Gophers, Sioux, Huskies carry WCHA hopes into NCAA
The WCHA has high hopes for capturing its sixth consecutive NCAA hockey championship when the tournament begins this weekend, and Minnesota, North Dakota and St. Cloud State clearly stand as the best three teams in the league when it comes to accomplishing that feat.
Minnesota won the league and playoff championships, and is the No. 1 seed at the West Regional at Denver when the Golden Gophers (30-9-3) take on at-large challenger Air Force Academy (19-15-5) in Saturday’s match. North Dakota (22-13-5) the 3-2 overtime loser to Minnesota in the league Final Five title game, remains the hottest team in the WCHA, if not the country, and stands as favorite against Michigan (26-13-1) in the other West semifinal.
That is a colorful foursome. Minnesota coach Don Lucia and Air Force coach Frank Serratore are longtime close friends, dating back to when Lucia played high school hockey at Grand Rapids, and Serratore tended goal for Greenway of Coleraine, seven miles to the east. Their wives, Joyce Lucia and Carol Serratore, are extremely close friends and will sit together while their husbands’ teams battle on the Denver ice below. Lucia’s son, Tony, plays for the Gophers, while the Serratore family includes twin boys, Tom and Tim, who are solid 16-year-old prospects.
Also, North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol, who is attempting to lead the Fighting Sioux to their third straight Frozen Four, was a defenseman and captain of the Minnesota Moose in the International League when Serratore was their coach. That’s a tight clique for Michigan coach Red Berenson to try to break through.
St. Cloud State (22-10-7), meanwhile, made a strong run at Minnesota in the league stretch-run, then got worn down a bit in playoffs, concluding with two stinging losses in the Final Five. But the Huskies should have everything back in place in time for the East Regional at Rochester, N.Y., as No. 2 seed to take on Maine (21-14-2) in a Friday semifinal, while Clarkson (25-8-5) is No. 1 seeded and faces Massachusetts (20-12-5) in the other semi.
That leaves the Northeast regional at Manchester, N.H., where New Hampshire (26-10-2) is top seed and meets Miami of Ohio (23-13-4) in one Saturday semifinal, with No. 2 Boston College (26-11-1) meeting St. Lawrence (23-13-2) in the other, and the Midwest Regional at Grand Rapids, Mich. which opens with Friday night semifinals pitting No. 1 Notre Dame (31-6-3) against Alabama-Huntsville (13-19-3), and No. 2 Boston University (26-11-1) against Michigan State (22-13-3) in the other.
What’s wrong with that picture?
Nothing is wrong, it would seem, for the teams that made it. Except for the unfortunate setting that finds that if Minnesota and North Dakota both win semifinal games, they would meet each other to recreate the classic battle they waged in the WCHA Final Five championship game with only the winner advancing to the Frozen Four in St. Louis two weeks later. Too bad, if that happens, that such a time-capsule match couldn’t be played on the larger stage of a potential national championship showdown.
It’s true that St. Cloud State ranks on paper as favorite against a very good Maine team, and the Huskies did whip top-seeded Clarkson, from the ECAC, in a 4-0, 7-2 series in November, that could give the WCHA two spots in the Frozen Four. The Huskies had a rugged three-game test before ousting Minnesota-Duluth in three overtimes, which may have left them drained during two hotly contested games against North Dakota and Wisconsin at the Final Five.
Wisconsin, by winning two of three games at the Final Five, was too good too late to be considered as a team worthy of defending its NCAA championship. “I know there’s a lot of No,. 1 seeds relieved that they don’t have to play the defending NCAA champs, with that goaltender (Brian Elliott) and the way they’re playing right now,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia, noting that the Badgers finished with an 8-3-2 flourish.
So after such a hotly contested season, only three survivors move on, and both Minnesota and North Dakota will be pulling for St. Cloud State to make it, and undoubtedly, if the Gophers and Fighting Sioux meet again, whichever one doesn’t win will grudgingly hope its conqueror will go on to bring more fame to the WCHA.
There’s always the chance for a potential NCAA final between St. Cloud State, with star goaltender Bobby Goepfert and a team-oriented attack led by Andreas Nodl and Andrew Gordon, and either Minnesota, behind the freshman duo of Kyle Okposo and Jay Barriball and the suddenly hot Blake Wheeler, or North Dakota, with its fabulous first line of Jonathan Toews centering T.J. Oshie and player-of-the-year Ryan Duncan.
But that’s far off. For now, the three tournament teams can set aside the fact that the WCHA’s intensely competitive season hurt the league when it came to the NCAA selection committee’s criteria. The case could be made that Denver, Michigan Tech, Colorado College, and late-charging Wisconsin could have been strong NCAA tournament entries.
As strong as that argument is, consider that Hockey East has five teams in the 16-team NCAA field, with New Hampshire and Boston College favored to meet in the Northeast final, Maine and Massachusetts getting half the chances in the East, and Boston University standing as a strong threat as No. 2 seed in the Midwest.
And the CCHA has four teams in the field, with No. 1 ranked Notre Dame and No. 3 seed Michigan State good shots at meeting in the Midwest final, while Michigan could overthrow the WCHA in the West Regional, and Miami is a long-shot, but could prove tough, in the Northeast.
