Schaublin near invincible in UMD sweep of Harvard

Minnesota-Duluth was prepared for a pair of traditional highlight games against Harvard last weekend, but instead the Bulldogs steamrolled the Crimson for a pair of 6-1 triumphs. The sweep lifted UMD to the nationÂ’s No. 2 rank behind St. Lawrence, plus a sweep of the WCHA player of the week honors, with Noemie Marin offensive player of the week, Rachel Drazen defensive player of the week, and Michaela Lanzl freshman of the week.

What about Riitta Schaublin?

Riitta Schaublin is UMDÂ’s goaltender, a self-made standout often overlooked next to her free-wheeling teammates, despite dominant performances in goal. She doesnÂ’t seem to mind, but she would like to figure out how to get some of the shutouts she deserves.

Schaublin, who admits to being 5-foot-11 but looks much larger in her goaltending gear,leads the WCHA womenÂ’s goaltending statistics with a superb 1.28 goals-against mark, and with an equally-impressive .948 save percentage for the 12-2 Bulldogs, who lead the WCHA at 10-2 with losses only during splits at Wisconsin and at Minnesota.

And yet, her statistics should be still better – which sounds outrageous, considering the junior from Basel, Switzerland, and the Bulldogs have only yielded four goals in their last seven games. Since losing 4-1 at Minnesota a month ago, Schaublin shut out the Gophers 6-0 – the first time they ever been blanked at Ridder Arena – then won 6-1, 3-0 at North Dakota, 3-0, 5-1 back home against Bemidji State, then 6-1, 6-1 against Harvard.

Those seven games show four games with one goal against and three shutouts amid a seven-game goal differential of 35-4, but Schaublin only has credit for two shutouts so far all season. Not that it has had any effect on her focus, which is crystallizing UMD’s championship hopes.

That includes the fact that she will not be leaving the University of Minnesota-Duluth womenÂ’s hockey team to play in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy. ThatÂ’s good news for UMD, bad news for UMDÂ’s WCHA opponents, and not exactly good news for Switzrland.

Schaublin proves the benefit of UMD having such diverse international players in a sort of backhanded way. While the Bulldogs have developed star players for the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, in recent national and Olympic competition, they also got standout goaltending from Patricia Sautter, who will return to her native Switzerland for the Olympics. Schaublin also came from Switzerland, and has proven, by her development last season and this one, that she would be a valid member of the Swiss team.

“I gave Riitta her choice,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “I told her I was behind her 100 percent if she wanted to join Switzerland’s team for the Olympics, it’s just that I had to know, last summer, what she intended to do, because I would recruit another goaltender if she was going to go. She decided to stay with us, rather than be backup to Patricia at the Olympics.”

Minnesota-Duluth staked its claim to women’s hockey excellence by recruiting an international roster of players from the start of its program. That was a key reason why UMD won the first-ever WCHA season title, then strung together NCAA tournament championships the next three years – the first three women’s NCAA hockey tournaments ever held.

The international flavor makes sense, based on coach Shannon MillerÂ’s long-standing status of coaching CanadaÂ’s National and Olympic teams, and it continues to pay dividends this season. The Bulldogs, currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, have Schaublin from Switzerland, defenseman Suvi Vacker and winger Mari Pehkonen from Finland, winger Michaela Lanzl from Germany, French-Canadians Noemi Marin, Karine Demeule, Melissa Roy and defenseman Myriam Trepanier, Canadians Sara OÂ’Toole, Juliane Jubinville, Krista McArthur and Jill Sales, and U.S. skaters Jessica Koizumi from California and defenseman Ashly Waggoner from Alaska, plus Minnesotans Allison Lehrke, Samantha Hough, Larissa Luther, Tawni Mattila, defensemen Rachael Drazen and Kirsti Hakala, and backup goaltenders Danielle Ciarletta and Annie Meyer, plus support players Erin Holznagel and Becky Salyards. Hakala is from nearby Cloquet, while freshman center Mattila and Salyards are from Duluth.

The Bulldogs will miss Marin, the nationÂ’s leading scorer, this weekend when a rejuvenated Minnesota State-Mankato comes to the DECC for a series. Marin is not only a gifted goal-scorer, she is a star shortstop on CanadaÂ’s national softball team, which is conducting tryouts. At Olympic time, the Bulldogs will lose Lanzl, a spectacular breakaway threat who not only is UMDÂ’s most exciting player but also is GermanyÂ’s best player.

