Video snaps Gopher defense into 1st place form
University of Minnesota hockey coach Don Lucia runs a tight ship, tight enough that a casual observer might think he’s a control freak. But if his defensemen suggest they’d like to watch some videos, Lucia is likely to encourage them to watch all they want – as long as the video is of the final Golden Gophers game of the 2001-2002 season.
That just happened to be the game in which Minnesota defeated Maine in overtime to win the NCAA championship for the first time in 23 years. And even though Minnesota repeated as NCAA champs a year later, the 2002 title game video is No. 1 on Lucia’s “recommended video†list for his defensemen.
It also might be precisely the reason the Golden Gophers have moved within reach of winning the WCHA regular-season championship, are ranked No. 1 in the country, and obviously are now among the elite teams most-favored when it comes to picking this yearÂ’s NCAA championship favorite.
Despite continued protests from Lucia – who insists on saying that winning the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular-season champion is not an objective – his players publicly repeat the coach’s mantra, but privately acknowledge that they wouldn’t mind hanging more than one banner this season. To that end, when Minnesota beat Denver 3-2 last Friday to end the Pioneers 7-game winning streak, the Golden Gophers vaulted past Denver into first place. When they followed up by whipping the Pioneers 5-1 for a series sweep, they elevated themselves to a position two points ahead of Wisconsin and three up on Denver.
With only two weekends to go, the Gophers would have to lose at least two of their remaining four games – against Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota-Duluth, the bottom two teams in the WCHA. The WCHA this season has been its most unpredictable in decades, if not ever, but the likelihood of the Minnesota Express being derailed seems slim for a couple of reasons. First, because they are on a 7-0-1 surge of their own, and stand 14-1-1 since December 3, which has become a day to remember for the Gophers. Especially their defense.
On that night in December, Minnesota hit its low point for the season. Wisconsin had come to Mariucci Arena and the night after the Badgers administered a 4-3 setback, they humiliated the Golden Gophers 4-0 in the rematch. Wisconsin was flying high, No. 1 in the WCHA and No. 1 in the nation, but the worst part of that weekend was that the Gophers defense seemed powerless to cope with the Badgers. Turnovers gave Wisconsin numerous chances, and a stumbling inability to cope with the resulting rushes rendered Minnesota to also-ran status.
Amazingly, the next weekend Minnesota went up to Grand Forks and swept North Dakota. That sweep got the Gophers rolling, and they have kept on rolling, particularly with a pivotal payback sweep at Wisconsin and then last weekend’s sweep against Denver – their two main adversaries atop the standings.
Lucia doesnÂ’t deal much in superlatives, but the offense has come alive in the last two months. The key triggerman with his scoring consistency is junior center Ryan Potulny, bolstered by the return to health of timely-scoring junior wing Danny Irmen, important goals from surprising sophomore Ben Gordon, smart two-way defensive work from captain and center Gino Guyer, and continued eye-popping set-ups from freshman Phil Kessel. But the performance of those forwards, and goaltender Kellen Briggs, would be comparatively meaningless if the defense hadnÂ’t made a 180-degree turnabout.
So what happened? Did Lucia bring back NHLers Jordan Leopold, Keith Ballard and Paul Martin for that series, and dress them up to impersonate Gopher blueliners?
Almost.
“After that Wisconsin weekend,†Lucia said, “when we went up to North Dakota I had our defense watch a video of the 2002 title game. Specifically, I said to watch Leopold, Ballard and Martin, and how played in our zone, how they used the glass to get the puck out of the zone when they had to, and everything they did.Ââ€
Presto! As if by magic, the visualization lesson took hold and the Gopher defense went from stumbling to self-assured. Senior Chris Harrington, who had strayed far from the confident style he showed as a freshman, and fellow-senior P.J. Atherton played better and better. A Minneapolis newspaper columnist who rarely mentions hockey wrote an item that Gopher defenseman Mike Vannelli is the son of Tom Vannelli, a Gopher star of the 1970s – never mind that Vannelli is a junior, but had gone unnoticed for three years.
Sophomores Alex Goligoski and Derek Peltier snapped into focus, Goligoski returning to the confident rookie he had been last year, and Peltier compressing his play into smart and beneficial shifts. And freshman R.J. Atherton now plays with smooth force, instead of the sort of hesitancy that usually leads to the wrong move.
