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.
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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.
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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.

Marty Sertich’s Hobey will be impossible to duplicate

Marty Sertich seems mature beyond his years, but he may have to grow old, with kids of his own, before he will fully appreciate what he meant to his mother during this wonderful, glorious, heroic Hobey Baker season.

ItÂ’s already obvious what Patty Sertich meant to Marty. She was his inspiration, his special beacon for both focusing on what he had to do, and realizing what things are truly important in life. But itÂ’s the reverse role that may take some time. Marty Sertich is far too humble to even acknowledge what he meant to his mom this past year, when he provided her with inspiration, serving as her beacon to try to push herself to extend her own finite boundaries, even while she accepted the horrible inevitability of inoperable, terminal, brain cancer.

Patty Sertich made it through the WCHA season, including a few trips to Colorado Springs to see her son win the WCHA scoring title for league co-champion Colorado College. She made it through to see him play in the WCHA Final Five. And she made it to Columbus, Ohio, to see the Frozen Four, and to see her older son win the 2005 Hobey Baker Memorial Award – the emblem of the nation’s top college hockey player.
She didnÂ’t make it to the Hobey Baker ceremonial banquet, on a Thursday night in the Twin Cities. She was in a hospice by then. Two days after the ceremony, on Saturday, May 21, Patty Sertich could fight no more.

The funeral, at Roseville Lutheran Church, was one that will not be forgotten by the hundreds of people who attended. It lasted more than two and a half hours, and it included heartfelt and fond reminiscences by her two sisters, and by some close friends. One of them said it best: “Patty was born nice, and never changed.”

The service also included emotional, riveting comments by Marty, his younger brother Mike, and their older sister Sara. Steve Sertich, who had met Patty while he, too, was a star at Colorado College, and married her to start this remarkable family, spoke last, and by then, the entire congregation was emotionally drained – wiped out by the strength and character it took for those three adult kids to power through their emotion-choked tributes to insist their mom will be with them the rest of their lives.

Steve pointed out that he and Sara had been able to be with Patty almost constantly, but it was tougher on the boys. He knew it had taken heroic levels of performance to go through what they had, but Steve added that nothing could duplicate the heroics displayed by his wife, who never lost her cheery, upbeat outlook on life, throughout her ordeal.

Patty Sertich had beaten breast cancer a few years ago, which made the brain tumor, discovered just over a year before, seem all the more unfair. But “unfair” is a word that Steve refused to use, because Patty had refused to use it, and forbade her family from using it as well.

By the time Patty and Steve and Sara came to Columbus for the Frozen Four to see Marty and possibly freshman Mike play for the Tigers, she was too thin – even for her. Always smiling and vibrant, Patty stood up to an endless barrage of bright media lights and interviews. Occasionally, when she would lose her place while describing something, she’d tap Steve on the arm, or Mike, or Sara, and they’d supply the missing phrase so she could keep on, smiling at her bobble as she recovered to finish the sentence.

For those of us who first knew Patty as the wife of a star hockey player, then later as the mom of a couple more star hockey players, or for those who got to know her in their Roseville neighborhood, or when she went up to chip in as a waitress at the Shoreview branch of Panino’s – a small collection of restaurants started by her father in Colorado Springs – it was impossible not to feel like you’d known her all your life.

The chance to talk to her in Columbus provided a memorable glimpse of the real Patty Sertich, the one weÂ’ll all remember.

“When I was first diagnosed, it was very hard,” she said that day. “But I realize how important it is to have all my family with me. We’ve all been so happy and lucky, and I’ve finally found peace. I’m lucky we have each other every day, and we love each other so much, we don’t have to think about the bad stuff any more.”

In my last conversation with Patty, I recalled how we used to see her either at hockey games, or up at PaninoÂ’s, scurrying around like a hyperactive waitress trying to impress the boss. I told her that when we got back to Minnesota, weÂ’d be stopping at PaninoÂ’s.

“Oh, we will be going up there, too,” she said.

“But I bet you won’t be waiting on tables,” I joked.

“I wish they’d let me,” she said.

None of what she said was intended to distract in any way from her sonÂ’s big day. But it was the last time I saw Patty Sertich. And the light in her eyes told all that was necessary to show how much her son’s special season had meant to inspire her.

