Which Gopher team will show up in Frozen Four semis?

“There’s a difference between wanting to play well and having to play well.” So said University of Minnesota hockey coach Don Lucia, after he had properly assessed that losing twice in the WCHA Final Five wouldn’t prevent the Golden Gophers from advancing to the NCAA tournament with a favorable seed.

After the Final Five, but before the NCAA seedings were calculated, Lucia said: “These losses didn’t matter. They have no bearing on where we end up. I know we’ll either be the last No. 1 seed or the highest No. 2.”

Right on. The Golden Gophers were ranked in a tie for fourth and fifth overall with Cornell, and by virtue of having beaten Michigan, which in turn beat Cornell, the Gophers got the fourth and final No. 1 seed as host of the West Regional. Two overtime victories later, and Minnesota is off to the Frozen Four, as a legitimate longshot.

Will the REAL Minnesota Golden Gophers please stand up? Nobody knows. Will the Gophers who face North Dakota in ThursdayÂ’s NCAA semifinals in Columbus, Ohio, be the one that soared through the first half of the season, or the one that sputtered through the second half? Will it be the team that went 8-0 to end the regular season and start league playoffs, or the one that fell twice in the WCHA Final Five, or maybe the one that scratched and clawed to two narrow victories in the NCAA West Regional? Who will start in goal? Who will score? Will leading scorer Tyler Hirsch play? Will freshman defenseman Alex Goligoski play?

Questions, always questions. Goligoski will probably play with a light cast on his wrist, but Lucia doesnÂ’t like to divulge any more than he has to, so we may have to wait until the puck drops at 6 p.m. Thursday to find out. Same with the goaltender question, and the others.

If the two West Regional victories mean the urgency is back, credit – and a dose of relief – should go to Lucia. An Iron Ranger by birth, the Grand Rapids native could be known as “The Professor” for the way he calculates the computerized information that goes into the NCAA tournament seedings all season. He is a master at satisfying the criteria, and he knew there was no back-to-the-wall feeling during those WCHA playoffs.It’s time now.

When they wanted to play well in the WCHA Final Five, it wasnÂ’t enough, and the Gophers lost 3-0 to Colorado College and 4-2 in the third-place game to North Dakota. When they had to play well, in the NCAA West Regional, the Gophers were Golden, beating Maine 1-0 and Cornell 2-1 in a couple of overtime classics. LuciaÂ’s ability to come up with answers is one reason the Gophers have reached ThursdayÂ’s Frozen Four at Columbus, Ohio, where they will face North Dakota in the 6 p.m. semifinal.

Lucia, recalling Johnson had a tough time with Maine a year earlier, went with Kellen Briggs in goal. Minnesota won 1-0 in overtime. He stuck with Briggs, and the Gophers also beat Cornell, 2-1 in overtime. Against Maine, freshman center Evan Kaufmann came through with an enormous goal to beat the Black Bears. Kaufmann, whose age and the maturity he gained in the USHL belie his freshman status, had several good scoring chances against Maine ace Jimmy Howard, who gloved everything close.

“WeÂ’d been shooting glove all day,” said Kaufmann, after the Maine game. “Justin (Johnson) told me on the bench during a TV timeout, ‘If weÂ’re going to score on this guy, itÂ’s got to be somewhere other than his glove.Â’”

So Kaufmann won the corner faceoff – he was 9-2 on faceoffs in the game – and got the puck back to Judd Smith at the blue line. He shoveled it into the corner, and Garrett Smaagaard and Sertich scrapped to keep possession by cycling the puck on the end boards. One defenseman was back there, and the second went back after Smaagaard, so Kaufmann yelled, Smaagaard fed him. Kaufmann shot — away from HowardÂ’s glove, just inside the left pipe – and the Gophers were on their way.

It had to be the perfect game for Briggs, winning a 1-0 overtime shutout. “No, I’d rather we win 9-0,” said Briggs. Against Cornell, the Gophers also failed to score nine, but Andy Sertich got the goal that helped get the game into overtime, and Barry Tallackson knocked in his own rebound to beat the Big Red 2-1.

So now itÂ’s the Frozen Four, where Colorado College and Denver might reside as the two best teams in the country, and North Dakota is probably playing the best hockey of its season, and the Golden GophersÂ…are still facing unanswered questions.

The questions started at midseason, after a rebuilding Golden Gopher team earned the No. 1 rank in the country for five weeks, behind the explosive scoring of a line with Ryan Potulny centering Danny Irmen and Kris Chucko, and the goaltending of Kellen Briggs, who led all WCHA goalies in both goals-against and save percentage at midseason. The “Border Line,” so named because all three players were not from Minnesota, had accounted for half the team’s scoring, and Briggs led the league in overall games at Christmastime with a 1.88 goals-against and .931 save percentage.

