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.
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.
Gophers elude upset, face tests at Final Five
Ben Gordon was one of the chosen few University of Minnesota hockey players who stepped outside the Mariucci Arena dressing room to express renewed hope – as well as some relief – after the Gophers ducked past Alaska-Anchorage 3-1 in the deciding third game of their WCHA playoff series.
Gordon’s dark hair is now a somewhat unusual shade of blond, intending, perhaps, to be gold in the Golden Gophers’ attempt to take the hair-dyeing approach to playoff unity. It pretty well clashed with his still-dark eyebrows, but it got to the roots of his hair, as a backdrop for Gordon attempting to get to the root of MinnesotaÂ’s late-season difficulties.
“Tonight was a big step,†said Gordon, a veteran as a junior on a MacNaughton Cup-champion Minnesota squad that has only two seniors, Mike Vannelli and Kellen Briggs. “It was our first crucial game, because we had to win it to go to the Final Five, and that is definitely something we want to do.
“It wasnÂ’t really do or die for us, but we want to be in the Final Five, and our goal was to play hard for a full game, because pretty soon, it is going to be do or die.Ââ€
Minnesota has been a curious team over the last couple of months. The Golden Gophers had built up a lot of Pairwise equity over a 22-game unbeaten streak, enough to secure the league championship despite going only 8-8 before SundayÂ’s third-game decider against the Seawolves. A 9-8 record in their last 17 is hardly impressive, but the Gophers held the No. 1 spot in the Pairwise computer ratings, which mimic the NCAA’s computer system used in making selections for the 16-team tournament that starts next week.
Had the Gophers lost to Anchorage, they still would have gone to the NCAA as a high seed, as would St. Cloud State and North Dakota. But Denver and Michigan Tech are right on the bubble, being ranked in a tie for 14th, while Colorado College stands 18th and Wisconsin 20th. So the first round of the playoffs were definitely do or die for Anchorage, Minnesota-Duluth, Colorado College, Minnesota State-Mankato, Wisconsin. Denver and Tech also could be questionable, because automatic seeds from outside conferences bump 14th seeds to 16th, and potential upsets from the major four conferences could bump them further.
So Tech needs to improve its status at the Final Five, and Wisconsin needs to win it to gain the automatic NCAA berth the playoff title contains. Wisconsin, the defending NCAA champ, but a seventh-place finisher in the league, went to Denver and stunned the fourth-place Pioneers 3-2 and 2-1, while fifth-place Michigan Tech surprised Colorado College 2-1 in overtime, then lost 2-0, but came back to win 1-0 in SundayÂ’s finale.
Third-place North Dakota was the only WCHA team that won according to form, beating eighth-place Mankato 5-2 and 2-1. Elsewhere, ninth-place UMD gave it a great shot, winning at St. Cloud State 3-1, losing 3-2 in overtime, then the teams battled through three overtimes before the Huskies prevailed 3-2 on Sunday.
The reshuffling means Wisconsin and Michigan Tech will play in Thursday’s play-in game at Xcel Center – both needing to win three straight games to be sure of an automatic NCAA berth. That winner will face Minnesota in Friday night’s semifinal. North Dakota and St. Cloud State will meet Friday afternoon in the first semifinal.
Minnesota’s triumph over last-place Anchorage may have indicated how tough the WCHA is this season, but it also left the question of whether the wheels have come off the Gopher express – and if so, whether there is time to get them back on and aligned before the NCAA tournament.
The Gophers whipped Anchorage 6-2 Friday, and were cruising along 1-0 Saturday until the Seawolves struck late for a tie, and won it 2-1 in overtime. That forced Game 3, and Kevin Clarke gave Anchorage a 1-0 lead in the opening minutes, a lead that held until 4:22 of the second, when Gordon scored with a slick pass from Jay Barriball on a power play for the equalizer. Mike Carman got the actual game-winner, with a quick shot off Ryan FlynnsÂ’s neat pass midway through the third period.
