Eden Prairie hangs on for first-ever state tournament victory

SAINT PAUL, MN. — As long as its been a season for eliminating unflattering stereotypes, Eden Prairie wiped out the most nagging accusation Thursday by beating Lakeville 3-2 in the first round of the boys Class AA hockey tournament at Xcel Center.

True, 3-2 isnÂ’t exactly a show of domination, but it was enough to vault the Eagles (22-3-3) into the semifinals, where they have never ventured.

“Eden Prairie has been here four times, and I’ve been with ‘em for three of those,” said coach Lee Smith. “This was our first win in the state tournament.”

Now, that doesnÂ’t count the odd consolation game, but the Eagles, with an emerging powerhouse program, had never won a first-round game, and therefore never advanced beyond one-and-done status.
“We’ve heard it all, though,” Smith added. “These guys had been told we couldn’t get by Edina in Section 6, but we did it.”

They did it by blitzing top-seeded Edina 6-0 in the section final, but once in the state field, the challenge was larger.
And they blitzed Lakeville, too, but it didn’t show on the scoreboard. In fact, the Panthers almost succeeded in prep hockey’s version of “rope-a-dope,” falling behind 2-0, then 3-0, then somehow finding a way to stay in proximity of upsetting Eden Prairie – without shooting, difficult as that may seem.

Aaron WeberÂ’s goal at 11:36 of the second period gave Lakeville life, and Adam Davis scored a power-play goal at 3:36 of the third to make it 3-2, and even though the Panthers wound up with only 11 shots on goal for the game, to Eden PrairieÂ’s 26, Lakeville was always just one turnover away from the equalizer.

Ryan Hawkins admitted to some relief after the game, but mostly for the sake of the program.

“For our program, it’s the biggest thing ever done,” said Hawkins. “It’s great for our program, our coaches and the guys. Nick Peters, Chris Berg and I are all seniors who were on the 2000 state tournament team as sophomores. We played Greenway in the first game, and we were ahead, but they scored with two seconds left, and beat us in overtime. That’s all I could think of, when this game got down to the last few minutes. We don’t usually let that sort of thing bother us.”

Hawkins helped see to it that the Eagles would get off to a strong start, but he gave credit to Dave Watters. “Twenty-two is the big-gamer on our team, and when he came out and buried his first shot, we knew we were going to be OK,” said Hawkins.

Watters scored on a game-opening rush, knocking in a rebound at the left edge at 0:53. At 5:00, Brady Miller got the puck in the left corner and found Hawkins in the slot. Hawkins shot quickly and put the puck in off the right post for a 2-0 start.

“Brady saw me after he was mucking it out in the corner,” said Hawkins. “I don’t even know where it went, I just tried to get it off quick.”

Lakeville, outshot 12-3 in the first period, was outshot 8-4 in the second, but goaltender Brandon OÂ’Brien held the Panthers in the game. It didnÂ’t seem to be enough, though, when Nate Hanson scored on a rebound at 10:07 of the second session.

But a minute and a half later, LakevilleÂ’s Weber scored from the slot, and it was 3-1. The third period opened with successive penalties to Eden PrairieÂ’s Chris Berenguer at 1:12 and Joe Beck at 2:02, leaving the Eagles two men short for 1:10, and Lakeville on an extended power play with the overlap.

Davis came through with his power-play goal at 3:36, the Panthers were within striking distance.

“We had to kill the 5-on-3,” Smith said. “Then when we got one guy back, we iced the puck and the ref blew his whistle. We were shorthanded, so it should have been OK, and when they realized that, they faced off at center ice, instead of the puck being down at their end. That’s when they scored.”

But no amount of odd calls or close calls could matter. Eden Prairie is now 11-0-1 in its stretch run, and, biggest of all, the Eagles have won a game that mattered at the state tournament. “I really think this will put us over a big hurdle,” said Hawkins.

