Schaublin stops Gophers, UMD offense erupts for split
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth are accustomed to teaching tough lessons to the rest of the WCHA, but this past weekend, they instead learned some hard lessons themselves in a series that may have come down to one breakaway both nights.
On Friday, UMDÂ’s Noemie Marin broke free beyond the Minnesota defense, but freshman goaltender Brittony Chartier came up with a huge save. Minnesota went on to win the first meeting of the season between the perennial WCHA womenÂ’s rivals 4-1, including an empty-net goal in the final minute.
On Saturday, UMD freshman winger Michaela Lanzl broke up-ice to gather in a perfectly placed bounce pass off the left boards, and zoomed in on a breakaway. Chartier set herself, but Lanzl made a quick move and scored, at 2:30 of the first period. UMD cruised to a 6-0 victory for a split as Riitta Schaublin, who couldnÂ’t be faulted on any of the Friday night goals, stopped all 32 Gopher shots on Saturday, making it the first time Minnesota had ever been blanked in Ridder Arena.
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Bobbi Ross, who scored three goals in the first game for Minnesota, analyzed the weekend after being blanked in the second: “It was a great feeling yesterday, but weÂ’ll have to put tonightÂ’s game behind us and not dwell on it.Ââ€
Marin, meanwhile, who played with the incomparable Canadian Olympian Caroline Ouellette last year at UMD, was blanked in the first game but responded with two goals and three assists in the second. She said the energy shift was obvious: “Everybody was cheering for everybody else on the bench. There was no selfishness. We have to build on this, and hopefully next time we can win both games.Ââ€
It was not earth-shaking that No. 2 rated Minnesota-Duluth and No. 4 ranked Minnesota split their WCHA womenÂ’s hockey series. What was surprising that the two games seemed devoid of the electricity that usually underscores each shift. “Usually, itÂ’s so intense that thereÂ’s some hostility every shift when we play Duluth,†said Ross. “It wasnÂ’t that way, and I was surprised.Ââ€
Ross and Chartier were personally responsible for seeing to it that the Gophers were properly wired for the first game. Ross scored a power-play goal on a deflection at 2:25 of the first period, and converted a pass from behind the net with a quick shot from the left circle for a 2-0 lead.
Jill Sales broke ChartierÂ’s shutout with the strangest goal of the weekend to open the second period. Sales, a defenseman, flipped a shot past a defending Gopher and it approached Chartier at about the speed of an easy double-play grounder to short. Chartier may, in fact, have taken a glance at where she intended to play the puck, but amazingly it skipped right between her legpads and UMD was back in it at 2-1.
Not to worry. Ross came right back to score again, completing a hat trick to make it 3-1 for Minnesota. UMD outshot Minnesota 32-21 for the game, including 15-3 in the third period, but actually, none of the shots seemed potent enough to beat Chartier, and the only remaining goal was by Marley Wournell into an empty net.
“It was a big win for us,†said Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson. “Brittony wanted that goal back, but Bobbi got it back. I thought it was a big factor when Chartier stopped that breakaway.Ââ€
A second UMD goal was disallowed. Allison Lehrke reached up and batted a popped-up puck out of the air with her glove. The puck bounced around among a couple of defensemen before it was knocked in by another UMD player. Lehrke was asked if someone handled the puck after she batted it down. “I donÂ’t know,†she said. “I got cross-checked right away and didnÂ’t see what happened.Ââ€
The goal was immediately waved off by referee Evonne Young.
UMD was without Lanzl in the first game. The former German National team star had an upset stomach earlier in the week, and was tested for appendicitis. She was cleared, but didnÂ’t feel 100 percent, so coach Shannon Miller kept her out of the first game. Miller acknowledged that missing a player of LanzlÂ’s skill was a detriment, but was more concerned with her teamÂ’s lack of fire.
“When you have an opponent that is your equal, you’ve got to be there every moment of the game,†she said.
So timid was UMDÂ’s offense that it misfired on all nine power plays. Minnesota, which has lost Natalie Darwitz, Krissy Wendell, Kelly Stephens and Lyndsa Wall to the U.S. Olympic team, and goaltender Jody Horak to graduation. “We donÂ’t need people to replace them,†said Ross, “we need a team effort, with all of us going as hard as we can.Ââ€
The second-game turnabout couldnÂ’t have been more complete. The Bulldogs responded to MillerÂ’s suggestion about the benefits of playing on their toes, and hit the ice running, and MinnesotaÂ’s defense resembled UMDÂ’s first-game corps, backing up from the start and making itself susceptible to a speedy forecheck.
