McGregor, Johnson lead Bulldogs out of cellar

There will be the usual “Senior Night” at WCHA home sites for this weekend’s regular-season finales, and when UMD plays host to Wisconsin, it will be an emotional moment for Bryan McGregor, Jeff McFarland, Ryan Geris, and Josh Johnson. If the WCHA wanted to advertise the benefits of completing four years of college hockey, the perfect method would be a poster of that Bulldog quartet.

McGregor would have to be front and center in any such array, because he has the most compelling story of the four. He came to the University of Minnesota-Duluth as a highly-sought, 112-point scorer for the Vernon Vipers, champions of the junior British Columbia Hockey League. Then he sat and waited, played a little, sat some more, and waited, but he understood, as a freshman on a veteran team. He admits he spent three restless years failing to get much chance, and at one point had packed up to leave for a waiting position in the Junior A Ontario Hockey League. But he decided to stay, even though he scored only 9 goals-12 assists—21 points – total, through three miserable seasons.

As a senior, there was little indication things would be different, but he was different. But he has worked his way to a major-impact senior year. He played hard and effectively to move from the third line, to the second, and has finally become a solid resident on the first line, a solid 6-foot, 210-pounder who moved from center to right wing with sophomores Mason Raymond on the left, and MacGregor Sharp at center.

“Coach (Scott) Sandelin told me to quit thinking about hockey, to just go home and work someplace, and don’t even think about hockey until I came back to school,” said McGregor. “I went back home to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and worked construction, and I came back with a fresh perspective – a clean slate. I knew I had to come out of the gate well, too, but I had 10 breakaways in the first eight games and didn’t score. I’ve probably had 65 breakaways this season, and I should have about 50 goals.”

McFarland, another hard-working senior who has been a solid team guy but without much to show for it, and Geris, a defenseman who was granted a final year of eligibility after two injury-plagued seasons, also are hard-luck stories. So is Johnson, a goaltending star at Cloquet-Esko-Carlton High School, who won the Frank Brimsek Award as the stateÂ’s best goalie with a 1.67 goals-against average, and eight shutouts en route to a state tournament trip. He had one solid year of junior hockey, but had never started more than four consecutive games during his first three seasons. He slid to a career-low 3-4 record with a 4.19 goals-against and .848 save percentage last season, as a junior.

After Johnson, Nate Ziegelmann, and Alex Stalock each played a period of the 8-1 preseason romp over Lakehead, freshman Stalock was granted the position, starting the next10 straight games. Johnson started only one of 17 games. When Sandelin decided to try alternating him with Stalock, he suffered a bad cut on his hand when teammate Andrew Carroll jumped over the boards while Johnson was manning the gate on the bench, and was set back another three weeks. He finally got into an alternating spot during Christmas break. In January, Johnson beat Michigan Tech, Colorado College, Northern Michigan, and took over after also beating Denver to open February. He has started a career-high five straight games, and has gone 4-1-1, and 6-2-1, with a loss and tie at North Dakota and the other loss against St. Cloud State.

For the year, Johnson goes into the Wisconsin series with a 7-4-1 season record – equaling half of his total victories through three seasons (14-12-2) – and has a 2.51 goals-against average and has brought his save percentage steadily upward to .901. He said he couldn’t remember where he was playing, possibly Cloque-Esko-Carlton High School, the last time he started five straight games, but in the five he has a 3-1-1 slate and a 2.00 goals-against mark.

If JohnsonÂ’s patience has been a virtue, McGregor also is nearing the end of his college days, but he seems to be just beginning to realize the potential that had failed to materialize through three seasons of part-time work, which could make him a plum as a free-agent for some discerning NHL team.

McGregor has 13-11—24 statistics this season, exceeding the 21 points he totaled in his first three years. Raymond, the team’s most explosive scoring threat, has 14-29—43, and has been involved in 45.3 percent of all of UMD’s goals this season. McGregor has worked well with him, and scored seven of his season’s goals in a six-game surge that also has coincided with UMD’s late-season upswing. The last goal in McGregor’s run was last weekend in the 3-2 victory over Alaska-Anchorage, which also was the sixth time he had scored UMD’s first goal in a game, before he failed to score in the 5-0 second game. The sweep lifted UMD out of 10th place, dropping the slumping Seawolves to last, with their WCHA season completed.

“This was the first time I’d ever been on a team that was in last place, and it doesn’t feel too good,” said McGregor, of the long, torturous struggle. “Nobody respects you, around the league or even among our own fans. But you have to go through adverse times. If you never faced it, you won’t know how to deal with it.”

