Newell’s ‘dream’ gets abrupt third period wake-up call
For every dream-come-true there are dozens of unfulfilled dreams, and a fair number of nightmares. In sports, sometimes they can happen simultaneously. Kendall Newell qualified as evidence when she got her first goaltending start of the season for St. Cloud State on the same Minnesota-Duluth ice once christened by her dad, Rick Newell.
If it had been a dream, Kendall Newell, a sophomore who has only played hockey for seven years, and most of those in the southwestern desert area of Phoenix, would have blanked the third-ranked Bulldogs to overturn the nightmarish ending of the first series game. She watched that one from the bench as a 2-1 Huskies lead dissolved with five minutes remaining, when UMD scored a pair of power-play goals 42 seconds apart to steal a 3-2 victory. The Bulldogs barely outshot the Huskies 30-28, and St. Cloud junior Lauri St. Jacques made 27 saves, 12 of them in the third period by the late-arriving Bulldogs.
The rematch started out pretty much in dream-come-true form for Newell, even though UMD’s aroused Bulldogs played a much more spirited game, pelting her with shots from every angle. For two periods, Newell stopped everything – including all 19 second-period UMD shots – as the Huskies grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead on power-play goals by Megan McCarthy and Hailey Clarkson.
The dream ended in a rude awakening when UMD scored three straight goals in the third period, then hit an empty net in the closing seconds for a 4-2 victory and a sweep. The nightmare was slow to build as UMD again started slowly, being outshot 8-3 in the first period, then roared back with 19 shots in each of the last two periods for a 41-24 margin in the game.
St. Cloud State coach Jason Lesteberg accepted the two near-misses, even though the Huskies outscored UMD 4-1 during the first two periods of the series, only to be overturned by UMDÂ’s 6-0 edge in the two third periods. “TheyÂ’re a good hockey team, but itÂ’s an even league with a lot of parity,†Lesteberg said. “WeÂ’re 0-4, but if we play like we did in the first two periods, we can win a lot of games.Ââ€
Even though she was overlooked in the point-happy “three stars†selection, Kendall Newell’s 37 saves gave the Huskies a chance to win the second game. The disappointment of the loss, however, overshadowed the thrill of her strong performance.
And the fact that the game came on the same Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center ice where her dad once skated was not overlooked. Rick Newell had come down from Winnipeg to Duluth to go to college in the 1960s, a wide-eyed, eager kid, who provided a quick-trigger temper on defense as he helped the formative University of Minnesota-Duluth menÂ’s program get formed.
Rick Newell played in the first UMD game in what was then the new Duluth Arena, and was a strong force on defense for a UMD hockey program that as it moved into the prestigious WCHA. Among Rick NewellÂ’s teammates were Keith (Huffer) Christiansen, who was just voted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, and a winger named Bruce McLeod, who later became athletic director at UMD and is now commissioner of the WCHA.
After a pro career, Rick Newell settled in Phoenix, where he and his wife, Lesley, raised Kendall. She never saw any videos of her dad playing, and she only saw a few scrapbook-type photos of his days at UMD. But genetics won out, and she cultivated a dream of someday playing college hockey in a skating class in seventh grade. She found a girls team in the area to play on as an eighth-grader, and a year later, when that team dissolved, Kendall played on a boys Bantam team in eighth grade.
The Newells enrolled their daughter as a ninth-grader at prestigious Xavier College Prep, a private Catholic girls school affiliated with the Brophy boys school. The girls didnÂ’t play hockey, so the self-taught Kendall Newell played goal for the Brophy boys junior varsity, then moved up to become the only girl to ever play on a varsity team at Brophy, in the Arizona High School league.
Significant social pressure – and a number of boys who played goal – caused Kendall to be asked not to play as a senior, her dad recalled. Through a friend, Rick Newell learned of a team in Milwaukee, Wis. – an Under-19 team called the Wisconsin Wild. “Kendall became a frequent flyer as a senior,†Rick said. “On weekends she would fly to Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Boston, or Chicago, then sheÂ’d come home to go to school and practice with a boys traveling team.Ââ€
Kendall Newell also had found a few USA Hockey development camps to attend along the way, and several colleges contacted her after her season at Milwaukee. “Jason flew out and talked to her, and she told him sheÂ’d go to St. Cloud on a Tuesday,†her dad said. “The next day, UMD called, and the day after that, Boston College offered her a scholarship. But she had given her word to St. Cloud, and thatÂ’s where she went.Ââ€
Deep down, Kendall may have dreamed of playing for the same college where her dad played, but she made the St. Cloud team as freshman back-up to Laurie St. Jacques last season, although it was often frustrating. When St. Jacques was injured early, Newell not only filled in but won several games, even recording a shutout. That didnÂ’t make it any easier to wait, on the bench, without playing for dozens of games after St. Jacques came back and assumed the starting role. For the season, St. Jacques was 5-15-3, with a 3.44 goals-against, and an .892 save percentage. Newell proved she could play, however, with a 4-5-1 record, a 3.00 goals-against average, and an .896 save percentage.