Only the ECAC, with Clarkson in the East and St. Lawrence in the Northeast, has fewer than the WCHA’s three entries, once the mandatory selections of the Atlantic Hockey winner (Air Force) and the College Hockey America tournament winner (Alabama-Huntsville) were selected. Their selections bumped Denver, Michigan Tech, and other WCHA candidates out of the field.
Moreover, there is the suspicion that the selection committee is still stung by the fact that the Frozen Four two years ago was comprised of four WCHA teams at Columbus, Ohio, which was great for WCHA bragging rights, but didn’t do much to spread the wealth of college hockey beyond its cult-following level in the NCAA’s view.
Nobody expects the NCAA committee, or its computerized selection process, from doing any favors for the WCHA — although another case could be made that winning five straight championships might deserve extra merit — but it also doesn’t seem fair to punish the WCHA for its excellence. After all, when the WCHA foursome all reached the Frozen Four two years ago, all four of them had to win two tough regional games to earn their places.
This season, the WCHA teams compiled a 51-22-6 record against nonconference opponents. Minnesota was 8-1, including victories over Michigan (8-2), Michigan State, and Alabama-Huntsville, and a season-opening loss to Maine. St. Cloud State was 6-0, including the two victories over Clarkson, North Dakota was 6-2, including a victory over St. Lawrence, and two October losses against Maine.
While limiting the WCHA to three teams may seem an injustice, a greater injustice might be to put Minnesota, ranked No. 2 behind Notre Dame in the country, and No. 1 in the Pairwise computer rankings, and North Dakota, a team that rose from an injury-hampered first half to lose only twice in 21 games since Christmas (15-2-4) before falling 3-2 to Minnesota in the league playoff final, into the same regional.
It would have been easy to place North Dakota in the Midwest, or the Northeast, for that matter. In fact, in any season, the best and possibly only way to measure if one league has an edge over the others would be to disperse its teams to as many different regionals as possible. And it would only seem fair that since Hockey East, which last won the title six years ago, and the CCHA, which last won nine years ago, both have the chance to win three of the four regions, the WCHA should have a similar opportunity.
Did we mention that the WCHA might deserve more respect than to have its top team and its hottest team clash in the same regional? To recount, the WCHA has won the last five NCAA championships in a row, six of the last seven, and seven of the last 10…But now it seems the NCAA’s selection process is penalizing the WCHA for its success.
Gophers, Denver split may foretell playoff showdown
The WCHA Final Five is a couple of months away, and the NCAA tournament is farther still, but Minnesota and Denver already have given a fair approximation of the potential such future clashes could hold, if the Gophers and Pioneers happen to run into each other in such pivotal settings.
Great goaltending, tough defenses, and dangerously quick forwards make both teams formidable, and are the reasons both are at the top of the WCHA standings. Of course, Minnesota still has a stranglehold on the MacNaughton Cup chase with 10 games remaining, because at 13-2-3, the Golden Gophers had 29 points and Denver, at 10-6-2, had 22. It would take a Minnesota collapse for Denver to catch up, and then thereÂ’s St. Cloud State, intervening at 10-4-4 for 24 points.
“I donÂ’t think weÂ’ve even talked about the league championship,†said Denver coach George Gwozdecky. “One of the reasons is that in the Â’01-02 season, we put so much emphasis on it, it sapped a lot of our gas.Ââ€
True, the 2001-02 Denver team might have been the most powerful in Gwozdecky’s regime, but as top seed, it was upset by bottom-seeded Michigan, in a West Regional at Ann Arbor, and Minnesota – guess who? – went on to win its first of two straight NCAA titles. Denver, reducing emphasis on the league chase, won the next two NCAA titles, before Wisconsin won last year. So Denver and Minnesota, winners of four of the last five NCAA crowns, have a history.
All of that put further emphasis on their series at Mariucci Arena January 19-20. It was the only meeting between the two, and as luck would have it in this seemingly Golden Gopher season, the games were in Minneapolis. The Gophers – who had just had a 22-game overall unbeaten streak snapped – held a 21-game home unbeaten streak (17-0-4) at Mariucci Arena, and Denver hadn’t won a game there since November of 2003.
Both teams had lost mightily after last season, with Hobey Baker winner Matt Carle departing DenverÂ’s defense and Paul Stastny doing the same to the Pioneers top line to sign a pro contract, just as Minnesota had lost ace forwards Ryan Potulny, Phil Kessel, and Danny Irmen. In the exchange, Denver has struggled to score, except for junior Ryan Dingle and freshmen Brock Trotter and Tyler Ruegsegger, while MinnesotaÂ’s potent incoming freshmen like Kyle Okposo and Jay Barriball have reinforced returning scorers like Blake Wheeler and Ben Gordon, while defenseman Alex Goligoski has triggered much of the offense.
Bolstered by rock-solid play from senior captain Mike Vannelli and juniors Goligoski and junior Derek Peltier, freshmen Erik Johnson (6-foot-4) and David Fischer (6-foot-3) have added clout to the defense. The result has been solid protection that has made senior Kellen Briggs and sophomore Jeff Frazee look almost unbeatable in goal. Their fantastic statistics led one Twin Cities newspaper to preface the series with a huge feature on how Minnesota might boast the best goaltending tandem in the nation – overlooking the detail that Denver’s senior Glenn Fisher and junior Peter Mannino aren’t exactly chopped liver, and they have two (count ’em, 2) NCAA trophies to prove it.