Instead, all the right moves have cleared pucks from danger and ignited Minnesota rushes, instead of opposing forechecks. By chance, Ballard was back at Mariucci Arena to watch the Denver series, because the weather was more hockey-like than his residence in Scottsdale, Ariz., while playing for the Phoenix Coyotes. Leopold and Martin might have been, but they were in Turin, Italy, as part of Team USAÂ’s Winter Olympic endeavor.
Meanwhile, any NHL or Olympic team would have been impressed to watch the Gopher defense calmly kill two five-minute major penalties in FridayÂ’s game, even with Atherton and Goligoski gone as the two whistled for checking-from-behind majors and game misconducts. No problem. Andy Sertich moved back to defense, and no damage was done.
The defensemen are helping out offensively, too. The 3-2 victory over Denver started when AndersonÂ’s whistling point shot was deflected in by Gordon, Harrington assisted on the always-opportunistic PotulnyÂ’s 23th goal to break a 1-1 tie, and Potulny added No. 24 on a power play for the winner.
The next night ended almost as it began. Denver star defenseman Matt Carle drew a slashing penalty in the first minute, and Irmen – just back from a shoulder injury – scored at 1:08 on the power play, assisted by Harrington and Goligoski. The assist was Harrington’s 100th career point. Gordon finished a perfect 2-on-1 rush from Kessel 29 seconds later, and Irmen scored on Kessel’s rebound midway through the first period for a 3-0 cushion.
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When Gabe Gauthier scored, finally, for Denver at 19:06 of the middle period, Goligoski ignited an immediate counter off the ensuing faceoff, resulting in Potulny setting up freshman Ryan Stoa at the goal-mouth at 19:14, nullifying whatever lift the Pioneers might have gained at 3-1.
“I thought weÂ’d get a momentum change on our goal, but eight seconds later, they came right back,“ said Gauthier. “Everything was rolling on our seven-game winning streak, but we hit a stopper, and it was Minnesota.Ââ€
GoligoskiÂ’s assist was his 100th point as a Gopher, and when he moved in from the right point to score himself midway through the third period, he started on his second 100.
“We got a couple of lucky bounces,†said Irmen. Somebody asked Irmen if the Gophers could see the WCHA title in their grasp now, and he said that no, that wasn’t an objective, and they had to go up to Anchorage and play game by game.
Yeah, right Danny. But with four games to go and a two-point lead, the Gophers would have to cave in to avoid winning the MacNaughton Cup, wouldnÂ’t they?
“Well, I guess we control our destiny, and if the title is there, we’ll take it,†said Irmen.
Irmen spoke as though he had been programmed by a chip installed in his brain at the Don Lucia Clinic of Proper Responses. No boasting, no predictions, no looking too far ahead, and no controversial statements whatsoever. Remember, this is the same coach who told assistant John Hill not to comment to the media the week before Alaska-Anchorage – the team Hill coached through last season before returning to be an assistant at Minnesota – to avoid anything that might end up inspiring the Seawolves.
However, given Lucia’s “programming†of the Gopher defense, and Minnesota’s No. 1 status in the WCHA and in the national polls, three things are pretty certain: Hill will probably remain silent on this week’s trip to Anchorage, the Gopher defense will continue to impersonate Leopold, Ballard and Martin, and the Gophers – protests notwithstanding – will probably move one weekend away from the MacNaughton Cup.
Denver wins, leads Final Five charge toward Frozen Four
SAINT PAUL, MN. — Who else but the WCHA could hold a five-team tournament and have everybody win? ThatÂ’s what happened with the leagueÂ’s annual Final Five playoff, where the five first-round playoff winners convened at Xcel Energy Center. Denver, the top seed by the slim margin of goal-differential over co-champion Colorado College, defeated the Tigers 1-0 to win the Final Five championship.
That was on Saturday night, and on Sunday, the NCAA selection committee named Denver, CC, third-place winner North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin to the 16-team NCAA tournament field, meaning for the first time all five Final Five teams reached the select field for the NCAA tournament.