Meanwhile, if a fluctuating lineup can be bailed out by great goaltending, Schaublin is ready for the challenge. Against Harvard, she was invincible in the first game, while Marin, Vacker and Mattila staked UMD to a 3-0 lead in the first period, and MarinÂ’s second-period goal, plus a pair by Lanzl in the third, made it 6-0 with six minutes remaining. A careless penalty with three minutes to go proved costly, and HarvardÂ’s Jennifer Raimondi scored on a power-play rebound with only 1:38 to go to ruin SchaublinÂ’s shutout.
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The next night, Schaublin was again unbeatable, as Marin scored in the first period, and Drazen, Lanzl, Koizumi, Pehkonen and Marin made it 6-0 at the second intermission. But again, the shutout went away in the third period when HarvardÂ’s Laura Brady broke in to score.

That wasnÂ’t nearly as exasperating as the Bemidji State series when Schaublin gave up no goals in two games, but came away without credit for a shutout, and with only one victory. In the first game, Schaublin discovered one skate had been sharpened incorrectly during pre-game warm-ups, and trying to adjust it made it worse, she discovered during game introductions. She skated to the bench after the National Anthem, and told Miller she would have to come off at the first whistle. That occurred at 0:11, when Pehkonen was called for a penalty. Miller said she thought Schaublin would come to the bench for a little fine-tuning, but instead she went right to the dressing room to get her old skates.

So Miller put freshman Danielle Ciarletta in at 0:11, and she played for just over four minutes, without facing a shot No hots, no saves. Meanwhile, Lanzl broke loose and scored at the other end at 1:15 for a 1-0 UMD lead. By the time UMD had drawn two more penalties, Schaublin was ready to go with her backup skates on, and returned to the ice at 4:23 with UMD two skaters short. She survived, and went on to block all nine Bemidji shots in the first period, and all 19 Bemidji shots for the game. When Lanzl scored again in the second period, and Marin hit an empty net at the end, UMD had earned a 3-0 victory. Schaublin, the teamÂ’s career shutout leader, had notched another. Or had she?

Nope. The rules say that when more than one goaltender is used, whichever one is in the game when the winning goal is scored gets credit for the victory. So Ciarletta, without making a save in her four-minute stint, got the victory, and Schaublin, who stopped 19 of 19 shots, got nothing. Not the shutout, nor the victory.

“Ridiculous,” said Miller, although Schaublin shrugged it all off.

The next night, Bemidji State attacked much harder, but again UMDÂ’s offense was too much. Lanzl and OÂ’Toole scored in the first period, and Jubinville scored twice in the second for a 4-0 lead. Schaublin, of course, had allowed nothing, stopping all 16 Beaver shots. Miller decided to let Ciarletta get some experience in the third period, and she gave up a goal to Allison Johanson midway through the period while making nine saves, before Krista McArthur connected later to complete a 5-1 victory. Once again, Schaublin missed a chance for a shutout, but at least she got to win the game. Incredibly, had Bemidji rallied for four goals against Ciarletta, then she, and not Schaublin, would have gotten credit for the win.

Oh, and back when UMD shut out Minnesota 6-0 at Minnesota, Schaublin was not voted one of the gameÂ’s three stars, because even though she made 22 saves and some Ridder Arena history, UMDÂ’s first forward line swept the honors. At least that week, when the WCHA panel looked over the significant happenings in the league, Schaublin was justifiably named defensive player of the week for the league — if not the game.

Stifling Harvard twice, while stopping 53 of 55 shots, was a major achievement for Schaublin. But bigger things are coming, first with Minnesota State-Mankato coming to the DECC this weekend, and then Wisconsin coming to the DECC for a series that might decide the WCHA title, the No. 1 spot in the nation, and league goaltending honors.

Fighting Sioux take the high road into NCAA tournament

There are no guarantees for the North Dakota hockey team in the NCAA tournament this weekend. Because the Fighting Sioux must play in the East Regional at Worcester, Mass., they will go from probable underdogs against Boston University in FridayÂ’s opening game, to certain underdogs against Boston College in SaturdayÂ’s region final.

Not an easy path, to Columbus and the Frozen Four. However, the Fighting Sioux didnÂ’t flinch at being routed along the dirt road.
A year ago, Dean Blais was known as one of the premier coaches in hockey as the head coach at North Dakota, and two of the nationÂ’s top players and top scorers were Zach Parise and Brendon Bochenski. The season ended, Parise turned pro, and so did Bochenski, then so did coach Blais, who took a job as one of the associate coaches with the Columbus NHL team.