This season, St. Jacques is a junior, and played well when the Huskies lost 2-1 to open the season at Ohio State. The next night St. Jacques was the primary victim in a 5-1 Ohio State romp. Newell replaced her late in the game, giving up only one goal on 12 shots.
Lesteberg watched videotapes of the games and decided he was going to try alternating goalies, relieving St. Jacques of the heavy burden, while giving the eager Newell a chance to share the load. When that planÂ’s implementation came in Duluth, it was dream time.
Out in Phoenix, the Newells found a way to tune into the Duluth broadcast of the games over the Internet, although itÂ’s hard to say whether their daughterÂ’s aggressive goaltending was adequately conveyed to the desert. UMD was pretty passive in the first period, when St. Cloud outshot the Bulldogs 8-3 and took a 2-0 lead as McCarthy scored from the top of the left circle with a short-side shot at 14:35, and Clarkson got loose on a breakaway two minutes later.
In the second period, the Bulldogs got more aggressive, but so did Newell. She showed great style when she had to, and she turned acrobatic when style points weren’t going to be sufficient against repeated UMD flurries. She blocked all 19 shots on goal in the middle period, and at one point, she knocked down a UMD skater with a chop of her big stick, which drew a tripping penalty. “I didn’t hit her that hard,†Newell protested.
In the third, however, things came undone. At 3:39, Newell had stopped a wraparound attempt and a couple of good chances before Jessica Koizumi scored for UMD. “They made a pass across in front, and I was down, trying to pull the puck in,†Newell said.
“Apparently,†she added, sounding unconvinced, “it ended up behind me.Ââ€
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If that ended the dream of a shutout, the second goal was a sudden nightmare – coming just six seconds later. A young goalie could be shattered enough by the first goal that she wasnÂ’t ready for the second, but that wasnÂ’t the case. UMD’s Allison Lehrke fired the puck in from center ice after the ensuing faceoff, and speedy freshman Mari Pehkonen smacked it off a defensemanÂ’s stick and in. “They dumped it in, and I stopped it,†said Newell. “I played it off to the side for one of my defensemen, but she [Pehkonen] came in so fast she got to the puck first.Ââ€
Newell regained her composure and stopped the aroused Bulldogs until a power play at the 8-minute mark. Michaela Lanzl fired a screened shot from inside the right point, and the puck deflected in at 8:34. Tawni Mattila, a UMD freshman from Duluth who had scored her first college goal Friday night, was at the crease for a tip.
“She tipped it right in front of me, and it almost hit my leg, but it went in,†said Newell. Mattila said she didn’t tip it, but the puck changed direction off something. The dream had blown up, and with Newell pulled for a sixth attacker, Lanzl scored an empty-netter with 10 seconds left.
The dream of a storybook victory was shattered, but the larger dream – of playing college hockey – gained a broader horizon.
“I can see my parents at home, sitting around the computer,†said Newell.
In the Arizona desert, Rick Newell stayed glued to the broadcast, although he admitted his wife barged out of the room after the second goal. It was suggested to Kendall that her first-period penalty might have been an appropriate tribute to her father, whose hot-blooded play compiled penalties more often than points.
“I never saw any tapes of my dad playing,†she said. “That was my first penalty, but I donÂ’t think IÂ’m going to call him and say I got it in his honor.Ââ€
Rejuvenated Michigan Tech sweeps stunned Gophers
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Finishing first in the WCHA means you get to play at home against the last-place team in the first round of playoffs. But if Michigan Tech stays in last place, there will be a terrific scramble at the top to try to avoid facing the Huskies. Of course, if Michigan Tech continues to play the 2005 portion of the schedule the way it played the first two weekends of January, the Huskies have no chance to remain in last place.
Michigan Tech swept two games from Minnesota at Mariucci Arena last weekend, winning 6-3 and 3-1 against the nation’s No. 3 ranked – and previously No. 1 ranked – college team. Maybe some credit should go to an eight-inch snowfall on Friday that transformed the Twin Cities into “Houghton West,†but it was the first time Tech had swept the Golden Gophers ever at the new Mariucci Arena, and the first time any Tech team had swept any Gopher team in Minneapolis since John MacInnes’s Huskies inflicted two losses on Herb Brooks’s Gophers in 1975.
