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.

NHL’s new long-pass rule may help fans forget lockout

The National Hockey League not only returns to action this fall, but it could be the fastest, most wide-open NHL in the leagueÂ’s history. College hockey fans, a fervent cult unto themselves, already know what the NHL hasnÂ’t yet comprehended: Eliminating a little nuisance called the two-line pass will open the floodgates to let the best hockey players in the world fully explore their potential.

Pro hockey has used the center red line to determine how long a pass can be ever since World War II, while college hockey rules only use the center red line only for determining icing. When the NHL resumes play after taking last season off, it will do so with the college passing rule.

Traditionalists have long fought to keep the two-line passing rule, without ever knowing why, except that it was traditional. Tradition, by itself, is the worst justification for anything. But NHL old-timers have never known anything different. Whenever a team was in its own defensive zone, it could pass ahead to a teammate, but only across the nearest blue line; the pass had to be completed before that teammate reached the center red line, or else – whistle! – the dreaded two-line pass would be called to stop play for a faceoff.

In college hockey, a player pinned up against his own end boards, could fire a pass all the way to the far blue line, hitting a streaking winger with a 120-foot missile. Still, you can’t try to clear the puck from your side of the red line to the far end without it still being called icing and brought back to your end for a faceoff.

If pro hockey stalwarts have never watched a college game, they have no idea how exciting it is to see such wide-open scoring chances. Defensive zealots, and a few goaltenders, who prefer trapping defenses to forechecking and breakaways, may wake up in a cold sweat at the very thought of finding defensive players who can skate with those fast-breaking wingers, rather than merely waiting until the attackers had to slow down at the red line.

Another asset to the long-passing rule is that, even though traditionalists argue that the rule could ruin defensive concepts of the game, instead there will be some spectacular defensive plays. But the defenders will have to be extremely alert, ready to turn and go at high speed, rather than trust their usual assets – clutching, grabbing and hooking.

Nobody can calculate how many spectacular scoring chances and how many more high-speed breakaways and 2-on-1s have been forfeited by the stifling and archaic NHL rules.

The only previous chance the NHL had to adopt the non-redline rule was at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Recall that Sweden, playing a long-passing, wide-open style, would send one or even two forwards streaking up the rink, all the way across the far blue line. NHL-trained defensemen dropped back but relaxed at their own blue line, because any pass across that line would, of course, be offside. But the Swedes would then circle back to catch those 100-foot passes and finish their high-speed circles to sprint in at the unprotected goaltender.

The style confounded NHL purists. Heck, it confounded NHL players. Remember that Sweden humiliated what had been called the strongest Team Canada ever assembled with a 6-2 blowout in a preliminary round game. Canada went on to win the gold medal, but the biggest gasp of relief came when Sweden was upset by Belarus in a quarterfinal game. Otherwise, Canada would have had to beat Sweden in the semifinals, instead of the drained and satisfied Belarus, before getting past the U.S. in the final.

The point was, throughout the Olympics, the action was fast and furious – and eye-catching with its excitement. The International rules, like college, allow the long passes. All along, top NHL executives grudgingly acknowledged that the games were faster and more exciting in that wide-open style, and hints were everywhere that the NHL would reexamine its rules.

Then Canada won the gold medal, and the same NHL executives and management types puffed out their chests and said, “Well, I guess our style of play is OK after all.”

All that work, all the effort Herb Brooks had put in to distill the top U.S. National Hockey Leaguers to adapt to his hybrid, fast-breaking, puck-controlling style, were swept away. Canada rules, helped by an NHL officiating staff that called the final like a typical, clutch-and-grab NHL game, forgetting entirely about International rules. Ask Mike Modano, or Jeremy Roenick, or Brett Hull, which style they’d prefer to play – Herbie’s style, or the NHL style of the past 50 years.

Stubbornness has long been the biggest liability the NHL has had in preventing itself from achieving its own potential. For example, few observers who praise the two-line pass presence of the center red line seem to be unaware of the wonderful story about how it was put in place to begin with. During World War II, so many of the young men from Canada and the U.S. went off to war that the NHL faced a shortage of players. So it was decided to put in a red line across the middle of the rink, and declare that nobody could pass across it until they had the puck across their own blue line. That would allow some of the old and aging defensemen, who were too old to go to war, to keep playing, so that the league could keep functioning through the war years.

As a cynic who always has preferred the college game, I once wrote that the pro hockeyÂ’s biggest problem is that nobody has told the NHL that World War II ended.

