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
Hastings hits stride at East’s expense
At the start of the season, many high school hockey observers assumed Hastings would be the best team in the state. The Raiders, with Dan Welch, Jeff Taffe and defenseman Ben Tharp all returning from a team that went to the state tournament and lost only 5-4 to Duluth East, had added a couple of transfers and lost very little.
But while Hill-Murray, Elk River, Roseville and Duluth East were the surprises of the season, Hastings sputtered and misfired.
Hill-Murray surprised many with an outstanding team that is still undefeated and still ranked No. 1 in the Up North state ratings. Elk River surprised everybody by starting off at a sizzling clip, and still has lost only one game. Roseville came from out of nowhere to put together an extremely impressive season. Duluth East surprised some by losing defenseman Pat Finnegan to Canadian junior but still coming off a 2-2 start (with the losses to Elk River and Hill-Murray) to reaffirm its place among the top state teams.
But Hastings came to Duluth and was socked, about 7-3, in a scrimmage against East. The Raiders then went up to the Iron Range and struggled in a 4-4 tie against Greenway’s Raiders in another scrimmage. The season began, and Hastings seemed to be caught up reading its rave reviews more than focusing on teamwork. Eagan upset Hastings, then Roseville beat Hastings in a holiday tournament, setting up another loss to Eagan in the third-place game. Then, a loss to a good Eden Prairie team.
But with Welch, Taffe and Tharp already committed to University of Minnesota hockey scholarships, and Taffe apparently assured of a first-round draft slot if he chooses to opt-in for the NHL draft, it was perplexing.
“Mentally, it took a lot to get our heads into it,” said coach Russ Welch. “We didn’t play as a team, and our hearts just weren’t there.”
If it took something special to awaken Hastings, that something special appeared to be a game at the DECC against Duluth East last Saturday afternoon. The Greyhounds came out and got a 2-0 lead on goals by Ross Carlson and Mike Marshall in the first half of the first period.
At that point, it appeared East may have decided it wouldn’t be so tough, after all, at the same moment that the Raiders decided to snap into focus. Whatever, Dan Welch scored before the first period ended, on a slick feed from Taffe. Nick Husting’s shorthanded goal, one by Bobby Miller and another by Travis Kieffer, all in the second period, put Hastings in the lead at 4-2, and Welch and Pete Swanson boosted it to 6-2 before freshman Nick Licaro got a late goal for East.
The 6-3 victory was, for Hastings, a high-water mark. “This is the best game we’ve played all year,” said Russ Welch, Dan’s dad. “This is the first game where all three lines got going.”
It’s uncertain if Hastings can maintain that level of play, but it is virtually certain the Raiders will reach the state tournament. “Our biggest threats in the section will be Park of Cottage Grove, and St. Paul Johnson. But our biggest challenge is our own locker room.”
East coach Mike Randolph said: “I don’t know who could have beaten ’em today. I got caught watching ’em, too. We know they’re an excellent hockey team, but we haven’t gotten our rer ends kicked like that in the DECC since I’ve been here.”
After winning 10 consecutive games, Randolph also is aware that a loss, at the right time, can be a great learning tool. The ‘Hounds will need to get it back together this week, because they had to bounce right back and go to Hibbing for a Tuesday night date.
Hibbing and Greenway handled Duluth-area foes last week — Hibbing beating Denfeld 7-1 while Greenway stunned Cloquet 7-0 — then they went to Rochester last weekend. Both teams had an apparent case of bus-legs on Friday night, when Hibbing survived to beat John Marshall 5-4 in overtime and Greenway was ambushed 6-2 by Mayo. Both bounced back Saturday, Hibbing stopping a considerably stronger Mayo team, again in overtime, while Greenway whipped JM 5-1.
“We were not really sharp on Friday,” said Hibbing coach Mark DeCenzo. “I was disappointed we weren’t mentally into it the first night. JM worked hard and had us down 4-2 in the third period, until we pulled the goalie with 1:19 to go. Jesse Jagonich scored with 0:59 left, Rico Fatticci scored with 11 seconds left to tie it, and Mike Fatticci won it when he scored off a faceoff with 30-some seconds to go in overtime.
“We played much better the next night, and were leading Mayo 2-0 in the third period until they got two to tie us. Mike Fatticci got the overtime winner again for us, scoring on a rush this time.”
