Falcons stun Vikings in 30-27 overtime thriller
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
Atlanta tore the big-play page out of the Vikings playbook and left their Super Bowl aspirations crumpled on the Metrodome turf Sunday afternoon when Morten Andersen’s 38-yard field goal in sudden-death overtime gave the Falcons a stunning 30-27 victory in the NFC championship game.
The Vikings, who were favored by 11 points by odds-makers, and even more by the 65,060 purple-clad followers who set a Vikings playoff attendance record, lived up to their season-long image as the league’s top-scoring team with the best record by romping to a 20-7 lead in the first half. But some improbable and implausible things started happening to the Vikings, and the Falcons were forceful about taking advantage of every opportunity.
Their 15-1 season and NFL record 16 victories counting last week’s playoff romp over Arizona had made Vikings followers talk about a team of destiny. But the Falcons players are convinced that it is they who were destined to reach the Super Bowl, having come back from a 1-7 start a year ago under the coaching of Dan Reeves, who himself had to take a week off in the stretch drive for heart surgery.
“I can’t control my emotions, even if I can’t holler as loud, and I get tired easily,” said Reeves. “But if I can stand what happened today, my heart must be in great shape. I feel great for us, but to go through a season losing only one gme, like the Vikings did, and then lose a game like this…I also feel for them.”
Reeves takes Atlanta to its first-ever Super Bowl in two weeks in Miami to find a familiar foe in Reeves’ former team, the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos.
Andersen’s game-winning kick came after the Vikings’ vaunted offense had failed to sustain a drive on two possessions in the 15-minute overtime. After an exchange of punts, the Falcons marched resolutely from their own 9-yard line to the Viking 20, with Jamal Anderson’s last two runs carefully aligning the ball for the winning third-down kick.
But Andersen wouldn’t have had the chance to win the game without the heroics of a skilled but comparatively unheralded journeyman quarterback Chris Chandler and a stubby, 5-10 wide receiver named Terance Mathis, who collaborated for the game-tying touchdown pass with 0:49 left in the fourth quarter.
“We had been trying to take their crowd out of the game,” said Mathis. “And when I caught that touchdown pass, man, it was quiet. It was like someone turned the lights out.”
Did he ever catch a bigger touchdown pass? Mathis, his eyes sparkling, said: “No.”
However, he did catch a similar touchdown pass to end the first half, turning that early 20-7 Vikings lead to a suddenly catchable 20-14.
Statistically, the Vikings looked solid. Cunningham was 29-48 passing for 266 yards and two touchdowns; Randy Moss and Cris Carter caught six each, and Robert Smith carried 21 times for 71 yards. But Atlanta offset that with Chandler’s dart-like passing, 27-43 for 340 yards, with Mathis and running back Jamal Anderson catching six each, and Tony Martin snaring five for a game-leading 129 yards. Jamal Anderson added 67 yards on 23 rushes.
While it was an exciting and surprising game throughout, the biggest surprises were that the Vikings failed at the critical junctures where they have succeeded all season. Vikings placekicker Gary Anderson — who hadn’t missed a field goal all year — missed one. It was from 38 yards, and it only missed by about a foot, but it came with barely 2 minutes remaining and it would have secured a Super Bowl trip by giving the Vikings a 30-20 lead.
“Obviously, it was a disappointing time for that to happen,” said Anderson, who had kicked two field goals and three extra points to raise his tally to 39 of 39 field goals and 67 of 67 extra points. “You have to be a man about it. When you’re a field-goalkicker, that’s your job –to line up and fire those field goals. And unfortunately, that one didn’t go through.”
Coach Dennis Green also said it was just part of the game, and that Anderson “worked hard and tried to help our team win. He’s a big part of the reason we won all year.”
There were other surprises. Atlanta took the opening kickoff 76 yards for a 5-yard touchdown pass from Chandler to Jamal Anderson. Order was restored when the Vikings responded to cover 80 yards in five quick plays, the fifth a 31-yard touchdown pass from Randall Cunningham to rookie Randy Moss, who simply buzzed past defender Michael Booker to get free in the end zone.
A pair of Anderson field goals sandwiched a 1-yard touchdown sneak by Cunningham, boosting the Vikings to the 20-7 lead. Everything was by the book to that point, including a key fumble recovery by Robert Griffith at the Falcons 33 when Atlanta’s O.J. Santiago fumbled a pass reception, setting up the Cunningham touchdown.
