Sioux double ‘Parise factor’ to top UMD in preview

GRAND FORKS, N.D.—Sometimes the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game is just a nice way to give two teams the chance to work out the practice kinks before getting serious about the season. But this year, the game took on a more significant tone, because North Dakota and Minnesota-Duluth are not only great rivals, but figured by most to be top contenders to preseason pick Minnesota during the WCHA season.
The game at Ralph Engelstad Arena figured to be North DakotaÂ’s high-scoring offense ignited by sophomore center Zach Parise and high-scoring winger Brandon Bochenski against UMDÂ’s pestering defensive concept, built around sophomore goaltender Isaac Reichmuth.

So how did it work out? North Dakota rallied for the last two goals to win 3-2, and it was no surprise that the first Fighting Sioux player into the interview room was named Parise. The surprise was it was not Zach Parise, a prime threat to win the WCHA scoring championship, but Jordan Parise, ZachÂ’s older brother in real life, but his younger brother scholastically.

Zach did his thing, to be sure, with a magnificent 2-on-1 set-up to Bochenski – the other guy most likely to win the scoring title – to gain a 2-2 tie, leaving it up to freshman Drew Stafford to score the game-winner, with 3:43 remaining.

But at several points, North DakotaÂ’s chances were up to Jordan Parise, North DakotaÂ’s freshman goaltending prospect. His biggest test was a toe save on Nick AndersonÂ’s second-period breakaway, and nine of his 20 saves came in the third period.

“All the freshmen stepped up,” said Jordan Parise, deferring any praise. But he also affirmed that the Sioux goaltending picture must include the rookie whose only nickname so far is “JP,” after his famous, former NHL-playing dad.

The crowd was announced at 10,399, although there were a lot of empty seats on the evening following a huge, last-second 29-28 football victory for North Dakota over St. Cloud State, after the Sioux trailed 28-3 at halftime. Compared to North DakotaÂ’s upset of previously unbeaten St. Cloud, the hockey victory was not really an upset and was only an exhibition, but it was at least as hard-fought — literally.

Several after the whistle scraps led to only two disqualifications among several potential DQs, as Mike Prpich of the Sioux and Marco Peluso of UMD sparred in a battle common to pro hockey but rare in college. They skated away from everyone, casting aside sticks, gloves, and face-masked helmets before a free-swinging tussle that drew an ovation from the crowd. “Not that I condone fighting,” said North Dakota coach Dean Blais, “but that WAS a good one.”

Both teams fought hard to score, too. Reichmuth stood firm with 24 of his 31 saves in the first two periods for UMD, while Jordan Parise had less work, with 12 of his 20 saves in the third period. Parise got the UND call, after returning veteran Jake Brandt was suspended for a game for a misdemeanor violation regarding stolen pull-tabs in his hometown of Roseau, Minn.

“Jordan Parise made two saves right at the start, then on that breakaway, he gave us a chance to win the game,” said Blais. “Reichmuth played good for them, but you expect that, because he’s proven he’s one of the best in the league.”

Reichmuth was primarily responsible for harnessing the big Sioux line of Zach Parise centering freshman Brady Murray and Bochenski, which contributed 13 missiles to North DakotaÂ’s 34-22 shot advantage. He also blanked all eight North Dakota power plays, while UMD went 1-for-6.

For good measure, UMD opened the scoring when Tim Stapleton glanced one in off the far pipe for a shorthanded goal five minutes into the game, meaning the Bulldogs outscored the Sioux 1-0 during the eight Sioux power plays.

Nick Fuher tied it 1-1 when he mishit a 4-on-4 set-up from Colby Geneway and the change-up fooled Reichmuth midway through the first period. Then the teams battled at 1-1 until early in the third.

Junior Lessard put away a Tyler Brosz power-play feed for a 2-1 UMD lead to open the third, but the big Sioux line regained the tie when Parise got the puck from Murray, and ducked up the left boards for a 2-on-1. Parise, who had faked a pass to Bochenski before shooting one off the crossbar on a second-period 2-on-1, learned the easier route to a point by moving in for a shot, then passing across the crease, where Bochenski chipped in a deflection at the right edge.

Bochenski, who scored 35 goals last season, has the resident best Sioux scoring hands, but he might have an understudy in Stafford, whose game-winner came 10 minutes later, when he shot quickly in traffic from point-blank range after Quinn Fyling’s pass out from behind the net. “He’s got great hands,” said Blais. “Stafford might still be 17, or else he just turned 18, but he’s got great hands, and we need some guys who can finish.”

