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?
Gophers sweep ruins UMD’s historic weekend
The University of Minnesota hockey team had its own agenda going in a pivotal weekend at Duluthm and paying tribute to the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s hockey history was not a part of it. The Gophers used opposite approaches to win both games by identical 3-2 counts.
The sweep puts Minnesota at 4-0 in the WCHA, and 8-1 overall – with eight straight victories following the Hall of Fame game 3-1 loss to Maine. The victories also pushed Minnesota to a school-record-expanding 16-game (13-0-3) road unbeaten streak, which measures 10-0-2 in WCHA road games. So current affairs superseded historic significance for Minnesota.
The Bulldogs came out for the second game attired in the same style uniforms they wore 40 years ago, on November 19, 1966, when an upstart UMD hockey program played arguably the biggest game in its history. It was the Bulldogs second year in the WCHA, and they were opening the Duluth Arena, a shiny new complex located the width of a frontage road from the Duluth harbor. The first WCHA game to be played in the Arena brought the arch-rival Gophers in to face UMD, and the Bulldogs treated a capacity crowd to a stunning 8-1 victory, as Keith (Huffer) Christiansen played Pied Piper — leading assorted Gopher defenders off toward the corners and then passing in front to record six assists.
Forty years later, itÂ’s 2006, Christiansen’s school assist record remains, and on the anniversary of that momentous occasion, Minnesota brought a new edition of Gophers to the facility. The arena has aged well while making the transition from the newest arena in the WCHA to the oldest, even surviving one of those modernizing name changes from simply the “Duluth Arena†to the convoluted and awkward “Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center,†DECC for short.
The Duluth News-Tribune dug through its archives and reprinted a phoned-in article on that 8-1 game from the paper of Nov. 20, 1966. The story was written by yours truly, and it seems like only yesterday…
At any rate, the Bulldogs were primed and ready to make a run at letting history repeat itself. Minnesota had beaten them 3-2 the night before, jumping ahead 3-0, then withstanding a late UMD rally. A controversial disallowed UMD goal further added to the intensity of the rematch, and while the Bulldogs introduced Christiansen and WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod among eight members of that 40th anniversary team in attendance, the current Bulldogs honored them with the retro jerseys, complete with “Bulldogs†stenciled in script across the chest.
It seemed as though all was well when Mason Raymond, a smoothly skilled UMD sophomore, scored in the first period, and Bryan McGregor, a late-blooming senior, scored in the second for a 2-1 UMD lead.
But the Gophers had bigger things on their minds. Tyler Hirsch set up Mike Vannelli for the tying goal on a power play in the third period. In overtime, Hirsch watched freshman centerman Kyle Okposo draw defenders before sliding him the puck across the goal-mouth, and Hirsch snapped a backhander up high, into the roof of the net, from the right edge at 0:49 to give the Gophers their sweep.
“I really liked the way our seniors came through,†said Minnesota coach Don Lucia.
True, on a team where freshmen have been leading the way and getting the headlines, Vannelli and Hirsch – the only two senior skaters – got the goals. Sophomore Jeff Frazee tended goal, a night after Kellen Briggs, the team’s third senior, had held off the late-charging Bulldogs.
Lucia also liked the fact that after a surprisingly easy sweep of Colorado College the previous weekend, the Gophers faced all sorts of pressure from an aroused foe and won the first game by proving they could hold a lead under pressure, then won the second by coming from behind.
“We had to kill penalties through the last seven minutes in the first game, and then we won by coming from behind for the first time,†Lucia said. “It was a well-played game. Early in the game, I told the players we only had one foot in it, and that we’re not going to win on the road unless everybody gets both feet into it.
“It was important to get the tying goal at 1-1, and then when we were pressing to get that last tying goal, we didnÂ’t turn the puck over, and we never fell behind by two.Ââ€
UMD, which went through a freshman-dominated rebuilding last season, now has a flock of impressive sophomores, led by Raymond, MacGregor Sharp and Andrew Carroll, whgo make up the first line, plus winger Michael Grgen and defensemen Matt Niskanen and Josh Meyers. With Raymond sniping a deadly shot into the upper right corner from the slot in the first period, and McGregor dashing through the Minnesota defense to make it 2-1, the Bulldogs looked to be in position to gain the split.