Roseville whips Eden Prairie 4-1, faces Anoka in AA final

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Roseville was ready, willing and able to take part in the anticipated semifinal shootout in the state Class AA hockey tournament semifinals Friday night, while Eden Prairie was ready, willing but unable to hold of its end.

The result was a 4-1 victory for Roseville (24-3-2), which will make its second straight trip to the championship game, to face Anoka (24-4-1) – which won a stunning 2-1 semifinal victory to eliminate defending champion Holy Angels – and one of the two will be winning its first-ever state championship in Saturday’s 7 p.m. finale at Xcel Energy Center.

The Raiders led 1-0 in the first, 3-0 after two and 4-0 before Eden Prairie got its lone goal, with only 1:11 remaining. As impressive as Roseville was, throughout the game, part of the difference might have come down to the Hockey Expo, a display of new equipment, that is conducted annually at Wilkins Auditorium, next door to the Xcel Energy Center.

That factor came through after the game, when it was suggested to Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith that the game might have gone differently if Eden Prairie had been able to get one past Jerad Kaufmann earlier in the game.

“I feel like it could have been different if we could have hit the net earlier,” said Smith. “I’ve never seen our kids miss the net as much as we did tonight. We were not just missing the net, but missing by a good three or four feet. A lot of our kids went to the Expo, and got new sticks. I told them all not to use something they’re unfamiliar with, but a lot of them used different sticks.”

A check with the Eden Prairie equipment manager confirmed that possibly more than half the Eagles prepared and used new sticks, a fact that defies the hockey tradition of using a “lucky stick” that worked for a goal or a victory, and staying with it until it breaks or the player’s luck changes. The Eagles managed only 16 shots, to Roseville’s 20, but, as Smith said, many of the Eden Prairie shots sailed wide by large margins.

SmithÂ’s frustration only got worse when he learned of RosevilleÂ’s fourth goal.

“Kellen Chamblee, who got our fourth goal,” said Roseville coach Steve Sertich, “scored it with a new stick.”

He bought it at Strauss Skates, however, and not at the Expo.
The two high-powered offenses paid closer attention to defensive coverage in the first period, as the teams dueled through a scoreless first 14 minutes. Not that there werenÂ’t chances. Brandon Svendsen, who has 30 goals for the Raiders, got loose for not one but two breakaways, about 10 seconds apart, 12 minutes into the opening period, but Eden Prairie goalie Maurcus Paulson came up with spectacular saves on both of them.

With 24 seconds left in the period, however, the Raiders broke through, as Pat Eagles rushed up the left side and dropped a perfect pass to Svendsen, who passed hard from the left circle across the goal-mouth, where Andy Carroll deflected it in for a 1-0 lead.

Blake Twardowski scored with a backhander at the left edge of the crease at 4:42 of the second period for a 2-0 Roseville lead. Then Mike Sertich made the Eagles pay with a power-play goal at 14:19 of the middle period, when Collin Cody passed from the left circle and Sertich converted from the right edge of the net.

Midway through the third period, Chamblee scored for the 4-0 cushion.
Eden Prairie got one puck into the Roseville net at 9:53, but Ryan Hawkins, who had been knocked down in the crease, clearly knocked it in with his hand and it was disallowed. Jordan Iverson finally scored for the Eagles, but not until 13:49, leaving too little time for Eden Prairie to close the gap further.

“We knew coming in they’d be aggressive offensively,” said Smith. “There wasn’t anything they did that really surprised us. We weren’t able to capitalize on some chances, but their goalie played big tonight, and they did a good job of chipping the puck to the end boards or to the side and then throwing it long.”

Sertich said he was especially proud of his team reaching the final because it has been pretty much overlooked amid the media attention all season.

“Last year’s team had more skills, but this team battles,” said Sertich. “We’ve been with these kids since they were peewees, and it’s great to see them have some success. Our goalie, Jerad Kaufmann, hasn’t gotten any notice, and he’s 21-1 for the season.”

With a chance, he failed to add, to be 22-1 if the Raiders can win one more game.

