Irmen, ‘Import Line’ spark Gophers to WCHA lead

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The hottest team in the WCHA is the University of Minnesota, because of the hottest line in the league, which should be called the “Tourist Line,” or the “Import Line.”

The line, with two sophomores and a freshman, are all non-Minnesota natives, and they have scored almost exactly half the Gophers total goals for the season. It was Danny IrmenÂ’s turn to pull the trigger when the Gophers swept a crucial early-season series from Wisconsin, which turned out to be worth first place in the WCHA.

A sophomore right winger, Irmen scored on a penalty shot at 5:28 of the third period to break a 2-2 tie and give the Gophers a 3-2 opening victory, before 10,190 fans at Mariucci Arena. Gino Guyer had scored his first goal of the season at 0:11 of the third period to tie the game, and Irmen, who assisted on linemate Ryan Potulny’s ninth goal of the season to start the game, scored his fourth goal of the season on the penalty shot to win it, after he was hauled down from beind.

Irmen followed up by scoring two goals for the difference in a 4-2 Gopher victory in the rematch, before 10,587 – a crowd that not only was a record at Mariucci Arena, but also a Mariucci series record of 20,777 in a building busting at the seams with standing-room patrons. Irmen rapped the first goal of the game past superb Wisconsin goaltender Bernd Bruckler, igniting a 3-0 start. Midway through the second period Irmen, a right-hand shot, broke up the left side and drilled a one-timer off Tyler Hirsch’s perfect pass across the slot.

Irmen’s three goals and an assist gave him four points on the seven goals Minnesota scored, boosting his total to 6-7—13, which equals Ryan Potulny (9-4—13) for the team scoring lead as Minnesota moved to a 5-1 WCHA mark, 7-2 overall.

Irmen, who is from Fargo, N.D., plays on a line centered by Ryan Potulny, another sophomore, who is from Grand Forks, N.D., with Kris Chucko, a freshman from Burnaby, British Columbia, at left wing. The days when the University of Minnesota hockey team was composed entirely of homestate Minnesotans are long gone, although Irman and Potulny – clearly the offensive inspiration for the Gophers – are from just a long slapshot across the Red River, the border between Minnesota and North Dakota. The remaining nine forwards are all Minnesotans.

Potulny played high school hockey at Grand Forks Red River, and Irmen moved an hour north to join him, before both took off for Lincoln, Neb., where they finished high school while playing for the Lincoln Stars of the USHL. They led the Stars to the Clark Cup, played one more season there, then came to Minnesota together.

“When I came in, I wanted to be a go-to guy, but last year we had a lot of talent,” said Irmen. “This year, we have some talent too, but we don’t take anything for granted.”

Opponents certainly can’t take the “Import Line” for granted, either. The Gophers have scored 35 goals in crafting their 7-2 record, and Irmen and Potulny have 15 of them. Toss in the two from freshman Chucko, and the line has accounted for 17 goals – almost exactly half of the total. The only other Gopher with as many as three goals is freshman defenseman Derek Peltier, who moved in smartly from the left point to score with a perfect pass from Gino Guyer, who followed up goals by Irmen and Peltier with a goal of his own for a 3-0 Minnesota lead in the first period.

The success of the rebuilding Gophers is further proof of the considerable storage of wealth of depth in the program, and it has even surprised coach Don Lucia.

“I did not anticipate we’d be sitting 7-2,” said Lucia, whose team lost a preseason tournament game 1-0 at Alaska-Anchorage, and dropped a 4-2 game at North Dakota before bouncing back for a split. Alaska-Anchorage did the Gophers a favor by sweeping previously unbeaten Minnesota-Duluth, stunning the Bulldogs while Minnesota streaked past for first place.

“When you lose great players, like we did from last year’s team, you hope you have more coming up, and so far, we’ve been a great team,” Lucia added, emphasizing the word team. “Nobody cares who scores. I’m happy where we’re at right now, and it’s a good time for us to have a break. We know we’re not good enough to just show up and win, so everybody’s working, and we’re putting points in the bank.”

