Hawks go public, reaching Class A final
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MN. — “We’re the public school champ,” declared Hermantown coach Bruce Plante, after his Hawks defeated Thief River Falls 3-2 Friday in the Class A state hockey tournament semifinals. “I told the Thief guys that before the game — that we were playing for the public school title.”
That means the Hawks are half done, because they now face a Saturday championship game against St. Thomas Academy that is a rematch of last year’s final, won 5-4 in overtime by St. Thomas Academy. Defending state champ St. Thomas Academy reached the final by beating Breck 1-0 in the “private school” championship half of the bracket.
Conrad Sampair scored both Hill-Murray goals to beat Moorhead 2-1 in OT.
Meanwhile, it’s an all-private-school Class AA final Saturday night. Hill-Murray defeated Moorhead 2-1 in overtime, when Conrad Sampair tied the game 1-1 by solving previously invincible Spuds goaltender Michael Blitzer for a goal at 9:58 of the third period, in which the Pioneers outshot Moorhead 12-1. Sampair then sped around the defense and won it with a goal at 1:51 of sudden-death. The Pioneers (24-6) are peaking at exactly the right time, but their foe in the Saturday night AA final will be a Benilde-St. Margaret’s team that turned from upset specialist to dynamo Friday night, crushing Lakeville South 10-1.
Dan Labosky (27) completed his hat trick as Benilde crushed Lakeville South 10-1.
Dan Labosky had a hat trick and Grant Besse and Zack Hale two each for Benilde (24-6), as the Red Knights led 5-0 after one and 7-0 after two. Lakeville South was outshot 38-21 and showed none of the masterful and focused technique that upset No. 1 Duluth East 3-2 in the first round.
As for East, the Greyhounds joined the three other AA top seeds at Mariucci Arena and bounced back in the third period to beat Edina 3-2. Trailing 1-0, Dom Toninato scored at 2:37 of the third to tie the game, but Edina quickly regained the lead, only to have the Hounds tie it again on Jake Randolph’s power-play goal. Toninato scored again, at 14:36, during a scramble at the Edina goal, and East advances to Saturday’s consolation final with a 29-2 record, to face an Eagan team that whipped Maple Grove 4-1 Friday.
Hermantown goalie Matt Mensinger's final save with 0:00 left ended the 3-2 semifina victory over Thief River Falls.
Friday’s Class A semifinals were more dramatic than the AA games. Hermantown’s victory in the second Class A semifinal went right to the final buzzer, and then some, as Hawks goaltender Matt Mensinger blocked one shot with two seconds left, and sprawled on his back to stop another Thief River Falls try as the clock hit 0:00. That put him in an oddly vulnerable position as his teammates, swarming to celebrate their 3-2 victory, piled on top of the goalie before he had a chance to get to his feet. “That’s the first one of those I’ve ever been in like that,” said Mensinger. “It hurt being on the bottom. I couldn’t even see.”
But he saw things well enough to give the No. 1 ranked Hawks two things they’ve waited for: the chance to face No.2 St. Thomas Academy in Saturday’s High Noon showdown for the Class A title, and the chance for coach Plante to try to convince everybody the Hawks are the underdog.
The Hawks buried Mensinger celebrating the victory.
When a 1-0 lead suddenly turned into a 2-1 deficit in the third period, the Hawks responded the way they have all season. Jared Kolquist’s goal tied it 2-2, and Jared Thomas’s second goal of the game, with 5:15 remaining, reclaimed the lead for the Hawks at 3-2.
“We wanted to make sure we won two to get another shot at ’em,” said Thomas, who scored the first and last goals of the game to get the Hawks started and to win the game. Thomas, wide to the left of the net, rapped in the rebound of a Jared Kolquist shot at 6:34 of the first period, and it appeared Hermantown would be content to win 1-0 as the game headed into the third period.
Thief River Falls tied the Hawks 1-1 on Austin Odberg's goal.
It took two goals by the Prowlers to slap the Hawks upside the head. Austin Odberg broke up the right side for a pass from Riley Soderstrom, and when goalie Matt Mensinger went down anticipating a shot, Odberg fired into the roof of the net at 4:08. At 5:16, Logan Engelstad shot one off the goal pipe, pounced on the rebounding puck wide to the left, and lifted it over the sprawling goaltender.
“After the second period, we were down 1-0 and I told our team we could sneak up on them,” said Bergland. “And we did. Our gas tank was full in that third period.”
But the Hawks never lost their poise; they just turned up the attack. Kolquist, a versatile defenseman, saw Matt Lord take a rebound behind the net, attempting a wraparound. When it didn’t beat goaltender Jon Narverud, Lord regained possession and chipped the puck out into the slot. There was Kolquist, angling in from the point, and he drilled his shot into the left edge of the net from 25 feet at 6:16 for a 2-2 tie.
The Hawks had to kill a penalty until the 10-minute mark, then Thomas scored what Plante refers to as a goal-scorer’s goal. “you know how goal-scorers are,” said the coach. “They throw anything toward the net and it goes in. Other guys can’t throw it into an ocean.”
Thomas actually wasn’t trying to score. He was on the right boards when Andrew Mattson sent a hard pass through the crease and over to Thomas. “I knew Chris Benson was in the slot and I heard him yell,” said Thomas. “I tried to pass it to him.” But Prowler defenseman Riley Olson moved out to prevent Benson from deflecting Thomas’s pass, and as luck would have it — goal-scorer’s luck — the pass glanced off Olson’s skate and into the net at 11:45.
Then it was up to Hermantown’s team defense to hold the 3-2 lead, a task the Hawks have done regularly. The victory made the Hawks 30-0, and their No. 1 rank was secure for another night, but it didn’t stop Plante from a little showmanship, knowing his team was up against a Twin Cities private school powerhouse. St. Thomas Academy and Breck have won the last four state Class A titles, and Hermantown was the title-game victim of the last two.