The ‘Dogs outshot Minnesota 11-6 in the first period, and virtually all the 11 shots had more sting to them than any of FridayÂ’s 32. LanzlÂ’s quick-hands move on her breakaway came at 2:30. She shrugged about the goal. “Sometimes my hands just do it by themselves.Ââ€
Jessica Koizumi pounced on Ashly WaggonerÂ’s rebound to make it 2-0 at 15:16 of the first, and Lehrke made it 3-0 at 16:20. Lehrke went hard to the net and was hauled down just as Sara OÂ’Toole fed a pass from the left side. The puck glanced in off the hurtling bodies.
“Duluth played much better,†said Halldorson. “I was disappoinited at the way we started; their first goal knocked the wind out ofour sails, and then it sort of snowballed.Ââ€
It almost seemed that the Gophers took a few liberties in the first game because UMD’s “power play†was misnamed, at the very least. That changed with the change of styles in the second game. The Bulldogs took the first three penalties of the second period but killed them off. Then Minnesota’s Dagney Willen smacked Juliane Jubinville from behind into the corner boards. She was assessed an immediate five-minute major and game misconduct. Feeble no more, the UMD power play clicked three times. Marin scored at 10:13 on a rebound, and she scored again at 12:40. Before the major expired, Lanzl scored at 13:59.
UMD drew the last two penalties of the second period and all four in the third, but even the six consecutive power plays didnÂ’t matter. At the second intermission, UMD had outshot Minnesota 20-16 and led 6-0. In the third, they played a containment style, seemingly unbothered that the Gophers outshot them 16-2, because Schaublin stopped everything that came her way.
“The difference was that we came out on our heels last night, and tonight we played our game, on our toes,†said Miller. “Lanzl is a dynamite player, and she has a huge effect on our team. But all three of our lines were firing.Ââ€
The split left UMD rated No. 2 in the nation, and Minnesota No. 4 as the top co-contenders for WCHA laurels. Presumably theyÂ’ll still be there on February 26-27. ThatÂ’s when they meet again, in Duluth. The electricity, we can assume, will be ON.
Both Gophers, UMD needed rivalry sweep, but got split
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — ThereÂ’s nothing like a good old-fashioned rivalry, such as when Minnesota faced Minnesota-Duluth at Mariucci Arena last weekend. You can throw away the record books when those two play. Come to think of it, both teams might prefer if you threw away the current record book.
Minnesota’s “Border Line†seems to have become borderline, while UMD shows indications of coming out of a lengthy scoring slump, but, as they say, none of that matters in a rivalry like this.
Minnesota-Duluth, located on the tip of Lake Superior, is a campus of the University of Minnesota, so Bulldog hockey games against the “Main U†annually are the biggest sports event in Duluth. There are seasons when UMD is Minnesota’s biggest rivalry, too, but from both competitive and regional impact, Minnesota also looms as the biggest natural rival for Wisconsin, North Dakota, and St. Cloud State.
A split of their weekend series only seemed appropriate, although it wasnÂ’t what either team wanted — or needed. Minnesota held off UMDÂ’s late rally for a 4-3 victory in the first game, and the Bulldogs secured a 2-1 victory in the rematch.
Scoring was no problem for Minnesota all season, thanks to the “Border LineÂ’s†three non-native Minnesotans — Ryan Potulny from Grand Forks, Dan Irmen from Fargo, and Kris Chucko from Burnaby (British Columbia), The line scored 20 of MinnesotaÂ’s 43 goals in the first nine weeks they were together, but it scored only one goal in the two losses to Michigan Tech, and its only goal during the UMD weekend was when a power-play rebound scramble tally Saturday was reappropriated to Chucko.
Unlike Minnesota, UMD didnÂ’t have hot scorers to going cold, so much as cold scorers trying to warm up. Marco Peluso warmed up to broil by scoring two of the UMD goals and assisting on the other in the 4-3 loss, and assisting on two of the three in the 3-2 victory.
The first game was scoreless through one period, then the teams erupted for four goals in less than four minutes early in the second. Derek PeltierÂ’s goal staked Minnesota to a 1-0 lead, Peluso countered promptly for UMD, and Garrett Smaagaard and defenseman Judd Stevens scored Minnesota goals for a 3-1 lead.