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McGregor had scored a goal in the first game but had it disallowed by a belated too-many-men call, which led to emotions running higher than usual for the rematch. Feelings werenÂ’t much soothed in the second game when, at 2-1, Niskanen took a slash, and when it went undetected, he returned the slash. Naturally, that one got called, and Niskanen was in the box when Vannelli converted the power-play goal for the 2-2 equalizer.
A key to the winning finish was the winning goal by Hirsch, who would rather set up teammates than score himself, a fact verified by his statistics, which measured 1 goal and 12 assists before he scored the winner.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the whole team,†said Hirsch, a senior from Bloomington, who played at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, and took a year off for personal reasons last season before lending his invaluable veteran leadership to the current crop of Gophers.
“You canÂ’t win Â’em all 8-1, and you also have to do well in tight games. We were jacked up. WeÂ’re used to scoring a lot of goals.Ââ€
Lucia, who welcomed Hirsch back to a team with six freshman forwards and two more freshmen on defense. The scoring by freshmen Okposo and Jay Barriball, plus sophomores Blake Wheeler and Ryan Stoa, and junior Ben Gordon, had led the balanced Gophers into the Duluth weekend. But when it came to game-breaking time, Hirsch stepped forward.
“Tyler took it upon himself,†said Lucia. “HeÂ’s been one of our best players, and on the winning goal, he came around to his backhand and roofed it. No question, it was a goal-scorerÂ’s goal.Ââ€
Raymond and McGregor were UMD’s onlyh goal-scorers 40 years later, and if the decades could be blurred, the Bulldog power play could have used Huffer and a few of his former teammates.
Dingle leads Denver rise from hot-cold start to just hot
A tradition for winning the championship in the WCHA indicates a good formula is to win at home and split on the road. If carried out to perfection, that formula assures a team of winning 75 percent of the time, which would put it in strong contention if not guarantee a title. Then there is Denver University, which has defied convention the past two seasons.
Two years ago, the Pioneers battled inconsistency before losing a first-round league playoff series, but missing the Final Five allowed some injuries to heal and a high ranking put the Pioneers into the NCAA tournament, where they won the national championship. Last season, the Pioneers had a better regular season, finishing second in the league, but a first-round league playoff upset by Minnesota-Duluth left them on the bubble, and they didnÂ’t even get invited to the 16-team NCAA party to defend their crown.
So when Denver split at Minnesota-Duluth, leaving the Pioneers exactly at .500 – at 2-2 in WCHA play and 4-4 overall – there was no cause for alarm.
“WeÂ’re still finding ourselves,†said junior center Ryan Dingle. “WeÂ’re a young team, and weÂ’re all filling different roles this season.Ââ€
Dingle, who scored the only DU goal in the first-game 2-1 overtime loss at Duluth, scored two more on Saturday to spark the Pioneers to a 4-2 victory for the split.
“WeÂ’re playing .500 right now, and IÂ’m not saying thatÂ’s good enough,,†said Dingle, who has two previous seasons in a Denver jersey. “And when you look back, we were about .500 the last two years – and we won an NCAA championship one of them, and didnÂ’t even make it the other. So, playing .500 isnÂ’t that bad, for now.Ââ€
Junior goalie Peter Mannino got his first victory of the season, after it had appeared senior Glenn Fisher might be taking over the nets with his strong early play. Naturally, coach George Gwozdecky was in a better mood after Saturday’s victory than after Friday’s overtime defeat. Much of that was because, after being outplayed for much of Friday’s game, and outshot 38-26 by the Bulldogs, Denver responded by outshooting UMD 40-25 in the 4-2 rematch – including a dominant 15-3 in the third period.
“I thought that was our best game of the season,†Gwozdecky said, after the Saturday night special. “And the third period? WeÂ’ll take it.Ââ€
Dingle can stickhandle adroitly through opposing teams on end-to-end rushes, but he has a scoring knack beyond the obvious “Dingle dangles.†Dingle doesnÂ’t discriminate about what kind of goals he scores, giving Pioneer fans a positive “Dingle Tingle†from any angle.
“When it comes to being lucky or good, I’ll play lucky every time,†said Dingle, who has six goals in eight games while nobody else on the team has more than three goals. He laughed, almost a bit sheepishly, about how he scored three of Denver’s five goals for the weekend, all of them benefits of good fortune.
The same might be said for the other two goals, both scored by Rhett Rakhshani, who is believed to be the only first line winger in college hockey to be a Persian, roller-hockey-player from California. So much for another tradition.