That’s not all. The only other WCHA series Tech has played in calendar 2005 was at Denver on January 7-8, when the Huskies stung No. 5 Denver 3-0 before losing the rematch 1-0. So Tech is 3-1 since the first of the year – and now stands 4-14 for the season.
“Yeah, and we should have won the other game out at Denver,†said John Scott, Tech’s gigantic junior defenseman. Scott would be gigantic under any circumstances, at 6-foot-7 and 255 pounds, but he looks even more gigantic in Tech’s lineup, which features Chris Conner, Lars Helminen, and Mike Batovanja, all of whom are 5-foot-7, and Jimmy Kerr and John Hartman, both of whom are 5-foot-9.
With Tech returning home to engage Colorado College in Houghton, all those technological students at Tech might be wondering if “turnaround†is one word or hyphenated. Also, is “road warrior†two words or hyphenated? The term “player-of-the-week†is easier; it can be hyphenated, or it can be spelled “Ellsworth,†although goaltender Cam Ellsworth was deflecting credit after stopping 39 of 42 Minnesota shots in the 6-3 game, and 37 of 38 in the 2-1 second game to earn defensive player of the week laurels.
“The best thing about it is we got two wins,†said Ellsworth. “Goaltending is an easy job when the team is playing well, and itÂ’s tough when the team is playing badly. IÂ’m not doing much different, but now that weÂ’re winning, itÂ’s a lot easier.Ââ€
Now that weÂ’re winning? How about now that weÂ’ve gone on the road to beat two of the best teams in the country? Ellsworth apparently found an invisible shield under his Christmas tree, because he has stopped 189 of 196 shots in his last five games, which also includes a 6-2 victory over Notre Dame at Green Bay, on the way to Minneapolis. So Tech goes home 4-1 for January.
“The biggest difference in our team?†said captain Colin Murphy, who was offensive player of the week. “Goaltending. WeÂ’ve had a lot of close games, and we know we can play with anybody.Ââ€
Tech coach Jamie Russell said: “IÂ’m proud of Ellsworth the way heÂ’s turned his game around. The first half was frustrating for our whole team, but everybody kept working. There are still some areas where we need to improve, but we want to be playing our best hockey at the end.Ââ€
Consider that through the 2004 half of the schedule, Tech was 1-13 in WCHA games, and that 5-1 victory against Alaska-Anchorage seemed a long time ago – because it was, coming back on October 29. After that came a couple of losses at St. Cloud State, a couple of losses at Colorado College, a couple of losses against North Dakota, and a couple of losses against Denver. December ended with a couple of tough losses at the Great Lakes Invitational Tournament in Detroit, 4-2 to Michigan and 4-3 against New Hampshire.
The outlook for January was pretty bleak, with a return series on the road at No. 5 ranked Denver, then a series at No. 3 rated Minnesota, before returning home against No. 1 Colorado College, then a trip to Duluth to face preseason favorite UMD. “We’re ALWAYS playing top teams,†said Ellsworth.
At Minnesota, Tech also was running into a determined foe. Getting past Minnesota State-Mankato twice had hardly healed the sting the Gophers felt from losing twice at home to Colorado College. Those were the first home losses after a two-year streak of Mariucci invincibility for Minnesota. Besides, the Golden Gophers had beaten Tech 16 straight times, nine of them at Mariucci.
But Tech struck first in the Friday game, on a goal by defenseman Lars Helminen, and silenced the crowd of 10,147 in the second period when Taggart Desmet converted MurphyÂ’s feed for a 2-0 lead, and made it 3-0 when Murphy rapped in a 2-on-1 pass across the goal-mouth from Chris Conner.
The big crowd got fired up when Gino Guyer countered with a goal for Minnesota, and Even Kaufmann cut the deficit to 3-2 before the middle period ended. But Jimmy Kerr skated in to play the ricochet as the puck caromed off the corner boards to the right circle, and golfed a one-timer high and to the short side against Kellen Briggs for a 4-1 Tech lead early in the third period.
A Gopher goal was disallowed because of a dislodged net later, and Ellsworth and the Huskies weathered a furious Gopher attack, then most of a power play, during which frustrated Gophers winger Ryan Potulny crashed right over Ellsworth, knocking him out of the crease. When freshman defenseman Alex Goligoski scored from the point before that power play ended, it was 4-3, and a Gopher comeback seemed inevitable.