But when the Vikings got the ball on a punt and tried to pad the lead with a minute to go to halftime, Chuck Smith swatted the ball out of Cunningham’s cocked hand on third down and Travis Hall recovered at the Viking 14 with 0:59 on the clock. On first down, Chandler hit Mathis for the touchdown that closed the gap to 20-14.
“Randall was going to throw the ball and got hit and it got ruled a fumble,” said Green. “We were trying to add some points, to put ’em away. That’s been our style all season.”
The only points of the third quarter came on Morten Andersen’s 27-yard field goal, which closed the gap to 20-17. But Cunningham directed an 82-yard, 15-play drive, passing to a diving Matthew Hatchette for a 5-yard touchdown to again achieve security at 27-17.
Another Andersen field goal made it 27-20, but even that didn’t appear dangerous, because the Vikings lost the ball on a fumbled snap by Cunningham, but the defense stopped Chandler on fourth down.
With only 6 minutes remaining, the crowd kept screaming to the amplified, dome-shaking beat and waved their gold-colored “purple pride” towels with confidence. There still wasn’t real concern when Andersen missed his field goal.
But when Chandler got the ball with 2:07 left, and needed only 1:18 to guide an 8-play, 71-yard march — including a 29-yard pass to Ronnie Harris, and the 16-yard touchdown pass to Mathis — it was time for genuine concern. And, as Mathis said, “Silence.”
Bulldogs finally win at home — and lose ground
The good news was that UMD’s hockey Bulldogs won their first home WCHA game of the season by beating Denver 4-3 on Friday, which made the split, after losing 4-2 on Saturday, seem a little easier to take.
The bad news was that despite the split, the ninth-place Bulldogs (3-11-2) lost ground to eighth-place Michigan Tech. The Huskies, victimized twice by the Bulldogs in a series at Houghton earlier, swept St. Cloud State for the second time this season. So not only is Tech no longer in eighth place, but now is battling with Denver, Alaska-Anchorage and Wisconsin for third place in the WCHA.
On the other hand, the silver lining there is that St. Cloud State is now only four points ahead of UMD, and is also the next Bulldog opponent in a home-and-home series this weekend, with the Friday game at the DECC. The flip side there, however, is that St. Cloud State swept a similar series from UMD earlier.
UMD was not helped Saturday when Derek Derow missed the game with a flu-like infection, and Tommy Nelson — who scored his first collegiate goal on Friday — left midway through the game Saturday with a possible concussion.
The Bulldogs didn’t help themselves in the third period Saturday, when the game was on the line, and Denver capitalized for two goals and the victory.
“As coaches, you can analyze things like this until you go insane,” said Sertich. “You can work on things to correct them on the ice, but when you make bad decisions, it’s tough. We got down 2-0, then came back to make it 2-2 going into the third period. At that point, it’s up to the players to decide the game. And they did.”
Denver’s Paul Comrie impressed everyone at the DECC with his strong weekend. He scored two goals Friday and set up two on Saturday, and he mesmerized the Bulldogs with his puck-handling.
After Comrie scored two goals in UMD’s 4-3 first-game victory, Sertich said: “I’d say he and Brian Swanson of Colorado College are the best two players in the league.”
On Saturday, Comrie’s line had three of the Denver goals. “Personally, I’d say Comrie is the best player in the league,” said UMD captain Bert Gilling. “I got a chance to play with him last summer, and I’ve got the utmost respect for him. He’s got speed, agility, great hands and great imagination. And he’s a competitor too; when he gets agitated, he just turns his game up a notch.”
With 3,991 fans at the DECC Saturday night, Comrie set up the first of two goals by Mark Rycroft to open the game, and he made a big play to set up James Patterson’s clinching goal, when it was 3-2 midway through the third period.
“I thought Comrie had a lot more support tonight,” said DU coach George Gwozdecky. “Rycroft and Patterson played much better tonight. Last night, Paul was all alone.”
As big a factor as their offense was, the Pioneer penalty killers shared the spotlight, because Denver was almost equally adept at taking penalties and killing them. But they shackled the Bulldogs to 1-for-9 on the power play while Denver was 0-for-2.