It was no surprise that Denver and Colorado College, both of whom jockeyed for the nation’s No. 1 rank through the last several weeks, were both seeded No. 1 at different regionals. The surprise was that Minnesota, which lost 3-0 to CC in the semifinals, and also lost 4-2 in the third-place game to North Dakota – in what was the third game in three days for the Sioux – was also named a No. 1 seed. The Golden Gophers were the top ranked team in the nation for three weeks in a row in midseason, before struggling through much of the second half, but their strong first half entrenched their status in the pairwise computer rankings used by the selection committee.
North Dakota, playing its best hockey of the season, defeated Wisconsin 3-2 in the “play-in†game between the fourth-seeded Badgers and fifth-seeded Fighting Sioux. North Dakota then came back with a strong performance against Denver, losing 2-1 in overtime. The Sioux also lost Robbie Bina when he was checked from behind into the side boards and suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck. Denver’s Geoff Paukovich, who was given a minor penalty on the play, was suspended for the league championship game after league officials reviewed the videotape of the hit.
North Dakota also lost star forward Brady Murray with an aggravated shoulder injury, 15 seconds earlier, and played heroically the rest of the way with 10 forwards before losing the game, which was its second in an 18-hour span. When the Fight should have been completely out of the Sioux, they came back the third day and stung Minnesota 4-2 for the third-place trophy.
The Final Five has no special bearing on the NCAA Selection Committee, but North Dakota’s courageous three-day run earned the Sioux all-tournament berths for winger Rastaslav Spirko and defenseman Nick Fuher, while Colorado College winger Brett Sterling and goaltender Curtis McElhinney also made the select six, and Denver center Gabe Gauthier – who scored both goals in the 2-1 overtime victory over North Dakota – and defenseman Matt Laatsch rounded out the all-tourney team. Sterling was named tournament MVP.
Denver coach George Gwozdecky stuck with his alternating goaltender plan, using Glenn Fisher in FridayÂ’s semifinal, and coming back with freshman Peter Mannino for the title game 1-0 shutout over Colorado College. Mannino also shut out the Tigers 5-0 in the last game of the regular season, lifting the Pioneers into a tie with CC for the MacNaughton Cup, and earning the top playoff seed in the WCHA on the basis of goal-differential. Gwozdecky had difficulty comparing this team to last year, when Denver was eliminated in the first round of league playoffs by CC, and missed the Final Five, only to get voted back in when the NCAA selected its 16 teams. Rested and ready, Denver went all the way to capture the NCAA championship, with, of all things, a 1-0 title-game shutout.
“All season, this team hasnÂ’t set any long-term goals,†said Gwozdecky. “ThatÂ’s given us the opportunity to win every weekend, and we are not emotionally spent.Ââ€
That stability, as well as their experience and poise, could make Denver the pre-tournament favorite to defend its NCAA crown. They got something of a break in NCAA pairings, where things worked out even though the Pioneers actually ranked as the third-best team by NCAA selection committee reasoning.
In the committee’s ratings, Boston College ended up No. 1, and is the only non-WCHA team to gain a No. 1 seed. Colorado College was ranked No. 2, despite the final loss to Denver, which was No. 3. A major decision the committee faced was between Minnesota and Cornell for the Nos. 4 and 5 slots. It came down to the “common-opponent†phase of evaluation, and the only common foe was Michigan, which beat Cornell, while Minnesota had beaten Michigan 6-1 at Thanksgiving time.
Following Cornell came Michigan, North Dakota and New Hampshire, in order, as the remaining No. 2 seeds, then Harvard, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boston University, in order, as the No. 3 seeds, and Maine, Colgate, Bemidji and Mercyhurst as the four No. 4 seeds. Each regional gets one team of each seeding group.
Had Minnesota been bumped to fifth, it would have become the top No. 2 seed, while Cornell would have been No. 1 at Amherst, N.Y., and then either Denver or Colorado College would have been sent to Mariucci Arena as No. 1. But since Minnesota is No. 1, the Gophers remain home to host to the West Regional, while Denver goes to Amherst, N.Y., as No. 1 seed in the Northeast Regional, and CC goes to Grand Rapids, Mich., as No. 1 seed at the Midwest Regional. North Dakota, which put on a courageous display at the WCHA tournament, is No. 2 seed at Worcester, Mass., in the Eastern Regional, where Boston College is the top seed. Wisconsin remained ranked high enough to be a No. 3 seed at the Midwest Regional.