January arrived, and the big line abruptly stopped clicking. Irmen dropped from being first or second in league scoring to finish in a tie for sixth in league games at 17-15—32, while Potulny dropped to 15th at 15-11—26, and Chucko finished 7-6—13. Pucks started sailing past Briggs, too, and through the second half, he dropped until he finished seventh in goals-against average at 2.97, and 11th in save percentage at .900 in league play.

Justin Johnson emerged from backup duty to win six straight games for the Gophers when Briggs was injured at the end of the season, and Johnson got the start against Colorado College in the Final Five. Minnesota lost 3-0, and Briggs returned to the nets against North Dakota, but the Gophers lost again, 4-2.

The goaltending question, however, was obscured by another large question at the end of the CC playoff game. Tyler Hirsch, an intense and highly skilled junior winger, had risen from third-line status when the Border Line’s scoring turned borderline, to lead the Golden Gophers in scoring. As of the end of the regular season, Potulny had 24-15—39 in all games and Irmen 20-18—38, but Hirsch had 11-31—42 to finish fifth among all WCHA players in overall points. Yet he remained on the third line all season, where he might have had extra bench-time to accumulate frustration during the third period of the CC shutout.

As the fans filed out after the game, Hirsh went out to center ice alone, as if heÂ’d been awarded a penalty shot. He raced in, fired the puck into the net, and followed it by crashing his body into the net, knocking it over on its backside.

Was it in frustration for not having played much in the third period? Was it to prove to the coaches’ constant urging that he could go hard to the net? Nobody knows. Hirsch went home to his parents’ Twin Cities home afterward, and didn’t play against North Dakota, or in the NCAA West Regional. He returned to the team, and spoke cheerfully to the media – but not about this question. He may play in Columbus.

It was suggested to Lucia that his well-calculated projections might work against his fire for getting his team emotionally charged for a game he knows is comparatively unimportant. When the coach knows that the team is cinched for an NCAA berth, and the team plays without any urgency through the second half, and into league playoffs, is there a link? Can the players, whether by their own calculations or by reading their coachÂ’s relaxed demeanor, play without desperation because they know they donÂ’t have to go all out in order to advance?

At Christmastime, Lucia knew that the Gophers, barring a complete collapse in the second half, were going to be assured of an NCAA berth, and one of the better seeds. The Gophers were 11-3 in WCHA play through the 2004 half of the schedule and deserved the No.1 rank in the nation for five weeks. In January, though, they suddenly absorbed a 1-5 month on home ice, at Mariucci Arena, losing twice at home to Colorado College, twice more to Michigan Tech and splitting with Minnesota-Duluth. The only other Minnesota victories in the 4-6 month were a split of 2-1 games at Boston University, and a sweep at Minnesota State-Mankato.

Minnesota opened February by splitting sets with Wisconsin and Alaska-Anchorage, which meant the struggle reached 6-8 for 2005 — hardly befitting a prospective Frozen Four team. Then the Golden Gophers seemed to right themselves in the last three weeks of the regular season, although their 6-0 string was recorded against St. Cloud State, Michigan Tech and Minnesota State-Mankato – the bottom three finishers in the WCHA. Beating Minnesota State twice more in the first league playoff round gave the Gophers an eight-game winning streak, but answered none of the questions.

Frozen Four time means desperation and urgency are the order of the day. Will the same pairings as the third-place and title games of the WCHA Final Five cause a flashback to the Minnesota? Will Lucia dare go back to Josh Johnson in goal because Briggs was just beaten by North Dakota? Will Hirsch bring the lift of his team-high points back into the lineup? Colorado College and Denver are the constants, and North Dakota is the hottest, and which Gopher team will show up?

Zaugg, Vetter lead Badgers to women’s NCAA title

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Sophomore Jinelle Zaugg scored two goals and freshman goaltender Jessie Vetter recorded her second shutout in two Frozen Four games as Wisconsin capped a spectacular breakthrough season with a 3-0 victory over Minnesota in the NCAA womenÂ’s hockey championship game Sunday.

The victory, before 4,701 fans at Mariucci Arena, gave the Badgers a 36-4-1 record and came after also winning the WCHA women’s regular season and playoff championships. Minnesota, which tied Minnesota-Duluth for second in the WCHA and lost 4-1 to Wisconsin in the WCHA playoff final, finished 29-11-1 – one game short of winning a third straight NCAA title.

Because Wisconsin had beaten the Gophers four out of five times this season coming into the game, someone asked Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson what it was that made Wisconsin so difficult for her Gophers to play against. “They have three very strong lines, very strong defense, and good goaltending,” said Halldorson. “They’re hard to play against for any team in the country.

“We were the fourth seed, and we beat No. 1 (New Hampshire), and if we’d beaten No. 2, it would have been little short of a miracle.”