The first period was the reversal of Friday’s 4-3 UMD victory, when UMD took a quick 2-0 lead, only to have Denver cut it to 2-1 and later tie it 2-2. This time, it was the Pioneers who jumped off to a 2-0 lead, and the Bulldogs who cut it to 2-1 before the first period ended.
UMD goalie Brant Nicklin made 39 saves as Denver outshot the Bulldogs 43-29, but Nickli.n couldn’t hold off the Pioneers indefinitely. After 11:28 had elapsed in the first period, Rycroft scored at the crease when Joe Ritson and Comrie collaborated to lure Nicklin to the right side and isolate Rycroft.
DU defenseman Erik Adams fired a 30-footer past Nicklin for the 2-0 lead, but 52 seconds later, UMD got back in the game when Ryan Homstol picked off the puck and shot immediately into the short side on Stephen Wagner from the right.
That aroused the Bulldogs, who got a 2-2 tie at 4:25 of the second period when freshman defenseman Mark Carlson strolled in from the left point and shot through a screen of bodies on a UMD power play. UMD had a 2-man power play for a 1:23 span later in the middle period, but Wagner and the penalty killers avoided danger. “Right there, if we could have scored we could have changed the momentum,” said Sertich.
Instead, it stayed 2-2 until Rycroft broke the tie at 3:08 of the third period with his second goal of the night when he slipped behind the defense to the far blue line to catch a 100-foot pass, skate in on the left side and beat Nicklin low to the far side.
Comrie came up with his coup de gras play at 8:12. when UMD defenseman Jesse Fibiger got possession behind his own net, but as he whirled to escape, Comrie was coming from the other direction and swatted the puck right off his stickblade and onto the blade of Patterson, out front. The play happened so suddenly, that Nicklin was completely relaxed, unaware that Patterson had the puck. As Patterson teed it up, Nicklin tried to recover, but too late, and the senior from Wayne, Mich., had his 16th goal of the season.
So much hockey, so little time
If you’re addicted to hockey, these are the best days of the year. Consider how many classic games there were last week, and whether you watched or missed them.
On Tuesday you could watch Greenway of Coleraine win 4-3 at Hibbing…On Thursday, an interesting doubleheader at the DECC became monumental when Hermantown beat Duluth East 4-2, the first time the Hawks ever beat the ‘Hounds; and Marshall was whipping Duluth Central 4-1 in the second game when Central suddenly made a game of it, scoring three straight before Jake Bloomquist and Tony Tomaino scored big goals for Marshall in the third period for a 6-4 victory…
On Friday, there was UMD’s miracle-in-reverse 4-3 loss to North Dakota…Then on Saturday, you could set up camp in the DECC and sneak over to the adjacent Pioneer Hall a few times. That way, you could have seen Marshall get upset 7-5 by Chisago Lakes, while East was getting started to a 4-3 victory over Grand Rapids, then go back to watch Eagan’s slick girls team beat the Duluth Dynamite 3-0, and still have time for a sandwich before UMD’s mini-miracle 2-2 tie against No. 1 North Dakota.
You say there was a football game on Sunday? The Super Bowl? Oh, did the Vikings win? Pretty hard to get enthused about another snoozer of a Super Bowl after all that great hockey.
Tuesday was the perfect day to be on the Range. A little lunch at Zimmy’s in Hibbing, and get to the Memorial Building’s arena early, while the junior varsity game is still going on, so you can be all set up for one of those concession stand ice cream bars — rated No. 1 in the state — before Greenway of Coleraine and Hibbing face off.
These storied IRC rivals knew each other well from past years, and from earlier this year, when Hibbing beat Greenway 5-2 in Coleraine. Neither coach anticipated such a lopsided result this time, mainly because Greenway has defensemen Beau Geisler and Adam Johnson back from injuries. Geisler is a dominant defenseman, much like Hibbing’s Rico Fatticci, while Johnson is a 6-4 giant with a reach that seems larger than that.
“Geisler is good, and with the big guy back on ‘D,’ you’ve got to go to Nashwauk if you’re going to get around him,” said Hibbing coach Mark DeCenzo.
The two felt each other out for, oh, about two minutes. Then they went at it. Aaron Mikulich scored a power-play goal for Greenway at 2:15, freshman sparkplug Gino Guyer filtered through the defense and scored at 3:04 for a 2-0 lead, and Hibbing’s Brad Willis knocked in a pass from Jesse Jagunich at 3:15. Three goals per minute, not bad.