In DenverÂ’s first game at Duluth, it was scoreless early in the second period when UMDÂ’s flashy freshman goaltender Alex Stalock went behind the net to clear the puck. Dingle was skating in on the left side, watching Stalock live up to his penchant for wandering, and he also saw his freshman winger, Rakhshani, forechecking hard from the right side. Rakhshani blocked the puck free from Stalock, knocked it out front, and as the goalie frantically tried to slide back into the crease, DingleÂ’s one-timer had already found the twine.
“I just got to the right place at the right time,†Dingle shrugged.
That was never more true than in the rematch. Again the game was scoreless, early in the second period, when there was a faceoff in the right corner of the UMD zone. “I won the faceoff back to Chris Butler, and I held up my guy for a second so he could get time to shoot,†said Dingle. “Then I went to the net as Butler shot from the point, and the rebound came right to me.Ââ€
Right place, right time, easy conversion, 1-0 Denver lead. The Pioneers went up 2-0, but UMD came back for a 2-2 standoff that lasted until midway through the third period. Dingle saw Tyler Ruegsegger, another freshman out with him on the power play, lining up a shot 30 feet straight out in the slot. “I was trying to crash the net,†Dingle said. “Tyler shot, and it hit my skate.Ââ€
And went in, for the game-winner. Dingle was reluctant to accept credit for that goal until it was pointed out that he appeared to deflect it. He didnÂ’t want to take credit for a goal that might otherwise have gone to Ruegsegger. Not only is he focused on team success, but Dingle has always been able to score goals, with 39 of them in 89 games in two-plus seasons.
He fulfills one tradition by proving that goal-scorers seem to find ways to score. Other traditions are more elusive, though. Most coaches pattern their teams to have seniors set a high and poised standard of production, while juniors are free to reach their peak of performance, sophomores can step up as rookies-no-more, and freshmen have time to blend into the team concept with some bright spots amid anticipated inconsistencies.
The Pioneers have six freshmen in the lineup, with defenseman Keith Seabrook and forwards Ruegsegger, Sakhshani, Brock Trotter, Brian Gifford and Matt Glasser all playing regularly, with Rakhshani and Gifford on the first line, and Ruegsegger and Trotter on the second. Having five freshman forwards might seem like a liability, but not with the Pioneers, where freshmen have led the way in scoring with a combined 7 goals – three from Ruegsegger, two from Trotter, while Rakhshani got his first two goals in the victory at Duluth.
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“We couldn’t be happier with our freshman class,†said Dingle.
By comparison, Denver’s three senior forwards – Ryan Helgason, Mike Handza and Steven Cook – have only one goal, by Cook, so far this season. Dingle has six goals, but fellow-junior Geoff Paukovich has none. Patrick Mullen has all three goals for the two sophomore forwards, although J.P. Testwuide is a former defenseman converted to a checking wing.
Rakhshani’s play has been consistent enough to earn a first line slot. “I grew up playing roller hockey, and things just snowballed,†said Rakhshani, who grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif., and was claimed on the fourth round by the New York Islanders in last summer’s NHL draft.
His first two collegiate goals might indicate Gwozdecky did well to put him on Dingle’s wing. When the Pioneers led 1-0, Rakhshani saw Stalock block a shot, so he moved out of the congestion, to the left of the goal. “I saw Geoff Paukovich banging at the puck, and it bounced right to me,†said Rakhshani.
In the final minute, Rakhshani also scored an open-net goal, but it was not just a simple tally, as one defenseman was draped on his back and another was in front of him. “Ryan Dingle sort of took the one guy out, and my shot happened to go through the defensemanÂ’s legs,Ââ€
If the name Rakhshani doesnÂ’t have the traditional sound of a Lafleur, or Orr – or even a Gauthier or Magnuson, from DUÂ’s past, it is because of his heritage. and his heritage isÂ…Ââ€Persian,†he said.
Persian. Isn’t that what they now call Iran, or Iraq? Rakhshani laughed. “These days, I’d rather stick with Persian,†he said.
Steve Sertich, Bemidji State, both seek new success
It was time to turn the page, Steve Sertich figured, to start a new chapter in his life. After his familyÂ’s lifetime dedication to hockey, he owed himself the chance to start anew, and Bemidji was the perfect place, so he accepted the offer to become a 53-year-old rookie coach of the Bemidji State University womenÂ’s hockey team.