Conner, the 5-7 dynamo who had worked hard for minimal rewards all season, wouldnÂ’t let the Huskies falter. “It was tough scoring early on, but I was still getting chances,†said Conner. “ThatÂ’s something weÂ’ve had to work on. We used to let down when things didnÂ’t go our way, but weÂ’re starting to learn that youÂ’ve got to keep working.Ââ€
Conner kept working, retaliating 54 seconds after GoligoskiÂ’s goal with a rush up the left side. He battled defenseman Chris Harrington all the way to the net for a shot, then when Briggs left the rebound in the crease, Conner hopped over the sprawling Harrington and Briggs to score. Conner said he thought Harrington, who was sprawled, might have knocked it in with his hand, and Harrington said he had no idea what happened in the tangle. What did happen was TechÂ’s lead expanded to 5-3, and it ended 6-3 when, on a last-minute penalty kill, Ryan Markham rifled a 150-footer into the empty net with 14 seconds to go.
Tech started the second game with the same resolve, but Minnesota wound up with a two-man power play for a 1:15 span when Schwartz went off for slashing at 11:00, and Scott was whistled for cross-checking at 11:45. Minnesota scored when Tyler Hirsch’s shot from the left circle glanced off teammate Danny Irmen’s skate and then Tech defenseman Jake Wilkens’s skate, finding the net at 12:17. A two-man power play double deflection goal, and it turned out to be the only puck to elude Ellsworth all night. The crowd of 9,677 continued to chant “Ellsworth sucks,†however, meaning their script prevented them from paying attention to what was happening. If Ellsworth sucked, as they say, what does that say for the Gopher shooters?
Justin Johnson was in goal for Minnesota, making it the second weekend in a row he got the second game. Before that, Briggs had started 21 straight, but had yielded 20 goals in his last four starts. Trailing 1-0, Tech played an amazing second period, outshooting Minnesota 18-14 even while killing three penalties, and the Huskies scored twice, as Scott and Conner connected in a 1:05 span.
Scott, a junior at age 22 who has somehow been missed in the NHL draft, played a mighty game on defense, and moved in forcefully from the point after great forechecking by Nick Anderson and Murphy, and drilled his shot at 16:37. It may have looked routine, but it was only the second goal of the season for the big blueliner. “Whenever you get a chance like that, youÂ’ve got to put it in,†said Scott, who laughed about the infrequency of his goals. “My other one was a one-timer from the point against Alaska – it was a pretty good goal, actually.Ââ€
A minute later, Conner was in deep, pestering the defense as usual, when defenseman Clay Wilson shot from center point. The shot deflected off the end boards to the right of the net and came right back out, where Conner bunted it in at the right post. “That one barely made it, too,†said Conner, who leads the Huskies with 10 goals.
Murphy had passed to Wilson, so he got an assist on ConnerÂ’s goal, his nation-leading 30th assist of the season. It ended a productive week for Murphy, who had four assists against Notre Dame, and his seventh goal along with three assists in the first Minnesota game. Murphy plays right wing on a line with Desmet at center and Conner at left wing, and is a superb player and strong captain.
But the Huskies know that their chances of success increase greatly if Conner keeps scoring. “Chris is a big-time player,†said Ellsworth. “HeÂ’s fast, he has all the moves, and heÂ’s probably the strongest player in the league. HeÂ’s also a special type of person.Ââ€
Scott attests to ConnerÂ’s strength. “Conner is impossible to check in practice,†said Scott. “He practices just like he plays, going all-out. HeÂ’s the most laid-back guy off the ice, but in practice, heÂ’s so strong I have trouble knocking him down.Ââ€
The Gophers won’t question the strength of Scott, the giant among some jockeys. A pretty lively scrap erupted during the second game, and everybody but the goaltenders were involved. Scott and Minnesota’s Hirsch were paired up, “I had 23 (Hirsch),†said Scott. “Then I saw 15 (Mike Vannelli) jump on one of our guys.†So Scott grabbed Vannelli as well, and for the last half-minute before order was restored, the 6-7 Scott casually held Hirsch harmlessly at bay in one hand and Vannelli in the other.
Harrington, outside the Minnesota dressing room, said, “WeÂ’ve got to remember how we won all those games early. Tech won the way youÂ’re supposed to – with hard work. They did all the little things you have to do to win.Ââ€
Which, as the Yoopers like to say, is better than doing the things you do to lose.
NHL’s new long-pass rule may help fans forget lockout
The National Hockey League not only returns to action this fall, but it could be the fastest, most wide-open NHL in the leagueÂ’s history. College hockey fans, a fervent cult unto themselves, already know what the NHL hasnÂ’t yet comprehended: Eliminating a little nuisance called the two-line pass will open the floodgates to let the best hockey players in the world fully explore their potential.
Pro hockey has used the center red line to determine how long a pass can be ever since World War II, while college hockey rules only use the center red line only for determining icing. When the NHL resumes play after taking last season off, it will do so with the college passing rule.
