Too much of a good thing
Duluth East beat a pretty good Edina hockey team a couple weeks ago at Braemar Arena. Beat ’em pretty bad, too. Then last Saturday, East thrashed a rebuilding Apple Valley team 7-2. Meanwhile, Hibbing and Greenway of Coleraine played Eden Prairie and Burnsville in a tournament on the Iron Range; Greenway won both games and Hibbing lost both, all of them close.
Those games all were played in accordance with a state high school league experimental rule allowing 20 minute periods instead of the normal 15. Coaches applauded. College and pro scouts applauded even louder. Those who insisted 20-minute periods were mandatory for improving the development of Minnesota high school players applauded loudest of all.
But you know what? I think it’s too much of a good thing.
I’ve never seen what I would consider too much hockey. I didn’t see the Range tournament, but I did see both East games. was reduced to some frustrated Edina kids running around accumulating charging or cross-checking penalties, and getting away with numerous hits from behind — one of which left East star junior Ross Carlson out for a month with a third-degree shoulder separation.
I kidded a college coach who left early in the third period of the East-Edina game, because he had seen almost exactly 45 minutes of play — normally, a full game. And because East was far better than Apple Valley, the Greyhounds eased off their intensity and sort of went through the motions for the second half of the game.
The Hibbing and Greenway games obviously were better, because they were close. Three of the four were one-goal, with one of Hibbing’s a 4-2 setback. When a high school game is closely competitive, and the pace is evenly matched, then I guess I’d like to see them play as long as possible. But a lot of games aren’t close, even between well-matched teams, and a game that has a three-or-more goal differential can deteriorate into long extra minutes, fraught with frustration and who-knows-what infractions.
So maybe it’s time to reevaluate what it is we get from high school hockey. Is it in place to develop players for college or pro? No. Is it in place to provide a wholesome and competitive atmosphere for the maximum number of participants? Yes. And while doing that, it has done a pretty good job of developing countless college and pro players, I might add.
If you listen, you can hear all sorts of criticism about high school hockey, and how it fails to give kids enough games, fails to develop players to their fullest potential, etc. Junior hockey, such as the USHL, plays more games with longer periods, and is a good finishing program for high school kids who don’t get recruited directly out of high school to college.
In junior hockey the pace is faster, because players can be up to age 20. The hitting is ferocious, because some players hope to impress with their toughness. But the best thing junior hockey does is to quicken the pace at which players function in traffic.
The best thing high school hockey does is it creates an absolute feeling of urgency among coaches and players: You practice hard and creatively, because you only have 25 games, and with only 15-minute periods, you can’t afford to coast for even a shift. So they don’t coast, they play at a frantic pace. And yet there is room to make plays, to be creative. Sometimes when an opponent has a couple of weaker players, better players can exploit them and make sensational plays.
Watch Duluth East, or Greenway, Hibbing, Eveleth-Gilbert or the other top teams Up North. They make neat plays, and when they don’t, it doesn’t meant they haven’t tried to. Trying to be creative, in an atmosphere of creative coaching, is absolutely the best training ground for players from age 15-18. East ran away from Edina and Apple Valley because coach Mike Randolph started out rotating four lines in short shifts, against their three lines, in longer shifts. Surprise! East was far stronger as the game went on, with little letdown in their play. If we go to 20-minute periods, East’s wealth of talent would guarantee the ‘Hounds even more success.
It is the biggest praise of junior hockey in Canada that more games, of longer duration, in a longer season, creates more pro-like players; in other words, players who pace themselves because they can’t go flat out for that long a game in that long a season. Traditional logic is that the more a young player plays, the better he gets. But does he? No, the more he plays, the better he becomes at game-playing, which means the better he gets at stressing his assets and concealing his liabilities.
Junior hockey is fun to watch. So is pro hockey. So is college. But the absolute best might be Minnesota high school hockey. Fifteen minute periods are entertaining, and every moment is precious.
It ain’t broke, so let’s not go crazy here fixing it. I’m sick and tired of hearing about all that’s wrong with high school hockey. Let’s appreciate what’s right about it.
