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.”

Brodt, Curtin aim to inspire future women’s Olympians

Where were you when Team USAÂ’s womenÂ’s hockey team was upset by Sweden, 3-2 in a Winter Olympics semifinal shootout, to preclude the United State from its assumed slot in the gold medal game against Canada?

A lot of women and girls down to the youngest age of hockey interest may remember exactly where they were. Two of them, Winny Brodt and Ronda Curtin, probably wonÂ’t remember, because they had other things on their minds.

Ronda Curtin, one of the premier elite players in Minnesota’s young but proud female hockey history, was home, helping coach the St. Thomas women’s college team and trying to find time to play for the amateur Minnesota Whitecaps. Winny Brodt, who preceded the most famous sister act in Minnesota hockey annals – Ronda and Renee Curtin – at Roseville High School’s early state powers, was also home. She celebrated her 28th birthday, which came one day after Team USA’s stunning defeat, by also playing for the Whitecaps, a recently formed team that plays amateur senior women’s elite teams from all across Canada.

Both of them were among the best half-dozen players in the history of Minnesota girls high school hockey, starring at Roseville High School, and later at the University of Minnesota. Arguably – although it’s not arguable in Minnesota – both should have been on this year’s U.S. women’s Olympic team, and on the 2002 team as well. But they are not just sitting home grousing about it. They are doing something about it, trying to invent ways to help Minnesota’s burgeoning crop of new young girls at the youth and high school levels to have realistic goals in the sport.

Hockey observers from throughout the world are amazed and impressed with the development of female hockey in Minnesota, and how high school girls hockey has accelerated the development of far beyond any other area of the country, and, in fact, the world. Minnesota high school stars go on to college, and are generally among the better players on their teams. So it might seem logical that Minnesota-raised high school players might dominate the U.S. National and Olympic team, the way their male counterparts did, at least up through 1980, when amateurs played.

But the womenÂ’s U.S. Olympic team, which should be the pinnacle of girls through their development phase, has not been a realistic objective for most Minnesota girls and women. True, Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, two of the other elite players in MinnesotaÂ’s high school girls annals, and Jenny Potter, the famous mom on the team, were stars on Team USA. But thatÂ’s it. Those are the only three women who grew up playing hockey in Minnesota to make Team USA.

Winny Brodt, a swift, free-skating defenseman, who defended responsibly but was best-known for her spectacular end-to-end rushes, was the last player cut. Ronda Curtin, third on the all-time Minnesota high school girls point-scoring list, and who went on to star at the University of Minnesota as a forward, and then switched to defense where she was named All-America, didnÂ’t even bother to try out.

“I saw what was happening to Winny, and I decided – why bother?” said Ronda. The fact that Curtin was never invited to camp or encouraged to try out became more curious when this year’s team took one too few forwards and one extra defenseman, with the idea of shifting some players up to play forward.

“Considering that the three best players on Team USA are Jenny, Krissy and Natalie – all from Minnesota – doesn’t it make sense that they might have tried to find a few more from here?” Curtin asked.

Brodt shares Ronda’s opinion, even removing her personal involvement. “Forget all those players who are from somewhere else but might have played at Minnesota or UMD, there are only three homegrown Minnesotans on the U.S. team,” Brodt said. “Does that mean, in eight years they haven’t been able to find another Minnesota player?”

Despite the easy alternative of being bitter, however, Brodt and Curtin have actively moved toward helping future players develop.

“Ronda and I are running a hockey program for girls 8 to 18 at different arenas around the Twin Cities,” said Brodt. “We started last year, at Fogerty Arena, and Bloomington, and Wakota, and we’re going to expand, maybe to Highland and other arenas. The whole purpose is to work on fundamentals in a setting where the highest level of girls of all ages can participate. We have an evaluation to make sure we get the best, qualified players. In girls hockey, with no checking, it’s a lot easier for younger girls around age 10 to play with older girls over 12 or so.

“Last year, I decided I wanted to stay as involved in hockey as I could, and I could see the numbers of youth programs for girls, while I grew up playing with boys because that’s all there was. It’s great that there are so many girls programs for younger girls, but what I notice is that in most cases the girls are treated like girls, instead of like athletes. I was treated like ‘one of the guys.’ At our camp, we want to treat the girls like athletes, so they can develop to the maximum of their ability.”