McGregor, more than anyone, knows how to deal with adversity. Back home in Niagara Falls, his parents supported him fully, as did his grandparents, who lived up the street. His grandmother backed him a chocolate cake every time he scored a hat trick in youth hockey. Then he had the chance to play for Cowichan Valley in the British Columbia junior league. He lived with former NHLer Doug Bodger, who taught him a lot through example, and by watching every hockey game and old videos on a 70-inch television set.
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Cowichan Valley acquired a flashy scorer named T.J. Caig and a couple of other players for the stretch run, and a week later, one of them made a serious impression on McGregor. “I was skating a drill in practice,” McGregor recalled, “and this new guy caught me with an elbow and drove it right into my face. It broke my jaw, and I landed face-first. It pretty much shattered my face. The coach rushed me to the hospital, and they had to do a lot of surgery, and put metal in my jaw, and wire my mouth shut.”

Nobody expected him back, but he returned after six months at home, joining Cowichan Valley for a game in Nanaimo. “I was skating out for my first shift, and a guy from their team punched me right in the face,” McGregor said.

He recovered again, and played three weeks with Caig, who was a scoring machine who later was recruited to UMD. “He was my idol,” said McGregor. “But I was doing well. I scored three goals and three assists one night, and after the game, our coach told me I had been traded to Vernon. I couldn’t believe it. But I got a goal on my first shift, got 2-2 in the game, and we went on to win the BCHL championship.”

McGregor scored 49-46–95 for Vernon in 61 regular season games, and added 10-7–17 during an undefeated run through 12 playoff games. That’s a 59-53–112 season in 73 games. So coming to UMD, McGregor had high hopes and unlimited potential.

Instead, he met only frustration when he couldnÂ’t crack the lineup, and more when he’d get in, play well, then be a healthy scratch the next game. That 2003-04 season also was an adjustment off the ice.

“I was rooming with Jesse Unklesbay,” McGregor recalled. “He was 26, and I was 18 — eight years older than I was. WeÂ’d be home at night, and heÂ’d be talking to his fiancé on the phone, and IÂ’m watching cartoons.”

A friendly, personable sort, McGregor adjusted, but he couldnÂ’t adjust to not playing regularly, and he wondered if he had made the right choice by going to UMD. At one point, he was informed that he had a guaranteed spot to play with Peterborough in the prestigious Ontario Hockey League. He was set up with a family to live with, and even told who he would play with on a line.

“I almost left,” he said. “I had my car all packed, and I was ready to go.”

But he stayed, and fought through the frustration. This season, despite the teamÂ’s struggles, has made up for the first three years. And McGregor knows that for him and his fellow seniors, as well as for the whole UMD program, there is still room for more before this season officially ends.

Wisconsin, of course, is the defending NCAA champion, and travels to Duluth needing to beat UMD to survive the hectic middle-of-the-pack battle where the fifth and final home-ice spot for the playoffs is still up for grabs. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, need to keep building on the momentum of their 4-2-1 run in order to have any chance of springing a playoff upset. It would take an opening-round series upset to reach the WCHA Final Five, then three straight victories there to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA.

ThatÂ’s pretty far-fetched. But after what Bryan McGregor has been through, anything is possible. Besides, he scored two goals in three straight games in the last month, but he hasnÂ’t gotten a hat trick yet in a college game. And back in Niagara Falls, his parents and grandparents follow every game Bryan plays. And grandma still sets a chocolate cake mix on the table before every game, just in case.

Minnesota football teams could learn from Boise State

The Christmas-New Year’s holiday season always belongs to football. Even if you hated football, you wouldn’t be able to avoid the almost-daily dosage of college bowl games and NFL season-ending games. This year, however, three different games told a unique story about all the best that can happen in football, as well as the worst – particularly in Minnesota.

First, the University of Minnesota played Texas Tech in Phoenix in something called the Insight Bowl. Nobody knew how prophetic that name was, but it provided amazing insight into the once-Golden Gophers, who have stumbled through a decade of mediocrity under coach Glen Mason.

By parlaying a cluster of patsy nonconference foes, an average Big Ten record of 3-5, and an embarrassing run of nondescript bowl appearances kept alive, for some reason, for teams that reach the .500 level of mediocrity. In 10 years, a record of about .500 overall might sound decent to those for whom mediocrity is a lofty standard, but it includes the 32-48 mark in a Big Ten Conference that more often than not was a “Big Two or Three” in national stature.

I was at a Dodge Classic hockey tournament game in which No. 1 ranked Minnesota was beating Alabama-Huntsville 3-1 despite not having five regulars, who were playing for the U.S. World Junior tournament team. They flashed the Insight Bowl score when it was 7-0, and got a cheer. Then 14-0, 21-0, and 28-0, and the cheers actually lessened, as the fans realized Texas Tech must be a cupcake. When I left Mariucci Arena, it was 38-7 in the second half.

As I walked to my car, I noticed some activity next door, in Ridder Arena. The championship game of the girls high school hockey Schwan Cup tournament was still going on, so I went in and watched the whole third period as Benilde-St. MargaretÂ’s finished a 6-2 victory over Blake for the title.

