Good season ends, better one awaits — if Hunter signs
The Major League Baseball season ended with a thud for the Minnesota Twins, even as it transformed itself into league playoffs – the most exciting baseball of the year. All the whining and moaning about the dismal turn of events that left the Twins on the outside looking in this October have subsided, so we can concentrate on the daily news of whether the Twins will retain Torii Hunter.
The signature to this season for the Twins might have been the vision of Hunter coming out of the Metrodome dugout to tip his cap to the fans, who were giving him an ovation in case it was his last home game in a Twins uniform. If not, the signature might have been Hunter delivering a key hit in Detroit or Boston on the Twins season-ending road trip. Both of those images came to me courtesy of Fox Sports North, and if those prove to be the final image we hold of the Twins, it will be sad, indeed.
True, there are other challenges facing the Twins, such as Johan Santana going into the final year of his contract, but there is no more pressing issue with the Twins than signing Hunter.
Those who put total emphasis on whether the team makes the playoffs or not should examine other teams in other markets, and realize how special it is to get that far. It is unusual, and should be appreciated, because most teams don’t make it. The Twins have been fortunate enough to win a tough division enough – including last year’s last-day pennant-winning effort – to make media critics and the most narrow-visioned fans expect that it should happen every year.
Comparing this season with last, look at several factors. In 2006, Joe Mauer was batting champ and local hero; Justin Morneau was most valuable player and drove in a lot of runs; Torii Hunter routinely made scintillating catches in center field and hit well – particularly in September, when he often lifted the club to victory; Michael Cuddyer came through as a clutch hitter who could throw guys out with his laser from right field; Lew Ford was a surprising bright light; Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett were the “piranhas†who ignited repeated rallies and starred in the field; Santana was Cy Young (again); Francisco Liriano was an exceptional young lefthander who burst upon the scene; Brad Radke pitched courageously and wisely to give the Twins a “Big Three†and allow young prospects to fill out the rotation; Joe Nathan was the closer to a superb bullpen.
This season, Liriano missed the whole season after arm surgery; Mauer was again a brilliant hitter, but suffered repeated leg injuries that knocked him out of action; Radke retired; Morneau hit with awesome power, but not regularity, suffering long stretched of ineffectiveness between burst of home runs; Santana pitched hard and well, but acquired a knack for giving up solid hits and home runs as foes seemed to start focusing on either his fastball or his changeup, first-pitch-hitting him often and with success; Nathan was still good, but frequently got his saves only after getting rocked for a few hits and/or runs, and the rest of the bullpen seemed to fade; Ford disappeared and made only brief appearances; Bartlett and Punto started out hitting miserably, but at least playing brilliant defensively, and when Bartlett finally hit respectably Punto continued to flirt with hitting below .200 until finally getting it together in September; Cuddyer continued to hit well and play strong right field.
And then there was Torii Hunter. The man was again The Man in center field, and he hit well and consistently throughout the season. Despite the ineffectiveness of all those Twins from shark to piranha in the batting order, Hunter not only kept hitting all season, but he secured his position as the face of the franchise.
True, Joe Mauer is the heroic local-boy-makes-good story and is the single most important player to the franchise. His long-term employment is a given, despite those cynics who complained that he “only hit singles and doubles†when he was hitting .350, and wailed that they couldn’t figure out why, mysteriously, nobody was on base for the home runs after Joe was sidelined by his strained muscle injury.
But after Mauer, Torii Hunter is THE primary factor in the Twins lineup, in their clubhouse, and in their face to the media. Always willing to talk, candidly, Hunter always is upbeat, punctuating his assessments with that smile that can warm up a whole stadium.One Twin Cities columnist ripped the Twins a couple weeks before the end of the season saying that the future is so bleak that the Twins won’t win next year with or without players such as Hunter and Santana.
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I disagree. If Mauer stays healthy, if Santana finds a way to more effectively alter his pitching pattern, if Morneau develops a little patience to look for his pitch, if everybody leaves Bartlett and Punto alone and realizes that they are great defensively and will come through with less pressure offensively, if Cuddyer keeps playing the way he’ll keep playing; if Liriano comes back with any similarity to the pitcher he was in 2006 – then the only thing between the Twins and pennant contention is clear.
