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.

Sweden tops Russia 3-0 for women’s world bandy title

SwedenÂ’s national womenÂ’s bandy team attacks with the suddenness of a Porsche, and defends with the security of a military tank. But SwedenÂ’s 3-0 victory over Russia in SaturdayÂ’s championship game of the WomenÂ’s Bandy World Championships more resembled a Volvo sedan.

Solid, safe, conservative and technically very sound, just like the cars they make in Gothenburg, Sweden, the yellow-clad Swedish team capitalized on its opportunities for two quick-striking goals by Mikaela Hasselgren in the first half, then concentrated on preventing Russia from getting any clear scoring chances in the second. Johanna Pettersson converted a pass from Johanna Karlsson seven minutes into the second 45-minute half, and Sweden stayed within the speed limit the rest of the way, to skate off the John Rose Oval in suburban Roseville, Minnesota, with the World Championship.

Swedish coach Roger Jakobssen said he enjoyed the comparison to Sweden’s cars, best-known for their focus on keeping everything safe. “It was our final game, and everyone expected Sweden to win so easily,” Jakobssen said. “But we had to work really hard in most of the games, and especially today. Russia challenged us in a tough way, and we had to have a great deal of patience. We are the World Champions, and we played some excellent bandy, and I think we were excellent ambassadors for the game of bandy.”

Bandy boosters are hoping to get their sport into the Winter Olympics, and it would seem a likely candidate, because of its popularity in Scandinavia and Russia, and especially Siberia.

Norway, which had tied Russia 1-1in round-robin play for the highest moment in its century of bandy, but lost to the Russians in the semifinals, came back to defeat Finland 2-1 in the third-place game for the bronze medal. The U.S. earlier had beaten Canada 2-0 in the game for fifth place.

Bandy features never-ending skating, played with a tennis-ball-size ball and short sticks, like 11-player soccer on a soccer-sized rink. The sport is at a pinnacle in Sweden and Russia, where it is played by many, sometimes in indoor arenas, and rivals soccer and hockey in popularity. Crowds of over 20,000 are common in Russia, but the game is little-known in North America. The John Rose Oval is MinnesotaÂ’s only official-size bandy rink, and CanadaÂ’s team, an under-20 Winnipeg ringette team, was put together for the tournament and doesnÂ’t even have a bandy rink to practice on.
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Minnesota’s team averages about 38 years of age, and is hoping to expand with a youth program at Roseville. It wasn’t an attempt to be perfect hosts that the U.S. failed to win a game during the round-robin play – tying Norway 1-1, and losing 1-0 to Canada while also playing very well in a 2-0 loss to Finland, and its first victory in two World Championship appearances came in the fifth-place playoff game against Canada.

Minnesota Nice seemed to extend beyond the John Rose Oval facility, and just in time to make teams from Sweden and Russia feel comfortable, the Twin Cities region imported this winterÂ’s most severe cold snap down from northern reaches of Canada. It was about 5-below zero with a 30-mile-per-hour wind for much of the tournament, and all sorts of outdoor events elsewhere were cancelled, but the bandy went on. One unwitting photographer, bundled well except for his ears, froze his windward ear in about 20 minutes of picture-taking in the Friday sunshine. A woman volunteer minding the southeast corner of the rink tried to stay warm with hot coffee from her Thermos jug. The first time she tried it, all went well; the second time, she found the coffee in the Thermos had frozen solid.

It was less harsh on Saturday, and a rowdy group from Sweden wore yellow and blue hats and jerseys, waved flags, and sang assorted chants to cheer on their team. After the championship game, two-goal scorer Hasselgren said: “Cold? No. Not like yesterday.”

In nearly every game, the rhythmic flow of constant skating was occasionally interrupted by corner pass-in plays, which follow stoppages in play caused by the defending team knocking the ball out of bounds. Most of the tournamentÂ’s goals came off corner pass plays, ball three of SwedenÂ’s goals in the final came off direct attacks.
“We tried to get corners,” said Petterson, who not only scored the final goal, but got off the shot that led to Hasselgren’s second goal, on a rebound.