Then I went to my car, and when I clicked on the radio, the first thing I heard was David Mona, a former classmate of mine who went from journalist to the dark side — a money-making PR career — and became an enthusiastic booster-commentator on WCCO radio Gopher football broadcasts. Wondering by how much the Gophers had won, the first thing I heard Mona say was: “With such an explosive offense, Texas Tech is not the kind of team you want to face in overtime.”

What? Overtime? Sure enough, the Gophers had blown a 38-7 lead and was tied 38-38 on a 52-yard field goal with two seconds to go. As I listened in amazement, Minnesota came up with only a field goal in overtime, then Texas Tech got its turn and sliced through the Gopher defense for a touchdown and a 44-41 victory. All I could think of was my sarcastic assessment that if the Gophers had any class, they would have turned down the chance to go to the Insight Bowl. If they had, Glen Mason would still have his job.

Instead, Joel Maturi, the personable athletic director who has drawn wrath from Twin Cities columnists for being a nice guy, fired Mason after being pressured into giving him a big extension a year ago. The total team collapse against Texas Tech wasn’t the reason, so much as it was the final straw that broke the camel’s back. The camel itself was Mason’s creation. And so were all those straws on its back, built from a decade of similar collapses, leading up to this record Division I nationally televised embarrassment.

Game 2 was the Minnesota Vikings season finale against the St. Louis Rams, although you could go back to the next-to-last game against the Green Bay Packers just as well. The Vikings had a horrible second half of the season, and the fans booed quarterback Brad Johnson for faltering and clamored for quick-footed rookie Tarvaris Jackson to take over. First-year coach Brad Childress, who chose to be a micro-managing play-caller with an extremely conservative and rigid game plan.

When Johnson, always a loyal soldier, kept quiet and tried to make the best of executing game schemes that gave him little latitude for creativity. He would look sharp, and the offense looked efficient, for the first drive, and maybe the second and third possessions, and then opposing defenses made simple adjustments that led to frequent creaming of the quarterback, and clogging the elementary passing routes for cinch interceptions.

At the end, Childress benched Johnson for being the loyal soldier, and put in Jackson, a rookie who seems to have a rocket arm, and Michael Vick-like feet to make a formidable scrambling threat. But alas, given only the same tightly structured game plan, Jackson could only drop back two or three, or five, steps, and pass. He didnÂ’t scramble, and in the end, he couldnÂ’t come up with any plays that were even up to Brad JohnsonÂ’s standards with that offensive structure. In his first start, Jackson led the Vikings to three first downs, a franchise record low, and the only points Minnesota got came on an interception return.

In the dismal finish, against the Rams, the Vikings were a study in ineptitude. After it was over, Childress, to his credit, announced that next year he would have to do a better job of calling plays, in hopes of scoring more. In my mind, I thought back to when my two sons were youngsters, and my wife and I would round up a couple of their friends in the neighborhood, plus the few parents who were willing, and we would arrange touch football games. I remember mapping out plays that created voids by misdirection, then working pass plays that almost always worked.

I also recalled the first Vikings teams, where quarterback Fran Tarkenton would literally crouch down on the dirt-infield portion of the Met Stadium field and diagram an improvisational play in the dirt. They almost always worked. I got so I would rather watch Tarkenton – given the freedom of Bud Grant’s coaching – quarterback a team that might lose rather than somebody else in a carefully patterned victory.

Game 3 snapped me out of those memories. Game 3 was the Fiesta Bowl, in which a Boise State team that was as unheralded as it was undefeated faced ominous power Oklahoma. It seemed almost a condescending token to allow Boise State in to play with the big boys, but that soon became a needless condescension, as the Broncos pounded Oklahoma to build a startling lead. Oklahoma, of course, is far from a pretender, and came stalking back, making up the deficit with cold precision. In the closing minutes, the Sooners caught up, scored the equalizing touchdown, and got the tying two-point conversion on their third try, with penalties saving each team once. Then they kicked off.

On Boise State’s first down, a Sooner safety intercepted Jared Zabransky’s sideline pass and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown. The kick put Oklahoma ahead 35-28 with barely a minute to play. Zabransky brought the Broncos to midfield, but with fourth and 17, and 14 seconds to play, it looked like Cinderella’s coach was already morphing into a pumpkin. But a brilliantly creative version of the “hook and ladder” play, with a 15-yard pass to a receiver who was immediately converged upon by defenders, who were caught completely off-guard by a little lateral to a speeding Jerard Rabb, who went the rest of the way and dived into the end zone for a touchdown with 0:07 left. The kick made it 35-all, and overtime ensued.

Oklahoma got the ball first, and on first down at the 25, Adrian Peterson sprinted around left end and went all the way for a sudden touchdown. The placekick made it 42-35 for Oklahoma. Again, pumpkin time, but maybe thatÂ’s why Boise State wears so much orange.