Indeed, WisconsinÂ’s great teamwork and balanced skill level provided the breakthrough season. In the five previous womenÂ’s NCAA tournaments, Minnesota-Duluth won the first three and Minnesota the next two, so getting the big trophy out of the state took something special, and these Badgers had it. In their history of Division One hockey, Minnesota had beaten WisconsinÂ’s ever-improving team for a record of 23-4-2 until this season, when the Badgers won five of the six meetings.

But Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson knew history was meaningless when it came to the final game. His Badgers had barely made it to Mariucci, by beating Mercyhurst 2-1 in double overtime, and overcame a strong St. Lawrence team 1-0 in FridayÂ’s semifinals, while Minnesota was stunning top-ranked New Hampshire 5-4.

“I want to congratulate Minnesota and Laura did a nice job coaching them this year, because they were more difficult and challenging for us to play each time we played them,” said Johnson. “We had to dethrone the two-time defending champions, and we knew they weren’t going to go down without a fight.

“We told the players that what happened in the previous five games against Minnesota becomes irrelevant,” said Johnson. “We said we had to play a strong first 10 minutes. When we did that, and came out of it with a power-play goal and then Grace Hutchins tips one in, I felt a lot better. At playoff time, special teams have to be good. They have to score what I call timely goals.”

The first timely goal came at 9:56, when Wisconsin had killed a penalty and then got its first power play. Bobbi-Jo Slusar shot from the left point and the puck hit traffic in front of the net, and Zaugg, at 6-foot-1 the biggest player on either team, found the rebound and drilled it past Gopher freshman goaltender Brittony Chartier. “They gave me an open shot,” said Slusar, “so I took it, and the puck bounced around until Zaugg got hold of it.

If the goal punctured MinnesotaÂ’s opening enthusiasm, it was punctured again 30 seconds later. Nikki Burish got the puck and moved to the top of the left circle where she sent a shot skipping through the congestion in front, and Grace Hutchins deflected it into the right edge. Hutchins, a senior from Winnetka, Ill., had only scored four goals all season, and 15 in her career, and now she has a keepsake for her memory bank, and her trophy case.

Shots were 10-apiece through the first period, and the game tightened up in the second, until the Badgers got their fourth power play of the game. Sara Bauer, recipient of the Patty Kazmaier award as the nationÂ’s top female college player, had the puck in the left corner and passed across to the slot. Zaugg got her full force behind a one-timer, and Chartier had no chance, at 9:08 of the middle session.

“That third goal was a rocket,” said Johnson. “A lot of women players have a problem with the velocity of their shot as they move away from the net, but not Jinelle. Sara got her the puck, and she sent a laser.”

Minnesota outshot Wisconsin 31-19 for the game, but there was no mistaking which team was in command, even in the third period, when the Gophers threw everything they had at trying to score and had a 14-4 edge in shots. Vetter, who was in the nets for the 2-1 double-overtime victory over Mercyhurst and the 1-0 St. Lawrence game, has something under a 0.30 goals-against average for the three NCAA games. She made the final seem routine.
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“We had a three-goal lead,” said Vetter. “We’re not trying to score more goals. We’re just trying to play good defense.”

The Gophers were frustrated, but they also knew how far they had come as a team, after losing Olympic stars Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz, Kelly Stephens and Lyndsay Wall, plus both their goaltenders from the team that won the last two titles.

“She (Vetter) stood on her head today and stopped everything, and their D cleared everthing,” said Minnesota captain Andrea Nichols. “But after losing all the Olympians who carried us on and off the ice, nobody expected us to get this far.”

Bobbi Ross, who scored four goals in the amazing semifinal 5-4 victory over New Hampshire, was part of the Gopher power play that got blanked, along with the rest of the offense. “Coming into this game, obviously we weren’t looking at finishing second,” Ross said. “Right now, we’re unsatisfied, but in a few days, I think we’ll be able to appreciate what we’ve done. We accomplished so much more than anyone thought we would. We replaced raw talent with strength of character and team unity, and that made this season all the more satisfying.”

Having broken through, the Badgers arenÂ’t about to let up. With only five seniors on the team, their top scorers and all six defensemen return. As does Vetter, who got the nod through all three NCAA tournament games after rotating with senior Meghan Horras and junior Christine Dufour all season.

“Jessie red-shirted last year,” said Johnson, “then she got mono and sat out the first two months of this season. The first game I stuck her in was in the third period against Bemidji, and the first shot went in. She faced a challenge because she had lost strength and conditioning, and there were two good goaltenders ahead of her.”

Johnson recalled winning an NCAA tournament as a player, playing for his dad, Badger Bob Johnson, at Wisconsin. And he won an Olympic gold medal playing for Herb Brooks in 1980. Then he had an outstanding NHL career.

“I remember in the early ‘90s, when my dad was coaching the Pittsburgh Penguins, and they were winning the Stanley Cup,” said Johnson. “I came here and watched them in Bloomington, and I got to go downstairs after they’d won it. I saw something special when he hoisted the Stanley Cup. And now, with this team, I can feel how really special it is as a coach.”

