Gophers miss Gambucci-style Hall of Fame dynamics

It was flashback time, when the University of Minnesota lost a 3-1 game to Maine in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame commemorative game at Saint PaulÂ’s Xcel Energy Center. The Gophers lost all four of their centermen from last seasonÂ’s WCHA season champions, and speculation that it may take some time for new scorers to emerge to replace the likes of centers Ryan Potulny, Phil Kessel, and Gino Guyer were substantiated when only freshman Jay Barriball tallied in the game.

Maine had opposed the Golden Gophers on that same rink in the 2002 NCAA championship game, when the Gophers rallied in the closing seconds to tie the game, then won its first national title in 23 years in overtime. But that wasn’t the primary reason for the déjà vu.

The reason became more evident the next day, when the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony had a decided “Golden Oldie” Golden Gopher flavor. Former Minnesota coach Glen Sonmor, now a radio analyst for Minnesota, was co-emcee of the induction luncheon, and Gary Gambucci, one of Sonmor’s former players, was among those being inducted.
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that Gambucci was flying up the ice of old Williams Arena, playing the game at his own particular hyper-speed as another in the long line of Iron Range standouts wearing the big “M.” For one thing, Gambucci still looks much too young to have skated for the Gophers 40 years ago. But that’s when it was.

Sonmor took over Minnesota from the legendary John Mariucci in 1966, right after Gambucci had become one of only three Gopher players ever to lead the team in scoring as a first-year player.

“Gary was an absolute joy to coach,” said Sonmor. “He was a great player, and a great teammate.”

Gambucci grew up in Eveleth before his family moved to Hibbing, where he starred in high school hockey. “Then I got the chance for a scholarship at the University of Minnesota, where I got to play for two legends, John Mariucci and Glen Sonmor. It was the greatest experience of my life.”

Gambucci, a speedy, darting forward, was joined as Hall newcomers by Mike Milbury, former Boston Bruins defenseman who moved from general manager to vice president of the New York Islanders this year. Milbury furthered the college perspective of the weekend, because he grew up in the Boston area and played at Colgate before making it with the Bruins.

The late Milt (Curly) Brink, also from Eveleth, was also honored, and he played st St. MaryÂ’s College in 1930-31.

Yet another collegian, Lane MacDonald, who played at Harvard but had a pro career cut short by recurring concussions, was also officially inducted after being voted in a year ago.

While oldtimers might recall Brink for his smooth, heads-up skating style, both Milbury and MacDonald had a major impact on Minnesota’s hockey history. Milbury played at Colgate, then made it with the Boston Bruins, who went on to not only beat, but totally intimidate the Minnesota North Stars, year after year. As a rugged and willing defenseman, Milbury remembered those times, and also the game in which coach Glen Sonmor ordered the Stars to make a stand, right there in Boston Garden. They did, and while they lost the game, the record-setting penalty fest of that memorable night inspired the North Stars to later defeat the Bruins in a playoff run that reached the Stanley Cup finals.

MacDonald, a star at Harvard, won the Hobey Baker Award as the top collegian one year after Robb Stauber had won it while tending goal for the Gophers. By chance, Stauber’s Gophers faced Harvard in a sensational NCAA championship game at the Saint Paul Civic Center. Harvard ultimately beat the Gophers in overtime, but a spectacular moment came when just-crowned Hobey winner MacDonald scored a magnificent goal on Hobey winner Stauber.

But it was Gambucci who stirred the memories of Minnesota hockey fans most on induction day. He came out of Hibbing High School, and, in his first year, led the Gophers in scoring with 23-17—40 in 28 games, on a second-place Minnesota team — the last team coached by John Mariucci. When Sonmor took over, the Gophers dipped to eighth, but Gambucci scored 17 goals, tying for the team lead. In his senior year, the Gophers climbed to fifth and Gambucci was All-American and led the team with 29 assists to go with 17 goals.

At that time, college players, and particularly U.S. players, were scarce in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens claimed Gambucci for their negotiation list, and he recalled going to the Montreal training camp.
“There were 95 players at camp, and one was a U.S. college guy,” he said. But he got a chance to skate on a line with Jean Beliveau – a highlight in his memory.

The Vietnam war took him from the Canadiens, but Gambucci got a chance for further stardom on U.S. National teams in 69, Â’70 and Â’71. The 1971 team was laden with college standouts, and coached by Murray Williamson, in preparation for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

That 1971 U.S. team played an all-star team from Quebec that included Guy Lafleur, Richard Martin, and numerous other future NHL standouts, before 18,000 fans in the Montreal Forum. Canada jumped to a 2-0 lead, but the U.S. came back to stun Canada 5-3, as Gambucci scored two goals and two assists. For that season, Gambucci scored 51-50—101 in 50 games, leading Keith (Huffer) Christiansen, (69 points), Craig Patrick (65), Henry Boucha (57) and Tim Sheehy (57), while Mike (Lefty) Curran was in goal. Those other five names are significant, because all five are already in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

Those other five also led the U.S. to the silver medal at Sapporo, and Gambucci said it was his biggest mistake to pass it up and sign a pro contract with the Minnesota North Stars. He later became North Stars rookie of the year, and the next season he signed a contract to jump to the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the old World Hockey Association – where Sonmor was general manager.

