Something is missing from AA tournament
Maybe it’s just a weird year. The 55th Minnesota High School Hockey Tournament for boys will be held in Minneapolis instead of St. Paul, at Target Center instead of the torn-down-but-soon-to-be-rebuilt Civic Center, and fans will find more congestion, less parking and higher prices awaiting them.
But strangest of all will be the unprecedented absence of a Duluth or Iron Range Conference team from the Class AA field.
Hockey fans here in Up North territory can indeed be thankful for the Class A tournament, where Hermantown and Silver Bay can be counted on to carry the Up North colors in prideful fashion.
But in Class AA, Iron Range and Duluth teams, which accounted for19 of the first 36 championships and six more titles in the seven years of two-level tournaments — including both AA and A last year — will not be represented. Hibbing, Duluth East and Greenway were all powerful threats, but they yielded the Section 7AA championship to Elk River last week.
It will be the first time in tournament history that neither an Iron Range nor Duluth area team won Region or Section 7 and therefore will not be represented among the elite field of eight Class AA entries, and no less than Elk River coach Tony Sarsland thinks that’s inexcusable.
“It’s ridiculous that we have to play in Section 7,” said Sarsland, after his team beat Duluth East in the semifinals and Hibbing in a three-overtime classic final. “The Iron Range and Duluth schools are why the tournament is there. They put it on the map. We’re not a Range team, we belong in Section 4. The teams up here, this is what they live for. My heart goes out to ’em. It’s baloney.”
Roseau is about as far north as you can get, but even though the Rams from Section 8 are favored along with Hastings, Elk River and Hill-Murray for the Class AA title, their appearance won’t come close to soothing the pain in Section 7.
Often overlooked as a subsidiary event to the “big school” tournament, this year, the Class A event for smaller programs will carry at least as much entertainment value this year as their larger and more publicized AA rivals.
Hermantown (21-3-1) was state runner-up last year to Eveleth-Gilbert, and will ride into Wednesday’s opening round as one of the tournament favorites, even though folks south of Cambridge may assume that Benilde-St. Margaret’s (23-2) is the favorite. Conveniently, we’ll soon find out who is right, because Hermantown takes on Benilde in the 7:05 p.m. opening round game at Target Center.
The overwhelming choice as Cinderella team for the week is Silver Bay (18-5-2), which is the smallest school (135 students) in the state to have a hockey team, but the Mariners, from the smallest town (1,800), hope the attention on their Cinderella status may cause their skill level and forceful style to be overlooked by opponents.
The Mariners will face East Grand Forks (14-10-1) in the 12:05 p.m. first game of Wednesday’s first round. That second Class A game has ((((Blake (19-5-1)/Breck (19-6)))) meeting upstart St. Thomas Academy (15-10).
Wednesday night’s evening session has the Hermantown-Benilde clash followed by Fergus Falls (15-7-1) against Red Wing (19-4-2).
The Class A semifinals are Friday at 12:05 and 2:45 p.m., and the final is Saturday at 2 p.m.
In Class AA, Eden Prairie (18-7) opens at 12:05 p.m. Thursday against colorful Holy Angels (24-1), the Cinderella team in AA, but a private school that has become a stronghold of hockey in recent years, as Richfield’s answer to Hill-Murray.
Roseau (23-1) takes on Rochester Mayo (22-3-1) at 2:05 Thursday, with the evening session promising a pair of slugfests, with Elk River (22-3) facing Hill-Murray (21-3-1) at 7:05 and Hastings (21-4) favored against Blaine (21-4) in the 9:45 finale to the first round.
Class AA semifinals are at 7:05 and 9:45 p.m. Friday, with the championship game at 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
As usual, the hockey tournament is guaranteed to be filled with surprises and spectacular performances and plays. But if something seems missing, it will be the Duluth and Iron Range entries in Class AA. It would be a good year for a cynic to organize an NIT (Northern Invitational Tournament) at the DECC, with Duluth East, Hibbing, Greenway and Eveleth playing a round robin.
More realistically, University of Minnesota coach Doug Woog put it best, suggesting the high school league should find a way to assure Up North teams a place in the tournament.
“They’ve made some rules to protect the new programs in the southern part of the state,” said Woog. “But they should also make rules to protect the tradition and heritage of Northern Minnesota teams. They can protect the past while looking ahead to the future.”