“Yeah, isn’t that something?” Plante said. “We’re 30-0, we just set a school record with our 30th win, and we’re the underdogs, no matter what the ratings say. It’s hard for us to compete with these teams down here. We’ve got 600 kids in our school, and if we could draw from all of Northern Minnesota we’d have, what — 100,000 people? They can draw from about eight billion people down here.
“All of our kids played in our youth program. A couple families have moved into our area, but we’ve taught most of ’em how to play in our youth program. We had 40 kids out for the team, and we kept 35. Our goalie coach builds us a goalie every year. It takes a couple years, so they only get to play as seniors. They’ve never been out of Hermantown until we bring ’em down here.”
Mensinger, a tall, lanky 6-foot-3 goaltender, laughed at that but agreed in principle. “I got to come down here last year, and I got to play for 4 minutes and 7 seconds.”
His play, and the team defense surrounding him, are the true keys to the Hawks success.
“Boy, they play well defensively,” said Thief River Falls coach Tim Bergland, a former Prowler, Gopher, and NHLer. “We did too. Both teams limited the quality scoring chances. They were on top of us in the first period, and we had to stretch things out and try to force their defensemen back.”
The Cadets (25-5) got a second period goal from Peter Krieger, who was at the crease to convert a pass out from Tony Bretzman at 14:06 of the middle period, and goalie David Zevnik made it stand up by stopping all 25 Breck shots. If that game represented the Class A Private School Championship, both St. Thomas Academy and Breck could take a lesson from Hill-Murray and Benilde, a pair of small-enrollment private schools that play hockey where they belong, in Class AA.
East stunned 3-2 amid AA upsets
By John Gilbert
ST. PAUL, MN. — There have been occasional cougar-sightings on the outskirts of Duluth in recent years, although there have been no reports of any attacks on humans. That changed Thursday night, when the Lakeville South Cougars prowled Xcel Energy Center’s ice rink and mauled Duluth East’s carefully crafted season with a stunning 3-2 victory in the first round of the state high school hockey tournament.
Lakeville South's Patrick Lauderdale circled behind the East net after his second-period goal tied Duluth East 1-1.
It wasn’t the only upset of the first day in Class AA, with No. 2 Maple Grove getting thumped 5-2 by Hill-Murray, then No. 3 Eagan falling 4-0 to Moorhead. Maple Grove scored first, but Hill-Murray then scored the next five goals and won 5-2. In the second quarterfinal, Eagan had all the shots but none of the goals, as Moorhead scored three times in the third period to win a surprising 4-0 game despite being outshot 34-19. Goaltender Michael Blitzer put on a show, blocking all 34 shots for the shutout.
Edina, seeded fourth, had yet to face Benilde-St. Margaret’s in the day’s finale, to see who would become the fourth part of the Friday night semifinals. But already, Friday’s consolation semifinals at Mariucci Arena took on a special glow — with Eagan playing Maple Grove, and East trying to bounce back. “It doesn’t matter whether Edina or Benilde win,” said Randolph. “We’re going to have to play one of them.”
It will be Edina. Sure enough, Christian Horn rushed into the Edina zone 1-on-2 in the final minute, cut to his right, and drilled a 30-footer into the short-side upper corner with 23.9 seconds remaining to give Benilde-St. Margaret’s a 3-2 victory over No. 4 seeded Edina to complete the day with the four seeded teams 0-4. Edina outshot the Red Knights 38-26, but a 1-1 game broke loose in the third period, with Benilde’s Dan Labosky scoring at 0:17, and Edina’s Andy Jordahl countering at 0:36 to re-tie it 2-2. Edina outshot Benilde 19-6 in the third period, but the sixth Red Knight shot was the charm.
The results thrust Hill-Murray (23-6) against Moorhead (22-6) in the first semifinal, while Lakeville South (21-8) takes on Benilde (24-5) in the late game.
If East’s loss wasn’t the only upset, it was the biggest one — of the day, and of the whole season. Yet the way the Cougars executed, with confidence increasing every shift, they didn’t play like it was an upset. It certainly was no fluke. Lakeville South spotted East the first goal, then took over the game, defusing the Greyhounds in all three zones and generating most of the clean offensive chances. John Wiitala’s goal broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period, and Justin Kloos scored an empty-net goal to make It 3-1with 40 seconds remaining. East’s Alex Toscano batted a high-bouncing rebound out of the air for a desperation East goal, but only 10 seconds remained.
“We’ve played some really good teams this season, but we’ve never had a team do what they did to us tonight, for three periods,” said East coach Mike Randolph, whose team has been ranked No. 1 since January, and still has the best record at 27-2. “We never got going, and it was an uncharacteristic game for us. Give them credit. They flew out of their zone.”
Lakeville South coach Kurt Weber said his team has been comfortably flying under the radar all season, compared to East’s hard-earned No. 1 status. He added that East is “the best high school team I’ve seen, systematically. They like to move the puck up one side so you lose track of the weakside guy, then they pass to him. They also like to use the neutral zone, and if they’re at full speed, they’re tough. This is the smartest group I’ve had, so we cut apart the video to show our players what they had to look out for. That’s what it takes to beat the No. 1 team.”
The Greyhounds jumped ahead on an early goal that was vintage Greyhounds, and at 3:37, made it look like all was well. Dominic Toninato passed off the end boards to Jake Randolph, who shot quickly, and Trevor Olson put away the rebound from wide to the right. Despite numerous other chances, the Hounds were unable to get anything more past Tyler Schumacher in the Lakeville nets, leaving the Cougars room to battle back in the second period.