Traditionalists have long fought to keep the two-line passing rule, without ever knowing why, except that it was traditional. Tradition, by itself, is the worst justification for anything. But NHL old-timers have never known anything different. Whenever a team was in its own defensive zone, it could pass ahead to a teammate, but only across the nearest blue line; the pass had to be completed before that teammate reached the center red line, or else – whistle! – the dreaded two-line pass would be called to stop play for a faceoff.
In college hockey, a player pinned up against his own end boards, could fire a pass all the way to the far blue line, hitting a streaking winger with a 120-foot missile. Still, you can’t try to clear the puck from your side of the red line to the far end without it still being called icing and brought back to your end for a faceoff.
If pro hockey stalwarts have never watched a college game, they have no idea how exciting it is to see such wide-open scoring chances. Defensive zealots, and a few goaltenders, who prefer trapping defenses to forechecking and breakaways, may wake up in a cold sweat at the very thought of finding defensive players who can skate with those fast-breaking wingers, rather than merely waiting until the attackers had to slow down at the red line.
Another asset to the long-passing rule is that, even though traditionalists argue that the rule could ruin defensive concepts of the game, instead there will be some spectacular defensive plays. But the defenders will have to be extremely alert, ready to turn and go at high speed, rather than trust their usual assets – clutching, grabbing and hooking.
Nobody can calculate how many spectacular scoring chances and how many more high-speed breakaways and 2-on-1s have been forfeited by the stifling and archaic NHL rules.
The only previous chance the NHL had to adopt the non-redline rule was at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Recall that Sweden, playing a long-passing, wide-open style, would send one or even two forwards streaking up the rink, all the way across the far blue line. NHL-trained defensemen dropped back but relaxed at their own blue line, because any pass across that line would, of course, be offside. But the Swedes would then circle back to catch those 100-foot passes and finish their high-speed circles to sprint in at the unprotected goaltender.
The style confounded NHL purists. Heck, it confounded NHL players. Remember that Sweden humiliated what had been called the strongest Team Canada ever assembled with a 6-2 blowout in a preliminary round game. Canada went on to win the gold medal, but the biggest gasp of relief came when Sweden was upset by Belarus in a quarterfinal game. Otherwise, Canada would have had to beat Sweden in the semifinals, instead of the drained and satisfied Belarus, before getting past the U.S. in the final.
The point was, throughout the Olympics, the action was fast and furious – and eye-catching with its excitement. The International rules, like college, allow the long passes. All along, top NHL executives grudgingly acknowledged that the games were faster and more exciting in that wide-open style, and hints were everywhere that the NHL would reexamine its rules.
Then Canada won the gold medal, and the same NHL executives and management types puffed out their chests and said, “Well, I guess our style of play is OK after all.Ââ€
All that work, all the effort Herb Brooks had put in to distill the top U.S. National Hockey Leaguers to adapt to his hybrid, fast-breaking, puck-controlling style, were swept away. Canada rules, helped by an NHL officiating staff that called the final like a typical, clutch-and-grab NHL game, forgetting entirely about International rules. Ask Mike Modano, or Jeremy Roenick, or Brett Hull, which style they’d prefer to play – Herbie’s style, or the NHL style of the past 50 years.
Stubbornness has long been the biggest liability the NHL has had in preventing itself from achieving its own potential. For example, few observers who praise the two-line pass presence of the center red line seem to be unaware of the wonderful story about how it was put in place to begin with. During World War II, so many of the young men from Canada and the U.S. went off to war that the NHL faced a shortage of players. So it was decided to put in a red line across the middle of the rink, and declare that nobody could pass across it until they had the puck across their own blue line. That would allow some of the old and aging defensemen, who were too old to go to war, to keep playing, so that the league could keep functioning through the war years.
As a cynic who always has preferred the college game, I once wrote that the pro hockeyÂ’s biggest problem is that nobody has told the NHL that World War II ended.
If stubbornness prevailed, in the name of tradition, it took more stubbornness on both sides to cost the National Hockey League a full season of play, and also established pro hockey as an easy target for columnists throughout the United States who needed somewhere to vent any accumulated venom. Those columnists, particularly those who rarely attend hockey games anyhow, took great glee in ridiculing the NHL by calling both sides stupid, suggesting the lockout could be suicidal to the leagueÂ’s future, or, worse, saying that nobody cares anyway.
Critics have a point. Hockey, many agree, is followed by the most intense body of fans on the planet, but the sport is nowhere near as universally popular as baseball, football or basketball. As Bill Clinton might say, however, “It depends on your definition of universal.Ââ€
Baseball is big in the U.S., big in Central America, and big in Japan – and that’s it. In case you forget, the International Olympic Committee just dropped baseball from being an Olympic sport because of scant participation around the world. Football? The NHL tries to force it into England and Europe, but everywhere outside of the U.S., soccer is what they mean when they say football. Basketball is played some in countries that can grow 7-footers, such as Russia, or Italy, with a flurry in China, and Yugoslavia, but not much, considering it only takes five players to create a winning team.