UMD goalie Josh Johnson played very well to hold the 3-1 deficit, but with eight minutes to go in the third period, Nate HagemoÂ’s power-play goal gave Minnesota a 4-1 lead, and the standing-room Gopher crowd of 10,149 started to taunt the Bulldogs with their “Nah, nah, nah, nah, goodbye†song. “When we got that power play goal, I thought the game was over,†said Gopher coach Don Lucia. “But they made some good plays – theyÂ’ve got some good players.Ââ€
UMDÂ’s less-heralded big line came through, when Evan Schwabe fed Peluso, whose backhander was blocked by Gopher goalie Kellen Briggs, but Bryan McGregor converted with 3:04 left. On its next line shift, Peluso drilled a long rebound with 2:15 to go, and the Gopher fans stopped taunting at 4-3, but Minnesota held on. “The bottom line was, we won the game,†said a relieved Lucia. “And it was a very, very important win for us.Ââ€
Equally important was UMDÂ’s response with a much more inspired effort the next night. “Much more aggressive, more physical,†said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We played so well in the first period that I wondered if we could sustain it for three periods.Ââ€
Senior Bulldog defenseman Tim Hambly walked in from the point to whistle a high, hard one past Briggs midway through the first period, and while ChuckoÂ’s goal tied it, UMD outshot Minnesota 17-15 in a chance-filled session. UMD took charge in the second period when Nick Anderson and Evan Schwabe scored for a 3-1 lead in the first four minutes.
Tyler Hirsch knocked in Jake FlemingÂ’s rebound at 9:15 of the second period, and it looked like the game was percolating toward a wild finish. But goalie Isaac Reichmuth stood firm, and UMD resolutely kept the puck in MinnesotaÂ’s end, outshooting the Gophers 12-6 in the third period and 45-33 for the game. An even larger crowd of10,303 was poised to cheer and jeer, but departed unfulfilled.
“ThatÂ’s as good as IÂ’ve seen a team play against us all year,†said Lucia. “They were getting to the pucks first, they got it out of their zone, and they took control of the game. We got 17 of our shots on the power play, but 5-on-5, Duluth had much more energy.Ââ€
Each team could take heart in how their victory brought them closer to where they were.
Minnesota had been cruising along No. 1 in the nation, and it appeared inevitable that the Gophers would make up its games-in-hand to overtake WCHA leader Wisconsin. But the Gophers were beaten twice at Mariucci Arena by Colorado College, and lost twice in their next home series to last-place Michigan Tech. Two straight series sweeps by visitors to Minnesota hadnÂ’t happened in 28 years, not since the late and legendary Herb Brooks coached the Gophers through a rebuilding season in 1977, the year after their second NCAA title in a three-year span.
Despite flashes of strong play, Minnesota is 1-5 record in its last three WCHA home sets, and12-8 in league play, as the Gophers learned the other side of the games-in-hand opportunity – you still have to win them to gain ground. Especially when Wisconsin refuses to fade at the upper reaches of the WCHA, and took a week off with a lofty 14-4 record, while onrushing Colorado College and Denver joined them in the “4-loss club†at 15-4-1 and 13-4-1, respectively.
UMDÂ’s struggles have been longer. A Frozen Four appearance last spring led to being declared the coachesÂ’ preseason pick to win the WCHA, and a 5-1 start and the No. 1 national ranking followed. Then the Bulldogs quit scoring, and sputtered through a 3-12-2 stretch — 2-9-2 in the WCHA. Some hope was rekindled when UMD won the second game at St. Cloud, then tied and won at Colorado College, so the split at Minnesota means the Bulldogs, who had won just once in nine games, are on a 3-1-1 rise, even though their 9-10-3 record means they are, still looking for .500, and playoff home-ice.
As for big rivalries: A revenge motive is part of the Badgers upcoming weekend, because half of WisconsinÂ’s league losses came on an early-season weekend at Mariucci. And, for this coming weekend at least, the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry is the biggest for both teams.
Huskies stop Potulny, Gophers 8-7 in OT WCHA semi
SAINT PAUL, MN. — Matt Hartman, a fourth-line sophomore, flung a shot from deep in the left corner that found the Minnesota net at 9:14 of sudden-death overtime, lifting St. Cloud State to an improbable 8-7 victory Friday night, and into a berth in SaturdayÂ’s WCHA Final Five playoff championship game. The triumph came despite a heroic performance by MinnesotaÂ’s Ryan Potulny, who scored his fourth goal of the game with 15 seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime.