Winter rally set for Saturday
What could be more invigorating than a drive through the Up North area on Saturday afternoon? The Minnesota Winter Rally — a timed event with no breaking of speed limits — will be conducted Saturday afternoon for any and every Up North automobile enthusiast, starting at the Proctor Blackwoods restaurant, Hwy. 2 and Boundary Av. Registration is at noon on Saturday, with driver-navigator teams leaving the starting point at 1 p.m., following a prescribed course around the area, and concluding at approximately 7 p.m.
Sauer hopes to make every weekend Super
As memorable time-frames go, last weekend was pretty huge for Kent Sauer.
First, back on Friday, Sauer, a freshman UMD hockey defenseman, from Sartell, Minn., scored his first collegiate goal, which started the Bulldogs toward an ultimate 4-3 victory over Denver — the team’s first home-ice victory over a WCHA opponent this season.
Then on Sunday, Sauer and Bulldog teammates Ryan Coole, Jesse Fibiger, Judd Medak, Jeff Scissons, Nate Anderson, Ryan Homstol, Colin Anderson, Andy Reierson and Mark Carlson all drove to the Twin Cities to watch the Atlanta Falcons beat the Vikings 30-27 in an overtime thriller of an NFC championship game at the Metrodome. Sauer’s big brother, Craig Sauer, a former Gopher football star, is a back-up linebacker for the Falcons. At one of the pivotal moments of the game, David Palmer tried to return a kickoff from his own goal line, built up a head of steam, only to be nailed by a flying tackle from Craig Sauer on the 17-yard line.
“It was a better time than I thought it would be,” said Sauer. “I thought it would be exciting, but it exceeded my expectations. I had never seen Craig play a pro game in person before. My dad had bought 56 tickets, so we had a bunch of family and friends there. After the game, it was great. Craig was so happy they won, he was teary-eyed.”
How do you beat a weekend like that?
Well, Sauer intends to make this weekend memorable also. The Bulldogs face St. Cloud State, with the teams following up Friday night’s game at the DECC with a Saturday night game at St. Cloud. For those without a road map, Sartell, where the Sauer family lives, is about seven miles from St. Cloud, and Sauer attended St. Cloud Apollo High School.
So when the Bulldogs faced St. Cloud State back in November, it also was a big weekend for Sauer, although he was just barely feeling his way along at the WCHA pace. “It was one of the biggest games for me, when we played at St. Cloud last time,” he said. “I just wish we’d come out on top. I expect this time to be even bigger. My mom and dad, and my sister Kelly, who goes to UMD, will be there to watch.”
Sauer, who is 6-1 and 225, left Apollo to play junior hockey in the USHL with the North Iowa Huskies last season. He was voted to the all-rookie team, and he was the No. 2 Minnesota prospect drafted by the NHL, taken in the fourth round by the Nashville Predators. Sauer knew he wasn’t ready to try pro hockey, and dedicated himself to proving he could play in the WCHA. It has been tough, at times, particularly on a youthful team with senior Bert Gilling the only defenseman who isn’t a freshman or sophomore.
Sauer, who likes to move up and help the offense, also is concerned with not abandoning his defensive responsibilities. Determining that balance is the biggest challenge to a rookie WCHA defenseman, and while assistant coach Jim Knapp has been impressed with Sauer’s determination and willingness to learn, Sauer has played better when he’s been bolder.
With his size, Sauer can deliver devastating, momentum-changing bodychecks, and when he gets aroused, he does that more effectively and his hockey instincts seem to shine. Those moments have increased as he’s gotten more comfortable in his position.
“I probably got myself out of position a lot at first,” Sauer said. “Lately, I’ve been jumping into the play more. I’ve gotten more confident, and I got the goal by doing that. Scoring the goal got me more confident that I can score in this league.”
If going back home for the Saturday game makes this weekend special, Sauer can be excused for looking ahead just a bit to next weekend. North Dakota, the runaway leader of the WCHA and the No. 1 ranked team in the country, comes to the DECC for a series. The Bulldogs, despite being in last place, lost two close games that were tied or one-goal apart until the final minutes both nights in Grand Forks.
