Sweden deserves gold in NHL-dominated Olympics

All across North America, media people are predicting the automatic gold medal for Team Canada at the Winter Olympics. After all, they won it last time, didnÂ’t they? And the team is comprised of the best NHL superstars, so Canada is the automatic pick. And the USA, also filled with NHLers, might be the perfect opponent in the gold medal game, just like last time, right?

Writing this before the menÂ’s portion of the Winter Olympics begins, my pick is Sweden. The Czech Republic will be tough too, and some have said the 1998 gold medalist Czechs might be a favorite.

IÂ’m picking Sweden.

I like Nicklas Lidstrom leading the defense corps, because he’s probably the best defenseman in the NHL. How can you not like goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, a rookie playing sensationally with the New York Rangers. Then there’s Daniel Alfredsson, Markus Naslund, Mats Sundin, and Henrik Zetterberg, and – oh yeah – maybe even Peter Forsberg. Those are among the reasons I like Sweden’s chances, but there are more.

We all can mourn the passing of the “true” amateur Olympic of 1980. I was fortunate enough to be assigned to Lake Placid to specialize in covering the hockey tournament, because there were so many Minnesotans involved. A great assignment became more fantastic than anyone could have predicted when Herb Brooks led his college guys to the miraculous gold medal.

True, the U.S. and Canada were about the only real amateurs, because of social customs around the world. In Sweden, Finland, and other European countries, players held down full-time jobs to play for teams in certain cities, and in the Soviet Union, the best players were placed on the Red Army team, where the only uniform and weapons they used were those of a great hockey team. By international rules, they were amateurs; by North American standards, they were pros.

All of that made the 1980 U.S. achievement more notable, because they beat a Soviet Union team that had beaten the NHL All-Stars 6-0 in the deciding game of their international series earlier that year.

But the Soviet Union is no more, the playing field has been leveled because all pros are now eligible. Never again will an amateur team be able to compete with the NHL superstars that are now scattered onto various Olympic teams for what is, essentially, an NHL all-star tournament. USA Hockey is a proud and capable organization, which used to create the system and select the players for Team USA, but now about all the organization has to do is make sure the red, white and blue uniforms all have the proper colors.

Come to think of it, a few years ago that even got changed — from the stunningly beautiful blue you can see on our nation’s flags to a darker (more macho?) navy blue. I didn’t think you could do that with a flag’s colors, but anything is possible these days.

The NHL runs the tournament, and the tournament’s public relations, and the NHL would most like to see Canada or the U.S. win the gold. Sure, the money and sites for most NHL teams are in the U.S., but make no mistake about it — it’s a Canadian-dominated game, under Canadian influence. It’s a Canadian Fact.

In 2002, the NHL wouldn’t release any players to their countries’ teams until a couple days before preliminary round games. So when the weaker teams, with fewer NHL players, had their own play-in tournament to gain the preliminary round — teams like Belarus, Latvia, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, who need those few NHLers more than stronger teams — were allowed to use those players in only one game. Games were decided because coaches chose to hold a star NHL player out, and were beaten in play-in games because of it. If Canada had forfeited all its games for some technicality, and had to participate in the play-in round for the games, do you think the NHL might have let them go a little earlier?

One of the other biggest changes to the Olympics of the 1980s is in tournament format. Back then, every game in the preliminary round was vitally important, because only the top two in each of two pools advanced to the medal round. Now, all eight preliminary-round teams play in the quarterfinals, so the entire round merely determines seeding. A team could go 0-4 in the preliminary round, then play well three times and win the gold medal. A team also could be the best through an undefeated preliminary round, then get upset in the quarterfinals and be deprived of playing for any medal.

That’s why, when I let only a little bit of sentimentality crowd my basic sense of fair play, I’m pulling for Sweden. Because I was at Salt Lake City in 2002, when Sweden and the United States were the best two teams in the tournament. Then, just like now, everybody in the North American media picked Team Canada. It was the best international team ever assembled, it had Wayne Gretzky running the team back before his wife placed illegal bets with his assistant NHL coach, and it had Mario Lemieux as the biggest-name of a galaxy of NHL stars.

The U.S., meanwhile, under the brilliant hand of Herb Brooks, stalked through its preliminary round, playing well and improving every game. After a scoreless first period in its opener, the U.S. beat a potent Finland 6-0 for a remarkable start. The U.S. then tied powerful Russia 2-2, with Brett Hull scoring to tie it in the closing minutes, after goals by Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov gave Russia and goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin a 2-1 lead. Then the U.S. crushed Belarus 8-1 after trailing 1-0 through one period.

Finland came off the devastating 6-0 loss to the U.S. to bury Belarus 8-1, then the Finns shocked Russia 2-1. That meant the U.S. (2-0-1) was No. 1 in its pool, with Finland (2-1) second, Russia (1-1-1) third, and Belarus (0-3) fourth.