Gwozdecky smirked his familiar smirk about that piece before the first game, while Fisher claimed he hadnÂ’t been aware of it. Nonetheless, the Gophers and a standing-room throng of 10,119 quickly became aware of FisherÂ’s ability when he went out and stopped all 31 Minnesota shots for a stunning 1-0 shutout against Briggs. The result left both with sparkling .935 save percentage marks for the season, with FisherÂ’s 1.92 goals-against record just a tad behind BriggsÂ’s 1.72 mark.
The only goal of the game came midway through the second period of a tense, scoreless duel, when freshman defenseman Keith Seabrook blasted a shot from the blue line that Geoff Paukovich deflected artfully past Briggs, who came up with the other 22 Denver shots. That goal came on a power play that had been whistled when Minnesota freshman Jim OÂ’Brien sprinted in from the right side, veered through the crease while Fisher was focused on the puck on the left side, and OÂ’Brien caught Fisher with a blind-side elbow to the facemask. FisherÂ’s head snapped back, and he dropped to the ice. Referee Todd Anderson immediately called OÂ’Brien for goaltender interference at 8:58, and the goal came at 10:04.
It was clear by video replays in the press box, also viewed by referee supervisor Greg Shepherd, that there was a clear impact, which may have been embellished by Fisher, but that didn’t prevent further intrigue for the rest of the weekend. Later, for example, a Gopher television interviewer shouted a few things at Anderson, and in the following week he was summarily dismissed by Fox Sports North. A Minneapolis Star Tribune account of the game inexplicably said replays showed there was no contact, and quoted Gopher coach Don Lucia as saying he had seen “the whiff,†and claimed Fisher could have been penalized for taking a dive.
Fisher, calmly facing a herd of reporters after the game, said: “He caught me with his elbow. It may not have looked bad from upstairs, but I was watching the puck, and you donÂ’t expect to get hit in there [the crease].Ââ€
A few other goaltenders around the WCHA might have suggested to Fisher that he should be anticipating that the Gophers, who are the best in the league at going to the net with abandon, seem to occasionally let their trajectory and velocity carry through the crease. But both goaltenders had great saves to reflect on.
Briggs came up with an enormous save midway through the third period, when Dingle, an elusive, 18-goal scoring centerman, got a breakaway. “The puck rolled on me just a little,†said Dingle. “And Briggs saw that and made a great play.Ââ€
Fisher stymied a Gordon breakaway in the first period (“He faked to his backhand, and tried to go 5-hole,†Fisher said), but made his best save to end the game, although he didn’t appear to be credited with a save. He had blocked a shot in heavy traffic, when the 6-foot-4 Wheeler – who might be the best in the league at planting his body at the edge of the crease to be in position for tips and rebounds and also blocking the goaltender’s field of view – was wide open just to the right of the net. The rebound went right to Wheeler, who had to wait for the puck to settle to the ice. That gave Fisher a chance to dive across, and defenseman Andrew Thomas dived across behind him in the crease. Wheeler shot, and it appeared Fisher’s thrusted stick deflected the shot up and over the goal with the final second ticking off the clock. The shot chart on the scoreboard didn’t change, as the statistician apparently thought Wheeler simply shot two feet over the net from point-blank range.
“Yeah, I got my stick on it to deflect it,†said Fisher. “I had an extra second to get across, so we got lucky. I donÂ’t think about shutouts, but when we played Lowell, they got a goal with 4.3 seconds left to ruin a shutout, and I thought of that at the end.Ââ€
Lucia said: “We had some good scoring chances, and it was a hard-fought game with a lot of 1-on-1 battles. But we had 10 freshman or sophomore forwards out there, and when you play good teams with good goaltenders, youÂ’re going to have games like that.Ââ€
Denver, of course, also had 10 freshman or sophomore skaters in the lineup, and MinnesotaÂ’s freshmen (Okposo, Barriball) and sophomores (Wheeler, Ryan Stoa) are its scoring leaders.
The most prophetic line after the 1-0 opener was by Gwozdecky. “Those were two pretty good heavyweights going at it tonight,†the Denver coach said. “Early on, and late in the game, we got bottled up a little, but we beat a very good team in their building. Briggs and Frazee have been outstanding all season, and their numbers and results speak for themselves. But would I trade Fisher and Mannino for them? No.Ââ€
On to Game 2, and some REAL fireworks. Frazee went to the Minnesota nets, and Fisher played again, because Mannino, who has by far the best career save percentage of the four, at .920 over three years, including two NCAA title games, was still a notch away from being 100 percent recovered from a knee injury.
The second game was more of a goaltending nightmare than a duel, and the night belonged to Mike Vannelli, Minnesota’s soft-spoken senior defenseman and captain. Okposo scored his team-leading 15th goal in the first period for a 1-0 Minnesota lead at 5:42, and by then, Denver already had been whistled for four penalties and Minnesota five – setting a tone of animosity for the game. And especially for the opening period.
Tempers may have been ready to flare up, and if they needed a spark to ignite, it came at 15:45. Jim OÂ’Brien, the wayward kamikazee skater from Game 1, raced up the right side amid some traffic, but he broke free of a checker as he veered toward the net and crashed heavily, face-to-face, into Fisher. Gopher loyalists insisted that O’Brien was cross-checked into the crease, but replays showed he was clear of any contact and made no effort to alter his chosen course — as if the shortest distance to wherever he was going went through the crease.