In the overtime, Hartman rushed up the left boards and pulled up sharply in the corner. “Nate [Raduns] had bumped the puck ahead to me, and when I got to the corner, I saw Brocklehurst screaming down the slot there,†said Hartman.
Gopher backup goaltender Jeff Frazee also apparently saw Brocklehurst coming down the slot, and started to move off the short-side pipe, anticipating a pass. “I thought IÂ’d throw the puck on net, and it found a way through,†said Hartman. “I saw the net fly up, but I had no idea where it went in.Ââ€
The winning shot was improbable, and so was the score, but even more improbable is that the Huskies (22-15-4) snapped Minnesota’s eight-game winning streak and find themselves one game away from a berth in the NCAA tournament’s 16-team field. The playoff winner gets an automatic berth, and that’s the only way the Huskies could reach the select field. Minnesota (27-7-5) remains the nation’s No. 1 rank and will face Wisconsin in Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. third-place game – a game which could determine the nation’s No. 1 seed overall, with Minnesota No. 1 and Wisconsin No. 2 in the Pairwise ranking. St. Cloud State will take on North Dakota at 7:30 for the championship.
Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota are already secured among the nationÂ’s top 16 teams and should make the field easily when the NCAA selection committee announces its picks Sunday. But St. Cloud State had no chance of making the NCAA on ratings.
“No question, we’re playing to get into the NCAA tournament,†said coach Bob Motzko, who is in his first year at St. Cloud after assisting at Minnesota.
After North Dakota had beaten Wisconsin 4-3 in the afternoon semifinal, the Xcel Energy Center public address announcer said: “With this victory, North Dakota now advances to the championship game against Minnesota tomorrow nightÂ…Ââ€
“We heard that, in the lobby of the hotel,†said Hartman, whose winning goal was his second of the game and 10th of the season.
Brad Hooten, who also had two goals to give him six for the season, said: “No question, we fed off it.Ââ€
With both teams stressing low goals-against, the goal-scoring binge was out of character for both. Minnesota was outshot 16-8 in the first period but outshot the Huskies 51-38 for the game. “It is draining for a coach,†said Motzko. “But when the game got going like it did, we had to keep going. We knew they were having fun getting back into it, so we told the guys they had to keep going. You get into a nutty game like this, youÂ’ve got to go with it.Ââ€
Potulny certainly went with it, and as evidence of how strange the game became is that his spectacular night — with four goals and one assist — became overshadowed by the Huskies ability to overcome it. Potulny now has 38-25—63 to take the nationÂ’s point-scoring lead as well as expanding his goal-scoring lead.
The teams played nearly half the first period without a goal. Ben Gordon got one on a slick pass across the slot from Blake Wheeler at 9:36 to stake Minnesota to a 1-0 lead, but Matt Hartman tied it 1-1 at 10:57 when he scored with a one-timer after Matt StephensonÂ’s shot was deflected to him at the left of the carge. Minnesota sophomore defenseman Alex Goligoski regained the lead 2-1 for Minnesota at 13:33, but then went off for a penalty that opened the chance for Andrew Gordon, who scored his 20th with a screened wrist shot from center point that eluded goaltender Kellen Briggs at 15:02.
The flurry of four goals in six minutes should have been an indication of things to come, but nobody could foresee the second period antics, as the Huskies scored three straight goals to stun the Gophers. Andrew Gordon got his second of the game at 0:58, Casey Borer beat Briggs with a wrist shot from the left point at 3:50, and Grant Clafton scored at 5:54, making it the first time in 49 games the Gophers had yielded as many as five goals, and prompting Minnesota coach Don Lucia to pull Briggs for backup Jeff Frazee.
“It was one of those games where the puck was going in, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be 8-7,†said Lucia. “When they got ahead by three, I thought it was one of those nights for us.Ââ€
Potulny and the Gopher power play kept the game within reach, as Potulny, a left-handed shooter, drilled Phil KesselÂ’s pass from the right circle at 9:43 to cut it to 5-3. But after Potulny scored his nation-leading 35th goal, Brock Hooten scored his fifth for St. Cloud by intercepting a careless breakout attempt up the slot, walking in and firing past Frazee at 11:40 of the middle period.
Before the second period ended, Potulny smacked in Danny Irmen’s pass at 14:08, and then completed his hat trick with a power play goal when Kessel went behind the net and fed him at his favorite right circle station – with a scant 0.4 seconds remaining. It was dramatic, and it cut the deficit to 6-5, but amazingly enough, the drama was still in its preliminary stage.