But the Gophers didnÂ’t really put the Seawolves away until 1:25 remained. Killing a penalty, Tony Lucia rushed in and fired a shot that glanced up off Anchorage goaltender Nathan Lawson and hit the glass, bouncing high in the air. Lawson whirled around and looked up, and Minnesota’s approaching Kyle Okposo also looked up. They looked like a pair of infielders who had lost the ball in the lights. But when the puck hit the ice, Okposo spotted it first and whacked it past Lawson for a shorthaned goal and a 3-1 victory.
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The fact that Okposo seemed to find his missing goal-scoring touch in the series, and that Barriball continued his strong play, means freshmen, including Lucia and Carman, may reignite the Gopher offense. Okposo leads the team in goals with 19, while Barriball has 18, and the two freshmen are tied for the team points lead at 39.
Seawolves coach Dave Shyiak, whose team offered hope for the future with its spirited run at the league champs, was buoyed by his Seawolves resilience, despite being outshot 29-12 in the deciding game.
“They played extremely well, and they were going to play that way all weekend,†said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. “Last night (in Game 2) we played well for two periods, but went into a shell in the third. Tonight, I think we decided to just shut up and play – just go out and compete.Ââ€
Lucia didn’t need reminding that last year, the Gophers were riding high as the No. 1 team in the country, but lost 8-7 to St. Cloud State in the WCHA semifinals, then dropped a 4-0 game to Wisconsin in the third-place game – a game that was a springboard for the Badgers to take off and go all the way to the NCAA title, while Minnesota was eliminated by Holy Cross in the first NCAA game. The Crusaders were better than Westerners realized, but the Gophers haven’t lived it down yet.
“But this is a different team, and a different year,†said Lucia. “We really gave up nothing all weekend. In the Final Five, we mainly have to start playing with rhythm.Ââ€
Some of the Gophers donÂ’t think thereÂ’s a problem. Carman, who joins Barriball and Okposo as freshmen who have become go-to skaters in the Minnesota offense, said: “WeÂ’ve been struggling on offense the last two weekends. I think itÂ’s just jitters. Everyone gets Â’em.Ââ€
Gordon, however, has been through it before. And he didn’t deny that there are some parallels to last year for this year’s Gophers – such as starting strong, running off at No. 1 in the country for weeks on end, then faltering at the finish.
“ItÂ’s a long season,†said Gordon. “We came out hot, and I donÂ’t think anyone expected us to win as much as we did. But in the second half, I think it was going to our heads. Now itÂ’s a battle to get out of the hole.Ââ€
Maybe that’s the analogy with the golden-dyed hair – something that more purposely has gone to the Gophers’ heads. Gordon intimated that he probably would be rinsing out the dye as soon as the playoffs are over.
“I’m not sure they’d let me back home into International Falls this way,†he laughed.
And, of course, Gordon and the Gophers hope they won’t be doing any rinsing away of hair dye for three more weeks – until after the NCAA tournament.
Gophers trip UMD in OT, face Wisconsin for title
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — The University of Minnesota proved thereÂ’s no place like home Saturday, rising up to defeat favored Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 on sophomore Gigi MarvinÂ’s power-play goal in sudden-death overtime in the WomenÂ’s WCHA semifinals at Ridder Arena – the only facility of its kind built specifically for a womenÂ’s college hockey team.
The victory earned a spot in Sunday’s championship game against No.1 ranked Wisconsin, which blanked Ohio State 4-0 in the first semifinal at Ridder, and it also proved the Gophers were true to their insistence that they had been able to put out of their minds two thrashings – 7-1 and 5-1 – at the hands of UMD in Duluth two weeks ago. The victory also rekindles Minnesota’s hopes to reach the eight-team NCAA women’s hockey tournament field. The Gophers were No. 9, and UMD No. 7 going into the WCHA semifinals, and while the result may not drop the Bulldogs out of the top eight, it could lift the Gophers just enough to squeeze into the select field, which will be announced Sunday.