That leaves WCHA teams in position to challenge for all four Frozen Four spots for the April 7-9 event at Columbus, Ohio. The toughest regional might be the Midwest, where CC faces Colgate, while Wisconsin takes on host Michigan in the other Friday semifinal. In the East Regional, also Friday and Saturday, Boston College is heavily favored over Mercyhurst, and if the highly ranked Eagles prevail, they would face the winner between North Dakota and Boston University in another tough regional.
In the Northeast Regional, Denver is heavily favored over Bemidji State, the College Hockey America champion, while New Hampshire faces Harvard in the other semifinal on Saturday. If Denver beats a strong Bemidji entry, the Pioneers would be solid favorites against either Harvard or UNH for the Frozen Four berth.
Denver, CC, North Dakota and Wisconsin all move eastward, where they will find plenty of competition, but none of them probably mind avoiding coming to Mariucci Arena, where they might have had to beat Minnesota at Mariucci Arena to advance. The Gophers hardly have an easy route, however, facing Maine in the Saturday afternoon semifinal, while Cornell faces Ohio State in the other game. Minnesota may be the No. 1 seed in the regional and Maine No. 4, but the Gophers are trying to regroup after losing twice at the Final Five, while Maine finished the season on an upsurge, losing 2-1 in two overtimes to Boston College in the Hockey East tournament semifinals.
While the WCHA gained five slots in the NCAA field, Hockey East had four, with BC, BU, New Hampshire and Maine, while the ECAC got three, with Cornell, Harvard and Colgate, and the CCHA only got two, with Michigan and Ohio State. If the five WCHA entries all play up to their top potential, the disappointment will be that the Frozen Four only has four openings.
Sweden tops Russia 3-0 for women’s world bandy title
SwedenÂ’s national womenÂ’s bandy team attacks with the suddenness of a Porsche, and defends with the security of a military tank. But SwedenÂ’s 3-0 victory over Russia in SaturdayÂ’s championship game of the WomenÂ’s Bandy World Championships more resembled a Volvo sedan.
Solid, safe, conservative and technically very sound, just like the cars they make in Gothenburg, Sweden, the yellow-clad Swedish team capitalized on its opportunities for two quick-striking goals by Mikaela Hasselgren in the first half, then concentrated on preventing Russia from getting any clear scoring chances in the second. Johanna Pettersson converted a pass from Johanna Karlsson seven minutes into the second 45-minute half, and Sweden stayed within the speed limit the rest of the way, to skate off the John Rose Oval in suburban Roseville, Minnesota, with the World Championship.
Swedish coach Roger Jakobssen said he enjoyed the comparison to SwedenÂ’s cars, best-known for their focus on keeping everything safe. “It was our final game, and everyone expected Sweden to win so easily,†Jakobssen said. “But we had to work really hard in most of the games, and especially today. Russia challenged us in a tough way, and we had to have a great deal of patience. We are the World Champions, and we played some excellent bandy, and I think we were excellent ambassadors for the game of bandy.Ââ€
Bandy boosters are hoping to get their sport into the Winter Olympics, and it would seem a likely candidate, because of its popularity in Scandinavia and Russia, and especially Siberia.
Norway, which had tied Russia 1-1in round-robin play for the highest moment in its century of bandy, but lost to the Russians in the semifinals, came back to defeat Finland 2-1 in the third-place game for the bronze medal. The U.S. earlier had beaten Canada 2-0 in the game for fifth place.
Bandy features never-ending skating, played with a tennis-ball-size ball and short sticks, like 11-player soccer on a soccer-sized rink. The sport is at a pinnacle in Sweden and Russia, where it is played by many, sometimes in indoor arenas, and rivals soccer and hockey in popularity. Crowds of over 20,000 are common in Russia, but the game is little-known in North America. The John Rose Oval is MinnesotaÂ’s only official-size bandy rink, and CanadaÂ’s team, an under-20 Winnipeg ringette team, was put together for the tournament and doesnÂ’t even have a bandy rink to practice on.
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Minnesota’s team averages about 38 years of age, and is hoping to expand with a youth program at Roseville. It wasn’t an attempt to be perfect hosts that the U.S. failed to win a game during the round-robin play – tying Norway 1-1, and losing 1-0 to Canada while also playing very well in a 2-0 loss to Finland, and its first victory in two World Championship appearances came in the fifth-place playoff game against Canada.