Ronda Curtin is the opposite of Winny Brodt when it comes to playing style. Ronda is tall and strong, a classic skater who can overpower an opponent with her size, strength or booming shot, while Brodt is a shorter bundle of energy who can fly end-to-end and beat foes with great bursts of speed. But they share the common asset of hockey sense, as well as exceptional ability.

“From coaching at St. Thomas, the thing I’ve noticed most is that the girls skate well and have good ability,” said Ronda Curtin. “But they often lack the ability to see the ice. That’s one of the things we’re hoping to develop in the camps Winny and I are running.”

Seeing the ice is hockey parlance for the great and elusive skill of seeming to know where everyone on the rink is during play – of carrying the puck, but knowing where both teammates and foes are and are likely to be. It seems to be a gift of exceptional players – what separates the Wayne Gretzkys and the Neal Brotens from the average stars. It is an extention of “hockey sense,” and many think it is inborn, because gifted players have it instinctively and don’t play mechanically.

Ronda Curtin and her younger sister, Renee – who is the state’s all-time points leader but whose career tragically has been curtailed by repetitive concussions – definitely have that hockey sense, that ability to see the ice. So does Winny Brodt. And, of course, Natalie Darwitz, Krissy Wendell and Jenny Potter also share that same level of the incredible skill.

In fact, if we were going to select an all-time Minnesota women’s team – for now and possibly forever – Darwitz, Potter, Wendell, Winny Brodt, Ronda and Renee Curtin would be the elite six. If we were selecting an all-time girls high school team, the first unit would have Darwitz centering the Curtin sisters, with Brodt and Wendell on defense. If you wanted to add a goaltender, there are many, but we could pick Sheri Vogt, who went on to stardom at Minnesota State-Mankato, and, after establishing clearly the second-best statistics with Team USA, she was a last-cut along with Winny Brodt.

Potter, incidentally, doesnÂ’t make the all-time high school team for an apparently forgotten reason. Various magazine and newspaper features often credit her for being a high school record-scoring phenom at Edina High School. But Jenny Schmidgall played amateur hockey, with boys and with teams like the Minnesota Thoroughbreds, up through the time high school girls hockey was starting. She never played girls high school hockey.

At any rate, Ronda Curtin and Winny Brodt both agree that Team USA has been a great source of inspiration for young Minnesota girls interested in hockey, but so far it hasnÂ’t been a realistic objective. College hockey has been a realistic goal, and high school hockey is the perfect, and unique, stepping stone to college scholarships at the Division I level, or highly competitive play at the Division III state school level. Their objective is to give young girls a way to develop to the peak of their ability, to play the game at their highest personal levels, and to enjoy the game at its maximum.

The Brodt-Curtin connection goes back a couple of decades, when their family homes were — and still are – next door to each other in Roseville. The young women are off on their own, but they still return home frequently, where all the kids in both families grew up playing various sports, but primarily hockey. Roseville Arena and other various indoor and outdoor rinks became familiar to them, but their most prominent venue was the Curtin driveway.

Boot hockey, the perfect method for developing stickhanding skills as well as how to function in congestion, was an almost daily endeavor, all summer, and often through the winter, unless the two households of kids chose to walk over to the outdoor rink adjacent to Roseville Arena, where the John Rose Oval is now located. The driveway kept hockey alive all summer, however.

“Luke Curtin and I were the same age, and we were the two oldest, so we would be on opposite teams,” said Winny. “I’d get Kurt, who is Luke’s younger brother, and Luke would get Ronda on his side, and then Renee would play, too. We’d have some pretty ferocious battles.”

Ronda Curtin remembers those days, too. “My dad had street hockey nets there for us in the driveway, and a board we could shoot against,” said Ronda. “We’d play 2-on-2, or 3-on-3, or 3-on-2 – depending on who showed up. Sometimes my dad would flood the back yard in winter, so we could skate, but we’d still play boot hockey in the driveway, too.”

When it came to organized hockey, there were precious few chances for girls. So Winny Brodt played on the Roseville boys A Peewee team at age 10-12, and then starred for the Roseville A Bantam team, age 12-14.