It settled down a bit after that, and Mike Fatticci scored for Hibbing late in the first period for a 2-2 standoff. Jagnich gave Hibbing a 3-2 lead, scoring with a backhander from the crease on a power play, while he was being checked. Then it was Greenway’s turn to respond, and Mike Forconi rushed deep on the left and fed Gabe Miskovich for the equalizer. In the third period, on another power play, Josh Miskovich tipped in Johnson’s shot from the point for a 4-3 Greenway lead. Despite being outsot 33-21, the Raiders held on to win by that score.
“It’s been a while since we beat ’em,” said Greenway coach Pat Guyer, who saw the notion that the Raiders were one-line wonders dispelled forever. “We made a little challenge to our second and third lines, and the third line got two goals [by Mikulich and Gabe Miskovich], and our second line went out there twice and turned the momentum around in the second period with great efforts.”
Greenway assistant coach Joe Miskovich saw his son, Gabe, get a goal and one of his nephews, Josh Miskovich, get another. The Raiders won almost 80 percent of the faceoffs, thanks primarily to Gino Guyer, the ninth-grader, the coach’s kid, and the IRC’s leading scorer. Goaltender Nick Ossefoort was solid with 30 saves, as well.
DeCenzo said the only time Hibbing lost previously to Greenway was in his second season. He’s now in his sixth. “I’ve watched Guyer for a long time, and he doesn’t lose many faceoffs. They’re a gutsy team and they block a lot of shots,” said DeCenzo, who never considered using the injury to ace sophomore goalie Travis Weber as an excuse. Weber, considered by many the best goalie in the Up North area, sprained his ankle in practice and has missed three games now, but Steve Galli has played very well in his absence.
On Thursday at the DECC, Andy Corran qand Chris Baron got Hermantown off to a 2-0 lead. When Nick Licari got one back for East, Clint Van Iseghem scored the only second-period goal for a 3-1 Hermantown cushion. Ross Carlson powered a 60-foot slapshot from the right boards past goaltender Allen Knowles to trim the deficit to 3-2 for East, but then came the play of the game.
Loren Kaake took a pass from J.R. Bradley on the left side, next to one defender, and with two more between him and the net. Kaake shifted past one, then sped past another, and when goaltender Dan Hoehne started to drop, Kaake drilled his shot between his pads. It punctured East’s momentum, gave Hermantown a 4-2 lead that stuck, and would have been a sensational goal by someone on the Hawks’ big first line. It was something beyond that for Kaake, a second-line forward who had only four goals all year.
“I wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” said Kaake. “I just kept my feet moving, and got a chance to shoot through the 5-hole.”
Knowles was still jumping up and down after the game. “This is the first time in my whole life we’ve beaten East,” said the Hawks goaltender. “The long shot by Carlson, I lost it in the glass, with the dark background. I didn’t see it till it hit the net.”
For the new and onrushing program at Hermantown to establish itself by handing East its only conference loss in recent memory, it couldn’t have come at a better time. “We went down to the Twin Cities a couple weeks ago and scrimmaged Eden Prairie and Jefferson,” said Hermantown coach Bruce Plante. “We tied Jefferson and lost by one to Eden Prairie, and it did our kids a world of good. We haven’t lost since.”
Kaake, meanwhile, seemed to have no idea of the magnitude of his clinching, momentum-turning goal. And he disputed the fact that Hermantown hadn’t beaten East before. “We beat ’em a couple years ago, when my brother played,” he said. Turns out, he was talking about Bantam hockey.
The interesting thing about Licari, East’s flashy ninth-grader, and junior Ross Carlson scoring the two East goals in the loss to Hermantown was that coach Mike Randolph made an enormous change on Friday in practice. Carlson and Licari both were shifted back to defense, where they played against Grand Rapids on Saturday.
Zach Burns scored two, Mike Marshall one and Carlson got one — all on power plays — as East went up 4-1 in the second period. Matt Miskovich, Judd Welliver and Seth Nelson got the goals for Rapids, which lost by one goal for the seventh time this year, but will be a handful for anybody in Section 7AA.
East is unaccustomed to losing five games in a season, and even if those losses are to Elk River, Hill-Murray, Hastings, Hibbing and now Hermantown, coach Mike Randolph wasn’t about to let the season fizzle without exausting every idea.