On their turn with the ball, the Broncos advanced, but in smaller bits. Since they had spent their trick play, it seemed that only a big but programmable play could remain when it was fourth and two, but when they lined up, suddenly Zabransky took off, in motion to the left. Have you ever seen a quarterback go in motion? Neither have I. Receiver Vinny Perretta took the snap, and while a pass to the roaming quarterback seemed likely, Instead, Perretta passed to his right, to tight end Derek Schouman, for a touchdown that cut it to 42-41.

Enough with trying for the equalizer. First year Boise State coach Chris Petersen – isn’t that a great, Minnesota-sounding name? – went for two. In a sensational bit of gamesmanship, the Broncos lined up with three receivers right. Oklahoma called time out. Petersen knew Oklahoma does some of its best scholastic studying when it comes to opposing videotapes, and he knew that the Sooners braintrust had scouted the tapes so well they recognized the formation as one from which Boise State had won a game on a screen pass to the three-receiver set.

Zabransky took the snap and dropped back a step. He brought the ball up with both hands to pass, then as he came up with his right hand and made his best throwing motion, complete with a full snap of his right wrist, everybody looked to the right end zone. Everybody but star running back Ian Johnson, who was running hard from right to left behind Zabransky. ZabranskyÂ’s fake pass was so convincing nobody realized he was holding the ball behind his back with his left hand while he flipped his right wrist, and by the time the fake was executed, Johnson had already taken the ball out of ZabranskyÂ’s hand and was dashing untouched into the left corner of the end zone. Not to be overlooked was that the left side of the Boise State line all had moved left, and sealed off any unfooled Sooner defenders who considered reacting to the sleight-of-hand.

To have such trick plays, and to have them so well-rehearsed that everybody on the field acted out their parts, is truly impressive. Imagine how much fun it must be even to practice in such a setting.

The two-point conversion gave Boise State a 43-42 victory, and a perfect 13-0 record. Afterward, Johnson successfully proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on live national television. She said yes. If she hadnÂ’t, she probably would have been swarmed by the entire Boise State cheering section.

Less noticed was the post-game interview with coach Petersen. (Did I mention he had a Minnesota-sounding name, and that he was in his first year as head coach? Do coaches lose their enthusiasm and creativeness after a few years?) In the interview, Petersen give credit to his star players, but when asked about the trick plays that won the game, he promptly said that his two backup quarterbacks had worked on those plays and convinced him to go for them at the critical turning points.

In a sport where coaches blame their players for mistakes, even when they might be due to coaching shortcomings, here was a coach willing to duck the easy credit for two or three of the greatest play calls of this or any season, and instead give the credit to his two backup quarterbacks.

Maybe Ohio State will win the championship game and stay No. 1. If Florida beats the Buckeyes, Southern Cal, which throttled Michigan, would be the likely No. 1 if Florida isnÂ’t. But it doesnÂ’t matter. Boise State is my No. 1 team.

The imaginative, creative offense obviously kept the Broncos stimulated and fired up enough to win the game, and kept players like Zabransky determined to finish off the colossal upset by being unafraid to make a mistake, and knowing he wouldnÂ’t hear any blame for the huge mistake he did make.

It made you wonder if now-ex-Gopher coach Glen Mason had watched that game. And it made you hope that current Vikings coach Brad Childress had not only watched it, but taken copious notes.

Buckeyes, UMD women split series of role reversal

Proof of parity in the Women’s WCHA race — to say nothing of a classic role-reversal — this one was a classic.

Ohio State travels to Duluth to face the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s perennial women’s hockey power – a familiar scene during the eight-year history of the two programs. That’s where things became unfamiliar.

A quiz is in order: 1. Which of the two teams extends its nation’s-best unbeaten streak to 10 games (9-0-1) by cruising to a 3-0 shutout victory in the first game? 2. Which team wins the second game to snap out of a nine-game (1-7-1) slump, in which it scored only one goal in the four most recent games – all losses?

Observers of the first eight years of the Women’s WCHA would probably say UMD is the answer to question 1, because the Bulldogs have routinely gone on hot streaks, and had lost only two of 34 previous games against Ohio State. Ohio State might figure to be the logical answer to question 2, because the Buckeyes have never had a winning streak of the proportions needed to qualify for question 1, while UMD had never experienced such a prolonged slump.

The logical answers would be: wrong, and wrong, Zamboni-breath!

It is the Ohio State Buckeyes who go into the holiday break as the hottest team in the country, having stretched their nation’s longest unbeaten streak on Erika VanderveerÂ’s 3-0 shutout in the first game. Even though their program-record unbeaten run came to an end in the second game at Duluth, the Buckeyes are well beyond the five-game losing streak that started the season 2-5, and have now risen to 7-6-1 in the WCHA and 10-7-1 overall.

Strong goaltending and defensive play, and balanced scoring all came together for coach Jackie Barto, whose Buckeyes started the 9-0-1 streak with a 2-1 victory over Minnesota, and kept stretching it through the 3-0 victory at Duluth. Defenseman Tessa Bonhomme scored in the opening minute of both the first and second periods, and team scoring leader Erin Keys, who assisted on the first two goals, made it 3-0 with her 11th goal, only five minutes into the second for the 3-0 triumph.