Minnesota Nice seemed to extend beyond the John Rose Oval facility, and just in time to make teams from Sweden and Russia feel comfortable, the Twin Cities region imported this winterÂ’s most severe cold snap down from northern reaches of Canada. It was about 5-below zero with a 30-mile-per-hour wind for much of the tournament, and all sorts of outdoor events elsewhere were cancelled, but the bandy went on. One unwitting photographer, bundled well except for his ears, froze his windward ear in about 20 minutes of picture-taking in the Friday sunshine. A woman volunteer minding the southeast corner of the rink tried to stay warm with hot coffee from her Thermos jug. The first time she tried it, all went well; the second time, she found the coffee in the Thermos had frozen solid.
It was less harsh on Saturday, and a rowdy group from Sweden wore yellow and blue hats and jerseys, waved flags, and sang assorted chants to cheer on their team. After the championship game, two-goal scorer Hasselgren said: “Cold? No. Not like yesterday.Ââ€
In nearly every game, the rhythmic flow of constant skating was occasionally interrupted by corner pass-in plays, which follow stoppages in play caused by the defending team knocking the ball out of bounds. Most of the tournamentÂ’s goals came off corner pass plays, ball three of SwedenÂ’s goals in the final came off direct attacks.
“We tried to get corners,†said Petterson, who not only scored the final goal, but got off the shot that led to Hasselgren’s second goal, on a rebound.
KarlssonÂ’s passes set up Hasselgren for the first goal of the game, as well as PetterssonÂ’s final goal. The Swedish players will now return to their club teams, three of which contributed players to the national team, and their schedule runs through March.
Russian coach Aleksandr Skirdenko was in good spirits after the game. “It could be better, if we win,†he said. “But we have given everything we could, and Sweden has a very strong team. We knew the Swedish team was very strong, very fast, and that we wouldnÂ’t have many chances against them. So our plan was to defend first, then counter-attack when we could. We had a few chances, but we didnÂ’t score.Ââ€
Oxana Pronshina, who had led Russia with two goals to a 7-0 victory over the U.S. and with three goals in an identical 7-0 romp over Canada in preliminary round play, said the first goal was pivotal. “If we had scored early, scored first, anything would be possible,†she said. “We would have put our bodies in front of the net, anything, to stop the Swedish team if we had gotten the first goal.Ââ€
Jakobssen, the coach and/or “Volvo driver,†said his team executed his tactics well. “We wanted to be careful in the second half to not lose the ball. A couple of times we lost the ball in the middle of the field, and they got their best chances then.Ââ€
But, with the Swedish teamÂ’s figurative shoulder harnesses strapped on, and roll-bars in place, and smooth-running efficiency unhampered by Siberian-like cold, there was never a chance SwedenÂ’s trip to the World Championship would be threatened.
Sioux erupt to sweep UMD with — or without — Stafford
As the old saying goes, you can watch 1,000 hockey games but there’s a good chance that at the next one you might see something you’ve never seen before. It happened when North Dakota played at Minnesota-Duluth in the first game of another of what is becoming a trend this season – a weird two-game series.
Drew Stafford played a major role in North DakotaÂ’s sweep, although not at all by design. He did it all in the 5-3 first game by getting a hat trick and an assist, and he left the second game early, almost as if to prove his suddenly explosive teammates could romp 7-4 without their hottest scorer.
StaffordÂ’s biggest role, in retrospect, may prove to be his part in the game-ending play of Game 1, a play that will make a great trivia quiz question: How can you score a goal without getting a shot on goal?
UMD was coming off an impressive tie and victory against Minnesota, while North Dakota was striving to break free of a three-game losing streak, having just dropped 4-2 and 4-1 games at home against Wisconsin. As in “underrated†Wisconsin, or “first-place†Wisconsin.
Stafford isnÂ’t likely to forget that first game. The junior winger scored in the first minute of the game, and when Ryan Duncan drilled a high-right corner shot on a 2-on-1 rush at 2:14 it was 2-0. UMD coach Scott Sandelin called an immediate time out, summoning goalie Isaac Reichmuth, the hero of the previous weekend against Minnesota, to join his teammates for a brief consultation at the bench.