Playoff finality comes too soon
The Section 2A hockey tournament is a Saturday semifinal and Tuesday final from completion, but Thursday night’s Hermantown-Proctor game may prove to have been the deciding game, even though it was “only” a quarterfinal.
There is no such thing as “only” when it comes to state hockey sectional playoffs. Whatever round it is, it’s the harsh reality of win-or-else. Advance, or turn in your gear for the season.
Hermantown had a first-round bye, awaiting its old neighborhood rival. Proctor already had to play a game, Tuesday night.
The Proctor ice arena is a classic old building. You enter a lobby area, where people flock between periods to warm up by the concession stand, or they go upstairs to a meeting room that provides a warm, glassed-in view from one end.
Ah, but in the arena itself, the chill of the ice slaps you in the face as you look out from behind one net. The main bleacher seats are around to the right, the player’s boxes to the left. The walls are covered with aging panels of insulation, to keep the cold IN, not OUT. And there are great, bright lights, the kind of lights that the builders of the sparkling new Cloquet arena should examine and duplicate to improve the dusk-like dimness of their state-of-the-art facility, where the seating area is brighter than the ice surface.
Walking around to the left, toward the players benches, you pass a small, corner perch where the pep band is stationed. As long as there aren’t too many in the band.
There are a couple rows of bleacher seats on that side, although when you walk along the boarded walkway between them and the boards you’re careful, because the walkway is at about a 15 percent slope.
As usual in an old, colorful arena, the ice is good, and therefore so is the speed of the game, and those watching it will enjoy it without need for sanitary, new accessories.
Hermantown and Proctor both branch off into Section 2A, which is good, because it gives Up North teams a chance for another berth in the state tournament, beyond just 7AA and 7A. Hermantown and Proctor are, probably, the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in 2A, although Chisago Lakes has an impressive record, too. But Section 2A extends all the way to Mora, St. Cloud, Princeton and Monticello, and they decided to seed the section on the basis of east and west teams. Hermantown was East No. 1, Chisago Lakes East 2, Pine City East 3 and Proctor East 4. Cambridge is No. 1 in the West.
That meant Proctor — actually Proctor/AlBrook — had to play Moose Lake — actually Moose Lake/Willow River/Barnum/Cromwell — in an opening round game last Tuesday. That was unfortunate as a seeding location, particularly to Moose Lake, a good enough young team to deserve to play a team of more similar capabilities, for a chance at a memorable victory, rather than to face a team as strong as Proctor.
The trouble with such far-ranging seeding is that nobody from one end knows much about the other, and the West end could have teams with .500 records seeded high. Chisago Lakes had merit enough to be seeded high in the East, with an impressive 7-5 victory over Marshall at Pioneer Hall a couple of weeks ago.
Marshall coach Brendan Flaherty admitted afterward that the Chisago Lakes game would be the only one that was a break from conference play, so he played all of his seniors, including his backup goaltender. The 7-5 loss was meaningless, compared to the wonderful gesture of giving his seniors a night to cherish always. It turned out to be more than meaningless, perhaps, inhibiting Marshall’s seeding a bit in 7A and enhancing Chisago Lakes’ seeding in 2A.
Because of their schedule, the Proctor Rails probably should have been seeded No. 2, with the chance to meet Hermantown in the final.
As it is, though, they won’t have to give back any memories from that first-round night in the Proctor Arena, where the chill was broken by the aroma of several platters of barbecued food their parents prepared and carried to a post-game feast upstairs.
The Rails earned the celebration, however brief, because they were flying that night, out on that cold slab of ice.
Aaron Slattengren, a swift, forceful junior, scored on a wraparound after only 14 seconds had elapsed from when Jay Dardis took the opening faceoff. Slattengren then beat the defense with a great pass that sent Dardis, a lanky, creative centerman, in for a 2-0 lead exactly four minutes later.
Slattengren scored on a breakaway to start the second period, and Ryan Morgando and Richie Upton scored 11 seconds apart to make it 5-0 before Joe Danelski, a strapping 6-3, 230-pound defenseman, hammered one in for Moose Lake. In the third period, Jack Hom, Dardis and Matt Ogston added goals as the Rails sent the game into running time for an 8-1 final.