It is the image of Torii Hunter, portraying a seek-and-destroy missile in center field for the Twins, and frustrating those “by-the-book†analysts who hate it when guys swing at the first pitch. Hunter often swings at the first pitch, and, I would bet, probably leads the Major Leagues in hitting first-pitch home runs. The critics who go by the book in baseball need to get the new, unabridged “book†by Torii Hunter.
Owner Carl Pohlad is getting his new stadium, even though he is only financing one-third of it. The taxpayers weren’t asked for their vote in favor of their financial participation in underwriting the cost of building the stadium. But if I were to vote, my vote would hang in the balance – pending the signing to a long-term contract of Torii Hunter. He wants a lot of money, and he deserves it. He wants a 5-year contract, and I say, “Great! He’ll be around a while.Ââ€
For those who think no player is worth an exorbitant contract, they are right. But pro athletes get what they can get, and that’s the unfortunate but realistic state of pro sports these days. That said, very few Major League players are worth as much as Torii Hunter is to the Twins.
Some might say Santana is worth more. Not true. Pitchers are vitally important, and I love watching Johan pitch, even though Ron Gardenhire’s astute managing falls into the pitch-count trap that has prevented Santana from extending the length of his starts. He may never throw a complete game, and I heard a national television analyst say that he’s just not the type of pitcher who can go the distance. Of course he is, although he is now programmed to go seven innings instead of nine.
The fact is, Santana or any other starting pitcher has a chance to dominate and win a game one time out of every five or six games. In some of those games, a team’s ace will be going against an equal team’s ace, and then the odds of him winning drop to 50-50. Joe Mauer can find a way to help win every game, as long as he can stay healthy, but catching is such a rugged chore, he will definitely get some days off, especially with a backup as impressive as Mike Redmond. Justin Morneau can win some games when he’s on one of his homer hot streaks. But Torii Hunter is the player with the best chance of winning every single game of the season.
Skeptical? Consider the absolute worst-case scenario: It’s the spring of 2010, and the new outdoor ballpark (which should be named Pohlad Park if ol’ Carl had only chosen to spend a billion of his own on the project) has opened and the game is underway. One of the Twins socks a high, long drive to center field, but – curses! — the — the other team’s center-fielder leaps up and reaches over the fence to rob the home team of a home run. That center-fielder could be Torii Hunter, wearing a visiting uniform, committing his grinning larceny in a new ballpark…which we don’t need if the Twins fail to sign Torii Hunter.
Ducks winning Cup means bright future for Wild
When the Anaheim Ducks whipped Ottawa in five games to win the first West Coast Stanley Cup, journalists clamored to boast that they were not surprised when the Ducks proved to be Mighty, even if they’d dropped the previous Disneyesque first half of their nickname.
One hockey writer, a good guy from Minneapolis, followed up the title series by reminding readers that, back before the season started, he picked the Ducks to go all the way. Very impressive, for those who could recall last summer when the regular season began. Easier to remember for the readers undoubtedly was when the same writer picked Ottawa — not Anaheim — to win the final series and capture the Cup. That was just before the finals. Before the playoffs began, in a huge, double-page spread in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, he picked all eight first-round match-ups in which he predicted the Wild to beat Anaheim (gong), as well as Pittsburgh and super-kid Sidney Crosby to beat Ottawa (gong), Atlanta to beat the Rangers (gong), Tampa Bay to beat New Jersey (gong), and Calgary to beat Detroit (gong). Oof! How does three right and five wrong sound? Not only that, in the same spread, he picked San Jose to go all the way by beating Nashville, the Wild(gong), Calgary (gong), and Atlanta (gong)to win the Cup (extra-loud GONG).
Not that I was right on, but I was close. Before the playoffs began, I wrote that the Wild were playing as impressively as any team in the NHL, but were running into the team against which they matched up worst. Detroit, Dallas, Calgary, Vancouver, San Jose, and Nashville — any of the other West teams would have been a better match for Minnesota in the most-balanced playoffs in NHL history. So I predicted that I would go with my heart over my head and take the Wild against Anaheim, but I hedged by saying the winner of that series would go all the way to the final.
