Grand Rapids-Greenway rivals join in girls state effort
Northern Minnesota dominated the boys state hockey tournament for several decades, up until Edina and Bloomington Jefferson wrested control from the Iron Range. But in girls hockey, the North has been slow to develop, with only a few Hibbing, Cloquet, Bemidji and Warroad teams rising above a thin crop.
Section 7AA proved very competitive this season, however, capped when the combined Grand Rapids-Greenway team tripped Cloquet-Esko-Carlton 2-1 in overtime in the final to emerge as the latest challenger to the Twin Cities powerhouses.
Grand Rapids and Greenway of Coleraine merged into one team. Interesting.
The two have been the fiercest of state rivals in boys hockey – right up there with the more storied Roseau-Warroad rivalry. But Roseau and Warroad are 20 miles apart across the borderland. On the West end of the Iron Range, Grand Rapids is the paper-mill town that has jokingly been called “the Edina of the Range,†while Coleraine is only seven miles east and is the start of the hard-core Iron Range. Greenway High School is located in Coleraine, but it draws its students from nearby Bovey, Calumet, Nashwauk, Keewatin, Marble, and various other tiny but once-thriving mining towns.
When Grand Rapids faced Cloquet-Esko-Carlton at the Mars-Lakeview Arena in Duluth, it was interesting to see the Grand Rapids kids sitting in the end section, and the green-and-white jacketed Greenway students in the second section. Emily EricksonÂ’s second-period goal had put Grand Rapids-Greenway ahead 1-0, but midway through the third period, Leanne Gittings of Cloquet smacked in a goal against sophomore Grand Rapids-Greenway goaltender Jessica Havel, tying the game 1-1.
As overtime loomed, the Grand Rapids fans started the usual and traditional, if trite, chant, “We’ve got spirit, yes we do; we’ve got spirit, how about you…†After about the third time that the Lightning fans tried it and the Cloquet fans predictably responded, the Greenway fans stood and cheered with their new partners. If Grand Rapids and Greenway fans can stand together and cheer, no wonder their combined girls hockey team proved strong enough to make it to state with a 21-7 record.
Molly Arola, a sophomore, scored after just 21 seconds of sudden-death overtime to send the Lightning to state. It wonÂ’t hurt the season-long unification of the team that Arola and Erickson are two of the six players from the Greenway school district playing on the team, along with Marina Guyer and Haley Guyer, as well as Emily Erickson and Hana Johnson. The remaining 14 team members are Grand Rapids girls. The amalgamation is interesting, because of some of the traditional names involved. The Guyer name is legendary from Greenway, while Markie DeGrio, Maggie Rothstein, Natalie Newton, and Kayla Clafton are some of the familiar last names from Grand Rapids boys hockey teams of a generation ago.
Grand Rapids teams had to change their name from Indians to the more politically correct Thunderhawks a decade ago, and Greenway, which is the Raiders, came together under the name Lightning.
“ThereÂ’s been no problem putting this team together,†said coach Pat Rendle. “This is the first time weÂ’ve ever gone to state, but thereÂ’s a lot we hadnÂ’t done before that this team accomplished – like beating Hibbing, and beating Cloquet.Ââ€
At the time, Rendle was familiar with Wayzata, which had upset defending champion and undefeated Eden Prairie, snapping the Eagles 57-game winning streak 3-2 in the Section 6 semifinals. He also was familiar with Edina, from the same section, and was ready to face either. “Edina thumped us, and we lost to Wayzata by a goal,†said Rendle. “But weÂ’re a much better team now.Ââ€
However, both Wayzata and Edina met the same fate as Eden Prairie, and Benilde-St. Margaret’s emerged as the Section 6 champion, and will ascend to the favorite’s role with a 24-3-1 record when it faces Grand Rapids-Greenway at 1 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the Class AA tournament. In fact, assessing the tournament might require looking back to the Schwann Cup, which doesn’t have any connection with the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament – either girls or boys – and is really a strong cross-reference of top teams that hopes to capitalize on the state tournament to make a little money over the Christmas break.
But this year, it could be a likely harbinger of what will happen, particularly in the girls tournaments. Benilde-St. MargaretÂ’s whipped Blake 6-2 in the Schwann championship game of the girls Blue Division for top-rated teams, and anyone witnessing that one will not be surprised that both teams are in the state tournament. In fact, Benilde is the favorite in Class AA, while Blake is the choice in Class A.
There, thatÂ’s settled.
Actually, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 24-3-1 record represents Section 6 in Class AA for larger schools, and that stands as the best record – particularly after a string of upsets sidelined highly regarded No. 1 ranked Eden Prairie, and No. 2 rated Edina on the same night. So when the Red Knights take the ice Thursday at 1 p.m. against Grand Rapids-Greenway, they will do so as prohibitive favorites in AA.