Of course, a victory for Minnesota (23-11-1) in today’s league playoff final would secure a spot, and that was what Gopher coach Laura Halldorson was focusing on. “We can only worry about playing Wisconsin,†said Halldorson. “We’re just really excited and proud, because we gave everything we had to win a tight game against Duluth. We’ve had great games in the past, a lot of them with much at stake, as there was in this one.
“Kim Hanlon was fantastic in goal, and getting on the board first was huge – a huge momentum boost. WeÂ’re going to have to do that against Wisconsin, too.Ââ€
UMD coach Shannon Miller said she was uncertain of her teamÂ’s security in the NCAA selection process. “You never know,†she said. “We were fairly solid in seventh coming in, and Boston College and Harvard both lost. We do have the strongest league in the country, so it would seem logical that we should have three teams in the field.Ââ€
Unlike the pivotal series which boosted UMD (22-10-4) into second place and dropped Minnesota to third, in which the Bulldogs jumped off to 5-0 leads through two periods both nights, Minnesota battled through the first period by outshooting UMD 9-6, and taking a 1-0 lead on the first goal, scored by senior Andrea Nichols on a power play in the last minute of the period. Anya Miller shot from center point, and when UMD freshman goaltender Kim Martin blocked it, Nichols smacked in the rebound from wide to the left of the goal.
The Bulldogs didnÂ’t exactly get the upper hand in the second period, being outshot 5-3 in the tight, defensive struggle, but they did tie the game at 4:12 on a power play of their own. Freshman Emmanuelle Blais carried deep on the right side, circled behind the net, and came all the way out to complete the circle at the top of the slot before firing toward the net. Saara Tuominen, another freshman, knocked it in.
Minnesota regained the lead at 2-1 at 12:39 of the middle period when sophomore defenseman Melanie Gagnon sent a harmless-looking shot on goal with Marvin screening in front. Martin appeared to have the shot under control, but it eluded her and trickled in, putting the Gophers up until the third period.
UMD senior Jessica Koizumi tied the game, sprawling to poke in the puck at 4:50 on another power play, and UMD rose up to take control of the game, outshooting the Gophers 14-3 in the third period, but unable to put anything else past Hanlon.
“There was a scramble, and I was falling,†said Koizumi, who is playing with a brace on an injured knee. “We want another chance. Our team has just gotten everybody back from injuries, and weÂ’re just coming together. IÂ’ve been in this position many times, and IÂ’m crossing my fingers that we get into the NCAA tournament, because this is my last year, and I really think weÂ’ve got a team that could win it.Ââ€
In the overtime, UMD senior defenseman Ashly Waggoner and a Gopher were scrapping for the puck and when the Gopher went down, referee Jay Mendel called Waggoner for tripping, at 0:52. The Gophers kept the pressure on after a corner faceoff, and Marvin scored at 1:08.
“I looked up, and saw an opening, and put it in,†said Marvin, who scored her 18th goal to tie Bobbi Ross for the team lead. “WeÂ’re high right now, we just won a big game against a great team, and weÂ’re excited to play Wisconsin. We were very calm before the overtime, focused, and very confident.Ââ€
UMD coach Miller waited afterward to talk to Mendel. When asked about it, she said: “All I did was ask him whether it was proper to talk on the ice, or if we should go down in the corridor. We went off the ice. I asked him how he could make a call like that and not let the teams decide a game like that.Ââ€
Asked about the difference in the teams in the semifinal, compared with the two games two weeks ago in Duluth, Miller said: “They obviously played a lot better. You canÂ’t come to Duluth and get spanked 7-1 and 5-1 and not come back and play with some fury. I was proud of our team, because we competed hard, and I thought we played our best when we outshot them 14-3 in the third period.Ââ€
Halldorson, meanwhile, said she decided to not mention that shot differential when the teams went off for resurfacing before the overtime. “I didn’t mention the shots, because the score was 2-2,†she said.
The third period gave UMD a 23-19 shot advantage for the tight contest. “After we played at Duluth, we just wanted to forget about it and finish strong,†said Hanlon. “We knew we were going to win.Ââ€
Hanlon was asked if she was as confident when a shot by Michaela Lanzl in the third period hit the left post and the ricochet went out through the crease behind her. “I guess I had my angle right,†she cracked.