Overlooked in the impressive Anaheim run to the Cup, choreographed by one-time Edina High School winger Brian Burke, was that the little, ol’ Minnesota Wild, in the first round, had given the Ducks a fiercely competitive series — tougher than Ottawa did in the final. Anaheim outscored the Wild 12-9 in the five-game series, then Anaheim outscored Vancouver 14-8 in a five-game second-round match, and only Detroit gave the Ducks more of a tussle, winning two of the first three before the Ducks won three straight, outscoring the Red Wings only 17-16, because of Detroit’s 5-0 Game 3 triumph. In the final, Ottawa, also went down in five games, but was outscored 16-11 including the climactic 6-2 Game 5 rout.
So Anaheim outscored Ottawa by five goals in the final series, and Vancouver by six, and Detroit by one goal, after only outscoring the Wild by three.
But at the time of the first round elimination, the disappointment of a state-full of Minnesota hockey fans reflected only that their heroes were snuffed too soon after sailing into the playoffs with high hopes. Never mind that the Wild lost two tough, close 2-1 and 3-2 games at Anaheim, then lost Game 3 at Minnesota 2-1. Down, and counted out, the Wild rose for their finest hour to capture Game 4 with a 4-1 victory. Hope returned, only to be snuffed when Anaheim delivered the knockout in with a 4-1 slam in Game 5.
The media and talk shows spewed all sorts of things about the Wild shortcomings. The fans had patiently waited while Marian Gaborik overcame a near half-season lost to a groin strain, and watched the Wild rise from the despair of losing ace goaltender Manny Fernandez halfway through the year before marveling as unheralded Niklas Backstrom came from the No. 3 goaltending slot to star as the best goaltender in the NHL, carrying the Wild up and into the playoffs and winning the award for fewest goals-allowed. So to be rudely eliminated almost before the playoffs began was a cruel ending.
It is less cruel in retrospect, after the Ducks did away with all those other contenders that Minnesota fans might have respected more than the Ducks. Only one team gets to hoist the Stanley Cup, and when it does, a careful look at all the fallen victims can be interesting.
When you think about it, Doug Risebrough timed his move perfectly, adding such luminaries as Pavel Demitra to be Gaborik’s Slovakian playmate, Bloomington’s own Mark Parrish to go to the front of the net and be an offensive force, Backstrom as a commodity far more valuable than a minor-league goaltending prospect, and veteran Keith Carney as a stabilizer on defense. With Brian Rolston and Pierre-Marc Bouchard already in place to ignite the offense, the redoubtable Wes Walz as a solid two-way center specializing in checking opposing stars, and Mikko Koivu emerging as an outstanding and virtually mistake-free two-way forward, coach Jacques Lemaire could finally work with something more than a defensive-postured competitor.
Going into the playoffs, the Wild ranked an A on offense, an A-minus on defense, and a surprising A in goal. Trouble was, Anaheim was also an A on offense, led by the remarkably ageless Teemu Selanne, and an A in goal with Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and a staggering A-plus on defense, led by the unbeatable pair of Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer. If you follow this, the Wild offense might have been better than the Anaheim offense, as far as which one might be easier for a common foe to harness. But the reason this particular match-up was too tough is that the Anaheim offense was better against the Wild defense than the Wild offense was against Anaheim’s defense. In the series, the Duck defense reduced the Minnesota offense to about C-level, while the Anaheim offense was at least a B against a Wild defense that held its ground impressively.
It took a while before Minnesota fans could look to the future, but there can be nothing but optimism for the Wild. Backstrom signed on, long-term, and Manny Fernandez was traded to the Boston Bruins, clearing up the goaltending situation. Risebrough drafted bigger, stronger, more forceful players, as he and Lemaire obviously saw what Anaheim did to win the playoffs. In today’s NHL, you don’t need to be strong enough to beat up your opponents, but you do need to be forceful enough to be able to play your best, even in difficult situations — such as, at Anaheim.
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My preliminary pick for the biggest surprise for the coming season is Brent Burns. A big, rangy young prospect who can play anywhere, he seemed to be little more than a slow-developing prospect until he got entangled in a fight to open the playoffs, and fought well enough to seem surprised by his own achievement. So in Game 4, when the Ducks decided to turn ugly and mug the Wild on the last few shifts, Chris Perry jumped Burns. Burns not only responded, he responded well, and punched out Perry, dropping him to the ice on his backside and winning a clear TKO.
Burns, again, was smiling, and seemed surprised, at his own fistic ability. And even Derek Boogaard, who continues to show that he can play, as well as intimidate, was impressed that he has found a teammate who can be counted on when things get gritty, and when more than skill and finesse are required to succeed.