Roseville rallies to subdue White Bear Lake to reach semis

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Brandon Svendsen didnÂ’t actually shoot the puck either time, but he skillfully got his stickblade where it mattered the most twice in the third period, and that was just enough to lift Roseville to a 4-3 victory over White Bear Lake in the final game of the first round of Class AA boys state hockey tournament quarterfinals.

The Raiders (24-3-2) advance to face Eden Prairie in the second Friday night semifinal at Xcel Energy Center, while the Bears (21-7-1) head for Mariucci Arena to face Lakeville in consolation play.
The Bears, however, didnÂ’t go down without a battle. They led 1-0 in the first, and 3-1 in the second, putting the explosive Raiders in serious jeopardy before a crow2d of 18,273.

Lance Malark staked White Bear Lake to a 1-0 lead when he carried in on the left side and snapped a deadly wrist shot that beat Roseville goaltender Jerad Kaufmann to the far side at 7:05 of the opening period. The Raiders countered at 12:34 when Andy Carroll took a feed from behind the net by Pat Eagles and jammed a shot from the right side past Jon Anderson.

The Bears stormed ahead in the second period. First Dan Bonne scored at 3:43, moving in on the left side and scoring high to the right. Then Matt Anderson scored after Pat Connelly squeezed past a tangle of bodies to rush up the left side and pass across the slot, where Anderson was stationed to steer it in at 7:08.

That was a pretty goal, and it inspired three more picture-play goals, but, unfortunately for the Bears, all three were scored by the Raiders.

With 48 seconds to go in the second period, Roseville cut into that 3-1 deficit when Taylor Cox shot from the left point and Mike Sertich deflected it artfully up and into the right side of the cage.

The faceoff to open the third period hit the ice, and the Raiders charged. Pat Eagles dashed into the White Bear zone and passed across the goal-mouth, where Svendsen stabbed it with his stickblade and deflected it past Anderson, who was the Frankie Brimsek Award goaltender of the year this season. The goal came just eight seconds into the third period and tied it 3-3.

At 4:24, Eagles again was the alert set-up man, as he pounced on a loose puck just inside the blue line and fired a shot that Svendsen again tipped past Anderson. The senior forward didnÂ’t have the puck on his stick more than a millisecond both times, but his deflections created the 4-3 lead.

The Bears stepped up their intensity and attacked until the finish, constantly pressuring the Raiders and outshooting them 13-5 for the period, and 24-19 for the game, but couldnÂ’t get anything more past Kaufmann. Bears coach Tim Sager pulled goalie Anderson with 1:10 to go, but Roseville held on, winning the best-played game of the day.