The finish was not pleasing to UMD coach Scott Sandelin, but he shrugged it off. “It was just like I expected,” he said. “Some good, some bad, and it got a little sloppy defensively out there. But there was a lot of intensity, and there’s going to be a lot of these games – just like last year.”

The U.S. hockey family devastated by death of Brooks

Where were you, on the day that hockey died?

Hockey didnÂ’t really die on Monday, August 11, 2003, it just seems like it did, because the life of the architect of the best elements of Minnesota hockey history ended abruptly when Herb Brooks was killed Monday afternoon in a one-vehicle rollover accident on Interstate 35.

Even now, as I type those letters on the computer keyboard on that same Monday night in a hotel room in California, the words seem surreal. The thought of such a tragedy is flat incomprehensible.

Herbie was a private treasure for hockey fans in Minnesota, although we willingly shared him with the rest of the country, and the world, when he coached the 1980 United States Olympic team to the Gold Medal at Lake Placid. It was called the greatest sports achievement of the 20th Century by Sports Illustrated, because Brooks took a collection of college players and upset the powerful Soviet Union team 4-3 in the “Miracle on Ice” penultimate game, then also beat Finland to complete an amazing undefeated run to the gold.

The best, most creative tactical mind the game of hockey has ever seen practiced for his worldly stage by coaching the University of Minnesota – his alma mater – to three NCAA championships in a seven-year reign. After capturing the school’s first-ever NCAA crown in 1974, Herbie’s Gophers filled old Williams Arena to the rafters with adoring fans and captivated the entire state with follow-up titles in 1976 and 1979.

He later coached National Hockey League teams, the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Minnesota North Stars and, for one brief interim segment, the Pittsburgh Penguins, for whom he had continued to scout and last year was named director of player development.

He coached Team USA in the 2002 Olympics, too. These were all NHLers, and the team was the best team in the tournament until the Gold Medal game, when it lost to an immensely talented Canadian team in the final game and had to settle for silver.

But all of that is stuff you could look up. And all of it – all of it – seems trite next to the devastating loss of Brooks at age 66. He was returning from Giants Ridge, near Biwabik, where he had participated in a Sunday ceremony when the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame honored new inductees and award-winners, which included the whole 1980 team in what may have been little more than an attempt to gain publicity for the Hall. It was enough to cause Brooks to attend, and he stayed for Monday’s fund-raising golf tournament. Brooks played with notables like John Mayasich, but had to leave after 12 holes to drive back to the Twin Cities for an upcoming trip.

He was driving home, on the freeway, Monday afternoon when, authorities said, he went slightly off the road on the right, then cut back from the right lane, which goes to I35W and Minneapolis, to the left lane, which goes to I35E, the St. Paul side, and BrooksÂ’s White Bear Lake home. The van swerved left, crossed all the traffic lanes and veered out of control, rolling over several times into the grassy median. Brooks was thrown from the vehicle and was killed instantly.

The last time I saw Herbie was a week earlier, at the funeral for former St. Paul Pioneer Press sports reporter Gary Olson, who died after a short and ruthless battle with cancer. My wife, Joan, who had once helped Herbie through a painful back ailment with some physical therapy, also spotted Herbie at the funeral. He was 66, but he was one of those men who was forever young, looking not that much different from the 1980 Olympic video clips that show him pacing behind the bench.

“The thought crossed my mind that someday we might be coming to a service like this for Herbie,” Joan said. “But I knew it would be a lot of years away because Herbie still had so much to do.”

Herb and I didnÂ’t get to talk that day, and our usual habit of talking several times a week had been disrupted in the last couple of years since we built a home in Duluth. So I called Herbie the next night, and we talked for over an hour.

We discussed our families, what was going on in our lives, and how he had become embroiled in another of his ideological battles with USA Hockey, which led him to vow never to coach a U.S. team again. HeÂ’d said that before, and, as before, I hoped and figured that things would work out, and that he would someday be appreciated enough by the USA Hockey bureaucracy that they would turn our countryÂ’s youth development over to the greatest mind in U.S. hockey.

We also talked about Mike Randolph, the recently dismissed 15-year hockey coach at Duluth East. Brooks had met with Randolph years ago, and shared some of his favorite coaching tips and tidbits. Brooks kept an eye on EastÂ’s teams often in recent years, and admired the job Randolph did. After we ended our call, he called back at about 10:30 p.m. and said he had just called Randolph and gave him some advice, about taking action to reclaim his good name from the damage inflicted by not having his contract renewed by a principal whose son was once cut as a sophomore by Randolph.