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The first AA game has Burnsville against North Metro, at 11 a.m. Thursday, while the opening night session will have Bemidji facing Stillwater at 6, and Roseville against Rochester Mayo at 8. Roseville looks like the team hitting a peak at the right time, and with the best chance of getting to the final out of the lower bracket.
Benilde is led by the scoring prowess of seniors Amanda Trunzo, who recorded 42-43—85 for statistics, and Shannon Reilly, a hard-shooting defenseman, plus goaltender Amanda Nagel.
The girls tournament kicks off Wednesday, with the Class A opening round, where Blake puts a 23-4 record out against Breck – also 23-4 – in the 11 a.m. opening game. The battle between long-standing private-school rivals should be interesting, but Blake has not lost since its Christmas break 6-2 setback against Benilde at the Schwann final.
If Benilde and Blake go on to win their championships, everyone will wish for a meeting between the two. Even though they met in that Schwann final. That night, Blake goaltender Rachel Bowens-Rubin had an uncharacteristic bad night, and it was 6-2 after two periods, when she was pulled for ninth-grader Chloe Billadeau, who played brilliantly in shutting out the Red Knights the rest of the way.
Beyond that, Benilde goaltender Nagel proved her value by repeatedly stopping Blake’s aggressive attackers. The Chute Sister act for Blake is, alone, worth the price of admission. Senior Katharine Chute has 38-34—72, and was picked as the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Metro Player of the Year. She is tall, lanky, and elusive. If there is a more dynamic player on the rink, it is sophomore Margaret Chute, who seems to be wherever the puck is at the right time.
They stand to make Blake the favorite in Class A, but Breck, and others, have the credentials to win it all.
After the Blake-Breck game at 11, Alexandria, with the best record in the field at 25-2, will find out at 1 p.m. how much that record is worth against perennial Northern power Hibbing, which has the shakiest record in the field at 14-11-2. The opening night bracket in A finds Crookston (23-3-1) facing Marshall (21-7) at 6 p.m., followed by the 8 p.m. finale between Farmington (21-5-1) and Austin (24-3).
There is only slim hope that the Northern Minnesota teams can swipe a championship, although Hibbing and Alexandria are present in Class A, and Bemidji knows its way around Class AA – along with Grand Rapids-Greenway, the new kids on the block, from an old traditional pair of Iron Range rivals.
UMD women a-Blais, leave Gophers becalmed
Nobody personifies the University of Minnesota-DuluthÂ’s fantastic hockey weekend, and the whole Bulldog women’s season for that matter, better than Emmanuelle Blais. The slim and quick freshman winger from Montreal became the calm before the storm for the Bulldogs. Or maybe the calm DURING the storm.
Blais scored three goals and set up two more, all of them at pivotal points, as she set the tempo for a goal-scoring festival that trampled arch-rival Minnesota 7-1 and 5-1 in their season-ending series to decide second place in the WCHA.
The season-long struggle with injuries is over, and just about everybody got back in time to celebrate. “WeÂ’re the little engine that could,†said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “We wanted to beat Â’em, and we did; we wanted to sweep Â’em, and we did.Ââ€
Finishing second means a 19-6-3 league record (20-8-4 overall) and the playoff chance to play host to seventh-place St. Cloud State this weekend, a team UMD has beaten four times, and outscored 13-2. “Now that we have our depth back, our focus is going to be on ourselves,†said Miller.
Blais wonÂ’t be taking anything for granted, but sheÂ’s a different player now. She had worked hard all season, and looked good in speedy flashes while scoring eight goals this season and filling a support role as a freshman. When the injuries got up to eight or nine missing players, she had to play more and acquired more responsibility. She was pressing a little, or a lot, right up until the season-ending series against the Gophers. Then everything changed.
“I got to play more when we had players injured,†Blais said. “But really, the difference was that I had a talk with coach Ouellette.Ââ€
That would be Caroline Ouellette, former UMD and Canadian Olympic star who this year joined Joakim Flygh as an assistant coach. Ouellette is also French-Canadian, so, on UMDÂ’s multi-national roster, she speaks the language for Blais, in more ways than one.
“I had the chance to play with her before,†said Blais. “So I know her. She didnÂ’t really tell me what to do, we just talked, but it really helped me. When we came into this weekend, I didnÂ’t have anything in my mind. My problem is that I had thought too much before. She told me to just not think about anything, to be more calm.Ââ€
If Blais was calm, she seriously jangled the Gophers nerves.
Miller kept Blais with Saara Tuominen, a center from Finland and another of the seven freshmen in the lineup, and left wing Jessica Koizumi, just back from a knee injury but still braced heavily. The setting for the games was changed to Mars-Lakeview Arena, because the usual DECC was being used for a boat show. A bright and shiny facility that seats only 1,500, Mars-Lakeview is the newest arena in Duluth, located at Marshall High School, just above Skyline Drive.