“The way we played, itÂ’s just not going to cut it,†said Potulny. “I think the team decided it was time to turn things around, and I was in the right spot at the right time.Ââ€
The Gophers had outshot St. Cloud 17-12 in the wild second period, and they stormed the Huskies goal for a 20-7 shooting edge in the third, which put ace St. Cloud goaltender Bobby Goepfert under intense pressure. Despite the score, he played well. “He let in seven, and he made some big-time saves,†Lucia said.
The Huskies were left clinging to the 6-5 lead through the first 16 minutes of the third period, then Hooten blocked the puck free and zoomed in to score on a breakaway for a 7-5 Huskies lead at 16:21.
Undeterred, the Gophers swarmed on the attack, and Irmen lifted a rebound up and over the fallen Goepfert with 2:01 to play to cut it to 7-6.
“When St. Cloud went back up by two goals, I was so mad I didnÂ’t even want to pull the goalie,†said Lucia. “Then we scored, and I had to.Ââ€
Lucia called time, and pulled Frazee for a six-skater attack. The Gophers pressed, the Huskies defended, and as the last minute ticked away, Kessel forechecked the puck free to Irmen, who curled up the boards from the left corner and spotted Potulny at – guess where? – the right circle. Irmen’s pinpoint pass was perfect, and Potulny one-timed it for his 38th goal of the season at 19:45.
“We tie it with 15 seconds to go,†said Lucia, who could appreciate how much the fans must have enjoyed the explosive game. “For the fans – my gosh – they shouldÂ’ve charged $50.Ââ€
Sioux upset, Badger title prove Women’s WCHA parity
Ever since the WCHA sanctioned womenÂ’s hockey, league members have patiently awaited the day when parity would truly arrive, and when the University of Minnesota-Duluth and the University of Minnesota would be challenged by teams throughout the rest of the league.
The time might have arrived, officially, on Saturday, February 11, 2006. That was the day that Wisconsin defeated Minnesota to gain a split of their series, and successfully clinch the WomenÂ’s WCHA championship for Wisconsin. It is the first time someone other than UMD or Minnesota has won the league regular-season championship after six seasons of Bulldog/Gopher domination.
Of course, UMD won the first three of five NCAA womenÂ’s hockey tournaments, and Minnesota won the most recent two, as well. WisconsinÂ’s rise has been evident all season, but the actual mathematic clinching of the crown, outdistancing second-place UMD, made it official.
The Badger title may have been a foregone conclusion, but more specific evidence of WCHA parity came in Duluth, where the leagueÂ’s newest member, North Dakota, defeated the UMD Bulldogs 2-0 to split their series.
“This was definitely huge for us,†said North Dakota sophomore Cara Wooster, who scored the first goal – and the first winning goal the Fighting Sioux have ever registered against UMD. “ItÂ’s the first time weÂ’ve put everything together.Ââ€
St. Cloud State, Mankato State, Ohio State, and Bemidji State had gotten things together earlier this season, and all had sprung an upset or two this season. Part of that is the superstar players at Minnesota and UMD are off playing with the Olympic teams, or have graduated. That still left North Dakota out in the cold, so to speak, and the Sioux were fresh off two losses to Bemidji State when they came to Duluth with a 2-18-2 league record, compared to UMDÂ’s 16-6-2.
North DakotaÂ’s first-ever triumph against UMD was accomplished under interesting circumstances, not the least of which was that just 24 hours earlier UMD had crushed North Dakota 8-0. That first game came when UMD climaxed a rocky week of turmoil with a flawless performance, and it was one that made observers wonder when North Dakota could ever hope to defeat a power like UMD.
The answer came quickly, the next night. But there was more to the story.
While beating Minnesota 4-2 on January 20, the Bulldogs stormed to a 4-0 lead and then went into neutral. The Bulldog machine started unraveling right then, as the Gophers not only dominated the second half of that game, losing 4-2, but beat UMD 2-0 the next night. That started an unraveling of the Bulldogs, who had stayed in contention with Wisconsin until that weekend.
Coach Shannon Miller had been privately concerned about warning signals earlier in the season. The team had talent, speed, defense and superb goaltending, a blend of skilled veteran players and impressive newcomers, but cohesiveness was rivaled by the threat of attitude divisiveness, preventing the elusive attribute called chemistry. It didnÂ’t seem to matter when the Bulldogs cruised through a 12-1-1 streak, with only Wisconsin able to inflict the tie and loss, in a pivotal December series at the DECC.