Lucia admitted it took some transition time for Irmen and Potulny after their junior stardom at Lincoln. “The hardest thing for them was to come in last year when we had 12 forwards returning from an NCAA championship team,” he said. “They understood, they had to wait their turn.”

Potulny was injured, and played only 15 games a year ago, scoring six goals, while Irmen scored 14 goals as a freshman.

“Danny works so hard, I’d love to have eight wingers just like him,” said Lucia.

Guyer, a junior center who has been a willing team support player the last two years, admits he put pressure on himself to score this year, and pressing didnÂ’t help. Scoring a goal each game against Wisconsin helped break him loose, however, although, typically, he preferred to spread the credit around, singling out freshmen like Peltier, Alex Goligoski, and forwards Mike Howe and Brent Borgen.

“This team is not as skilled as last year, because we had an enormous amount of talent last year,” said Guyer. “We’re still highly talented, but we have a great work ethic this year. Everybody goes 100 miles per hour and works hard. I think a big part of our success is the freshman group we’ve got. The freshmen come to the rink with a smile every day, and that’s contagious.”

Elliott’s ‘mini-shutout’ helps Badgers reach NCAA final

MILWAUKEE, WIS. — Wisconsin goaltender Brian Elliott had to settle for a “mini-shutout” Thursday, but he was at his best when the pressure was greatest and Wisconsin whipped Maine 5-2 in the second semifinal of the NCAA MenÂ’s Frozen Four hockey tournament. The victory gives Wisconsin a unique opportunity to duplicate the NCAA WomenÂ’s title that the Badgers already have in hand when they face Boston College Saturday at 7 p.m. for the menÂ’s national championship.

“When the women won the title, Mark Johnson said the ultimate winner was women’s hockey,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, a former star and co-conspirator with Johnson on a Badger NCAA championship team in 1977. “I think we could say that when we play Boston College Saturday night, the ultimate winner will be men’s hockey, because it will be two tremendous teams playing and it should be a great game.”

The Badgers (29-10-3) will face Boston College, which outlasted North Dakota 6-5 in ThursdayÂ’s first semifinal. After the first game drew 17,637 to Bradley Center, the night game drew 17,691, and it was a raucous, Badger-backing gang that made the hour-long trek east from Madison to cheer for the Badgers from the time they hit the ice.

Elliott made 19 of his 32 saves in the second period, preventing the Black Bears from keeping pace, as the Badgers scored twice to break a 1-1 tie. For the game, Wisconsin got two goals and an assist from Robbie Earl, a goal and an assist each from Ross Carlson and Adam Burish, and possibly the key goal of the game from Bob Street to pull away from a 3-2 nail-biter.

“The Ben Street goal was huge,” said Eaves. “The game was like a three-act play. They played well at first and then we came on in the first period, then in the second and third periods, our big players came up big – Elliott, Robbie Earl, Ross Carlson, Burish…”

Burish was first to take the spotlight, scoring midway through the first period. Burish had special reason to realize that a Badger title is almost mandatory to his family, because his sister, Nikki Burish, was a star on the Badger women’s team. “My sister said, ‘If you don’t win this thing, I’ll be one-up on you for the rest of your life,’ ” Burish said. “Now we have one more left to win a championship. That’s what we came here to do.”

Maine, however, tied it at 17:37 when Keith Johnson shot from the slot. Elliott went down to block it, and as Maine’s Keith Johnson loomed over him looking for a rebound, it was unnecessary, because the puck had found its way in already. The goal ended an amazing streak; Elliott had shut out Minnesota 4-0 in the third-place game of the WCHA Final Five, then blanked Bemidji State 4-0 in the first game of the Midwest Regional, and shut out Cornell 1-0 in three overtimes – almost two full games. The 270 minutes include an NCAA tournament record of 210 minutes. Elliott had gotten his game together after recovering from a knee injury to run up an 8-1 string, and he has given up only eight goals in the nine games, with five shutouts.