“They came out jumping and we were flat,†said Sandelin. “There wasnÂ’t much I could say but to look up at the clock and tell them, ‘Well, weÂ’ve got 17:46 and two periods left.Â’ Ââ€
True, the fun had just begun. The Bulldogs settled down, and Tim StapletonÂ’s strong wrist shot beat Jordan Parise midway through the second period to cut UMDÂ’s deficit to 2-1. But five minutes later, Stafford pulled a power-play rebound free from a scrap at the net, spun and scored for a 3-1 Sioux lead.
In the third period, Stafford connected again with both teams short a man for a 4-1 lead. It was his seventh goal of the season, “and my first hat trick since I played at Shattuck,†he said, recalling his prep school days at Faribault, MN., his hometown.
That should have settled things, but Duluth rallied back when Jason Raymond scored on a UMD power play at 9:42, and when Sandelin pulled Reichmuth, Justin Williams scored with 1:31 remaining to thrust the Bulldogs to 4-3 proximity. When the game moved into its final minute, Reichmuth was pulled again and UMDÂ’s crowd was on its feet, urging the equalizer.
The Sioux defended firmly, then slick freshman T.J. Oshie got the puck out to center ice, and flipped a shot that was sliding slowly toward the unguarded UMD goal as the final seconds ticked off. Stafford was racing after it, and so was UMDÂ’s impressive freshman defenseman, Matt Niskanen. If Stafford could have gotten to the puck first, he could have converted his fourth goal of the night; if Niskanen could reach it, he could prevent an empty-net goal.
Everybody was watching the puck, as it slid toward the left post, but nobody could miss Niskanen – a former high school football star as well as hockey – take out Stafford with a pretty clean tackle. As the two slid to the end boards to the left of the goal, the puck did not go in, but struck the left pipe, and the ricochet trickled slowly into the crease.
Stafford and Niskanen, sprawled together at the end boards but still with distinctly differing motives, started to grapple. Referee Todd Anderson blew his whistle. After lengthy deliberation, he made what everybody in the press box agreed was a pretty unique decision.
He awarded a goal to Oshie, citing a rule that declares that when what appears to be an obvious goal at an empty net is prevented by a flagrant violation, a goal shall be awarded. So not only did Oshie get his fourth goal of the season at 19:58 of the third period, while Travis Zajac and Stafford were awarded assists on the awarded goal, and Niskanen and Stafford were penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, still, confusion reigned in the press box.
To be accurate, the shot chart had to show Oshie’s shot hit the post and technically wasn’t a shot on goal. So you can award a goal, but can you award a shot on goal? The opinions wavered, but it was agreed that the best solution was to provide a trivia-quiz question – can you score a goal without a shot on goal?
Stafford wasnÂ’t upset that Niskanen had footballed him out of a chance for his fourth goal. Quite the contrary.
“Actually, I saw the puck sliding and I thought it was going to go in,†said Stafford. “So I hooked Niskanen, trying to hold him back, to let the puck go in.Ââ€
Very interesting. WeÂ’ll never know if Anderson missed StaffordÂ’s hook, or what that might have done to his subsequent call. What we do know is that the Fighting Sioux had snapped out of their scoring slump, led by the first line.
“Oshie is really something,†said Stafford. “Travis [Zajac] and I are hard-pressed to keep up with him. TJ is so tenacious that even if a defenseman getrs a piece of him, heÂ’ll just blow past him.Ââ€
Obviously, with a crop of freshmen that includes first-round NHL picks like Oshie, Brian Lee and Joe Finley, and second rounders Taylor Chorney and Andrew Kozek, the Sioux are bristling with flashy freshmen. So Stafford up front and fellow-junior Matt Smaby, the only defenseman older than a sophomore, are needed for leadership.
So what happens in Game 2? Smaby was tossed for checking from behind at the 5:37 mark of the first period, and Stafford was ejected for the same infraction at 0:20 of the second period. At that point, UMD led 2-0 on first-period power-play goals by Tim Stapleton and Mason Raymond.
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The freshman-dominated Sioux chose that time to rally. Zajac scored on a rebound at 3:53, Rastislav Spirko scored a power-play goal at 5:11, and Zajac connected again at 9:24 for a sudden 3-2 Sioux lead. UMD countered when Josh Meyers scored on the power play for a 3-3 tie at 12:40, but the rest of the middle period belonged to the Sioux.