Game one, introductions over, tension high, first minute of play. Tuominen won a left corner faceoff and took the puck behind the Minnesota goal, passing out front. Blais smacked it past goaltender Kim Hanlon, and UMD led 1-0 at 1:00. The standing-room crowd went properly wild, waving banners and all.
A minute later, Minnesota takes a penalty. Miller sends Blais right back out and – bang – she scores again, knocking in a loose puck after Noemie Marin’s shot from the right side. It was 2-0, and Blais had her ninth and 10th goals of the season when the game was only 2:38 old.
If she was still calm, she was the only calm one in the building. Minnesota, bristling with skilled players, was pinned into its own end by the supercharged Bulldogs, although the game stayed 2-0 until 8:37 of the second period. Then Marin scored, making a great move to her backhand to beat a defenseman coming out of the left corner. Barely a minute later, Michaela Lanzl got the puck deep on the left boards, carried to the net and jammed a shot off Hanlon and in to make it 4-0. With 31 seconds to go in the rousing second period, it was Blais again, this time sending a perfect pass to Tuominen, whose one-timer from the slot hit Hanlon and trickled through, making it 5-0 at the second intermission.
Minnesota got one, when Erica McKenzie raced up the left side and beat UMD freshman and former Swedish Olympic star Kim Martin with a low shot at 6:52 of the third period. Obviously, 5-1 was still substantial, but Elin Holmlov, another freshman from Sweden, scored midway through the final period, and added another goal five minutes later after Marin’s slick drop pass – her third assist of the night.
UMD coasted home 7-1 to a victory that meant Minnesota could not catch the Bulldogs for second place. So aroused were the Bulldogs that even though their edge in shots was only 34-25, they had a whopping 72-48 edge in total attempts. Somebody, believe it or not, asked Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson afterward what she thought about UMDÂ’s DEFENSE!
After a pause, Halldorson said: “I was more impressed with their offense. We never got anything going. We got outplayed, and it was a disappointing loss, but usually they get pretty fired up to play us.Ââ€
Miller said she loved the arena atmosphere. “The fans were great, with all the signs and the cowbells,†she said. “Our entire team is finally back together, and we came out and we jumped. Any time you play a great opponent, you want to put them on their heels. We did that.Ââ€
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Everybody in the building knew that the Gophers would come out more forcefully on Sunday, and that Game 2 would be different. They did, but it wasnÂ’t.
Kim Martin stopped all 10 first-period shots by the Gophers, and started “Blaising†at 6:37, when Blais fed Tuominen for a goal and a 1-0 head start. It was a much tougher and much closer game, and it stayed 1-0 until 17:25, when Lanzl, a speedy sophomore who was GermanyÂ’s best player in the 2006 Olympics, raced up the right side, cut in hard and did a neat little hop-step over a defensemanÂ’s stick, shooting as she landed. “Five hole,†said Lanzl. “She went down, and there was nobody else with me, so I shot. This atmosphere is so great.Ââ€
Just like Saturday, Sunday afternoonÂ’s rematch started 2-0 in the first period. And, just like Saturday, the Bulldogs volleyed in three more in the second, including one in the last minute, to make it 5-0. The decisive third goal came at 1:34 of the middle period, when Jill Sales fed Tuominen, who hit Blais, who was blazing up the left side. She ducked by a checker to turn a 2-on-2 into a 2-on-1, and when she cut for the goal, she looked to pass, then snapped a shot that beat Hanlon cleanly to the short side, making it 3-0.
Midway through the second period, Lanzl swiped the puck and passed to Marin, who walked in on the right and scored for a 4-0 count. At 19:10, Sara O’Toole – another returnee from rehab – came off the bench on a late change and somehow hid at the Gopher blue line. Ashly Waggoner passed her the puck and O’Toole cruised in to score on the solo dash to make it 5-0.
The Gophers kept battling, outshooting UMD 11-5 in the third period, and getting a goal when Dagney Willey scored with each team a skater short. When it was over, Minnesota had outshot UMD 33-23, but Martin had stopped 32 of them. “We played a lot better, a lot harder,†said Halldorson. “It was closer than a 5-1 game.Ââ€
But it seemed like 5-1 to Hanlon, who missed 14 games early in the season, and has had to play every game since fellow sophomore Brittony Chartier left school to return to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at midseason. She recalled watching from the sidelines when Minnesota beat UMD 5-1 and 1-0 on the first weekend in November.
“I remember watching,†she said. “But now, all of us need to show up at the same time. TheyÂ’re fast, and they use their speed to their advantage. I didnÂ’t play as well as I could have, but they made a lot of great plays.Ââ€
Those great plays were rare when the injuries led to some UMD inconsistency during a 1-7-1 stretch before Christmas. But the Bulldogs seemed to regain more than just good health, as they moved the puck freely, passing with more sharp precision than at any time this season. With playoffs coming up, the resurgence couldn’t have come at a better time. Same for the experience. It may still say “freshman†after names like Emmanuelle Blais, Saara Tuominen, Elin Holmlov, and defensemen Sarah Murray, Jaime Rasmussen, and Heidi Pelttari, and goaltender Kim Martin – but all of them are remaining calm, and playing like hard-core veterans.