Then comes Sunday — Super Bowl Sunday. After beating the Vikings, Craig Sauer paused in his excitement to note that he’d heard his little brother had scored his first WCHA goal last weekend. And UMD coach Mike Sertich realizes the magnitude of next weekend to the Sauer family.
“Coach is letting me off right after we play North Dakota,” said Sauer. “I can catch an early flight, right to Miami, and get in there in time for the Super Bowl.”
Nelson questionable
Freshman Tommy Nelson remained questionable for this weekend, after suffering a concussion last Saturday night against Denver. Nelson, from Superior, had scored his first goal of the season on Friday and left Saturday’s game after being hit. He was kept out of practice when he had a headache early in the week, and had an MRI done on Wednesday. When he hadn’t been cleared to return to practice before Thursday, he became doubtful for this weekend, and a final decision wouldn’t be made until game time.
Bulldogs fall to Huskies 6-3
The St. Cloud State Huskies don’t need a team bus, they need an ambulance. Held together with knee-braces, adhesive tape and recruits from the student body, the Huskies may never be more vulnerable than they were on Friday night. Ah, but this is the season where the UMD Bulldogs keep inventing new ways to lose, and last night they committed enough lapses for St. Cloud to skate off with a 6-3 victory.
Tyler Arnason scored two goals and Lee Brooks had a goal and set up another to pace the Huskies, who came into the series in reach of the last-place Bulldogs, and left for home, and tonight’s rematch in St. Cloud, having climbed past the University of Minnesota into seventh place.
“It was a really big game for us mentally,” said St. Cloud coach Craig Dahl. “We played so well and lost both games at Michigan Tech last week, that we needed to win to get some confidence back.”
From the outset, this series included the undercurrent of whether either team could fill out a full roster. The Bulldogs were without freshman center Tommy Nelson, who has been playing well and scored his first goal last weekend, because of the lingering after-effects of a concussion. Sophomore Mark Gunderson also missed practice the last two days with the flu, and kept the coaches guessing until game time, then scored two goals with booming slapshots — to open the game and one to give the Bulldogs hope at 4-3 in the third period.
The Huskies, meantime, were without star forwards Jason Goulet and Peter Torsson, both with torn knee ligaments; Chris Zaleski, with post-concussion syndrome; and John Cullen has been out all season with shoulder surgery. In addition, Nick Ouimet transfered, and Mike Rucinski quit the team in midseason.
“We’re one player away from not being able to dress a full roster,” said Dahl., before the game. Then the game started, and the Huskies lost Matt Bailey with a first-period knee injury. when Curtis Bois took him down, then went down on top of him.
“He blew out his anterior-cruciate ligament,” said Dahl. “He’s done for the season. You hate to see it happen, especially to a real good kid.”
The Bulldogs won the battle of the infirmaries, because of Gunderson. The sophomore center skated up the right side to gather in Richie Anderson’s drop pass, and rifled a 45-footer in off the right post and at 2:07 of the first period. The sudden start may have surprised the 4,342 fans, and the Bulldogs played a strong, up-tempo, puck-control style through the first nine minutes. But it seemed as though they used up all their passes in that span, considering how their offense sputtered after that.
The Huskies forced Brant Nicklin to make several good saves before finally getting a pair of goals later in the opening period. Freshman center Arnason gained a 1-1 tie on a weird sequence while the Huskies were shorthanded at 9:47. Arnason carried up the right, 2-on-1, and passed across the slot. The puck hit George Awada’s skate and the ricochet went right at the net. Nicklin, moving over in anticipation of a 1-timer, had to do the splits to block the puck, but Arnason was at the crease to tap it in.
Oddly, had Nicklin not stopped the carom-shot, it probably would have been disallowed for being kicked. Whatever, the Huskies took a 2-1 lead at 16:27 when Keith Anderson blocked Richie Anderson’s outlet try and fired a quick shot, wide to the left. Lee Brooks, a freshman from Bloomington Jefferson, crossing right to left, tipped it out of the air and into the left side of the net.