“Going from the North Stars to the Fighting Saints was like going from a stuffy country club to Animal House,” Gambucci said. “I was with the Saints only a year and a half, but I got enough stories to last a lifetime.”

Gambucci and his wife, Roseann, raised three daughters in West Bloomington, and heÂ’s remained a staunch supporter of the University of Minnesota hockey program. Since his history includes high school, college, and pro hockey with both the North Stars and Saints, he has pretty well touched all the bases for a Minnesota hockey star.

Gambucci was introduced at center ice before the Minnesota-Maine puck-dropping ceremonies at Xcel Center. His presence didnÂ’t help the Gophers much against a strong Maine outfit, but Gambucci is patient. He figures the Gophers will be in title contention in the WCHA, and heÂ’ll be there to watch them, as usual. Only now he will watch as a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

Fighting Sioux could repeat 1997 history at Milwaukee

Ah, history. They say those who donÂ’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and presumably that goes for hockey coaches as well as Presidents. North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol might both learn from, and repeat, some history as he takes the Fighting Sioux to Milwaukee for the NCAA Frozen Four.

The Fighting Sioux (29-15-1) play Boston College (25-12-3) at 2 p.m. Thursday in the first semifinal at the Bradley Center, with Wisconsin (28-10-3) facing Maine (28-11-2) in the 7 p.m. second semi. The winners meet for the national title at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Last week, the media and the Frozen Four coaches were linked by conference call. One Boston-accented television broadcaster who repeatedly criticized North Dakota for “dumb penalties” in its 4-1 NCAA championship game loss to Denver last year, said he noticed that the Sioux used power-play goals to win the West Regional, so he wondered if Hakstol would “talk about” his change in coaching philosophy, turning those dumb penalties into power plays.

Hakstol paused slightlyÂ… Hakstol always pauses slightly, before delivering astute and articulate answers, even to dumb non-questions about dumb penalties.

“I have had no change in philosophy, either in how we play, or in the attitude we always try to play with,” said Hakstol. “We want to play very aggressively, with speed, and use our natural skill. But we always want to be physical, and everything generates off that.”

Great response. Direct, to the point, and exactly the way the Fighting Sioux play. Many coaches would have seized the opportunity to lobby about not taking penalties in hopes of getting favorable treatment from officials, but not Hakstol. It is engraved on the psyche of every Fighting Sioux player that to live up to the program’s heritage, they come at you with no secrets – no mystery. Here they are, with their Native American logo proudly on their chests, and if you can’t see it too well now, pay attention, because it will be up close and personal in a second, an instant before they crunch you into the boards.

What you see is what you get, and if the Sioux play at a pace that is too rough for you, and too fast for you, wellÂ…too bad.

Youthful, and inconsistent early, nobody would call this year’s Fighting Sioux team physically intimidating, and certainly not chippy. But they play textbook in-your-face Sioux hockey, and they do it well. It could be said that Boston College and Maine are sort-of surprises at the Frozen Four, while Wisconsin is the favorite. But North Dakota is the hottest team in the country right now, because it is the hottest of the Frozen Foursome – the only college teams still playing.

Not noted during the press conference was that HakstolÂ’s first team reached the Frozen Four a year ago by taking the hard road through the WCHA playoffs. After beating UMD 8-2, 6-1 in the first round to earn a slot in the “play-in” game, the Sioux beat Wisconsin 3-2, then lost to Denver 2-1 in overtime in the semifinal. In the third-place game, North Dakota came from a 2-1 deficit to beat Minnesota 4-2. The weekend’s work lifted North Dakota to an NCAA berth, ranked 10th.

All that meant the Fighting Sioux were banished to the East Regional in Worcester, Mass. No problem. They simply whipped Boston University 4-0 and then took out No. 2 Boston College 6-3. The Sioux took their share of penalties, and then some, at the regional, but held both BU and BC to identical 0-for-9 shutouts on their power plays. Maybe penalties aren’t so “dumb” if you kill them off in the process of overrunning highly regarded opponents.

The Sioux beat Minnesota 4-2 in the NCAA semifinals before losing 4-1 to Denver in the championship game.

At this year’s Frozen Four, of course, there is a considerable new look to the Fighting Sioux. When the television cameras show close-ups on the ice,look closely and see how youthful they look. ThatÂ’s not an illusion, that so many of them look like teenagers. With a half-dozen forwards and four of six defensemen being freshmen, these Fighting Sioux are young. For examples, Jonathan Toews, a brilliant center, wonÂ’t turn 18 until the end of the month, and defenseman Brian Lee is still 18.

They may be too young to have a sense of historical perspective, because they were youngsters in fourth grade the last time the NCAA Frozen Four was in Milwaukee, in 1997. But repeating history wouldnÂ’t be a bad thing for North Dakota, because North Dakota beat Colorado College 6-2 and Boston University 6-4 to claim the national title in the 1997 tournament at Bradley Center.

