Gasparini night ruined by Colgate
Gasparini gets to share in UMD futility
By John Gilbert
Up North Newspaper Network
It should be getting familiar by now. The UMD Bulldogs haven’t won at home yet in this hockey season, and the scene inside the dressing room has always been subdued, with quiet, thoughtful comments from various players about how frustrating it’s getting.
But Saturday night was different. As accommodating as the Bulldogs players have been, after losing 2-1 to Colgate Saturday night, the dressing room was silent. Completely silent.
“It was almost eerie,” said coach Mike Sertich, who noticed it too. “Before the third period, I had said I thought we had been outworked through the first two, and I thought we worked a lot harder in the third period.
“But it’s tough. Everybody knows that everything that can be said has been said.”
Colgate is 9-3 with its best start in years, and has won eight of its last nine games. UMD (3-11-2 overall) established a home-ice record for futility by failing to win for the seventh straight start at the DECC.
This is getting pretty strange. Here were the Bulldogs, having shaken their WCHA winless start and their scoring slump with a 5-2, 6-2 sweep at Michigan Tech a week earlier, were returning home to face nonconference Colgate with a chance to show their newly awakened offense to the home fans, and finally win a game at the DECC.
So what happens? Brant Nicklin, the star junior goaltender of almost legendary proportions, who has held the Bulldogs in almost every game all season, was off his game a bit on Friday. The Bulldogs scored four goals — a team high on home ice — but they lost 5-4 in the first game, despite outshooting the Red Raiders 49-25.
“I got a piece of the first three goals,” said Nicklin, which is his way of saying he should have made saves on those three shots, and of demanding to take the blame.
In the second game, Tony Gasparini got to start in place of Nicklin. It wasn’t a punishment pull for Nicklin; he had been told before the series that Gasparini — a faithful senior whose only previous start in four years was last year in the WCHA Final Five when Nicklin was injured — would get a well-deserved second career start Saturday.
Zap! The Bulldogs lapsed back to their previous streak of scoring only one goal, as they had in their first five home losses, and fell 2-1.
Nicklin had sat out his first game as a freshman, then started 92 straight games, not counting that St. Cloud State overtime loss in the playoffs.
“I thought Tony Gasparini played very, very well,” said Sertich. “It certainly wasn’t his fault.”
Gasparini left the ice after the first period, slamming his big goal stick against the boards and bellowing his frustration as he hastened to the dressing room. UMD trailed 2-0 at the time, and a quick little junior centerman named Andy MacDonald had scored both goals. One was on a break-in, when he darted through the whole UMD team before beating Gasparini from the left circle with a shot low to the far side. Two minutes later, he put a backhander just inside the left pipe, again right on the ice.
Gasparini thought they were weak goals, but they were the kind of goals you might think were lucky until you watch MacDonald’s skill level. Then you must assume he put them precisely where he had to. Turns out, MacDonald’s nine-game point-scoring streak had been snapped Friday night, when he was content to harness UMD’s star center Jeff Scissons. He did it again Saturday, proving to be perhaps the only center who defused Scissons all season.
“I was trying to shake Scissons loose, because I realized he was having trouble against MacDonald,” said Sertich. “So I made a juggle, and it cost us. He and Jeff played against each other all weekend — except when he scored those goals.”
That’s the way things go when you’re struggling, and the Bulldogs proved that they got over their struggles at Tech, but they returned at the DECC. Even the lone UMD goal was a testimony to their frustration.
Jesse Fibiger, who is playing outstanding defense for UMD right now and was WCHA defensive player of the week after the Tech series, had scored the first UMD goal Friday, and was trying to kill a penalty in the second period Saturday. In desperation, he lifted a high, zone-clearing flip from his own end. Scissons, figuring a Colgate player might be behind him, lunged high to glove the puck, keeping it from getting out of the zone.
“I was mad,” said Fibiger. “I was working my butt off to get it out of the zone, and finally I got it high enough, and Scissons keeps it in. Luckily, it came right back to me.”
So Fibiger, supercharged with adrenaline, sped up the left side. With nowhere to go, he wound up and put everything into a slapshot from the left circle. It hit goalie Shep Harder, but slithered through his pads. “We got outworked pretty bad in our own zone,” Fibiger said. “They did a good job, and they were quick, but we got outworked, and we have only ourselves to blame.” The shorthanded goal cut the deficit to 2-1, and the Bulldogs put increasing pressure on Colgate through the third period. But it turned out only to be another exercise in futility.
And the dressing room’s eerie silence said it all.