The result lifts Hibbing to No. 2 in the Up North regional ratings, behind East, which parlayed a 9-2 victory over Superior and a 10-1 whipping of Proctor earlier last week to offset the loss to Hastings and cling to the No. 1 slot. The Hounds did drop from No. 2 to No. 5 statewide, where Hibbing is No. 6, Greenway No. 9 and Eveleth No. 10.
Those four rank 1-4 in the region, where games from here on add the impact of seeding procedures. With Eveleth in Class 7A, Section 7AA could be the toughest in the state, with four of the state’s top 10, as Elk River joins East, Hibbing and Greenway. Look ahead to next week, incidentally, when Greenway and Hibbing collide on Tuesday night.
In girls action, Hibbing proved its intentions for the second half by tying the Duluth Dynamite 2-2 in the DECC last week. The Dynamite beat Bemidji in another key Up North match, which kept them at No. 7 in the state ratings. The top six remain constant, as Park Center and Roseville continue to roll along and Eagan got past a new archrival in Rosemount in a 2-1 thriller last week. Freshman Natalie Darwitz scored one and set up the other in that game. Becky Stewart, who scored a whopping number of goals on Darwitz’s line last year, transfered to Rosemount for this season. South St. Paul, Bloomington Jefferson and No. 6 Rosemount are all battling for prominence as sectional playoffs approach.
UP NORTH HOCKEY RATINGS
Boys
STATE
1. Hill-Murray, 14-0
2. Roseville, 11-2
3. Elk River, 12-1
4. Roseau, 13-1
5. Duluth East, 12-3
6. Hibbing, 10-3
7. Hastings, 10-4
8. Eagan, 12-1
9. Greenway of Coleraine, 10-4
10. Eveleth, 13-2
REGION
1. Duluth East, 12-3
2. Hibbing, 10-3
3. Eveleth, 13-2
4. Greenway of Coleraine, 10-4
5. Duluth Marshall, 9-4-1
6. Silver Bay, 10-3-1
7. Hermantown, 10-3-1
8. Hayward (Wis.), 9-1
9. Proctor, 7-7
10. Cloquet-Esko-Carlton, 7-7
GIRLS STATE
1. Park Center, 17-0
2. Roseville, 16-0-1
3. Eagan, 16-1
4. South St. Paul, 16-1
5. Bloomington Jefferson, 12-4-1
6. Rosemount, 13-3
7. Duluth Dynamite, 14-3-1
8. Burnsville, 12-3-2
9. Bemidji, 12-6-1
10. Hibbing, 8-9-2
Finnie finds a home in Windsor
WINDSOR, ONTARIO
The house is different, so is the city, and so is the country, but when Patrick Finnegan answered the doorbell, it all suddenly seemed a lot like Lester Park.
He led a visitor down the hallway, through the kitchen, and down a few carpeted stairs to the family room. The 10 o’clock news was on a big-screen television set, and he was commiserating with a sportscaster about the “national tragedy” of Canada losing the World Junior final to Russia.Finnegan walked over to a refrigerator and produced a couple of bottles of lemonade, and plopped down on the couch.
“I’m having fun,” Finnegan said. “Things are going good, although Jeff Martin is out with a shoulder injury and Jason Ward just got back from the World Junior team.”
Martin? Ward? Those aren’t the names of Duluth East Greyhounds, the guys who would be Finnegan’s teammates if he had stayed for his senior year. They are names of prominent members of the Windsor Spitfires, a team in the highly regarded “OHL,” or Ontario Hockey League — the Tier 1, Major Junior outfit that prepares young hockey players for the transition from youth hockey to hoped-for draft positions and pro hockey futures.
Training camp in August, a season that runs as long as the NHL, with 68 games, played three a week, usually Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. That helps players attend high school. Finnegan goes to Herman High School in Windsor. But it’s a different world from Minnesota, and from high school hockey.
There are those critics who thought Finnegan made a mistake leaving East, where, as a swashbuckling, puck-carrying gambler on defense, he would have been a front-runner for Mr. Hockey, and responsible for leading East back to defend the state championship he helped the ‘Hounds win last year.
There was an assumption that Finnegan might suffer by being thrust into the intense, physical world of “Junior A” hockey, that he might be hopelessly homesick by leaving his family and friends, that he might get beaten up and play ineffectively.
As it turns out, the answer is none of the above.
“It was tough to leave home, and I didn’t get home from Aug. 15 until a week at Christmas time,” said Finnegan. ” People up here don’t understand what high school hockey is like. I go by East High School, and playing there, the coaches and the friendships are something I’ll never forget. I know the guys back at East will do good and be successful.