That was in the second year of the Dean Blais coaching regime, and his assistants were Mark Osiecki and Scott Sandelin. Blais spent one year rebuilding, then the Sioux won the WCHA championship. It appeared that bigger and better things would be in the future for that Sioux group, but they were impatient, and everything came together as they won the WCHA Final Five, a stepping stone to the Frozen Four title. The team was led by a young sophomore dynamo named Jason Blake, but at Milwaukee, players like goaltender Aaron Schweitzer and checking-line skater Matt Henderson stepped to the team-oriented forefront to lead the way.

Sound familiar? Hakstol is in his second season, and he did his rebuilding job on the Sioux last year and part of this one. Osiecki will be at the Frozen Four too, but as assistant coach at Wisconsin, while Sandelin is now head coach at Minnesota-Duluth. Hakstol’s assistants are defensive specialist Brad Berry, and the redoubtable Cary Eades, who went off to coaching accolades at Warroad High School before returning to his alma mater as Hakstol’s assistant. No one has checked his driver’s license, but “in-your-face” might be Eades’ middle name.

Other similarities are that the Sioux are led offensively by a freshman dynamo named T.J. Oshie, who would as soon run over an opponent as score a goal, which means he ran over quite a few, because he scored 24 goals centering the first line, including a nation’s best nine game-winners. The attack that came of age winning the WCHA Final Five playoffs includes 10 freshmen and only a couple seniors – indicating the Fighting Sioux might be a year or two away from being a dominant team.
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Nobody would say this yearÂ’s Fighting Sioux had a dominant season. They started WCHA play 1-3, struggled to stay above .500 much of the year, tying Colorado College for fourth in league play, finishing 16-12 in the WCHA. However, the biggest lesson from 1997 to this year is that championship teams take advantage of opportunities when they arise, and it doesn’t work to wait for the so-called dominant team to rise to the surface, because it might not happen.

But thatÂ’s old news. The Fighting Sioux are 29-15-1 overall, and after never winning more than three games in a row all season, they now have won six straight games, having finished off Minnesota State-Mankato with two straight victories after an opening playoff surprise, then beating Wisconsin and St. Cloud State to win the Final Five, before taking out Michigan and upstart Holy Cross to win the West Regional, at home in Grand Forks.

Junior Drew Stafford missed the Final Five with an injury, but came back to notch his 24th goal of the season in the regional. That ties him with freshman Oshie in team goals, while Toews has 21, making the Sioux the only Frozen Four team with three 20-plus goals. While many scorers can boast about padding their statistics with power-play goals, StaffordÂ’s 24 include a nationÂ’s best 7 shorthanded goals.

The balanced scoring has come together, and the Sioux power play is clicking at 29.4 percent in their last 15 games. At the regional, in beating Michigan 5-1, Oshie, Stafford, Ryan Duncan, Toews and sophomore Travis Zajac each scored a goal, and in beating Holy Cross 5-2, again five different scorers connected, with Toews, Duncan, junior defenseman Matt Smaby, Zajac and freshman Matt Watkins scoring. Toews had three assists with his two goals in the two games, and was named outstanding player at the regional.

“Toews is an extremely big part of our team,” said Hakstol. “He was a pretty young man coming tour campus last fall, but he’s adjusted very well, on and off the ice. He didn’t put up the numbers he expected of himself early, and now we’re seeing the results. He’s really starting tocome on and is a dynamic force offensively.

“The play of our defensive corps is a mirror image of our whole team. With four freshmen back there, we did some great things, but also had some inconsistent play. Certainly Brad Berry has done a great job staying positive with them, and they’re not afraid to play; if they make mistakes, they’re not afraid to go right back out there. In the WCHA you’re dealing with some outstanding forwards, so it’s a pretty big learning curve for young defensemen – especially in the first half of their freshman year.”

One of the intriguing things about this particular Frozen Four is that all four teams have exceptional goaltending. Jordan Parise, who has emerged as an outstanding leader as well as perhaps the most competitive goalie in the nation, mans the nets for the Sioux, and will oppose Cory Schneider, who recorded eight shutouts for Boston College. Brian Elliott is the star goaltender for Wisconsin, and Ben Bishop has had a strong season for Maine.

Boston College coach Jerry York suggested his team has some other parallels with North Dakota. “We have four freshman defensemen too, and as the year went on, we had a better team than I had envisioned,” York said. “We had a little slide, but then we rallied to win against Vermont, and caught fire. We’re a little dangerous to play, right now.”

BC’s offense is a bit of a surprise, too, because Kevin Collins, who was a strong player and a “9-11 goal scorer for three years,” said York, suddenly found a belated scoring touch and has 31 goals, earning one of three Hobey Baker finalist slots, along with Elliott, and Denver defenseman Matt Carle.

The Sioux donÂ’t have anybody up for such lofty awards. But they have a dedicated focus on the big team plaque thatÂ’s given out Saturday night.

Hill-Murray favored in Class AA ‘Year of the Upset’

Sixty years ago, the Minnesota state high school hockey tournament was held for the first time, so naturally the eight teams in that 1946 tournament at the old Saint Paul Auditorium were “new” to the tournament. Amazingly, there has never been a year since then when at least one of the entries wasn’t a returnee from the previous year.

