Cryderman makes trip to Proctor pay off
It took Joel Cryderman a while before he got to race at Proctor Speedway this season, but the Late Model driver made the haul down from Thunder Bay worthwhile Wednesday night with a startling pass for the lead on the next-to-last lap to win the 30-lap feature of the annual Summer Sizzler.
Ryan Aho of Chisholm, on the other hand, didn’t have to come as far to race in the companion Super Stock category, but he had to survive a first-lap multiple-car crash that he helped ignite before he drove on and won the 20-lap feature in the belated first appearance of the five-race Amsoil Super Series at Proctor.
Cryderman was fourth in a leading chain of cars from the start of the Late Model feature, which was led from the green flag by Steve Laursen, the Cumberland, Wis., son of regional racing legend Russ Laursen.
Lap after lap, Laursen’s powerful Chevrolet came off the turns faster than anyone, lifting its left front wheel from the torque and the suspension set-up, and carrying it part way down each straightaway. Jay Kittle of Hibbing was second, and Cryderman had strained to gain third place by the midpoint of the race.
Several restarts allowed the other contenders to stay within range of Laursen, and Cryderman, pushing hard, finally picked off Kittle for second place and challenged Laursen. Throughout the closing laps, Cryderman moved up close and tried to stick his nose inside Laursen, who repeatedly stormed away coming out of the turns. On the next-to-last lap, however, Cryderman boldly cut inside coming into Turn 1, cut the corner a little short in a bounding, dirt-spewing gamble at Turn 2, and came out even on the inside of Laursen as they reached the back straight.
Cryderman held that spot and gained the lead going into Turn 3, and the white flag greeted the pair as they came around by the grandstand, signalling one more lap. Cryderman held on, Laursen was second, and Tommy Waseleski took third.
“I might have made the track a little shorter by cutting in like that for the pass,” said Cryderman, with a grin.
“I didn’t know he was down there, or I would have gone down there myself,” said Laursen, who had beaten Cryderman at Superior in the first race of the rich, Amsoil-sponsored series.
The special race program was part of the five-race Amsoil Super Series, which pays an added $11,000 purse, with $5,000 going to the series winner at both the Proctor and Superior tracks for Wissota Late Model and Super Stock racers.
“The series is a good deal,” said Cryderman, 39, who made $1,500 from Wednesday night’s victory. “There aren’t enough good-paying races around for Late Models. It costs so much to race that we have to make $300 or $400 a night just to break even.”
If the Sizzler feature had paid only $300 or $400 instead of $1,500, would Cryderman have made the daring move for the lead on Lap 28?
“If it paid $300, I’d probably be sitting in the stands, like I did Sunday,” Cryderman said.
His statement spoke a volume about why he missed a second chance to run at Proctor this season, and how the traditional high cost of auto racing is not restricted to Formula 1, or CART, or NASCAR, but is an ever-increasing problem for weekend racers who try to excel in the Wissota’s seven-state circuit.
When the first Amsoil race was rained out on Memorial Day weekend, Cryderman and the Wissota racers missed a chance to run at Proctor. He came back last Sunday, but, as occasionally happens in regional short-track racing, the Fourth of July event fell victim to a sparse turnout of fans and cars because of threatening weather and assorted holiday fireworks shows, so the promoters cut the purse.
That was a tough decision, but Cryderman then made a tough one too — he decided not to race. He made up for it on Wednesday.
The stands were only about 2/3 full for Wednesday night’s show, in perfect weather and with the best race drivers from throughout the Up North region, but the car count was a little less than anticipated — 28 Late Models and 37 Super Stocks — because of competing special events throughout the area. Pete Wohlers, for example, dominated and won last Sunday’s Late Model race at Proctor and was among the favorites for Wednesday, but he raced in Brainerd on Tuesday night, had to work late Wednesday, and was a no-show.
The Late Model feature had to be spectacular to prevent the Super Stocks from stealing the spotlight. Less costly, and burning high-octane gasoline instead of the methanol burned by the Late Models, the Super Stocks are no less intense and exciting. It appeared that Chuckie DeSmith and Brady Smith, who had finished 1-2 in their qualifying heat, might renew that battle in the feature, but both were eliminated from contention in the curve connecting Turns 3-4 on the first lap. Race winner Ryan Aho was either a victim or the cause of the chaos, depending on which version you accept.