“But for me, when I was leaving to come to training camp, I knew this was the league for development for me.”
Michael and Debbie Paulin have a 17-year-old son of their own, Jay, who operates an internet web site for the Spitfires. They also have Ron Vogel, 19, a third-year goaltender with the club, living at their home, so adding Finnegan, who turned 18 in August, offered no surprises. The Windsor team pays the family for expenses for housing players.
“Finney is a little wild and crazy sometimes,” laughed Michael Paulin. “He came home today and you could smell the perfume on him a mile away. “He’s been great. Except that he always keeps everybody waiting. Guys are always beeping their horn waiting for him.”
Jay Paulin gets a laugh out of Finnegan too. “He’s always going around singing or saying funny lines from movies or TV shows, and he’s usually way off,” said Jay. “And he’s always late, all right. He waits till the last minute, then a little more.”
So much for being homesick.
As for his play, playing before 2,500 on the undersized rink at home is fun, but he also has enjoyed playing at the new, 5,000-seat sold-out arena in Sarnia, or in Ottawa, or in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Cloquet, Hibbing and Greenway have been replaced as rivals by Barrie, the Peterboro Petes, and the Mississauga Ice Dogs.
He also has readily adopted the junior hockey focal point of ticking off the names of recent junior players who have made “the show,” including Jamie Langenbrunner, who went from Cloquet to Peterboro and to the Dallas Stars.
“I felt comfortable right away in training camp, although I had the feeling some guys weren’t going all out,” he said. “Then the regular season started, and it was completely the opposite — run-and-gun, and finish your checks. It’s tough, and there’s some fights. It seems like every team has guys who take care of that stuff, and you learn that a guy can really give his team a mental boost by doing well in a fight.
“I haven’t had any fights yet. Just in practice. I thought I was going to have one last game when I nailed a guy into the post. He came after me, but before I could fight him Tim Sinsasac, one of my teammates, stepped in. My defense partner is John Cilladi, from Erie, Pa., and he’s 6-4 and 230. He takes care of me, too. I guess because we don’t score much, and they figure I can help our offense, they’d rather have me not be in the box.”
Finnegan had four goals, 18 assists for 22 points through the first 37 games. The Spitfires had won only 10 of those, and coach Tony Curtale was “allowed” to resign and turn coaching duties over to Dave Perpich. Finnegan was surprised, and said he learned a lot from Curtale, a rare American in Canadian junior coaching ranks.
“Eight teams from each conference make the playoffs, and we’re eighth in the Western Conference,” said Finnegan. “I guess the owners thought we under-achieved.”
Vogel, the goaltender, is from London, Ontario and said this is his fifth coach in three seasons at Windsor. He also said that while Finnegan may have felt uneasy at first, he quickly fit in. “He fit in very good,” said Vogel. “You’ve got to realize that he is a first-year player in this league, and he’s paired on the first defense unit, and plays on the power play. He’s definitely our most poised with the puck.”
It took awhile, Finnegan said. “Coach [Larry] Trachsel helped me learn a lot about defense or I’d have been completely lost when I came up here,” said Finnegan. “I’ve had to try to fit my offensive play into this league, where the ice doesn’t open up as much. I still like to pinch in from the points more than the other guys, but I think I’m entitled to do something to get things going. I want to be a go-to guy, and last game I pinched in and intercepted a pass and set up a goal.
“You watch high school and college hockey, and forwards can fly out of the zone and the ‘D’ have to go with ’em. I got used to throwing long bomb passes, so I had to adjust to remember to get to the blue line before passing so I wouldn’t make two-line passes.”
He said he hasn’t noticed any harsh treatment because he’s not Canadian. There are three U.S. players on the team, and he said the only hassles he’s had are from rookie duty, like loading the equipment on buses, picking up pucks, filling the water bottles. But you can tell, he enjoys even being the target of practical jokes.
“We’ve really got a great group of guys, and it’s really fun to be together on the bus trips,” Finnegan said, and he laughed about coming home covered with perfume. “We’ve got some team jokers, and they dumped cheap cologne on me, all over my jacket. I’m a rookie, and the rookies get it all year. In training camp, I came out of the shower and grabbed a white towel and didn’t somebody had put shaving cream all over it.”
It was after midnight when Finnegan walked his visitor to the door. He had a game the next night, and school all day before it. The wintry blast outside made a Duluthian feel very much at home. Back at the house, Finney stood at the opened doorway in his stocking feet. Canadian major junior hockey only makes sense for a few, but Finney has found a home.
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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