Until this year. All eight of last year’s Class AA section champions failed to repeat, some because of the usual ebb and flow of graduations, but many because this truly is the “Year of the Upset.”

In Class AA, upsets, ranging from mild to wild, knocked out top-ranked Holy Angels, Bloomington Jefferson, Eden Prairie, Duluth East, Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, White Bear Lake, Centennial and Elk River – all teams ranked among the top 10. Those eight, in fact, would make a fine state tournament on their own, but they’ll need tickets to see the tournament this time. All those teams are perennial powers, but Holy Angels, Jefferson, Eden Prairie, East, Elk River and Moorhead were among dethroned section champs from last year.

Hill-Murray did not win its section last year. In fact, the Pioneers had failed to reach the state for three straight years, tying the schoolÂ’s record for futility since private schools were allowed into the public tournament 31 years ago. The Pioneers, the team most of the public-school segment of the state used to love to hate, has risen above that animosity, particularly because any accusations that it could recruit players from anywhere have been washed away in recent years by a new private power at Holy Angels, and by rampant charges of recruiting via open enrollment at many public schools.

The Pioneers won a classic, double-overtime 5-4 victory over White Bear Lake for the Section 3 title, and loom as the favorite in Class AA. Two prolific scoring lines are impressive enough that many observers arenÂ’t sure which one is No. 1, and a poised defense with solid goaltending puts the Pioneers into the favoriteÂ’s role.

Actually, even if all the favorites had made it in other sections, Hill-Murray might rank as the favorite, because they enter the competition with a glittering 26-1-1 record. The tie was 3-3 against Holy Angels in a spectacular game for the No. 1 state rating, and, in the next game, the Pioneers lost to St. Thomas Academy for their only setback.

St. Thomas Academy, however, is no slouch. The Cadets, coached by former Gopher star Tom Vannelli, are 22-5-1, and one of the lower-bracket favorites in the Class A tournament, which starts Wednesday.

The same upset plague infected Class A, where top-ranked Marshall of Duluth made it, claims the immediate favoriteÂ’s role, and could, conceivably, wind up Saturday facing a neighborhood rival in Hermantown, a suburban Duluth school and also a top-rated team all season. Warroad, the annual pick to win Class A, played the Section 8 final at home, held a solid 2-0 lead over Thief River Falls in the third period, and yet the Prowlers came back to tie the game with two goals, then beat the Warriors in the fourth overtime to reach state.

St. Thomas Academy similarly looms as heavy favorite against Orono in the first night quarterfinal, which sends its winner against the northern survivor between Hermantown and Thief River Falls. Hermantown (25-3) had to take on the resident powers of Section 7, getting past perennial power Hibbing to make state. Thief River Falls, which makes its first trip to state after 50 years of reflecting on past domination. The Prowlers –perhaps the neatest nickname in high school sports – are 21-7 after upending Warroad in the Section 8 final, but one of those losses was to Hermantown. It wasn’t just a loss. It was 9-0. That type of scoring is pretty typical of the Hawks, who beat Greenway of Coleraine 11-1 and International Falls 7-1 in other Section 7 games.

Twin Cities power focused on private schools in Class A, but the crowd in Section 5 lumped them together. In Section 5, which produced five of the last seven state champs, Totino Grace upended top seeded Breck, but then lost to Blake in the final, so Blake enters the state tournament with a a 17-8-3 record to run smack into Marshall in WednesdayÂ’s quarterfinals.

At sectional time, Marshall moved to Section 2, where it had to win the final at BlaineÂ’s Fogerty Arena against Sauk Rapids to reach state at 26-1-1. Section 2 has never been a prominent state power, but Marshall gives it that glow. The Marshall-Blake winner rates as favorite to beat the first-game winner, where Little Falls, returning to the state along with Marshall and St. Thomas Academy, stands as solid favorite to beat Mankato East in the quarterfinals.

That winner is Class A upper-bracket favorite, and the Saturday final could find an all-Duluth-area championship game between Marshall and Hermantown. Marshall beat Hermantown during the season, but the Hilltoppers only loss all season was to Class AA power Cloquet, a team Hermantown shocked with a 6-2 upset.
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Picking a team from the opposite bracket to face Hill-Murray is more challenging, but two familiar names from recent years – Roseau and Grand Rapids – collide in Thursday’s final first-round game in a battle of Northern teams that could well produce the finalist. Roseau (24-4) marched into St. Cloud State’s National Hockey Center and knocked off Moorhead 4-0 in the Section 8 championship game, surprising many Twin Cities observers, but not Moorhead coach Dave Morinville, who had projected Roseau as his team’s primary challenge weeks ago.

Grand Rapids, on the other hand, came through Section 7, the Northeast Minnesota section that has produced the most legendary teams of years ago. The Thunderhawks, who used to be the Indians in their title-winning days of decades past, went from struggling in a fairly weak section brought down by dwindling enrollment, to winning a tough section rejuvenated by several new, as well as old, rivals. Elk River, a power from the Northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities, and a team most foes donÂ’t like to face, was sent off to join Section 7, where Brainerd, a Central Minnesota team, also was having its strongest year in hockey. That expanded the power structure of Section 7, where perennial powers Duluth East and Cloquet-Esko-Carlton both had strong entries.