The goal didn’t seem to bother Elliot -– not based on his second period. Maine outshot Wisconsin 19-13 in the middle session, but the only goals came when Carlson and Earl connected. Carlson got the puck on the penalty kill and sped up the left side. With one defenseman retreating to cover, Johnson did a little hop-step to the slot, and drilled his shot past Maine’s freshman goaltender Ben Bishop at 4:18, to break the 1-1 tie. The 2-1 lead was hardly substantial, but with Elliott in goal, it was a good building block. Four minutes later, Earl carried up the right side and scored again, and it was 3-1.
{IMG2}
Elliott credited his teammates for blocking a lot of shots. His teammates don’t need to compliment Elliott – it goes without saying. “People talk about how Dominik Hasek plays so well in practice as well as games,” said Eaves. “That’s Brian, too. In practice, he doesn’t want to let any in.”

Perhaps an even more impressive factor for the junior goalie who leads the nation in goals-against average (1.55) and save percentage (.938), and now has a 26-5-3 record for the season, is that when a rare goal does get by him, he remains unruffled, and rarely gives up another in close order.

At 11:19 of the third period, the Black Bears executed an impressive rush. Josh Soares carried in on the right side and left a behind-the-back pass for Greg Moore, who passed across the slot to Mike Lundin, and the junior defenseman stepped into his shot and scored, high right.

That cut WisconsinÂ’s lead to 3-2, but 57 seconds later, Street, a freshman center from British Columbia, carried up the right side and shot from the circle. Bishop blocked it, but after a teammate overskated the rebound, Street got to it. Then he whiffed on one shot, but chipped a follow-up backhand in. That one punctured MaineÂ’s attempt at generating momentum.

EarlÂ’s second goal was an empty-netter, but it couldnÂ’t have been prettier to the big crowd. With Bishop pulled for an extra attacker, Josh Engel flipped the puck ahead. Earl chased after it, and got to it barely in time to convert a wide-angle shot from the left side with 1:44 remaining.

For the game, Wisconsin outshot Maine 39-34.

“Now we’ve got a chance to win the last game of the year,” said Eaves. “That’s something we’ve talked about since the first game of the year.”

Badgers rip Gophers 4-1 for Women’s WCHA playoff title

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The University of Wisconsin womenÂ’s hockey team has been breaking down the tradition that the WCHA is a two-team league, a dominance created over the WCHAÂ’s first six seasons by Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth. The Badgers broke one barrier by winning the WCHA regular season title, and on Sunday, they broke through another one – whipping Minnesota 4-1 for the WCHA playoff championship.

“I’m real excited for our players,” said Wisconsin’s coach-of-the-year Mark Johnson, whose Badgers lost a heartbreaker in the playoff final to Minnesota last year, after rallying for two goals in the final minute to tie the game 2-2. “Last year, we were very close, in a similar situation, but we were beaten in overtime. Any time you have the opportunity to win a championship, you go after it, and any time you do something for the first time, it’s special.”

There is, of course, one further barricade up ahead. UMD won the first three NCAA women’s hockey championships, and Minnesota won the next two. All three teams – and the WCHA has at least become the “big three” by now – will enter the eight-team NCAA tournament starting this coming weekend. Wisconsin (33-4-1) will be at home against Mercyhurst on Saturday, Minnesota will be at home against Princeton on Friday, and UMD will be on the road at St. Lawrence Saturday.

The other NCAA pairing has Harvard at No. 1 ranked New Hampshire, with the four winners convening at Mariucci Arena for the NCAA WomenÂ’s Frozen Four.

Minnesota had won seven straight coming into the game, and even though the Gophers have now lost four out of five games to the Badgers, Gopher coach Laura Halldorson said she didn’t think Wisconsin had a clear upper hand in the game. “Wisconsin has a very good team, and I congratulate them,” Halldorson said. “But the score was a little deceiving, because it didn’t really feel like a 4-1 game. We outshot them 29-19, so we were really in the game.”

The Golden Gophers (27-10-1) had outshot UMD 39-21 while beating the Bulldogs 2-1 Saturday, and they outshot Wisconsin similarly, 21-11, on Sunday, but the Badgers handled the Ridder Arena crowd, announced as 1,012, and the shot-counter with the same poise they used to control the Gophers.