If Fisher hadnÂ’t anticipated being run in the crease in the first game, he proved a quick learner, as he beat several teammates to jump on OÂ’Brien just as both teams engaged in a long and spirited tussle. While the officials struggled to pry bodies apart in the crease, the most punches were being thrown out in the faceoff circle, where MinnesotaÂ’s Ben Gordon and DenverÂ’s J.P. Testwuide grappled, then fell to the ice, with Testwuide winding up on top and hurling enough punches for a TKO.
Testwuide and Gordon got fighting majors, and while a couple others got misconducts, OÂ’Brien got a charging penalty, and Fisher was penalized for slashing. For the game, Minnesota had 19 penalties for 60 minutes and Denver 18 penalties for 55 minutes, and the impact on the game was that Denver went 3-for-9 and Minnesota 2-for-7 on power plays. But the 1-0 goaltending duel flared into scoring bursts in the second period.
Justin Bostrom tipped freshman defenseman David FischerÂ’s screened point shot past Fisher at 6:58 of the second for a 2-0 Minnesota lead. Thirty-one seconds later, as a delayed penalty was signaled against Denver, Vannelli moved in from center point, deking around one defender, then firing a shot that was blocked by diving defenseman Chris Butler. Vannelli retrieved the blocked puck and stepped to his right, firing again to hit the upper right corner from 15 feet for a 3-0 Gopher bulge.
Brock Trotter got one back for the Pioneers just 19 seconds after that, backhanding in a rebound at the right edge of the crease, his 12th of the season, to make it a three-goal flurry in a 52-second span of the game. Five minutes later, SeabrookÂ’s power-play shot from the left point hit Frazee and trickled through to cut it to 3-2.
Before the second period ended, Minnesota went on a two-man power play, and Vannelli moved in from the right point and fired a shot into the left edge of the net, with the shot glancing off a defender to get past a screened Fisher at 17:46. Still on the power play, Vannelli moved to center point and blasted a long one-timer past the screened Fisher at 18:22.
Hats came sailing out of the packed Mariucci Arena stands for the hat trick, which was rare for a defenseman, if not for a Vannelli. MikeÂ’s dad, Tommy Vannelli, was a star center on two Minnesota NCAA championship teams under Herb Brooks back in 1974 and 1976.
With the three-goal lead restored at 5-2, the Gophers seemed in full control. But Chris Butler scored on a power play with four seconds left in the second period to bring Denver back to 5-3.
When the Gopher cheerleaders came out to do their customary formations prior to the third period, they all wore baseball caps selected from the large assortment that had been cleared off the ice for VannelliÂ’s hat trick.
Midway through the third period, any Gopher celebrating was traded for tension, as Geoff Paukovich scored from the left side for another power-play goal, and it was 5-4. Denver, which outshot the Gophers 45-36, couldnÂ’t come up with the equalizer, and the 5-4 score held for the split.
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“It was one of those games,†said Gwozdecky. “Both teams were a little testy at first, and there were times where the game was hanging on the brink of being a blowout. It was like two pretty good heavyweight fighters going at it.Ââ€
This time, the fighting analogy was even more appropriate. And it sounded as if the White House speech writer was handing scripts to both coaches.
“It was one of those games,†said Lucia. “It was probably entertaining for the fans, because it was two good teams that went hard, toe-to-toe, at each other.Ââ€
Vannelli said his last hat trick was “in Peewee or Bantam, I don’t know.†He deferred the usual questions about how youthful the Gophers are, with Vannelli and Briggs the only seniors.
“It’s unfair to put all the pressure on the freshmen to score,†said Vannelli, who singlehandedly relieved that pressure. “Our forwards were really working the puck down low, then got it up top to me. On my second goal, I saw the open left side and tried to hit it, and I think the puck glanced off one of their sticks. On the last one, I just tried to shoot as hard as I could.
“Denver is a great team, and theyÂ’ve won a couple of national championships recently. It was really a battle, both games were really physical. After last night, we could sense it would be a little intense tonight.Ââ€
Both coaches anticipate a possible meeting on down the road a ways. “TheyÂ’re a terrific team,†Gwozdecky said of the Gophers. “We knew after being beaten, theyÂ’d come out like this, and play with more energy, just like every teamin this league does. There were positives for both teams to take from this series. Minnesota keeps their seven-point lead over us, but it wouldnÂ’t surprise me if we run into them again, at the end of the season.Ââ€
Lucia said: “Denver has a good team, with third and fourth lines that are mature, big, strong checkers, good defense, and great goaltending. Will we see them again this year? I hope so. It was a good way for us to learn how hard we have to compete.Ââ€
Two heavyweights, slugging it out with skill, skating, defense, goaltending, and, occasionally, by slugging it out.
UMD survives slump, injuries to regain elite form
There was nothing coach Shannon Miller could do. At the start of the season, it appeared her University of Minnesota-Duluth hockey team might have the talent and depth to challenge defending league and NCAA champion Wisconsin for WomenÂ’s-WCHA supremacy. But the first half of the season saw the Bulldogs hop from problem to problem, and suffer enough losses to let Wisconsin get away, and Minnesota assume second place. Then the injuries came.