After Cloquet defeated Brainerd, a big crowd in Duluth watched an outstanding semifinal doubleheader. It was classic, old-time Northern Minnesota hockey, as Cloquet’s 6-foot-8 senior defenseman Taylor Vichorek moved in from the right point and scored a goal 1:44 into the second period, and goaltender Reid Ellingson made it stand up for a 1-0 victory in a nail-biter against Duluth East. The Greyhounds, who, as usual, played the toughest schedule in the state, got fantastic goaltending from Ben Leis (30 saves to Ellingson’s 22), but the Lumberjacks prevented the ‘Hounds from threatening very often and settled the rivalry for the season, after they had split regular-season games.

In the second game, Elk River completely dominated Grand Rapids, taking a 2-0 lead while outshooting the Thunderhawks 15-5 in the first period. Only brilliant goaltending from Reidar Jensen – who was named after his grandfather, the legendary Reidar Lund, a former sports columnist at the Duluth News-Tribune – prevented the Elks from running up the score more than 2-0. When Grand Rapids came storming out in the second period, it seemed like only a temporary reprieve, because a goal by Jared Smith late in the period was the only Grand Rapids reward for a 24-4 edge in period shots.

It seemed inevitable that Elk River, having weathered the onslaught, would regain the momentum in the third period, but Grand Rapids surprised the Elks and never let them have it. Trevor Hicks got loose at the crease and tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal midway through the third period, and Zach Moore broke for the right post and jammed in a perfect feed from Hicks with 3:32 remaining, and Grand Rapids had 3-2.

While many had figured East would play Elk River in the final, both were left at home when Grand Rapids found itself in a curious position in the final. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton loomed as the favorite, based on its victory over East, even though the Lumberjacks had lost twice to Grand Rapids during the season. Grand Rapids didnÂ’t figure it that way, of course, but it had to contend with elusive junior center Tyler Johnson, who scored twice in the first period to stake Cloquet to a 2-1 lead. Robert Maher had given the Thunderhawks a 1-0 lead, but Johnson scored at 6:59 and again with a power-play breakaway six seconds before the period ended.

Just as they had done against Elk River, however, the Thunderhawks showed great poise and talent as they came back for two goals in the second period. Jared Smith and Rob Roy scored 10 minutes apart to vault Grand Rapids from a 2-1 deficit to a 3-2 lead while outshooting the Lumberjacks 11-4 in the middle period. CloquetÂ’s Steve Mlodozyniec tied it 3-3 early in the third period, converting a goal-mouth pass from the ever-dangerous Johnson, but Zach Morse broke the tie at 12:10 for Grand Rapids, and Trevor Hicks notched the clinching goal at 16:08 and Rapids rode a 5-3 victory into the state tournament at 19-8.

“Roseau beat us in the last game of the season,” said Grand Rapids coach Bruce Larocque, after the Thunderhawks gained their first state trip in 15 years. But he didn’t sound worried. After what he just went through in Section 7, of course, getting there was at least half the fun.

The Class AA tournament opens with Blaine (23-4-1) featuring a high-scoiring offense that figures to be too much for Lakeville North (14-11-3). Impressive as BlaineÂ’s record is, it started out shaky, but a 21-game unbeaten surge has swept the Bengals into state.

Cretin-Derham Hall, which made its only predvious tournament trip in 1988, have a solid 24-4 record to face Eagan in the second upper-bracket game. Eagan (18-9-1) is in its first tournament, but to get there it needed to beat Apple Valley 2-1 after Apple Valley had shocked heavily favored, top-ranked, and defending section champion Holy Angels in the Section 5 tournament.

Hill-Murray overwhelmed Mounds View 6-0 and Roseville 5-1 before its double-overtime final victory over White Bear Lake, a game in which star defenseman Derek McCallum was credited with the winning goal from the point. Actually, winger Bryant Skarda skated past the congested goal-mouth and deflected the puck artfully in. “I got it with my stick blade,” Sakrda said. “It was right on the ice, and I deflected it into the upper corner. But I don’t care if I didn’t get credit for it, as long as we won the game.”

Minnetonka (18-9-1) ranks as a clear underdog against Hill-Murray, but the Skippers, reaching state for the first time in 12 years, had to beat a tough Chaska team 3-2, then upset Eden Prairie with a shocking 6-0 victory, and finally upset Bloomington Jefferson 3-2 to capture Section 6. Minnetonka had to play its best in all three games, but beating Hill-Murray will be its biggest hurdle yet.

In the final game, RoseauÂ’s 24-4 record stands above Grand RapidsÂ’s 19-8, but the Thunderhawks lost only one game in its last 12. That one, however, was 5-1 to Roseau to end the regular season.

Great storylines, an Xcel Energy Center wired with its own internal electricity, all in a neatly folded package. But the state tournament will unfold quickly and surprises could loom everywhere before SaturdayÂ’s champions are crowned.