Wisconsin has a prominent offense, led by WCHA player of the year Sara Bauer, and it has a solid defense, led by Bobbi Jo Slusar, the WCHA defensive player of the year, and solid goaltending from senior Meghan Horras. Against the Gophers, the defensemen became offensive, scoring three of the four goals. The Badgers took a 2-1 lead in the first period, and resolutely added another goal in the second, and another in the third, while Bauer settled for three assists.
{IMG2}
Cyndy KenyonÂ’s goal at 5:14 of the first period was offset when MinnesotaÂ’s Allie Sanchez connect at 12:15. The Badgers reclaimed the lead when Slusar slid over to center-point and rifled a slap shot straight on from 55 feet past a screened Kim Hanlon. At that point, all three goals had come on power plays, and while Wisconsin was being outshot 15-5 at that moment, the Badgers led 2-1.

The pace was about even in the second period, although the Badgers killed their two penalties, and went ahead 3-1 when Emily Morris moved in deep from the blue line and smacked in a rebound even though she couldnÂ’t see the puck go in because a Minnesota defenseman was pretty well taking her out as she shot.

The Gophers needed a rally in the third period, but the Badgers held them to only five shots, and defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson strode in from the right point and scored from the top of the circle against relief goalie Brittony Chartier, who went in for the second and third periods after Hanlon twisted her ankle trying to prevent Nikki Burish from scoring at the right edge late in the first period.

While the Gophers solidified their home-ice spot in the NCAA with their victory over UMD, meaning the semifinal might have been the more important game of the weekend, but the players insisted it didn’t cause any letdown. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing one archrival in UMD or another in Wisconsin, mentally, when you’re playing for the championship, you go all out.

“Wisconsin moves the puck real well, and they banged a couple power-play goals in.”

Badger coach Johnson was a power-play specialist himself on NCAA championship Badger teams coached by his dad, Badger Bob Johnson, so he knows the importance of a successful power play.

“In the first period, Minnesota had more energy than we did, which didn’t surprise me,” said Johnson. “They’re in their own building, with their own fans, and they won a tough game against UMD. They had some good chances, and Meghan came up with the saves, and we came out of the first period ahead 2-1. At this time of the year, you look for your special teams to be pretty good.”

The Badgers were 3-for-6 on the power play, and held Minnesota to 1-for-4. That contributed to a huge haul the Badgers took back to Madison – coach of the year, player of the year, defensive player of the year, and a giant trophy for winning the WCHA playoff title.

Insurmountable Badger lead suddenly surmounted

What a difference two weeks can make.

Three weeks ago, Wisconsin swept Colorado College in a series at Colorado Springs, and as the Badgers returned to Madison, coach Mike Eaves stopped off in St. Paul for a Sunday night National Hockey League game at Xcel Energy Center, because Patrick Eaves, the son of Mike and Beth Eaves, was playing for Ottawa against the Minnesota Wild that Sunday night.

As the proud parents beamed, Patrick Eaves scored a first-period goal to tie the game 1-1, set up a goal to put the Senators ahead 3-1 in the second period, and scored again to make it 5-1 on the way to a 6-1 Ottawa victory. PatrickÂ’s big game was just sort of frosting on the cake of a perfect weekend, a perfect season. Things couldnÂ’t get much better than that for Mike Eaves, and the Wisconsin Badgers, both of whom were on top of the world.

At that point, the Badgers had amazingly lost only one game out of 16 played in the WCHA, and their 13-1-2 record seemed to have secured the No. 1 ranking in the nation, and the MacNaughton Cup long ahead of schedule, because no other team in the WCHA had fewer than five losses. Not only did the Badgers lead the field by eight points, they had swept contenders Minnesota, North Dakota and Colorado College – all on the road. So returning to Kohl Center would be easy.

Everybody knows about the home-ice advantage in the rugged WCHA, right?

On his way through the concourse after the Ottawa-Wild game, Mike Eaves was congratulated for the big weekend. He smiled, but Mike Eaves is nothing if not pragmatic to a fault, so it was no surprise he also cautioned that nothing was settled yet in the WCHA. There was still a long way to go, he insisted. Sounded a lot like coach-speak, because how could things be better for the Badgers?