Sertich, who burst upon the Minnesota hockey scene as a high school and college star in the 1960s and Â’70s, has been coaching hockey for the past couple of decades — the last 12 of them at Roseville High School. As a teacher and coach, Sertich directed the Roseville boys for nine years, taking them to two state tournaments, including a runner-up finish when his sons, Marty and Mike, both played. Then he switched over and coached the Roseville girls for the past three years, leading the Raiders to a state tournament last March.
Sertich and his wife, Patty, had raised daughter Sarah and sons Marty and Mike, and became definite fixtures in Roseville, a suburb just to the north of Minneapolis and St. Paul. He could have been happy to stay at Roseville indefinitely, as a teacher and coach, if things in his life had gone differently. But Steve SertichÂ’s life changed abruptly in the last three years.
Patty Sertich was stricken with inoperable brain cancer, and her incredible race against time, became highly public two years ago. Steve and Patty had insisted their boys stay at Colorado College rather than coming home to be with their mom. Patty stayed active, and battled courageously, while Marty Sertich – perhaps taking determination from his mom – led the nation in scoring with 27 goals, 37 assists and 64 points, and won the 2005 Hobey Baker Memorial Award as the nation’s top college hockey player.
Patty made it to the ceremony when Marty was named winner, at the 2004 NCAA tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and she was still giving the family the glow of her personality, faltering though she was. When she died, shortly thereafter, the community of Roseville and many others touched by PattyÂ’s personality attended a long and overwhelming funeral service. But PattyÂ’s legacy has remained with her family. Marty returned to CC and had a brilliant senior season, and Steve returned to teach and coach at Roseville, guiding the Raiders to the state tournament.
For Steve, however, the always-busy house in Roseville had become empty by then, and the urge for a change became compelling. He attempted to return when the Roseville boys job opened up, but it didnÂ’t work out. In the back of his mind, Steve wanted to try his carefully forceful, subtly effective coaching hand at the college level. His background primed him to coach either men or women, so when openings came in the womenÂ’s programs at both St. Cloud State and Bemidji State, Steve applied for them.
“I came up to Bemidji to see what was here,†he said by telephone, after his midnight return busride from Duluth. “And when I left, after interviewing, I realized I really wanted that job. I was impressed with everything, and with the people involved. I hadnÂ’t gotten called back by St. Cloud, and I knew Bemidji had gone through some turmoil. I just wanted to come in and be me.Ââ€
Bemidji State had been building a competitive team under Bruce Olson, but things didnÂ’t work out, and Olson resigned in December of last season. Assistant coaches Jim Ingman and Sis Paulsen were elevated to the position of interim co-coaches for the rest of the season, turning in a credible 7-11 record. At one point, the Beavers won five straight games, and they upset Minnesota for the first time in program history.
“The team finished on a high note,†said Sertich. “And everything fell into place when both Jim and Sis agreed to stay on as my assistants.Ââ€
Part of the appeal of moving to Bemidji might have as something of an escape, to start over with a new career. He rented an apartment in Bemidji, not far from campus, although he hasnÂ’t sold the longtime family home in Roseville. It was tough to leave the security of the Roseville programs.
“I kept the house, because I felt like the kids wanted me to,†Sertich said. “It was pretty hard, because my family is all over the place now. Sarah has moved to Michigan, and Marty is playing pro hockey in Des Moines. Mike is back in the Twin Cities, going to the University of Minnesota, so he keeps an eye on the house.
“Leaving was pretty nostalgic,†he said. “I had been involved in Roseville hockey since my son MikeÂ’s group came up through Squirt, Peewee, Bantam, and then high school. When his group graduated, it was the end of an era for me, and with the girls job opening up, I thought that was a good move. It was fun, and I really enjoyed it.Ââ€
As for the move to college, Sertich and his assistants already have brought in some recruits for visits, and he has adapted well in transition. Being all alone in Bemidji leaves him with a lot of time to think and reflect, and Patty remains in his thoughts every day. It helps that the college program keeps him busy.
“The timing was right for me to leave Roseville,†he said. “IÂ’m doing OK, although it hits me some days, or at some time of the day.Ââ€
Standout junior goaltender Emily Brookshaw and a nucleus of seniors, including defensemen Nina Ziegenhals and Mandy Bambrough, and forwards Nikki Eckebrecht, Helena Tageson, Kelly Hart, Kate Robinson and Jenn Sadler, help Bemidji StateÂ’s building plan. The Beavers got off to a strong start by sweeping St. Cloud State in an opening WCHA series.