Carle, Pioneers give each other Christmas gift sweep

Â’Twas the last series before Christmas, and all through the house, the Denver Pioneers knew there would be considerable stirring, because this was no normal house, but the DECC, where the creatures stirring would be Bulldogs, not mice.

“This is a tough building to come into,” said Carle. “We got together and talked it over, and we decided that the best Christmas gift we could give each other would be two wins this weekend.”

Carle was talking as the fans left the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center in silence, walking out into the stark, near-zero chill of Northern Minnesota winter, while inside, the Pioneers had succeeded in celebrating a little bit of Christmas a week early by completing a tough 4-2, 3-1 sweep that pushed them clearly into WCHA contention at the holiday break and halfway point of the season.

“We talked all week long about how this was going to be a tough series,” said coach George Gwozdecky. “If we are going to be in the second-half race, even if we’re going to battle for second and third, this was a very important weekend, and I asked the players to approach it like a playoff weekend. This is a tough building, especially for freshmen. It’s a smaller rink, and the fans are right on top of you. It can be an intimidating place for a guy not used to it.

“I remember how it is, because I scored my first goal here. It was on a breakaway. Ken Turko was UMD’s goaltender. I beat him, low to the stick side.”

Gwozdecky traced the goal back to his days at Wisconsin, guessing it was about January of 1974. How could he, a big scorer for the Badgers in their formative days, remember the goal so well? “Listen,” he said, “I didn’t score that many goals. I learned more about coaching from sitting on the bench and watching.”

Gwozdecky, of course, probably got the earliest feeling of Christmas sometime last spring, when Carle passed up what might have seemed like the perfect time to jump at an NHL offer. True, Carle was only a sophomore last season, but he was an All-America on defense, and he scored 13 goals and 31 assists for 44 points to rank third in Denver team scoring, and four seniors were departing from the team that won its second NCAA championship in a row.

It may be more than mere coincidence that Denver won NCAA titles in both of CarleÂ’s seasons. He could easily have signed with San Jose and been playing in the NHL right now. But he didnÂ’t really consider it.
“San Jose respected what I am doing at Denver,” Carle said. “They didn’t throw a lot of numbers around to try to get me to leave. I couldn’t ask for a better place to be than Denver, and to come back with the chance to play a leadership role is something special. We’ve got a lot of freshmen on this year’s team. We’ve only got two seniors, but we have a big junior class, and everybody contributes leadership.”

Four of the six defensemen Gwozdecky used at Duluth were freshmen, and while they might be comparatively unknown, mark down those names: T.J. Fast, Chris Butler, J.P. Testwuide, and Julian Marcuzzi. The fifth defenseman is Andrew Thomas, a sophomore. So as a junior, Carle is clearly the elder statesman among the guardians of the Denver blue line.

“Matt logs a lot of ice time,” said Gwozdecky. “And when he’s on the ice, he’s exceptional at all parts of the game, defensively and offensively. He can defensively stop a rush, and he can break down a rush and anticipate exactly what to do. And he’s a great student. He loves being in college, and he seems to know that these may be the best four years of his life.

“In my mind, he’s the best defenseman – and maybe the best player – in the country. He’s a smooth skater, and he’s strong, poised, and compose. He’s been that way since his freshman year.”

Carle may be without peer in the WCHA – or in the country – strictly as a defenseman, but the key to Carle’s game is his ability to bolster the Denver offense. The cliché phrase “jump up into the offense” doesn’t come close to describing Carle’s ability to read and properly sense when to make his transition to offense.

“In today’s day and age, you can’t expect to score a lot with just three forwards on attack,” said Carle, whose presence means Denver never has just three forwards attacking. If a forward is backchecking and defensive responsibilities are covered, Carle will blend in on the breakout and counter-attack as if he were the third forward. If all three Pioneer forwards are already sailing down the ice, Carle catches up in a couple of powerful strides and, quicker than you can say “Hobey Baker candidate,” he blends smoothly into the rush as a fourth attacker.

In FridayÂ’s game at Duluth, UMD jumped to a 1-0 lead on Matt McKnightÂ’s shorthanded goal at 4:54, to get the Bulldog crowd into it. Carle promptly tied it with a power-play bullet from the right point at 6:57. Then he fed Paul Stastny, who relayed it to Tom May for a 2-1 lead six minutes later. And at 17:36 of the first period, Carle and Stastny threw the puck around until Butler scored from inside the left point for a 3-1 Denver lead. Carle, quite casually, had three points on the three goals.

UMD rallied for a second-period goal by Jason Garrison, and went on to outshoot Denver 41-23, but Ryan HelgesonÂ’s goal late in the second period secured a 4-2 lead and the Pioneers secured the territory in front of goaltender Glenn Fisher, who contributed 39 saves for the victory.
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UMD also got the jump Saturday, when Michael Gergen scored at 4:49 for the only goal of the first period. In the second period, Butler scored a power-play goal and set up Michael Handza for another, and Stastny finished the 3-1 victory on a third-period rush.

Carle, without a point in the second game, has 8-18—26 for the season, trailing only Stastny (5-22—27) in team scoring. That figure puts him ahead of his freshman full-season tally of 5-20—25, and puts him in sight of last seasonÂ’s All-America output of 13-31–44. Humility, however, is another ingredient in what makes him so impressive.