“We learned from playing with and against boys, and as the boys got older and stronger, we had to improve the same way,” Winny said. “That was the driving force behind our playing ability.”

When girls started playing high school hockey, Roseville came on board a year later, and Winny Brodt was on that team. In 1996, Winny won the first Ms. Hockey award. “Ronda was a freshman on that team, and Renee played as a seventh-grader,” Winny recalled. She also recalled being able to dominate those early high school games, often skating from her own zone, past every opponent, to score goals.

“It is really amazing to see how far high school hockey has come in such a short time,” Brodt said. “It was like skating around cones in some games back when I played. I probably had better hands then than since.”

There still could be future involvement for Brodt and Curtin with Team USA, and, they hope, for more and more Minnesotans in the future, possibly graduates of their camp. The shocking U.S. loss to Sweden in this yearÂ’s Olympic semifinals is expected to signal a major change in philosophy for USA HockeyÂ’s womenÂ’s teams.

Until now, the team has been pretty much a private club selected by coach Ben Smith, who was named coach of Team USAÂ’s women since it first participated in the Olympics and won the gold medal in 1998 at Nagano. It was logical to select an Eastern-dominated team back then, because Eastern colleges had played hockey for years and the West was just getting started at the college level, and players like the Curtins, Brodt, Darwitz and Wendell were helping with the high school upsurge.
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After the 1998 gold medal, a normally reasonable Minneapolis Star-Tribune sportswriter wrote that Team USA might have won the Olympic gold medal, but there was a question whether it could beat a Minnesota high school all-star team. I was that writer, and I absorbed a lot of criticism for it. But after that season, a game for elite players was conducted at Columbia Arena, including high school, college and Olympic players, and a line of high schoolers named Darwitz, Curtin and Curtin scored twice on the first shift and dominated the game.

Still, Smith and Team USA stayed intact, but added Darwitz and Wendell, with Darwitz leaving her final two high school years to prepare for the 2002 silver medal team. So they were part of the mix this year, with Potter, as top players on the 2006 bronze medal. The apparently downward spiral from gold to silver to bronze, culminated by the shocking loss to an improving Sweden team – which almost didn’t participate in 2002 because Swedish hockey officials weren’t sure they could be competitive – will undoubtedly signal a change.

The selection process may shift to more of the format the men used to use when amateurs manned the teams, through history, of selecting a coach for each yearÂ’s national team, and having regional tryouts, where the East vs. West rivalry led to intense competition but also to selections that were more than simply retaining personal favorites.
Harvard coach Katey Stone is a possible new coach, or Mark Johnson, the coach at Wisconsin, which won the WCHA womenÂ’s title this season. Whatever, it may bring a change in concept to USA HockeyÂ’s national team selection.

“I’d love to see an all- Minnesota team play the Olympic team right now,” said Winny Brodt. “It would be great if they had actual games between the East and West to use for selection of the team.”

East-West rivalries were common to the men. In fact, when the late Herb Brooks selected 12 Minnesotans to the legendary 1980 menÂ’s Team USA, he worked so hard downplay the fact that 16 of the 20 players were from the west, that every movie, book and chronicle of that team, so far, has featured Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione and Jack OÂ’Callahan, three of the four Eastern players.

WomenÂ’s hockey is at the stage where it deserves similar treatment. The rise in the competitive level of Minnesota girls hockey is unprecedented in high school sports not only in the state, but nationwide. In other parts of the United States, girls play on youth club teams in small pockets, and the most elite of them advance to prep schools and perhaps NCAA colleges.

In Minnesota, every young girl with an interest in skating and hockey can find an outlet of rapidly expanding youth teams, or maybe playing on boys teams at younger levels. Then they can look forward to the Minnesota State High School LeagueÂ’s programs for large or small school teams that continue to reach out to every corner of the state.

ItÂ’s a worthy and realistic objective. And if college, or national team, participation follows, that would be just fine with Winny Brodt, Ronda Curtin, and all of Minnesota. Anyone seeking more information about the Brodt-Curtin girls elite training camp can find it at www.skaterslink.com.

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.

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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.