If stubbornness prevailed, in the name of tradition, it took more stubbornness on both sides to cost the National Hockey League a full season of play, and also established pro hockey as an easy target for columnists throughout the United States who needed somewhere to vent any accumulated venom. Those columnists, particularly those who rarely attend hockey games anyhow, took great glee in ridiculing the NHL by calling both sides stupid, suggesting the lockout could be suicidal to the leagueÂ’s future, or, worse, saying that nobody cares anyway.

Critics have a point. Hockey, many agree, is followed by the most intense body of fans on the planet, but the sport is nowhere near as universally popular as baseball, football or basketball. As Bill Clinton might say, however, “It depends on your definition of universal.”

Baseball is big in the U.S., big in Central America, and big in Japan – and that’s it. In case you forget, the International Olympic Committee just dropped baseball from being an Olympic sport because of scant participation around the world. Football? The NHL tries to force it into England and Europe, but everywhere outside of the U.S., soccer is what they mean when they say football. Basketball is played some in countries that can grow 7-footers, such as Russia, or Italy, with a flurry in China, and Yugoslavia, but not much, considering it only takes five players to create a winning team.

Hockey, meanwhile, is played and played well in Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, and on a lesser scale in the Far East, and even in Great Britain and Australia. It took far less to create the gold medal upset when the old USSR beat the U.S. in Olympic basketball than it did for the U.S. collegians to conquer the USSR, Sweden, Finland, Canada and the Czechs in 1980Â’s hockey tournament.

Still, hockey is not major in many parts of the U.S., and the lack of a strong national television contract is evidence. ThatÂ’s what led to the nobody-wins lockout situation, where both sides were at fault, or neither side was at fault, depending upon your perspective.
Hockey needed to make itself more wide-open, to let the skaters and playmakers have enough room to skate, make plays, and score more goals. But the sport seemed helpless to help itself. Television revenue is what makes football successful at those colleges where it is a success. Removing television revenue, shared among conferences, reduces the number of college football programs that actually make a profit to a half dozen or so, according to nationally circulated statistics a few years ago.

No question, pro baseball, football and basketball have lucrative network contracts, and thus make more money, and can better afford the outrageous salaries players command. Hockey could never afford such salaries, but, driven by the demands of agents, some of whom also represent players in the other pro sports, caused the NHL teams to pay and pay until even the highest ticket prices couldnÂ’t assure financial stability.

Something had to be done. The owners needed a salary cap, and the players, deep down, knew it. But the players association went into negotiations saying they’d do anything – “except a salary cap.” Since a salary cap was the most pressing need, there were no serious negotiations. The lockout kept the players – and fans – out of the arenas, and things got particularly tough when, at midseason, a couple of owners whispered that they were losing less money by not playing than they’d be losing by playing the way things were.

Finally, faced with what might have been the complete eradication of pro hockey as we know it, the players association gave in. Giving back 24 percent of their salaries, and seriously limiting team and individual player salaries will make for a far more even playing surface. And there is a chance for profitability.

In the big picture, however, the best chance for a more exciting game — and the possible TV contract that could follow – is in place because of a couple of rule changes. There had been talk of not letting the goalies handle the puck(!), and of making the goals larger, like soccer goals, to allow more goals – forget about having to throw out all the old scoring records. Widening the blue lines to make the offensive zones larger is questionable, and not really necessary. Making the goaltendersÂ’ pads closer to the size configuration that the rules call for, will help to give shooters some openings, and perhaps officials will have to measure goalie pads the way they measure sticks for illegal curves.

But without question, the elimination of the two-line passing rule is the biggest attribute that NHL players and fans can look forward to. After everyone gets used to the new, high-speed game, and teams start acquiring players who can skate and pass rather than those who can lift heavy things and clutch and grab, they will look back someday and think about how archaic the old rules were. Remember hearing about the way girls basketball rules used to be in some places, where a player could only dribble two bounces, then had to pass, and a player on the defensive side of the court couldnÂ’t advance across to the offensive side? ThatÂ’s the way the old NHL rules will someday be recalled.

When you get a chance to catch the “new” NHL, on television or in person, check it out. The only remaining cynics – aside from those who donÂ’t yet realize World War II is over — are those who donÂ’t want to see guys named Modano, Naslund, Forsberg, Datsyuk, and Kariya skating at full speed to catch a 120-foot breakaway pass. Can you say: “breathtaking?” Can you say: “Where can I buy a ticket?” Can you say: “What lockout?”