In the other pool, all of those Team Canada superstars played as if they really weren’t sure they could be bothered by showing up. They were flat out blitzed by Sweden, 5-2 in a game that sent shockwaves coast to coast — Nova Scotia to British Columbia. By the narrow count of 3-2, Canada barely slipped past Germany – Germany! Canada had all it could manage to get a 3-3 tie against the Czech Republic, being outshot 36-23. Sweden, other than a close 2-1 call against the Czech Republic, eased to the top seed in the pool at 3-0, followed by the Czech Republic in second, Canada third, and Germany fourth.

Before 1984, the round-robin pools would determine the top two on each side to advance to the medal round, so any loss could make a difference. In the medal round, teams were cross-scheduled, 1 vs. 2 and 2 vs. 1 against the other side, then they’d play 2 vs. 2 and 1 vs. 1. Usually, the final game would decide the gold medal. But 1980 caused a rise in U.S. arrogance level both on the ice and in media boardrooms, so U.S. television booked hours of hockey coverage, and every newspaper sent Olympic specialists to cover the Winter Olympics, and particularly the anticipated next miracle.

The U.S., however, lost its first two preliminary round games, precluding any chance of making the medal round. Hours of television coverage of medal-round games was basically unwatched in the U.S. Stung by that scenario, U.S. television paid huge sums to coax the Olympic Committee to change to a full-bracket tournament of eight teams in elimination games — quarterfinals, semifinals, and a gold-medal final.

The change was made, and evolved to where the full round-robin eliminates nobodyand no more meaning than pro sports preseason exhibitions, except to determine pairings for the “medal round” quarterfinals. Few people realized that in 2002, when, based on preliminary round play, the final looked likely to feature the once-tied U.S. against undefeated Sweden. Finland and the Czechs were potential spoilers, as were Canada and Russia, but if 2002 still used the historic round-robin concept, Canada and Russia would not have even made it to the medal round.

Winless Belarus, having lost 8-1 to both the Finland and the U.S., seemed to have no chance as No. 4 seed against the opposite bracket’s No. 1, Sweden. But goaltender Andrei Mezin, playing with a ragged, old catching glove, and a memory of his six-year trek through the low minor leagues of North America pro hockey that peaked at the International Hockey League, pulled it off. Mezin stopped 21 shots in the first period, facing 47 shots in all, and Belarus stunned Sweden with a 4-3 upset. “They’re way better,” Mezin said. “I didn’t expect to beat them, but you always try to win.”

Mats Sundin had tied the game 3-3 on a breakaway at 7:54 of the third period, but you almost had to be there in the E-Center, or watching slow-motion replay, to appreciate the game-winner. Vladimir Kopat crossed the blue line and fired a slap shot. The puck hit Swedish goaltender Tommy Salo on the top of the facemask, and as Salo flinched, the puck popped straight up, and when it tumbled downward, it hit Salo on the back and bounced into the net at 17:36.

With only 2:24 remaining, Sweden was collectively too shocked, and had too little time, to respond, and Belarus had the biggest victory in its history, 4-3.

With one No. 1 seed out, the other No. 1 came through when the U.S. won a carefully efficient 5-0 victory over Germany to gain the semifinals.

Canada, still underachieving, got past Finland 2-1, while Russia edged the Czech Republic 1-0 in the other quarterfinals. All across Canada, writers were ripping the Canadian players for poor play; Wayne Gretzky angrily lashed out at them by somehow calling it an “American media plot” to discredit Canada.

The first semifinal pitted a fourth-seed, Belarus, against a third-seed, Canada, and the magic in MezinÂ’s glove was obliterated as the Canadians cruised to an easy 7-1 romp.

That led to perhaps the best game of the entire Salt Lake City games, as Team USA got goals from Bill Guerin, Scott Young and Phil Housley to lead 3-0 after two periods, only to have Russia storm back. After being outshot 38-11 through two periods, the Russians got a goal from Aleksei Kovalev at 0:11, and Vladimir Malakhov at 3:21 to close it to 3-2.

That’s how it ended, bringing to mind a shot by Sergei Samsonov that had beaten goalie Mike Richter, struck the right pipe, caromed across to hit the left pipe, and twirled above Richter, who was flat on his back. The Russians were sure it went in, and after a late penalty called on the Russians, defusing their chances, a post-game discussion led to Markhov being given a gross misconduct for his choice of words to NHL referee Bill McCreary. Acting properly under international rules, McCreary suspended Markhov from playing for the bronze medal in the third-place game, in which the Russians beat bedgraggled Belarus 6-2.

In the gold medal game, Canada finally found its form, although in some ways the gameÂ’s form met Canada more than halfway. For the full pre-game day, CanadaÂ’s officials, from Gretzky to coach Pat Quinn, to NHL executives, and to the Canadian players, repeated the insistence that since the game was Canada vs. the U.S., both teams could forget about the international quirks and play a good old NHL game after all.