That was just the start of the tough trail for North Dakota. Dave Hakstol rose from an assistant position to become head coach, and with Brad Berry and Cary Eades as assistants, he started reassembling the Fighting Sioux. Then the parade of injuries started. The Sioux didnÂ’t need a team bus, they needed an ambulance. The teamÂ’s fortunes went up and down, but by the end of the season, things started to fall into place

After holding off UMD to claim the fifth and final home-ice spot in the WCHA playoffs, North Dakota crushed UMD 8-2 and 6-1. Their reward was the Fighting Sioux got the chance to play three games in three days, if they could win the play-in game against Wisconsin, a team that tied for third ahead of the Sioux.

Nobody, starting with rookie head coach Dave Hakstol, has taken anything for granted. They had to face a higher-seeded Wisconsin team in the WCHA play-in game, and they won 3-2.

“Our goal tonight,” Hakstol said after that game, “was that we wanted to get back here Friday afternoon.”

That meant they had to win that first game. “This was just a continuation of the series we’ve had with Wisconsin this season. It was physical, and there was a good pace to it.”

With three goals in the game, the Sioux had nine players get one point each, and Jordan Parise played well in goal with 33 saves. Hakstol was asked if the Sioux were reaching a peak of their seasonÂ’s play.
“We’re getting there,” Hakstol said. “We’ve played pretty well the past three or four weeks, and that’s because we’re close to being healthy. People say our fourth line played well, and I really don’t consider them a fourth line, it’s just that they haven’t been together much. They added some stability, because we were able to use the whole bench.”

That fourth line, with Brian Canady centering Erik Fabian and James Massen, came with a huge goal against Wisconsin. Fabian jarred the puck loose with a big hit, then Canady rushed into the Wisconsin zone, making a perfect pass that Massen – a right-handed shooter coming in on the left side – was able to one-time for a 2-0 lead.

Hakstol was asked if he thought the victory would give his team an NCAA berth, and he said: “The bottom line is, the only thing we can control is our play.”

The victory meant a quick turnaround, from Thursday night to the first Friday afternoon semifinal – against WCHA champ Denver. Hakstol’s relief at being healthy was short-lived, because in the second period, with the game tied 1-1, Brady Murray, who had missed 15 games with shoulder problems, reinjured the shoulder. On the next shift, sophomore defenseman Robbie Bina was checked from behind into the side boards and needed to be helped from the ice on a stretcher. He suffered a broken bone in his neck. A minor penalty was called on Denver’s penalty-leader, Geoff Paukovich, although post-game review caused WCHA officials to suspend Paukovich for the championship game.

The midgame timing of the incident was interesting. There have been a lot of hockey teams that would have responded to such incidents, and the loss of a key player on a call that they found disagreeable, with some blatant hostility. Some Fighting Sioux teams might have been first to vent such animosity. But the Sioux simply raised their intensity level, and took the game to the Pioneers. But Gabe GauthierÂ’s second goal of the game, in the first minute of overtime, gave Denver a 2-1 victory.

“I’d be lying to you if I told you there wasn’t a lot of emotion,” said Hakstol. “But it’s playoff time. We tried to focus on what was important, and we played well, even though we had to play the rest of the game with 10 forwards.”

It was at that point that the Sioux left the rough and rocky road for the high road. Nick Fuher, who scored North Dakota’s goal and was named to the all-tournament team, said: “There was a lot of emotion in the game, but we’re a team that plays on emotion.”

The best praise came from Denver coach George Gwozdecky, who knew his top-seeded Pioneers had escaped a passionate test. “First of all,” Gwozdecky said, “I want to give a great deal of credit to North Dakota. They did a tremendous job, and they gave us all kinds of problems. They were very well coached, and they forced us to play in our defensive zone for long periods of time. It was as difficult and tiring a job as we’ve had to do all year.

“It sure didn’t look like they had played last night.”

The next day, the Sioux had to come back for their third major effort in three days and face Minnesota on the same Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center ice. With 14,730 on hand for the afternoon third-place game, North Dakota, in HakstolÂ’s mind, was still playing to control what they could control, and not worry about the NCAA seedings.

Quinn Fylling gave North Dakota a 1-0 lead at 9:23 of the first period, but Minnesota tied it a minute later, as the Sioux looked spent, understandably, and were outshot 11-3 for the first period. When the Gophers went up 2-1 on a power-play goal in the second period, the Sioux were continuing to be outshot heavily. They drew a penalty, and things looked bleak.