Midway through the second session, Lakeville South tied it on a well-executed line rush. Alex Harvey carried in on the left side, passed to the slot to scoring ace Justin Kloos, who quickly relayed a pass to the right circle, where Pat Lauderdale fired a shot past Dylan Parker.
East goalie Dylan Parker survived Patrick Lauderdale's shot off the pipe.
The goal gave the Cougars more inspiration and they not only battled the Greyhounds evenly throughout the rest of the second period, they had the better scoring chances. Grant Gangeness shot off a rush from the left circle and the puck struck the far post squarely. The ricochet hit the knob of Parker’s goal stick, and it took a diving Conner Valesano to handball the bouncing puck out of the crease to safety.
By the third period, the Greyhounds appeared a little frantic to escape from their zone. A careless outlet flip up the right boards was picked off by Justin Doeden, who fed immediately to John Wiitala, behindy the last East skater. Wiitala broke in alone and made a deft move on Parker before shooting into the left edge at 1:34.
That meant there was a lot of time left, but the Cougars continued to shut down the Hounds, clear their zone, and attack. One shot went off the crossbar behind Parker. Then Wiitala shifted past a defenseman and cruised in alone, only to have Parker make a huge save. Parker made another great save to rob Lauderdale. By then, the time had drained away, and it was time for Parker to go to the bench for a sixth attacker.
Meirs Moore, trying to ignite the offense from his defensive post, wound up making two saves in front of the open East net, but with 40 seconds left, Kloos picked off another soft breakout attempt and shot for the open net. It might have gone in, or it might have been wide right, but Moore, diving to try to block it, deflected it just a bit and it wound up in the net.
Dom Toninato (19) won the faceoff, Jake Randolph (16) shot, and Alex Toscano (23) batted the rebound in out of the air with 10 seconds remaining.
Toninato won a left-corner faceoff and Randolph shot, with the puck bouncing high off goaltender Tyler Schumacher. Alex Toscano, the sixth attacker, was at the right edge of the crease and swatted at it too high, but missed, so he swung again and knocked it in at 16:50.
Afterward, Toninato said: “It’s one of the worst feelings knowing the team we have. We just didn’t get the job done. Hats off to Lakeville South. They bottled us up, and we couldn’t get going.”
On Lakeville’s side, top scorer Kloos summed it up. “When you play on the pond growing up, you dream about playing in the state tournament and scoring a goal. I’m playing with my best friends, and that’s the reason I’m playing high school hockey.”
Hermantown hits lucky 7 to reach A semis
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MN. — First one to seven wins. Unlikely or not, that seemed like the plan for the first day of the 2012 Minnesota state tournament. Top-ranked Hermantown led the way, extending its undefeated record to 29-0 with a 7-2 victory over Rochester Lourdes in the Class A quarterfinals at Xcel Energy Center.
Hermantown's Jared Thomas (10) kicked up his heels, scoring twice in the 7-2 victory over Rochester Lourdes.
The Hawks played the first night game and became the third team of the day to post a lucky-number 7 for a first-round victory. Only Thief River Falls failed to reach the winning quota, beating New Ulm 5-1. The Prowlers’ reward is a date against Hermantown in Friday’s second semifinal.
Marshall didn’t fare as well as its Duluth-area neighbor Hermantown. The Hilltoppers fell behind early and suffered a frustrating 7-0 setback at the hands of powerful Breck, after second-seeded St. Thomas Academy whipped Little Falls 7-0 to open the day.
Marshall goalie Christian Coffman couldn't stop the first of two goals by Breck's Matt Colford (23) in a 7-0 victory.
Marshall played Breck tough through the first period, but the Hilltoppers were called for two penalties and the Mustangs scored power-play goals on both of them, at 3:27 and 10:55. A third Marshall penalty in the second period led to the third Breck power-play goal, and it became 4-0 by the second intermission. Matt Colford had two goals to pace the Mustangs, who outshot Marshall 33-18 to advance to their showdown with St. Thomas Academy in a collision of two of the top Twin Cities private schools who have chosen to remain at the Class A level. Two others, Hill-Murray and Benilde-St. Margaret’s, for example, have chosen to play up in Class AA with the larger schools, and they will be part of the AA quarterfinals Friday at Xcel.
Hermantown knows all about St. Thomas Academy and Breck, who collide in Friday’s first semifinal. Last year, the Hawks were No. 2 seed and lost to No. 1 seed St. Thomas Academy in overtime in the Class A championship game. Two years ago, Hermantown lost to Breck in the A final. This year, however, Hermantown is seeded No. 1, with intentions of improving on their last two tournament trips by one more victory.
The Hawks had their hands full with Rochester Lourdes at the outset. Not that it started out that way. Bo Grunseth staked Hermantown to a 1-0 lead at 0:33, and Jared Thomas made it 2-0 with a deflection of Jake Zeleznikar’s point shot at 7:54. When Connor Nellans got loose to score for Lourdes at 10:07, Neal Pionk countered by ripping a shot from the right circle that was in and out so fast the officials needed a review to make sure it indeed went in, making it 3-1 at 12:38.
The Hawks made an uncharacteristic error at the end of the first period, however. Jared Kolquist, the Hawks ace defenseman, flipped the ouck the length of the ice for an icing call with 4.2 seconds remaining. Alex Funk promptly won the left corner faceoff, bolted to the goal-mouth and put the puck past Matt Mensinger with 1.5 seconds showing.
Griffen Buck timbled into the crease but couldn't get the puck to get past Hermantown goalie Matt Mensinger. Andrew Mattson (9) was plus-5 in the 7-2 victory over Lourdes.
“I always worry about the first period down here,” said Hermantown coach Bruce Plante. “They’re a good team, a scrappy bunch, and I was surprised when their guys were so quick. I’m sure Matt didn’t like their first goal. That was a ‘goalie’s goal,’ and he knows it. He doesn’t usually go down on a play like that. But he’s a smart kid. He’s one of those ‘maniac genius’ types — it’s really weird to have such a smart kid as a goalie.”