As the race started, the leaders completed three-fourths of a lap, but Aho went high through the turn, with DeSmith cutting underneath to pass. Aho’s velocity then shot him down right into DeSmith’s trajectory, and the left-rear of Aho’s car and the right front of DeSmith’s car came together abruptly. “I got turned around by ’05’ (DeSmith),” said Aho. “He came into the turn a little hot, I guess.”
The trailing drivers, however, suggested that Aho had gone high, got crossed-up, and came down into DeSmith. Whatever, Brady Smith, the Super Stock rookie from Solon Springs, who has dominated the class including winning last Sunday’s Proctor feature, hammered the brakes.
“I almost had it stopped, but the guys behind me knocked me into him,” said Smith, whose car wedged its nose down under the rear end of DeSmith’s car, where the two remained while a half-dozen other cars piled into them.
Smith’s battered racer was through for the night, and DeSmith got restarted — after his spilled fuel caught fire in a brief but dazzling blaze — but had to race from the back of the skilled and competitive field. Aho, meanwhile, got going, got the lead, and powered away to the victory.
Woodland tournament lures fast-pitch men’s teams
Fast-pitch softball has become a fascinating game for girls in high school and below, and young women in college, but it appears to be a fast-disappearing game for men and boys, who have turned to baseball and slow-pitch softball and pretty much abandoned fast-pitch. This weekend, however, men’s fast-pitch softball takes over the Emmanuel Fields at Woodland for the eighth annual Jimmy Herold Memorial tournament.
DC Financial and Pate Bond Inc., both from the West St. Paul Fast-Pitch league, are considered 1-2 as favorites, but Miller Genuine Draft of Duluth is a strong threat as a darkhorse, having picked up the available windmilling arm of Dave Meyer, the otherwise retired pitcher still considered the best in the state by some observers.
The open-class tournament begins at 9 a.m. Saturday, when Miller takes on Tanski Ridgeview Lanes/Anderson Fuel. At 11 a.m., Pate Bond plays Kekabeca Falls from Ontario; at 1 p.m., DC Financial faces Tanski; at 3 p.m., Woodland Liquor meets PBI; at 5 p.m., it’sMiller against DC Financial; and at 7 p.m., Woodland Liquor meets Kekabeca Falls to complete inner-round play.
On Sunday, the field is ranked by standings within each division, with the first-place teams getting byes, while the second and third cross over to play the third and second teams from the other bracket, in games starting at 8 a.m. Those winners play the bye teams, and at 4 p.m., the third-place game will be held, with the championship game at 6 p.m.
Bret Klosowski, who manages the Woodland Fast-Pitch league, said there are still a lot of teams playing men’s fast-pitch.
“There are about 120 or so teams still playing fast-pitch, including about 10 Class A teams, 30 in B level, 50 in C, and about 15 in D,” said Klosowski. “DC Financial is the only Class A team entered, but Pate Bonding is a national qualifier at the B level and beat DC Financial once.”
Klosowski acknowledged that the Duluth and Cloquet areas were among the last fortresses of fast-pitch for men and boys before slow-pitch took over the big numbers of players.
“But now, if you drew a line from Duluth to Fargo, there wouldn’t be a single team north of Duluth,” he said.
The Woodland League, for example, has four men’s teams and one women’s team that is allowed to use a man pitching and catching, if they choose.
The tournament is named in honor of a former Duluth East baseball and football player who died in a work-related truck accident in 1991. The field for the tournament is located on Woodland Av. at W. Anoka St.
Wandering Minnesotan always home for sidewalk blues
It was one of those spectacular summer Saturdays in downtown Duluth, where the early afternoon sun hangs so brightly that it forces the blue of the sky to try to outglow the blue of Lake Superior — sort of a “battle of the blues,” Mother Nature style.