Before the break, the biggest problem facing Miller seemed to be how to reorganize her most skilled players so they could mesh into a more consistent and balanced attack. Some played well, some misfired. First linemates and close friends Jessica Koizumi and Noemie Marin both were racking up the points, but most of them seemed to be in individual outbursts. Rarely were they making the kind of creative plays that could inspire the team. That made it easier for foes to shut down the Bulldogs, and they definitely did get shut down.
After issuing Wisconsin its first loss of the season, 2-0, the Bulldogs lost 1-0 in the second game at Madison. Next, they lost 3-1 and 4-0 at Harvard. Back home, they dropped the first game against Ohio State, 3-0. That meant the Bulldogs had lost four straight – unheard of for Miller’s elite program – but also, a very talented lineup had scored only one goal in four games after being shut out the other three.
That puzzling slump dropped UMD down to around 10th in national rankings, although when Miller shook up the forward lines, they seemed to get things back in order by rebounding to whip Ohio State 9-1 in the second game. But then came the month off, so instead of building on their new-found inspiration, they scattered for a break.
When the Bulldogs opened the second half of the season with a 3-3 tie and 2-1 victory against Niagara, the revised lineup showed nine players missing with injuries or recovery from surgery, and a tenth – speedy sophomore Michaela Lanzl – was back home playing for her native Germany in a holiday tournament.
“We lost Kim Martin at the Four Nations Cup,†said Miller, starting her recount with the freshman and former Swedish Olympic star who aggravated an old leg injury. “We got Elin Holmlov back for one game at 100 percent against Ohio State, then she went home to Sweden and hurt her backÂ…Sara OÂ’Toole suffered a back injury in the first game against Niagara…And Samantha Hough twisted her knee while dancing.Ââ€
Miller was asked if she was not about to outlaw dancing, was she reconsidering her willingness to send her players back to assorted countries for mid-season tournament play.
“No way, it’s what’s best for them and for hockey,†Miller said. “These players are some of the best young players in the world. They need to come here to get better than they might get in their own countries, then they need to go home and help their countries. You’ve got to look globally at the big picture. I’ve coached seven years at the national level.
“We have had to take a different look at how we play. With so many players out, weÂ’ve had to adapt. I like to take risks defensively to score goals, but, given our situation, weÂ’ve had to concentrate on defense-first. WeÂ’ve stressed backchecking, pulling together, and our team spirit has been outstanding.Ââ€
A pivotal factor in UMD’s second half is the return to form by goaltender Riitta Schaublin, who anchored the sweep against St. Cloud State, and another sweep at Bemidji State, which gave the Bulldogs a five-game winning streak. At the same time, Minnesota had lost twice at home to Wisconsin to drop into a tie with UMD for second, then dropped out of that tie by losing both games at Minnesota State-Mankato – against a Mavericks team that had only beaten the Gophers once previously in seven seasons.
That brought UMD back into second place as the primary threat to WisconsinÂ’s league pace-setters. Not that it would be easy. UMD next goes to Ohio State, where itÂ’s a safe bet to assume the Buckeyes will remember their winning streak ending in that 9-1 disaster at UMDÂ’s hands. After that, UMD goes home to face Wisconsin and Minnesota in two of the seasonÂ’s most intriguing series.
To rise to 14-5-1, the Bulldogs had to take a circuitous route. A St. Cloud State team anxious to move up into WCHA contention was a stiff test. The Bulldogs trailed 2-1 after two periods, then erupted to put three goals past senior goaltender Laurie St. Jacques in the third period, before tacking on an empty-netter for a 4-2 victory.
St. Cloud coach Jeff Giesen continued to play his three-goalie musical chairs game the next night, and he almost hit on an upset winner when he tabbed junior Kendall Newell. All three goalies have had their bright moments this season, so Giesen has rotated those two with junior Carmen Lizee. The difference is that Newell – who proved to be a UMD nemesis last season – has had her best games against Wisconsin and UMD, the best two teams the Huskies have faced.
UMD stormed the Huskies net from start to finish. After outshooting the Huskies 31-27 in the first game, the ’Dawgs had a 35-17 edge in the second, but Newell stopped everything, artfully steering rebounds away from the shark-like UMD forwards, and stopping 34 UMD shots until the final one got away. It wasn’t a fluke, but it indicates the kind of pressure UMD was applying. Lanzl, right at the crease, deflected a center-point shot by Jaime Rassmussen that struck Newell on the inside of her left arm, rebounding to land in the left side of the crease – to Newell’s right. Before she could cover it, Lanzl, who was sprawling to the ice, poked in the loose puck with 4:48 left, and UMD escaped with a 1-0 sweeper.
The problem facing St. Cloud coach Jeff Giesen is picking the right goalie on the right night. At Ohio State, Giesen started Newell but the Buckeyes scored three in the first period and Lizee relieved to hold a 3-3 tie. The next night, Lizee started and gave up five before St. Jacques relieved and yielded just one goal in a 6-1 loss.
Interestingly, in the rotation, St. Jacques has won four games, Lizee three, and Newell only one. St. Jacques’ victories were over Robert Morris, Bemidji State, Boston University and Vermont. Lizee has beaten Ohio State twice, early in the season, and Vermont. Newell, whose only victory was against Minnesota State-Mankato, lost 2-1 in overtime to Wisconsin and later fashioned 2-2 and 3-3 ties against the top-rated Badgers, and adds that 1-0 nail-biting loss at UMD. So against Wisconsin and UMD, the top two teams in the WCHA, Lizee gave up two goals in one game, a 2-0 loss to UMD. St. Jacques was nicked for 16 goals in three games – two against UMD and two periods against Wisconsin, while Newell gave up only nine goals in five games – four against Wisconsin and the gem at Duluth.