The Duck success is a tribute to Burke, who left Vancouver as a scapegoat when Todd Bertuzzi was suspended and the Canucks slipped a cog. Burke landed on his feet in Anaheim, and he promptly acquired defenseman Scott Niedermayer off the free-agent market from New Jersey. In his time at Vancouver, he had a close-up view of what Chris Pronger meant as the Edmonton Oilers built a playoff contender. Pronger was unquestionably the main reason the Oilers made it to the Stanley Cup finals in 2006, so when Pronger became a free agent, Burke pounced again. Pronger is probably the best defenseman in the NHL right now. Niklas Lidstrom of the Red Wings is awesome offensively and crafty defensively, but Pronger is like a Lidstrom who also can flatten anyone in the league with a bodycheck, and he’s willing to do it, any time, straight on. How good is Pronger? We should not be surprised that he moved from Edmonton’s Cup runner-up to Anaheim, and, presto — Anaheim wins the Cup and Edmonton misses the playoffs.
There can be no question that John-Sebastien Giguere was stellar in goal, but the two primary reasons why the Ducks were as Mighty as they were was the play of Scott Niedermayer and Pronger. Randy Carlyle, a former puck-rushing and point-generating defenseman in his playing days, appreciated the defensive prowess of both, and the offensive capabilities. So he could play them together, but cleverly alternated them, assuring that one of them was on the ice at all times. They still could play as a tandem on power plays and penalty kills.
The strategy worked against the Wild. It wasn’t that the Wild played poorly, even though critics whined and moaned about their offense not clicking. Trying to click and getting bombed by Pronger’s checks is a different matter. Still, the Wild believed they played well enough and were close enough to win two of the first three, instead of losing all three. Winning Game 4 soundly rejuvenated the dying hopes of Minnesota fans, but returning to Anaheim was a dispiriting experience for the Wild, who were eliminated quite forcefully.
Having their offense extinguished by Anaheim turns out to be no disgrace for the Wild, because the Ducks did the same thing to Vancouver, the vaunted Detroit Red Wings, and, in the finals, to the vanishing superstars of Ottawa. Refresh my memory: Did Dany Heatley play in the finals? Or did he just suit up?
Heatley, and Ottawa’s sensational first line, did virtually all of the Senators’ scoring right up until the finals. So Carlyle broke up his plan and paired Pronger and Niedermayer on the same unit, then sent them out whenever Ottawa’s big line hit the ice. They rendered the Ottawa line completely helpless through four of the five games. Four, incidentally, is enough to declare the other side the winner. As tradition dictates, a team’s skilled players only have to be tough enough to perform on the road, when things get tough. And at Anaheim, they got about as tough as they can get.
Wild’s big night proves streak by Ducks not unlimited
Whether the Minnesota Wild come back to make history against the Anaheim Ducks, or whether they head off to summertime in Game 5, nothing can alter the fabulous performance Minnesota hockey fans enjoyed Thursday night, when, after losing the first three games of the best-of-seven first-round series, they rose up to win Game 4 by a decisive 4-1 count, as 19,174 fans at Xcel Center roared their approval.
The game had everything, including the more productive intensity coach Jacques Lemaire was seeking, and goals by the missing-in-action top guns, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Marian Gaborik, Brian Rolston, and Mark Parrish. In fact, the Wild scored another goal, when Marty Skoula rifled in a screened shot from the blue line, but the goal was disallowed when Branko Radivojevic was accused of having his skate in the crease.
Didn’t matter. What did matter was that the Ducks, who certainly resembled a classy but hard-playing threat to go all the way to the Stanley Cup, looked like a 1970s remnant from an old Philadelphia Flyers or Boston Bruins “beat ’em in the alley” game plan.
In the closing minutes, with the game out of reach at 4-1, the Ducks sprung a two-pronged attack, with 2-on-1 muggings both springing up near the Anaheim bench. Brad May, a tough veteran, appeared to be looking for someone to pair off with, when Kim Johnsson, a smooth-skating Swedish defenseman who is a career non-fighter, skated by. May blocked his path, gave him a shove, then sucker-punched him, dropping him face-down on the ice, 10 feet from the Anaheim bench. May reached down and pulled Johnsson up, as though to punch him some more, but he appeared to be unconscious, so he dropped him back to the ice.