Reality-check time came at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, when unbeaten powerhouse Minnesota-Duluth administered 6-2 and 6-0 mid-October thumpings to the Beavers.
The first game was actually very close after the first period. UMD had jumped ahead 5-0 with a 25-5 shot barrage in the first period, but the Beavers came out for a much more forceful second period. Kelly Hart and Helena Tageson scored goals 1:40 apart, cutting the deficit to 5-2, and when Karin DemeuleÂ’s second goal made it 6-2, the teams battled through a scoreless third period.
“I was disappointed we didnÂ’t scrap with Â’em,†said Sertich. “But I was pleased with how we responded in the second period. I didnÂ’t care what the score was, or how many shots they had, I wanted out players to go out and go toe-to-toe with them.Ââ€
The next night, again UMD got a jump-start, leading 3-0 and outshooting the Beavers 15-2 in the first 20 minutes. This time UMD suffered no letdown, but again Bemidji State came out much stronger in the second period.
“We played hard, and I thought our second period was outstanding,†Steve Sertich said. “Their goalie came up big. We had some chances. Some 2-on-1s we didn’t capitalize on, but we were better in our defensive end. We wanted to battle them as best we could, but their skill players can really make things happen out there.
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“WeÂ’ve gotten better each week, but obviously weÂ’re not up with a team of UMDÂ’s caliber yet. WeÂ’ve got a lot to work on.Ââ€
Sertich is the younger brother of Mike Sertich, the former UMD and Michigan Tech menÂ’s coach. Both starred at Virginia High School, before Mike went to UMD and Steve to Colorado College, where he was a quick and dynamic playmaker who earned CCÂ’s most valuable player award in the 1972-73 season. Steve went on to play for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team before he started his coaching career, which included a brief stop at Virginia High School.
Unlike brother Mike, Steve is not an avid fisherman and outdoorsman. “IÂ’m not a hunter or fisherman,†he said, “so from that standpoint it might seem crazy for me to be up here in Bemidji.Ââ€
Steve Sertich turned 54 Friday nightÂ’s game but he didnÂ’t do much celebrating. Older brother Mike watched the game at the DECC and took Steve out after the 6-2 setback, but there was nothing resembling a birthday cake.
“Mike forgot it was my birthday,†laughed Steve. “He thought it was the 24th, instead of the 20th.Ââ€
But when he realized it, Mike must have at least bought pizza, right?
“Are you kidding?†said Steve. “Mike still has the first nickel he ever made.Ââ€
At this point, Steve is not against skipping a birthday. His energy and enthusiasm are already carrying over, although there are no guidelines for how long it will take to make the Beavers a contender. Steve is determined to do the best he can to make it happen, no matter how long it takes.
“IÂ’m going one day at a time,†Steve Sertich said, “One of the things IÂ’ve learned, is to live life to the fullest every day, and not to have a timetable.Ââ€
Playoff critics can’t diminish Twins magical season
Had it been a movie, the end of the Minnesota Twins 2006 regular season would have been panned for being too unrealistic. It defied logic, as well as normal baseball style, for a team to rise from two months of ineptitude to start the season and finish in improbably glory as the Central Division champions on – make that after – their final game was over.
True, getting swept in three straight games by Oakland in the playoffs took some of the wind out of the billowing sails that had carried the Twins into post-season. But it canÂ’t take away from the captivating season finish.
Consider that by the time the Twins had lost their first 33 games, they had won only 25. By the time they had lost their next 33 games, they had won 71 games. Amazingly, you could almost separate the season in halves with those records – 25-33, then 71-33.
But at the start, with favored Chicago flying high, and surprising Detroit flying higher, the Twins seemed to be falling apart, right out of the box. If you recall, even Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau werenÂ’t hitting well, and Torii Hunter seemed to be swinging wildly. Twin Cities columnists and talk-show ravers agreed that Mauer may never be the great hitter once envisioned, and that Morneau might never be the power hitter many had hoped for. They also said Michael Cuddyer would never really have a position to call home.