“It was time for a wake-up call,” said Randolph. “Ross and Licari both liked it back on ‘D,’ and they got more ice time and more of a chance to handle the puck back there. We’re planning on leaving them there for the time being. Another reason for the move is that we’ve been having trouble scoring, and Ross and Licari have both been on our first line and are our top scorers. Now, somebody else has to score.”
So much hockey, so little time…
Vikings go down, leaving question marks
All that mattered, ultimately, was what went on inside the Metrodome when the Atlanta Falcons rallied heroically to end the Vikings season in a 30-27 overtime thriller for the NFC’s berth in the Super Bowl.
A couple of lingering points may be bothersome whenever the game is reviewed. The coaching job done by Dennis Green has been outstanding all season, but Atlanta’s Dan Reeves outfoxed the Vikings on Sunday.
To me, it is a sad commentary that artificial and amplified noise is pumped into the Metrodome in an attempt to prevent the visiting team from functioning normally. Reeves, anticipating the deafening noise, put in an entirely new system of calling the plays in the huddle, then having the center signal the snap, eliminating the need for signals to be heard.
“We had the center making a certain move so the linemen had the chance to look in and know the snap was coming without having to worry about the crowd,” said Reeves. “It was incredible, but after having six or seven illegal procedure penalties in the last few games, we had not one in this game.”
When it came to critical decisions, Green, on the other hand, defended the Vikings decisions to go “by the book” on two situations, one at the end of the first half, the other at the end of regulation. Leading 20-7 with 1:17 to go to halftime, quarterback Randall Cunningham was turned loose to pad the lead, which was typical of the Vikings, Green said. After two incompletions, Cunningham fumbled on third down while trying to pass again. Atlanta recovered on the 14, and Chris Chandler threw a touchdown strike to Terance Mathis on the next play, with 0:56 left.
Still, I don’t argue with the Vikings mindset, to try to put the game away. That, however, precludes any chance of agreeing with the decision at the end of the fourth quarter. Right after another Chandler-to-Mathis touchdown had tied the game 27-all, the Vikings had the ball with 49 seconds left. Cunningham scrambled for seven yards on first down. On second down, he forced a bomb for Randy Moss, incomplete. It was third and three from their 27, but with 30 seconds remaining, with two timeouts still in the bank.
In the press box, I tried to anticipate what they’d try. Because I think Cunningham tries to force passes to Moss too often, and the defense would be certain to cover him deep, I know what I’d do — throw two or three sideline passes, preferably to Cris Carter, maybe one to a back drifting out of the backfield, and have plenty of time for Gary Anderson to win the game with a medium-length field goal. If he had to try from long distance, it would still be a worthy try.
Instead, Cunningham was ordered to drop down to his knee and let time expire.
“We were down to 30 seconds, so we wanted to take two good downs, and when we didn’t get the first down, we decided not to try any more,” said Green. “There were a lot of things that could have not worked in our favor.”
A lot of things? Like a fumble or an interception? That’s almost like a hockey coach refusing to pull his goaltender in favor of settling for a one-goal loss.
“The odds weren’t in our favor,” said offensive coordinator Brian Billick. “We thought we’d rather take our chances on the coin toss for overtime.”
Let’s see, now. The Vikings braintrust decided that it would rather trust this marvelous season to a coin-flip instead of having the ball with 30 seconds left? They should have suggested deciding the NFC trophy on a coin-flip; Atlanta probably would have gone for it.
These are the Vikings who set an NFL record with 556 points this season, the Vikings who had the No. 1 rated quarterback in Cunningham, the Vikings who had the No. 1 scoring threat in Randy Moss, and the Vikings who had the best placekicker in the NFL — who would have given anything to atone for his only miss of the season, a few minutes earlier. And their choice was to capitulate?
Thirty seconds isn’t much, but it can last several minutes when an astute offense combines sideline plays and timeouts. And the Vikings have the most astute offense. They had driven to seven of their 56 touchdowns on drives that lasted less than 30 seconds. If you gave Atlanta the ball in the same circumstance, do you think the Falcons would have hesitated to go for it all?
Reeves, you recall, went for a first down on a fourth-down try with six minutes left and the Vikings leading 27-20. The Falcons failed, but destiny would reward Reeves later for the boldness of going for it.