But if the Hawks were carelessly loose in their end during the first period, they tightened everything up in the second, while scoring three more goals themselves to put the game away at 6-2. Chris Benson, Jared Kolquist, and Thomas got the goals, leaving only room for Andrew Mattson’s third-period goal to hit seven.
“We had a good first period,” said Josh Spaniol, the Eagles coach. “But they came at us harder in the second period. As good as they are on offense, they really tightened up on defense; we only had two shots in the second period. They’re strong kids, give them credit. They’ve got guys like Kolquist and LeBlanc out there, and they’re strong on their sticks.”
Grant Sega (29) and Travis Koepke (27) were among the Hawks celebrating one of 7 Hermantown goals.
Thomas, Hermantown’s top gun who is committed to UMD, had two goals and two assists, and he also took credit for the misplay at the end of the first period.
“It was my bad at the end of the first,” said Thomas. “Coach put me out there for a draw, and I completely blew it and they scored. But we got a couple quick ones in the second period and took the momentum away from them. Then we wore ’em down.”
With Kolquist and Pionk adding goals from defense, and Zeleznikar assisting on the Hawks first three goals, Hermantown’s defensemen did more than just clean up their own zone. And the Hawks, who outshot Lourdes 28-15, got past the first-game challenge and take their 29-0 record into Friday’s 1 p.m. second semifinal.
UMD women stun No. 1 Badgers in semis
By John Gilbert
Timing was perfect. The only way Minnesota-Duluth could keep its flickering hopes alive to continue toward a possible berth in the upcoming NCAA Women’s Hockey Tournament would be to beat Wisconsin in the WCHA Final Faceoff semifinals, and to do that would require a perfect game. Wisconsin had beaten UMD all four times the two met this season, which helped make Wisconsin the No. 1 ranked women’s hockey team in the nation and also helped put UMD’s future in jeopardy.
But, says UMD coach Shannon Miller, the Bulldogs have been playing their best hockey of the season right now, so anything would be possible. Sure enough, with 1,057 fans on hand at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, the fourth-place and fourth-seeded Bulldogs pulled off their perfect game to whip the No. 1 ranked Badgers 3-1.
UMD's Jenna McParland was stopped -- this time -- by Wisconsin goalie Alex Rigsby.
Seniors Haley Irwin and goaltender Jennifer Harss both turned in stellar performances to inspire and keep the Bulldogs at an intense pace. Irwin set up both wingers, Audrey Cournoyer and Jenna McParland, for the goals that gave UMD leads of 1-0 and 2-1, and Harss was superb with 32 saves, many of them coming when the Badgers had two prolonged 5-on-3 power plays, and in a 6-on-4 last minute Badger assault.
The victory was UMD’s biggest game of the season, but for only 24 hours. Then would come the Final Faceoff final against Minnesota in a Saturday night special the became the Bulldogs “new” biggest game of the season. Minnesota’s second-seeded Golden Gophers thrashed third-seeded North Dakota 6-0, as Sarah Davis scored three goals and her linemate, Emily West added two, and Noora Raty spun another shutout to make the Gophers 30-5-2 for the season, against UMD’s 21-13-1.
Despite their scintillating victory over Wisconsin, a UMD loss to Minnesota in the final would leave the Bulldogs still in the marginal area trying to crack the NCAA’s eight-team field for next week. A victory over the Gophers, on the other hand, would gain the NCAA’s automatic berth which goes to the league playoff winner.
The Badgers had no worries about being selected. As the No. 1 team in national ratings, and WCHA season champ, the Badgers went home with a still-glittering 31-4-2 record. But Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson bristled at some superficial questions about whether the Badgers had no real inspiration for the UMD game.
“It’s like apples and oranges to compare this game to the regular season,” said Johnson. “We always have tough games with them, and usually we go overtime. Both teams were motivated for this game, we just didn’t do enough things to win today. I told our team this is a two-week tournament, and the four teams that get to this point can all win it. Going through this playoff series in our league prepares teams well for the NCAA.”
If desperation was worth any extra incentive, UMD certainly rose to the occasion, outshooting the Badgers 38-33. Irwin, a senior from Thunder Bay, spoke about what it meant for the seniors.
“The season has gone by fast, but we want to make it last as long as we can,” said Irwin. “For all the adversity we’ve faced, this was probably our biggest game of the season.”
UMD coach Shannon Miller was a bit more emphatic. “It was the biggest win in the year for us, and we’re playing our best hockey right now. We’re working hard, and this team has a lot of potential. We just beat the No. 1 team in the nation, and earlier this year, when Minnesota was No. 1, we beat them, too.”
Irwin, almost always the indicator of how UMD will play, set an aggressive tone from the start. She was whistled for three penalties in the game, the third covering the final minute, when freshman defenseman Bridgette Lacquette flipped a high clearing pass from 150 feet away that landed at an angle and curved just right to slide into the open Wisconsin goal and clinch the victory.
Irwin was in the only place she didn’t want to be in the final minute, when she was penalized at 19:02. Wisconsin goalie Alex Rigsby was pulled for a sixth attacker, and the prolific top guns in Wisconsin’s explosive attack fired at will. Harss was brilliant. When the puck finally got blocked loose in the slot, freshman defenseman Bridgette Lacquette gained possession. She couldn’t get much on her shot as she flipped a backhander out of the zone. The puck appeared headed a few feet wide left of the open net, but it landed on one edge and bounced, then curved about 20 degrees to the right. It slithered into the open goal, barely making it.
UMD goaltender Jennifer Harss stretched wide to thwart Badger Brooke Ammerman.