Johan Santana had a fantastic year overall, but he did not have a fantastic first month. Brad Radke had problems getting his off-speed stuff in the location he wanted, and Carlos Silva seemed to have acquired a tendency to hit the fat part of opposing bats with frightening regularity. In the field, guys named Castro and Batista at short and third were OK, but never better than just OK, and the Twins lineup sounded more like a CNN compilation of Latin American dictators than an American League contender. Meanwhile, left-fielder Shannon Stewart went down with a continuation of his recent injury-spattered career.
In apparent desperation, the Twins seemed to turn to the future. Santana started pitching like his old, dominant self. Radke finally found some consistency, but was far off his game. Watching Radke pitch at his best is like watching a skilled artist bring together all the hues and shades and organizational concepts to create another masterpiece. We didnÂ’t know at the time that he had a crack in his shoulder and a torn labrum.
The turning point for the Twins? There were several.
Mauer, of course, was the peopleÂ’s choice behind the net. Turning 23, and really in only his second full season, Mauer started hitting first. His average rose, and he hit the ball to all parts of the field. By the time the rest of the Twins started to hit with any regularity, Mauer was almost up to .400, and being rightly called the best hitter in baseball.
A young left-hander named Francisco Lariano emerged, and, typically, was not allowed to pitch other than in middle relief by cautious, formula-following manager Ron Gardenhire. When he finally got to start, he was the star of the staff, and may have inspired SantanaÂ’s game to rise a notch.
Bringing up players cut at training camp has to be a difficult task, and there was no reason to believe that Nick Punto could do anything much at third, or that Jason Bartlett was ready to step in at short. They not only played well, they made brilliant, game-saving plays every game. With Luis Castillo sharp at second, and Morneau becoming ever-better at first, the infield suddenly was solidified.
Hunter, after missing some action when he cracked his ankle on one of his wall-climbing attempts in center field, didn’t help much in the first half. But Hunter’s all-consuming personality and that giant smile may have been the key to the camaraderie that engulfed the Twins. The word “chemistry†is overused in sports, but it was never more valid than when the Twins became a team where the whole was far better than the sum of its parts.
As Stewart went out, Hunter was hurt, and Radke tried to find his problem, a pitching staff that started out with the hope of Santana-Radke-Silva, became a starting rotation where Boof Bonser, Matt Garza, Scott Baker, and reliever Pat Neshek stepped in. A bullpen staff led by closer Joe Nathan set new standards for effectiveness.
About that time, Morneau started hitting the ball. Hard. And out of the park. He surged to become the first player in the current era to hit 30 home runs for the Twins. With Mauer never slowing down, the two M-and-M boys led the way. Mauer with his classic swing, and Morneau, with his suddenly emerging power swing. Between them, Cuddyer, who had become an exceptional force with his strong right arm in right field, came through with clutch hits and key RBIs.
A pivot point in the Twins rise was when they closed in on the White Sox, for second, and their manager, Ozzie Guillen, made the unheard of comment: “I like my team, but I really like that team over there.†He named the obvious stars, but he also liked the little guys – the Punto, Bartlett types – and called them piranhas. That became another watchword for the Twins. If the big sharks don’t get you, the piranhas will. It seemed that the more players went down, the more persistent and resilient the Twins became. Bartlett, batting ninth in the lineup, was hitting nearly .320, and day after day, the Twins would fabricate a way to win.
Still, the Detroit Tigers who had been doormats for decades, showed no signs of faltering. For about six weeks, it seemed the Twins would keep winning, but fail to close the gap with the leaders. But they persevered, and they overtook the White Sox. Then, in the final month, Detroit started to stumble. Impossible as it seemed, the Twins closed in.
Mauer, sometimes appearing weary, got a few days off, and Morneau, once he got to 33 homers, quit hitting homers. Just about then, Torii Hunter caught fire. Running and leaping with his usual abandon to make catches in the outfield, Hunter also started hitting the ball into the seats. He, too, reached the 30 plateau for home runs, and if you broke down the last month, he probably was the Twins best clutch hitter in that stretch.
None of that prepared us for the magnificent finish. The Twins had tied the Tigers for first place, and the final three-game series for both teams, in their respective home ballparks, would decide the title. Against the tough White Sox, the Twins struggled, and lost a game. Then another. Detroit, playing last place Kansas City at home, blew a 5-0 lead and lost, then made a spirited comeback in the second game, but lost again.