It was a huge night for Tony Gasparini, who, after four years of being a patient team-guy backup goaltender, got his first regular-season start Saturday. The only problem was that Colgate’s Andy MacDonald had no feeling for the storybook nature of the night at the DECC.
MacDonald’s two first-period goals stood up as the Red Raiders survived UMD’s increasing pressure and escaped from the DECC with a 2-1 victory and a sweep of their nonconference series.
“Tony played very, very well,” said coach Mike Sertich, who rested ace Brant Nicklin for the first time in 92 consecutive games. Nicklin missed one start because of injury, last year in the WCHA Final Five, when Gasparini got his only other start and suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to St. Cloud State.
Sophomore defenseman Jesse Fibiger got UMD’s only goal, with a shorthanded rush late in the second period, but he took no pleasure from the accomplishment.
MacDonald, a junior who had a nine-game point-scoring streak snapped Friday night, started a new one and ruined Gasparini’s otherwise flawless first period with goals at 12:06 and 14:36. The Bulldogs had failed to click on two power plays, and Colgate’s Red Raiders were attacking with characteristic quickness. MacDonald, quickest of them all, suddenly burst up the middle, splitting the Bulldog defense, and zooming in alone.
Gasparini was set, but MacDonald beat him from the left side with a perfect shot, low to the right. “He got through and the puck was out in front of him, so I though he’d try to carry it,” said Gasparini. “But he chipped it right away and caught me by surprise.”
The Red Raiders had the puck in deep on the first line’s next shift, too, and MacDonald gained possession deep along the left boards. He veered out toward the slot and put a hard, low backhander into the left side, just inside the pipe.
“That one, I think, went through someone’s legs,” said Gasparini.
For quite a while, the 2-0 lead looked insurmountable. Gasparini, in fact, had tdo come up with a big save on former Blake star Sam Sturgis early in the second period, then pulled a magic trick when Kevin Johns sailed in on a breakaway and fired. Gasparini blocked it, and when the rebound popped up, he reached back and snatched it out of the air. It appeared as thought the actual catch came, shall we say, dangerously close to being across the goal line.
The Bulldogs finally punctured the shutout bid of Shep Harder, another former Blake star, and the architect of Friday night’s 5-4 Colgate victory. The breakthrough came, typically, when least expected.
Fibiger was trying to clear the UMD zone while killing a penalty, but when he launched a high backhanded flip, teammate Jeff Scissons tried to glove it, knocking it down, but still in the Bulldog end. When the puck squirted loose along the left boards, Fibiger stepped up alertly to regain possession, and found himself rushing up the boards, shorthanded.
When he got to the left circle, Fibiger cut loose with a big slapshot, and though Harder got a piece of it, the puck trickled through with 3:46 left in the middle period.
The Bulldogs outshot Colgate 9-5 in the third period, and had several moments of heavy pressure, while the Red Raider defense threw themselves in front of 10 other shots that never got to Harder. With 30 seconds to go, Gasparini came out for an extra skater, but the intensity of the finishing flurry came too late, and the buzzer sounded with the puck in the slot, as Harder prevailed.
Ratings race heats up
Hockey ratings races warming up
By John Gilbert
Up North Newspaper Network
A week of big games, and big surprises, has caused some turmoil in the Up North hockey ratings. That, of course, is the name of the game in high school hockey.
Two games of note found Hibbing invading Cloquet and winning 4-2 last Thursday, while Greenway of Coleraine survived its annual battle in Grand Rapids with a 5-4 overtime victory Friday night. Hibbing’s victory boosted the Bluejackets to No. 10 statewide and No. 4 regionally, while Greenway is No. 8 in Minnesota and protected its No. 3 regional ranking behind Duluth East and Eveleth-Gilbert-Buhl. Cloquet slips to No. 5 in the region.
Hibbing’s high-speed attack was successfully repelled for a scoreless period despite outshooting Cloquet 13-5, but brothers Rico and Mike Fatticci led the ‘Jackets. Defenseman Rico Fatticci converted a John Bottoms pass at 0:21 of the second period, and after Nate Cary tied it on a Cloquet power play, both Fatticcis assisted Steve Suihkonen for a power-play goal and a 2-1 edge.
Despite being outshot 34-14 for the game, Cloquet gained a 2-2 standoff on Eric Laine’s power-play goal with 4:54 remaining in the third period. But the ‘Jackets beat the ‘Jacks when Mike Fatticci intercepted a clearing pass and scored short-handed with 3:04 left, and Rico Fatticci scored his second of the game to clinch it with 52 seconds to go.