Games in hand scramble WCHA race at midpoint

If any WCHA series could rank as a microcosm for the whole first half of the season it might have been when defending NCAA champion Denver played at preseason coachesÂ’ favorite Minnesota-Duluth in the final series before holiday tournament break. It could hardly have been a closer duel, as the teams played to a 4-4 tie in the first game, then did the same in the rematch, before Denver escaped from the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center with a 5-4 victory in overtime.

Denver coach George Gwozdecky expressed some relief after taking three points out of the DECC series, and remarked about how typical both of the games were in the recent history of DU-UMD matches.
Then Gwozdecky said: “At times it was hard-fought, and at times it was helter-skelter.”

There. That says it all about the fast-paced and crazy series between the two teams, but it also best-describes the first half of the WCHA race, where, if anything, the amazing momentum swings leave a title race looks more wide-open than it was at the start of the season.
Wisconsin stands in first place at 10-4, for 20 points, and North Dakota second at 9-6-1, for 19 points. Impressive as those two teams have been, however, there is reason to suspect that the next three teams in order rank as the primary threats – Colorado College and Minnesota – tied at 18 points – and Denver with 17 points.

Minnesota-Duluth, after zooming to a 4-0 for first place in the league, 5-0-1 overall, and the No. 1 rank in the nation, went into an incredible 1-6 tailspin to and stand 6-7-1 in league play, for 13 points, but nobody doubts the BulldogsÂ’ chances for getting everything back in order for the second half.

The reason Minnesota, CC and Denver all look like such title threats, however, is the all-important loss column. When the number of games varies among teams on the way to final equality, the most victories capture the headlines, but the fewest losses generally win championships. In addition, when teams make up the game disparity they have a chance to add victories, while those with more victories cannot deduct losses.

Wisconsin has only four losses, and the Badgers first-place points were accrued over 14 games, while North Dakota has played 16 WCHA games, with six losses. CC, Minnesota and Denver, however, have played only 12 WCHA games. At identical 9-3 records, either Colorado College or Minnesota could vault into first place simply by winning the two “games in hand” they have compared to Wisconsin.

When it was suggested to Minnesota coach Don Lucia that his Gophers and CC, having split a crucial series at Colorado Springs, might be favorites, said, simply: “Watch out for Denver.”

The Pioneers, who sputtered and struggled through most of last season, then came alive at NCAA tournament time and rose to capture the big trophy, also have only three losses, at 8-3-1.

UMD, meanwhile, never scored fewer than four goals and averaged 5.75 goals per game in running to its 4-0 league start, then never scored as many as four in a game while averaging a paltry 1.7 goals per game during their 1-6 league reversal. The Bulldogs’ inability to score climaxed in a 5-1 loss to North Dakota at the DECC, when they trailed the Sioux 5-0 before Marco Peluso scored something of a fluke goal on a two-man power play for a 5-1 loss. The next night, trailing 2-0, finally reached that “4” plateau for a 4-3 victory.

That game ended a string where UMD had won only two of 11 games overall (2-8-1), and that was when Denver came to Duluth.

Fast-paced as the first game was, it was odd because it never was racehorse, back and forth. Instead, one team dominated, then the other. Jon Foster and Luke Fulghum gave Denver a 2-0 lead in the first period, when Denver outshot the Â’Dogs 11-7. UMD then took over for goals by Brett Hammond, Todd Smith and Tim Hambly in the second period, and Luke StauffacherÂ’s power-play goal gave UMD its fourth straight goal and a 4-2 lead. But Fulghum scored shorthanded for Denver, and the Pioneers reclaimed the momentum when Gabe Gauthier scored a power-play goal a minute later for a 4-4 tie that withstood the final 13 minutes and overtime.

With coach Scott Sandelin off coaching the U..S. team in the World Junior tournament, assistant Steve Rohlik coached UMD. “I told our guys before the game that I wished I could play just one shift, to get rid of the jitters,” said Rohlik, a former star whose last college game was when he helped lead Wisconsin to the 1990 NCAA title, and whose last previous game as head coach was in the 1997 Minnesota state high school tournament, when Rohlik’s Hill-Murray lost to Edina in three overtimes.

The next night, it was more of the same – again, typifying both UMD and Denver, and the whole WCHA tangle. Ryan Helgason staked Denver to a 1-0 lead in the first period, which established a startling record that best-explains UMD’s struggles: It was the 16th game out of 20 this season’s first 20 games that the Bulldogs yielded the first goal.
UMD came battling back, as usual, this time with Peluso, Steve Czech and Stauffacher scoring second-period goals for a 3-1 Bulldog lead. The third period caused a similar reversal, as Matt Carle scored on a power play and Mike Handza tied it 4-4 at 6:54. Rohlik pulled starting goalie Josh Johnson at that point, but Isaac Reichmuth was greeted by FulghamÂ’s third goal of the weekend just 28 seconds later, and Denver led 4-3.