Zaugg and Vetter were teammates on a national championship club team, and with Zaugg from Eagle River and Vetter from Cottage Grove, Wis., they are two of eight homestate Wisconsin players on the Badger team. So coming to Minnesota, where the Gopher men’s team had been upset in the NCAA regional, and now the Gopher women’s team was now dethroned, the Minnesota Wild NHL slogan of Minnesota being the “State of Hockey” is in question.

“We were saying in the locker room,” said Zaugg, “that Wisconsin is the new State of Hockey.”

UMD stars lift 7 different women’s Olympic hockey teams

Anyone watching the Winter Olympics had to come away impressed with the development of women’s hockey. They also had to be surprised when Sweden upset Team USA 3-2 in a semifinal shootout. But anyone who has watched the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the Women’s WCHA could be excused for hanging up their rampant patriotism and be totally enthralled with UMD’s impact on the women’s Olympic hockey tournament.

Canada and the U.S. had been practically granted berths in the gold medal final of the womenÂ’s tournament, because neither of the international powers had ever lost a single game to any team other than each other. Canada was a prohibitive favorite for the gold this year, but both Canada and the U.S. figured to dispatch Sweden and Finland in the semifinals, and leave those two Scandinavian rivals to fight for the bronze. SwedenÂ’s upset is the first evidence that womenÂ’s hockey might be on a faster track than anticipated in striving for some sort of healthy parity.

Back in the “real world” of the WCHA, UMD’s current Bulldogs have been struggling against the same sort of new-found parity the Women’s Olympics showed. No question the Bulldogs missed a couple good players who went off to the Olympics, and during that span, Wisconsin clinched its first WCHA title, and UMD dropped back to second, and then to a second-place tie withn Minnesota. The Bulldogs were unable to preserve a one-point edge on the Gophers during the closing weekend.

As UMD regroups for the league playoffs, Bulldogs hockey fans could have found immense satisfaction from the fact that no fewer than seven different nations had their women’s hockey teams improved by the presence of UMD players past and present. Team USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germnany, Switzerland, and Russia all displayed their Bulldog quotient prominently. To their credit, all of those Bulldogs came through.

From the start of the womenÂ’s games in Turin, Italy, network and cable broadcasts heaped praise and publicity on the University of Minnesota-DuluthÂ’s program, and from the way the current and former Bulldogs played, it was more than just well-deserved publicity, and stands as a tribute to the UMD programÂ’s international flavor.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran continuing articles about Minnesota’s contribution to the Winter Olympics, and it listed every former Gopher women’s team player, even though they may have been in Minnesota only to play college hockey. But it named only Jenny Potter, who played for UMD, as the school’s only contribution to women’s hockey, without naming any of the others.

The Duluth News-Tribune ran a story, and a follow-up editorial-page column, proclaiming the presence of such former and current UMD players in the womenÂ’s Olympic hockey as: Potter of the U.S.; Maria Rooth and Erika Holst of Sweden; Caroline Ouellette of Canada; and Nora Tallus, Satu Kiipeli, Mari Pehkonen, and Anna-Kaisa Piironen of Finland.

Strangely, however, the Duluth paper completely overlooked current Bulldog freshman sensation Michaela Lanzl of Germany, former UMD goaltender Patricia Ellsworth-Sautter who starred for Switzerland, and RussiaÂ’s Katrina Petroskaia, who played three years ago at UMD.

These players may only be temporary Minnesotans, but no different from the Gopher “imports.” Besides, UMD has made an indelible impression on the Olympians.

“I am not looking forward to leaving, because I love it here at UMD,” said Lanzl, just before departing for the Olympics. “But I am looking forward to playing in the Olympics. It will be very good to play for Germany.”

Granted, there were a lot of standouts from U.S. womenÂ’s college teams, players such as University of MinnesotaÂ’s Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz, Kelly Stephens, Lyndsay Wall and Courtney Kennedy on Team USA, and WisconsinÂ’s brilliant defenseman Carla MacLeod playing for CanadaÂ’s gold medalists, and Ohio State’s Emma Laaksonen playing for Finland, among others.

But consider the contributions of UMDÂ’s representatives.

In the opening game, Team USA won 6-0 over outmanned Switzerland, but it was only 1-0 midway through the game, and 2-0 after two periods before the Swiss skaters ran out of gas. The Swiss goaltender, known as Patricia Sautter when she backstopped UMD to the 2003 NCAA championship, never faltered. She made 50 saves against the perpetual U.S. attack and was one of the biggest stars of the first dayÂ’s games.