Bemidji coach Olson watches UMD women celebrate title

It was pretty much the perfect ending to a perfect regular season for the University of Minnesota-Duluth womenÂ’s hockey team. After romping to a 10-0 victory at Bemidji State, the Bulldogs returned home to almost duplicate the feat with an 11-3 Sunday matinee triumph over Bemidji at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on Sunday afternoon.
The victories clinched the WomenÂ’s WCHA title at 21-2-1 for UMD, which finished regular-season play ranked No. 2 in the country at 27-3-2. While it is normal to conduct some sort of senior day before the final home game of the regular season, UMD coach Shannon Miller chose to hold this one after the final game, knowing the pregame ceremony might bother the visitors from Bemidji State, and the possible emotion might bother the UMD players.
So, after the game, a carpet was unrolled on the DECC ice, and while the 1,443 fans stayed in place, the eight seniors were called to center ice one by one. Joanne Eustace, Jenny Hempel, Erika Holst, Navada Russell, Patricia Sautter, Hanne Sikio, Michelle McAteer, and Maria Rooth. They walked out with parents or adopted Duluth family members, and there were a lot of tears and emotion spilling after an incredible four-year run. Rooth and Holst are from Sweden, Sikio from Finland, Sautter from Switzerland, Eustace, McAteer and Russell from Canada, and Hempel from Minnesota.
As the ceremony continued, a tall figure stood over behind the glass in the corner, where the visiting team enters and leaves the rink. It was Bemidji State coach Bruce Olson.
“That’s a great team,” said Olson, whose team still has a weekend to go at 5-12-5 and 9-15-6. “What can you do? They’ve got some awesome players. All we can hope to do is land one or two kids with that kind of skill, and then maybe some others will follow.
“We know it might be difficult to get up to that level at Bemidji, be that’s what we hope to do.”
Olson knows that thereÂ’s a gap between the top of the WomenÂ’s WCHA, and teams such as UMD and Minnesota. But Wisconsin has closed the gap on them, and Bemidji State hopes to challenge Ohio State and keep moving up, while also bringing some stability to the Beavers program.
“I’m the third coach the program has had in four years,” said Olson.
“But look at where we are. We got to Ohio State for the final weekend and we’ve got a chance to finish fourth. Ohio State is tough, but if we happen to win, we’d finish fourth, and that would be the best Bemidji State has ever done.”
Regardless, the Beavers and Buckeyes are on a collision course to play this weekend in the season-ending series, and then to meet again at Englestad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D., in the WomenÂ’s WCHA Final Five playoff March 6-8. The fourth and fifth teams play a one-game knockout, for the right to face UMD in the semifinals, while Minnesota finishes the regular season against Wisconsin, and then comes right back to take on the Badgers again in the WCHA semifinals.
It is likely that two teams will advance to the NCAA Frozen Four in Duluth, with UMD and Minnesota both being ranked among the nationÂ’s top three teams all season, and Wisconsin among the top seven.
Olson, who was a star player at Roseau High School and then at UMD, coached in North Dakota and returned to coach the boys high school team at Roseau before going back to North Dakota to further his degree, and while there, he coached the North Dakota club team that this year started varsity hockey. His team reflects his steady and classy approach to the game.
Olson has eight seniors on the Bemidji State team, led by Amber Fryklund of Hibbing, who leads with 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points. Lill Raynard, another senior, plays on FryklundÂ’s wing. Betsy Hegland, Alicia Kinsman and Kerri McEwen form an all-senior third line, and Amy Shepler in on the fourth line, while Lisa Peters leads the defense and Bre Dedrickson is one of three rotating goaltenders.
The challenge for Bemidji State was immense against UMD. The Bulldogs have so much scoring power they had overrun the Beavers 9-0 and 10-0 earlier in the season. Adding SaturdayÂ’s 10-0 victory meant that UMD had outscored Bemidji State 29-0 in three victories. But the Beavers played hard in the Sunday match at the DECC.
After Caroline Ouellette staked UMD to a 1-0 lead, Raynard scored her ninth goal of the season to not only give Bemidji its first goal against UMD in four games, but to tie the game 1-1. Nora Tallus and Sikio came right back with goals 48 seconds apart for a 3-1 UMD lead, but Kinsman scored with a diving deflection of a long pass to bring Bemidji up to 3-2.
UMD was not to be denied, with Sikio and Rooth scoring 41 seconds apart in the final minute of the opening period to make it 5-2, and the Bulldogs never looked back. They outshot Bemidji State 45-16, and Jenny Potter scored three goals and four assists, Sikio added two goals and four assists, and Rooth, the captain, was named No. 1 star with three goals and one assist.
That means Potter continues to lead the nation in scoring with 32-51—83. Ouellette has 26-37—63, Holst 29-28—57, Sikio 22-26—48, and Rooth 19-29—48. Rooth now has 226 points to become UMD’s all-time leading hockey scorer, breaking Dan Lempe’s 24-year-old mark of 222 career points for the Bulldog men.
Olson, whose Bemidji State team tied the Gophers 2-2 early in the season, and has a victory and a tie in an early series with Ohio State, knows this yearÂ’s Beavers have improved as the season has gone along. And they have more to go. But watching him watch the on-ice celebration by UMD at the DECC made you realize he has an idea for where he wants to take the Bemidji State program.