The Bulldogs got a 2-2 tie at 3:40 of the second period when junior Jeremy Zahn, who hadn’t played since the first dozen games of the season but was pressed into duty by Nelson’s injury, made a clever backhand pass from the end boards to Eric Ness, and the freshman winger put it away from the edge of the crease.
“It was such a great pass, Zahn deserves all the credit,” said Ness. “I had the easy part.”
But the Huskies broke the tie with a pair of goals before the middle period ended. Brad Goulet converted a 2-on-1 feed from Nate DiCasmirro at 12:21, and Arnason outmuscled the UMD defense for position in the slot, and when Brandon Sampair fed out from the left corner, Arnason drilled his second of the game and 10th of the season.
Again, however, the retreating Bulldogs outnumbered the Huskies but failed to cover adequately. Brooks carried up the right and passed to the slot, where Keith Anderson cut through two or three Bulldogs and shot it into the lower right. That was at 8:11, and the Huskies withstood intermittent UMD attempts until Matt Noga scored into an empty net with 33 seconds remaining.
St. Cloud State 2 2 2 — 6
UMD 1 1 1 — 3
First Period: 1. UMD–Gunderson 3 (R. Anderson) 2:07. 1. StC–Arnason 9 (Awada) 9:47, short-handed. 2. StC–Brooks 2 (K. Anderson) 16:27. Penalties–Bailey, StC (roughing) and Medak, UMD (roughing) 2:07; Forbes, StC (cross-checking) 4:48; DiCasmirro, StC (roughing) 8:41; Coole, UMD (interference) 16:52; Parrish, StC (hooking) 17:35.
Second Period: 2. UMD–Ness 2 (Zahn, N. Anderson) 3:40. 3. StC–B. Goulet 4 (DiCasmirro) 12:21. 4. StC–Arnason 10 (Sampair) 18:37. Penalty–Pudluck, StC (holding) 14:05.
Third Period: 3. UMD–Gunderson 4 (Sauer) 5:10. 5. StC–K. Anderson 2 (Brooks, Parrish) 8:11. 6. StC– Noga 6 (Sampair) 19:27, Empty net. Penalties–Forbes, StC (roughing) and Coole, UMD (roughing) 5:24; Noga, StC (hooking) 9:18; Pudluck, StC (roughing) and Coole, UMD (roughing) 15:59; Homstol, UMD (roughing) 19:27.
Saves: Weasler, StC 11 14 10–35; Nicklin, UMD 14 8 8–30. Power plays: St. Cloud 0-2; UMD 0-5. Referee: Seidel; assistant referees: Wohlers, Elvy. Attendance– 4,342.
Bulldogs swept by Huskies
ST. CLOUD, MINN.—
With 10 games remaining in the regular season, there is no certainty that the UMD Bulldogs are assured of finishing last in the 9-team WCHA. No certainty, but a pretty secure probability, after losing both games of last weekend’s series with St. Cloud State.
At 3-13-2, the ‘Dogs have 8 points, and, for the first time, officially are excluded from winning the WCHA. North Dakota, the No. 1 ranked team in the country, swept Minnesota to stand 14-1-1 for 29 points. The Bulldogs, by sweeping their last 10 games, would earn 20 more points to end up with 28 — one shy of North Dakota’s current total, with the Fighting Sioux coming to the DECC to face UMD this weekend.
The race itself is so tight that great movement can occur on a given weekend. Take St. Cloud State, for example. The Huskies were only four points ahead of UMD’s cellar a week ago, and while the double losses left the Bulldogs behind, the double victories vaulted the Huskies from eighth to fifth place, passing Minnesota, Michigan Tech and Wisconsin in a single bound.
“We got tired,” said Huskies coach Craig Dahl, who has had to dip into the student body to replace five players who have been injured and two more who left the club. “Our guys didn’t have much left, but it was a big weekend for us.”