Potter might have been the most effective Team USA player, as coach Ben Smith curiously had his lines pretty messed up as the tournament began. Instead of playing the all-Gopher line of Darwitz, Wendell and Stephens together, he had put Stephens on a different unit, where she played well almost all season, but she never approached the productivity that would have been certain had she been with Darwitz and Wendell. Potter played with Darwitz and Wendell much of the second half of the exhibition season – which meant, in some opinions, the best three centers on Team USA were on that line. As the tournament progressed, Potter played with various combinations, always strong and effective. After the victory over Switzerland, Potter, on national tv said: “Their goalie really played well.” Could it be that Jenny was so focused she forgot that she and Sautter were teammates on an NCAA championship team at UMD?
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Another star was Ouellette, who finished her UMD career last season and will undoubtedly be the second player to have her jersey, No. 5, retired by the UMD women. Powerful as Canada has been in winning silver in 1998 and gold in 2002, no Canadian womenÂ’s player ever had scored more than one goal in a period. Ouellette scored twice on her first shift. Her versatility is such that CanadaÂ’s coaching staff uses her both up front and on defense. After her two goals, Ouellette went back to defense and promptly whistled in her third goal before the first period ended. Ouellette would prefer to let others get the glory, just as she did at UMD, and many other Canadians stepped forward to score dozens of goals. But Ouellette was as good a player as Canada had on its gold-medal roster.

Meanwhile, Germany was overmatched, but Lanzl continued to draw praise with her great, quick dashes through opposing defenses, forcing every opponent to respect the Germans. Lanzl scored a goal and set up another when Germany beat Switzerland 2-1, but her most memorable rush might have come shortly after NBC ran a huge between-periods feature on former Harvard star and Patty Kazmaier-winner Angie Ruggiero, calling her possibly the best defenseman in all of womenÂ’s hockey. Shortly thereafter, Lanzl raced down the ice and, with a head fake and a high-speed deke, darted untouched past Ruggiero for a spectacular rush and shot.

Finland opened with the familiar names of Tallus and Kiipeli in the forefront, and Piironen as a goaltender, but Finland’s most effective player might have been current Bulldog Mari Pehkonen, who scored her team’s first goal in each of Finland’s first two games. Russia, meanwhile, battled gamely, showing strong improvement in the past couple of years, yet almost escaping, except when the cameras moved in for close-ups after strong shifts, was No. 14 – Petroskaia. She was one of Russia’s best players.

Sweden, however, was the headline team of the tournament. In 2002, when Rooth and Holst were still at UMD, they were uncertain if they would be leaving to play in the Salt Lake City games. SwedenÂ’s federation was debating whether to even bother sending the team because it might not be competitive enough. They went, they were competitive enough, and Rooth and Holst were their best players.

Now, in 2006, RoothÂ’s No. 27 hangs from the rafter at the DECC in Duluth as the only womenÂ’s number ever retired, a tribute after she led the Bulldogs to the national championships in the first three years of NCAA womenÂ’s tournaments. Rooth is an emotional ambassador for how beneficial it was to attend UMD and play for coach Shannon Miller. Before Sweden’s first game, Rooth and Holst, SwedenÂ’s captain, were singled out as SwedenÂ’s top scoring threats by Cammi Granato, whose presence added class to the NBC analysis set, but who might better have been used on the ice, scoring a few goals for Team USA.

Granato, though, was cut. The less cynical among observers can only assume that it is mere irony that Team USA is living in the past, with a pronounced overload of Eastern players, even while two western schools, UMD and Minnesota, have won all five NCAA titles ever held. There would be grounds for having a decided western flair, but the last cuts included Granato, who is from Illinois, and Minnesotans Winny Brodt, a former Gopher and a speedy defenseman, and goalie Sheri Vogt, a star at Minnesota State-Mankato.

Similarly, we can assume that itÂ’s merely ironic that every Patty Kazmaier Award winner went along with the Olympic programÂ’s Eastern bias every year until Wendell finally broke through last year as the first Western Collegiate Hockey Association winner of the award. Potter, Ouellette and Rooth have been finalists, but all fell short in the final vote.

Can it be linked by coincidence or irony that the WCHA dominates college hockey, Minnesota grows as the unmatched leader in girls hockey development anywhere in the world by its high school structure, and the most impressive three players on Team USA arguably were Potter, Wendell and Darwitz — the only three Minnesota-raised players on the team — yet Team USA continues to focus on Eastern players, while results systematically have dropped from gold, to silver, to bronze?

At any rate, former UMD star Holst was her usual strong, stable and always-smart and threatening self for Sweden, and Rooth was simply the most impressive individual in the tournament.

Given no chance against Team USA, Sweden trailed 2-0 in the second period until Rooth scored, then she scored again, shorthanded, to tie the game 2-2. It ended that way, after overtime, which meant a five-player shootout. Sweden got one goal, the U.S. none, then Rooth skated in and scored her third goal of the day to clinch the shootout 2-0 with only one turn left. Goaltender Kim Martin played brilliantly with 37 saves, and then she stopped everything in the shootout, including Potter, Wendell and Darwitz. Remember that name, Kim Martin, because she will attend UMD this fall as a freshman. Sound familiar?