Marty Sertich, a junior at Colorado College, had all the statistical ingredients for the Hobey. He led the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in scoring with 17 goals, 25 assists, for 42 points, four more than Brett Sterling, his linemate, fellow all-WCHA, All-America, and Hobey Baker finalist. The two led Colorado College to a share of the league championship at 19-7-2 with eventual NCAA champion Denver. In all games, Sertich led the nation as well, with 27-37—64 statistics, an eyelash ahead of Sterling’s 34-29—63. CC finished 31-9-3, losing only to Denver, its archrival, in the NCAA tournament semifinals.

At 5-foot-9 and 163 pounds, Sertich relies on incredible quickness and playmaking to command the spotlight for both spectators and opponents. Whether it’s darting around and through defenders in 1-on-1 situations, escaping from congestion with the puck, or luring defenders to try to stop him from shooting – only to realize he rarely shoots if he can set up a teammate – he is the consummate team player.

“There was never any competition for who could get more points,” said Sterling, who joined Cornell goaltender David McKee as Hobey runners-up. “We complement each other – he being more of a passer and me more of a shooter. Being able to play on a line with Marty has been a treat for me.”

Two years ago, Sertich had a 9-20—29 freshman year at Colorado College, but critics still said he was too small, too light, and that the only reason he did so well was because he got to center 2003 Hobey Baker Award winner Peter Sejna, and Noah Clarke, a pair of All-America wingers. Two years later, teammates are attributing their success to being able to play with Marty.

When the award was presented at the NCAA tournament in Columbus, Marty Sertich said: “It’s been an unbelievable year, quite a ride. I want to thank my teammates, and the whole coaching staff…and lastly, my family. I love you guys more than anything.”

In the audience, Steve and Patty Sertich beamed with joy at their sonÂ’s award, and they knew that MartyÂ’s tribute to his family was more than just protocol. The family had stressed the importance of Marty and Mike staying in college during their momÂ’s year-long struggle, so Steve and Patty traveled when they could to see them play, but mainly to see them.

“The boys had the hardest part, being away most of the time,” said Steve. “Marty’s compassion, honesty, and strength, comes from her, and the way she’s dealt with this horrible disease.”

Mike Sertich, a part-time player as a freshman, acknowledged that he and his brother often discussed the situation. “I could see it in Marty, that he quietly used it as motivation,” said Mike.

Marty Sertich, whose spectacular season personified courage and character, as well as skill, put it all in perspective. “I realized there are a lot of more important things in life,” he said. “It definitely helped drive me.”

He can’t appreciate, undoubtedly, how much the inspiration flowed both ways between his play and his mom. The family hockey heritage is readily traced on both sides of the family tree.

Steve Sertich, a former high school star at Virginia, Minnesota, went on to play at Colorado College where he was team MVP in the 1972-73 season. His dad – Marty’s grandfather – moved to Colorado Springs when Steve played there, and when he died, the downtown arena he managed was named as a memorial for the beloved “Pa” Sertich.

Patty, meanwhile, was the daughter of Tony Frasca, who remains a legend of CCÂ’s early years, and was a two-time All-America, in 1951 and 1952.

Steve married Patty, prompting Marty, at the funeral, from remarking, “My dad got lucky.” Steve played for the 1976 U.S. Olympic team, and they moved enough to fulfill a vagabond’s resume. Finally they settled in Minnesota, closer to where SteveÂ’s brother, Mike Sertich, was coaching at Minnesota-Duluth. Steve taught and coached both of his sons at Roseville High School, but by the time Marty was a senior, his intended entry to UMD was eliminated when Mike Sertich was forced to resign. So Colorado College, which always meant so much to both parents, became the logical choice.

“The game is a lot faster now than when I played,” said Steve, who now coaches the Roseville girls high school hockey team. “The players are a lot bigger, and the game is a lot more physical. Marty’s shiftiness is pretty much a matter of survival.”

The history, the heritage, and the closeness of both families culminated in the brilliant 2004-05 season by Marty Sertich – a season so special that it will be hard to duplicate, even though he will return, with Sterling, to try to win an NCAA title for CC. Consider how Patty Sertich accepted congratulations at the Hobey Baker Award presentation in Columbus. “It’s wonderful that Marty won it,” she said. “But if Brett had won, he’d have been just as deserving.”