Nichols aims for perfect 4-for-4 finish to Gopher career
Andrea Nichols picked a good time to have a three-point game – her final regular-season home game for the University of Minnesota – and the Golden Gophers needed her goal and two assists to hold off Bemidji State 5-3 and gain a split of their weekend series. The victory, and the split, set up high drama for the final weekend of league play, when Minnesota travels up Interstate 35 to take on arch-rival Minnesota-Duluth.
With the Gophers trailing UMD by two points, second place in the WCHA is hanging on the series outcome. If Minnesota should win SaturdayÂ’s first game, the two would be exactly tied in points and second place would come down to Sunday afternoon in the WomenÂ’s WCHA final regular-season game.
There are other WCHA questions yet to be answered. For example, Ohio State (11-11-4) and Minnesota State-Mankato (12-12-2) are dead even for fourth and fifth places, and they collide in a final series at Columbus this weekend. Their battle will determine the fourth and final home-ice spot for the playoffs, which, of course, start with team five at team four in a best-of-three, so this weekendÂ’s outcome will decide where theyÂ’ll collide again.
Of course, the Minnesota-UMD outcome this weekend also carries an “I-got-you-last†psychological edge for the upcoming playoffs. The rivalry was just as big as it was five years ago, when Nichols was a pint-sized but irrepressible scoring machine at Hibbing High School, and both Minnesota and UMD sought her services in exchange for a signed tender. She chose Minnesota, and the next four years have proven that you can take the girl out of the North Country, but you can’t take the North Country out of the young woman. She knows Duluth is closer to home, and she is well aware of how UMD won the first three NCAA national championships, then, when Nichols showed up at Minnesota, the Gophers accounted for the next two, before they lost to Wisconsin in last year’s title game.
“Four years have gone by fast, but in my three years here, weÂ’re 3-for-3 making the Frozen Four,†Nichols said. “We have two firsts and one second. ThatÂ’s not bad. But it would be great to make it all four years.Ââ€
To say Nichols has been a solid and steady contributor takes on extra significance because Nichols has played more college hockey games than any other current player in the WCHA. Her 144 games in a Gopher uniform are one more than Wisconsin’s Sara Bauer – so when Nichols talks about the UMD-Minnesota rivalry’s place in women’s hockey history, she has personal ownership in a lot of the details.
“Not only are we playing for second place, but for national rankings,†said Nichols, after her goal and two assists helped subdue Bemidji State last Saturday. “Going into the weekend, we were ranked ninth and they were eighth, so wherever we are ranked, these games will affect it.Ââ€
For her career, Nichols has 41-37—78 over 144 games, including 13-8—21 this season, as an always-hustling left winger on the third line. Bigger scorers on the top two lines see a lot more duty on power plays, but her 13 goals rank Nichols third on the team behind only Gigi Marvin, a sophomore on the first line who has 17 goals, and Bobbi Ross, a junior who centers the second line and has 15 goals. At that, Nichols shares the team lead in even-strength goals with Ross at 11, because 9 of Marvin’s 17 goals have come on the power play.
Nichols grew up in Mountain Iron, and enrolled at Hibbing while in junior high because she was ready to play high school hockey before anyone other than Hibbing had established itself in girls hockey. Her team concept made her captain last year as a junior, and this year she and Ross are co-captains. That only intensifies her curiosity about the inconsistency that has afflicted the Gophers in the last six weeks.
Bristling with talent, and capable of displaying great firepower from three lines, Minnesota was flying high after a 10-game winning streak through the end of December, including eight straight victories in a WCHA run – which started, incidentally, with a 5-3, 1-0 sweep against UMD at Ridder Arena. But when the second semester started in January, that streak was snapped by five losses in the next six games, starting with a home ice sweep at the hands of league champion Wisconsin, by 4-1, 3-0 scores. More startling, Minnesota next went to Ohio State and got drubbed 7-1. The Gophers bounced back for a 3-1 victory in the rematch, but the following weekend, the Gophers went to Mankato and were swept 3-2 and 4-3 by Minnesota State-Mankato, allowing UMD to catch and pass the Gophers for second place.
All seemed back in place when Minnesota swept North Dakota and St. Cloud State – scoring 19 goals and allowing just 5 in the four games. That four-game mini-streak left the Gophers tied with UMD for second, so both the Gophers and Badgers had reason to look ahead to their season-ending clashes. Sure enough, Bemidji State threw a wrench into the picture by coming into Ridder Arena and stinging Minnesota 2-0. It was only the second time in 33 games, over seven years, that Bemidji had managed to beat Minnesota. But the 28-1-3 Gopher edge meant little against the shutout goaltending of Emily Brookshaw.