Turns out, things couldn’t get better – but they could take a stunning and dramatic turn for the worse, and Eaves knows how delicate the balance can be in determining good luck, and winning. The caution Eaves displayed, the reluctance to count anything as solid, proved prophetic a couple days later, when star goaltender Brian Elliott injured his knee in practice. Word was, he’d be out a month, minimum.

Elliott’s loss could have been a staggering blow, since he was leading the WCHA and among the elite goaltenders in the nation, but his replacement, untried freshman Shane Connelly. played very well. It just seemed that Elliott’s injury seemed to instill the first shred of negativity experienced by the Badgers since their only previous WCHA loss – an upset at home by Michigan Tech, which was immediately overturned in a 7-0 rematch rout.

But with Connelly in and Elliott out, Denver came to Madison and won 1-0, then swept the series two weeks ago. A shred of negativity or not, it initiated a remarkable turn of fortune for Wisconsin, and for the WCHA race, which continued this past weekend.

Consider that the four hottest teams in the WCHA all went on the road last weekend, and all four of them swept two-game sets to make enormous upward moves with those road sweeps.

Denver, which rode a rocky up-and-down first half of the season, swept Wisconsin and then swept Alaska-Anchorage – both on the road – and the Pioneers now have a five-game winning streak in their march to the top.

Minnesota is the hottest of all, avenging two humiliating losses to Wisconsin at home by going into Madison for the sweep, and the Gophers now take a week off with an 11-1 record since those double losses to Wisconsin at Mariucci Arena.

In addition, St. Cloud State and Minnesota State-Mankato both have risen on the wings of hot streaks to threaten the upper division. St. Cloud State stunned North Dakota twice in Grand Forks, and the Huskies now have gone 8-1-1 in their last 10 to move into contention for a top-five finish and home-ice for the first round of playoffs. Minnesota State-Mankato swept two games from UMD in Duluth, and if the Mavericks’ 7-10-3 record doesn’t look that impressive, consider they are 8-3-1 in their last 12. To make the situation embarrassing for UMD, which has lost five in a row to teeter near the cellar, was Saturday’s 7-1 debacle in the DECC issued by Mankato.

But the spotlight clearly was on Madison, where the enormous buildup was that Madison’s Phil Kessel, who spurned Wisconsin to become the first Wisconsin-born player to ever play for Minnesota, was making his first trip back home as a rival Gopher. All the attention was an effective smoke screen when the Gophers jumped to a 5-1 lead through two periods because of Danny IrmenÂ’s hat trick, four assists from Ryan Potulny, and a goal and three assists from freshman Ryan Stoa. But Wisconsin battled back furiously, scoring three times in less than three minutes, only to see their final, six-attacker push fall short. Robbie Earl dashed through the Minnesota defense at the finish, with Connelly pulled for an extra skater, but just when it looked like Earl might be home free for a 2-on-0 with five seconds left, he was knocked off balance and the puck slid harmlessly past the net.

The 5-4 loss left encouragement in the Badger camp for the rematch, but before another 15,000-plus sellout at Kohl Center, Minnesota won again, 3-1, for the sweep. The Gopher victory was blunted only slightly when it was learned that Irmen may have suffered a shoulder injury that could knock him out for a couple of weeks. Fortunately for the Gophers, they are idle this weekend so Irmen might have time to heal a bit. Kessel, incidentally, scored a clinching goal in the second game at Wisconsin, then circled the Kohl Center rink, taunting the fans by holding his gloved hand to his ear to see if the fans were still booing him. The Badger fans, however, were stunned to silence.

In the last two weekends, Wisconsin dropped from 13-1-2 to 13-5-2, and the insurmountable Badger lead has been surmounted, as not only Minnesota, but Denver pulled into a three-way tie at the top with Wisconsin at 13-5-2. Good games, exciting games, but a Badger team that lost only once in league play in over two months had dropped four in a row, all at home.

Two weeks earlier, the WCHA race had become an interesting tangle, with Wisconsin alone at the top, CC, North Dakota, Minnesota and Denver all battling for second place, and, in the lower division, an extremely bunched group that consisted of Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Alaska-Anchorage and Michigan Tech.