KarlssonÂ’s passes set up Hasselgren for the first goal of the game, as well as PetterssonÂ’s final goal. The Swedish players will now return to their club teams, three of which contributed players to the national team, and their schedule runs through March.

Russian coach Aleksandr Skirdenko was in good spirits after the game. “It could be better, if we win,” he said. “But we have given everything we could, and Sweden has a very strong team. We knew the Swedish team was very strong, very fast, and that we wouldn’t have many chances against them. So our plan was to defend first, then counter-attack when we could. We had a few chances, but we didn’t score.”

Oxana Pronshina, who had led Russia with two goals to a 7-0 victory over the U.S. and with three goals in an identical 7-0 romp over Canada in preliminary round play, said the first goal was pivotal. “If we had scored early, scored first, anything would be possible,” she said. “We would have put our bodies in front of the net, anything, to stop the Swedish team if we had gotten the first goal.”

Jakobssen, the coach and/or “Volvo driver,” said his team executed his tactics well. “We wanted to be careful in the second half to not lose the ball. A couple of times we lost the ball in the middle of the field, and they got their best chances then.”

But, with the Swedish teamÂ’s figurative shoulder harnesses strapped on, and roll-bars in place, and smooth-running efficiency unhampered by Siberian-like cold, there was never a chance SwedenÂ’s trip to the World Championship would be threatened.

Sioux erupt to sweep UMD with — or without — Stafford

As the old saying goes, you can watch 1,000 hockey games but there’s a good chance that at the next one you might see something you’ve never seen before. It happened when North Dakota played at Minnesota-Duluth in the first game of another of what is becoming a trend this season – a weird two-game series.

Drew Stafford played a major role in North DakotaÂ’s sweep, although not at all by design. He did it all in the 5-3 first game by getting a hat trick and an assist, and he left the second game early, almost as if to prove his suddenly explosive teammates could romp 7-4 without their hottest scorer.

StaffordÂ’s biggest role, in retrospect, may prove to be his part in the game-ending play of Game 1, a play that will make a great trivia quiz question: How can you score a goal without getting a shot on goal?

UMD was coming off an impressive tie and victory against Minnesota, while North Dakota was striving to break free of a three-game losing streak, having just dropped 4-2 and 4-1 games at home against Wisconsin. As in “underrated” Wisconsin, or “first-place” Wisconsin.

Stafford isnÂ’t likely to forget that first game. The junior winger scored in the first minute of the game, and when Ryan Duncan drilled a high-right corner shot on a 2-on-1 rush at 2:14 it was 2-0. UMD coach Scott Sandelin called an immediate time out, summoning goalie Isaac Reichmuth, the hero of the previous weekend against Minnesota, to join his teammates for a brief consultation at the bench.

“They came out jumping and we were flat,” said Sandelin. “There wasn’t much I could say but to look up at the clock and tell them, ‘Well, we’ve got 17:46 and two periods left.’ ”

True, the fun had just begun. The Bulldogs settled down, and Tim StapletonÂ’s strong wrist shot beat Jordan Parise midway through the second period to cut UMDÂ’s deficit to 2-1. But five minutes later, Stafford pulled a power-play rebound free from a scrap at the net, spun and scored for a 3-1 Sioux lead.

In the third period, Stafford connected again with both teams short a man for a 4-1 lead. It was his seventh goal of the season, “and my first hat trick since I played at Shattuck,” he said, recalling his prep school days at Faribault, MN., his hometown.

That should have settled things, but Duluth rallied back when Jason Raymond scored on a UMD power play at 9:42, and when Sandelin pulled Reichmuth, Justin Williams scored with 1:31 remaining to thrust the Bulldogs to 4-3 proximity. When the game moved into its final minute, Reichmuth was pulled again and UMDÂ’s crowd was on its feet, urging the equalizer.

The Sioux defended firmly, then slick freshman T.J. Oshie got the puck out to center ice, and flipped a shot that was sliding slowly toward the unguarded UMD goal as the final seconds ticked off. Stafford was racing after it, and so was UMDÂ’s impressive freshman defenseman, Matt Niskanen. If Stafford could have gotten to the puck first, he could have converted his fourth goal of the night; if Niskanen could reach it, he could prevent an empty-net goal.