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“ItÂ’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the problem has been,†said Nichols. “The competition all around the league is much better, for one thing. Along with Bemidji, Ohio State is tough, and Mankato is good too; theyÂ’ve got some flashy forwards. For a lot of that stretch when we werenÂ’t winning we played well, we just couldnÂ’t find a way to put the puck in the net. It seemed like the harder we tried, the worse things were getting. But in the first game against Bemidj, they outplayed and outworked us.Ââ€
In the second game, Nichols set up Whitney GraftÂ’s first of two goals after just 1:11 of the first period, but Both of GraftÂ’s first-period goals were offset by goals from Tara Hiscock of Bemidji. Nichols scored unassisted midway through the second period, and MarvinÂ’s goal made it 4-2 after two. While outshooting Bemidji 43-25 for the game, the 4-2 lead looked imposing, but BemidjiÂ’s Kelly Hart intercepted the puck and scored on a short-handed breakaway sprint with 1:48 remaining in the game. The solid-looking lead suddenly was 4-3, and suddenly the imposing shot margin was meaningless. It took one more shot, a power-play goal 34 seconds later by Jenelle Philipczyk, to clinch the 5-3 outcome, as Brookshaw made 38 saves.
“I felt confident in my play and how things were going,†said Nichols, after being named No. 1 star for her goal and two assists.
The split dropped Minnesota two points back of the Bulldogs for second, although it hardly relieves the drama. As usual, the Gophers and Bulldogs will start out with an extra twist. The DECC has a rental commitment, so the series will be Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Mars-Lakeview Arena, atop Skyline Drive at Marshall High School. It is the newest arena in Duluth, and while limited in seating, the cozy setting should be perfect because it will only take 1,000 fans to create an exciting atmosphere.
Because of its earlier sweep, Minnesota holds the tie-breaker edge over UMD should they tie, but the bigger drama would come if Minnesota happens to win the first game Saturday, because that would leave Minnesota at 18-8-1 for 37 points, and UMD 17-6-3 for an identical 37 points – a deadlock that would be decided Sunday afternoon in the second game. Needless to say, all the winner of second place really gains is home-ice attributes should they meet in the WCHA playoffs. If the top seeds all advance through the first round of playoffs, the semifinals at Ridder would see the Gophers face – guess who? – UMD for a one-game shot that gives the winner a chance at the WCHA playoff title and, presumably, a higher see for the upcoming NCAA tournament.
Nichols and the Gophers – as well as the Bulldogs – are aware that all of the inconsistencies and flat spots of the season can be overcome with a strong finish. And having the renewal of their rivalry simply means that both teams will get a chance to shift into playoff mode a week early.
Twins stadium stampede tramples public, logic
The Minnesota Twins will get a new, open-air, boutique stadium in downtown Minneapolis. And the University of Minnesota football Gophers (remember them?) will also get a new, open-air stadium. We know for certain that next year, after the legislators figure the people will have softened their feelings about this yearÂ’s decisions, the Minnesota Vikings also will get a new, open-air stadium.
Maybe the turmoil and raving has cooled to the point where some logic might be applied to the situation.
I am all for the outdoors, just as I am a lover of all sports – especially hockey and motorsports, but also including everything from baseball-football-basketball to the more off-beat, such as soccer, and track, and anything else where good competition can be enjoyed. I might pass up going to a game in any sport to participate myself in a ballgame or some active family endeavor. But, major league sports are a definite attraction.
LetÂ’s declare that football is meant to be played outside. Even in Minnesota. ESPECIALLY in Minnesota. Baseball is meant to be played outside, too, although a closeable roof seems like a no-brainer, when 20-25 of the 81 home games might be affected by inclement weather.
By inclement weather, I don’t mean a nagging drizzle, in which baseball can still be played – albeit with concerns that someone named Mauer, or Morneau, or Santana doesn’t slip and injure something. I’m referring to the near-freezing, hard drizzle, where the game might go on, but fans will simply choose to not attend. Sports columnists and broadcasters, sitting inside their heated and cooled press boxes, keep urging us that they could still play a ballgame in bad weather. But it’s the fans that matter.
Many fans will choose alternatives to sitting outside in miserable weather, and columnist/broadcasters sheltered by air-conditioned, food-and-drink-filled press boxes have no business demanding that fans should brave the elements that sportswriters and broadcasters never face at a game. Maybe we should build a retractable roof over the grandstands, and the field, and leave the press box uncovered. See how those fingers can work those computer keys in a little drizzle, or some sleet.