At UMD, Miller has had no concerns about which goaltender to use. Martin and Schaublin were splitting duties early, and when Schaublin seemed to lose her focus, Martin took over. Now Martin is out, and Schaublin has taken back the job that won her All-America honors last year.
“I got into a real bad slump,†said Schaublin, after blanking St. Cloud. “It was mental. Kim came in, but that wasnÂ’t the problem. I had one bad game, a really horrible game against Mankato, and it broke my confidence. I lost my cockiness. It affected me everywhere in life. I donÂ’t know what it was, and it came back gradually. Finally, I believe in myself again.Ââ€
If Schaublin has regained her confidence, the Bulldogs can regain their swagger during the stretch run. And MillerÂ’s patience may pay off, especially if a few of those missing jerseys start returning to the lineup.
Badgers 3-goal rally beats Huskies in OT for 3rd
As far as Wisconsin was concerned, there was no way the Badgers could make up
enough
ground in the NCAA selection committee’s computer ratings for Saturday’s
third-place
game in the WCHA Final Five to matter. But the Badgers put on a display of what
pride
and caring for teammates can do for a team, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat
the St.
Cloud State Huskies 4-3 on an overtime goal by Ben Street.
Street, a sophomore on a team with seven seniors, grabbed a blocked shot in the
slot,
stepped to his right to get control on his backhand, and plunked it behind ace
St. Cloud
goaltender Bobby Goepfert with 10 seconds remaining in a five-minute overtime —
the
only extra session that would be allowed in the third-place game.
The loss could hurt St. Cloud State (22-9-7), which is sure of an NCAA slot, but
will
probably drop from first-seed status after two losses in two days. The Badgers
(19-18-4) go home anticipating they will have no chance to defend the NCAA title
they
won last year.
“If this loss is going to crush us, we’re not going very far,” said St. Cloud
coach Bob
Motzko. “We might have lost a No. 1 seed, but if it drops us to North Dakota’s
band
(second seeds) now, so we can’t go to wherever they go, that’s OK with me. We’re
just
darn happy to be in it, and we don’t know what the draw is going to be.”
North Dakota beat the Huskies 6-2 in the semifinals, which is why Motzko has
seen
enough of the Fighting Sioux to want to avoid them by going to a different NCAA
regional. Wisconsin fell 4-2 to Minnesota on an empty-net goal in the other
semifinal.
Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves conceded that if his team had been guaranteed an NCAA
slot, winning the way the Badgers did would have been very satisfying, but maybe
it was
even more satisfying to win when nothing else was on the line but pride. “It was
an
interesting game,” said Eaves. “Our bodies weren’t ready from having played a
tough
game last night, but they got wrapped up in the game, in the competitive
situation. You
could feel the energy on the bench grow as the game went on.
“We’re playing our best hockey right now. We’ve gone 8-3-2 at the end. If it is
our last
game, from a personal and pride standpoint, playing this way and winning this
was
better.”
Eaves explained that he had planned to start Elliott, then, at the first
whistle, pull him
for sophomore Shane Connelly. “Our intention was to start Brian, then have our
players
honor him when he came out after the first whistle,” said Eaves. “Unfortunately,
they got
a goal. So then I said we’ll wait for the next whistle.”
The Huskies jumped ahead when Andreas Nodl came out from behind the net and
fired
one past Elliott after only 29 seconds had elapsed. The next whistle came at
0:45, and
Elliott came out. Connelly, of course, is more than capable. His last game was
the
season-ending battle at Duluth — a 0-0 tie.
“It’s just a shame Brian had to go out with that goal, after all he’s done for
us,” said
Connelly, the heir-apparent to Elliott’s throne next season.
Senior Jake Dowell tied it 1-1 for Wisconsin later in the first period, when he
scored
with a neat backhand against Goepfert after Ross Carlson’s hard pass from the
left
boards. The Huskies, however, took apparent command with a pair of second-period
power plays. Ryan Lasch, their other prized freshman sniper, banged in Dan
Kronick’s
pass to the crease, and John Swanson added another midway through the period.
Down 3-1, in a game that offered them no future, the Badgers stormed back. Andy
Brandt, a senior third-liner, came up with the inspirational goal before the
second period
ended, and it stayed 3-2 until Jack Skille tied it at 13:20 of the third period,
getting in
the way of Andrew Joudrey’s shot for a deflection goal.
St. Cloud State might have put it away when Lasch cruised up the slot in the
clear, but
fired a shot that glanced off the crossbar and up and out of harm’s way.
That set the stage for overtime, and Street came up with the winner, after
Andrew
Joudrey won a left-corner faceoff, Kyle Kluberanz fired from the shot, and when
the
puck hit a cluster of bodies in front, Street plucked it free and scored.
“It’s always nice to win the last game,” said Street. “Typically, it wasn’t
pretty. But we
were down, and came back. We just wanted to finish over .500 and send our
seniors out
with a win.”
Motzko said: “No question Wisconsin is a worthy NCAA team. If they don’t get to
go,
there’ll be a lot of No. 1 seeds that will be real happy they’re out.”