The next day, Randolph said the late-night call was both inspirational and demanding, and that he knew how BrooksÂ’s players must have felt. He also was deeply moved that Herbie would call him to offer his support.

Three days later, it was Monday morning. I caught a plane to California, to test-drive some new vehicles for my automotive columns, at about the same time Herbie started playing his golf round at GiantÂ’s Ridge. A few hours later, I got the chance to drive a new, silver Nissan 350Z roadster during some down-time, and I cruised through the Napa wine-country to the little town of Calistoga. I was in a store, looking for some genuine Calistoga sparkling water, when my cell phone rang.

It was Bruce Brothers, a long-time friend who now is a sports reporter at the Pioneer Press. “Where are you?” he asked. I told him, and he said, “Have you heard any news from back here?” I told him I hadn’t, but I knew something horrible had happened – but what?

Brothers knew that among media folks, I had been the closest to Brooks, and also that we were extremely close friends personally. He said: “Herb Brooks was just killed in a car crash.”

It was like the world stopped spinning. And it will be impossible for the hockey world to ever spin on the same axis again. Herbie was so alive, so passionate about his plans, and about improving the game of hockey. The complexities that made him special were endless, a tapestry of a great athlete, who starred on a state championship St. Paul Johnson team and later for John Mariucci at the University of Minnesota, and an idealistic dreamer and schemer who sought to bring his dreams to life.

He was the last player cut from the 1960 Olympic team, and, years later when Brooks looked back on the 1960 gold medal U.S. team, he’d always give you that little sarcastic grin and say, “Obviously, they cut the right guy.” Brooks played on the 1964 and 1968 U.S. Olympic teams, and always believed that U.S. hockey players had the mental competitiveness to play with and beat the best in the world.

Herbie became Glen SonmorÂ’s assistant coach at Minnesota, and when the Gophers won their way to the NCAA final four in 1971 at Syracuse, N.Y., and athletic director Marsh Ryman said the school couldnÂ’t afford to send Brooks to the tournament, Herbie quit. Just like that. It was a stand on principle that marked Brooks throughout his life. He had strong beliefs, and he would stand up for them, whatever the cost.

For a year, he coached the Minnesota Junior Stars, which later became the St. Paul Vulcans junior team. That season, Sonmor left Minnesota to start the Minnesota Fighting Saints in the World Hockey Association, and new athletic director Paul Giel brought in his old friend Ken Yackel as interim coach. The Gophers finished at the bottom of the WCHA, and Yackel convinced Giel to hire Brooks for the 1972-73 season.

Armed with his mercurial personality, a head for clever psychology and an uncompromising, blatantly candid demeanor, Brooks put the Gophers together, and after one season of rebuilding, Minnesota won its first-ever NCAA hockey title in 1974 in Boston Garden. They won the WCHA the next year and were runner-up to Michigan Tech in the NCAA final, then they won the NCAA title again in 1976 in Denver – meaning they were one game away from winning three straight national titles. All the while, Brooks was carrying out the beloved coach John Mariucci’s dream by using all-Minnesota players.

The 1979 title in Detroit led Gopher fans to assume that national titles would be commonplace, but it took 23 years before the 2002 Gophers won the title, which theyÂ’ve now captured twice in a row.

The Olympic “Miracle on Ice” was a pinnacle, of course, as was winning 100 games in the NHL with the Rangers faster than any previous coach had done, which proved Brooks’s collective, creative style could succeed at that level, as well, even though the tradition-bound NHL of the early ’80s was restrictively confined to skating up and down lanes.

“Sophisticated pond hockey,” Herbie called his favored style. He loved that term, and nothing better characterized his style than gathering a blend of players and turning them loose to improvise and play as creatively as kids do in pick-up games.

But the coaching conquests, and his impact on Minnesota, U.S. and world hockey, never satiated his quest for perfection. At home, he would nurture a garden, pruning and transplanting and positioning plants and flowers until his yard looked like a parkland. As soon as it appeared to be perfect, heÂ’d dig everything up and start over, reorganizing it.

That was Herbie, seeking perfection – and when achieving it, realizing there might be still another, better way. If perfection was attained in one season, there always was another season coming up. In life, as in hockey. His wife, Patti, and his kids, Danny and Kelly, both now married, became conditioned to Herbie’s eccentricities.

Obviously, their world had to be shattered by the tragedy. We in the stateÂ’s hockey community can sympathize with his family. And they have no choice but to let us all suffer the incomprehensible loss along with them.