Afterward, incredibly, May was interviewed on television and said, “It’s playoff time. Games are tough, and you’ve got to do what you can to advance to the next round.”
Not much apology there. The next day, when the teams traveled back to Anaheim, Johnsson, who had logged the most ice time of any Minnesota defenseman, stayed back in Minnesota, hospitalized for further examination of an apparent concussion. May was banished with a three-game suspension for clear intent to injury.
Asked about the Ducks sudden attacks, Lemaire said: “I’m surprised they did that. We don’t want that. If that’s the way it’s going to be, then we’ll go after (Teemu) Selanne, or McDonald, or Pronger, or Niedermayer. May hit Johnsson, punched him, but Johnson is not a fighter. If they want one, we have one — he’s wearing No. 24, and he’s our tallest.”
That would be Derek Boogaard, Minnesota’s Paul Bunyanesque winger who continues to play well when given a chance to do something beyond defending his teammates. In the Thursday game, Chris Pronger’s goal had staked Anaheim to a 1-0 lead early in the second period. With two minutes left in the middle period and that 1-0 deficit hanging there, Boogaard got the puck, circled through the right offensive corner with nary a white jersey in sight, and fed a perfect pass to the slot. Pierre Marc Bouchard, who hadn’t had a single shot through three and one-third games, caught the pass and fired a quick wrist shot that was blocked back to him by a defender, then Bouchard ripped a follow-up slap shot and it beat goaltender Ilja Bryzgalov for a 1-1 tie.
“Boogey made a great pass,” said Bouchard. “My first shot got blocked, but I got another. The first was a wrister, and the second a slapshot — maybe I was frustrated the first shot didn’t get through.”
Whatever, the proper force sent the second one in, and Boogaard, one of the more feared fighters in the NHL, had made the play that turned the game around for the Wild. He was colorful in the dressing room afterward:
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Were you surprised that after none of your teammates had found even an inch of space, that you had nothing but room, and no Anaheim player was in that quadrant of the zone, meaning apparently nobody was interested in taking a run at you?
“You’ll have to ask the other team why they didn’t want to,” said Boogaard, with a twinkle in his eye.
Were you surprised they attacked a couple of your teammates in the closing minutes?
“No,” said Boogaard. “That’s the way they play. They’re fine when they win, but if they lose, they try to start something to intimidate you.”
Were you surprised that happened when you weren’t on the ice?
“Gimme a break,” said Boogaard. “They wouldn’t dare do anything like that if I was out there.”
As for the May incident with Johnsson, Boogaard said: “He’s supposed to be one of those veterans you respect, and he sucker-punches a guy who doesn’t fight. I have no respect for that.”
In the third period, still 1-1, the Wild erupted. Gaborik reversed position behind the net and jammed one in on a power play from the right edge of the crease at 3:23, giving the Wild a 2-1 lead. Midway through the period, the Wild struck for two goals in just over a minute.
Rolston, who had been silenced by the Ducks defense, broke up the right side, passing to his left for Pavol Demitra, who cut to his left and worked his way clear in the slot. As he went to shoot, however, he passed back to the right, instead. Rolston, just passing the goal on the right side, reached back to catch the pass, and snapped it in behind the goalie at 9:27.
The crowd was still roaring when Parrish got his stick blade on a shot from the blue line and deflected it cleanly in at 10:44. It was only two minutes later, on another power play, when Skoula shot from the left point. Radivojevic was screening up close, with his back to the goalie, and his left skate was clearly in the outer edge of the crease. In high school or college hockey, that’s illegal. But because Brett Hull once scored a Cup winning goal on a questionable in-the-crease decision, the NHL changed the rule in 1999 to allow a player to have a foot in the crease, so long as it didn’t interfere with the goalie.
As Skoula’s shot got to the net, Radivojevic raised his left foot off the ice, so as not to impede the shot’s flight, and as the puck hit the net, his left foot was not in the crease. The officials immediately disallowed the goal. The crowd howled, particularly when the big screen showed the replay. “I thought that rule is gone,” said Lemaire. “A skate in the crease is good, now.”
On top of that, Radivojevic had hoisted his skate up, and technically wasn’t even in the crease. You could look it up (on the accompanying photo). But it didn’t matter. Not on this night.
Wild tackle Anaheim in NHL’s widest-open Cup run
Because the Minnesota Wild are making their second appearance ever, there is more interest than ever in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Minnesota. But make no mistake — never before in the National Hockey League’s long and storied history have the playoffs been more wide open than this season.