But Rastislav Spirko – called “Sparky” by his teammates – lived up that nickname at 10:53. He rushed up the ice, 1-on-1 with Minnesota defenseman Chris Harrington. Spirko, a freshman from Vrutky, Slovakia, made a couple of dekes and Harrington went down, then Spirko retrieved the puck, put a great move on goaltender Kellen Briggs, and easily tucked the puck in behind him at the left edge for a 2-2 tie.

Early in the third period, defenseman Matt Greene whistled a shot from inside the right point past Briggs on the short side, and late in the final period, Fuher carried in 2-on-1, faked a pass, deked, and beat Briggs to the short side, clinching a 4-2 Sioux victory. When they should have been exhausted from their third game in three days, the Sioux outshot Minnesota 12-5 in the pivotal third period.

“We’re here, it was a big game, and it doesn’t matter whether it was the third game in three days, or the fifth game in five days,” said Greene.

He noted that the team had taken time to visit Bina in Regions Hospital, and while there had been no condition report given about their fallen comrade, Greene said: “We saw him today and it was pretty tough to see a guy on your team lying there. But he was in good spirits. If you know him, he’s a pretty funny kid, and he told a couple of good jokes.”

Spirko, who joined Fuher on the all-tournament team, said: “That was big motivation. We were playing for Robbie.”

Hakstol, who seemed to learn a lot about himself and his team as this season progressed, obviously got a cram-course in both during the three-day tournament.

“On the large scale, big-picture, national scene, there probably wasn’t a lot of meaning to this game,” Hakstol said. “But within our locker room, it meant a lot. When you put it all together, with guys out, we not only survived, we turned the game our way. The mood in the locker room was that if you put this jersey on, you play to win.
“We had to put three new players in the lineup. Scottie Foyt stepped in and got an assist on our first goal. Lee Marvin gave us a lift. And Kyle Radke played a good role out there. Jordan Parise did his job in goal, and I’m proud of the way our team found a way to win.

“We’ve shown the ability over and over to put the pieces back together, to fight back and battle back.”

And Fighting Sioux reward is that they get to play on, to challenge BostonÂ’s best, in the form of Boston University and then, maybe, Boston College, the No. 1 ranked team in the country. But nobody who watched the Fighting Sioux perform in the WCHA Final Five would bet against them. Gwozdecky, in fact, said he told some of the North Dakota players that he had a feeling they might meet again at NCAA time. The Fighting Sioux would go for that.

Video snaps Gopher defense into 1st place form

University of Minnesota hockey coach Don Lucia runs a tight ship, tight enough that a casual observer might think he’s a control freak. But if his defensemen suggest they’d like to watch some videos, Lucia is likely to encourage them to watch all they want – as long as the video is of the final Golden Gophers game of the 2001-2002 season.

That just happened to be the game in which Minnesota defeated Maine in overtime to win the NCAA championship for the first time in 23 years. And even though Minnesota repeated as NCAA champs a year later, the 2002 title game video is No. 1 on Lucia’s “recommended video” list for his defensemen.

It also might be precisely the reason the Golden Gophers have moved within reach of winning the WCHA regular-season championship, are ranked No. 1 in the country, and obviously are now among the elite teams most-favored when it comes to picking this yearÂ’s NCAA championship favorite.

Despite continued protests from Lucia – who insists on saying that winning the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular-season champion is not an objective – his players publicly repeat the coach’s mantra, but privately acknowledge that they wouldn’t mind hanging more than one banner this season. To that end, when Minnesota beat Denver 3-2 last Friday to end the Pioneers 7-game winning streak, the Golden Gophers vaulted past Denver into first place. When they followed up by whipping the Pioneers 5-1 for a series sweep, they elevated themselves to a position two points ahead of Wisconsin and three up on Denver.

With only two weekends to go, the Gophers would have to lose at least two of their remaining four games – against Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota-Duluth, the bottom two teams in the WCHA. The WCHA this season has been its most unpredictable in decades, if not ever, but the likelihood of the Minnesota Express being derailed seems slim for a couple of reasons. First, because they are on a 7-0-1 surge of their own, and stand 14-1-1 since December 3, which has become a day to remember for the Gophers. Especially their defense.