Minnesota winger Erica McKenzie said: “Warming up, there was a weird vibe. We were calm, and people werenÂ’t talking, but you could see it in everybodyÂ’s eyes – we were ready. I knew right when we got that power play, we were going to score and win the game. And then coach came down the bench and had some choice words for us.Ââ€
Halldorson clarified. “Wait a minute,†she said. “All I said was, ‘Would you guys please end this?Â’ And IÂ’m glad Gigi took me up on it.Ââ€
BAUER, BADGERS WHIP OSU 4-0
ItÂ’s been a fantastic year for Ohio StateÂ’s womenÂ’s hockey program, and coach Jackie Barto credited a special crop of seniors for raising the Buckeyes to previously unattained heights. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes ran smack into the No. 1 rated Wisconsin Badgers, who stifled Ohio StateÂ’s offense and skated to a 4-0 victory that returns Wisconsin to the championship game. It wasnÂ’t like the Badgers overran the Buckeyes. They got a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Jasmine Giles late in a very evenly played first period. But much as the Buckeyes tried after that, they were never able to sustain enough offensive pressure to puncture Jessie VetterÂ’s 22-save shutout at Ridder Arena.
When the media requested players to interview after the game, the Badger staff declined to call on captain Sara Bauer, their captain, the defending Patty Kazmaier Award winner, and the just-named repeat winner of the Women’s WCHA player of the year award. After all, she gets interviewed all the time, and she undoubtedly will be called upon after the championship game. Besides, other players starred in the 4-0 victory – Meghan Duggan, who scored shorthanded in the second period to make it 2-0, and Angie Keseley and Jinelle Zaugg, who padded the margin in the third period with timely goals against Buckeye goaltender Erika Vanderveer. And also, of course, there was Vetter.
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However, Bauer made her presence felt with her usual near-flawless performance, and brilliant plays by the tiny but tenacious 5-foot-3 senior center from St. Catherines, Ontario, orchestrated easy goals by both Duggan and Zaugg.
“We’re thrilled to get another opportunity to play in the championship game,†said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson, who had guided the Badgers to an even more outstanding season than a year ago, when they won the WCHA, the WCHA playoff, and the NCAA title. This year’s Badgers are 32-1-4, and ranked No. 1, with the WCHA league title in hand, and the playoff title within their grasp today.
The final count obscured the competitiveness of the game. The only goal in the first period came on a power play at 17:38 by Giles, giving the Badgers a key opening lead. Badger defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson, named the top defensive player in the league, got her first of two assists on the goal.
Ohio State coach Jackie Barto, whose team finished a program-best 20-13-4, said: “We had a couple real good scoring chances in the first and second periods, and if one of them had gone in, it might have been a different game, WeÂ’ve had some success on offense against Wisconsin, though; weÂ’d been able to crash the net and get some rebounds this season.Ââ€
But not this game. In the second period, Wisconsin was killing a two-skater penalty shortage when Bauer got the puck in her own zone. She played the puck off the boards to herself, and seemed to mesmerize everybody in the rink as she raced down the left boards. Instead of merely dumping the puck in to kill time, Bauer held onto it, and carried deep into the left corner. About then, Meghan Duggan, a 22-goal-scoring freshman winger from Danvers, Mass., came out of the penalty box and skated for the net. Bauer passed it, and Duggan had her 23rd goal, a shorthanded gem.
“That second goal put a little dent in us,†said Barto. “Our team kept competing, but Vetter played solidly, and Wisconsin is very good defensively.Ââ€
Early in the third period, Angie Keseley made it 3-0, getting her stick on a loose puck while diving into a scramble at the crease at 6:05. And as the game neared its conclusion, Bauer did her thing again to seal it. With 3:06 remaining, Bauer forechecked to swipe the puck behind the Ohio State goal. She did a quick stop and go, reversing her direction on the end boards and carrying back behind the net, then passing out to the goal-mouth. Zaugg, a 6-foot-1 junior from Eagle River, Wis., was there for a one-timer. Vanderveer had no chance, and the Badgers had their 4-0 victory.