Speaking for the Wisconsin seniors, Brandt said: “It’s been a battle for us all
year long.
But no one quit, no one gave up. The character of our team, and our seniors,
came through.
Some of our seniors will go on to play, and I wish them the best of luck. Others
won’t.
We came in as a group of 11, and we leave as a group of seven.
“After the game, all the players gathered around in the dressing room, and we
looked
each other in the eye. Not just the seniors, but the freshmen and everybody.
Coach Eaves
said to remember it, because this would be our last time together as a family.”
UMD’s win streak too brief to escape WCHA cellar
The unbeaten streaks put together by Minnesota and St. Cloud State were by far the longest in all of college hockey this season, and when they finally came to an end — just a few minutes apart — the honor of the nation’s longest streak went to the University of Minnesota-Duluth, ironoically.
UMD had struggled with that other kind of streak as they set new standards for futility during the first half of the season. The Bulldogs were intensely competitive in almost every game, but they almost invariably played just well enough to lose. The ‘Dogs were victims of both of those record streaks while being swept by the Gophers and Huskies, but they ended the first half with a meager 2-10-2 record, solidly in last place in the highly competitive WCHA.
The Bulldogs’ struggles stood up as one of the WCHA’s biggest surprises this season, because UMD had been picked by rival coaches and other WCHA observers to be a solid, middle-of-the-pack team, and a contender for playoff home-ice if not the regular-season title. When the Bulldogs started the second half anew, they actually earned the honor of replacing Minnesota and St. Cloud State by establishing what proved to be the nation’s longest winning streak. But that achievement was short-lived — too short to lift the Bulldogs out of the WCHA cellar.
Going into the weekend of January 12-13, Minnesota had ridden the nationÂ’s longest undefeated streak to command of the No. 1 rank in the country. The Golden Gophers had lost their opening game 3-1 to Maine in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game, then reeled off a 22-game unbeaten streak, registering a 19-0-3 stretch that somehow withstood even the loss of five prime players, who joined Team USA for the World Junior tournament.
Snap! Wisconsin All-American goaltender Brian Elliott was at his sharpest, and the Badgers played a near-flawless game for a 2-1 victory in the first game of that series in Madison. Former Duluth East winger Ross Carlson scored both goals for the Badgers, and hit two pipes as well.
The news of Wisconsin ending the Minnesota streak meant that the longest unbeaten streak in the nation became the property of St. Cloud State, which had clearly been the surprise success story of the league through the first half. The Huskies stumbled at the start, then got a tie at North Dakota, then tied Minnesota both nights of a home-and-home series. The three straight ties were considered upsets, but the Huskies followed by winning 12 straight games.
St. Cloud’s 12-0-3 unbeaten streak of 15 games was a worthy replacement for Minnesota’s 22-game stretch, but it lasted only a matter of minutes. The Huskies were favored at home in the National Hockey Center, entertaining long-time archrival Minnesota State-Mankato, but the Mavericks and Huskies had been at each others throats through parallel lifetimes in Division II football, basketball and all other sports, so with both of them emerging as Division I hockey programs, the old rivalry only gained in intensity. Sure enough, Minnesota StateÂ’s last-place status in the WCHA meant as little as St. Cloud StateÂ’s 15-game unbeaten streak when the two teams collided. Mankato won 6-4, with St. Cloud’s loss following Minnesota’s loss by only a few minutes.
Almost simultaneously, the nationÂ’s two longest streaks were snapped. Strangely enough, yet another game on that same night featured Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs had lost five straight games, and had gone 1-8 until they found a way to beat Bowling Green, the CCHA’s last-place team, in the third-place game of a tournament at Ohio State over Christmas. They rode that semblance of momentum to a pair of narrow victories over Michigan Tech 2-1 in overtime and 5-3 when they opened the second half of WCHA play back at the DECC. Tech, after a quite-impressive array of upsets during the first half, fell back with the two setbacks, while UMD suddenly saw hope.
So on that same January 12 night, playing at home in the DECC, UMD spotted Colorado College a 2-0 head start and then beat the Tigers 4-3 for their most dramatic victory of the season, winning on Jeff McFarlandÂ’s goal, with 2:22 remaining. Goaltender Josh Johnson, who seemed the forgotten man during most of the first half of the season while freshman Alex Stalock carried the load, was victimized by CCÂ’s fast start, but he toughened as the Bulldogs came back from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits to capture the same kind of late victory they had given away with troubling frequency.
The victory allowed UMD to keep pace with Minnesota State-Mankato, and to climb within one point of Michigan Tech, and it also meant that the Bulldogs had won four straight games. Because the lengthy streaks of both Minnesota and St. Cloud State had ended that night, UMD’s modest four-game winning streak became the longest in the nation.
The honor lasted one day.
The next night, things looked good for a Bulldog sweep. Mason Raymond, who had scored the third UMD goal in the first game, scored a first-period goal for a 1-0 lead, and added his third goal of the weekend by poking in a power-play rebound early in the second for a 2-0 UMD lead. Stalock protected the lead by stopping all 16 CC shots through two periods, and continued his mastery until midway through the third period.