Team USA recovered from the shock of losing 3-2 to Sweden in the semifinals to beat Finland 4-0 in the bronze-medal game. In the gold medal final, Rooth, Holst and Martin gave it all they had, but Canada was too much for Sweden and claimed a 4-1 victory. Ouellette scored a picture goal to clinch the victory, and the chance to watch Ouellette play against Rooth was a wonderful final spectacle for UMD and WCHA hockey fans.

Back in the WCHA — sounds like a good name for a Beatles song — UMD spent the final weeks hanging on, tying and winning at Minnesota State-Mankato on the final weekend to leave room for Minnesota to climb into a tie with the Bulldogs for second. The return of Lanzl and Pehkonen should help rejuvenate the Bulldogs for the playoffs, however. Pehkonen returned directly, while Lanzl, who was expected to return home for a week to Germany, where her father recently died, came later.

Injecting Olympic heroics into UMD’s struggling lineup could make an enormous difference between struggling and finding new glory at the college level. If not, well, UMD’s Olympians have helped put the school and the WCHA on the international map.

Badgers women prove elite status in tie, victory at UMD

When you were a little kid, maybe your parents stood you up against the door sill and put a tiny pencil mark to denote how tall you had grown by a certain date. If coach Mark Johnson were to do the same with his Wisconsin Badgers womenÂ’s hockey team, the biggest growth mark would be for December 9 and 10, 2005.

The dates are for when Wisconsin went to Duluth and battled No. 1 ranked Minnesota-Duluth to a 2-2 deadlock, with the Badgers holding the upper hand through the third period and the overtime, then continued it the next night to claim a 2-1 victory. It was the best, most intense hockey of the season for both teams. But it was more than that for the Badgers.

Sharon Cole is one of five seniors in the University of Wisconsin womenÂ’s hockey lineup, which means she and Badger coach Mark Johnson were rookies the same year. Cole would only measure 5-foot-3 on a growth chart, but she has grown along with her coach and he team as the Badgers have reached true status of a genuine NCAA championship contender with those two games.

WomenÂ’s WCHA hockey teams get a long midseason break, perfect for focusing on final semester exams and the holidays, but the Badgers deserve the break more than ever, because their semester exams on the ice came at the Duluth Entertainment and Conventilon Center.

Through its first six years, the Women’s WCHA has been a two-team duel between the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and the University of Minnesota. True, Wisconsin battled those teams with increasing competitiveness, finishing second last season, for example, but when it came to post-season play, it was always the “Big Two.” UMD won the first WCHA season title, and Minnesota won a coaches association national tournament that year; UMD won the first three NCAA championships, and Minnesota won the most recent two.

The Bulldogs had elite, star-quality players like Maria Rooth, Jenny Potter, and Caroline Ouellette, while Minnesota had elite stars such as Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell. You canÂ’t find players like that readily available around the womenÂ’s hockey world, so against such foes, Mark Johnson took chances on players he liked and built with balance and depth. Then he coached them, teaching fundamentals, as well as little situational tricks heÂ’s known since he starred for his dad, Badger Bob Johnson, at Wisconsin and then later for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team and in the NHL.

“Mark hasn’t really changed too much,” said Cole. “He knows the game, and he teaches it so well. We doi a lot of individual skill things, and a lot of work. I’m amazed at how much we’ve developed, skill-wise. The biggest difference this year is we have a lot of depth. We can throw three lines out against any team’s first line now.”

Everything the Badgers have worked for came to focus on the series at the DECC. To open the season, Wisconsin was picked first in the country, but got thumped 5-2 by UMD in Madison. The next night, the Badgers grew a little with a goal in the closing seconds to tie UMD 3-3, and Sara BauerÂ’s power-play winner in overtime claimed a 4-3 triumph. The next pivotal series came in mid-November at MinnesotaÂ’s Ridder Arena, when the Badgers stunned the Gophers 2-0, then stamping a 6-2 victory on the rematch. Cole had a goal in the first game and two in the second, which was huge for her, being back home.

Cole played on Bloomington JeffersonÂ’s emerging girls program that won a Minnesota state championship here junior year. One of her teammates was Allison Lehrke, who is UMDÂ’s captain and one of their top centers, and Larissa Luther, who also is a senior with the Bulldogs. The Gophers have struggled to regain their previous stature, this year, however, while UMD had streaked to supplant Wisconsin as No. 1 in the country, leading the WCHA, and riding a 10-0 steak at home.

“We looked at the series as a big chance to get ahead,” said Cole, who said she went to Wisconsin with no illusions of being a standout player. She plays left wing with Sara Bauer, a 5-foot-3 junior and the team’s top scorer, while those two mighty-mites have blossomed since Johnson shifted Jinelle Zaugg, a 6-foot-1 sophomore from Eagle River, Wis., up to right wing.

“She wasn’t with us at the start of the season,” said Cole. “She’s got such a great reach, it really helps when we’re forechecking.”