Toews scored a spectacular goal on a power-play rush when Oshie fed a quick pass to send Chris Porter flying into the zone on the right, and when he got in deep, Porter looked to shoot but passed instead, right across the crease, where Jonathan Toews had easy work to shovel the puck in behind Reichmuth.
Porter also made a neat play to Oshie on a later power play, and the pass was so slick it isolated the freshman from Warroad, MN., who had the poise to step out for a better angle, then snap a wrist shot into the upper right corner. That completed a five-goal second period for the Fighting Sioux, and all was going their way when Ryan Duncan opened the third period with a 35-foot slap shot that ticked a defensemanÂ’s stickblade and changed vectors to catch the lower left corner for a 6-3 bulge.
Stapleton gamely got his second goal of the game and third of the weekend to close it to 6-4, but Duncan broke free up the right side and jammed a shot through Reichmuth that trickled across the line under a sprawling Justin Williams in the closing minutes.
If the sweep proved anything, it proved several things. First, that North Dakota is for real, whether its veterans or its youthful exuberance leads the way; second, that the Bulldogs need to find some three-period consistency to keep winning; third, that the WCHA is wide-open and every series is likely to provide surprises. And, oh yes, it is possible to score a goal without a shot on goal.
Wendell goal lifts Gophers past Badgers 3-2 in WCHA final
It should have been the best of times for the Wisconsin Badgers, having just accomplished a mini-miracle comeback with two goals in the last minute to send their WomenÂ’s WCHA playoff championship game against Minnesota into overtime. Instead, it became the worst of times, when two penalties in the final 14 seconds of regulation snuffed any rekindled Badgers hope and created an almost inevitable 3-2 victory for Minnesota.
Minnesota improved to 33-2-2 overall, while Wisconsin dropped to 28-8-1. But the records and the final score donÂ’t come close to conveying a stunning finish that left the result both controversial and anticlimactic.
Everyone knew MinnesotaÂ’s strength as the No. 1 rated womenÂ’s hockey team in the nation, and everyone knew of Minnesota-DuluthÂ’s elite perch as the No. 2 team in the WCHA and national rankings. But if there were any lingering doubts about WisconsinÂ’s No. 3 status, they were dispelled by the superb three-day weekend performance of the Badgers at the WomenÂ’s WCHA playoffs.
After beating St. Cloud State on Friday, the Badgers rallied on Saturday to tie UMD, and beat the Bulldogs 3-2 on Saturday when Sharon Cole rapped in Sara BauerÂ’s pass from behind the net at 2:34 of overtime. UMD rebounded as Caroline Ouellette scored two goals and three assists and Riitta Schaublin shut out Ohio State 5-0 in the third-place game, before Sunday afternoonÂ’s final.
Minnesota posed a daunting challenge for WisconsinÂ’s third game in three days, but the Badgers played tough, dedicated defense, and prevented the powerful Gophers from scoring at even strength. Strong as they are offensively, the Gophers also are dominant defensively, so after scoring power play goals late in the second period and early in the third, another Gopher victory seemed inevitable, and an outstanding performance by the Badgers would go down as almost good enough.
But Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson called timeout and pulled Horras for a six-skater attack in the final minute. The Badgers swarmed to the front of the net, and got the puck back to Carla MacLeod at the right point. MacLeodÂ’s shot found its way through the maze of bodies and ruined Jody HorakÂ’s shutout. Minnesota still led, but now by 2-1, and, more importantly, there were still 50 seconds remaining.
“In that situation,†said Johnson, “we needed to get some pucks to the net. ItÂ’s nice to get one early enough to get back to center-ice for a chance to get another one. We were hoping to get the draw back to Carla or Molly (Engstrom).Ââ€
The Badgers did get time for another chance, and they did get the puck back to MacLeod at the right point again. This time she moved up the boards and fired from the circle. Incredibly, with 24 seconds remaining, MacLeodÂ’s shot beat the screened Horak and snared the upper right corner of the net. Two to two.
With only 24 seconds to go, the Wisconsin strategy was simple. “We just wanted to get through those 20 seconds to get to overtime,†Johnson said.