Freshman Vanek steps in, steps up to pace Gopher offense

When the chips are on the line in WCHA hockey, tradition says depending on a freshman to do the scoring is risky. For the Univesrsity of Minnesota, however, putting the pressure on freshman Thomas Vanek has led to amazing rewards and results, and with only two weekends to go in the regular season, this topsy-turvy season is far from over.
The Gophers, in fact, seem to be masters of connecting seeming opposites. Their motto, in fact, could be both: “What a difference a year makes” and, “How similar can two years be?”
A year ago, the Gophers were starting a phenomenal 11-1 closing surge to win the NCAA championship, behind the glorious leadership of seniors Johnny Pohl (27 goals and a national best 79 points) and Jordan Leopold (20 goals, 58 points and the Hobey Baker Award), plus the 34-goal scoring of junior Jeff Taffe. All three of those fellows are gone, as is goaltender Adam Hauser, who set a WCHA record with 83 career victories. The goal-happy Gophers of a year ago showed eight players in double figures for goals, with Taffe (34), Pohl (27), and Leopold (20) followed by Troy Riddle with 16, Grant Potulny 15, Barry Tallackson 13, and 10 each from Matt Koalska and Keith Ballard.
Obviously, it’s impossible to replace such impressive leadership as Pohl, Leopold, Taffe, Hauser and the other seniors provided. The Gophers have struggled to score some times this season, with only Riddle rising to show improvement over last season’s stats. Riddle has 22-23—45. But here’s the astonishing part: No other Gopher has hit double figures in goals – except for Vanek.
But the second part of this season’s motto is not to be trifled with. Despite hurting for balance and consistency in goal-scoring, the Gophers stand 13-6-5 in the WCHA, good for 31 points and third place behind Colorado College and Minnesota State-Mankato. Now look back to last year’s fantastic season – at the exact same point in the season the Gophers stood 14-7-3, for 31 points. Exactly the same!
From here on the parallel requires close scrutiny, because the Gophers finished 11-1 a year ago, and they take that knowledge into this weekendÂ’s series against preseason WCHA favorite Denver, while being fully aware that Mankato is at Colorado College, a series that ends MankatoÂ’s season, while the Gophers still have two games with St. Cloud State and a chance to move higher than third.
Points and victories matter far more than individual goals, but the emergence of Vanek, who is dueling North Dakota freshman Zach Parise for the nationÂ’s rookie scoring lead, is providing the ignition for the Gophers.
A rookie from Graz, Austria, by way of Sioux Falls from the USHL junior ranks, Vanek may have no knowledge of last yearÂ’s individual achievements, but he certainly doesnÂ’t shrink from the challenge. A lanky, 6-foot-2, 210-pound winger, Vanek cruises to his own beat when heÂ’s on the ice. Instead of the hustling, whirling-dervish two-way workers that populate teams throughout college and pro hockey, Vanek seems to coast and avoid congestion, almost disappearing until the puck touches his stick, at which time his game turns positively electrifying.
That style has led to some whispered criticism about how he doesnÂ’t get involved, doesnÂ’t hustle, doesnÂ’t like contact, although even the whisperers know that a lot of players can make it into the National Hockey League if they possess the puck-skills Vanek displays everytime he gets the puck on his stick.
“He plays under control,” said Gopher coach Don Lucia. “Vanek is not going to be first up on the forecheck, or using his body. But he’s very strong on the puck, and very dangerous. He’s got a chance to score 30 goals as a freshman. He’s far and away the best natural goal-scorer we have.”
An interesting note is that when the game gets serious, VanekÂ’s determination seems to rise as well. Of his 24 goals, 13 of them have been scored in the third period. A perfect example came last Friday night at the DECC in Duluth. It had been a strange game, scoreless for one period, then 2-0 for Minnesota, on goals by Ballard and Riddle, before UMDÂ’s Jon Francisco and T.J. Caig countered for a 2-2 tie before the second period ended.
Marco PelusoÂ’s goal at 0:16 of the third put UMD ahead 3-2, and Luke Stauffacher boosted UMD to a 4-2 lead at 7:00.