As it turns out, the Vikings won the toss in overtime, which Green said proved the merit of their decision. But during two possessions, Cunningham was erratic, completing his first pass of overtime, then going 1-for-6. Cunningham, curiously, had badly underthrown the speedy Moss several times during the game, but he missed various receivers in the fourth quarter and overtime by a proverbial mile. Or two.
They went down together, though. Cunningham may have seized up with the game on the line, but the coaching decisions under pressure were equally botched.
Cunningham had a strong game — 29 of 48 pass completions. Late in the third quarter and overlapping to the fourth, on what turned out to be the Vikings final scoring drive, Cunningham was 7-for-11 passing, for 25-for-37 to that point. From then on, he was 4-for-11, was sacked twice and fumbled twice.
Similarly, on their first four possessions of the game, the Vikings went: touchdown-field goal-touchdown-field goal. Their next four drives concluded with: a lost Cunningham fumble, halftime, punt, and touchdown. Faltering, but still not bad, with 27 points on the board. Then, with the pressure rising, Vikings possessions ended: punt, Cunningham fumble, missed field goal, and letting the clock expire(!). In overtime, it was: punt-punt.
And wait till next year.
Duluth, Hibbing lead girls into puck sectional
Playoff time is fast approaching in boys high school hockey, and it’s already upon us in the fast-growing girls hockey season.
Sectional play begins Tuesday in Section 8, which includes the co-favored Duluth Dynamite and Hibbing Bluejackets, as well as the rest of the Iron Range and all across the rest of the state, from Elk River northward. The Duluth Mirage (Proctor, Hermantown, Marshall), meanwhile, wind up in Section 4 in their first season.
The disparity between the girls powers and the building programs still is quite evident, with four truly elite teams at the top. They display a fast-paced style, featuring speed and finesse without the kill-shot bodychecks, and are highly entertaining. Duluth hockey fans got a chance to see one of the state’s elite teams when Eagan beat the Duluth Dynamite 3-0 Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Hall, in the finale to the girls regular season.
Eagan’s team is led by Natalie Darwitz, a dazzling ninth-grade center who has scored 50-some goals and 70-some points. She’d have more, but she joined the U.S. National team for a holiday tournament in Europe, where she wound up using her darting speed and incredible hockey sense to center Olympians Cammie Granato and Katie King on the first line.
“She’s very skilled,” said Julie Sasner, the Wisconsin coach who coached that U.S. team. “She can play anywhere, and it’s rare to see a player that young understand the game and be able to execute that well. She was the player of the game against Canada.”
Darwitz said she wasn’t feeling well Saturday, but she felt well enough to puncture a valiant effort by the Dynamite. Darwitz scored with a big slapshot on a power play at 11:42 of the first period, then she showed what happens when she gets fired up. After being chopped down a couple of times without penalties being called, she swatted a Duluth player on the stick and was penalized for slashing with 2:44 left. She came out of the box with 44 seconds to go to the first intermission, and promptly ripped in a 30-foot slapshot for a 2-0 lead.
In the second period, Darwitz forechecked to swipe the puck, did an instantaneous 180-degree escape move in the corner, skated behind the net just far enough to convince the Dynamite that she would go for a wraparound at the far post, then passed magically out front on the short side, where Megan Peterson hammered it in. Eagan won 3-0.
Eagan (21-1) is No. 3 in the final Up North state girls ratings of the season, behind Park Center (22-0) and Roseville (21-0-1), with South St. Paul (21-1) No. 4. Those four are clearly the state’s elite, with Eagan’s only loss to Roseville, Roseville’s “tie” a shootout loss to Burnsville in the South St. Paul Kaposia Classic tournament, and South St. Paul’s only loss a 4-3 thriller against Eagan in that same tournament, where Darwitz erupted midway through the third period to erase a 3-1 South St. Paul lead.
Here is a brief overview of the eight girls section favorites:
SECTION 1—Rochester Mayo is the best of a batch of new and improving programs; SECTION 2—Burnsville is the clear favorite, with rebuilding state champ Apple Valley a longshot; SECTION 3—Eagan is the pick but by the slimmest of margins over South St. Paul, in by far the toughest section, because South St. Paul must get by No. 7 Rosemount and Eagan will probably face a strong Sibley team in the semis; SECTION 4—Roseville, in what should be a clear path, although Forest Lake, Stillwater and Chisago Lakes have hopes; SECTION 5—Mounds View, rated No. 10 but inconsistent, gets a break by playing in a section without any strong threats; SECTION 6—Bloomington Jefferson, rated No. 5, is the certain pick over Edina and Minnetonka; SECTION 7—Park Center appears unstoppable, even for defending section champ Anoka; SECTION 8—The Duluth Dynamite and Hibbing rank 8-9, and should meet in the final, but Fergus Falls, which beat the Dynamite already, and Bemidji are threats.