The most distasteful part of the Twins stadium issue was the outright panic generated by what amounted to media-supported blackmail. The Twins would leave for sure if we didn’t build them a stadium, we were told. Remember, they raved, weÂ’re not building it for Carl Pohlad and the Twins, weÂ’re building it for ourselves, so that we can continue to enjoy major league baseball in our own boutiquey little stadium.
When the issue stalled, stadium forces whined that public money built the Guthrie, although they conveniently avoided carrying out the comparison, because one private owner doesn’t control every event in the Guthrie and serves as the only beneficiary of 100 percent of the revenue.
Remember, now, IÂ’m a sports guy, and I prefer outdoor baseball and football, and always did. That goes back to the time when some of the same people coerced us to build the indoor Metrodome. So IÂ’d love to see the right deal on the right stadium. The media continued to push the stadium as our way of living up to other major U.S. cities, which virtually all have built new stadiums.
Overlooked in the debate by all was a nugget brought out by Pat Kessler, on WCCO-TV’s “Reality Check,†which cuts through the flak and hyperbole on major issues. Kessler said researching the 11 years that the Twins have been professionally lobbying the legislature and the populace for a new stadium, he found that a total of 14 new major league baseball stadiums have been, or are being, built. Three of those 14 were financed 100 percent by team owners. Can you imagine that? The remaining 11 are financed on an average of 50 percent by team owners.
Altogether, that’s an average of about 60 percent owners’ money for each of the last 14 new stadiums, folks. In Minnesota, Carl Pohlad, billionaire extraordinaire, owns the Twins and could easily afford to build the entire stadium by himself, yet he somehow manipulated a deal where he would pay 25 percent. Not 100 percent, not 60 percent, not 50 percent, but only one-fourth of the new playground for his boys – even though Pohlad and the Twins stand to make all the profit from tickets, concessions, and ad revenue at the new stadium.
Did the stadium-pushing media fail to do the same research as WCCO-TV? Or, worse, they did the research but decided not to offer the results that didn’t boost their stance. We canÂ’t blame Carl. He made his millions, which became billions, by banking, where you maneuver and manipulate to take what you can get, without any needless spending, and without letting up anybody indebted to you. Carl did it well, and apparently, heÂ’s still doing it. He gambled, and held out, figuring his patience would allow the media to finally whip itself into a frenzy. Sure enough, they have helped stampede baseball fans and the legislature into believing that their constituents — the taxpaying publilc — would agree that it was a good thing for them to be socked for 75 percent of the expense.
It would have been very interesting if the legislature had said, “OK Carl, we’ll pay for half of a new stadium, and if you want it, you pay for the other half.†Or, how about if Carl pays his one-fourth, but then pays himself for building the suites, which will make him huge earnings? At the very least, perhaps Pohlad could have been embarrassed into kicking in for a retractable roof.
As the media stampede gained momentum, anyone who hesitated to jump on their bandwagon was ridiculed for trying to run the Twins out of town. Columnists and broadcasters blasted legislators with outrageous accusations that were almost slanderous. The targets included thoughtful legislators who merely wanted to figure out a more rational way to finance a new stadium. They certainly wanted the Twins to have a new playground, but also felt compelled to stay in harmony with their constituents.
But the media surge immediately branded them as trying to run the Twins out of town with their hesitancy.
Three decades ago, when the Twins, Vikings, and Gopher football team all clamored for a new, indoor stadium, I didnÂ’t like the move, although it made some sense for baseball to escape the changeable Minnesota elements for air-regulated 70-degree conditions under a roof. Baseball is best played outdoors, but in a major league season now starting in April and finishing in October, there is the risk of some cold, drizzly, even snowy and sometimes wind-chilly days.
Postponements are a pain – even if doubleheaders are great. Expansion means that teams don’t often return for another trip to make up lost games. So the benefits of playing outside most of June, July and August, become shaky on the few foul-weather days in those months, and during the many foul-weather days in April, May, September and October. A roof makes some sense, and a retractable roof – regardless of the expense – makes the most sense of all.
The current plan left an interesting trail. Not long ago, tunnel-visioned people in the sports media assumed that all citizens shared their zeal, so they clamored for surveys and sought a public referendum for various sports causes. Surprise! The tax-paying public has unfailingly voted down any such public financing of private-owner-team stadiums. So this time, the zealots excluded the voters and insisted that there couldnÂ’t be any referendum. They said the people elected those legislators and councilors, so let them now do their work and decide for the voters. They knew, of course, that it is far easier to intimidate a few legislators than to coerce a herd of people anxious to not spend their money to build a playpen for billionaire owners and millionaire players.
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The media tirades came from younger types who canÂ’t remember the past, and from older fellas, confident they had already outlived most of the folks who recall their identical tirades that the Twins and Vikings would move if we didnÂ’t build them an indoor stadium. Some of us still remember.