There you have it. From age 9, hockey moms are famous for believing their sons are the greatest ever. If a son someday makes a Division I college team, a mom is more certain than ever that her son is the best. But here was Patty Sertich, a hockey mom so special that, even though she deserved to gloat because her son IS the best player in college hockey, instead was eager to share her familyÂ’s glory.

Ouellette scores six straight goals as UMD women hit 7-0-1

DULUTH, MN — Caroline Ouellette was stationed at the right edge of the Wisconsin goal when the puck rebounded to her. Her instincts overcame the intense pain in her left hand as she squeezed her stick and flicked the puck into the net before Badger goaltender Meghan Horaas could lunge to cover.

The goal, with 1:43 remaining in the third period, gave undefeated Minnesota-Duluth a 4-3 victory over Wisconsin in the first game of their weekend series at the DECC, but perhaps the most amazing thing about OuelletteÂ’s game-winning goal was the fact that she was playing at all.

“I got slashed in the first period,” said Ouellette. “It broke the little finger on my left hand in three places, above the knuckle. It hurt so bad, I had trouble shooting.”

Tell that to Horaas, or any other goaltender who have been unwilling witnesses Ouellette’s scoring streak – which might be unprecedented in women’s hockey, and maybe men’s as well, for that matter.

Ouellette, UMDÂ’s captain, from Montreal, scored the last three goals in UMDÂ’s 6-0 victory at Bemidji State the previous week, then she scored both goals in a 2-1 victory the next night. In the series-opener against Wisconsin, she tipped in Julianne VasichekÂ’s shot for the first goal in FridayÂ’s 4-3 UMD victory.

That meant Ouellette had scored six consecutive goals over three games for the Bulldogs.

When has any individual player scored six consecutive goals for a team at the Division 1 college level?

Making her individual heroics more impressive is that Ouellette is the consummate team player, always complimenting her teammates and downplaying her own production. ThatÂ’s difficult to do, because in UMDÂ’s eight games (7-0-1), she has scored 11 goals and 13 assists for 24 points.

“I feel great playing with Noemie Marin and Nora Tallus on our line,” Ouellette said. “Noemie has only played hockey since she was 15, and after one year here, she’s really stepped up.”

Marin, who is from Acton-Vale, Quebec, has scored 8-7—15, but missed two games while playing for Canada’s national softball team. Tallus, the senior center from Kereva, Finland, has 3-7—10.

OuelletteÂ’s scoring has lifted Marin individually and the team in general, but if her scoring set new standards, so did her play-with-pain performance.

UMD was ranked No. 4 and Wisconsin No. 5 when they met in Duluth, and after Ouellette started the scoring with a goal, Jackie Friesen scored for Wisconsin to tie FridayÂ’s game 1-1. Ouellette then skated in on a 2-on-1, drew the defender by cutting to her right, then fed Marin, cruising in all alone on the left side for the second UMD goal.

That extended Ouellette’s streak to six goals and one assist on seven straight goals. Marin scored again for a 3-1 lead, ending Ouellette’s personal scoring string, but after the Badgers fought back for a 3-3 tie with 7:46 remaining, Ouellette’s winning goal meant she had scored 7-1—8 out of nine team goals.

Ouellette added another assist on Marin’s game-winning goal in the 2-1 second-game victory for UMD, pushing her run to 7-2—9 – nine points out of the 11 goals UMD totaled over four victories.

Ouellette, one of the 10 finalists for the Patty Katzmeier award last season, would rather talk about UMDÂ’s 7-0-1 start to the season. And sheÂ’d rather not talk about the pain that remains in her shattered finger.

Luckily for the Bulldogs, they are off for the next weekend. That is not lucky for Ouellette individually, however. She was scheduled to leave on Sunday to join the Canadian National womenÂ’s team for the Four Nations Cup tournament during the break, but the break in her finger prevented her from going.

“The doctor said I should avoid playing for a while, so I’m not going to the tournament,” said Ouellette on Sunday night. “In the second game against Wisconsin, all I could do was pass and carry the puck. The pain is acute right now, and they are going to put it in a cast. So I can skate this week, but that’s all.