On paper, the Wild should be distinct underdogs to the Anaheim Ducks. The simple reason is that an Edina native and former high school star named Brian Burke was kicked out of Vancouver because, as an American, he was an easy scapegoat when the Canucks sagged for a season, and he landed on his feet in Anaheim. First thing he did, with an outstanding goaltender named Jean-Sebastien Giguere and a great defenseman in Scott Niedermayer already in place, was to obtain Edmonton’s top player — big, swift, and mean defenseman Chris Pronger. The Oilers went to the Cup final last spring, losing only to Carolina in a stirring seven-game final, then Pronger requested a trade. That led to the demise of the Oilers, who are now just a rebuilding shell of that team a year later.
For those not paying close attention during the long NHL regular season, Carolina and Edmonton — last year’s Cup finalists — BOTH missed the generous playoff allotment this year.
The reason the Oilers sank in the West is a big reason why Giguere and the Ducks are flapping. Pronger might join Niedermayer once in a while, but mostly they alternate, meaning one of them is on the ice all the time. Good as Niedermayer is, opponents could get around him, or wait for the next shift to attack. Now, there is no way to feel comfortable attacking the Ducks. Also, the incredible skills of 36-year-old Teemu Selanne up front makes the Ducks an enormous offensive threat. Don’t forget, while North Americans were licking their wounds at the “fluke” of both Canada and the U.S. failing to reach the gold medal game at the 2006 Olympics, Sweden won the gold, and Finland — mostly because of Selanne — won the silver.
The Wild have their incomparable tandem of Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra up front, and strong support from Brian Rolston, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Mikko Koivu and Mark Parrish when it comes to scoring. Demitra (25-39–64) and Rolston (31-33–64) tied for team scoring honors, with Gaborik next, at 30-27–57, tied with Bouchard’s 20-37–57. Impressive, but Selanne had 48 goals, 46 assists, for 94 points, and his centerman, someone named Andy McDonald (27-51–78), as well as defenseman Niedermayer (15-54–69) had more points than the Wild’s leader.
Still, the Wild missed Gaborik for two months when his horrible strained groin prevented him from igniting the offense, and since his return, the brilliant tandem of Gaborik and Demitra made the Wild one of the NHL’s hottest and most explosive teams. Count the series as a toss-up, and, being provincial, we’ll pick the Wild to win in seven. This is not the wide-eyed, inane prediction of some of the media guys who may (or may not) have seen a game this season, but a pick-with-the-heart for coach Jacques Lemaire against a team that has everything. Count on this, too. Whichever team wins this series has a realistic chance at going all the way. It’s possible that nobody is better than either one of these teams right now.
Elsewhere in the West, Detroit opens against Calgary, and depleted or not, I like the Red Wings to prevail, in six, as Pavel Datsyuk outplays Jarome Iginla in a classic duel of elite forwards, while Dominik Hasek edges Miikka Kiprusoff in a battle of elite goalies. Vancouver is host to Dallas, and Mike Modano, who some consider the best U.S. player ever to play in the NHL, will be the difference as the Stars shine in six. San Jose opens at Nashville, and while I think Nashville’s Predators are impressive, I think coach Ron Wilson will have Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo at full speed and the Sharks will win in five.
Out East, a series I find as intriguing as the Wild-Anaheim match finds Tampa Bay at New Jersey. GM Lou Lamoriello shocked everyone by reassuming coaching duties two weeks ago, but the Devils will rise up to their best, and the likes of Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, defenseman Paul Martin, and goaltender Martin Brodeur will be just barely enough to escape in seven games against the Lightning, who are led by the dynamic duo of diminutive sparkplug Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier. Lecavalier led the league with 52 goals (52-56–108) and St. Louis had 43-59–102. That’s two guys over 100 points on the same team, while only six players in the entire NHL topped 100. However, I don’t think that winner will go all the way to the Cup.