On that night in December, Minnesota hit its low point for the season. Wisconsin had come to Mariucci Arena and the night after the Badgers administered a 4-3 setback, they humiliated the Golden Gophers 4-0 in the rematch. Wisconsin was flying high, No. 1 in the WCHA and No. 1 in the nation, but the worst part of that weekend was that the Gophers defense seemed powerless to cope with the Badgers. Turnovers gave Wisconsin numerous chances, and a stumbling inability to cope with the resulting rushes rendered Minnesota to also-ran status.

Amazingly, the next weekend Minnesota went up to Grand Forks and swept North Dakota. That sweep got the Gophers rolling, and they have kept on rolling, particularly with a pivotal payback sweep at Wisconsin and then last weekend’s sweep against Denver – their two main adversaries atop the standings.

Lucia doesnÂ’t deal much in superlatives, but the offense has come alive in the last two months. The key triggerman with his scoring consistency is junior center Ryan Potulny, bolstered by the return to health of timely-scoring junior wing Danny Irmen, important goals from surprising sophomore Ben Gordon, smart two-way defensive work from captain and center Gino Guyer, and continued eye-popping set-ups from freshman Phil Kessel. But the performance of those forwards, and goaltender Kellen Briggs, would be comparatively meaningless if the defense hadnÂ’t made a 180-degree turnabout.

So what happened? Did Lucia bring back NHLers Jordan Leopold, Keith Ballard and Paul Martin for that series, and dress them up to impersonate Gopher blueliners?

Almost.

“After that Wisconsin weekend,” Lucia said, “when we went up to North Dakota I had our defense watch a video of the 2002 title game. Specifically, I said to watch Leopold, Ballard and Martin, and how played in our zone, how they used the glass to get the puck out of the zone when they had to, and everything they did.”

Presto! As if by magic, the visualization lesson took hold and the Gopher defense went from stumbling to self-assured. Senior Chris Harrington, who had strayed far from the confident style he showed as a freshman, and fellow-senior P.J. Atherton played better and better. A Minneapolis newspaper columnist who rarely mentions hockey wrote an item that Gopher defenseman Mike Vannelli is the son of Tom Vannelli, a Gopher star of the 1970s – never mind that Vannelli is a junior, but had gone unnoticed for three years.

Sophomores Alex Goligoski and Derek Peltier snapped into focus, Goligoski returning to the confident rookie he had been last year, and Peltier compressing his play into smart and beneficial shifts. And freshman R.J. Atherton now plays with smooth force, instead of the sort of hesitancy that usually leads to the wrong move.

Instead, all the right moves have cleared pucks from danger and ignited Minnesota rushes, instead of opposing forechecks. By chance, Ballard was back at Mariucci Arena to watch the Denver series, because the weather was more hockey-like than his residence in Scottsdale, Ariz., while playing for the Phoenix Coyotes. Leopold and Martin might have been, but they were in Turin, Italy, as part of Team USAÂ’s Winter Olympic endeavor.

Meanwhile, any NHL or Olympic team would have been impressed to watch the Gopher defense calmly kill two five-minute major penalties in FridayÂ’s game, even with Atherton and Goligoski gone as the two whistled for checking-from-behind majors and game misconducts. No problem. Andy Sertich moved back to defense, and no damage was done.

The defensemen are helping out offensively, too. The 3-2 victory over Denver started when AndersonÂ’s whistling point shot was deflected in by Gordon, Harrington assisted on the always-opportunistic PotulnyÂ’s 23th goal to break a 1-1 tie, and Potulny added No. 24 on a power play for the winner.

The next night ended almost as it began. Denver star defenseman Matt Carle drew a slashing penalty in the first minute, and Irmen – just back from a shoulder injury – scored at 1:08 on the power play, assisted by Harrington and Goligoski. The assist was Harrington’s 100th career point. Gordon finished a perfect 2-on-1 rush from Kessel 29 seconds later, and Irmen scored on Kessel’s rebound midway through the first period for a 3-0 cushion.
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When Gabe Gauthier scored, finally, for Denver at 19:06 of the middle period, Goligoski ignited an immediate counter off the ensuing faceoff, resulting in Potulny setting up freshman Ryan Stoa at the goal-mouth at 19:14, nullifying whatever lift the Pioneers might have gained at 3-1.

“I thought we’d get a momentum change on our goal, but eight seconds later, they came right back,“ said Gauthier. “Everything was rolling on our seven-game winning streak, but we hit a stopper, and it was Minnesota.”

GoligoskiÂ’s assist was his 100th point as a Gopher, and when he moved in from the right point to score himself midway through the third period, he started on his second 100.