It was an impressive display, as Dardis, a senior center committed to St. Cloud State after a year in the USHL, and Slattengren each scored two goals and four assists in the game. Junior Corey Lonke had 23 saves for Proctor, but everyone knew he’d face a lot more shots against Hermantown.
Still, the Dardis-Upton-Slattengren line would be a challenge for Hermantown’s Jon Francisco-Chris Baron-Andy Corran top line. Hermantown coach Bruce Plante knew that, which is why Plante was there in the chill of Proctor Arena, checking out the proceedings.
The Proctor-Hermantown game would have been a fitting final in Section 2A. It figured to be a great game no matter when, but the quarterfinals were just too early for either one of them to be finished, and to already be savoring memories of more successful nights.
Greatest tournament of all — 30 years ago
For all of us who are still teenagers at heart, it seems incomprehensible tht 30 years have passed since the 1969 Minnesota state hockey tournament captivated the entire state with some of the most indelible memories in the glorious, 55-year history of the state’s premier sports event.
That was the 25th year of hockey tournaments, and it had outgrown its wonderful but aging roots in the old St. Paul Auditorium, where teams from Eveleth and International Falls had displayed dynasties in the sport. The last two tournaments in the old, dark, cavernous Auditorium were won by Greenway of Coleraine, led by a pint-sized centerman named Mike Antonovich. They won it his sophomore year, and they won it his junior year.
But the Minnesota North Stars had been born by then, and their owners built a magnificent new structure, Metropolitan Sports Center, in Bloomington. So while tradition might have cried out for the tournament to stay in the Auditorium, logic moved it for 1969 to Met Center, where twice the attendance was assured, proving the tournament was the biggest attraction and could support virtually all other high school league activities. That move also may have influenced St. Paul to build the “new” Civic Center to regain the tournament’s traditional site.
But in ’69 at the Met, the field was magical. The Northern Minnesota teams were intimidating in their immense skill level, and the only time a Northern team failed to win the state title in the tournament’s first 25 years was when St. Paul Johnson won titles in 1947, 1953, 1955 and 1963 — rude intrusions into an Up North tradition.
Greenway was back, with Antonovich as a senior and Tom Peluso a junior, hungry for its third straight title, and nobody would pick against the Raiders. Roseau had an exceptional team, led by players like Earl Anderson, who would go onto stardom at North Dakota, and John Harris, who went on to become captain at the University of Minnesota, and later to play a little golf.
But in those days, the northern area was represented by Region 3, the famous “back door” to assure the proper skill level of tournament play by augmenting Region 7 and Region 8 with another entry, to be determined by a game between the runners-up of Regions 7 and 8. In 1969, Greenway had beaten an Eveleth team with Pete LoPresti in goal in the Region 7 final, and Roseau had beaten Warroad, with a young team led by a tall, dark, and tireless Chippewa Indian superstar named Henry Boucha.
He was called “BOO-she” around Warroad, “BOO-shaw” to those from farther away than Roseau, and “Boo-SHAY” — with a French-Canadian twist — once he made it to the National Hockey League with the Detroit Red Wings. But in 1969, the rest of the state south of Moorhead was close to not ever seeing Boucha play. Turns out, Boucha scored a goal with a blistering long shot with one second to go in overtime to beat LoPresti and Eveleth in the Region 3 final.
The Twin Cities was represented in that tournament by a St. Paul Harding team that had provided the only break in an eight-year regional dominance by St. Paul Johnson; by Mounds View; by a Minneapolis Southwest team led by junior goalie Brad Shelstad and his all-state older brother Dixon Shelstad; by traditional power South St. Paul; and by Edina, a speedy and classy team led by mercurial Bobby Krieger, but carrying the load of never having won a tournament.
Roseau polished off Harding 4-1 in the tournament’s opening game, then it was time for Warroad to take the ice against Southwest. On the opening faceoff, Southwest’s Indians flung the puck deep into the right corner of the Warroad zone. A purple-and-white forechecker raced in at Boucha, the tall, No. 16 defenseman. Boucha seemed unaware, but he was totally aware, and he made an instaneous little move, reversing the puck with a tap off the corner boards, pivoting in a flash to regain possession five feet behind himself, and darted up ice while the forechecker wondered how the puck disappeared.