“The 2-1 game against Wisconsin was a tough game. We got up 2-0, and Wisconsin played well, but I thought it was probably our best game so far. We had to kill a 5-on-3 penalty and a five-minute major, both in the second period, but we played well, and Riitta Schaublin played very well in goal.

“Riitta has improved a lot, and her confidence is huge right now. Everybody on this team feels good about playing together, and everybody put everything they had into that second game with Wisconsin.”

It’s not as though the injury will hurt Ouellette’s chances for making Canada’s 2006 Olympic team. She was a star on the 2002 Canadian team that beat the U.S. in the gold medal game, and she led Canada in scoring for the entire season, leading up to the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. It was there that she played against Jenny Potter, who became her teammate at UMD, and against U.S. stars Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell – both of whom now star for Minnesota.

The Gophers just happen to be UMDÂ’s next foe, in a Nov. 19-20 showdown at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis. Ouellette insists sheÂ’ll be ready to play. And if her finger isnÂ’t healed? Well, based on the Wisconsin series, she might be limited to scoring a game winner and assisting on another.

Gilbert, Badger veterans top BC for NCAA puck title

MILWAUKEE, WIS. — Defenseman Tom Gilbert put the finishing touch on a spectacular season for both the Wisconsin Badgers as a team, and his own outstanding four years of college hockey in the most memorable way possible Saturday night, moving up to score a goal midway through the third period to beat Boston College 2-1 and claim the NCAA hockey championship before 17,758 mostly red-clad fans at Bradley Center.

It was a homestate triumph all the way for the Badgers, who first had to drive a couple hours northeast to win the Midwest Regional at Green Bay, before driving an hour east from Madison to Milwaukee for the Frozen Four. Typically, the victory was secured by Gilbert and the Badger defensemen, and, of course, goaltender Brian Elliott, with a team defense easily as responsible for the success as the goal-scorers. And a little luck didn’t hurt, as a late, desperation shot by Boston College’s Peter Harrold clanked off the pipe, and didn’t go in, as the final seconds elapsed.

It took all that to win the big NCAA Frozen Four plaque as the Badgers finished a 30-10-3 season with a 9-1 surge for the schoolÂ’s sixth NCAA title, creating a magical sweep, after Wisconsin also won the women’s NCAA hockey title. Boston College finished 26-13-3.

Previous Wisconsin titles came under Badger Bob Johnson in 1973, Â’77, and Â’81, with Jeff Sauer taking the Badgers to the 1983 and 1990 crowns. This is the first one for Mike Eaves, who is in his fourth year. Eaves was a star player on the 1977 title team, and he recalled the euphoria of winning as a player, compared to his measured enjoyment as a winning coach.

“As a player, you have such an emotional investment in the game,” said Eaves. “In Â’77, from the time we won the game until I got to the locker room, I donÂ’t remember anything that happened. As a coach, it was fun to…hug each one of those guys, and look each of them in the eye, and say, ‘job well done.Â’ ”

After all the talk about fantastic freshmen throughout the tournament, the Badgers relied on their veterans, as junior Robbie Earl scored to tie the game 1-1 in the second period on a pass from senior captain Adam Burish. Joe Pavelski – a key veteran although only a sophomore – assisted on both goals, and won a tournament-high 20 faceoffs in the game, while losing 12.

All three linemates had three points in the tournament, But Pavelski, who won a tournament-high 20 faceoffs while losing 12 in the title game, and set up both Badger goals, was the only member of the line that failed to make the all-tournament team, which listed Earl, Burish and BC’s Chris Collins as forwards, Gilbert and BC’s Brett Motherwell as defensemen, and Elliott as goaltender.

Earl was selected most outstanding player of the tournament, but it had to be a close call. Media voters tend to go with goal-scorers, and Earl had three, although his second goal in the 5-2 semifinal victory over Maine was an empty-netter, and it’s doubtful the Badgers would have won the title without the slick feeds of Pavelski and Burish, as well as Earl’s goals.