Later Monday night, I went to dinner with other auto journalists. As we left the restaurant, I looked up, and a huge, full moon was rising over Napa Valley. It was a beautiful sight, and it reminded me of Neil Young’s song, “Helpless,” and the line about the full moon on the rise, and how the magnitude of the universe leaves us all helpless.

People all over the country who were old enough to be cognizant in February of 1980 can still tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when Team USA beat the Soviet Union in the Winter Olympic hockey tournament. Hockey fans all across Minnesota will also remember where they were on August 11, 2003, when they heard that Herbie had been killed.

I was in California, looking at bottled water. Later, gazing at the magnificent moon, I realized life goes on, the world keeps turning, and weÂ’re all helpless to do anything about it. But we can focus on doing our best, and we can persevere.

Herb Brooks changed things he could and was frustrated when he tried to change things he couldnÂ’t. For 66 years, he was impatient, his mind always working to stay one jump ahead of everybody. He did it his way, and he did it well. Now heÂ’s been cut short, and for all we know, his best accomplishments might still have been ahead of him. Because nothing was beyond his reach.

Rest in peace, Herbie.

Guyer, Potulny pace Gophers 9-2 romp past Mercyhurst

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — In January, Gino Guyer was a freshman who had shown only flashes of strong play for the University of Minnesota hockey team, while Barry Tallackson was a big sophomore with more potential than production — which is to say zero goals — and Grant Potulny was the captain who was just coming back from a broken ankle suffered in the season-opening game.

When organizing his troops for the stretch drive, coach Don Lucia assembled those three spare parts onto one line, and for the last six weeks, that line crystallized MinnesotaÂ’s offense, and it showed why Friday night, with a record-breaking outburst for a 9-2 romp over Mercyhurst in the NCAA West Regional hockey tournament semifinals at Mariucci Arena.

Potulny scored three goals, prompting numerous members of the crowd of 9,554 to toss hats onto the ice when his hat trick was completed at 1:05 of the third period. Guyer assisted on the first four Minnesota goals, then added his fifth assist on PotulnyÂ’s third goal, and his five assists set a record for an NCAA regional game, and tied the overall NCAA tournament and University of Minnesota records. Tallackson, a constant physical force, added a goal and two assists.

The victory thrusts Minnesota (25-8-9) into the 4 p.m. Saturday West Regional championship against Ferris State for a berth in the Frozen Four and a chance to go to Buffalo, N.Y., to defend the national championship they won last April at Xcel Energy Center.

Mercyhurst (22-13-2), one of the recipients of an automatic berth as the conference winner of the fledgling MAAC, was the victim as the Gophers scored three times in the first period, five more in the second, and led 9-0 before the Lakers from Pennsylvania got a couple of meaningless power-play goals in the third period, long after Lucia had slowed down his sizzling line by playing his third and fourth lines a lot. But the damage was done.

“Mercyhurst got our ‘A’ game tonight,” said Lucia.

Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin was asked at what point he sensed things weren’t going favorably. “I tried to call a time out in warm-ups, but they wouldn’t let me,” he said.

“We didn’t play our best. The question is, would it have made a difference if we had played our best? At this point, the University of Minnesota is just better than Mercyhurst. I’m OK with that. This was another part of the learning process. We’re playing with the big boys, and we knew if we didn’t play well, it could be ugly…and if we DID play well, it could be ugly.”

Gotkin added that he hoped his team might be able to support freshman goaltender Andy Franck and keep the Gophers off the scoreboard in the early going. No chance.

Guyer played catch with Tallackson up the right side before relaying a pass across the goal-mouth to Potulny at 1:15, on the lineÂ’s first shift of the game. On its next turn, Guyer muscled his way out of the right corner, kept the puck protected until he got behind the net, then slid a pass out to Keith Ballard, who scored at 4:33. With five minutes left in the opening period, Potulny rushed up the right side, ducking around the last defender and cutting to the net, where he surprised Franck with a quick shot, high to the short side.

Guyer blocked the puck free in the neutral zone to open the second period, spotting Tallackson for a pass at the Mercyhurst blue line, and Tallackson cut to his right and scored with a 40-foot slapshot at 1:40.

“The guys have been very supportive,” said Guyer, a freshman who played high school hockey at Greenway of Coleraine last season. “Playing with Barry and Grant makes my job a lot easier.”