“I’ve progressed every year,” said Carle. “As a freshman, I had decent numbers, but I was a young buck on a really experienced ‘D’ corps, and I had to get used to the college game. I added some offense my sophomore year.”

This season, like last year, the Pioneers struggled early. This season, it was because so many new, young players found their rhythm. That rhythm includes a 5-1 surge that lifted their WCHA record from 3-3-2 to 8-4-2, and overall from 6-6-2 to 11-7-2. The early stumbles might have averted the spotlight away from a team planning to take a run at an unprecedented third straight NCAA title. No more. They swept their pivotal home-and-home series with Colorado College, winning 4-2 and 5-1, then whipped Alaska-Anchorage 5-2. They were unseated, however, when Anchorage stung them 3-0 in the rematch, a loss that caused Gwozdecky to put extra emphasis on the series at UMD.

GwozdeckyÂ’s players appreciate his disciplined efforts, and itÂ’s undoubtedly a factor in Carle staying in college.

“We have great coaching, and I think San Jose knows I’m getting good training here,” said Carle. “We want to win it all, and the last two years, however we played in the first half of the season, we were there at the end.”

A real-estate/construction management major, Carle, a junior, needs one more full year to complete his degree. Gwozdecky and Pioneers fans obviously hope Carle decides to finish his education and play his senior season as well, while opposing coaches might well be sending Christmas cards to the San Jose Sharks, urging them to sign the guy from Denver as soon as possible.

Even though Carle has not even thought ahead about it, the question remains whether San Jose will continue to be so patient after this season – when a 6-foot, 190-pound defenseman with all the moves, skill, and skating ability to swim with the Sharks should be allowed to stay in college, where he might be the biggest fish in the pond.

Which Gopher team will show up in Frozen Four semis?

“There’s a difference between wanting to play well and having to play well.” So said University of Minnesota hockey coach Don Lucia, after he had properly assessed that losing twice in the WCHA Final Five wouldn’t prevent the Golden Gophers from advancing to the NCAA tournament with a favorable seed.

After the Final Five, but before the NCAA seedings were calculated, Lucia said: “These losses didn’t matter. They have no bearing on where we end up. I know we’ll either be the last No. 1 seed or the highest No. 2.”

Right on. The Golden Gophers were ranked in a tie for fourth and fifth overall with Cornell, and by virtue of having beaten Michigan, which in turn beat Cornell, the Gophers got the fourth and final No. 1 seed as host of the West Regional. Two overtime victories later, and Minnesota is off to the Frozen Four, as a legitimate longshot.

Will the REAL Minnesota Golden Gophers please stand up? Nobody knows. Will the Gophers who face North Dakota in ThursdayÂ’s NCAA semifinals in Columbus, Ohio, be the one that soared through the first half of the season, or the one that sputtered through the second half? Will it be the team that went 8-0 to end the regular season and start league playoffs, or the one that fell twice in the WCHA Final Five, or maybe the one that scratched and clawed to two narrow victories in the NCAA West Regional? Who will start in goal? Who will score? Will leading scorer Tyler Hirsch play? Will freshman defenseman Alex Goligoski play?

Questions, always questions. Goligoski will probably play with a light cast on his wrist, but Lucia doesnÂ’t like to divulge any more than he has to, so we may have to wait until the puck drops at 6 p.m. Thursday to find out. Same with the goaltender question, and the others.

If the two West Regional victories mean the urgency is back, credit – and a dose of relief – should go to Lucia. An Iron Ranger by birth, the Grand Rapids native could be known as “The Professor” for the way he calculates the computerized information that goes into the NCAA tournament seedings all season. He is a master at satisfying the criteria, and he knew there was no back-to-the-wall feeling during those WCHA playoffs.It’s time now.

When they wanted to play well in the WCHA Final Five, it wasnÂ’t enough, and the Gophers lost 3-0 to Colorado College and 4-2 in the third-place game to North Dakota. When they had to play well, in the NCAA West Regional, the Gophers were Golden, beating Maine 1-0 and Cornell 2-1 in a couple of overtime classics. LuciaÂ’s ability to come up with answers is one reason the Gophers have reached ThursdayÂ’s Frozen Four at Columbus, Ohio, where they will face North Dakota in the 6 p.m. semifinal.

Lucia, recalling Johnson had a tough time with Maine a year earlier, went with Kellen Briggs in goal. Minnesota won 1-0 in overtime. He stuck with Briggs, and the Gophers also beat Cornell, 2-1 in overtime. Against Maine, freshman center Evan Kaufmann came through with an enormous goal to beat the Black Bears. Kaufmann, whose age and the maturity he gained in the USHL belie his freshman status, had several good scoring chances against Maine ace Jimmy Howard, who gloved everything close.