Rico Fatticci and Suihkonen are both defensemen, but they bolster the offense so well that coach Mark DeCenzo rotates three lines and insists he doesn’t consider them 1-2-3, but balanced.
“All three lines are capable,” DeCenzo said. “And we’re playing defense with a lot more confidence. Rico and Suihkonen really jump up quick to help the offense — even though they also can give the coach a heart attack sometimes.”
When Greenway and Grand Rapids play, it’s always a focal point of regional hockey, and the fact both of them are strong this season only amplifies the rivalry. It looked like Greenway wouldn’t be needing the eventual overtime to win when the Raiders jumped ahead 4-0 Friday night in Grand Rapids, getting two goals on a major checking-from-behind penalty and making it 3-0 with a short-handed goal before the first period ended. Freshman Geno Guyer scored two of those first three goals, and it got to 4-0 in the second period before Rapids came back with four consecutive goals for the 4-4 standoff.
The most sour note of the night for Greenway is that 6-foot-6 defenseman Adam Johnson will miss some action with a separated shoulder in the checking-from-behind incident.
In recent years, Duluth East has proved its statewide dominance with a rugged schedule that takes the Greyhounds all over the state. This year, the travel is still there but the ‘Hounds lost for the second time to two state powers when Hill-Murray smacked them 5-1 last Saturday.
“Hill-Murray is good, at least as good as Elk River,” said East coach Mike Randolph, whose Greyhounds slipped to fourth in the state ratings but still held the Up North Regional No. 1 spot. At 2-2, East’s losses were to No. 1 Elk River and No. 2 Hill-Murray, both on the road.
“We had Hill-Murray on the ropes for a while,” Randolph added. “It was 1-1 and Mike Marshall went in alone. But he missed, and Hill-Murray came back and scored two goals
in the next minute.”
East had trouble containing Matt Koalska, who had two goals and two assists. After his first goal, Ross Carlson tied it before the first period ended. But after Marshall was foiled, the Pioneers scored twice 15 seconds apart to take command.
Greenway and Hibbing will be in the spotlight for the next week. This weekend, No. 3 rated Roseau and Warroad play at Greenway and Hibbing, respectively, on Friday, then flip-flop Saturday. Next week, Hibbing faces Grand Rapids on Tuesday, then Hibbing and Greenway collide Saturday, and Hibbing finishes one of the roughest six-game stretches imaginable by playing Eveleth on Tuesday the 22nd.
Other interesting games across the state last week included top-ranked Elk River beating Edina 3-0, and Hastings having to battle to slip past Anoka 3-2 in overtime. Regionally, Marshall gave Duluth East a tussle, trailing 3-2 with 10 minutes left before falling 6-3, but the ‘Toppers bounced back to beat Breck 2-1 Saturday. Marshall has a tough week, with a Tuesday date at Silver Bay followed by a Thursday game against a rapidly improving Denfeld team. The Hunters ambushed Central last week.
UP NORTH HOCKEY RATINGS
STATE
1. Elk River (3-0)
2. Hill-Murray (1-0)
3. Roseau
4. Duluth East (2-2)
5. Eagan (3-0)
6. Hastings (3-1)
7. Eveleth-Gilbert-Buhl (4-0)
8. Greenway of Coleraine (2-0)
9. Roseville (2-0)
10. Hibbing (2-0)
REGIONAL
1. Duluth East
2. Eveleth-Gilbert-Buhl
3. Greenway of Coleraine
4. Hibbing
5. Cloquet
6. Silver Bay
7. Hermantown
8. Proctor
9. Grand Rapids
10. Marshall
The Duluth Dynamite kept rolling in girls hockey, improving their record to 6-2 last week to maintain the sixth slot in state ratings, but Hibbing dropped out of the top 10 after two losses on a tough trip to the Twin Cities. Hibbing lost 8-1 at No. 1 Roseville last Friday, then played much better but lost 4-2 at No. 4 Bloomington Jefferson on Saturday. Roseville, incidentally, whipped Hill-Murray 7-0 last Thursday.
The No. 2 Eagan Wildcats made something of a goodwill tour to the borderland. The ‘Cats won 6-0 at Bemidji on Thursday, then beat a strong Winnipeg girls midget select team 4-2 on Saturday in Warroad. Eagan coach Merlin Ravndalen is from Warroad, and he wanted to bring his powerful team up there to put premier girls hockey on display in hopes that the Warroad-Roseau area might start girls hockey.