Now, the one-horse race for first is a three-way tie at 28 points, while eight points behind comes a four-team cluster that shows North Dakota, Colorado College, St. Cloud State and Mankato within three points of each other, then four points behind them, Michigan Tech, UMD, and Anchorage all within two points of each other in a battle to avoid last place.

With four series remaining in the regular season, WisconsinÂ’s schedule still appears the most favorable, although the Badgers must go to UMD, to Michigan Tech, to Mankato, and finish at home against St. Cloud State. Minnesota hopes the week off doesnÂ’t cool the sizzling streak, then goes to Tech, returns home for a huge set with Denver, then goes to Anchorage before finishing at home against arch-rival UMD. Denver has Mankato before going to Minnesota, then goes home to finish against North Dakota and the home-and-home rivalry with Colorado College.

Stay tuned.

Bulldogs 5-0-1 start earns brief week at No. 1 rating

DULUTH, MN. — Reputations arenÂ’t easily made in NCAA hockey, but the University of Minnesota-Duluth continues to knock down barricades of tradition to eliminate skeptics from all around the college hockey world – including those stubborn souls who rate the top teams in the land.

In three short weeks, UMD was held off at third or fourth in the rankings, then vaulted to the No. 1 spot in the nation. Typically, coach Scott Sandelin found it more significant that the Bulldogs remained No. 1 in the WCHA rather than take a brief, one-week turn at No. 1 in the nation, even though last week was the first time UMD attained the No. 1 national rank under the current ratings structure. In the past decade, since U.S. College Hockey Online/CSTV, and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine have become the two most prominent ratings systems, the Bulldogs never reached the pinnacle in either.

UMD joined Michigan, Boston College and North Dakota as one-week wonders in the No. 1 spot, because immediately after gaining the top rank, UMD was stung 3-2 and tied 2-2 by unrated Vermont in a nonconference set in Duluth. UMDÂ’s overall unbeaten record slipped to 5-1-2, and was accompanied by a slip in the ratings. This week, UMD dropped to second behind Boston College in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, and third behind BC and Michigan in the USCHO/CSTV rating.

When a team works with as much dedication as UMD has shown in SandelinÂ’s tenure, satisfaction requires more than just a fast start and national recognition. But thatÂ’s not bad, for starters. The Bulldogs used explosive scoring outbursts to subdue Michigan Tech and Minnesota State-Mankato to open WCHA action. The Bulldogs rallied from a 3-1 deficit for five straight third-period goals in beating Michigan Tech 6-3 for a sweep of their WCHA-opening series in Houghton, as Evan Schwabe scored four goals and two assists for the weekend.

Going home to a pair of sellout crowds in the DECC (Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center) last weekend, Marco Peluso was responsible for a four-goal weekend, scoring a hat trick amid a six-goal outburst in the second period, which broke open a 2-2 game and led to an 8-3 romp over Minnesota State-Mankato. In the second game, however, the scoring binge disappeared, and it was up to backup goaltender Josh Johnson to make 43 saves to give the Bulldogs a 4-1 victory against the aroused Mavericks.

That put UMD at 3-0-1 atop the WCHA and 5-0-1 atop the nation.
Traditional powers such as Boston College, Michigan and North Dakota have been difficult for the Bulldogs to penetrate, despite making it to the Frozen Four last April before losing to WCHA foe and eventual NCAA champ Denver in the semifinals. The Â’Dogs returned most of last seasonÂ’s team and added a promising crop of recruits, and with 11 seniors, the WCHA coaches voted UMD the clearcut preseason favorite.

Nationally, Michigan, Maine and Boston College ranked 1-2-3 at the start, all strongholds of annual hockey power. North Dakota went into Maine and smacked the Black Bears to open the season, so North Dakota vaulted from fifth to first in the ratings. North Dakota was tied at Mankato, so Boston College became the third No. 1 team in three weeks. Then Boston College lost to Notre Dame.

