the CC Tigers into first place in the league.
Still, the surprise of the early going remained UMD, which had proven its toughness against CC with a three-goal third period in the 4-4 tie, and then won 3-2 and tied 2-2 at Anchorage, before bushwhacking Denver. The Bulldogs may still be a bit light in the scoring department, but the two players Owens mentioned, C.J Caig and Justin Williams, both are capable scorers awaiting expected eligibility clearance. Caig is already clear to start play next semester.
“We’ve had a lot of guys step up,” said Sandelin. “We knew Jon Francisco would be solid, and his whole line, with Tyler Brosz and Junior Lessard, has been playing very well. Brosz started off scoring, and Luke Stauffacher already has four goals after getting none last year as a freshman. Nick Anderson has been strong along the wall, and Brett Hammond and Josh Miskovich have both been pleasant surprises, and are now playing some specialty shifts.”
Defensively, Beau Geisler is much stronger and has played very well from the outset. But some other blueliners have surprised.
“Tim Stapleton has gotten off to a good start, and guys like Steve Czech and Todd Smith have been solid defensively,” said Sandelin. “And Jay Hardwick has stepped up and been one of our best defensemen the last two weekends.”
The other big change for the Bulldogs is freshman goaltender Isaac Reichmuth, who came in amid controversy because Sandelin pulled the scholarship of hometown ace Adam Coole, from Duluth East, after his sophomore season to make room for Reichmuth. The freshman from Fruitvale, British Columbia, started at Anchorage even though senior Rob Anderson had played well against Colorado College, and when he won with 15 saves, he came back and played even better, with 25 saves, the next night.
Sandelin went with Reichmuth at Denver, too, and after the first-game upset, he started his fourth straight game on Saturday, although Sandelin pulled him in the second period to try to shake up his teamÂ’s lethargic offense.
“I know last year, with some of the moves I made, some people were saying, ‘OK, they’re going to have to win, now,’ ” said Sandelin, who is in his third year at the UMD helm. “Well, what do those people think I’ve been trying to do? That’s why I made some moves. I was brought in here to win, and the expectations rise every year.
“Isaac played well at Denver, and the only reason I pulled him in the second game was to shake up our guys. We came back and scored two goals, and Robbie Anderson came in and played well.
“I think what happened with all the upsets shows how much parity there is in college hockey this year. There are the top 10 or 12 teams, but the gaps are closing in. I love the way Denver plays. They’ve got speed and depth and great goaltending. Minnesota is proving its depth with all the injuries they’ve had. I think Colorado College is right up there, too. They’re a lot younger than Denver, but they’re going to be tough, too.”
As for the Bulldogs?
“If we can keep getting points and hang around up there with the top teams, you never know what can happen,” said Sandelin. “This stretch coming up is really important to us. We went 2-1-1 on the road, but we haven’t won at home yet, with the tie and loss to CC. Now we’ve got eight of our next 10 games at home, and we’ve got to win at home.”
After facing Wisconsin in a weekend series, UMD plays St. Cloud home-and-home, then Alaska-Anchorage comes to the DECC for a return series, before the Bulldogs play nonconference against Bemidji, home-and-home, and Union College at the DECC.
“We’ve got Wisconsin coming in, and we know Mike Eaves has those guys working harder than any Wisconsin team in a lot of years,” Sandelin said.
“We know we’re going to get Caig and Williams, sooner or later. Williams might have become eligible right away, but he broke his foot when he got hit with a puck in practice, so he may be out until Christmas anyway. Then we lost Jesse Unklesbay, and we don’t know for how long. He got hit knee-to-knee Saturday night at Denver. I was pretty upset about that one, because there’s no place in the game for that kind of hit. Unklesbay broke his tibia, the big bone under his kneecap, and he may be out a month.
“So maybe at Christmastime we’ll have Caig, Williams and Unklesbay coming in all at the same time. Hmmm…That would be a pretty good line.”