“We got a couple of lucky bounces,” said Irmen. Somebody asked Irmen if the Gophers could see the WCHA title in their grasp now, and he said that no, that wasn’t an objective, and they had to go up to Anchorage and play game by game.

Yeah, right Danny. But with four games to go and a two-point lead, the Gophers would have to cave in to avoid winning the MacNaughton Cup, wouldnÂ’t they?

“Well, I guess we control our destiny, and if the title is there, we’ll take it,” said Irmen.

Irmen spoke as though he had been programmed by a chip installed in his brain at the Don Lucia Clinic of Proper Responses. No boasting, no predictions, no looking too far ahead, and no controversial statements whatsoever. Remember, this is the same coach who told assistant John Hill not to comment to the media the week before Alaska-Anchorage – the team Hill coached through last season before returning to be an assistant at Minnesota – to avoid anything that might end up inspiring the Seawolves.

However, given Lucia’s “programming” of the Gopher defense, and Minnesota’s No. 1 status in the WCHA and in the national polls, three things are pretty certain: Hill will probably remain silent on this week’s trip to Anchorage, the Gopher defense will continue to impersonate Leopold, Ballard and Martin, and the Gophers – protests notwithstanding – will probably move one weekend away from the MacNaughton Cup.

Denver wins, leads Final Five charge toward Frozen Four

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Who else but the WCHA could hold a five-team tournament and have everybody win? ThatÂ’s what happened with the leagueÂ’s annual Final Five playoff, where the five first-round playoff winners convened at Xcel Energy Center. Denver, the top seed by the slim margin of goal-differential over co-champion Colorado College, defeated the Tigers 1-0 to win the Final Five championship.

That was on Saturday night, and on Sunday, the NCAA selection committee named Denver, CC, third-place winner North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin to the 16-team NCAA tournament field, meaning for the first time all five Final Five teams reached the select field for the NCAA tournament.

It was no surprise that Denver and Colorado College, both of whom jockeyed for the nation’s No. 1 rank through the last several weeks, were both seeded No. 1 at different regionals. The surprise was that Minnesota, which lost 3-0 to CC in the semifinals, and also lost 4-2 in the third-place game to North Dakota – in what was the third game in three days for the Sioux – was also named a No. 1 seed. The Golden Gophers were the top ranked team in the nation for three weeks in a row in midseason, before struggling through much of the second half, but their strong first half entrenched their status in the pairwise computer rankings used by the selection committee.

North Dakota, playing its best hockey of the season, defeated Wisconsin 3-2 in the “play-in” game between the fourth-seeded Badgers and fifth-seeded Fighting Sioux. North Dakota then came back with a strong performance against Denver, losing 2-1 in overtime. The Sioux also lost Robbie Bina when he was checked from behind into the side boards and suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck. Denver’s Geoff Paukovich, who was given a minor penalty on the play, was suspended for the league championship game after league officials reviewed the videotape of the hit.

North Dakota also lost star forward Brady Murray with an aggravated shoulder injury, 15 seconds earlier, and played heroically the rest of the way with 10 forwards before losing the game, which was its second in an 18-hour span. When the Fight should have been completely out of the Sioux, they came back the third day and stung Minnesota 4-2 for the third-place trophy.

The Final Five has no special bearing on the NCAA Selection Committee, but North Dakota’s courageous three-day run earned the Sioux all-tournament berths for winger Rastaslav Spirko and defenseman Nick Fuher, while Colorado College winger Brett Sterling and goaltender Curtis McElhinney also made the select six, and Denver center Gabe Gauthier – who scored both goals in the 2-1 overtime victory over North Dakota – and defenseman Matt Laatsch rounded out the all-tourney team. Sterling was named tournament MVP.

Denver coach George Gwozdecky stuck with his alternating goaltender plan, using Glenn Fisher in FridayÂ’s semifinal, and coming back with freshman Peter Mannino for the title game 1-0 shutout over Colorado College. Mannino also shut out the Tigers 5-0 in the last game of the regular season, lifting the Pioneers into a tie with CC for the MacNaughton Cup, and earning the top playoff seed in the WCHA on the basis of goal-differential. Gwozdecky had difficulty comparing this team to last year, when Denver was eliminated in the first round of league playoffs by CC, and missed the Final Five, only to get voted back in when the NCAA selected its 16 teams. Rested and ready, Denver went all the way to capture the NCAA championship, with, of all things, a 1-0 title-game shutout.