For the Bulldogs, last weekend showed the possibility of the first signs of despair. All season, UMD has played well enough to win, but found different ways to fall just barely short. On Friday, however, they lost 6-3 to St. Cloud State, including an empty-net goal. In that one, even though Mark Gunderson scored two goals with booming shots and Eric Ness converted a perfect feed from little-used Jeremy Zahn, the Bulldogs did NOT play well enough to win. At least some of the players showed an apparent tendency to be satisfied if observers thought they had put out an effort.
After that Friday game, while the coaches may have used up all their optimistic, positive phrases about good-effort-bad-result, the entire coaching staff stayed behind closed doors. Mike Sertich and assistants Jim Knapp, Glenn Kulyk and goalie coach John Hyduke were barricaded in Sertich’s office, where voices frequently rose to high decible levels as the players quietly showered, dressed and departed.
The ‘Dogs snapped back to form on Saturday in St. Cloud, falling behind 2-0 before Jeff Scissons scored a power-play goal on a double-deflection with three seconds left in the first period, then tying it 2-2 when Shawn Pogreba scored a shorthanded breakaway goal early in the second.
St. Cloud State regained the lead at 4-2 on goals by Mike Pudlick and George Awada, before Pogreba and Colin Anderson set up Mark Carlson for a goal that cut the deficit to 5-3 with 4:41 remaining. Again, an open-net goal, this one when Brandon Sampair finished off Tyler Arnason’s long try with 12 seconds to go, ended the 5-3 game.
So it was back to normal, as the Bulldogs played well enough to get close enough to make the almost inevitable loss heartbreaking. There were, however, more signs that the normal post-game stuff was getting old, too old to be rehashed again. “We got close enough so that it came down to us making a play, and we didn’t do it,” said Sertich.
That comment came after Sertich had taken a brief side-trip on his way from the ice to the visiting dressing room at the National Hockey Center. A fan had been taunting Sertich, and got too personal for the coach’s liking. When he got to the corridor, instead of turning left to the dressing room, Sertich made an abrupt right, sprinted down the corridor and climbed one level, where he confronted the surprised fan.
“I asked him if he had anything else he wanted to say to me,” said Sertich. “He apologized.”
Maybe a little flare of temper and some stunning emotion could have an impact on the players, as well.
“We have to look at ourselves, it’s our team,” said Pogreba. “As the coaches said, it comes down to us making the plays; they can’t do anything once we’re out there and the game is going on.”
There were a couple of distinct differences between the two teams, despite their proximity in the standings, at least before the weekend. The Bulldogs were without Tommy Nelson, the freshman center who had played so well before being knocked out of the lineup with a concussion against Denver that still bothered him enough to miss the Huskies series.
The Huskies, meanwhile, lost speedy forward Matt Bailey to a knee injury when Curtis Bois knocked him down, then delivered a squashing additional hit, forcing him back after he was down on his knees. “I heard the knee pop,” said Bailey, a former linemate of Bulldog Richie Anderson at Elk River. He joins Jason Goulet and Peter Torsson, other top Huskie forwards lost to torn knee ligaments.
But to the 6,114 at the National Hockey Center, there was another clear difference Saturday night. The three UMD goals came on Scissons double-deflection from shooter Jesse Fibiger and first tipped by Ryan Homstol, on Pogreba’s well-aimed breakaway shot, and on Carlson’s quick shot from the slot.
All six St. Cloud State goals — except for the open-net finale — came on big, explosive slapshots. Geno Parrish blasted a screened shot past Brant Nicklin from left point; Sampair bombed a 25-foot slapshot; Mike Pudlick ripped a power-play shot from center point; and George Awada stepped in to intercept a careless breakout try and blasted a 30-footer.
“It was surprising that we were able to score on so many long shots,” said Parrish. “Especially considering how much trouble we’ve had scoring against Nicklin in the past.”
Somehow, it shouldn’t be surprising that high-velocity shots went into the UMD net. Just as it shouldn’t be surprising that the Bulldogs have trouble scoring, while rarely shooting the puck with anything resembling force.
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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