And it is the UMD Bulldogs who stumbled through a school record slump that reached its lowest point when they were shut out by Vanderveer. Not only were the Dogs blanked, it happened despite 11 power plays that were a tribute to the Buckeye penalty killers, and a study in ineptitude for a Bulldog team that opened the season 8-0 in the WCHA, but are now 10-5-1 in the league and 10-7-1 overall.

Four straight losses compare to UMD losing as many as three in a row twice in its history – last year, and in their first season of 1999-2000. Only one other winless streak went as long as four games, and it also came in that first season, with a tie and three losses while playing the nation’s 1-2 teams, New Hampshire and Minnesota, back to back.

Perhaps it was predictable that when OSU’s unbeaten streak ended, and UMD’s slump was snapped, it would be of seismic proportions – and it was, as Noemie Marin scored three goals and Tawni Mattila two as UMD went 6-12 on power plays and romped 9-1 by hurling 50 shots at Vanderveer. But even that couldn’t dampen the spirit of the Buckeyes and coach Barto.

“They came out hard, and played with purpose, on a mission,” said Barto. “Give Duluth credit.”

It was considerably easier to be gracious in defeat than in past years, when losses to UMD were pretty consistent, now that the Buckeyes have cracked the nation’s top 10, and have moved up impressively enough to stretch the WCHA’s “top three” to a “top four” with Wisconsin, Minnesota and UMD.

This time, Barto set some small objectives for little victories in the third period, and after being outshot 45-17 through two periods and eventually trailing 8-0, Katie MahoneyÂ’s goal broke Kim MartinÂ’s shutout bid and Ohio State outshot the Bulldogs 17-5 in the third period.

Barto had to be upset at referee Shawn Thiele, who sent a constant stream of Buckeyes to the penalty box in both games, with 17 infractions for 45 minutes in the first game – 2:47 of it spent facing 5-on-3 power plays — and 15 for 38 minutes in the second – outrageous numbers for a team that entered the weekend in the nationÂ’s lowest percentile of being penalized. That resulted in 23 power plays for UMD in the two games, to 10 for Ohio State. But Barto held her cool.

“The refs do the best they can, and we try to do the best we can,” said Barto, in a wonderfully subtle evaluation.

Always organized, Barto sets goals for her teams, but to suggest that is the reason for OSUÂ’s record surge is because of those goals is oversimplifying things.

“Within games, I’ll set some goals, and I set some pretty high goals for the season before we started,” said Barto. “One was to challenge the top teams in the WCHA, and another was to make the NCAAs.

“I think the strength of our team is that we’ve had outstanding goaltending, and good team defense, and everyone has been contributing,” said Barto. “Keys has been a big contributor on offense, and leads us in goals and assists, but during our streak, I think we found that the girls play hard for each other, and everybody works to do the little things that lead to success.”

Keys, who played at Cretin-Derham Hall high school in St. Paul, has emerged as a strong scorer this season and leads the team with 11-13—24. She plays right wing with Peckles at center, and Jody Heywood at left wing on an all-junior line. But other than second line sophomores Morgan Marziali, who has 7 goals, and Hayley Klassen, who has 5, no other forward has more than four goals.
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The scoring of the defense has been a real strength. Senior Amber Bowman (5-17—22) and Bonhomme (9-11—20), a junior, form a formidable first tandem on defense that no other team in the country can match, and junior Lisa Chesson (5-11—16) is close behind.

“Tessa Bonhomme, Amber Bowman, and Lisa Chesson are three of the top defensemen in the league, and they’re all among our top scorers,” said Barto.

Vanderveer, a senior from Bradford, Ontario, is the pillar of strength in goal who has been the beneficiary of the teamÂ’s uplifted play this season. She had given up just nine goals in the 9-0-1 streak, and for the whole season she stood 10-2-1 with a 1.31 goals-against and a .954 save percentage, and she made 41 saves in the second game, and the nine goals only raised her goals-against average to 1.86, and lowered her save percentage to .938.

“I don’t think we helped her much in that one,” said Barto. “Erika is a competitor, and this won’t bother her.”

As for the slowly evolving parity within the WCHA, Wisconsin, Minnesota and UMD are still there, but Ohio State is leading the way for the rest of the WCHA, where Minnesota State-Mankato, St. Cloud State, and Bemidji State have improved considerably, and North Dakota is rebuilding.

“I don’t think anyone can take a night off any more in our league,” said Barto. “We played very well and it was an exciting stretch during our streak, but now we’ll have to see what happens as we get closer to the league playoffs and the NCAAs.”

Those objectives are still out there, and another streak can wait until after the holidays.

Goepfert, Kronick exorcise bad luck for Huskies sweep

OK, letÂ’s state the facts: St. Cloud State goaltender Bobby Goepfert is not superstitious, and does not believe in ritualistic concepts of guidance, and Dan Kronick, his teammate, has no overwhelming desire for revenge. Got that?