Hockey, meanwhile, is played and played well in Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, and on a lesser scale in the Far East, and even in Great Britain and Australia. It took far less to create the gold medal upset when the old USSR beat the U.S. in Olympic basketball than it did for the U.S. collegians to conquer the USSR, Sweden, Finland, Canada and the Czechs in 1980Â’s hockey tournament.
Still, hockey is not major in many parts of the U.S., and the lack of a strong national television contract is evidence. ThatÂ’s what led to the nobody-wins lockout situation, where both sides were at fault, or neither side was at fault, depending upon your perspective.
Hockey needed to make itself more wide-open, to let the skaters and playmakers have enough room to skate, make plays, and score more goals. But the sport seemed helpless to help itself. Television revenue is what makes football successful at those colleges where it is a success. Removing television revenue, shared among conferences, reduces the number of college football programs that actually make a profit to a half dozen or so, according to nationally circulated statistics a few years ago.
No question, pro baseball, football and basketball have lucrative network contracts, and thus make more money, and can better afford the outrageous salaries players command. Hockey could never afford such salaries, but, driven by the demands of agents, some of whom also represent players in the other pro sports, caused the NHL teams to pay and pay until even the highest ticket prices couldnÂ’t assure financial stability.
Something had to be done. The owners needed a salary cap, and the players, deep down, knew it. But the players association went into negotiations saying they’d do anything – “except a salary cap.†Since a salary cap was the most pressing need, there were no serious negotiations. The lockout kept the players – and fans – out of the arenas, and things got particularly tough when, at midseason, a couple of owners whispered that they were losing less money by not playing than they’d be losing by playing the way things were.
Finally, faced with what might have been the complete eradication of pro hockey as we know it, the players association gave in. Giving back 24 percent of their salaries, and seriously limiting team and individual player salaries will make for a far more even playing surface. And there is a chance for profitability.
In the big picture, however, the best chance for a more exciting game — and the possible TV contract that could follow – is in place because of a couple of rule changes. There had been talk of not letting the goalies handle the puck(!), and of making the goals larger, like soccer goals, to allow more goals – forget about having to throw out all the old scoring records. Widening the blue lines to make the offensive zones larger is questionable, and not really necessary. Making the goaltendersÂ’ pads closer to the size configuration that the rules call for, will help to give shooters some openings, and perhaps officials will have to measure goalie pads the way they measure sticks for illegal curves.
But without question, the elimination of the two-line passing rule is the biggest attribute that NHL players and fans can look forward to. After everyone gets used to the new, high-speed game, and teams start acquiring players who can skate and pass rather than those who can lift heavy things and clutch and grab, they will look back someday and think about how archaic the old rules were. Remember hearing about the way girls basketball rules used to be in some places, where a player could only dribble two bounces, then had to pass, and a player on the defensive side of the court couldnÂ’t advance across to the offensive side? ThatÂ’s the way the old NHL rules will someday be recalled.
When you get a chance to catch the “new†NHL, on television or in person, check it out. The only remaining cynics – aside from those who donÂ’t yet realize World War II is over — are those who donÂ’t want to see guys named Modano, Naslund, Forsberg, Datsyuk, and Kariya skating at full speed to catch a 120-foot breakaway pass. Can you say: “breathtaking?†Can you say: “Where can I buy a ticket?†Can you say: “What lockout?Ââ€
Games in hand scramble WCHA race at midpoint
If any WCHA series could rank as a microcosm for the whole first half of the season it might have been when defending NCAA champion Denver played at preseason coachesÂ’ favorite Minnesota-Duluth in the final series before holiday tournament break. It could hardly have been a closer duel, as the teams played to a 4-4 tie in the first game, then did the same in the rematch, before Denver escaped from the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center with a 5-4 victory in overtime.
Denver coach George Gwozdecky expressed some relief after taking three points out of the DECC series, and remarked about how typical both of the games were in the recent history of DU-UMD matches.
Then Gwozdecky said: “At times it was hard-fought, and at times it was helter-skelter.Ââ€
There. That says it all about the fast-paced and crazy series between the two teams, but it also best-describes the first half of the WCHA race, where, if anything, the amazing momentum swings leave a title race looks more wide-open than it was at the start of the season.
Wisconsin stands in first place at 10-4, for 20 points, and North Dakota second at 9-6-1, for 19 points. Impressive as those two teams have been, however, there is reason to suspect that the next three teams in order rank as the primary threats – Colorado College and Minnesota – tied at 18 points – and Denver with 17 points.