“We weren’t playing well, we had turnovers,” said Vanek. “Down two goals, we had to get going. Play hard. We have to have some players step up, and I’m one of the guys to step up and get a goal.”
At 7:42, Vanek went to work. “I was behind the net,” he said. “I saw the goalie cheating one way, and I yelled to Matt DeMarchi, who passed it to me and I got a wraparound.”
Sounded simple. But the Gophers still trailed 4-3. Riddle got his second goal of the game by coaxing the puck to trickle across the line on a power play at 11:45. And with 3:31 remaining, Vanek turned it up, considerably. Koalska knocked the puck ahead after a center-ice turnover, and the Gophers charged. It was a ragged rush, and nobody was really open, but Vanek had the puck.
He simply charged for the net, irrepressibly, and didnÂ’t stop until he had jammed the puck past goaltender Isaac Reichmuth.
“It is loud in this arena,” Vanek said. “The fans are right on top of you. But I like it. I don’t know what it is about the third period, but I wanted it.”
And, he got it.
Strangely, however, the Saturday rematch had an even more spectacular finish, but was a reversal. Again the game was scoreless through one period. Again Minnesota struck first, but this time it was for a 3-0 lead in the second period, as Garrett Smaagaard and freshmen Gino Guyer and Tyler Hirsch scored consecutive goals. Evan Schwabe got one back for UMD, but the Gophers seemed in solid command at 3-1 with a period to go.
Nick Anderson got an early goal for the Bulldogs, but Paul Martin countered for Minnesota, and it was 4-2. At that point, however, UMD rallied. Tim Stapleton, yet another freshman, scored on a one-timer to make it 4-3, and the Bulldogs pulled goalie Rob Anderson, which led to one of the weirdest final minutes anywhere. With the goalie pulled, the Bulldogs couldnÂ’t get out of their own end. Vanek shot one just over the crossbar, and two or three other good Gopher chances either missed or were blocked by defensemen.
The ‘Dogs couldn’t escape their end until 20 seconds remained, just time for one frantic rush. They charged, with Stapleton getting the puck on net. Justin Johnson caught it, but juggled it, and it dropped into the crease next to him, just as UMD captain Francisco arrived and knocked it in, tying the game 4-4 with 11 seconds to go.
Overtime started, Hammond got the puck back to Steve Czech at the right point, and Czech’s blast found the back of the net, courtesy of the slightest deflection by Francisco. “The ref asked me if I got it,” said Francisco, who earlier turned down a similar goal that would have meant a hat trick. “I said I touched it, but give the goal to Czech.”
Instead, the official properly awarded it to Francisco, for a hat trick, and a sweet 5-4 shocker for UMD.
“We have to learn how to close out games like this,” said Lucia. “We could have clinched home ice for the playoffs tonight. We were playing well when we got up 3-0, and I thought we could have done better after that, but Duluth did some good things too.”
The loss snapped an amazing streak in which the Gophers had gone 17-0-4 in the second games of WCHA series, over two seasons. The Gophers were only 13-11-2 in first games. But they also haven’t lost two games in a row in 77 games – the longest streak ever for any WCHA team.
Meanwhile, stopping Vanek proved decisive for UMD, just as being unable to stop him had been pivotal for the Gophers the night before. Along with his two-goal third-period outburst at UMD, Vanek scored the game-winner to end a 5-4 victory at Michigan Tech, he scored twice in the third to lift the Gophers to a 5-5 tie with Michigan State, and his third-period goal tied Colorado College and sprung the Gophers to a 3-2 victory.
And while the rookie may not know it, only one year ago the Gophers had to fight to gain a split at Duluth, and many of those older Gophers recall that as the springboard to Minnesota’s closing rush to the championship. “It was a very disappointing loss,” said Potulny, the captain, who was sidelined with a broken ankle for the first half of the season. “But it could be exactly what we need to make us realize what we have to do the rest of the way.”

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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.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
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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.