Everybody was watching the puck, as it slid toward the left post, but nobody could miss Niskanen – a former high school football star as well as hockey – take out Stafford with a pretty clean tackle. As the two slid to the end boards to the left of the goal, the puck did not go in, but struck the left pipe, and the ricochet trickled slowly into the crease.

Stafford and Niskanen, sprawled together at the end boards but still with distinctly differing motives, started to grapple. Referee Todd Anderson blew his whistle. After lengthy deliberation, he made what everybody in the press box agreed was a pretty unique decision.

He awarded a goal to Oshie, citing a rule that declares that when what appears to be an obvious goal at an empty net is prevented by a flagrant violation, a goal shall be awarded. So not only did Oshie get his fourth goal of the season at 19:58 of the third period, while Travis Zajac and Stafford were awarded assists on the awarded goal, and Niskanen and Stafford were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, still, confusion reigned in the press box.

To be accurate, the shot chart had to show Oshie’s shot hit the post and technically wasn’t a shot on goal. So you can award a goal, but can you award a shot on goal? The opinions wavered, but it was agreed that the best solution was to provide a trivia-quiz question – can you score a goal without a shot on goal?

Stafford wasnÂ’t upset that Niskanen had footballed him out of a chance for his fourth goal. Quite the contrary.

“Actually, I saw the puck sliding and I thought it was going to go in,” said Stafford. “So I hooked Niskanen, trying to hold him back, to let the puck go in.”

Very interesting. WeÂ’ll never know if Anderson missed StaffordÂ’s hook, or what that might have done to his subsequent call. What we do know is that the Fighting Sioux had snapped out of their scoring slump, led by the first line.

“Oshie is really something,” said Stafford. “Travis [Zajac] and I are hard-pressed to keep up with him. TJ is so tenacious that even if a defenseman getrs a piece of him, he’ll just blow past him.”

Obviously, with a crop of freshmen that includes first-round NHL picks like Oshie, Brian Lee and Joe Finley, and second rounders Taylor Chorney and Andrew Kozek, the Sioux are bristling with flashy freshmen. So Stafford up front and fellow-junior Matt Smaby, the only defenseman older than a sophomore, are needed for leadership.

So what happens in Game 2? Smaby was tossed for checking from behind at the 5:37 mark of the first period, and Stafford was ejected for the same infraction at 0:20 of the second period. At that point, UMD led 2-0 on first-period power-play goals by Tim Stapleton and Mason Raymond.
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The freshman-dominated Sioux chose that time to rally. Zajac scored on a rebound at 3:53, Rastislav Spirko scored a power-play goal at 5:11, and Zajac connected again at 9:24 for a sudden 3-2 Sioux lead. UMD countered when Josh Meyers scored on the power play for a 3-3 tie at 12:40, but the rest of the middle period belonged to the Sioux.

Toews scored a spectacular goal on a power-play rush when Oshie fed a quick pass to send Chris Porter flying into the zone on the right, and when he got in deep, Porter looked to shoot but passed instead, right across the crease, where Jonathan Toews had easy work to shovel the puck in behind Reichmuth.

Porter also made a neat play to Oshie on a later power play, and the pass was so slick it isolated the freshman from Warroad, MN., who had the poise to step out for a better angle, then snap a wrist shot into the upper right corner. That completed a five-goal second period for the Fighting Sioux, and all was going their way when Ryan Duncan opened the third period with a 35-foot slap shot that ticked a defensemanÂ’s stickblade and changed vectors to catch the lower left corner for a 6-3 bulge.

Stapleton gamely got his second goal of the game and third of the weekend to close it to 6-4, but Duncan broke free up the right side and jammed a shot through Reichmuth that trickled across the line under a sprawling Justin Williams in the closing minutes.