We drove down toward Canal Park, figuring to wander around there a while, and we found a parking spot right by the Blue Note coffee house. As we climbed out of the car, we were immediately struck by the captivating, uptempo soung of a blues song, being played slide-guitar fashion with the notes wafting through that crystal clear atmosphere.
A lanky fellow with long hair and a weathered, well-traveled face, wearing jeans, a t-shirt and heavy-duty tan woodsman’s boots, was sitting up against the Blue Note’s outer wall, with his guitar case open for those wanting to toss in a donation. He looked like he might be heading out to clear some brush from his place Up North, except that his work was coaxing these hard-driving blues notes out of that old Guild guitar.
Timing was perfect, so my wife and I each got ourselves one of those tall bottles of iced tea with ginseng and other stuff blended into it, and we sat at one of the outside tables, curbside, opposite the blues guy. We tossed a couple bucks into the guitar case to prepay for the entertainment, but I couldn’t prevent recalling an old but classic Joni Mitchell song, “For Free.” It describes her being in some big city to play some big concert, and hearing a fellow perform on the street.
The entire song is comprised of her thoughts as she stood on the corner, “waiting for the walkin’ green.”
“I play if you have the money,
or if you’re a friend to me,
but the one-man band by the quick-lunch stand,
he was playin’ real good, for free.”
Doc Walker was playin’ real good, but he prefered it to not be for free. Between songs, as he replaced the batteries in the tiny speaker he hoped would amplify his work, we struck up a conversation. His real name was Mike, age 46, and he’s from Warba, a tiny blip on Hwy. 2, a couple miles this side of Grand Rapids.
“I don’t really live anywhere, anymore,” he said. “I just go around and play where it’s convenient. I came into Duluth and stayed in the hills last night, and came down here about 11:30 this morning.
“All blues could be called American folk music. I’ve played in Memphis, Beal St., B.B.King’s, Black Diamond, the Blues City Cafe — lotsa places. A lot of times, I’ll pick up a lick I hear from Mississippi, maybe change it a little. Different rhythm or different workds. I had a band, till four years ago. I got tired of all the nonsense and fired ’em all. I’ve made one tape, it’s about 3 years old, and I’m ready to record a new one.”
People wandered past — beautiful people, not-so-beautiful people, tourists mostly, kids on rollers, pudgy folks with their belts straining to hold up their end of their task. Most of them walked past, glancing out of the corners of their eyes as if to pretend there really wasn’t this wonderful music filling the air. Several, usually younger men or women, bent over to drop a dollar into the case, even if they didn’t have time to pause and listen.
A guy with a little girl and a cigar stopped, set his cigar down on the edge of the sidewalk and left his little girl to watch it while he went inside, reappearing a few moments later to pick up the cigar and walk on, pulling his daughter by her hand as she stared back, fascinated by the musician’s work. Back to Joni Mitchell:
“Nobody stopped to hear him,
though he played so sweet and kind.
They knew he had never been on their TV,
so they passed his music by.”
Walker acknowledged that it’s a tough living. “This is terrible, the worst year ever,” he said. “You’re lucky to make 20 bucks a day, and normally you used to make $100. Last month, I played the Moondance Jam at Walker, but not in the actual show. I wandered around the parking lot, playing for parties, and at least I sold all my CDs.”
A car drove by, slowly in the traffic, with a young man driving. His windows were open, and his stereo amps were kicking out enormous decibels of sound that shook the sidewalk, in the manner of youthful arrogance that assumes everyone for a half-block should be forced to hear what he prefers. Walker looked up at the car and waited until it passed, shrugging off the interference, if not the rudeness. He gets it when the big boats approach the Aerial Bridge, too, he said.
“A lot of the boat horns are ‘G,’ ” he said. “One night I was down here and I had my electric tuner out, and it was a perfect ‘G.’ ”
It was evident that Walker had a close personal relationship with his guitar. “It’s a 1967 Guild that I bought used, 2 years ago,” he said. “It’s already doubled in value, and I’m not going to part with it. It’s already a collector’s item. I play every day, somewhere. I don’t think a day goes by that I can stand to leave it alone.