UMD women blitz St. Cloud State, but Lesteberg stays focused

Jason Lesteberg is both an optimist and a realist, which are not always easy to juggle for a Division I college hockey coach.
After moving south from Bemidji State to take on the task of rebuilding the St. Cloud State womenÂ’s hockey program, Lesteberg knew what he was in for. The Huskies, like a lot of college teams that have sprung up around the country, may have been caught underestimating the caliber of womenÂ’s hockey, and suffered when caught short of the talent level of the elite teams.
The future, Lesteberg is certain, is bright for the Huskies, because of the eight freshmen playing regularly. Five of his 12 forwards, two of his six defensemen, and one of his two goalies are first-year players. That includes forwards Krista Simonson from Hibbing and Ashley Stewart from Toronto. In addition, two of the other forwards and two of the other defensemen are sophomores.
“Maybe some of our older players have lost a little of the fire from having to struggle so much,” said Lesteberg. “But we’ve got seven freshmen in the lineup, all of them being counted on heavily, and all of our young kids have got that competitiveness inside.”
The WomenÂ’s WCHA has reached an interesting plateau, where Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota seem to take turns leading the league and subsequently raising the standard of play game after game and season after season. The rest of the WCHA seems to be improving considerably, but the gap still remains.
Lesteberg and his youthful Huskies have seen that gap, up close and personal.
“Our games against Wisconsin, Bemidji State, Ohio State and Mankato have all been very competitive,” Lesteberg said. “But programs like Minnesota and UMD have been running very competitively since they started. We had played Minnesota, and I think UMD and the Gophers are very comparable. So we expected high-tempo games against UMD.”
St. Cloud State got what it expected.
The Huskies were whipped 10-1 and 8-0 by Minnesota, which was ranked No. 1 at the time. Then they went to Duluth, and the Bulldogs administered two more shellackings, 11-1 and 8-2.
Both games had their similarities, because moved ahead 1-0 in the first game, then Roxy StangÂ’s goal tied it for the Huskies, before UMD edged ahead 3-1 at the first intermission. The Bulldogs then broke free and roared to the 10-1 rout. Olympian Jenny Potter had two goals and five assists, while Tricia Guest got her second straight hat trick, and Erika Holst added four goals. UMD outshot the Huskies 52-17, including a 38-8 bulge in the last two periods.
In the second game, again UMD went up 1-0 early, and again Stang tied it 1-1 for St. Cloud State. This time, Ashley Stewart put the Huskies up 2-1, before Potter gained a 2-2 tie for UMD midway through the first session. After that, Potter put on a show, scoring three times in the second period, around HolstÂ’s 20th goal of the season, as UMD went ahead 6-2, then Potter scored twice more in the third, and wound up the game with an incredible six goals. UMD won 8-2, outshooting the overmatched visitors 54-14, and 40-6 over the second and third periods.
Still, Lesteberg retained his even demeanor.
The four crushing losses in succession had dropped St. Cloud State to 3-9 in the WCHA and 3-12 overall.
“But we split with Wisconsin and Mankato,” said Lesteberg. “We played them pretty even in the first period, but we can’t seem to put 60 minutes together. We have a stretch where nine of 13 games are against ranked teams, and if get through that, the second half of our schedule is more favorable from now on.
“A team like UMD can transition on you like the wind blows. We want to get to where they are. We’re trying to bring in the best players and build a program with strength from within. But UMD is at the level of play we want to get to. We’ve got a freshman like Krista Simonson, and we think she has the potential to become like a Potter for us. She has to work on here strength and her hockey sense, but she has the skill level.”
While UMD is the two-time defending NCAA champion, and the Gophers are the two-time defending WCHA league champion, Lesteberg knows thatÂ’s where he wants his Huskies to be going.
“It’s great to play against players like UMD has, with Potter, Holst and Maria Rooth. We don’t really have any upper classmen at that level, but they also have some great players who won’t be in the league next year. I noticed UMD had two true freshmen in the lineup, and we had seven; UMD had three or four sophomores, and we had five or six.
“I like where we’re at with our team, and I REALLY like where we’re at with our younger players. I think a lot of colleges added women’s hockey and I don’t think they knew how good it could get.”
UMD (9-0-1 WCHA, 13-1-2 overall) outshot the Huskies 106-31 for the two games combined. The Huskies goaltenders got a workout against UMD, with freshman Brie Anderson making 41 saves in the first game, and junior Ellen Brinkman blocking 46 shots in the second.
Potter was flat magnificent, taking over the national scoring lead with her fantastic weekend. The quick-striking junior has 18 goals, 24 assists for 42 points, after her seven points on Saturday and six on Sunday, including eight goals among the 13 points.
Lesteberg even saw a ray of hope in watching Potter fill the net.
“Potter got seven points in the first game,” Lesteberg said, “but she got nine points against us once. So we’re improving.”

(John Gilbert has covered the WCHA for over 35 years and writes features for the men’s and women’s website. He just completed his first book, “Return to Gold Country,” about last year’s Minnesota men’s NCAA championship team, and he can be contacted at jgilbert@duluth.com.)

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• 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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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.