If the sweep proved anything, it proved several things. First, that North Dakota is for real, whether its veterans or its youthful exuberance leads the way; second, that the Bulldogs need to find some three-period consistency to keep winning; third, that the WCHA is wide-open and every series is likely to provide surprises. And, oh yes, it is possible to score a goal without a shot on goal.

Wendell goal lifts Gophers past Badgers 3-2 in WCHA final

It should have been the best of times for the Wisconsin Badgers, having just accomplished a mini-miracle comeback with two goals in the last minute to send their WomenÂ’s WCHA playoff championship game against Minnesota into overtime. Instead, it became the worst of times, when two penalties in the final 14 seconds of regulation snuffed any rekindled Badgers hope and created an almost inevitable 3-2 victory for Minnesota.

Minnesota improved to 33-2-2 overall, while Wisconsin dropped to 28-8-1. But the records and the final score donÂ’t come close to conveying a stunning finish that left the result both controversial and anticlimactic.

Everyone knew MinnesotaÂ’s strength as the No. 1 rated womenÂ’s hockey team in the nation, and everyone knew of Minnesota-DuluthÂ’s elite perch as the No. 2 team in the WCHA and national rankings. But if there were any lingering doubts about WisconsinÂ’s No. 3 status, they were dispelled by the superb three-day weekend performance of the Badgers at the WomenÂ’s WCHA playoffs.

After beating St. Cloud State on Friday, the Badgers rallied on Saturday to tie UMD, and beat the Bulldogs 3-2 on Saturday when Sharon Cole rapped in Sara BauerÂ’s pass from behind the net at 2:34 of overtime. UMD rebounded as Caroline Ouellette scored two goals and three assists and Riitta Schaublin shut out Ohio State 5-0 in the third-place game, before Sunday afternoonÂ’s final.

Minnesota posed a daunting challenge for WisconsinÂ’s third game in three days, but the Badgers played tough, dedicated defense, and prevented the powerful Gophers from scoring at even strength. Strong as they are offensively, the Gophers also are dominant defensively, so after scoring power play goals late in the second period and early in the third, another Gopher victory seemed inevitable, and an outstanding performance by the Badgers would go down as almost good enough.

But Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson called timeout and pulled Horras for a six-skater attack in the final minute. The Badgers swarmed to the front of the net, and got the puck back to Carla MacLeod at the right point. MacLeodÂ’s shot found its way through the maze of bodies and ruined Jody HorakÂ’s shutout. Minnesota still led, but now by 2-1, and, more importantly, there were still 50 seconds remaining.

“In that situation,” said Johnson, “we needed to get some pucks to the net. It’s nice to get one early enough to get back to center-ice for a chance to get another one. We were hoping to get the draw back to Carla or Molly (Engstrom).”

The Badgers did get time for another chance, and they did get the puck back to MacLeod at the right point again. This time she moved up the boards and fired from the circle. Incredibly, with 24 seconds remaining, MacLeodÂ’s shot beat the screened Horak and snared the upper right corner of the net. Two to two.

With only 24 seconds to go, the Wisconsin strategy was simple. “We just wanted to get through those 20 seconds to get to overtime,” Johnson said.

The Badgers got through it, but not unscathed. With 14 seconds to go, referee Jay Mendel called Wisconsin’s Bobbi-Jo Slusar for interference. Normally, in a game of such high intensity, a penalty would have to be flagrant to be considered as time ran out. Veteran officials call it “a feel for the game,” and while games are not supposed to be called more leniently in the later stages, the fact is, they usually are. In this case, however, there had been a lot of collisions that had gone uncalled during the game, which made the late interference call seem even more obtrusive.

The Badgers killed the final 14 seconds, and still had hope, if they could kill that penalty. But at the buzzer, Mendel added another penalty, to WisconsinÂ’s Nikki Burish, for high-sticking. That meant the Badgers would play the first 1:46 of sudden-death overtime for the WCHA playoff championship game two skaters short. Johnson exchanged some words with Mendel, as he walked across the ice at the end of the third period, and his futility had to felt even by the Gopher fans. One questionable penalty would put the Badgers in serious jeopardy, but facing the Gophers two skaters short would make their task in overtime hopeless.

And it was.