Minnesota-Duluth, after zooming to a 4-0 for first place in the league, 5-0-1 overall, and the No. 1 rank in the nation, went into an incredible 1-6 tailspin to and stand 6-7-1 in league play, for 13 points, but nobody doubts the BulldogsÂ’ chances for getting everything back in order for the second half.
The reason Minnesota, CC and Denver all look like such title threats, however, is the all-important loss column. When the number of games varies among teams on the way to final equality, the most victories capture the headlines, but the fewest losses generally win championships. In addition, when teams make up the game disparity they have a chance to add victories, while those with more victories cannot deduct losses.
Wisconsin has only four losses, and the Badgers first-place points were accrued over 14 games, while North Dakota has played 16 WCHA games, with six losses. CC, Minnesota and Denver, however, have played only 12 WCHA games. At identical 9-3 records, either Colorado College or Minnesota could vault into first place simply by winning the two “games in hand†they have compared to Wisconsin.
When it was suggested to Minnesota coach Don Lucia that his Gophers and CC, having split a crucial series at Colorado Springs, might be favorites, said, simply: “Watch out for Denver.Ââ€
The Pioneers, who sputtered and struggled through most of last season, then came alive at NCAA tournament time and rose to capture the big trophy, also have only three losses, at 8-3-1.
UMD, meanwhile, never scored fewer than four goals and averaged 5.75 goals per game in running to its 4-0 league start, then never scored as many as four in a game while averaging a paltry 1.7 goals per game during their 1-6 league reversal. The Bulldogs’ inability to score climaxed in a 5-1 loss to North Dakota at the DECC, when they trailed the Sioux 5-0 before Marco Peluso scored something of a fluke goal on a two-man power play for a 5-1 loss. The next night, trailing 2-0, finally reached that “4†plateau for a 4-3 victory.
That game ended a string where UMD had won only two of 11 games overall (2-8-1), and that was when Denver came to Duluth.
Fast-paced as the first game was, it was odd because it never was racehorse, back and forth. Instead, one team dominated, then the other. Jon Foster and Luke Fulghum gave Denver a 2-0 lead in the first period, when Denver outshot the Â’Dogs 11-7. UMD then took over for goals by Brett Hammond, Todd Smith and Tim Hambly in the second period, and Luke StauffacherÂ’s power-play goal gave UMD its fourth straight goal and a 4-2 lead. But Fulghum scored shorthanded for Denver, and the Pioneers reclaimed the momentum when Gabe Gauthier scored a power-play goal a minute later for a 4-4 tie that withstood the final 13 minutes and overtime.
With coach Scott Sandelin off coaching the U..S. team in the World Junior tournament, assistant Steve Rohlik coached UMD. “I told our guys before the game that I wished I could play just one shift, to get rid of the jitters,†said Rohlik, a former star whose last college game was when he helped lead Wisconsin to the 1990 NCAA title, and whose last previous game as head coach was in the 1997 Minnesota state high school tournament, when Rohlik’s Hill-Murray lost to Edina in three overtimes.
The next night, it was more of the same – again, typifying both UMD and Denver, and the whole WCHA tangle. Ryan Helgason staked Denver to a 1-0 lead in the first period, which established a startling record that best-explains UMD’s struggles: It was the 16th game out of 20 this season’s first 20 games that the Bulldogs yielded the first goal.
UMD came battling back, as usual, this time with Peluso, Steve Czech and Stauffacher scoring second-period goals for a 3-1 Bulldog lead. The third period caused a similar reversal, as Matt Carle scored on a power play and Mike Handza tied it 4-4 at 6:54. Rohlik pulled starting goalie Josh Johnson at that point, but Isaac Reichmuth was greeted by FulghamÂ’s third goal of the weekend just 28 seconds later, and Denver led 4-3.
That led to a dramatic finish to the third period, when Evan Schwabe scored a one-timer from the right edge with 3:53 remaining for a 4-4 tie that duplicated FridayÂ’s ebb-and-flow battle. This time, however, the puck dropped for overtime and Jeff Drummond went to the crease to score at 0:15, and Denver had its 5-4 victory.
So preseason favorite UMD seemed to get healthy – scoring four goals for three straight games, even if they only went 1-1-1 – and the Bulldogs could take extra satisfaction in knowing that their seven league losses include five on the road, and they are 4-2 at home, where they open the second half with four straight at the DECC. And Denver stayed in hot contention with the three points on the road, a perfect launching pad for the second half.
Danica Patrick, without the hype, tries second Indy 500
The Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway would indicate that pole-sitter Sam Hornish should be the favorite to win SundayÂ’s 90th Indianapolis 500. If not Hornish, his Team Penske teammate of Helio Castroneves, and Target-Chip GanassiÂ’s Dan Wheldon are his top challengers.