Almost everybody in Minnesota, including non-sports-fans, wants the Twins and Vikings to stay in Minnesota. Frankly, I donÂ’t foresee either of them moving anywhere. But for some reason, almost every sports broadcaster and columnist seemed to buy into and contribute to the Twins-will-leave-this-time-for-sure campaign.
The issue became one of legislative votes, but it wasnÂ’t simply for or against public financing. The vote, we heard, was either in favor of guaranteeing billionaire owner Carl Pohlad a chance to gain fabulous wealth, over and above his already stupendous wealth, or to vote in favor of the Twins leaving Minnesota. LetÂ’s see, voting for or against a public gift makes sense; suggesting the vote was for a public subsidy or to force a major league sports franchise to leave was Ridiculous.
Last time all this happened, we laughed at the absurdity of the threats, but agreed to build the Metrodome because there was some merit to escaping the elements. This time the majority didnÂ’t laugh, but for some reason, enough legislators bought into the plan even while their constituents seemed to see through the blackmail. Using such an unreasonable and invalid method to secure the needed votes – by the narrowest of margins – seemed bizarre. But then we’re living in an era where, if a gane of Saudi Arabian extremists commits a terrorist act against the United States, our government would respond almost immediately by going to war…with Iraq.
So the legislature passed a Twins Stadium bill for downtown Minneapolis, beyond Target Center. First Avenue is elbow-to-elbow with people almost every night, as the trendy younger folks hustle off to neat restaurants, bars, night clubs and concert venues. Years ago, an attempt to clean up Hennepin Avenue pushed the less-desirable element to First Avenue, but when First Avenue became the trendiest spot in town, where were the homeless, the drug-dealers, the muggers, supposed to go? They migrated back to Hennepin Avenue. As they say, everybodyÂ’s got to be somewhere, and short of eradicating them, solutions seem scarce.
So the pushers of the new stadium, who had repeatedly said that Minneapolis needs the stadium down past Target Center, in order to save the city from the hassles of recent increases in murders, muggings, drug-dealings, street crime, and the nuisance of pan-handlers. Those untidy happenings occur less in Minneapolis than in other major cities, but itÂ’s an issue, nonetheless.
Apparently, the stadium advocates have it figured out, because theyÂ’ve assured us that the street people and the homeless and the bad element will disappear, just because thereÂ’s a ball game tonight. Hopefully, the muggers will be responsible enough to not rob those fans of their umbrellas.
Gophers trip Badgers twice, grip No. 1 in WCHA, nation
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The University of Minnesota hockey teamÂ’s strong start through the first two months of the season has reached 6-0-2 atop the WCHA, and 10-1-2 atop the national ratings – so impressive that the only remaining person predict the likelihood that the Golden Gophers might falter isÂ…Golden Gophers coach Don Lucia.
Lucia is not a pessimist, but he realizes the unlikelihood of avoiding a slump all season. And heÂ’s painfully aware of what can happen if that flat spot comes too close to the end of the season.
It seemed unfair when the WCHA coaches picked Minnesota as preseason favorite, since it was clear the Golden Gophers would have to count on freshmen to fill the very large skates of players like Ryan Potulny, Phil Kessel, Gino Guyer and others. But so far, MinnesotaÂ’s freshmen have played a pivotal role, outplaying the best freshmen on every other WCHA team and helping Minnesota roar off to first place in the WCHA and the No. 1 rank in the nation.
Tyler Hirsch, returning from a redshirt year off, leads the team, and the WCHA, with 17 points in all games, and tied for second with 16 points are Gopher freshmen Kyle Okposo and Jay Barriball, both with 9-7—16, ahead of sophomore Blake Wheeler (7-7—14), junior Ben Gordon (5-9—14) and senior defenseman Alex Goligoski (4-9—13). The play of Okposo has been little short of spectacular, while Barriball has been an unexpected sparkplug.
“We’re not going to play nine freshmen and not have our ups and downs,†said Lucia. “We’ll go though a couple of weekends with some injuries or something, and my thought is that if we can just find a way to get points every weekend, we should be OK. We’ve been fortunate to catch teams when we have. We played Colorado College when they had a couple defensemen out, and Duluth was a little banged up when we played them, and Wisconsin was missing Jack Skille, and then got a couple more guys banged up against us in the first game.
“I think youÂ’ll see our league have more compression, instead of separation,†Lucia added. “We havenÂ’t seen Denver or North Dakota yet, and we know theyÂ’re both tough. Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage are much better, and CC will be fine, and St. Cloud is in good shape right now. But while weÂ’ve been fortunate when weÂ’ve played teams, weÂ’ve taken advantage, too, and put some points in the bank.Ââ€
So far, the Golden Gophers have faced good teams, bad teams, inexperienced teams, traditional rivals, and the defending NCAA champions, and theyÂ’ve done more than just take a point or two every weekend — they havenÂ’t lost a WCHA game. Their only loss this season was 3-1 against Maine in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. Since then, the Gophers have put together the nationÂ’s longest undefeated streak (10-0-2).