Brooks tried his best to dispute that, insisting it still had to be called as an international game. But NHL “style” won out.

Meanwhile, across Canada a patriotic fervor attacked Brooks. He was asked about Canada’s favored NHL style of dump-and-chase, and he said that was a good tactic for some, but he chose to coach a different style. He was pressed, repeatedly, by Canadian media, but he was careful to say he respected that style, but prefered a different style. The story broke in Canada that Brooks had insulted Canada’s style, and it was carried nationwide. Canada’s nation, as well as its team, were properly inflamed by the artificial hype.

There were a lot of hits, a lot of up and down passion, but numerous penalties that were commonplace throughout the tournament were not called in the final game. McCreary let them play, as they say in sports. It’s a Canadian fact. Try as they might to regroup and play puck-possession, the U.S. was kept off-balance by the physical Canadian attack, but Canada did play well.

The U.S. led 1-0, but Canada took a 2-1 lead on goals by Paul Kariya and Jerome Iginla by the first intermission. Brian RafalskiÂ’s goal tied it 2-2 for the U.S., but Joe Sakic regained a 3-2 lead for Canada. In the third period, Steve Yzerman was called for tripping, and on his way to the penalty box, he fired off a loud and hostile tirade at McCreary. It seemed so out of character for Yzerman, who would make everybody’s good-guy list. Not to worry, there would be no additional penalty — no misconduct, and certainly no suspension. So Yzerman stewed for two minutes, then stormed back onto the ice at 15:43, and 18 seconds later the supercharged Yzerman set up Iginla for a goal to make it 4-2, puncturing the tension. Iginla set up Sakic for another with 1:20 to go, and it ended 5-2.

Canada, a team that didnÂ’t play well enough through the preliminary round to even make the medal round under the old rules, caught a huge break when the quarterfinal bracket left them with an easy semifinal against Belarus, then played one game that would be considered up to the form everyone had anticipated, and went home with the gold medal.

Flash forward to 2006. Canada doesnÂ’t have Mario Lemieux, or Steve Yzerman, and, in my view, is not be as strong as in 2002. The Canadians could, of course, overachieve this time. Most of the media expects it.

Team USA doesnÂ’t have Brett Hull, or Jeremy Roenick, or Mike Richter, and it also doesnÂ’t have Herb Brooks. Team USA has Mike Modano, and Brian Rolston, and several Minnesota NHLers such as Bret Hedican, Mark Parrish, Jason Blake, and former Gopher Jordan Leopold, but it does not have former Gopher Paul Martin, who is on something of a reserve squad in case of injury, while Chris Chelios, at age 44, and Darien Hatcher presumably play regular defense. So Team USA doesnÂ’t appear to be as strong as 2002, in my opinion. Fedorov, Samsonov, Bure and others are gone from RussiaÂ’s team, so they, too, don’t look as strong.

Ah, but Sweden – arguably the strongest team at Salt Lake City in 2002 – not only returns the best players from that team, but adds several of the new and younger Swedes who are tearing up the NHL. They’re my pick, and I’m sticking to it. Besides, it would only be justice, after what happened in Salt Lake City.

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 we’ll have to put tonight’s game behind us and not dwell on it.”

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.”

It was not earth-shaking that No. 2 rated Minnesota-Duluth and No. 4 ranked Minnesota split their WCHA women’s hockey series. What was surprising that the two games seemed devoid of the electricity that usually underscores each shift. “Usually, it’s so intense that there’s some hostility every shift when we play Duluth,” said Ross. “It wasn’t that way, and I was surprised.”

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.”

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 don’t know,” she said. “I got cross-checked right away and didn’t see what happened.”

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 UMD’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 don’t need people to replace them,” said Ross, “we need a team effort, with all of us going as hard as we can.”

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 Friday’s 32. Lanzl’s quick-hands move on her breakaway came at 2:30. She shrugged about the goal. “Sometimes my hands just do it by themselves.”

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.”

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.”

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 Hagemo’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 – they’ve got some good players.”

UMD’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.”

Equally important was UMD’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.”

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.

“That’s as good as I’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.”

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 I’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.”

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 night…”

“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.”

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, you’ve got to go with it.”

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.”
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, it’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.”

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 didn’t even want to pull the goalie,” said Lucia. “Then we scored, and I had to.”

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 should’ve charged $50.”

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. “It’s the first time we’ve put everything together.”

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 we’ve gone through, we’ve got to hope our team would come together,” said Miller. “This is a new beginning for us this week, and I honestly don’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.”
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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 they’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.”

That statement was: Parity has arrived in the WomenÂ’s WCHA.

Should make for an interesting playoff.

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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.
  
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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.