“All season, this team hasn’t set any long-term goals,” said Gwozdecky. “That’s given us the opportunity to win every weekend, and we are not emotionally spent.”

That stability, as well as their experience and poise, could make Denver the pre-tournament favorite to defend its NCAA crown. They got something of a break in NCAA pairings, where things worked out even though the Pioneers actually ranked as the third-best team by NCAA selection committee reasoning.

In the committee’s ratings, Boston College ended up No. 1, and is the only non-WCHA team to gain a No. 1 seed. Colorado College was ranked No. 2, despite the final loss to Denver, which was No. 3. A major decision the committee faced was between Minnesota and Cornell for the Nos. 4 and 5 slots. It came down to the “common-opponent” phase of evaluation, and the only common foe was Michigan, which beat Cornell, while Minnesota had beaten Michigan 6-1 at Thanksgiving time.

Following Cornell came Michigan, North Dakota and New Hampshire, in order, as the remaining No. 2 seeds, then Harvard, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Boston University, in order, as the No. 3 seeds, and Maine, Colgate, Bemidji and Mercyhurst as the four No. 4 seeds. Each regional gets one team of each seeding group.

Had Minnesota been bumped to fifth, it would have become the top No. 2 seed, while Cornell would have been No. 1 at Amherst, N.Y., and then either Denver or Colorado College would have been sent to Mariucci Arena as No. 1. But since Minnesota is No. 1, the Gophers remain home to host to the West Regional, while Denver goes to Amherst, N.Y., as No. 1 seed in the Northeast Regional, and CC goes to Grand Rapids, Mich., as No. 1 seed at the Midwest Regional. North Dakota, which put on a courageous display at the WCHA tournament, is No. 2 seed at Worcester, Mass., in the Eastern Regional, where Boston College is the top seed. Wisconsin remained ranked high enough to be a No. 3 seed at the Midwest Regional.

That leaves WCHA teams in position to challenge for all four Frozen Four spots for the April 7-9 event at Columbus, Ohio. The toughest regional might be the Midwest, where CC faces Colgate, while Wisconsin takes on host Michigan in the other Friday semifinal. In the East Regional, also Friday and Saturday, Boston College is heavily favored over Mercyhurst, and if the highly ranked Eagles prevail, they would face the winner between North Dakota and Boston University in another tough regional.

In the Northeast Regional, Denver is heavily favored over Bemidji State, the College Hockey America champion, while New Hampshire faces Harvard in the other semifinal on Saturday. If Denver beats a strong Bemidji entry, the Pioneers would be solid favorites against either Harvard or UNH for the Frozen Four berth.

Denver, CC, North Dakota and Wisconsin all move eastward, where they will find plenty of competition, but none of them probably mind avoiding coming to Mariucci Arena, where they might have had to beat Minnesota at Mariucci Arena to advance. The Gophers hardly have an easy route, however, facing Maine in the Saturday afternoon semifinal, while Cornell faces Ohio State in the other game. Minnesota may be the No. 1 seed in the regional and Maine No. 4, but the Gophers are trying to regroup after losing twice at the Final Five, while Maine finished the season on an upsurge, losing 2-1 in two overtimes to Boston College in the Hockey East tournament semifinals.

While the WCHA gained five slots in the NCAA field, Hockey East had four, with BC, BU, New Hampshire and Maine, while the ECAC got three, with Cornell, Harvard and Colgate, and the CCHA only got two, with Michigan and Ohio State. If the five WCHA entries all play up to their top potential, the disappointment will be that the Frozen Four only has four openings.

Sweden tops Russia 3-0 for women’s world bandy title

SwedenÂ’s national womenÂ’s bandy team attacks with the suddenness of a Porsche, and defends with the security of a military tank. But SwedenÂ’s 3-0 victory over Russia in SaturdayÂ’s championship game of the WomenÂ’s Bandy World Championships more resembled a Volvo sedan.

Solid, safe, conservative and technically very sound, just like the cars they make in Gothenburg, Sweden, the yellow-clad Swedish team capitalized on its opportunities for two quick-striking goals by Mikaela Hasselgren in the first half, then concentrated on preventing Russia from getting any clear scoring chances in the second. Johanna Pettersson converted a pass from Johanna Karlsson seven minutes into the second 45-minute half, and Sweden stayed within the speed limit the rest of the way, to skate off the John Rose Oval in suburban Roseville, Minnesota, with the World Championship.