“I’m going to write a song about it: ‘I can’t keep my hands off her, she always does what I want her to do, and she always makes me money…’ ”
Walker laughed, and launched into an instrumental, “Nothin’ to Say,” that was heavy on the slide guitar. More folks walked past, a few paused, and fewer still dropped some change or a dollar into his case.
Playing the live music bar scene might be more beneficial in larger cities, but Walker is down on that scene, and especially in Duluth.
“I was supposed to play in a bar down the street from here,” he said, nodding toward downtown. “I’d been booked by one manager, but they stiffed me. It was a Sunday, and I didn’t expect normal pay, but they could have thrown me something. All they said was, ‘You got some tips.’
“All bar owners in the country are scum-sucking, drug-bending bastards. I’m no friend of alcohol. I grew up with an alcoholic dad. So I play the bars as little as possible. I think musicians nationwide should go on strike for a year, till the establishments start to pay them what they’re worth. They say they’re giving you exposure; hell, I can expose myself.”
He had to laugh at his unintended line. “I didn’t mean it that way,” he said.
“I played at Blues Fest last year,” he added. “Actually, outside Blues Fest. The Supreme Court has ruled that music is American folk art, and as long as you’re not asking for money, you can do it and accept donations.”
A man walked by, with a serious look on his face, unable to hear anything other than the music from his Walkman, piped into his skull via earphones. Several people walked past, then stopped about 30 feet away, on the periphery of his sidewalk stage, as if maintaining that distance allowed them to avoid tossing some change into his case.
He played an uptempo version of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” and said how once he played some rock ‘n’ roll and cranked up the amps and “a distortion thing,” and some guy gave him $20. We got up to leave, and bought a tape for $5. “C’mon back,” he said.
Just then, a group of black women walked by, wearing shirts that said: “J.S. Hammond’s Missionary Baptist Church.” They were part of a gospel singing group in town for several weekend performances, and they paused to listen to a song, and talk to Walker and share some laughs. They looked over his tapes on the adjacent table with genuine interest. Then they continued on, just like in Joni Mitchell’s closing line:
“I meant to go over and ask for a song,
maybe put on a harmony.
I heard his refrain as the signal changed,
he was playing real good, for free.”
‘Hounds lose Hedberg to OHL’s Guelph team
Duluth East’s great success in high school hockey over the past decade has caused critics to refer to it as something of a “hockey factory.” But based on the frustration expressed by coach Mike Randolph, sometimes the factory turns out unfinished products. Randolph learned this week that junior defenseman Jon Hedberg has decided to pass up his last two years of eligibility at East to play at Guelph in the Ontario Hockey League.
That makes Hedberg the third Greyhound player to try his luck in Canada’s prestigious “Tier One” level of Major Junior hockey. Patrick Finnegan, who left a year ago to play at Windsor in the OHL, and Ben Johnson, who left three years ago to play for Spokane’s entry in the Western Canada league, have tried the same path, and have met with mixed reviews.
They are not the first young hockey players to move impatiently, hoping to hurry toward fulfilling a dream of reaching pro hockey. Finnegan is hoping to get traded to a different OHL team for the upcoming season, and Johnson is unsure of what to do this year after being arbitrarily dismissed after starting his second season at Spokane last year. All of which added to Randolph’s surprise at Hedberg’s move.
“Jon came over and told me he’s leaving,” said Randolph. “He went up to an open camp in Toronto and got an offer from Guelph. It caught me by surprise, because Jon came here and played as a ninth-grader, but I didn’t think he had a great year last year, as a sophomore. I thought he was ready to become a good high school player, but he’s leaving instead.
“I wish him well, but I don’t think he’s ready to make that kind of a step. On top of that, he was a 4.0 student last year as a sophomore.”
Randolph foresaw Hedberg becoming a top high school player and attaining a college scholarship, but by playing Major Junior hockey in Canada, Hedberg precludes any chance for playing college hockey, because the NCAA excludes eligibility for anyone who plays Major Junior.