Section 8 tournament games are Tuesday and Friday this week, with the semifinals next Tuesday at Grand Rapids, and the championship a week from Friday at St. Cloud.
The girls state tournament, on Feb. 18-20 at the State Fair Coliseum, has 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 4, 3 vs. 7, and 5 vs. 6 paired for the first round. The opening game could be an incredible showdown between Park Center and the dominant Krissy Wendell, and Eagan and Darwitz at high noon.
Boys ratings shift
While the girls ratings have been pretty stable at the top, with only Roseville preceding Park Center at No. 1, the boys ratings have undergone some turmoil, both statewide and regionally. Two games toppled the boys’ status quo, with Greenway of Coleraine beating Hibbing 4-3 last week on Tuesday, and Hermantown upsetting Duluth East 4-2 on Thursday.
Hibbing had moved to the No. 1 slot in the Up North regional boys rating last week, on the basis of beating Duluth East. But Greenway went to Hibbing and beat the Bluejackets in a superbly played 4-3 game that thrust Greenway’s Raiders to the No. 1 regional spot.
Eveleth-Gilbert is third, with Duluth East dropping to fourth after the stunning 4-2 loss to Hermantown.
But don’t assume the shakeup will be the last. Eveleth-Gilbert has the best record Up North (16-2), and is at home Saturday against Greenway and next Tuesday against Hibbing. Those be among the biggest games of the year, and will decide the IRC championship as four-point games for the Golden Bears, who are the Section 7A favorites but have played well against AA foes.
Hermantown, another Class A team, showed its intentions on getting back to the state by beating East for the first time in the school’s existence.
Statewide, the Up North ratings had returned Elk River to the No. 1 spot when Hill-Murray lost its first game, to Maple Grove. The Pioneers, who stayed No. 1 in other published ratings, last week were stunned 4-3 by fast-improving White Bear Lake on Thursday, then fell 5-2 at Elk River on Saturday. Roseau, meanwhile, shocked Warroad 7-1 with a six-goal first period and, at 18-1, is No. 2 to Elk River (15-1). Eagan (17-1) is No. 3, with Hastings (14-4) No. 4. Then comes the Up North parade, with Greenway, Eveleth and Hibbing — three virtually even Iron Range Conference powers who have gotten little if any credit around the state.
Hill-Murray slides all the way to No. 8, with Roseville 9 and Duluth East 10. Beware, however, White Bear Lake, under first-year coach Bill Butters. The Bears were without their top scorer when they knocked off Hill-Murray, and they also whipped Maple Grove 5-0 on Saturday; Maple Grove had beaten both Elk River and Hill-Murray. Also, unbeaten Holy Angels is a Class A school that is moving up to challenge Class AA at playoff time, although it has played mostly an A schedule all season.
Up North Hockey Ratings
BOYS STATE
1. Elk River, 15-1
2. Roseau, 18-1
3. Eagan, 17-1
4. Hastings, 14-4
5. Greenway of Coleraine, 14-4
6. Eveleth-Gilbert, 16-2
7. Hibbing, 14-4
8. Hill-Murray, 14-3
9. Roseville, 14-3
10. Duluth East, 14-5.
BOYS REGIONAL
1. Greenway of Coleraine, 14-4
2. Eveleth-Gilbert, 16-2
3. Hibbing, 14-4
4. Duluth East, 14-5
5. Hermantown, 14-3-1
6. Silver Bay, 13-4-1
7. Hayward (Wis.) 14-1-1
8. Duluth Marshall, 11-5-1
9. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, 10-10
10. Grand Rapids, 6-11.
GIRLS STATE (FINAL)
1. Park Center, 22-0
2. Roseville, 21-0-1
3. Eagan, 21-1
4. South St. Paul, 21-1
5. Bloomington Jefferson, 17-4-1
6. Burnsville, 15-3-4
7. Rosemount, 15-5
8. Duluth Dynamite, 16-4-1
9. Hibbing, 11-9-2
10. Mounds View, 14-8
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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