The drama of the season finale was actually threefold. The Twins would either finish second, or tied for first – which would equal second – or somehow win the crown. Mauer, batting .347, had none other than the Yankees Derek Jeter on his tail, at .346. The final games started, all around the country. Jeter got a hit in his first at-bat, Mauer struck out. That left the two tied for first in batting.
Silva, meanwhile, pitched his best game in two months and the Twins took command against the White Sox. In MauerÂ’s second at-bat, he drilled a double to left. Word came that Jeter was by then 1-for-3. The mood was slightly subdued, because Detroit was hammering Kansas City, so the title seemed out of the question. Kansas City got a couple runs, so at least it wouldnÂ’t be 7-0 in Detroit, and it closed to 7-4 on the scoreboard at the Metrodome.
Mauer stepped in for his third at-bat. The count was 1-and-1, when suddenly an enormous roar filled the Dome. Mauer, startled, stepped out, refocused, and stepped back in. What had happened was the crowd saw the scoreboard change to show that somehow, some way, Kansas City had taken an 8-7 lead in the top of the eight at Detroit. In the next instant, Mauer drilled another hit to left, making him 2-for-3, and cinching the batting title. Jeter was 1-for-5.
The best was yet to come, of course. The Tigers tied the KC game 8-8, and after winning 5-1, the Twins celebrated, then headed for the clubhouse. But they returned, because the big screen in the Metrodome started to show the remainder of the Detroit-Kansas City game. About 35,000 of the crowd of 45,000 stayed to watch. The Twins returned to their dugout, and their wives and kids sat in the visiting dugout. Hunter led the cheers, “LetÂ’s go, RoyalsÂ…Ââ€
You donÂ’t see scenes like that in pro sports these days. And when Kansas City rallied to beat Tigers 10-8 in 12 innings, the celebration was incredible in the Metrodome.
The euphoria was partly due to the seeming obsession with winning the title and thus avoiding a first-round playoff match with the Yankees. By winning, the Twins would duck the Yankees, and play Oakland, instead. The Tigers, as the wild card, would face the Yanks. At the time, my feeling was “Be careful what you wish for.†With Yankee ace Randy Johnson a questionable performer in the first round best-of-five, and the possibility of facing the Yankees with Johnson in the best-of-seven league final round, it seemed facing the Yankees first might be preferable.
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The rest, as they say, is history. Santana, who had not been as sharp in the last month as earlier in the season, did not shut out the Athletics, who won 3-2. The Athletics won Game 2 5-2 in the Metrodome, and the columnists and talk show ravers were united in ripping Torii Hunter for missing a diving catch that turned into a game-changing inside-the-park home run. Going out to Oakland, the Twins continued to not hit very well, and gave Radke one last start. It was a close game, but the Twins didnÂ’t hit, and they made three errors, their bullpen lost its invincibility, and their season was over.
The faltering Tigers, meanwhile, went from being bombed in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium to whip the Yankees in the next three games. So Detroit, rising from a five-game losing streak at the worst possible time, advanced to face Oakland, while the Yankees and the Twins went home.
The most disturbing thing of the playoffs is the continued criticism of Torii Hunter, who is perhaps the gameÂ’s best center fielder. Game after game, Hunter makes ESPNÂ’s list with spectacular catches in center, either going up and over the fences to rob home runs, or diving to spear would-be hits in front of him. For those who didnÂ’t see the play live, when it appeared on Sports Center you thought that here was another fabulous catch by Hunter. It was a shock to see that the ball somehow sliced just away from his diving glove, missing it by maybe two inches and skipping to the wall as Hunter sprawled on the grass.
Various critics have said the move was ill-conceived, bad judgment, a terrible error, that he missed it by five feet(!), and it ruined the series, if not the whole season, and possibly was at the root of terrorism, global warming and world hunger. Enough, already. The guys with the press passes are going to suggest that they know how to play that slicing line drive better than Hunter.
In reality, even a three-game sweep at the hands of Oakland canÂ’t take away the magnificent and totally captivating season the Twins had in 2006. And when it comes to deciding whether to dive for a ball or not, IÂ’ll take Torii Hunter, any day, over the second-guessers in the press box.
Just once it would be nice to read, or hear, that the Twins had a magical season, an incredible finish, and then just flat got beat by an Oakland team that was at the top of its game. Sometimes, no matter how much skill and magic youÂ’ve got, you just happen to get beat. ThatÂ’s why they play the game.
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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