“I didn’t think Jon had his best season last year, so after the season I asked him where he wanted to go with his hockey,” said Scott Hedberg, Jon’s dad. “At the Select 17 camp this summer, all the kids got invited to Toronto, where the OHL holds an open tryout camp. When he went up there, several teams from the OHL and the USHL, and even a couple of colleges talked to Jon, and three agents asked me about what he wanted to do.
“I thought Jon might go play at Des Moines before the high school season, then come back to East, and then rejoin Des Moines after the season. But he said, ‘No, I want to go.’ I didn’t push him; in fact, I kept throwing up roadblocks on what he’d be giving up — things like the high school tournament and a college scholarship — to see how bad he wanted it. We have a deal with Guelph that if he doesn’t sign an NHL contract they’ll pay for a year of college for each year he plays there, and he’s got a no-cut contract.
“The team owner is the principal of a high school, and Jon wll go to a private Catholic high school. Some people say this is a huge mistake, that he’s going to miss going to college, but Jon said he didn’t care. He said the only reason he’d come back to East was to play for Mike Randolph. We let Jon make up his own mind, and I look at him, and this is what he wants. I don’t think there is a right or wrong decision here. When he went from Edina to Duluth East, he did it because that was what he wanted to do. That’s the kind of kid he is.”
Hedberg’s parents, Scott and Catherine Hedberg, were divorced when Jon convinced them he wanted to transfer to Duluth East, where he played as a ninth-grader and, last year, as a sophomore. Catherine Hedberg moved to Duluth and bought a house last year, and Scott Hedberg said she is not happy with Jon’s decision.
Finnegan, who was one of the state’s top players and a favorite to become Mr. Hockey had he stayed at East last year, chose instead to play for the Windsor Spitfires in the OHL. When the team fired coach Tony Curtale, an American, in midseason, Finnegan’s treatment by the team changed and he was held out of some games. The team did poorly, and reports on Finnegan were mixed. He had planned to complete his high school education there, but hasn’t yet completed senior year requirements.
Finnegan asked Windsor for a trade after the season, and has said he won’t go back there to play. He is hoping to be traded to a different OHL team, but his rights can’t be traded until Aug. 9, and if Windsor decides to play it tough, it could simply hold onto his rights, which would prevent him from playing for any other Canadian junior team. Finnegan’s summer-long uncertainty could be solved within the next few days, but as of now, it’s still uncertain.
“We’re hoping that he’ll get traded, but if Windsor decided to hang onto his rights, Patrick might sit out,” said Kelly Finnegan, his mom.
The third former Greyhound who made a bid at Major Junior is Ben Johnson. At 5-11 and 190, Johnson is a speedy forward who might, someday, have a chance to play pro hockey. But for now, his attempt to play Major Junior turned sour.
“He had tried out for Northern Iowa, at Mason City, in the USHL,” said Bill Johnson, his dad. “He did very well, so he also went out to Spokane for a tryout and decided to play there. But over Christmas he was injured.”
According to his dad, Johnson had been ordered to fight an opposing player, but the other team sent another player out to fight him, and Ben broke his finger when he threw a punch during the ensuing fight.
“He came back home to let it heal, and they sent him to the USHL to play for Rochester when he was ready to play again,” said Bill Johnson. “Then they brought him back up for the playoffs, and Spokane went all the way to the finals. Ben played three out of four Memorial Cup games, and scored a lot of points. He played about 45 games there that season. So last year, he went back, but after seven games they told him they had decided to cut most of their 19-year-olds. He was at the top of his game, but he was cut after seven games.
“The Western Hockey League was great for Ben’s education about hockey, and he enjoyed it. Ben has always been a young kid trying to play up to the next level. But now we’re not sure what to do. He just turned 20, and that’s too young to quit hockey.”
When he was at Spokane, he signed a contract calling for the junior team to pay for three years of college education if he didn’t sign a pro contract. So, after finishing last season in the USHL, Johnson tried to regain his college eligibility, and officials at UMD sought approval from the NCAA.
“He was planning on playing for UMD, and we thought he might have to sit out seven games, because that’s all he played up there last year,” said Bill Johnson. “But last week, the NCAA ruled that he’s ineligible for college hockey because they consider Major Junior the same as pro hockey.”