Swedish coach Roger Jakobssen said he enjoyed the comparison to Sweden’s cars, best-known for their focus on keeping everything safe. “It was our final game, and everyone expected Sweden to win so easily,” Jakobssen said. “But we had to work really hard in most of the games, and especially today. Russia challenged us in a tough way, and we had to have a great deal of patience. We are the World Champions, and we played some excellent bandy, and I think we were excellent ambassadors for the game of bandy.”

Bandy boosters are hoping to get their sport into the Winter Olympics, and it would seem a likely candidate, because of its popularity in Scandinavia and Russia, and especially Siberia.

Norway, which had tied Russia 1-1in round-robin play for the highest moment in its century of bandy, but lost to the Russians in the semifinals, came back to defeat Finland 2-1 in the third-place game for the bronze medal. The U.S. earlier had beaten Canada 2-0 in the game for fifth place.

Bandy features never-ending skating, played with a tennis-ball-size ball and short sticks, like 11-player soccer on a soccer-sized rink. The sport is at a pinnacle in Sweden and Russia, where it is played by many, sometimes in indoor arenas, and rivals soccer and hockey in popularity. Crowds of over 20,000 are common in Russia, but the game is little-known in North America. The John Rose Oval is MinnesotaÂ’s only official-size bandy rink, and CanadaÂ’s team, an under-20 Winnipeg ringette team, was put together for the tournament and doesnÂ’t even have a bandy rink to practice on.
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Minnesota’s team averages about 38 years of age, and is hoping to expand with a youth program at Roseville. It wasn’t an attempt to be perfect hosts that the U.S. failed to win a game during the round-robin play – tying Norway 1-1, and losing 1-0 to Canada while also playing very well in a 2-0 loss to Finland, and its first victory in two World Championship appearances came in the fifth-place playoff game against Canada.

Minnesota Nice seemed to extend beyond the John Rose Oval facility, and just in time to make teams from Sweden and Russia feel comfortable, the Twin Cities region imported this winterÂ’s most severe cold snap down from northern reaches of Canada. It was about 5-below zero with a 30-mile-per-hour wind for much of the tournament, and all sorts of outdoor events elsewhere were cancelled, but the bandy went on. One unwitting photographer, bundled well except for his ears, froze his windward ear in about 20 minutes of picture-taking in the Friday sunshine. A woman volunteer minding the southeast corner of the rink tried to stay warm with hot coffee from her Thermos jug. The first time she tried it, all went well; the second time, she found the coffee in the Thermos had frozen solid.

It was less harsh on Saturday, and a rowdy group from Sweden wore yellow and blue hats and jerseys, waved flags, and sang assorted chants to cheer on their team. After the championship game, two-goal scorer Hasselgren said: “Cold? No. Not like yesterday.”

In nearly every game, the rhythmic flow of constant skating was occasionally interrupted by corner pass-in plays, which follow stoppages in play caused by the defending team knocking the ball out of bounds. Most of the tournamentÂ’s goals came off corner pass plays, ball three of SwedenÂ’s goals in the final came off direct attacks.
“We tried to get corners,” said Petterson, who not only scored the final goal, but got off the shot that led to Hasselgren’s second goal, on a rebound.

KarlssonÂ’s passes set up Hasselgren for the first goal of the game, as well as PetterssonÂ’s final goal. The Swedish players will now return to their club teams, three of which contributed players to the national team, and their schedule runs through March.

Russian coach Aleksandr Skirdenko was in good spirits after the game. “It could be better, if we win,” he said. “But we have given everything we could, and Sweden has a very strong team. We knew the Swedish team was very strong, very fast, and that we wouldn’t have many chances against them. So our plan was to defend first, then counter-attack when we could. We had a few chances, but we didn’t score.”

Oxana Pronshina, who had led Russia with two goals to a 7-0 victory over the U.S. and with three goals in an identical 7-0 romp over Canada in preliminary round play, said the first goal was pivotal. “If we had scored early, scored first, anything would be possible,” she said. “We would have put our bodies in front of the net, anything, to stop the Swedish team if we had gotten the first goal.”

Jakobssen, the coach and/or “Volvo driver,” said his team executed his tactics well. “We wanted to be careful in the second half to not lose the ball. A couple of times we lost the ball in the middle of the field, and they got their best chances then.”

But, with the Swedish teamÂ’s figurative shoulder harnesses strapped on, and roll-bars in place, and smooth-running efficiency unhampered by Siberian-like cold, there was never a chance SwedenÂ’s trip to the World Championship would be threatened.

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• About the Author

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

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

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

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