The Wisconsin goal and the outnumbered Badgers were surrounded by world-class, white-jerseyed Minnesota Golden Gophers when overtime started. U.S. National linemates Natalie Darwitz, Krissy Wendell and Kelly Stephens were out there, along with U.S. National defenseman Lyndsay Wall, and WCHA freshman of the year Bobbi Ross. Most of them touched the puck, and there was a lot of room to see it for goaltender Megan Horras, because there were only three Badger defenders out there with her. Horras tried to keep up with the angle as the Gophers threw the puck around quickly. Stephens passed from the left side to Darwitz inside left point, and Darwitz, the nationÂ’s scoring leader, immediately relayed it to the right side of the net, where Wendell, a left-handed shooter, and the nationÂ’s top goal-scorer, swung hard.

She didnÂ’t hit the puck squarely, but it didnÂ’t matter. Horras had been on top of her game all weekend, but she couldnÂ’t get all the way across to cover, and WendellÂ’s shot flew, straight and true, but in painstakingly slow yet inevitable motion, finding the open net after only 19 seconds of overtime. It was WendellÂ’s 40th goal, to go with 55 assists for 95 points.

The Gophers streamed off the bench in their home arena, perhaps as relieved as joyful, at escaping WisconsinÂ’s spellbinding last-minute rally with a 3-2 victory.

“I’ve been around hockey a long time, and a lot of strange things happen,” said Johnson, afterward, as he chose his words judiciously. “They (the officials) have a job to do, and I’m sure they’re going to do it to the best of their ability and capability. The penalties certainly made it interesting. But I’m from the school that you want the players to decide the game.”

The tournamentÂ’s championship game was testimony to coach JohnsonÂ’s strategy. The Badgers not only harnessed MinnesotaÂ’s explosive offense, but outshot Minnesota 9-3 in the first period. They again harnessed the Gophers effectively in the second period, but when referee Mendel called Lindsay Macy for tripping in the closing seconds of the still-scoreless game, MinnesotaÂ’s potent power play connected with less than five seconds remaining in the second period. Wall fed Wendell on the right point, and WendellÂ’s hard pass through traffic to the left edge was one-timed by Darwitz for a 1-0 lead at 19:46.

“You’re dealing with world-class players here,” said Johnson. “Not many players could take the puck like Krissy and saucer a pass over to Natalie for a one-timer.”

Another penalty to Macy early in the third period arranged the scenario again. This time Darwitz and Wall collaborated for a shot and Ross knocked in the rebound at 5:26. The power-play goal and a 2-0 Minnesota lead made it look like another in a long series of good performances that fell short against the Gophers.

“Wisconsin carried play in the first period and most of the second,” said Darwitz, whose goals and two assists boosted her over the 100-point plateau with 39 goals, 63 assists for 102 points. “We played a great third period – the best period of the tournament for us, definitely.”

When the Badgers failed to generate much attack on a power play of their own midway through the third period, there seemed no doubt in the minds of 1,513 fans that the result was secured. But then came that final minute, and WisconsinÂ’s six-attacker try clicked twice.
Darwitz said she had never played in a game where an opponent had pulled its goalie and scored twice in the last minute. Wendell and Lyndsay Wall said they hadnÂ’t either.

“It’s not a good feeling on the bench, either,” said Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson.

U.S. women top Canada, subzero cold for fifth in bandy

Team USA had age and experience on its side. That, and a good nightÂ’s sleep brought the U.S. skaters back with enough fire to defy subzero cold and beat Canada 2-0 to claim fifth place Friday at the WomenÂ’s Bandy World Championships.

The age and experience didnÂ’t mean as much as young legs Friday night, when the same teams met in what was the second game of the day for both teams, to conclude the round-robin portion of the tournament. In that one, CanadaÂ’s youthful squad, which averages 20 years of age compared to Team USA’s average age of 38, outhustled the U.S. 1-0 for the first victory for Canada in its first World Bandy Championship.