That led to a dramatic finish to the third period, when Evan Schwabe scored a one-timer from the right edge with 3:53 remaining for a 4-4 tie that duplicated FridayÂ’s ebb-and-flow battle. This time, however, the puck dropped for overtime and Jeff Drummond went to the crease to score at 0:15, and Denver had its 5-4 victory.

So preseason favorite UMD seemed to get healthy – scoring four goals for three straight games, even if they only went 1-1-1 – and the Bulldogs could take extra satisfaction in knowing that their seven league losses include five on the road, and they are 4-2 at home, where they open the second half with four straight at the DECC. And Denver stayed in hot contention with the three points on the road, a perfect launching pad for the second half.

Danica Patrick, without the hype, tries second Indy 500

The Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would indicate that pole-sitter Sam Hornish should be the favorite to win SundayÂ’s 90th Indianapolis 500. If not Hornish, his Team Penske teammate of Helio Castroneves, and Target-Chip GanassiÂ’s Dan Wheldon are his top challengers.

After those three, who will start on the front row, GanassiÂ’s Scott Dixon, starting fourth, or Andretti-Green ace Tony Kanaan, starting fifth, are the next best bets. After that, the colorful return to the Indy 500 by Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr., and Eddie Cheever have drawn a lot of attention.

They can call it smart money, or unimaginative guesswork, but it doesnÂ’t take a lot of courage to pick one of the top five qualifiers to win the race. Once in a while, the 500 goes according to form. More often, it varies greatly.

Me? IÂ’m pulling for Danica Patrick. Without the pile of publicity, and without what appears to be a highly competitive car, Patrick, the only woman in the race for the second year in a row, qualified 10th, so will start on the inside of Row 4.

The media frenzy that followed Danica Patrick through her first attempt to race in the Indianapolis 500 a year ago was overdone and over-hyped. After the race, when she finished fourth, the hype turned some different directions, one of which was scorn.

A number of “mainstream” media guys – so-called because they are so focused on stick and ball sports like baseball, football and basketball that they are actually annoyed at having to be distracted from that focus – started to rip on Patrick. They criticized her because she was beautiful, and wasn’t afraid to put on a little makeup and some fetching clothes for photo opportunities, and they criticized her for being over-hyped.

It was an interesting tendency to witness, because some of the same fellows who clamored to out-hype their rivals in over-hyping Danica Patrick, then ripped into her for being over-hyped.

I had an interesting session last year, because having missed only three Indy 500s since 1969, I was attending it for the third straight year as part of the Midwest Auto Media Association (MAMA), a collection of automotive journalists who went by coach bus from a predawn race-day Chicago venue to the race, with an immediate return to Chicago afterward. On the way to the track, somebody came up with the idea of all of us tossing $5 into a pool, and drawing for names. I drew – Danica Patrick.

Now, I was interested to follow her through practice and qualifying, and the race, although I didnÂ’t expect her to be able to break into the all-menÂ’s club of winning, or even contending, in the race. A group of us sat in Turn 1 for the race, and it proved a great vantage point.

In watching the race unfold, where every little nuance early in the race could contribute to final contention, I was impressed when Patrick kept running among the leaders. She actually passed Dan Wheldon, the eventual winner, in race trim during the race. One pit stop got fouled up, which was unfortunate, and the luck of the timing of pit stops during caution slowdowns dropped her to 10th place, and apparently out of contention.

However, as the race boiled down to the homestretch, the leaders all were calculating one final pit stop and how theyÂ’d need at least a splash of extra fuel to make it to the finish. In a bit of brilliant strategy, PatrickÂ’s Rahal-Letterman crew gambled and let Danica Patrick stay on the track. When all the rest of the leaders pitted, Patrick wound up in first place.

She led the Indianapolis 500, running hard and at full speed. It used to be that the Indy 500 drew the biggest names in motorsports in the world, every year. Under the current split of U.S. open-wheel racing, we could only say she led the biggest names in motorsports this side of Formula 1 and NASCAR. Still, it was a marvelous performance.

In the closing laps, Wheldon and the rest of the hottest runners cut into her lead. Her crew realized she would have to back off on her pace or not finish, which was an all-or-nothing choice. She backed off a little, and it turned out Wheldon and three others passed her to finish 1-2-3 ahead of the most impressive female sports performance in racing – except in drag-racing, where several women have done very well.