“I liked the way the last 40 minutes went,†said Mark Johnson. “The first 20 was a chess match, because nobody wanted to make a mistake. We made a couple of adjustments, and the team really responded well. We scored first on the power play, then Sara made a great play to Duggan coming out of the penalty box for the shorthanded goal.Ââ€
Vetter, who is 17-1-3 but only alternates with Christine Dufour (15-0-1), credited her defense. “Our D has been great all year, blocking shots,†Vetter said. “We had a little case of nerves in the first period, but we settled down.Ââ€
The Badgers settled down, and prepared to defend their league playoff title.
Pair of ties extends Huskies winless, unbeaten streaks
The St. Cloud State Huskies are fit to be tied. Or at least, ties fit the Huskies well, after a pair of deadlocks in a home-and-home series with Minnesota lifted them to a new measure of respect as a WCHA contender.
St. Cloud State battled from behind all night to gain a 5-5 tie Friday at Mariucci Arena, then couldnÂ’t hold a 3-1 lead on Saturday in St. Cloud, but held off a furious finishing rally to gain a 3-3 tie. The bad news is the Huskies are winless in their last five games; the good news is they simultaneously are undefeated in their last three games.
Coach Bob Motzko was far from satisfied, and star goaltender Bobby GoepfertÂ’s statistics are nowhere near where he, or other WCHA observers, expect them to be. GoepfertÂ’s frustration reached the point where heÂ’s willing to assume bad luck that he acquired from a mirror he broke a couple of months ago, but still, when the games against the Golden Gophers were on the line, Goepfert came up with huge saves to get what amounted to a series split against the unbeaten Gophers.
The two ties were the only nicks on MinnesotaÂ’s 4-0-2 WCHA record (8-1-2 overall) making the Gophers unbeaten at 8-0-2 after an opening loss to Maine. The Gophers have scored 4.55 goals per game and allowed only 2.09. St. Cloud State, at 2-3-3, has averaged 3.12 goals per game, and given up 3.12 goals per game. The Huskies split with Denver, and with traditional rival Minnesota State-Mankato, then lost and tied at North Dakota, before taking on No. 2-ranked Minnesota.
The talent-laden Golden Gophers are the consensus pick of the coaches to win the WCHA, and they made it look easy as they spotted the Huskies a 1-0 start, then stormed to leads of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 in the first game. With eight minutes remaining, the 2-goal lead looked pretty solid. But St. Cloud freshman Ryan Lasch came through with a power-play goal, and junior defenseman Matt Stephenson drilled another with 4:27 remaining to forge the 5-5 tie.
Of particular note is that Grant Clafton, Justin Fletcher and Stephenson are all defensemen, and all three of them scored in the game, which means that after eight games, Huskies defensemen now have three (count Â’em, 3) goals for the season.
The next night, before a packed, screaming crowd in St. Cloud, the teams reversed roles, with the Huskies spotting Minnesota the first goal, then rallying for a 3-1 lead in a wild second period, before Minnesota stormed back for two late goals. The Huskies had to hold on to claim the tie, but they did exactly that.
Motzko knows the Huskies are nowhere near their potential. A couple of freshmen have been leading the team – in fact, the league – in scoring, with Ryan Lasch getting a goal and two assists in the first game, and another assist in the second, to take the WCHA scoring lead at 5-6—11. Austrian Andreas Nodl scored a key goal in the first game, and is tied for second in league scoring at 4-5—9.
At the other end of the statistics, Goepfert ranks 14th among league goaltenders with a 3.18 goals-against record, and 12th with a save percentage of .892. Motzko is not worried about Goepfert, but Goepfert himself is frustrated because he hasnÂ’t yet found his usual rhythm.