GIRLS STATE
1. Roseville
2. Eagan
3. Park Center
4. Bloomington Jefferson
5. South St. Paul
6. Duluth Dynamite
7. Rosemount
8. Forest Lake
9. Edina
10. Anoka
Colgate beats UMD 2-1
Colgate star ruins Gasparini night
By John Gilbert
Up North Newspaper Network
It was a huge night for Tony Gasparini, who, after four years of being a patient team-guy backup goaltender, got his first regular-season start Saturday. The only problem was that Colgate’s Andy MacDonald had no feeling for the storybook nature of the night at the DECC.
MacDonald’s two first-period goals stood up as the Red Raiders survived UMD’s increasing pressure and escaped from the DECC with a 2-1 victory and a sweep of their nonconference series.
“Tony played very, very well,” said coach Mike Sertich, who rested ace Brant Nicklin for the first time in 92 consecutive games. Nicklin missed one start because of injury, last year in the WCHA Final Five, when Gasparini got his only other start and suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss to St. Cloud State.
Colgate (9-3) won eight of its last night games, while UMD (3-11-2 overall) established a home-ice record for futility by failing to win in seven starts at the DECC.
Sophomore defenseman Jesse Fibiger got UMD’s only goal, with a shorthanded rush late in the second period, but he took no pleasure from the accomplishment. “We got outworked pretty bad in our own zone,” Fibiger said. “They did a good job, and they were quick, but we got outworked, and we have only ourselves to blame.”
MacDonald ruined Gasparini’s otherwise flawless first period with goals at 12:06 and 14:36. The Bulldogs had failed to click on two power plays, and Colgate’s Red Raiders were attacking with characteristic quickness. MacDonald, quickest of them all, suddenly burst up the middle, splitting the Bulldog defense, and zooming in alone.
Gasparini was set, but MacDonald beat him from the left side with a perfect shot, low to the right. “He got through and the puck was out in front of him, so I though he’d try to carry it,” said Gasparini. “But he chipped it right away and caught me by surprise.”
The Red Raiders had the puck in deep on the first line’s next shift, too, and MacDonald gained possession deep along the left boards. He veered out toward the slot and put a hard, low backhander into the left side, just inside the pipe.
“That one, I think, went through someone’s legs,” said Gasparini.
For quite a while, the 2-0 lead looked insurmountable. Gasparini, in fact, had tdo come up with a big save on former Blake star Sam Sturgis early in the second period, then pulled a magic trick when Kevin Johns sailed in on a breakaway and fired. Gasparini blocked it, and when the rebound popped up, he reached back and snatched it out of the air. It appeared as thought the actual catch came, shall we say, dangerously close to being across the goal line.
The Bulldogs finally punctured the shutout bid of Shep Harder, another former Blake star, and the architect of Friday night’s 5-4 Colgate victory. The breakthrough came, typically, when least expected.
Fibiger was trying to clear the UMD zone while killing a penalty, but when he launched a high backhanded flip, teammate Jeff Scissons tried to glove it, knocking it down, but still in the Bulldog end. When the puck squirted loose along the left boards, Fibiger stepped up alertly to regain possession, and found himself rushing up the boards, shorthanded.
When he got to the left circle, Fibiger cut loose with a big slapshot, and though Harder got a piece of it, the puck trickled through with 3:46 left in the middle period.
The Bulldogs outshot Colgate 9-5 in the third period, and had several moments of heavy pressure, while the Red Raider defense threw themselves in front of 10 other shots that never got to Harder. With 30 seconds to go, Gasparini came out for an extra skater, but the intensity of the finishing flurry came too late, and the buzzer sounded with the puck in the slot, as Harder prevailed.
Silence eerie after Bulldogs fall short
Gasparini gets to share in UMD futility
By John Gilbert
Up North Newspaper Network
It should be getting familiar by now. The UMD Bulldogs haven’t won at home yet in this hockey season, and the scene inside the dressing room has always been subdued, with quiet, thoughtful comments from various players about how frustrating it’s getting.
But Saturday night was different. As accommodating as the Bulldogs players have been, after losing 2-1 to Colgate Saturday night, the dressing room was silent. Completely silent.
“It was almost eerie,” said coach Mike Sertich, who noticed it too. “Before the third period, I had said I thought we had been outworked through the first two, and I thought we worked a lot harder in the third period.
“But it’s tough. Everybody knows that everything that can be said has been said.”
Colgate is 9-3 with its best start in years, and has won eight of its last nine games. UMD (3-11-2 overall) established a home-ice record for futility by failing to win for the seventh straight start at the DECC.