For Gilbert, another of the five seniors on the team, his 12th goal came at a most opportune time. The Badgers were carrying play, but had to fight to gain the 1-1 tie until midway through the third period.
Manning the right point on the Badger power play, Gilbert moved in, cruising unnoticed up the slot, as Pavelski held the puck near the end boards on the left side. Pavelski saw him coming but didn’t tip off his play before sending a perfect pass out to the slot. Gilbert caught the pass, with an instant of room to coil up and pick a spot, then he snapped a 25-foot wrist shot just inside the left post at 9:32.

“It’s a play we’ve worked on all week, with either me coming in, or Robbie Earl on the backside,” said Gilbert. “I’m an offensive defenseman, and I like to be the fourth guy in on the attack. I’ve got to give credit to Joe Pavelski, though. He was looking at Robbie, and he gave a no-look pass to me. I just knew that shot was going in.”

The big crowd erupted, and stayed on a high through the last 10 minutes, but it was a tough way for BCÂ’s sophomore goaltender Cory Schneider to end his run. Wisconsin outshot Boston College 39-22 for the game, while Schneider kicked aside 37 of those Badger shots to give his team every chance to win.

“I think Wisconsin is the best team we have played this year, over 60 minutes,” said Boston College coach Jerry York. “Cory Schneider kept us in the game. He was terrific. Wisconsin really has an excellent hockey team. There were a lot of comments in our locker room and from our players about how well-coached, how talented, their players are, and how well they played tonight.

“I thought our club got just what we wanted – we got to the third period in a very tough environment to play in, and with 10 or 12 minutes left in the game, it’s 1-1 for the national championship. They capitalize on their power play, we didn’t capitalize on ours. That was the difference.”

Befitting the obvious importance of the game, Boston College and Wisconsin sparred like wary heavyweights from the start, intent upon not betraying any critical weaknesses. Wisconsin had a 17-9 edge in shots in the first period, but the first round of the goaltending duel went to Schneider, who stopped all 19 Badger missiles.

The Eagles, meanwhile, got one past Elliott at 9:01 of the opening session. Dan Bertram, the busiest guy in the rink in the first period with three penalties and an assist, got the assist by burrowing in on the forecheck and prying the puck free on the right end boards, then jerking a pass out to the slot. Pat Gannon, a fourth-line sophomore center, was closing in and smacked a backhander that eluded Elliott and caught the upper right corner of the net.

“When the pass came out from behind the net, I got my stick on it,” said Elliott. “It got through, and somehow their guy got off a backhand, up high. It was a really good goal.”

Getting any manner of puck past Elliott in the last 10 games. Coming into the final game, Elliott had gone 8-1 in his last nine games, with an amazing 0.81 goals-against average, and an equally incredible .967 save percentage. So giving up one goal in the final actually raised his goals-against mark.

He had little chance on the Gannon goal, but he atoned for it anyway by blanking the Eagles through a much more even second period, and all the way to the finish.
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Meanwhile, Wisconsin rewarded the large and loyal crowd by getting the equalilzer on EarlÂ’s goal at 1:17. Earl was upended by a big bodycheck as he rushed toward the BC end. He got up slowly, and limped a couple steps heading for the bench. When he spotted his linemates attacking deep up the right boards, though, Earl had an instanteous recovery that would have made the Mayo Clinic proud. Earl quit limping and broke for the net, arriving at the crease just in time to convert BurishÂ’s pass, an instant before Earl was dumped into the cage himself.

“I was going to the bench,” said Earl. “Then we got a turnover, and Joe Pavelski went the other way. So I went to the net, and Adam made a great pass.”

The goal tied the game and gave Earl the team goal-scoring title. EarlÂ’s 24th goal of the season led Pavelski’s 23 and Burish’s 22. Pavelski leads Wisconsin in scoring with 23-33–56, to Earl’s 24-26–50, while Burish (9-23–32) edged Gilbert (12-19–31) for third.

The emotional victory was well documented by the Badgers in the aftermath.

“This is the best feeling, the best university, the best group of guys, and the best coaching staff,” said Gilbert, who is from Bloomington, MN.

Elliott attributed his strong finish – nine goals-against in Wisconsin’s last 10 games – to the team’s spiritual leaders.
“It’s been a testament to how great our seniors have been,” said Elliott, a 6-foot-3 junior. “When I came here, they were only sophomores…They’ll be my brothers for life.”

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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.