Johnson could play one more year in the USHL, but he got the idea for another option from Frank Serratore, coach at Air Force Academy, who worked in a Superior hockey school with Johnson two weeks ago. Serratore, who formerly coached the Minnesota Moose and continued with the franchise when it moved to Winnipeg, recommended Johnson try to attend the University of Manitoba. The junior-backed scholarship would work there, and Canadian colleges have different rules, so Johnson would have five years of hockey eligibility to play.
Off-season or on, Greyhounds win in hockey
Duluth East’s hockey players didn’t realize they might be ambassadors for the future of high school hockey last weekend. They were just out for a good time. They accomplished both endeavors by winning an “officially unofficial” high school hockey tournament for 16 of the state’s programs last weekend at Burnsville.
“It was a blast,” said Ross Carlson, a senior-to-be at East who is experimenting with changing from one of the state’s top forwards to play defense. “I loved it. It was fast and intense and pretty rough, but it was a great weekend.”
There was considerable frustration and agitation among the state’s hockey followers when the Minnesota state high school league’s board of directors turned down a request to expand the season, or at least the number of games, for hockey. Since top players continue to be plucked from the state’s high schools by elite programs in junior or select levels, and since hockey’s television revenue makes it by far the high school league’s top profit-maker, helping underwrite numerous other activities, that frustration was understandable.
Amid the anguish of tryng to improve the attractiveness of high school hockey in hopes of retaining those defectors, one of the few concessions hockey has gotten in recent years is the allowance of a five-week summer practice span, ending in July, with their regular coaches in charge. East coach Mike Randolph jumped at the chance, but tempered his usual all-business concept.
“It was completely a different mindset,” said Randolph. “During the season, you don’t have much time to relax and be easy-going, but for this, we joked around a lot and let ’em do their thing. We skated two or three times a week up until the end of July, and I think everybody enjoyed it.”
The tournament in Burnsville attracted 16 teams to the two-rink facility. including Burnsville, Benilde, Rosemount, Minnetonka, Buffalo and Lakeview. Because of being in August, coaches were not allowed to coach, so former East stars Dylan Mills and Andy Wheeler coached the Greyhounds.
“We came down Friday and played Park Center on Friday night,” said Carlson. The busride showed, and East skated to a 3-3 tie against Park Center in their four-team pool.
On Saturday, the ‘Hounds beat Eastview 6-3 and then came up with a classic performance against Edina. Trailing 4-1 in the second half of the game — played in two 30-minute, running-time halves — East came back to score three straight goals for a tie, and Zach Burns won it with a goal in the final minute.
That gave East the championship in its four-team pool and sent them into Sunday’s semifinals, along with pool-winners Elk River, Maple Grove and Wayzata. The Greyhounds beat Elk River 3-1, while Wayzata was beating Maple Grove in the other semifinal. In the final game, East beat Wayzata 4-1.
As for Randolph, he was able to leave the pressures of coaching behind, but he wasn’t about to ignore his team. He drove down Friday, set up camp in a hotel, and watched every game from the vantage point of a fan.
“Dylan and Andy did a great job coaching,” said Randolph. “They both said they enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. And our ‘Smurfs’ played really well. Everybody was saying how we’ve got the smallest team they’ve ever seen, but our kids are quick, and tough, and we do a great job with puck possession.
“I would say Andy Letourneau, Nick Licari and Zach Burns were our top scorers up front, and Ross Carlson scored a lot from defense. He looked good back there. We got most of our scoring from two lines, with Tommy Kolar centering Licari and Burns, and Eric Johnson centering Trevor Marmon and Letourneau. Our top goaltender, Dan Hoehne, was in Toronto playing on some elite team, but John Malone and Ryan Gordon did a good job in goal.”
Carlson said moving to defense was his idea. “It was fun experimenting on defense,” he said. “I wanted to try it, and I think it’s going pretty good.
“Edina was strong physically, but I’d have to say Elk River was the best team of the five we played,” Carlson added. “Yeah, we’re small, but we’re tough. I couldn’t believe how they bounced back up everytime they got hit. And we’re really fast.”
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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