Too bad, but Goepfert and Kronick have no flair for melodrama, or they could have easily invoked superstition, black magic, and revenge as the primary reasons they led the Huskies to a 4-0, 4-2 sweep at Minnesota-Duluth, a sweep that extended their winning streak to four, their unbeaten streak to seven (4-0-3), and elevated them to WCHA contention at 4-3-3.

Goepfert hasnÂ’t converted to superstitions, but if thereÂ’s a way to make peace with any lucky charms that might be hanging aroundÂ…why not go for it? Goepfert, a senior, could have just consulted with Kronick, a junior winger, who might have assured him that both of them seem to thrive when they face Minnesota-Duluth. The Huskies have now beaten the Bulldogs five straight times, including the WCHA Final Five playoffs last spring.

Sure enough, when St. Cloud State swept 4-0, 4-2 victories in Duluth, Goepfert got his first season shutout and made 31 saves each night – 2 goals-allowed and 62 saves – and Kronick, a former UMD skater, won offensive player of the week honors in the WCHA by scoring the first goal in both games and adding two assists for the weekend.

Two weeks earlier, Goepfert described his play in a 5-5 tie at Minnesota as being typical of his season, poor statistical numbers but key saves when it mattered. At that time, Goepfert somewhat sheepishly admitted that the only thing he had done to incur bad luck was breaking a mirror before the season started. “It was a full body mirror, and it was behind a door,” Goepfert explained. “I go to open the door, and the mirror fell. It happened in early September.”

That issue came into clearer focus in Duluth, when Goepfert, who had criticized himself for not being his sharpest, was precisely that with a 31-save shutout and a 4-0 victory in the first game. Kronick, incidentally, scored the first – and game-winning – goal.

“We were good, and Bobby was REALLY good,” said coach Bob Motzko.
Goepfert pointed out that he’s looking for team victories, rather than being concerned about shutouts or statistics. “I’m not really a stat guy, and I don’t care about shutouts,” he said. “But my numbers weren’t good. I really don’t know what changed, because I feel the same.”

At that moment, Goepfert, who is from the Long Island town of Kings Park, N.Y., and played junior hockey at Cedar Rapids in the USHL, recalled the previous discussion about the broken mirror. “I fixed the mirror, actually,” he said, reluctantly explaining the whole story. “Somebody told me if you break a mirror, it’s seven years of bad luck. I thought, ‘Seven years is a long time.’ ”

Among the folksy antidotes to the bad luck of breaking a mirror is to bury the pieces, preferably under a full moon. So, after talking about it following the 5-5 tie at Minnesota, Goepfert put it all together – playing well, giving up five goals, and having saved the broken mirror – as the Huskies rode the bus back home to St. Cloud for the second game of the series, Goepfert decided to take action. Just in case, you understand…

“It was after the Minnesota game, sometime after midnight,” Goepfert said. “The ground was good and hard, and there’s a place in my back yard with an old frozen fountain in it. I dug a hole and buried it there. But I’m not really all that superstitious, and I don’t want to come off like that.”

The only things that have come off since then are the numbers in Goepfert’s goals-against column. He made 30 saves in a 7-2 victory over Clarkson, then added 62 more saves – 31 each game – while allowing two goals in two games at Duluth. Three goals, 92 saves, not bad. His new goals-against average is 2.64, and his save percentage is .913.

KronickÂ’s story is completely different. He didnÂ’t have any all-WCHA history to live up to. In fact, he was first recruited to UMD, but didnÂ’t get much chance to play — 15 games, no goals. So Kronick, who is from the Saint Paul suburb of Inver Grove Heights, transferred to St. Cloud State. Last season, he made an impact on Huskies foes with his 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame, but he didnÂ’t score much. Except, that is, when St. Cloud State gave him the chance to face UMD, his former team.

The Huskies also swept the Bulldogs in that series in St. Cloud last season, and Kronick emerged with his best weekend, scoring a hat trick and assisting on a fourth goal in the first game, then scoring another goal in the rematch, to win WCHA player of the week honors. St. Cloud later ended UMDÂ’s playoff bid with a 5-1 victory at the league Final Five opening game. Kronick didnÂ’t score in that one, but he did get an assist on Matt HartmanÂ’s game-winning goal in the 8-7 overtime thriller against Minnesota.

Not that any of that history should have figured into this yearÂ’s series in Duluth. Or should it?

Kronick flashed past the left edge of the goal like a phantom to score the first goal in the Friday game, after the teams had battled scorelessly through the first period and 15:07 of the second, before Lasch jammed a pass across the slot and Kronick hammered it in on a power play before freshman goaltender Alex Stalock could get across to cover. A minute later, Nate Dey was amazingly wide open at the crease to score the first of his two goals on a pass from Austrian freshman Andreas Nodl to make it 2-0.