After those three, who will start on the front row, GanassiÂ’s Scott Dixon, starting fourth, or Andretti-Green ace Tony Kanaan, starting fifth, are the next best bets. After that, the colorful return to the Indy 500 by Michael Andretti, Al Unser Jr., and Eddie Cheever have drawn a lot of attention.
They can call it smart money, or unimaginative guesswork, but it doesnÂ’t take a lot of courage to pick one of the top five qualifiers to win the race. Once in a while, the 500 goes according to form. More often, it varies greatly.
Me? IÂ’m pulling for Danica Patrick. Without the pile of publicity, and without what appears to be a highly competitive car, Patrick, the only woman in the race for the second year in a row, qualified 10th, so will start on the inside of Row 4.
The media frenzy that followed Danica Patrick through her first attempt to race in the Indianapolis 500 a year ago was overdone and over-hyped. After the race, when she finished fourth, the hype turned some different directions, one of which was scorn.
A number of “mainstream†media guys – so-called because they are so focused on stick and ball sports like baseball, football and basketball that they are actually annoyed at having to be distracted from that focus – started to rip on Patrick. They criticized her because she was beautiful, and wasn’t afraid to put on a little makeup and some fetching clothes for photo opportunities, and they criticized her for being over-hyped.
It was an interesting tendency to witness, because some of the same fellows who clamored to out-hype their rivals in over-hyping Danica Patrick, then ripped into her for being over-hyped.
I had an interesting session last year, because having missed only three Indy 500s since 1969, I was attending it for the third straight year as part of the Midwest Auto Media Association (MAMA), a collection of automotive journalists who went by coach bus from a predawn race-day Chicago venue to the race, with an immediate return to Chicago afterward. On the way to the track, somebody came up with the idea of all of us tossing $5 into a pool, and drawing for names. I drew – Danica Patrick.
Now, I was interested to follow her through practice and qualifying, and the race, although I didnÂ’t expect her to be able to break into the all-menÂ’s club of winning, or even contending, in the race. A group of us sat in Turn 1 for the race, and it proved a great vantage point.
In watching the race unfold, where every little nuance early in the race could contribute to final contention, I was impressed when Patrick kept running among the leaders. She actually passed Dan Wheldon, the eventual winner, in race trim during the race. One pit stop got fouled up, which was unfortunate, and the luck of the timing of pit stops during caution slowdowns dropped her to 10th place, and apparently out of contention.
However, as the race boiled down to the homestretch, the leaders all were calculating one final pit stop and how theyÂ’d need at least a splash of extra fuel to make it to the finish. In a bit of brilliant strategy, PatrickÂ’s Rahal-Letterman crew gambled and let Danica Patrick stay on the track. When all the rest of the leaders pitted, Patrick wound up in first place.
She led the Indianapolis 500, running hard and at full speed. It used to be that the Indy 500 drew the biggest names in motorsports in the world, every year. Under the current split of U.S. open-wheel racing, we could only say she led the biggest names in motorsports this side of Formula 1 and NASCAR. Still, it was a marvelous performance.
In the closing laps, Wheldon and the rest of the hottest runners cut into her lead. Her crew realized she would have to back off on her pace or not finish, which was an all-or-nothing choice. She backed off a little, and it turned out Wheldon and three others passed her to finish 1-2-3 ahead of the most impressive female sports performance in racing – except in drag-racing, where several women have done very well.
But to read some of the post-race columnists, her performance was no big deal. After she ran the next few races, and ran competitively without winning, one syndicated columnist tore into her. SheÂ’s hasnÂ’t won, he wrote; Anika Sorenstam, the fantastic womenÂ’s golfer, was a dominant force and won consistently, which made this fellow claim that she should be the female athlete reaping the rewards of all the media hype, and not Patrick.
A year later, letÂ’s let a tiny bit of logic venture into the debate. Sorenstam, truly an amazing golfer, has entered a couple of menÂ’s tournaments. In golf, women tee off from shorter distances, because they canÂ’t hit the ball as far. Simple as that. In several impressive attempts, Sorenstam came close to qualifying, and played very competitively with the bottom qualifiers for a couple of rounds. Very impressive. Then she would return to the LPGA, and again dominate.
But Danica Patrick wasn’t running in a powder-puff derby, or a celebrity race-against-the-media type preliminary. She was racing against the best open-wheel race drivers in the world, and she not only competed – she LED the Indianapolis 500 with 10 laps to go! Not only that, but the earlier pit foul-up hadn’t occurred, the seconds she lost there clearly would have made up for the deficit she had at the finish.
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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.
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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