But to read some of the post-race columnists, her performance was no big deal. After she ran the next few races, and ran competitively without winning, one syndicated columnist tore into her. SheÂ’s hasnÂ’t won, he wrote; Anika Sorenstam, the fantastic womenÂ’s golfer, was a dominant force and won consistently, which made this fellow claim that she should be the female athlete reaping the rewards of all the media hype, and not Patrick.

A year later, letÂ’s let a tiny bit of logic venture into the debate. Sorenstam, truly an amazing golfer, has entered a couple of menÂ’s tournaments. In golf, women tee off from shorter distances, because they canÂ’t hit the ball as far. Simple as that. In several impressive attempts, Sorenstam came close to qualifying, and played very competitively with the bottom qualifiers for a couple of rounds. Very impressive. Then she would return to the LPGA, and again dominate.

But Danica Patrick wasn’t running in a powder-puff derby, or a celebrity race-against-the-media type preliminary. She was racing against the best open-wheel race drivers in the world, and she not only competed – she LED the Indianapolis 500 with 10 laps to go! Not only that, but the earlier pit foul-up hadn’t occurred, the seconds she lost there clearly would have made up for the deficit she had at the finish.
{IMG2}
To compare, Sorenstam would have to qualify for the Masters – not for some remote PGA event – and she would have to have risen from contending for the lead to actually take the lead after three rounds. At the Masters. If she did that, and then faded to fourth behind Tiger Wood only because her caddy dropped her putter in a pond by mistake, believe me, she would have gotten all the hype she could have wanted from the “mainstream” media.

None other than former NASCAR “King” Richard Petty added his two cents worth, saying that women don’t belong in serious racing, and virtually adding that Patrick should be home, in the kitchen. Patrick dryly suggested that ol’ Richard might be suffering from a generation gap. Let the record show that Petty used to be my favorite NASCAR driver, and he must have been speaking from behind the secure rollcage of a full-metal stock car jacket, because he never had the wherewithal (courage?) to drive one of those missile-like Indy race cars at lap averages of 225 mph.

Of the 33 cars, maybe a dozen– by a combination of preparation, adjustments, and good luck — will end up making it to the final 25 laps with the proper driver, engine, suspension, tires and pit work to be in hot contention to win the race. The Rahal-Letterman team was the 500 darling the last few years, with Buddy Rice winning, and then with Danica Patrick last year, and with the gap-toothed support of night-show star David Letterman urging them on.

The hype has scaled back this year, and the team has not been a top threat in the early IRL races. But they know the short way around that 2.5-mile oval, and if all goes well, Danica Patrick could be right up there at the finish.

Goepfert, Huskies trip UMD, face No. 1 Gophers

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Minnesota-Duluth was the biggest surprise entry to the WCHA Final Five, and the Bulldogs rode in on the startling success of unheralded reserve goaltender Nate Ziegelmann, who had upset Denver in two of three games last weekend. But where goaltending is concerned, St. Cloud State’s Bobby Goepfert won all the league awards as top goalie, and he gave a display of how that happened to lead the Huskies to a 5-1 victory in Thursday’s tournament opener.

There was some disagreement when Goepfert was named first team all-WCHA goaltender earlier Thursday, but the Huskies junior, a transfer from Providence, strode out onto the Xcel Energy Center ice sheet and eliminated the critics – especially any of those wearing Minnesota-Duluth jerseys – by kicking out 36 of 37 shots he faced to frustrate the Bulldogs in the “play-in” game of the WCHA Final Five tournament.

The game drew a first-game record crowd of 16,312 – perhaps a benefit of the busride range of all five entrants, where UMD, St. Cloud State and No. 1 Minnesota are all within an hour or two, and the most distant teams are Wisconsin and North Dakota. Wisconsin might have filed the most valid complaint about the identity of the league’s best goaltender, because of Brian Elliott, who will face North Dakota in Friday’s first semifinal. But few will question the choice of the lightning-quick Goepfert after his performance allowed St. Cloud State to return to Xcel Center to face the Gophers in the second semifinal.

“As a team, it’s big for us to do well here, but the personal accolades didn’t mean anything to me as far as this game went,” said Goepfert, a transfer from Providence. “Playing the Gophers, who are No. 1 in the country, will be a big test. We’re all excited for that, but you can’t look ahead at more than one game at a time, and we were focused on Duluth.”