“I really was just trying to clear the zone,” said Lacquette. “I watched it all the way. It was really an exciting game.”
It had taken a full 60 minutes to reach that last-minute euphoria, however. Midway through the first period, Irwin stole the puck near the Wisconsin blue line, and made a deft back pass toward the Badger net to Cournoyer, whose shot from the left circle was blocked. Cournoyer retrieved the puck and cut to her right, across the slot, as Rigsby was caught anticipating a shot, and Cournoyer lifted her 22nd goal in on a 15-foot backhand at 8:10.
Harss and the Bulldogs held the 1-0 lead until Brianna Decker broke into the UMD zone on a power-play rush, made a spectacular move to duck past a defenseman, and snapped a shot into the upper right corner against Harss at 5:45 of the middle period. The power-play goal made Wisconsin 1-9 with an extra skater, including a pair of 5-on-3 power plays, one lasting 52 seconds and the other 1:07. UMD, meanwhile, was blanked on six power plays.
“I don’t know if it was my best, but it was a good one,” said Harss, who is from Rieden, Germany. “They had a few good shots, but our team did a good job on penalty-killing. It definitely feels good because the whole team played well.”
Late in the second period, UMD’s top line connected again. This time Irwin won a faceoff to McParland, a freshman, who skated up the left side, skirted around the outside of a Badger defenseman in the left circle, then veered to the net and held the puck until she passed the crease, leaving just enough room to tuck a shot past Rigsby at the right post.
“We had a good faceoff win, and the middle was open,” said McParland. “Our coach says to always keep your feet moving, so I listened to what she said and kept going. She [Rigsby] kind of swiped at the puck and missed, so I held it.”
Bulldogs celebrate Bridgette Lacquette's 150-foot empty-net clincher to beat Wisconsin 3-1.
Rigsby, who seemed to be battling the puck a little during the game, was pulled in the closing minutes for an extra skater, but as she was about halfway to the bench, UMD gained possession, and Jennifer Wong flipped a shot from center ice toward the empty net. Rigsby raced back toward the crease and made a headlong dive, reaching her stick out to deflect the shot wide on what was easily her most spectacular save of the game.
“She just didn’t want her coach to look bad for pulling her at the wrong time,” said Johnson.
In the second game, Minnesota stormed in front and never looked back. “We played a complete game, 60 minutes,” said Minnesota coach Brad Frost, whose team finished second to Wisconsin in a two-team title chase. “The favorite lost tonight, with Wisconsin, and we didn’t want to see two upsets. When we left, I looked around our arena, and noticed that the banner that showed the last time we won the league playoff championship was 2005. We’re really excited about the chance to play for the championship, and we know what we’ll get from Duluth in the final.”
Junior Noora Raty recorded her second shutout in a row, ninth of the season, and boosted her school record for career shutouts to 25, with another year to go. She stopped all 27 North Dakota shots. Sarah Davis, who has been steady but not among Minnesota’s scorers all season — coming into the game tied for seventh with 8 goals — led the charge from the outset, when a power-play pass across the slot glanced in off her skate at 2:14. She didn’t kick it in, but the puck hit her skate while she was turning her foot to stop, and the goal was eventually disallowed. That could have given North Dakota a lift, but instead it seemed to increase Minnesota’s determination. Barely a minute later, West scored with a rebound to the left of the goal, as Minnesota had outshot the Sioux 5-0.
“We played scared,” said North Dakota’s Jocelyn Lamoureux. “They called off that first goal, but we didn’t respond. At this time of year, it’s not about adjusting, or who you cover, it’s about playing your game. Tonight we showed up excited, but when the game started, we sat back, and didn’t really go for it. After we were losing by five or six, we started playing well.”
When it was only 1-0, the Golden Gophers kept the pressure on in the Fighting Sioux zone. West fed Davis late in the first period, and she made it 2-0 by crossing the slot and scoring with a backhand at the right edge. Davis scored again at 4:09 of the second period, and victory started to look deceptively easy when Jen Schoulis stickhandled around two defenders while rushing up the right side. She shot from the circle, and the puck glanced off starting goaltender Stephanie Ney, carrying into the net at 8:09, to make it 4-0.
Minnesota made it 5-0 a second after a power play had expired, when West tried to pass from the left circle. The puck was blocked back to her, so she shot instead. “I tried to pass to Davie [Davis],” West said, “and when it came back to me I shot. It hit their defenseman, then I got lucky and it bounced off her [the goalie’s] elbow and went in.”
North Dakota coach Brian Idalski summoned Ney to the bench after the fifth Gopher goal, and installed Jorid Dagfinrud, a junior from Norway, between the pipes. She didn’t have much work, since the damage had been done. With Davis and West both scoring twice, they collaborated on the only goal of the third period, which was another odd goal. West moved in from the right corner for a shot that hit Dagfinrud and trickled beyond her, coming to rest in the crease. Davis raced a Fighting Sioux defenseman for the puck, and as luck would have it, Davis fanned on her attempt, but the near miss got enough of the puck to send it barely across the goal line at 3:26.
“I whiffed, and the air from my whiff blew the puck across the line,” joked Davis.
Raty, meanwhile, had several big saves, but mainly she had an easy shutout. She said she doesn’t know how many shutouts she has, but added, “I always play like the goalie should get a shutout.”
Frost looked over at his star goaltender and said, “Nobody talks to Noora except our goalie coach. I don’t think I’ve ever given her any advice — and you can see the result of that.”
It didn’t look easy on the other bench. Idalski said: “It was a tough one for us tonight. Minnesota got the lead, and we had trouble with their speed as they built the lead. But it wasn’t all us; Minnesota has a helluva hockey team. I’ve seen a lot of teams come through our league and go on to win the national championship, and that club is as deep and talented as any I’ve seen.”