That’s because of Buffalo, which faces the New York Islanders in the first round, and which has no 100-point guys but does have seven 20-goal skaters, led by ex Gopher Thomas Vanek, who notched 43. The Islanders showed great tenacity in making the playoffs on the final day, as former Denver University goaltender Wade Dubielewicz, from Minneapolis, stepped in to star, and the Islanders knocked out Montreal and Toronto on the final day. Buffalo could sweep in four, but we’ll guess five — scoring one for tenacity. Atlanta is at home to the New York Rangers, and Atlanta should outlast Jaromir Jagr (30-66-96), and can outscore him with the likes of Marian Hossa (43-57–100), in six. Another great matchup is Pittsburgh at Ottawa, where Ottawa has a swift, explosive team, but Pittsburgh has boy-wonder Sidney Crosby, who led the NHL with 36-84–120. I like Dany Heatley and Ottawa to ambush the Penguins in seven, but that series is also a toss-up.
The Wild are — first of all — plural! Some newspapers insist on referring to the Wild as a singular noun, but Minnesota is singular, and Wild are as plural as the Vikings, Twins, Gophers, or (dare we mention) the North Stars. As a “they” instead of an “it,” the Wild are a bunch that no other NHL team would be eager to play right now, even though they came in only seventh of eight teams by point totals of the three divisions that comprise the West half of the NHL.
Coach Jacques Lemaire is a master strategist, who has forced, begged, coaxed and manipulated his players into pretty much playing the way he used to — back when he wore the No. 25 Superman colors of the Montreal Canadiens. Lemaire was the on-ice brains behind a talent-laden team that simply owned the Stanley Cup. If the Canadiens didn’t win every Cup in the 1960s and ’70s, whoever did win it had to get past them to make it.
Lemaire gets ripped for deploying something ill-informed writers refer to as the “neutral zone trap,” which is a defense-only tactical deployment geared to not attack, but instead to fall back in a strictly defensive posture instead of forechecking. To be accurate, the trap requires that the first forechecker doesn’t forecheck, but instead steers the puck-carrying defenseman to either carry or pass the puck from behind his net to the boards on either side. The first forward then escorts the puck carrier to the neutral zone, where other forwards seal him off, leaving no alternative but to force a pass to teammates who are thoroughly covered in the neutral zone.
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Lemaire’s system instead stresses defense first, but not only. In Montreal, as a player, when he felt someone like Boston’s brilliant defenseman Bobby Orr deserved special attention for his elite offensive skills. The result was Montreal won more Cups. He did it in New Jersey, as coach, when he took over an offensively biased team and had to put in strict rules to get them to pay attention to defense — and win a Stanley Cup. And he did it with the expansion gang he found in Minnesota, organizing the Wild to play solidly from their end of the rink out. Lemaire was an offensive maestro, but he knew that the best offense is worthless without the basis of a solid, goal-preventing defense.
So when you watch the Wild play, note how many times they come racing into the offensive zone, one or two forwards zooming in hard and forechecking all the way to the end boards. Sometimes a third forward also goes in deep, or a defenseman might join the rush as a fourth attacker. Whenever the Wild has even the first forward in behind the net forechecking, the definition of the “neutral-zone trap” is voided, except in the catch-phrase minds of some media types.
This is the year the Wild, from Lemaire and his assistants to general manager Doug Risebrough, have made their move. After last season, when they determined that the defensive-end discipline was in place, they turned their attention to offense. They added Demitra, a Slovakian National teammate of Gaborik, the explosively fast winger who has been the offensive signature player of the franchise. Having already added Brian Rolston, and patiently awaited the emergence of Mikko Koivu, they also added Mark Parrish, a gifted offensive force at getting to the front of the net and getting the puck into the net. Not to be overlooked is the addition of veteran defenseman Keith Carney, whose steady wisdom complements the puck-moving and skating skills of newly added defensemen Kim Johnsson and Petteri Nummelin — both of whom were obtained to bring the power play to life.
In goal, Manny Fernandez was the mainstay, although Finnish star Niklas Backstrom figured to challenge Josh Harding for the backup role. By surprise, when Fernandez went down with a leg injury, Backstrom — whose first three victories came in relief roles when Fernandez was having a rough night — not only filled in but took over the job, and led the league. Fernandez went 22-16-1, with a good 2.55 goals-against average and a solid .911 save percentage, but Backstrom went 23-8-6 with 1.97 and .929. Brilliant. And maybe as much luck as managerial skill. Harding, at 3-2-1, is 1.16 and .960. So the Wild go to Anaheim amazingly set in goal, but without Fernandez in the picture.