Some other Gophers got a turn with the offense after that. Thomas Vanek skated end to end, maintained his balance as he cut from the left side to the right circle, and snapped a shot into the upper left corner at 4:10. Fifty-seven seconds later, defenseman Paul Martin skated up the right side, pulled up and flipped a shot at the net, aiming for a rebound chance. Instead, the puck squirted through FranckÂ’s pads and it was 6-0. Twenty-seven seconds of scoreless hockey followed, then Jon Waibel took a short pass from Jake Fleming in the left circle and cruised to the net alone, scoring for a 7-0 lead.

The two goals 27 seconds apart made it three goals in 1:24, and settled the issue for sure, but Ballard notched his second of the night at 13:57 on a rebound, and Potulny cashed in TallacksonÂ’s feed from behind the net to open the third.

David Wrigley and Scott Reynolds got MercyhurstÂ’s goals to ruin Travis WeberÂ’s shutout, both with Gophers in the penalty box.

“We let up in the third and made some mental mistakes,” said Gopher defenseman Keith Ballard. “We can’t let ourselves slip.”

If slipping is ever to be tolerated, however, it might be once a 9-0 lead is on the board.

Ferris State whips North Dakota 5-2 in regional semifinal

North Dakota seemed to get all the breaks through the first two-thirds of this college hockey season, but those same breaks cruelly abandoned the Fighting Sioux over the last 17 games, including Friday, when their season ended in futility with a 5-2 loss to Ferris State.

All those good bounces and deflections and the ability to pounce on all the available loose pucks led to enough success to assure the Sioux a spot in the first 16-team field of the NCAA national tournament, but it couldn’t provide a shield in the first semifinal of the NCAA West Regional at Mariucci Arena.

It seems a long time ago, now, that the Sioux registered records of 19-1-3 and 21-2-3, boosting North Dakota to the No. 1 national ranking. Since then, the Sioux were 5-10-2 — which is something beyond merely falling off in effectiveness. The pucks that hit pipes and glanced out instead of in, the loose pucks that seemed to remain just out of reach instead of becoming easy goals, and the deflections that went the wrong way continued to plague the Fighting Sioux Friday, forcing them to take a 4-8-2 finish into summer vacation.

Ferris State, the CCHA regular-season champion and playoff runner-up, didn’t have anything easy against North Dakota while winning for the 31st time. In fact, the Sioux outshot Ferris 45-27, and played a tune off the goal posts. But a power-play goal by Derek Nesbitt gave Ferris State a 1-0 lead in the first period, and a pair of late goals in the second period – by Simon Mangos on a power play at 15:42 and by Jeff Legue on a speedy rush at 18:04 – gave the Bulldogs a 3-0 cushion.

“I think their goalie won the game for them,” said Sioux sophomore Brandon Bochenski, who finished the season with 35 goals. “We hit six posts, and whenever the puck came loose in front, it never came to our sticks. At the start of the season, finishing where we did might have looked pretty good, but with the group we had, and the way we played the first half of the season, itÂ’s disappointing. We had championship hopes, and it hurts.”

It wasnÂ’t until the third period, when Sioux coach Dean Blais juggled all his lines and changed goaltenders from Jake Brandt to Josh Siembida, that North Dakota came to life, outshooting the Bulldogs 19-7. David Lundbohm circled out to score at 7:25 to trim the deficit to 3-1, but Greg Rallo scored for Ferris at 9:11 to make it 4-1. Ryan Hale, who started the game on defense, moved up to center and scored with a slapshot from the right circle with 4:26 left to close the gap to 4-2, but goalie Mike Brown stopped everything else after that, and Trevor Large hit an empty net with 18 seconds left to clinch it.

Ferris State (31-9-1) will face Minnesota in todayÂ’s 4 p.m. Regional final for a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four in two weeks.

“We had 17 quality shots and hit six pipes,” said Blais. “When we hit two pipes on the same shift at the start of the third period, I knew it wasn’t our day. Brandon Bochenski hit the post on one shot and I thought the puck might split, because he shoots 100 miles an hour.”

Blais agreed that a 26-12-5 finishing record looks good, but blamed bad penalties at critical times for unraveling the Sioux. “We can’t afford to take bad penalties, but we didn’t have the discipline to stay away from them. We haven’t had the discipline for quite a while, actually.”

When asked how upset he was after the loss, Blais smiled.
“That’s why they have a 10 or 15 minute cooling off period after games,” he said. “Losing hurts, and losing in the national tournament hurts worse.”

Sejna, Tigers put No. 1 rating up against winless Seawolves

There couldnÂ’t be a more prohibitive favorite in the WCHA playoffs than regular-season champion Colorado College welcoming 10th-place and winless Alaska-Anchorage to Colorado Springs for a best-of-three series.