Midway through the third period, Goepfert made a spectacular save, and moments later Dey was racing to the other end to score again, and the Huskies finished it with Matt HartmanÂ’s empty-net goal.

Dey is supposed to score, replacing Jack Swanson at center between WCHA-leading scorer Nodl and high-scoring junior Andrew Gordon on the Huskies first line. Swanson, who had scored in all but one St. Cloud State game, missed the UMD series with a “lower body” injury suffered in the weight room, according to Motzko. The second line played up to first-line standards with Nate Raduns playing between Kronick and flashy freshman Ryan Lasch.

The top two units clicked in the second game, with the second line scoring three of the four goals, with Lasch scoring twice, including an empty-netter, and Kronick and Nodl getting the others. Again, it was Kronick who scored the gameÂ’s opening goal, breaking a scoreless tie at 4:22 of the second period, then on the lineÂ’s next shift he pounced on a turnover on the right side of the goal and knocked the puck across the crease where Lasch converted for a 2-0 lead.

This time UMD battled back, thanks to the first college goal by little-used freshman Mitch Ryan, from the Duluth suburb of Cloquet. After a hard-working shift, the puck popped loose just inside the blue line. Ryan whirled and fired, drilling a high, screened, 50-foot laser into the upper left corner.

“There was a quick turnover, and the shot went through somebody’s legs before it went over my right shoulder,” said Goepfert. “I hate giving up a guy’s first goal, because you’ve got to stop and dig the puck out for him.”

Nodl, the Huskies top goal-scorer, clicked for a power-play goal to make it 3-1 in the third, but Jeff McFarland scored for UMD with a quick wrist shot midway through the period to cut it to 3-2. No matter, Lasch – from Kronick – got an empty-net goal with 1:04 remaining to clinch the 4-2 victory. Nodl leads all WCHA scorers with 7-11—18, while Lasch (7-9—16), Dey (4-12—16) and Andrew Gordon (4-12—16) are close behind. In league scoring, the Huskies prized freshmen Nodl (7-8—15) and Lasch (5-7—12) stand 1-2.
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Kronick is suddenly up to 4-4—8, thanks to his 2-2—4 weekend in Duluth, and he now has scored 6-4—10 in four games against his old team. But he acknowledged that his first return to the DECC was a little strange, even though UMD has so many new players in the past two years he doesn’t know many of them. “It was kinda hard walking in here to play,” he said. “And the visitor’s dressing room is terrible. But once I popped the first goal in the first game, I felt better.”

“Last weekend it was Dey’s line’s turn, so maybe this was our week,” said Kronick, who went on to laud Raduns for his strong play, and just as he was about to praise the always-hustling Lasch, he noticed the diminutive, blond-haired freshman had just stepped out of the dressing room.

“And Lasch? He’s OK,” Kronick said. “They say he’s 5-9, but you should say he’s only 5-7.”

Lasch laughed at his linemate’s heckle, knowing which end of the measuring stick he’s at, listed at 5-foot-9 and playing alongside the 6-foot-3 Raduns and 6-foot-4 Kronick, whose presence give him a little extra room to maneuver. “The joke is, I really AM 5-7,” Lasch said.

Motzko paid tribute to UMD, which continues to play well, but has gone winless in seven straight league games, with only a 6-4 nonconference victory at Northern Michigan breaking an 0-6-1 stretch, leaving the Bulldogs 1-7-2 at the bottom of the WCHA. “They’ve got good players, they’ve got size, speed, skill, they’re well-coached, and they’ll get it going,” Motzko said. “They’re just snakebit right now.”

Goepfert sympathized with Stalock, in the UMD goal. “He’s a good goalie, and he kept UMD in it,” said Goepfert. “I met him when he made a visit to Cedar Rapids, where I played in the USHL.”

So, a snakebit team, with a goalie playing well but suffering from bad luck? Maybe someone should ask Stalock if heÂ’s broken any mirrors.

Mankato strategy stuns UMD women for DECC ‘firsts’

When Minnesota State-Mankato claimed a 5-5 tie at Minnesota-Duluth, it was definitely a moral victory for the Mavericks. The next night, Minnesota State-Mankato beat the Bulldogs 5-3, proving that, beneficial as moral victories are, the other kind are so much sweeter.

As a tactician, Mavericks coach Jeff Vizenor varies systems to put his women’s hockey team in the best position for an upcoming opponent. Generally, as the WCHA’s “Big Two” expanded to a “Big Three” with Wisconsin moving up to join programs at Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota, that has meant a cautious, slow-it-down system to confront the perceived advantages of those elite teams.

Against such a plan, UMD had opened the season by sweeping 3-1, 6-1 games at Mankato, and as impressive as the Bulldogs were back in October, Vizenor knew his team hadn’t played well. So after the Mavericks journeyed by bus for the return series a week before Thanksgiving, Vizenor decided it was time for a change. He talked it over with his assistant coaches, and then with the players, and on Friday – the day of the series opener – he used the time of the game-day skate to put his players through a walk-through of a new game-plan on the DECC ice.