Now, at 6-0-2 atop the WCHA, Lucia says he focuses on the “lost†column of the standings. That shows Denver is second at 5-2-1, North Dakota 4-3-1, and Colorado College 4-2, but while all of them are certainly within striking distance, that zero in Minnesota’s loss column looks larger and larger. The toughest games in that 12-game undefeated streak were a pair of ties, 5-5 and 3-3, against St. Cloud State, but the Golden Gophers came back from that to topple defending national champ and archrival Wisconsin 2-1 and 3-1. That sweep was a role reversal from a year ago, when Wisconsin came to Minnesota, swept the Gophers, and it seemed the Badgers were going to run away with the WCHA title.
“But look what happened last year,†said Lucia.
True, last season the Badgers lost All-America goaltender Brian Elliott, dropped into a slump for a few weeks, and Minnesota stormed past to win the league title and gain the No. 1 rank. However, at the end of the season, Wisconsin beat the Gophers 4-0 in the WCHA playoffs, and the Gophers never recovered, losing to Holy Cross in the NCAA regional, while Wisconsin got things back in order and went all the way to the NCAA title.
The Gophers are going so well right now that Lucia pulled star winger Tyler Hirsch out of the lineup against Wisconsin. Lucia said Hirsch had fallen behind in a couple of classes, and he not only has decided to tighten up his discipline this season, he wants to make sure he has HirschÂ’s skills for the whole season. “When Tyler came back this year, I said I wanted two things,†said Lucia. “I want him to have a big year, and to graduate.Ââ€
Without Hirsch, the Gophers had to work harder to score, but, as usual, they scored just enough to sweep Wiscoonsin. They won 2-1 when Goligoski scored on a first-period power play, then Barriball made it 2-0 in the third period with a goal that looked more like a veteran than a freshman. Wheeler had skated up the right side and passed across the slot. As Elliott, WisconsinÂ’s ace goaltender, slid anticipating the shot, Barriball already had anticipated that move and had quickly rapped a backhand for the far side of the net to score.
“IÂ’m not surprised by KyleÂ’s play, but Barriball is definitely a surprise,†said Lucia. “He was going to play at Sioux Falls in the USHL, and when Phil Kessel signed a pro contract, he came in. HeÂ’s tenacious around the net, and heÂ’s got great hockey sense – the instincts about where to go, and the puck finds him. He also has a good shot, and he has that habit of scoring goals.Ââ€
BarriballÂ’s goal proved to be the first-game winner against Wisconsin, after Ross CarlsonÂ’s goal broke the shutout bid of senior goalie Kellen Briggs.
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The next night, Minnesota fell behind 1-0 on Ben StreetÂ’s deflected goal in the second period. In the third, Ryan Stoa tried to pass out front to Okposo, but the pass hit the back of ElliottÂ’s blocker and caromed into the net for the equalizer.
With 5:43 remaining, the winning goal was an all-freshman happening. Tony Lucia – the coach’s kid – played an outsnding shift, hustling and forechecking and circling to attack again. Amid the flurry, freshman defenseman Brian Schack got a shot away from inside the left point. Elliott blocked it, and it popped up. Minnesota’s Mike Carman went hard to the net, and it was impossible to tell whether Badger freshman John Mitchell shoved him into the crease or chased him there, but they both bumped into Elliott, who fell facing south, while the puck landed in the north end of the crease. Lucia, about 20 feet out from the cage, saw the congestion of bodies and zipped around to the right and made a headlong dive, poking the free puck as he slid to the end boards. It was his first goal, and it was a reward for an outstanding shift.
At the end of the game, Okposo fed Wheeler for an open-net goal, and the Gophers had a 3-1 victory for the sweep.
Sophomore Jeff Frazee tended goal in the second game, as Lucia – the dad – continued to alternate him with Briggs. In league play, both have 3-0-1 records, and Frazee has a 1.71 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage, while Briggs is 1.96, and .924.
Goaltending has been easier because of strong defensive play. Goligoski, a junior, pairs with senior Mike Vannelli, the captain, while junior Derek Peltier pairs with freshman Erik Johnson, the NHL’s No. 1 overall draft pick last summer. The third unit has a pair of freshmen, Brian Schack and David Fischer, but the rookie blueliners have been solid, rather than inconsistent, and their size – all three are over 6-foot-2 – lets them make up for any uncertainty with a dose of aggressiveness.
So far, everything has fallen into place so well, itÂ’s understandable that coach Lucia might be looking for a possible flat spot, and heÂ’d prefer it to come early enough for the Gophers to be able to rebound. Of course, thereÂ’s always a chance there wonÂ’t be any slump, but if there isnÂ’t, it will take coach Lucia until about a week into April to realize it.
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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