But when the first-game fade led to the second-game loss against Minnesota, UMD went to St. Cloud State and lost 2-1 and 3-1, meaning the Bulldogs had scored two goals in 11 periods of play. Next came a trip to Ohio State for a shaky 3-2 victory, then a 1-1 tie. The offense had fizzled, proving disfunctional by scoring only six goals in five games over that 1-3-1 stretch, which led into the North Dakota series.
UMD has always had a nearly cocky attitude under Miller. She is abrupt and mercurial, and one of the best coaches in the sport, and her teams are always confident of being well-prepared. But this team was different. The confidence teetered on cockiness, and where past teams have been occasionally raucous, this one was sometimes a little raw in its demeanor. In past years, the few loose cannons were always kept in check by the prevailing majority with high-level character, such as Caroline Ouellette, Julianne Vasicheck, Maria Rooth, and numerous others.
Miller addressed the situation occasionally, and during between-periods talks, and individually with some players, including captain Allison Lehrke. But nothing changed, and it appeared to worsen into more divisiveness during the recent stretch. Miller said it reached beyond her patience level on the Ohio State trip.
So Miller took action. She took the captaincy away from Lehrke and awarded it to goaltender Riitta Schaublin, with defenseman Krista McArthur an assistant who would also wear the “C†to talk to officials. She suspended junior defenseman Jill Sales and junior winger Juliane Jubinville a game apiece for violating team protocol, with Jubinville missing Friday and Sales Saturday against North Dakota. A spare forward, Becky Salyards, was dismissed from the team, but that was believed to be an unrelated academic issue.
Whatever, the week of turmoil seemed to unite the Bulldogs for an overwhelming effort, resulting in a flawless first game against North Dakota. Freshman Tawni Mattila scored the first two goals of the game, Myriam Trepanier and Karine DeMeule made it 4-0 at the first intermission, and Noemie Marin boosted the lead to 5-0, and Trepanier scored again, for a 6-0 cushion after two. Marin got her 20th in the third period, and Lehrke, who may have played her strongest game of the season, finished the 8-0 rout with the final goal.
“After what weÂ’ve gone through, weÂ’ve got to hope our team would come together,†said Miller. “This is a new beginning for us this week, and I honestly donÂ’t think it mattered who we were playing, with all due respect to North Dakota. Our whole focus this week has been on looking at ourselves, and the whole emphasis has been on respect. All we have had to learn is to treat each other and ourselves with respect, and I think everybody responded with a strong effort.Ââ€
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That was what North Dakota skated into – a whirlwind of emotional fire, as well as a strong array of talent. So impressive was UMD’s first-game attack that North Dakota coach Shantel Rivard pulled starting goaltender Amber Hasbargen after Mattila’s second goal, at 7:59 of the first period, and replaced her with senior backup, Margaret-Ann Hinkley. The onslaught continued, and Rivard sent Hasbargen back in to finish, as UMD outshot the Sioux 45-19.
Overlooked, perhaps, was that while UMD allowed only 19 shots, goalie Riitta Schaublin had to make a half-dozen saves on breakaways, providing a security blanket for some disturbing defensive lapses. Even her home public relations staff overlooked Schaublin’s shutout, giving the “three stars” to Mattila, Trepanier and Marin — the trio of two-goal scorers.
In Game 2, Hinkley started for North Dakota, and blocked shot after UMD shot until she had thwarted all 25 shots for the shutout. Few of the shots were truly threatening, however, because he Sioux teammates pretty much outplayed and outhustled UMD on every shift, from start to finish. It was the most impressive, and most nearly perfect game North DakotaÂ’s womenÂ’s team had ever played, and Schaublin had to play well again.
North Dakota opened with force, and paid for it when Melissa Jaques was called for a penalty at 0:22. The Sioux killed it, and it was Jaques who fired a shot on a later North Dakota power play that led to Cara Wooster converting an unchallenged rebound for a quick shot and goal from the right edge of the net at 9:07.
That didnÂ’t seem very substantial, because it seemed inevitable that the Bulldog offense would take over. The Bulldogs were clearly not as sharp, not as inspired as in the first game, but credit must go to North Dakota, which was playing a game for the archives of the program’s history. When North Dakota got a power play in the third period, Schaublin blocked Christey AllenÂ’s shot from the left side, but the rebound went to the right, where Devon Fingland was all alone to convert at 7:38.