There wasnÂ’t much time between the end of Thursday nightÂ’s game and the 9 a.m. start on a bright, sunny Friday, but it was enough time for the U.S. squad to recharge and match CanadaÂ’s vigor. The Canadian team, which ordinarily plays ringette and came together for two exhibition games over the Christmas holidays, and for this tournament, which was held at the John Rose Oval in Roseville, Minnesota.

While the sun was shining brightly, the temperature was minus-5 degrees Fahrenheit at the start, and the wind was blowing from the north end toward the south at a bone-chilling 30 miles per hour, making a windchill temperature of about 25 degrees below zero.

Skating with the wind at their backs, the U.S. skaters gained the lead off a perfect corner pass play, when Heather Pritchard, the sweeper on Team USAÂ’s stout defense, drilled her shot after 10:28 of play in the first half.

The lead held through a very closely contested half,, then the teams took an extended half-hour break inside to thaw out their body parts. The test was whether the U.S. could maintain its pace in the second half, when it had to skate into that same brisk wind, which kept the various flags flapping straight out on the sidelines.

The question was answered when Team USA did far more than just bunch up defensively, and pressed their attack. When they were awarded possession for a right corner pass-in 6:30 into the second 30-minute half, Janice Klausing golfed a low shot cleanly into CanadaÂ’s goal. On corner passes, the defending team must start on its own goal line, then they disperse as the pass is made, trying to cover the opposing shooters. But Klausing’s right-handed swat drove the ball through the scrambling Canadian skaters and into the lower left of the net.

“We put our thoughts together for today’s game,” said Klausing, after Team USA had claimed the 2-0 victory – its first in two World Championship appearances – for fifth place. “Fast ice helps, and a good night’s sleep.”

Canada’s Chris Delisle said: “The cold really shut us down. And the wind was so strong. When we first cameout, we were frozen. We had more energy last night.”

An interesting comparison was that Delisle is 18, in her first year at the University of Manitoba, while Klausing is 42 years old. As Delisle said, the severe cold seemed to affect Canada more than the U.S., and it didnÂ’t make her feel any better that she and her team are from Winnipeg, the Manitoba city being credited with being the site from where the severe cold front was coming from.

“Give credit to the U.S., they played a better game,” said Canada coach Costa Cholakis. “The U.S. yesterday had some good scoring chances on corners, but didn’t capitalize. Today, they scored beautiful goals on two chances on corners, which meant we were chasing them.”

U.S. coach Paul Meehl said he always hears the talk about tactics involving the wind, and he took the wind at his back for the first half, but acknowledged it might all be more psychological than fact.
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“The thing about the wind,” Meehl said, “is that whichever way you’re going to try to score, you’re going the other way half the time.

“But you always want to take the wind,when you can, because you never know if the wind might change by the second half,” Meehl added. “We put a priority on getting the first goal, and once we got it, we played a strong game defensively and shut down the middle of the ice. We clogged up the middle, and then we got a second goal on a perfectly excecuted corner stroke.”

The tournament, which concludes Saturday with a third-place game at 12 noon, and the championship at 3 p.m., will end the season for Canada.

“We have no rink in Winnipeg,” said Delisle, “so our season is over.”
Aside from practicing on a hockey rink, which is tiny compared to a bandy rink, which is the same size as a soccer field, CanadaÂ’s players found a practice site on a water hazard at a Winnipeg golf course. ThatÂ’s at least big enough, although Cholakis said that the ice on the water hazard has a few trees and shrubs on it.

The John Rose Oval is the only bandy rink in Minnesota, but BlaineÂ’s National Sports Center, which has four rinks, is considering a plan to add a bandy rink.

The sport of bandy, using a hard but light ball, with short sticks that can easily be one-handed, has 11 players a side, similar to soccer, and stresses great skating speed and finesse, with no bodychecking allowed.

“Our next goal is to get a rink,” said Delisle. “We’ll never catch upto the Swedes if we don’t have a rink.”

The intention is to aim for getting bandy installed as a Winter Olympic sport. Sweden, Finland, Russia and Norway –the teams playing in Friday night’s semifinals, are the top countries for bandy, but the range of skill levels is similar to women’s hockey, which has been in the Olympics since 1998.

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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.