At that point, the Tigers woke up and UMD found itself facing that old, familiar feeling. Brandon Polich smacked in a power-play rebound at 10:45. Then Polich, behind the net, passed out front to Braydon Cox for the tying goal at 14:10. Bill Sweatt, who had scored the first goal in FridayÂ’s game, scored the Saturday game-winner at with 1:27 remaining on another power play. With Stalock pulled, UMD attacked, but Cox flung a long shot into an open net for his second goal of the night with 59 seconds left. The Tigers had won 4-2, scoring all four goals during an 18-shot barrage in the final period. And, for the third time in 24 hours, the nationÂ’s longest winning streak was over.
“You couldnÂ’t really get mad,†said Scott Owens, Colorado College coach. “We played pretty well. UMD played up to the form people expected of them all season. I think you saw two pretty good college hockey games this weekend. Coming back to win was good for us, because every point in this league is huge. ItÂ’s been a struggle for us to score since Christmas. But Matt Zaba made a pretty good save right before we scored, and it was nice for Polich to get that one up here, and then Billy got the game-winner.Ââ€
Zaba, who got a night off when sophomore Drew OÂ’Connell manned the nets against FridayÂ’s determined UMD rally, was solid throughout the second game, even when trailing 2-0 after two periods. Raymond, clearly one of the leagueÂ’s elite players, snapped a 15-footer past him from the left side for his first goal, and the second one came when Zaba blocked a long shot and landed next to the goaltender. Zaba never saw it. Raymond pounced, and poked it in.
“It was a tough game,†said Zaba. “They came at us hard, but we expected it.Ââ€
For UMD, it was a letdown, another in a season of such letdowns. With veteran defensemen Jason Garrison and Ryan Geris out, the ‘Dogs had five freshman or sophomore defensemen, along with freshman netminder Stalock, but nobody was looking for alibis. UMD stayed in a tie for last with Minnesota State-Mankato, which also lost its rematch at St. Cloud State.
UMDÂ’s record has featured a number of games when they found a way to lose in the closing minutes, but they came away from the CC series by suffering a power outage at St. Cloud, losing 6-0 while failing to get a single shot until the Huskies had gone ahead 3-0 in the second period. In the second game, UMD turned up the intensity, but wound up losing 6-5, even though Raymond assisted on all five goals in an amazing night.
Unfortunately for UMD, Minnesota State-Mankato was idle, so the Bulldogs dropped to 5-13-2 and sole possession of last place. The amazing thing about UMDÂ’s season-long struggle is that opponents — most prominently Minnesota, St. Cloud State, and Denver, the league’s top three teams — keep insisting that UMD will catch fire before the season is over. They stress that the Bulldogs have good talent, seem to be well-coached, are getting good goaltending, and just have been unlucky in so many close losses.
The Bulldogs, for example, led the Gophers 2-1 until Mike Vannelli’s third-period goal, then Tyler Hirsch, who is no longer with the Gophers, scored the winner at 0:49 of overtime.
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UMD lost 5-2 at Bemidji State, in a nonconference series, but came storming back to jump ahead in the rematch, back at the DECC. By chance, a promotion asked fans to bring stuffed animals, which would be donated for Christmas to a children’s charity. The idea was cleared with the WCHA to allow fans to hurl the toys onto the ice after UMD’s first goal, and UMD players quickly cleaned them up, although there was undoubtedly a break in potential momentum. UMD went up 2-0, and more fans tossed more animals onto the ice. The officials then warned the fans via the public address announcer that any more tossing of animals on the ice would result in a penalty to UMD. Sure enough, UMD got a third goal, and one tiny youngster, sitting down at ice level, who had tried and failed to toss his stuffed toy over the glass after the first two goals, tried one more time and made it. The officials penalized the Bulldogs, and by the end of the power play, the Beavers had seized the momentum, and scored four third-period goals for a dramatic and exciting 6-5 victory.
Bad luck? Maybe. But it’s also possible that UMD’s plumbing for misfortune set new standards by actually seeing a sure victory turn around because of a stuffed animal.
UMD’s struggles are also remarkable because Raymond has played extremely well, while Bryan McGregor has been the surprise of the team with a career season as a senior, and sophomore Matt Niskanen has been outstanding offensively from defense. Behind the youthful but eager defense, Stalock has been sensational in parts of his freshman goaltending season. That seems like enough assets for at least be a middle-of-the-pack presence, and certainly more than a last-place standing would indicate.
Meanwhile, Minnesota went into the leagueÂ’s halfway point in control of first place, and it remained unclear who might emerge to challenge the Golden Gophers. After Minnesota had bounced back to beat Wisconsin in the second game at Madison, the Gophers returned home and lost a scintillating 1-0 game to Denver goaltender Glenn Fisher, before again rebounding for a 5-4 victory in the second game.
Two splits on two straight weekends did nothing to knock the Gophers out of the No. 1 national rank, and the Gophers still threatened to run away with the league title, at 13-2-3. Denver and St. Cloud State are locked in a duel to see who has the best shot at second – the Huskies climbing to 10-4-4 with the sweep over UMD, and Denver at 10-6-2. Colorado College, at 10-6, is right there, too, but almost flying under the radar. Those four are solidly ahead of fifth-place Wisconsin and North Dakota, which are leading the rest of the group but looking up in pursuit of .500.
At the other end of the standings, UMD got the reprieve of a weekend off, but at 5-13-2, being idle was hardly the best way to try to catch Michigan Tech, Minnesota State-Mankato, and Alaska-Anchorage, for a possible escape from last place.
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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