“WeÂ’d been shooting glove all day,” said Kaufmann, after the Maine game. “Justin (Johnson) told me on the bench during a TV timeout, ‘If weÂ’re going to score on this guy, itÂ’s got to be somewhere other than his glove.Â’”

So Kaufmann won the corner faceoff – he was 9-2 on faceoffs in the game – and got the puck back to Judd Smith at the blue line. He shoveled it into the corner, and Garrett Smaagaard and Sertich scrapped to keep possession by cycling the puck on the end boards. One defenseman was back there, and the second went back after Smaagaard, so Kaufmann yelled, Smaagaard fed him. Kaufmann shot — away from HowardÂ’s glove, just inside the left pipe – and the Gophers were on their way.

It had to be the perfect game for Briggs, winning a 1-0 overtime shutout. “No, I’d rather we win 9-0,” said Briggs. Against Cornell, the Gophers also failed to score nine, but Andy Sertich got the goal that helped get the game into overtime, and Barry Tallackson knocked in his own rebound to beat the Big Red 2-1.

So now itÂ’s the Frozen Four, where Colorado College and Denver might reside as the two best teams in the country, and North Dakota is probably playing the best hockey of its season, and the Golden GophersÂ…are still facing unanswered questions.

The questions started at midseason, after a rebuilding Golden Gopher team earned the No. 1 rank in the country for five weeks, behind the explosive scoring of a line with Ryan Potulny centering Danny Irmen and Kris Chucko, and the goaltending of Kellen Briggs, who led all WCHA goalies in both goals-against and save percentage at midseason. The “Border Line,” so named because all three players were not from Minnesota, had accounted for half the team’s scoring, and Briggs led the league in overall games at Christmastime with a 1.88 goals-against and .931 save percentage.

January arrived, and the big line abruptly stopped clicking. Irmen dropped from being first or second in league scoring to finish in a tie for sixth in league games at 17-15—32, while Potulny dropped to 15th at 15-11—26, and Chucko finished 7-6—13. Pucks started sailing past Briggs, too, and through the second half, he dropped until he finished seventh in goals-against average at 2.97, and 11th in save percentage at .900 in league play.

Justin Johnson emerged from backup duty to win six straight games for the Gophers when Briggs was injured at the end of the season, and Johnson got the start against Colorado College in the Final Five. Minnesota lost 3-0, and Briggs returned to the nets against North Dakota, but the Gophers lost again, 4-2.

The goaltending question, however, was obscured by another large question at the end of the CC playoff game. Tyler Hirsch, an intense and highly skilled junior winger, had risen from third-line status when the Border Line’s scoring turned borderline, to lead the Golden Gophers in scoring. As of the end of the regular season, Potulny had 24-15—39 in all games and Irmen 20-18—38, but Hirsch had 11-31—42 to finish fifth among all WCHA players in overall points. Yet he remained on the third line all season, where he might have had extra bench-time to accumulate frustration during the third period of the CC shutout.

As the fans filed out after the game, Hirsh went out to center ice alone, as if heÂ’d been awarded a penalty shot. He raced in, fired the puck into the net, and followed it by crashing his body into the net, knocking it over on its backside.

Was it in frustration for not having played much in the third period? Was it to prove to the coaches’ constant urging that he could go hard to the net? Nobody knows. Hirsch went home to his parents’ Twin Cities home afterward, and didn’t play against North Dakota, or in the NCAA West Regional. He returned to the team, and spoke cheerfully to the media – but not about this question. He may play in Columbus.

It was suggested to Lucia that his well-calculated projections might work against his fire for getting his team emotionally charged for a game he knows is comparatively unimportant. When the coach knows that the team is cinched for an NCAA berth, and the team plays without any urgency through the second half, and into league playoffs, is there a link? Can the players, whether by their own calculations or by reading their coachÂ’s relaxed demeanor, play without desperation because they know they donÂ’t have to go all out in order to advance?

At Christmastime, Lucia knew that the Gophers, barring a complete collapse in the second half, were going to be assured of an NCAA berth, and one of the better seeds. The Gophers were 11-3 in WCHA play through the 2004 half of the schedule and deserved the No.1 rank in the nation for five weeks. In January, though, they suddenly absorbed a 1-5 month on home ice, at Mariucci Arena, losing twice at home to Colorado College, twice more to Michigan Tech and splitting with Minnesota-Duluth. The only other Minnesota victories in the 4-6 month were a split of 2-1 games at Boston University, and a sweep at Minnesota State-Mankato.

Minnesota opened February by splitting sets with Wisconsin and Alaska-Anchorage, which meant the struggle reached 6-8 for 2005 — hardly befitting a prospective Frozen Four team. Then the Golden Gophers seemed to right themselves in the last three weeks of the regular season, although their 6-0 string was recorded against St. Cloud State, Michigan Tech and Minnesota State-Mankato – the bottom three finishers in the WCHA. Beating Minnesota State twice more in the first league playoff round gave the Gophers an eight-game winning streak, but answered none of the questions.

Frozen Four time means desperation and urgency are the order of the day. Will the same pairings as the third-place and title games of the WCHA Final Five cause a flashback to the Minnesota? Will Lucia dare go back to Josh Johnson in goal because Briggs was just beaten by North Dakota? Will Hirsch bring the lift of his team-high points back into the lineup? Colorado College and Denver are the constants, and North Dakota is the hottest, and which Gopher team will show up?

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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.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
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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.