As expected, UMD and Wisconsin played with great pace and intensity every shift. Noemie MarinÂ’s power-play goal staked UMD to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period of the first game, and it stood until late in the second period when Bauer came out of the penalty box, beat a defenseman up the left side, and cut to the goal to beat UMDÂ’s Riitta Schaublin at the right edge for a 1-1 tie. Junior defenseman Bobbi-Jo Slusar put theBadgers ahead at 1:02 of the third with a screened shot from the left point. At 13:04, Jessica Koizumi whirled and fired a screened shot from the top of the right circle that beat Wisconsin senior Meghan Horras high and into the right edge for the 2-2 standoff.

The tie was one thing, the fact that Wisconsin pinned UMD into its own zone for most of the remaining seven minutes, and during a 4-0 shooting edge in the five-minute overtime, meant plenty to WisconsinÂ’s confidence.

“It was like a playoff game,” said Johnson. “We got what we were looking for. Somebody challenges your team, and I liked the way our players competed. It was two good skating teams, with good players making good plays, and it’s fun to watch that.”

UMD coach Shannon Miller said: “We had a real good first period, we both killed penalties in the second, and in the third period Wisconsin outworked us, beat us to every loose puck, and we were lucky to leave with a 2-2 tie. Riitta Schaublin was the only reason we got the tie.”

The next night, Miller broke up her first two lines, supplanting Koizumi with Lehrke between explosive wingers Marin and freshman Michaela Lanzl, while Koizumi centered freshmen Sara O’Toole and Mari Pehkonen. But the Badgers came out and did two things no other team has been able to do to UMD all season – or in any season – by forcing the Bulldogs to throw the puck away in their own end, and then pouncing on those loose pucks and doing something with them.
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While killing a penalty in the first period, Cole pounced on one of those grenade-like turnovers, and cut across in front of the goal, left to right, as she jammed a backhand shot. Schaubliin went down as she blocked the shot, sliding on her knees to the right edge of the crease. The puck, however, squirted through, and was sitting in the crease, inches from the goal line. Bauer was the first one to it, and converted the equivalent of a four-inch putt for a shorthanded goal.

Early in the second period, the Badgers proved ColeÂ’s comment about their depth, as Tia Hanson knocked in a second rebound for a power-play goal at 1:21. Her linemates, Erika Lawler and Angie Kesely, both got assists. All three are freshmen, playing on the third line.
UMDÂ’s third line came back to puncture HorrasÂ’s shutout late in the first period. Freshman hometown center Tawni Mattila, who might have been UMDÂ’s most effective forward in the game, rushed through the Badger defense and got off a good backhander. Horras saved it, but junior Juliane Jubinville poked in the rebound to cut it to 2-1.

Then it was truly final exam time, as the Badgers continued to defuse UMDÂ’s offense, smartly clearing their zone and putting the puck in deep, and forcing the Bulldogs to go the length of the ice to attack, but unable to sustain any sort of passing game to get there. After being outshot 37-23 the first game, UMD outshot Wisconsin 27-25 in the second, but the Badgers always had five defenders in front of Horras, who faced few dangerous threats, while Schaublin was forced to stop repeated break-ins and threats off turnovers.

“We played much better,” said UMD coach Miller. “I thought we played fantastic hockey. This series was a great test for us, and, win or lose, it was really good for us to have to raise our level of play to this level.”

Mark Johnson said: “We knew that they’d come out flying in the initial six or seven minutes, but we weathered the storms. Meaghan did a good job when we broke down, and we got a lift from our third line. They’ve got a lot of energy, and they just want to play and have fun. These type of games, everybody gets better. They were good tests for both teams. It was a good weekend, and it’s another step in the journey to March.”

Johnson also has a good feeling for his team’s depth, and a special feeling for the seniors – Cole, second linemates nikki Burish, Cyndy Kenyon and Grace Hutchins, and goaltender Horras. Scoring has underscored the team’s balance, but the first line will be the one to rely on for pressure goals.

“Sharon Cole has really become a good player, and it’s nice to see that,” said Johnson. “She always had the skill, and she’s a good skater and understands the game. Sara Bauer surprised everybody and blossomed into an outstanding player last year. I put Jinelle Zaugg up there, and it’s been a good chance for her, because playing with Cole and Bauer, all she really has to do is get open. That can become a really good line.”

It already has, Mark, and while the coach has been working so hard and the players have been developing so much, all the while focusing on the destination at the end of this season’s journey – and the four-year journey – the Badgers have become an elite program. Completing a 3-0-1 record in the four games at Minnesota and at UMD is like getting a big Christmas present a few weeks early.