First of all, Colorado College has been the WCHAÂ’s vanguard, ranked No. 1 in the nation in all the polls for the past six weeks. Beyond that, the Tigers faced second-place Minnesota State-Mankato two weeks from the end of the season with the official clinching of the title still at hand, and they accomplished it with a stunning 8-1 blowout that ended MankatoÂ’s record 17-game unbeaten streak.

The emotional letdown led to a Mankato rebound the next night for a reversal, 9-6, at the hands of the Mavericks, but CC came back to beat arch-rival Denver, the defending WCHA champs and the team picked to win the title this season, in the final home-and-home series.

The result is a final 19-4-5 league record, for a six-point margin over co-runners-up Mankato and Minnesota, and a glowing 26-5-5 overall record. By comparison, Alaska-Anchorage finished 0-22-6, and 1-26-7 overall.

The struggling Seawolves know their best days are somewhere up ahead, but if they think thereÂ’s even a chance of complacency on CCÂ’s part, even that seems doubtful, as the Tigers focus in on this weekend as a stepping stone to next weekÂ’s WCHA Final Five at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul.

“I don’t think it will be a problem maintaining the hunger with this group,” said Colorado College coach Scott Owens. “ItÂ’s been six or seven years since weÂ’d won the MacNaughton Cup here in the Springs, and to win it 8-1, with a full house and a very festive setting was exciting for our community and our program. Then we finished up against Denver and had two good battles. So now weÂ’re ready for the playoffs.

“WeÂ’ve never won the Broadmoor Cup in the history of this program. Hopefully, if we do that, everything else will fall into place for the NCAA. But I really like this team’s ability to forget what’s happened the weekend before, and concentrate on what’s coming up.”

For the Seawolves, about the only bright spot to a season of injuries, suspensions and rebuilding, coach John Hill and his troupe face a trek to Colorado Springs, where Hill spent many happy years as Don LuciaÂ’s assistant on teams that became the first ever in WCHA history to win three consecutive WCHA championships. But itÂ’s painfully obvious that where the program wants to go and where it is right now are widely separated.

“It’s been a grind for us,” acknowledged assistant coach Jack Kowal. “We’ve been just trying to move forward. It’s a big feat for us to go down to Colorado and try to win a game. The stars would have to be aligned pretty well for us to have a chance. But we’ve got a pretty competitive group, and we just want to keep climbing that mountain.”

Kowal meant no analogy, but neighboring PikeÂ’s Peak would be an easier climb than beating the Tigers.

Colorado College leads the league in scoring, with 125 goals, to AnchorageÂ’s 41. The Tigers also lead in power play efficiency with 29 percent, and in penalty-killing, at 83.1 percent.

Locating CCÂ’s leadership is as easy as checking the statistics.
You want offense? How about league scoring champ Peter Sejna, who leads the nation in points per game with 2.00, based on his 31 goals-41 assists and 72 points. Noah Clarke, another CC senior, is third nationally with 19-42—61, and his 42 assists are the national standard. Defense? How about a group led by Tom Preissing, who has set the CC record for scoring by a defenseman. In goal? Curtis McElhinney has a 21-4-5 record and has simply been the top goaltender in the league.

Behind McElhinney and the offense, Colorado College has rallied from behind five times to win after trailing at the second intermission.
“It really helps when your upper classmen and seniors are some of your best players,” said Owens. “It just rubs off, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s Sejna and Noah Clarke, or Joe Cullen, or the defense. Our defensive corps is underrated, but they knock the puck away and help control rebounds.

“And McElhinney has been consistent. He’s just plugged along, while other guys are more in the limelight. But he plays a pro style, he’s a stand-up goalie and he’s cool, calm and mentally tough.”
McElhinney led the WCHA with 2.19 goals-against and had a .916 save percentage.

Alaska-Anchorage, in contrast, is led by freshman Ales Parez, who has 6-21—27, and ranks 22nd in WCHA scoring at 6-18—24, where he’s tied with CC’s Joe Cullen (13-11—24.)

“Our young guys are coming along,” said Kowal. “Experience and the amount of playing time should help over the next couple of years.”
Kowal added that the return of captain Matt Shasby should provide a bit of a lift, after heÂ’s missed several weeks with a broken foot.
But when asked what has been the most successful aspect of the Seawolves season so far, Kowal had to pause and think a moment.

“Our recruiting,” he said.

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• About the Author

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

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

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

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