Fighting Sioux stun Huskies 6-2 to reach Final Five final
SAINT PAUL, MN. — The popular theory that the University of North
Dakota is playing the best hockey in the country at the right time was verified Friday afternoon, when 17,511 fans at Xcel Center saw the Fighting Sioux whip St. Cloud State 6-2 in the first semifinal of the WCHA Final Five tournament.
Not only does it keep the Sioux sizzling, with a 15-2-4 record since
Christmas, but the Sioux dismantled a St. Cloud State team that had, itself, been one of the hottest teams in the nation. Beyond that, the six goals came against Bobby Goepfert, just named first-team all-WCHA goaltender, and a Hobey Baker finalist. Next up, of course, is a Saturday night date with arch-rival Minnesota, as North Dakota tries to duplicate the playoff crown it won a year ago.
The Fighting Sioux have been built on a concept of a spectacular first
line, with Jonathan Toews centering T.J. Oshie and Ryan Duncan on what is clearly the best forward unit in the country. Toews got the first and fourth goals against the Huskies. However, a second line, just put together by coach Dave Hakstol in the last week, was every bit as impressive as the first unit.
Chris VandeVelde, a freshman who was just installed on the second line
despite having only one goal, scored twice and assisted on a goal by winger Matt Watkins, while Chris Porter, one of only two seniors in the explosive Sioux lineup, added the final goal and stabilizes the trio at right wing.
The Sioux were typically humble afterward, while the Huskies were
unrestrained in their praise for North Dakota.
“I felt pretty good,” said Goepfert, who faced many triple-A quality
shots among the 35 the Sioux fired. “They’re a good team, and that first line is really special. They made plays when I thought I had good coverage.”
Huskies winger Andrew Gordon, who set up Andreas Nodl for a 1-1 tie, and scored himself to make it a 3-2 game in the second period, was overwhelmed. “At this time of year, after playing 40 games and getting physically beaten down, the way they’re playing is incredible,” said Gordon. “They come at you 110 miles per hour, all the time. They’re peaking at the right time.”
The first goal of the game didn’t come until a North Dakota power play
at 16:20, when Toews came out from the end boards on the right, and humbly said he just threw the puck at the net, when actually he spotted a tiny opening at the extreme upper right corner and zapped a missile into the only hole Goepfert left.
The Huskies tied the game when freshman Andreas Nodl converted an Andrew Gordon feed from behind the goal, with a quick step to his backhand eluding goaltender Philippe Lamoureux at 4:09 of the second. Then the second line went to work, scoring just 1:10 later on a rush by Porter, up the right side. He fed Watkins, who one-timed a return to Watkins for a quick shot. Goepfert blocked it, but VandeVelde — a state tournament star on the same ice two years ago for Moorhead High School — cashed in the rebound.
Four minutes after that, the Sioux made it 3-1 when Watkins caught
Taylor Chorney’s rink-wide pass for another good shot, another good save, and another rebound goal plunked by VandeVelde.
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The Huskies came back again, when Gordon scored on a power play at 10:06 of the wide-open second period, cutting it to 3-2. But Toews padded the lead with yet another rebound after Oshie had outraced the defense for a loose puck, and a whirling shot from the right side at 12:29, and VandeVeld fed out from behind the net for Watkins to score again at 13:12. The two goals in 43 seconds boosted the score to 5-2, and the Sioux coasted through the third period, with Porter getting the only goal.
“We’ve been gettting better every game, and we don’t look at it as being on a roll, just trying to get better every game,” said Toews, one of 11 sophomores, and the middle man on the all-soph super-line.
St. Cloud coach Bob Motzko said: “I thought Bobby Goepfert played well
tonight. For a 6-2 loss, we did a lot of things well. Bobby had a great first period, and toews made an unbelievable play to make it 1-0. We tied the game, then we turned it over twice, and they scored both times. They’ve got something going up there. The top line is so good, and the other lines work so hard…They’re going awfully good right now.
“The think I like about North Dakota is their forwards skate straight
ahead,” Motzko added. “You never see them backing off. We were on our way to getting there, then they got that short-handed goal, right when we thought we were there.”
That would be the second Toews goal, which is listed, officially, as a
short-handed goal, but Andrew Kozek’s penalty had expired at 12:28 —
one second before Toews scored. The mistake is understandable, however. The Sioux are playing so well, and throwing the puck around with such rapid precision, that it often appears they’re playing with an extra man.
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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