UMD, meanwhile, opened with a tie and victory at Notre Dame, before winning twice at Michigan Tech and sweeping Minnesota State-Mankato.
Over four decades of Division 1 hockey, UMD had become known for hard work, culminated by the rise to prominence in this, Scott SandelinÂ’s fourth year as head coach. Not that those who preceded him didnÂ’t find success or work hard. Mike Sertich, the coach Sandelin replaced when he moved over from his assistant coaching job at North Dakota, had won a few WCHA championships, and had taken the Bulldogs to the Frozen Four two years in a row.

But that was 20 years ago, and even then, the Â’Dogs established standards for futility by losing a four-overtime thriller to Bowling Green in the 1984 NCAA championship game at Lake Placid, then came back and lost an equally wrenching three-overtime game to RPI in the 1985 semifinals at Detroit.

In Sertich’s last couple of seasons, the Bulldogs played hard, worked feverishly, but had great difficulty scoring and became a team that could have coined the cliché about playing “just well enough to lose.” Sandelin came in, got the Bulldogs working equally hard, and win with increasing frequency, as he found out how tough it is to establish a reputation.

The elite prospects turned up their noses at UMD scholarship offers, refusing even to visit, in many cases. So Sandelin and his staff beat the bushes. If they couldnÂ’t get the best 6-foot-2 blue-chippers, they carefully selected very good 5-foot-8 players willing to over-achieve to become elite players themselves.

The benefit of having under-6-foot players is that pro hockey scouts tend to overlook them, so to speak. When the Bulldogs whipped Minnesota in the NCAA regional final – the fifth time UMD beat the Gophers in six meetings last season – the Gophers had 13 players who had been drafted by the pros, and UMD had one. Everyone loses seniors, and UMD lost scoring champ and Hobey Baker winner Junior Lessard, and standout defenseman Beau Geisler, and a couple others. But 11 seniors returned, all from Sandelin’s first recruiting crop.

The only question was who would do the scoring. Schwabe and Peluso were easy answers, and Tim Stapleton and Luke Stauffacher are among other candidates. But even when the scoring explosion didnÂ’t occur, the Bulldogs found a way.

“It seems like somebody was rising up to score the goals each game,” said Tyler Brosz, one of those 11 seniors, sidelined with an injury. “As long as somebody comes through, it doesn’t matter whether it’s somebody scoring a hat trick, or somebody having a big game defensively.”

Speaking after the 4-1 victory over Mankato, Brosz was referring to Josh Johnson. The sophomore Johnson, from nearby Cloquet, stepped in for ace goaltender Isaac Reichmuth, who had fought the puck a little while easing to the first-game victory. Johnson looked solid and confident.

“If I did,” said Johnson, “it’s because maybe I wasn’t sure of myself so I focused extra hard. The coach told me I was going to play at practice this morning, and I went out and had a bad practice.”
The Mavericks outshot UMD 44-37, and threw a 19-shot barrage on goal in the second period, but only David Backes was able to get one past Johnson. That offset PelusoÂ’s fourth goal of the weekend in the first period and made it 1-1.

Josh Miskovich showed the effects of Sandelin-style coaching that weekend. Miskovich was scratched Friday, then not only played in the second game but was entrusted to kill penalties, and at 19:01 of the second period, Miskovich scored a huge shorthanded goal to break the 1-1 tie. UMD freshman Blair LeFebvre and senior Luke Stauffacher scored third-period goals to secure the 4-1 victory.

Mankato coach Troy Jutting was impressed. “For us to come back and get 44 shots against a great team, in their building, I couldn’t be prouder,” said Jutting. “That was a big-time performance by their goaltender.”

Sandelin likes his six freshmen, and is finding that more and more elite prospects are not only interested in visiting UMD, they are eager to commit early to scholarships. In fact, the three tallest players on this yearÂ’s team are freshmen, with defensemen Jay Rosehill and Mike Curry at 6-3 and Matt McKnight at 6-1. McKnight scored a shorthanded goal in the first Mankato game, and 5-11 Blair LeFebvre got one for the freshman class in the second.

Meantime, the 11 seniors are buzzing at full speed, having already visited the No. 1 spot in the nation, and eager to get back up there again.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

• About the Author

  John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
  Click here for sports
  
  

• 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.