The Badgers got through it, but not unscathed. With 14 seconds to go, referee Jay Mendel called Wisconsin’s Bobbi-Jo Slusar for interference. Normally, in a game of such high intensity, a penalty would have to be flagrant to be considered as time ran out. Veteran officials call it “a feel for the game,†and while games are not supposed to be called more leniently in the later stages, the fact is, they usually are. In this case, however, there had been a lot of collisions that had gone uncalled during the game, which made the late interference call seem even more obtrusive.
The Badgers killed the final 14 seconds, and still had hope, if they could kill that penalty. But at the buzzer, Mendel added another penalty, to WisconsinÂ’s Nikki Burish, for high-sticking. That meant the Badgers would play the first 1:46 of sudden-death overtime for the WCHA playoff championship game two skaters short. Johnson exchanged some words with Mendel, as he walked across the ice at the end of the third period, and his futility had to felt even by the Gopher fans. One questionable penalty would put the Badgers in serious jeopardy, but facing the Gophers two skaters short would make their task in overtime hopeless.
And it was.
The Wisconsin goal and the outnumbered Badgers were surrounded by world-class, white-jerseyed Minnesota Golden Gophers when overtime started. U.S. National linemates Natalie Darwitz, Krissy Wendell and Kelly Stephens were out there, along with U.S. National defenseman Lyndsay Wall, and WCHA freshman of the year Bobbi Ross. Most of them touched the puck, and there was a lot of room to see it for goaltender Megan Horras, because there were only three Badger defenders out there with her. Horras tried to keep up with the angle as the Gophers threw the puck around quickly. Stephens passed from the left side to Darwitz inside left point, and Darwitz, the nationÂ’s scoring leader, immediately relayed it to the right side of the net, where Wendell, a left-handed shooter, and the nationÂ’s top goal-scorer, swung hard.
She didnÂ’t hit the puck squarely, but it didnÂ’t matter. Horras had been on top of her game all weekend, but she couldnÂ’t get all the way across to cover, and WendellÂ’s shot flew, straight and true, but in painstakingly slow yet inevitable motion, finding the open net after only 19 seconds of overtime. It was WendellÂ’s 40th goal, to go with 55 assists for 95 points.
The Gophers streamed off the bench in their home arena, perhaps as relieved as joyful, at escaping WisconsinÂ’s spellbinding last-minute rally with a 3-2 victory.
“IÂ’ve been around hockey a long time, and a lot of strange things happen,†said Johnson, afterward, as he chose his words judiciously. “They (the officials) have a job to do, and IÂ’m sure theyÂ’re going to do it to the best of their ability and capability. The penalties certainly made it interesting. But IÂ’m from the school that you want the players to decide the game.Ââ€
The tournamentÂ’s championship game was testimony to coach JohnsonÂ’s strategy. The Badgers not only harnessed MinnesotaÂ’s explosive offense, but outshot Minnesota 9-3 in the first period. They again harnessed the Gophers effectively in the second period, but when referee Mendel called Lindsay Macy for tripping in the closing seconds of the still-scoreless game, MinnesotaÂ’s potent power play connected with less than five seconds remaining in the second period. Wall fed Wendell on the right point, and WendellÂ’s hard pass through traffic to the left edge was one-timed by Darwitz for a 1-0 lead at 19:46.
“YouÂ’re dealing with world-class players here,†said Johnson. “Not many players could take the puck like Krissy and saucer a pass over to Natalie for a one-timer.Ââ€
Another penalty to Macy early in the third period arranged the scenario again. This time Darwitz and Wall collaborated for a shot and Ross knocked in the rebound at 5:26. The power-play goal and a 2-0 Minnesota lead made it look like another in a long series of good performances that fell short against the Gophers.
“Wisconsin carried play in the first period and most of the second,†said Darwitz, whose goals and two assists boosted her over the 100-point plateau with 39 goals, 63 assists for 102 points. “We played a great third period – the best period of the tournament for us, definitely.Ââ€
When the Badgers failed to generate much attack on a power play of their own midway through the third period, there seemed no doubt in the minds of 1,513 fans that the result was secured. But then came that final minute, and WisconsinÂ’s six-attacker try clicked twice.
Darwitz said she had never played in a game where an opponent had pulled its goalie and scored twice in the last minute. Wendell and Lyndsay Wall said they hadnÂ’t either.
“It’s not a good feeling on the bench, either,†said Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson.
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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