All of which guarantees the Golden Gophers exactly nothing against UMD in the Final Faceoff final.
Playoff Time! Puck spotlight on Duluth
By John Gilbert
Playoff hockey. There’s nothing like it. Whether it’s the state tournament in high school, or at the college level, where league, regional and national tournaments are the ultimate steps to prove superiority.
It’s been a spectacular year for hockey in the Duluth area, where superb hockey has been so widespread, it seems that some fans almost take it for granted. It started almost exactly a year ago. Last March, remember, Duluth East and Hermantown both reached the Class AA and A state tournaments, and on one excruciating day, Hermantown lost in the A title game, then East lost that overtime thriller to Eden Prairie in the AA final. Then a month later, the UMD Bulldogs won the first Division I NCAA hockey championship in the school’s history. Until Kyle Schmidt knocked in the game-winner against Michigan, the only NCAA championship banners belonging to UMD were earned by the women’s team, which won the first three NCAA tournaments, and added a fourth later.
The hockey world has turned, but Duluth remains the bright star shining in the middle of Minnesota’s universe. With section finals being conducted in Duluth this week, Duluth East ranked No. 1 among AA schools, Hermantown No. 1 among A schools, and Marshall, which doesn’t have to compete with Hermantown, was No. 1 seed in Section 7’s A bracket. All three were in the finals, one giant step away from Xcel Energy Center next week for the state tournament.
The UMD men, meanwhile, swept Colorado College last weekend in two tough games to go into this weekend’s final regular-season action at St. Cloud trailing Minnesota by two slim points for the WCHA title. The Gophers are at home against Wisconsin, which is having a rough year without a lot of talent, but which could rise up and play like the ferocious rival that emerges from the Badgers whenever they face the Gophers. While winning the league title is still there, the biggest news for UMD was a return to the No. 1 ranking in the national Pairwise calculations, which are used by the NCAA committee in selecting its national tournament teams and arranging regional pairings.
The UMD women’s team is not the best team in the country this season, and is not currently among the top eight teams, perhaps. But the Bulldogs have been playing up to their heritage in recent weeks, and last weekend’s sweep of Ohio State opened the WCHA playoffs in style. This weekend, the women’s hockey spotlight swings around to shine on Duluth, because the WCHA Final Faceoff is at AMSOIL Arena Friday and Saturday. The NCAA national Frozen Four also will be at AMSOIL two weeks from now. It would take an amazing run for UMD to reach the eight-team NCAA field. All they have to do, presumably, is beat Wisconsin and Minnesota — the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the land.
Beating Ohio State puts the Bulldogs into position to have a chance. True, they must play their best hockey of the season in the league’s Final Faceoff, but maybe that’s how it should be. UMD will take on No. 1 ranked and regular-season champion Wisconsin Friday afternoon in the first game, while runner-up Minnesota faces North Dakota in the Friday night second semifinal. In women’s hockey, more than in men’s, big games tend to go according to form. The form chart says Saturday night’s final will be between Wisconsin and Minnesota — and if it is, Duluth hockey fans are in for a treat, because those two teams play each other with the same intensity their men’s counterparts have made an enormous tradition.
All four league semifinalists have some elite players, who must be counted on by their teams to come through under pressure. Both Minnesota — with four Patty Kazmaier Award finalists — and Wisconsin have the most high-end players in the country. Against UMD, Minnesota’s top threat is Amanda Kessel, while Hilary Knight has been unstoppable for Wisconsin against the Bulldogs. North Dakota, of course, has the Lamoureux Twins, who were dominant freshmen at Minnesota before transferring home to play for the Fighting Sioux. UMD’s catalyst is Haley Irwin, who is playing healthy and with force for her final performances in Duluth. When Irwin is in full health and fired-up, she is as good as any women’s hockey player in the country, capable of taking over any game against any opponent.
Wisconsin came to AMSOIL at the start of the season, and swept UMD. But they were highly competitive and entertaining games. In the first game, Wisconsin won 4-3. UMD’s top line got all three, although they weren’t on the same line then.Jenna McParland scored twice in the first period, with Irwin setting up both goals. Knight rose up to score late in the second period for a 3-2 lead, but Audrey Cournoyer scored in the third period to lift UMD to a 3-3 tie. A great game ended with UMD on the power play with two minutes remaining, only to have Knight get loose to score on a short-handed breakaway with 1:14 left, for the 4-3 victory.
The next day, UMD outshot Wisconsin 49-31 but lost 6-3. The game was scoreless for 17 minutes, then Hilary Knight scored on a power play at 17:05, igniting a 3-goal surge in the span of 1:34. The Bulldogs battled back, outshooting the Badgers 23-7 in the second period, but at 18:16 of that period, you got the idea it wasn’t UMD’s day. A delayed interference penalty was being called on Wisconsin’s Saige Pacholok, so UMD quickly pulled Jennifer Harss from the goal for a sixth attacker. A power-play goal could change the game, and Vanessa Thibault had possession deep in the right corner. She zipped a hard pass back to the point, where, incredibly, the puck popped over a UMD stick at the right point, and as the Bulldogs chased desperately, the puck slid all the way back and into their open goal. So at 18:16, Saige Pacholok, who touched the puck last for Wisconsin, was given credit for both an unassisted goal and an interference penalty.
Wisconsin has gone on from there to deserve the No. 1 ranking, but UMD has probably improved the most from the start of the season.To have a chance against the potent Badgers, Harss must be on her game, Jessica Wong must be at her best leading the defense, and Irwin must get her line up and flying and be the player she was when she led Canada to the last Olympic gold medal. It could be a spectacular game.