CC surge intensifies final series with Denver

A month ago, Minnesota, Denver and Wisconsin were racing toward a three-way finish atop the WCHA, and while winning the title is paramount, all three top spots are important when it comes to league playoffs. Once the playoffs reach St. Paul for the Final Five, teams 4 and 5 must play each other, with that winner advancing to the semifinals, where Nos. 1, 2 and 3 await. So winning the playoff title means winning three games in three days for the teams that miss the top three slots.

The fact that Minnesota clinched the season title by sweeping at Alaska-Anchorage last weekend is significant, even though it seems Denver and Wisconsin might be comfortably finishing the seasons to decide which will be second. But don’t look now – Colorado College has won its way back into the picture.

While Denver came off a seven-game winning streak by losing three in a row, including last weekÂ’s split against North Dakota, Wisconsin lost twice against Minnesota State-Mankato to finish 2-7-1. While those two have faltered, Colorado College, by sweeping 5-0 and 5-2 victories at Minnesota-Duluth, has now won four in a row, and six out of seven, to climb within two points of third-place Wisconsin and three points of second-place Denver.

So Colorado College goes into its traditional closing home-and-home series with arch-rival Denver – starting on Thursday – facing the tall order of getting another sweep, but a sweep that would vault the Tigers into at least third and possibly second place.

“The most important thing to us was getting our rhythm back,” said scoring leader Brett Sterling. “We had to stick with our identity – to work hard and use our skill and our speed. We know we have great goaltending, defense and forwards, but usually we peak in January or February. Right now is the best time for us to peak.

“The best thing about it is that third place is still in reach. And we have to play Denver, and every time we play them, it’s something special. Sure, we can sweep them; why not? They did it to us. They’ve been struggling a little, and we had a stretch like that when we lost five n a row. The way we were playing, we couldn’t beat a Bantam team, when we played Denver.”

In recent weeks, CC also lost the services of Aaron Slattengren, a solid and speedy forward who helped balance the offense. Slattengren ran afoul of some academic rules at Colorado College and is no longer eligible. Setbacks like that, and an injury to goaltender Matt Zaba, didn’t promise a stirring finish for the Tigers. But that’s changed.

Sterling scored the winning goal in SaturdayÂ’s 5-2 victory at UMD. He was on a power play, and he spun around and shot going down, and the puck found its way through goaltender Isaac Reichmuth for a 3-1 lead. It came three minutes after Andrew Carroll scored to pull UMD within 2-1, and stood up as CC went up 5-1 by the second intermission.

That goal was the 26th of the season for Sterling, trailing only the 29 by Minnesota’s Ryan Potulny among WCHA snipers. But the key item for CC in the stretch drive is that the Tigers have found that they can win with more than Sterling and Marty Sertich – CC’s 1-2 punch that were 1-2 in the Hobey Baker voting last year won by Sertich – getting the goals.

“We’re a dangerous team,” said coach Scott Owens, after the 5-0 first game. “But we had a huge January lull. We’re bouncing back a little, and while Sertich and Sterling get a lot of minutes, we came into this series just trying to be playing better – to get our rhythm back. If we do, I think everything else will fall into place.”

Twenty-four hours later, the rhythm was back, and things were more than falling into place.

“The good thing is we got four points,” Owens said. “And we got some other guys scoring.”
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Indeed. For the weekend, CC got 10 goals, and they came from nine different goal-scorers.

Brandon Straub, Joey Crabb, Chad Rau, Jesse Stokke and James Brannigan scored in the 5-0 first game. It was 3-0 after two periods, then Stokke scored his first goal, and, as time was running out, Brannigan scored a goal with the clock reading “0:00.” The red light, however, was on, and a quick review indicated the goal was in before time expired – just the way things have been going for the luckless Bulldogs, and for the Tigers.

In the rematch, J.P. Brunkhorst and Brandon Polich scored 49 seconds apart to stake CC to a 2-0 lead in the first period. It took an extended power play continued from the first period for UMDÂ’s Carroll to get his teamÂ’s first goal of the weekend, and then Sterling got his goal. Crabb notched his 17th as the only CC 2-goal scorer, then Jack Hillen made it 5-1. Sterling had two assists for the weekend, along with his goal, and Sertich had three assists without getting a goal.

“That’s the best thing,” said Sterling. “We’ve changed lines again, and Marty and I get some points, but the other guys are scoring too.”
CCÂ’s offense is working again, the defense looks solid, and goaltender Matt Zaba is back in the lineup after an injury. Zaba made 25 saves for the Friday shutout, and 32 saves while giving up two goals Saturday.

“We’re fighting for home ice for the playoffs, and we want to be home for our fans,” said Owens. “We don’t particularly want to go to North Dakota or St. Cloud for a playoff series.”

That could still happen, but the Tigers are looking up now, not behind them.

“It should be a great playoff,” Owens said. “There’s really no team you WANT to play. But for us, we’re only looking ahead to Denver. Our games with them have been wars. Their power-play killed us, and they may pull it together for us. But for us, it’s a short week to get ready, and it’s an emotional thing.”

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• About the Author

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

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.