“After last night, we wanted to come out and make a statement,†said Cara Wooster. “We knew theyÂ’d come out hard and we had to play well to weather it, but we wanted to show we could play, too. It was our best game, and our biggest win. We just wanted to make a statement.Ââ€
That statement was: Parity has arrived in the WomenÂ’s WCHA.
Should make for an interesting playoff.
Newell’s ‘dream’ gets abrupt third period wake-up call
For every dream-come-true there are dozens of unfulfilled dreams, and a fair number of nightmares. In sports, sometimes they can happen simultaneously. Kendall Newell qualified as evidence when she got her first goaltending start of the season for St. Cloud State on the same Minnesota-Duluth ice once christened by her dad, Rick Newell.
If it had been a dream, Kendall Newell, a sophomore who has only played hockey for seven years, and most of those in the southwestern desert area of Phoenix, would have blanked the third-ranked Bulldogs to overturn the nightmarish ending of the first series game. She watched that one from the bench as a 2-1 Huskies lead dissolved with five minutes remaining, when UMD scored a pair of power-play goals 42 seconds apart to steal a 3-2 victory. The Bulldogs barely outshot the Huskies 30-28, and St. Cloud junior Lauri St. Jacques made 27 saves, 12 of them in the third period by the late-arriving Bulldogs.
The rematch started out pretty much in dream-come-true form for Newell, even though UMD’s aroused Bulldogs played a much more spirited game, pelting her with shots from every angle. For two periods, Newell stopped everything – including all 19 second-period UMD shots – as the Huskies grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead on power-play goals by Megan McCarthy and Hailey Clarkson.
The dream ended in a rude awakening when UMD scored three straight goals in the third period, then hit an empty net in the closing seconds for a 4-2 victory and a sweep. The nightmare was slow to build as UMD again started slowly, being outshot 8-3 in the first period, then roared back with 19 shots in each of the last two periods for a 41-24 margin in the game.
St. Cloud State coach Jason Lesteberg accepted the two near-misses, even though the Huskies outscored UMD 4-1 during the first two periods of the series, only to be overturned by UMDÂ’s 6-0 edge in the two third periods. “TheyÂ’re a good hockey team, but itÂ’s an even league with a lot of parity,†Lesteberg said. “WeÂ’re 0-4, but if we play like we did in the first two periods, we can win a lot of games.Ââ€
Even though she was overlooked in the point-happy “three stars†selection, Kendall Newell’s 37 saves gave the Huskies a chance to win the second game. The disappointment of the loss, however, overshadowed the thrill of her strong performance.
And the fact that the game came on the same Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center ice where her dad once skated was not overlooked. Rick Newell had come down from Winnipeg to Duluth to go to college in the 1960s, a wide-eyed, eager kid, who provided a quick-trigger temper on defense as he helped the formative University of Minnesota-Duluth menÂ’s program get formed.
Rick Newell played in the first UMD game in what was then the new Duluth Arena, and was a strong force on defense for a UMD hockey program that as it moved into the prestigious WCHA. Among Rick NewellÂ’s teammates were Keith (Huffer) Christiansen, who was just voted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, and a winger named Bruce McLeod, who later became athletic director at UMD and is now commissioner of the WCHA.
After a pro career, Rick Newell settled in Phoenix, where he and his wife, Lesley, raised Kendall. She never saw any videos of her dad playing, and she only saw a few scrapbook-type photos of his days at UMD. But genetics won out, and she cultivated a dream of someday playing college hockey in a skating class in seventh grade. She found a girls team in the area to play on as an eighth-grader, and a year later, when that team dissolved, Kendall played on a boys Bantam team in eighth grade.
The Newells enrolled their daughter as a ninth-grader at prestigious Xavier College Prep, a private Catholic girls school affiliated with the Brophy boys school. The girls didnÂ’t play hockey, so the self-taught Kendall Newell played goal for the Brophy boys junior varsity, then moved up to become the only girl to ever play on a varsity team at Brophy, in the Arizona High School league.