A DAY AT CLASS A
Last Thursday, it was tough to choose where to go. Hermantown had a Section 5A game against Moose Lake, Marshall had a 7A playoff against Silver Bay, and Denfeld was at Heritage playing Virginia. Because Moose Lake has the Cisar Brothers, who have scored enormous quantities this season, I headed for Hermantown. The mighty Hawks jumped ahead 4-0 and were outshooting Moose Lake 30-5.
Decision time. Hermantown’s 26th victory without a loss was assured, so I headed for the exit, missing Josh Cisar scoring his 63rd goal, which ended Hermantown’s streak of 258 shutout minutes, but couldn’t do much to prevent an 11-1 rout. There was time to get to Marshall. As I entered Mars-Lakeview Arena, Marshall scored its third goal to go up 3-0 on Silver Bay at the end of the first period. The Toppers were merciless in the second period, and the shot count rose to 47-6 by the second intermission.
Marshall sniper Judd Peterson solved Silver Bay goaltender Alex Murray for the a goal in the 7-0 victory in 7A, but Murray, a freshman, made a state record 66 saves as Marshall outshot the Mariners 73-7.
It ended 7-0, and Marshall outshot Silver Bay 73-7, which outdid Hermantown’s 71-13. Silver Bay goaltender Alex Murray was positively brilliant, making 66 saves to break the high school record of 66 saves, which Karl Goehring established while beating Duluth East in a five-overtime state tournament game in 1996. That was the Dave Spehar East team and a five- overtime game; this was a three-period, regulation-except-for-running-time-in-the-third-period game.
Cynics who love to needle Marshall’s private-schoolness, said that Murray’s performance was so spectacular, he was No. 1 on Marshall’s recruiting list for next year. Aren’t those cynics awful?
Meanwhile, zooming down Mesaba Avenue, there was just barely time to get to Heritage Center in time to see Denfeld ‘s Levi Talarico score the final three goals in a 5-1 victory over Virginia-Mountain Iron-Buhl. But at last, it was a game without a ridiculous score, or a ridiculous number of shots. It was, in fact, a good Class A hockey game.
The beat goes on, that Hermantown and Marshall should both move themselves up from Class A to AA. Only now it is something of urgency, to save “Northern Hockey” for the future. Duluth East was the only northern team left in the 7AA semifinals. The Hounds had a narrow escape to beat Elk River 4-2 on an empty-net goal, while Andover outlasted Forest Lake 7-6 in the second semifinal at AMSOIL last Saturday. That sends Andover into the 7AA final against East’s 26-1 Greyhounds Thursday night at AMSOIL. (If you get your Reader early enough, you could still make it there.) What if it was an Andover-Elk River final? Be silly to be held in Duluth, wouldn’t it? So it’s no longer a challenge, it’s a responsibility. If Marshall moved up to 7AA, instead of rolling up 73 shots in 51 minutes against a good Class A team, and if Hermantown took its undefeated power to 7AA and let those true Class A schools have fun on their own with a chance to go to a state tournament — the reason the second class of tournaments was created — then 7AA would have East, Cloquet, Grand Rapids, Hermantown and Marshall. And we could let Elk River and Andover go back down and play in the Twin Cities against teams they face all season — where they belong, and where they’d prefer to be.
Incidentally, the problems with too many “wrong” teams playing in Class A cross over into the girls hockey, too. Remember, the purpose for having a separate class for smaller schools was to allow those schools that can’t compete with the larger schools a chance to experience the thrill of reaching a state tournament. Detroit Lakes, New Ulm, Chisago Lakes, Red Wing and Hutchinson are five perfect Class A teams, but they had to face Breck, Warroad, and South St. Paul at the Class A segment of the girls state tournament. In the first round, Warroad beat Detroit Lakes 13-1, and South St. Paul crushed New Ulm 12-1. Also, Breck whipped Chisago Lakes 7-3, and in the only game between two “true” Class A teams, Red Wing beat Hutchinson 6-5 in an overtime thriller.
In the consolation round, New Ulm beat Detroit Lakes 5-4, and Chisago Lakes beat Hutchinson 5-2. I’ll bet the girls from New Ulm and Detroit Lakes, as well as Chisago Lakes, will remember the thrill of their consolation game. What a shame they had to wait until consolation to have a real competitive game, rather than facing a small school that could well be playing and beating many of the large schools. Breck, incidentally, beat South St. Paul in a triple overtime championship game that was a great one — but both those teams should be playing “up.”
ALWAYS LOOK TO 7AA
No matter what the circumstances, you can never go wrong by making sure you get to the Section 7AA hockey playoffs, particularly the semifinals. The fact that Duluth East and Andover survived to reach this Thursday’s championship game is a significant reward.
The charge starts here: East's Jack Forbort rush out from goaltender Dylan Parker, flanked by defensemen Andrew Kerr, left, and Phil Beaulieu.
East was in position to blow out Elk River in the first game. Elk River was without long-time coach Tony Sarsland, who has survived numerous controversies but can never be criticized for not having his team ready. The Elks are always in prime condition and well-disciplined. Ben Gustafson, who assisted Tony until a few years ago, came back as interim head coach while Tony fights to get reinstated.
East goalie Dylan Parker stopped Elk River's Jered McLaughlin, as Meirs Moore pursued the rebound.
The game opened with the Hounds at full speed. Trevor Olson, healthy and back on the top line, scored at 0:26, then defenseman Meirs Moore moved in fro the point to score with a perfect feed from Jake Randolph at 5:59. Elk River’s Mitchell Kierstad countered with a deflection goal for Elk River, but Ryan Lundgren made it 3-1 by moving up the left side, taking a pass from Alex Toscano, and drilling a shot high and in, just inside the far post. Late in the second period, still 3-1, Elk River ices the puck while killing a penalty. East goalie Dylan Parker fetches the puck deep in the right corner, turns around and lobs a soft diagonal pass across his own zone. Jared McLaughlin had to think Christmas came early, because he stepped in, intercepted the pass in the slot, and cruised to 15 feet of the open net before depositing the easiest goal he’ll ever score.