This is getting pretty strange. Here were the Bulldogs, having shaken their WCHA winless start and their scoring slump with a 5-2, 6-2 sweep at Michigan Tech a week earlier, were returning home to face nonconference Colgate. Here was the chance to show their newly awakened offense to the home fans, and finally win a game at the DECC, before taking a holiday break from competition for two weeks.
So what happens? Brant Nicklin, the star junior goaltender of almost legendary proportions, who has held the Bulldogs in almost every game all season, was off his game a bit on Friday. The Bulldogs scored four goals — a team high on home ice — but they lost 5-4 in the first game, despite outshooting the Red Raiders 49-25.
“I got a piece of the first three goals,” said Nicklin, which is his way of saying he should have made saves on those three shots, and of demanding to take the blame.
In the second game, Tony Gasparini got to start in place of Nicklin. It wasn’t a punishment pull for Nicklin; he had been told before the series that Gasparini — a faithful senior whose only previous start in four years was last year in the WCHA Final Five when Nicklin was injured — would get a well-deserved second career start Saturday.
Zap! The Bulldogs lapsed back to their previous streak of scoring only one goal, as they had in their first five home losses, and fell 2-1.
Nicklin had sat out his first game as a freshman, then started 92 straight games, not counting that St. Cloud State overtime loss in the playoffs.
“I thought Tony Gasparini played very, very well,” said Sertich. “It certainly wasn’t his fault.”
Gasparini left the ice after the first period, slamming his big goal stick against the boards and bellowing his frustration as he hastened to the dressing room. UMD trailed 2-0 at the time, and a quick little junior centerman named Andy MacDonald had scored both goals. One was on a break-in, when he darted through the whole UMD team before beating Gasparini from the left circle with a shot low to the far side. Two minutes later, he put a backhander just inside the left pipe, again right on the ice.
Gasparini thought they were weak goals, but they were the kind of goals you might think were lucky until you watch MacDonald’s skill level. Then you must assume he put them precisely where he had to. Turns out, MacDonald’s nine-game point-scoring streak had been snapped Friday night, when he was content to harness UMD’s star center Jeff Scissons. He did it again Saturday, proving to be perhaps the only center who defused Scissons all season.
“I was trying to shake Scissons loose, because I realized he was having trouble against MacDonald,” said Sertich. “So I made a juggle, and it cost us. He and Jeff played against each other all weekend — except when he scored those goals.”
That’s the way things go when you’re struggling, and the Bulldogs proved that they got over their struggles at Tech, but they returned at the DECC. Even the lone UMD goal was a testimony to their frustration.
Jesse Fibiger, who is playing outstanding defense for UMD right now and was WCHA defensive player of the week after the Tech series, had scored the first UMD goal Friday, and was trying to kill a penalty in the second period Saturday. In desperation, he lifted a high, zone-clearing flip from his own end. Scissons, figuring a Colgate player might be behind him, lunged high to glove the puck, keeping it from getting out of the zone.
“I was mad,” said Fibiger. “I was working my butt off to get it out of the zone, and finally I got it high enough, and Scissons keeps it in. Luckily, it came right back to me.”
So Fibiger, supercharged with adrenaline, sped up the left side. With nowhere to go, he wound up and put everything into a slapshot from the left circle. It hit goalie Shep Harder, but slithered through his pads. Not that he felt like celebrating.
“We got outworked pretty bad in our own zone,” Fibiger said. “They did a good job, and they were quick, but we got outworked, and we have only ourselves to blame.”
The shorthanded goal cut the deficit to 2-1, gave the Bulldogs and their fans hope, but after they put increasing pressure on Colgate through the third period, it turned out only to be another exercise in futility.
And the dressing room’s eerie silence said it all.
Eveleth-Gilbert rise to top rank
Eveleth-Gilbert tops regional ranking
By John Gilbert
Up North Newspaper Network
When the preseason forecast suggested that the Up North boys high school hockey teams might be the most balanced competitively in memory, it was also suggested that it would be amazing if any team went undefeated because of that parity.
After three weeks of the season, Eveleth-Gilbert and Silver Bay are the only Up North boys teams still unbeaten.
Eveleth’s Golden Bears, who rose to 5-0 with an impressive 4-2 victory at Hermantown Saturday afternoon, show the merits of combining the best Class AA and A schools into one rating by claiming the No. 1 spot in the Up North Newspaper Network’s Regional top 10.