“I broke a mirror in September,†Goepfert said. “Really. I really did break a mirror. I hate to say IÂ’m having bad luck, but maybe thatÂ’s why. ItÂ’s kind of the way my season has been. I analyze every goal, and IÂ’m a reaction goalie, and IÂ’ve been fighting the puck, and leaving bad rebounds.Ââ€
Goepfert was talking after the first game, and used it as evidence of how his reactions have not quite been in synch. After Clafton scored for St. Cloud, Ryan Stoa, Ben Gordon and Jay Barriball scored for Minnesota. Stoa was open to backhand in a rebound at the right edge of the net – an opportunist goal to Stoa and the Gophers; a bad rebound to Goepfert. “It was like at North Dakota last week,†he said. “I got it against my arm, and it squirted through.Ââ€
Gordon got off a shot from the left circle that trickled through, 5-hole. “It hit me in the bread-basket,†Goepfert said. “And somehow it squirted through.Ââ€
Goepfert may have thought he left a bad rebound on the next one, but he did well to stop a high-speed rush by Barriball, who was closing on the left side of the net, and as Goepfert tried to smother the shot, the Gopher freshman smacked again as he passed the cage and knocked it in.
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Down 3-1, Fletcher, a senior defenseman, whistled in a power-play goal in the second period, cutting it to 3-2. But Kyle Okposo, who may be a freshman but appears to be MinnesotaÂ’s most talented player, scored on a one-timer to regain the two-goal edge at 4-2. Again the Huskies closed in, when freshman Nodl one-timed Nate DeyÂ’s pass across the slot for another power-play goal and a 4-3 count. Nodl, a left-handed shooter, was in prime position at the right circle to one-time the arriving pass and drill it high into the short side against Kellen Briggs.
Yet again, the Gophers went back up by two when Blake Wheeler scored five minutes into the third period, but the Huskies never wavered. Lasch scored from the slot when his low, screened shot clanged in at 11:28, two seconds after a power play expired, to cut it to 5-4. Then Stephenson moved in from center point to drill another screened shot with 4:27 remaining.
Motzko was grumbling about how shaky the Huskies played on defense, and Goepfert was talking about bad luck and shaky rebounds, but nonetheless, the Huskies defense shrugged off Minnesota’s hardest attempts at forechecking and calmly broke the puck out, and Goepfert came up with a couple of major league saves in overtime – including a huge glove snatch on an Okposo shot – to hold the tie.
“Early, we were poor,†said Motzko, a former Minnesota assistant. “Our speed, our backchecking, were atrocious. We canÂ’t turn the puck over, no matter where youÂ’re at. We were really careless with the puck. I thought it would be a low-scoring game, because weÂ’re a pretty good defensive team, and theyÂ’re a great defensive team. We turned the puck over on one mistake in the second period, and Kyle (Okposo) came down and scored.Ââ€
Someone angling for a comparison to former Gopher Thomas Vanek, who once was coached and recruited by Motzko, asked if Okposo reminded him of anyone. “Jerome Iginla?†Motzko answered.
As for his struggling goaltender, Motzko said: “Bobby battled back in there. LetÂ’s just say Bobby is not in a place heÂ’s ever been, but heÂ’ll be back.Ââ€
The positive steps are the week-to-week improvement. Motzko and defensive assistant Eric Rud spent the previouis week stressing getting the defensemen involved in the offense.
“We worked in practice about getting the puck in deep in the offensive zone,†said Fletcher. “We got in position to get some shots on goal. Grant took a chance and moved in 4-on-4, and buried it. I usually might get seven or eight goals, and I got one. And Stephenson scored the second goal in his career.Ââ€
In the second game, with a much more involved crowd scene at St. Cloud, the Huskies trailed 1-0 on a Tyler Hirsch goal, but then Gary Houseman, John Swanson and Nate Raduns connected for second-period goals and a 3-1 lead. Raduns, at the left circle, got a perfect feed from Lasch in the slot. The powerful Gophers, however, stormed back with relentless pressure in the third period, and Barriball closed the gap with his eighth goal of a superb freshman term, and captain Mike Vannelli came through for the equalizer after a power-play pass from Hirsch.
Another night, another tie, tie, tie for the Huskies. But three straight ties moved them into contention, and what better way to simultaneously build two streaks – winless and undefeated?
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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