Motzko wasn’t so sure. One of the key factors in St. Cloud’s favor when the Huskies put their 21-15-4 record out against Minnesota’s 27-6-5 ledger will be that the Huskies got past any Xcel Center awe in the UMD game. They were apparently uptight at the start of the game, and yet they jumped ahead 3-0 – an ironic twist for Motzko, who said he hoped they’d be hustling and outworking UMD, but instead they got outhustled and yet jumped into the lead.

“We got three in the first to get ahead, and I don’t know when that’s happened,” said Motzko, whose team usually has to work hard for goals. “We needed our first line to score, and they got two, and we needed our power play to come through, and it did.”

He started to add that the Huskies also needed a strong game from Goepfert, but that was a given. “We didn’t have the energy at the start, but we got it in the third period,” Motzko said. “Everyone was surprised that Duluth beat Denver last weekend, but to me the surprise was that Duluth finished ninth, because they’re the second fastest team we’ve played, after Colorado College. We’ve become a good hockey team, and Bobby gives us a good chance to win. Bobby is what you saw tonight.”

Goepfert got all he needed in the first three minutes. Just 44 seconds after the game started, Bill Hengen got the puck back after a left corner faceoff, and drilled a shot past UMD goaltender Nate Ziegelmann for a 1-0 lead. At 3:18, Nate Dey scored for a 2-0 St. Cloud lead, and UMD hadnÂ’t had a shot yet. The Bulldogs started shooting, as well as skating and moving the puck in something close to dominant fashion, but when St. Cloud got the only power play of the first period, Brook Hooten got free on the left side of the net and quickly converted a perfect pass across the goal-mouth from Joe Jensen, deep in the right corner, at 12:55.

With Goepfert in goal, the 3-0 lead must have seemed like a mountain to the Bulldogs, although Tim Stapleton came back to snap a screened shot past Goepfert at 13:56 to cut the deficit to 3-1.
{IMG2}
A goal of any flavor in the second period might have lifted UMD back into it, but after outshooting the Huskies 11-6 in the first period – and 11-2 after St. Cloud’s opening flurry – UMD stormed the net in the second period, outshooting the Huskies 15-3. But Goepfert allowed nothing to pass.

“It’s a great building to play in, and the whole event is great for our team to be a part of,” said Goepfert. “The three quick goals made things a little easier, but I figured after the first period that the second period would be big, so I got really focused in the dressing room. I might say a few things at the start of the intermission, but then I’m pretty much silent, and I zone out…except when coach is talking.”

Stapleton was not surprised by Goepfert’s play. “I played against him in juniors, and he’s always been that way,” said Stapleton. “He makes the first save, and he doesn’t allow rebounds. We had our chances; at one point I looked up at the scoreboard and the shots were 24-8.”

But the score never got closer. The Bulldogs, who finish 11-25-4, could have made it more dramatic with a goal to open the third period, but instead Andrew Gordon scored at 0:48 off a left corner faceoff, and it was 4-1. The Huskies started firing on all cylinders after that, and got off 17 of their game total 26 shots in the final 20 minutes. They scored the final goal when UMD coach Scott Sandelin pulled Ziegelmann for a sixth attacker with 3:36 to go, hoping to cut into the three-goal deficit. But Goepfert stayed invincible, and after missing the open net twice, Hengen fired a 125-footer into the net at 17:34.

“After the first five minutes, I thought we played pretty well for the next 35 minutes,” said Sandelin. “I was proud of the way we played after being down 3-0. Obviously, when you’ve gone 1-15, things are not looking very bright, so ending our season here, instead of at Denver, was important. We had our chances, but obviously Goepfert made some saves.”

It was a tough night for Ziegelmann, whose touch turned magic last weekend in the playoffs, when he rose from No. 3 in DuluthÂ’s goaltending scenario to win his first two college games in upsetting Denver. The victories came after the Bulldogs had won just one game in calendar 2006, and reinvigorated the Bulldogs after a drop to ninth place. The victories also cost two-time defending NCAA champion Denver a chance to return to the Final Five, and ultimately will probably prevent the Pioneers to get invited to the NCAA tournament.

The 16-team NCAA field will include the top 14 ranked teams plus two independent teams, not counting any other teams that might win their league playoff and advance, despite being unranked, by displacing ranked entries. That’s where the Huskies enter the picture. They know they only have one chance to make the NCAA field, and that would be to win the Final Five championship – which, of course, means beating Minnesota in the semifinals.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

• 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:
  
  Click here for sports
  
  

• 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.