As a Class A school, Eveleth-Gilbert will be trying to repeat as state champs, and they rank at No. 3 statewide, behind only Elk River and Hill-Murray, a pair of unbeaten Twin Cities powers.
Duluth East, which lost to both Elk River and Hill-Murray, struggled before beating a much-improved Marshall team last week, then invaded Grand Rapids and had to play well to escape with a 2-1 victory. The Greyhounds slip to No. 3 in the Regional ratings, however, behind Eveleth-Gilbert and Greenway of Coleraine.
Silver Bay also is 5-0, after surviving its first major hurdle by beating Marshall last week, but finds the schedule stiffer this week, with games at Proctor (Tuesday) and Duluth East (Thursday).
Greenway and Hibbing also went into last weekend undefeated, and were hosts to Roseau and Warroad, two more unbeaten traditional powers. The concept of trading opponents made for a highly entertaining weekend, and nothing more dramatically underlines the state’s parity than those two nights’ outcomes.
Greenway shocked Roseau 6-3 on Friday after jumping to a 6-0 lead behind four goals from freshman Gino Guyer, while Hibbing was handing Warroad its first loss in a 5-3 game, as Mike Fatticci scored twice. Swap partners, and, Saturday night, Roseau beat Hibbing 4-3 on Josh Olson’s goal in overtime. O.J. Bottoms scored twice for Hibbing, with his second coming with 0:49 left in regulation to force overtime. Warroad beat Greenway 4-3 when Donnie DeMars completed a hat trick with his third goal coming in overtime. Josh Miskovich scored with 39 seconds left in the third period to tie Warroad.
So, in four games, four undefeated teams suffered their first losses. Further evidence of parity came when rapidly improving Duluth Denfeld and Marshall battled to a 6-6 tie last week.
Eveleth-Gilbert had an easier time in a tough setting at Hermantown, where an overflow crowd filled every standing-room spot for a Saturday matinee. The Golden Bears got two goals apiece from Andy Sacchetti and Steve Denny to take a 4-0 lead before the Hawks fought back for two power-play goals by Andy Corran in the third period. Corran’s second goal came with 25 seconds left on a 6-on-3 skater edge, as the Golden Bears had two men in the penalty box and Hermantown coach Bruce Plante pulled his goaltender for an extra skater.
Seniors Sacchetti and Denny and junior Tony Dolinsek all played on different lines last season for Eveleth-Gilbert, but coach Craig Homola pulled them together on a big first line this season. It paid off, with all four goals.
“Hermantown is definitely the toughest team we’ve seen so far,” said Homola. “Our first line came through. Sacchetti is explosive and all three of those guys have the rink-rat mentality.”
Hermantown coach Plante said: “Their speed shut us down, especially when it was their first line against ours. Then they collapsed on Jon Francisco. They were strong on defense, but that didn’t surprise me because they play with high energy. I thought we did all right, considering we only had four guys out there who played last year.”
In the girls ratings, Duluth was stunned 2-1 by Fergus Falls Saturday and slips to No. 7. The girls state picture is the opposite of the Up North Regional in boys. Instead of great parity, the girls have a large split between the powers and the also-rans. Roseville stays at the top, while Eagan is No. 2, although the Wildcats must survive with freshman Natalie Darwitz gone to play with the national team. Roseville, Park Center, Jefferson and South St. Paul are all undefeated, and Eagan’s only loss was to Roseville.
Up North Hockey Ratings
BOYS
State
1. Elk River, 5-0
2. Hill-Murray, 4-0
3. Eveleth-Gilbert, 5-0
4. Greenway of Coleraine, 3-1
5. Roseau, 3-1
6. Duluth East, 4-2
7. Eagan, 5-0
8. Hastings, 5-1
9. Hibbing, 4-1
10. Warroad, 4-1
Regional
1. Eveleth-Gilbert, 5-0
2. Greenway of Coleraine, 4-1
3. Duluth East, 4-2
4. Hibbing, 4-1
5. Cloquet, 3-1
6. Silver Bay, 5-0
7. Hermantown, 4-1
8. Proctor, 2-2
9. Grand Rapids, 1-3
10. Marshall, 3-2-1
GIRLS
State
1. Roseville, 7-0
2. Eagan, 7-1
3. Park Center, 9-0
4. Bloomington Jefferson, 6-0
5. South St. Paul, 9-0
6. Rosemount, 7-2
7. Duluth Dynamite, 5-3
8. Forest Lake, 5-2-1
9. Mounds View, 5-2
10. Anoka, 5-4
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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