That made it 3-2, and East had to struggle to regain their poise. Coach Mike Randolph advised the team it was time to show some character, and the Hounds responded. Parker regained his touch, and even though the Elks outshot East 10-5, he held them off. In the final minute, Randolph escaped up the left boards and fired a rink-wide pass to Olson, steaming up the right boards. Elk River’s superb goaltender Andres Franke was on the bench for a sixth attacker, so Olson, a deadly shooter, had an easy target. As he closed in, however, an Elk defenseman slid across in front of him, so Olson instead made a neat pass to the slot. There was Moore, rushing up from defense, for the easy empty-netter.
“I’ve never scored an empty-net goal in high school, and I always wanted to,” said Moore, a junior, who was more genuinely excited about the clincher than his first of the game. “Me and Jake won the battle to get the puck out of our zone, Jake got it to Trevor, and I hopped up into the rush.Trevor is such a team guy; he throws that perfect ‘sauc,’ [meaning “saucer” pass] and all I had to do was put it in.”
Still, Elk River’s solid performance took away a lot of the things East most likes to do with its sharp-passing game. The automatic passing lanes that have been open all season weren’t open against the alert and disciplined Elks. “As coaches, we’re working with the seniors,” said Gustafson. “Nobody is taking any credit, and nobody is giving any blame. We all worked together.”
In the second game, Andover led 1-0, Forest Lake led 2-1, then Andover went up 4-2 with six minutes left in the second period, only to have Kyle VonTassel, Brett Gravelle and Jack Smith score power-play goals after a succession of ill-timed Andover penalties. In the third period, Andover tied it, then Tyler Tomberlin put Andover ahead 6-5 at 10:37, but Brandon Rogers came back to score at 15:29 for Forest Lake, gaining an improbable 6-6 tie. In overtime, Davis Tollette moved up to the crease and smacked in a rebound at 5:22, and Andover had its 7-6 victory.
Tollette is a perfect example of perseverence in his senior year. He hurt his ACL in football back in October, and couldn’t play until the end of January. A tall, rangy forward, Tollette was excited to play at AMSOIL Arena. “It’s the nicest ice I’ve ever skated on,” Tollette said. His name and his rangy size were both familiar to me. I coached in the Roseville Summer League for a lot of years, and brothers Jeff and Jon Tollette were both excellent players on other teams. They joined their dad to help run Bunker Hills Golf Club in Coon Rapids, one of the best golf courses in the Twin Cities. “Jeff is my dad,” said Davis Tollette, “Jon is my uncle.” Small world. Jon is now executive director at Bunker Hills.
Andover’s fourth goal, by the way, was scored when Tyler Vold flung shot from center point that found its way in. Vold, a ninth-grader who plays more like a senior, is the grandson of Jim and Laurie Knapp; he’s the former UMD assistant hockey coach, she is the principal at East.
BULLDOGS ELUDE CC
UMD’s race for the WCHA title has taken some crazy turns, but last weekend, the Bulldogs dodged a major obstacle by beating Colorado College 4-3 and 5-2. While seeming to get their game together, the Bulldogs couldn’t gain on Minnesota, which swept at Nebraska-Omaha — the most impressive Gopher weekend since Christmas.
The first CC game showed a swift but scoreless first period. Senior captain Jack Connolly scored midway through the second period, then freshmen Caleb Herbert and Justin Crandall followed for a 3-0 UMD lead on a 3-goal burst in less than five minutes. But Alexander Kryshelnyski scored in the last minute of the second period, and Michael Boivin and Rylan Schwartz scored barely a minute apart in the third period, and UMD’s 3-0 lead had dissolved into a 3-3 tie. At 3:00 of overtime, Travis Oleksuk pulled a right-corner faceoff back, and J.T. Brown blasted a one-timer from the slot past goaltender Josh Thorimbert, and UMD won 4-3.
A shot by UMD's Jack Connolly hit CC goalie Josh Thorimbert and popped up, just under the crossbar, before landing in the goal.
The next night, UMD was more assertive against the speedy Tigers, and a record home crowd of 6,808 turned out to see everybody get involved in the scoring. Mike Seidel scored twice, putting UMD up 1-0 in the first, and 2-1 in the second; Brown got another, making it 3-1 after two, and so did Herbert, making it 4-1 before Oleksuk made it 5-1 in the closing minutes. A late CC goal made it 5-2. Connolly, still a favorite for Hobey Baker, had three assists. His first was a work of art, but subtle, as he rushed up the right side, letting Keegan Flaherty drive the defense toward the net before hitting Seidel, who fired from the right faceoff circle and caught the far edge. With 1:06 to go, on the power play, Oleksuk rushed up the middle and fed Connolly on a 2-on-2. Connolly flipped a soft lob pass ahead, across the slot, and, sure enough, Oleksuk broke hard and deflected it in.
Coach Scott Sandelin has to worry about who will make those neat, subtle plays next season, after Connolly’s gone, but for now, we can all enjoy watching his artistry. UMD paid tribute to seniors Connolly, Oleksuk, forward David Grun, defensemen Brady Lamb and Scott Kishel, and goaltender Kenny Reiter. Lamb said, “This was closer to the way we played when we were on our streak. We’d been giving away points, but tonight all of our lines and our defense as well got in the scoring…and even Kenny.” Sure enough, Reiter assisted on Seidel’s first goal and on Brown’s goal. Cody Danberg, who missed last year with an injury, and also was injured for his red-shirt return year, also was introduced with the seniors. While it was the last regular-season series for the seniors, the Bulldogs will, of course, be back in AMSOIL next weekend for league playoffs.
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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