“It’s all in the timing,” said Vizenor. “And now was the time to change to something bold. We usually play to slow down Minnesota, UMD and Wisconsin, so this time, we decided to switch to an aggressive ‘2-3’ forecheck, and to have the defensemen pinch down in the offensive zone.

“We talked about it, and then we put it in Friday morning. We knew what we wanted to do, to go-go-go, and make it a track meet.”

UMD had not only swept at Mankato, but also had swept North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Bemidji State to stand 8-0, before losing two close games at Minnesota, and the Bulldogs had allowed only 10 goals all season, best in the WCHA, and they were playing senior goaltender Riitta Schaublin, who had a 0.83 goals-against record and a .964 save percentage. Vizenor admitted he had a few anxious moments, such as glancing up at the scoreboard and noticing the shots were 33-33 at one point in the first game. Totally out of character for the Mavericks at the DECC, but, since they had never gained a single point in that building in the teamsÂ’ histories, it was, as Vizenor said, time.

When it was over, Minnesota State-Mankato had achieved its first road point against the Bulldogs with the impressive 5-5 tie. The tie was most impressive because it was the Bulldogs who had to gain the tie, which they accomplished on Jessica KoizumiÂ’s fourth goal of the game, with 7.6 seconds left in regulation.

But the Mavericks werenÂ’t done. The next night they came back and beat UMD 5-3, for their first victory ever in the DECC ever. The Mavericks are 3-37-3 against UMD overall, but that didnÂ’t matter in the afterglow of the three-point weekend.

Junior winger Lindsay Macy scored two goals in each game, and if she didn’t get offensive player of the week for her pivotal goals in what may prove to be a watershed weekend for the Mavs, it was only because junior goaltender Britni Kehler won defensive player of the week for making 81 saves – 39 Friday and 42 Saturday – in helping hold down the explosive Bulldogs.

Vizenor hesitated when asked if it might have been the biggest weekend in the Mankato program’s history, and he hesitated. “You know, we beat ’em twice down here to start the season three years ago, so that was big,” he said. “But they were missing a few players that time.”

The players got full credit from the coach, who downplayed his strategical gem. In one move, Vizenor reunited center Amanda Stohr with wingers Maggie Fisher and Ashley Young, a move that was far from insignificant. That line made South St. Paul a force in Minnesota high school girls hockey for several years, and when the three decided to go to Mankato together, it seemed a no-brainer that they would stay together. However, Young was injured and missed her whole freshman season.

“This was actually the first weekend we’ve had them together,” said Vizenor.

Macy, who transferred from Wisconsin where she scored 37-37—74 in two seasons, is a junior who skates with center Shera Vis and right wing Kala Buganski on the first line, so the South St. Paul line – including Fisher, who led the Mavericks in scoring as a freshman last season with 16-7—23 – gives the Mavericks two lines with scoring punch.

“Macy was a force both days at Duluth, and she’s so disciplined and smart,” said Vizenor. “And Fisher has such good speed and works so hard. Both of them also made big defensive plays to help us hold the lead Saturday. Britni Kehler also had a great weekend. Every time we really needed a big save, she made one.”
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In the second game, after Macy and Fisher had scored two apiece, the Mavericks put the second game away with third-line center Jodi HelminenÂ’s empty-net goal. And fourth-line center Noelle Needham saw a lot of power-play action and wound up with two goals and an assist for the weekend, which, combined with steady and effective defensive play made it truly a team effort.

The new and more aggressive forechecking system made the Mavericks more forceful on offense at Duluth, it also had a large mental impact. A ‘2-3’ means two forwards attack hard in the offensive zone, while one forward stays back defensively with the two defensemen. Having two forecheckers go hard, and the strong-side defenseman pinch in to attack, it is a very offensive style. But the Mavericks didn’t just play the 2-3.

“It seems like we usually play 5, 7, or 10 minutes of real good hockey, then we have a letdown,” said Vizenor. “We’ve used a 2-3, and a 2-1-2 at other times. This time, after we had some success with our 2-3, I switched a couple times to a 1-2-2 and locked up their wings with our wings for a few minutes. Then I’d go back to the 2-3. It forced us to refocus. I think using the 2-3 and then changing out of it a couple times kept everybody mentally sharp.”

The coach is now curious to see what kind of impact such success can have on the Mavericks. On Thanksgiving weekend, they head for Ohio State for another series, and he is not sure the aggressive 2-3 system will be effective.

“We adjust according to our opponent,” Vizenor said. “Ohio State, for example, has three or four great skating defensemen, so going with two hard forecheckers might not work as well. Our league has gotten so tough, we have to realize that one weekend doesn’t make the season.
“But the best part about our weekend in Duluth was that we competed hard for 60 minutes, both nights. That’s all that matters.”

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• 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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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.