Significant social pressure – and a number of boys who played goal – caused Kendall to be asked not to play as a senior, her dad recalled. Through a friend, Rick Newell learned of a team in Milwaukee, Wis. – an Under-19 team called the Wisconsin Wild. “Kendall became a frequent flyer as a senior,†Rick said. “On weekends she would fly to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Boston, or Chicago, then sheÂ’d come home to go to school and practice with a boys traveling team.Ââ€
Kendall Newell also had found a few USA Hockey development camps to attend along the way, and several colleges contacted her after her season at Milwaukee. “Jason flew out and talked to her, and she told him sheÂ’d go to St. Cloud on a Tuesday,†her dad said. “The next day, UMD called, and the day after that, Boston College offered her a scholarship. But she had given her word to St. Cloud, and thatÂ’s where she went.Ââ€
Deep down, Kendall may have dreamed of playing for the same college where her dad played, but she made the St. Cloud team as freshman back-up to Laurie St. Jacques last season, although it was often frustrating. When St. Jacques was injured early, Newell not only filled in but won several games, even recording a shutout. That didnÂ’t make it any easier to wait, on the bench, without playing for dozens of games after St. Jacques came back and assumed the starting role. For the season, St. Jacques was 5-15-3, with a 3.44 goals-against, and an .892 save percentage. Newell proved she could play, however, with a 4-5-1 record, a 3.00 goals-against average, and an .896 save percentage.
This season, St. Jacques is a junior, and played well when the Huskies lost 2-1 to open the season at Ohio State. The next night St. Jacques was the primary victim in a 5-1 Ohio State romp. Newell replaced her late in the game, giving up only one goal on 12 shots.
Lesteberg watched videotapes of the games and decided he was going to try alternating goalies, relieving St. Jacques of the heavy burden, while giving the eager Newell a chance to share the load. When that planÂ’s implementation came in Duluth, it was dream time.
Out in Phoenix, the Newells found a way to tune into the Duluth broadcast of the games over the Internet, although itÂ’s hard to say whether their daughterÂ’s aggressive goaltending was adequately conveyed to the desert. UMD was pretty passive in the first period, when St. Cloud outshot the Bulldogs 8-3 and took a 2-0 lead as McCarthy scored from the top of the left circle with a short-side shot at 14:35, and Clarkson got loose on a breakaway two minutes later.
In the second period, the Bulldogs got more aggressive, but so did Newell. She showed great style when she had to, and she turned acrobatic when style points weren’t going to be sufficient against repeated UMD flurries. She blocked all 19 shots on goal in the middle period, and at one point, she knocked down a UMD skater with a chop of her big stick, which drew a tripping penalty. “I didn’t hit her that hard,†Newell protested.
In the third, however, things came undone. At 3:39, Newell had stopped a wraparound attempt and a couple of good chances before Jessica Koizumi scored for UMD. “They made a pass across in front, and I was down, trying to pull the puck in,†Newell said.
“Apparently,†she added, sounding unconvinced, “it ended up behind me.Ââ€
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If that ended the dream of a shutout, the second goal was a sudden nightmare – coming just six seconds later. A young goalie could be shattered enough by the first goal that she wasnÂ’t ready for the second, but that wasnÂ’t the case. UMD’s Allison Lehrke fired the puck in from center ice after the ensuing faceoff, and speedy freshman Mari Pehkonen smacked it off a defensemanÂ’s stick and in. “They dumped it in, and I stopped it,†said Newell. “I played it off to the side for one of my defensemen, but she [Pehkonen] came in so fast she got to the puck first.Ââ€
Newell regained her composure and stopped the aroused Bulldogs until a power play at the 8-minute mark. Michaela Lanzl fired a screened shot from inside the right point, and the puck deflected in at 8:34. Tawni Mattila, a UMD freshman from Duluth who had scored her first college goal Friday night, was at the crease for a tip.
“She tipped it right in front of me, and it almost hit my leg, but it went in,†said Newell. Mattila said she didn’t tip it, but the puck changed direction off something. The dream had blown up, and with Newell pulled for a sixth attacker, Lanzl scored an empty-netter with 10 seconds left.
The dream of a storybook victory was shattered, but the larger dream – of playing college hockey – gained a broader horizon.
“I can see my parents at home, sitting around the computer,†said Newell.
In the Arizona desert, Rick Newell stayed glued to the broadcast, although he admitted his wife barged out of the room after the second goal. It was suggested to Kendall that her first-period penalty might have been an appropriate tribute to her father, whose hot-blooded play compiled penalties more often than points.
“I never saw any tapes of my dad playing,†she said. “That was my first penalty, but I donÂ’t think IÂ’m going to call him and say I got it in his honor.Ââ€