The crowd, as if one, emitted an audible gasp at the move. Warroad went on to win the game 4-3, and the entire crowd, and the thousands more watching on television, were captivated by Boucha and his youthful henchmen in black.
Edina whipped overmatched Mounds View 5-0 in the first night game, and South St. Paul, comparatively unheralded, got spectacular goaltending performance from Mark Kronholm and upset Greenway 4-3, leaving Antonovich and his fellow Raiders in tears in the dressing room, their quest for a third straight title devastated.
In the semifinals, Warroad overturned its Region 8 title loss by beating Roseau 3-2, and it became evident that the Warriors, with only two seniors, had more than just Henry Boucha — although having Henry Boucha also seemed to be enough. Edina, with coach Willard Ikola letting loose a never-ending stream of swift skaters, buried South St. Paul 7-1 in the second semifinal.
Covering that tournament for the Minneapolis Tribune, my lead on the overview story of the semifinals promised that it would be “The Lightning against the Legend” in the final, with Edina’s overwhelming speed against Boucha’s instant legendary status.
As appetizers, Greenway came back to win the consolation title, beating Southwest 3-2, and Antonovich wound up with seven goals and one assist out of Greenway’s 10 tournament goals to lead the event in scoring. South St. Paul nipped Roseau 4-3 in the third-place game.
Then it was time. Tiny Warroad, with the instantly and totally beloved Henry Boucha, would face Edina for the title. A storybook couldn’t have been written this way; it would have been too unrealistic.
Harsh reality, however, was to come. To most observers, a cruel Edina team knocked out Boucha with a flagrant cheapshot, which left the crowd in an extremely hostile mood. The section at Met Center housing the Edina section seemed to shrink against the boos and hoots of the rest of the world. First off, there was Edina’s vast, West Suburban wealth, against Warroad’s small-town, blue-collar-ethic workers from the northwoods. And they took out the Legend, the Indian kid, as well.
Reality was that defenseman Jim Knutson had a chance for a heavy bodycheck on Boucha in the second period — one of the only times in the game or even the season that Boucha was vulnerable for such a hit — and he made the most of it, with a leaping, extra-forceful bodycheck along the boards. Almost any opponent would have done the same. But on this hit, Knutson’s elbow hit Boucha on the side of his helmeted head. He was knocked out. The shocking thing was that Boucha, who was impossible to stop, didn’t come back. He suffered an ear injury that would send him to the hospital.
However, forgotten in many memories was that Warroad was behind 4-2 at the time. So even with Boucha in the lineup, and rarely leaving the ice as he moved from defense to forward, and then back to defense for moments of “rest,” the Warriors were in jeopardy of losing.
The crowd and the remaining Warriors seemed lifted to an emotional binge in the aftermath of Boucha’s departure, however, and, led by players such as Alan Hangsleben, and Lyle Kvarnlov, Warroad battled back against seemingly hopeless odds to gain a 4-4 tie. There would be overtime. The electricity that filled the place, and had filled it since that first, sudden move by Boucha on opening day, would not leave.
Hangsleben, a sophomore defenseman, incredibly stepped up to fill Boucha’s role of puck-rusher and constant threat. But in the end, the valiant Warriors and the enormous, emotional crowd, was not enough. Skip Thomas scored at 3:09 of sudden-death overtime, and Edina won 5-4. It was a magnificent, incredible finish to what might be the most memorable tournament of all time.
And that’s the sort of thing that brings Minnesota hockey fans and casual observers back, and makes this the greatest sports event in the state, this year and every year. As great as that tournament was, there is always room for a more spectacular one. And this year could be it. We just have to wait and see.
Elks focus now on Martin, state tournament
Three of the favorites for Sunday’s Mr. Hockey award are in the lower bracket of this week’s Class AA boys hockey tournament — Hastings stars Dan Welch and Jeff Taffe, and Hill-Murray’s Matt Koalska.
Elk River doesn’t have a Mr. Hockey finalist for one reason, because Martin is only a junior. But there are those observers who think that Martin might be the best player in the state right now.
Several very good Class AA hockey teams in the Up North region are still feeling the sting, but they have to grudgingly acknowledge that whether they should be in Section 7AA or not, Elk River, from the northwestern Twin Cities suburb next to Anoka, is the 7AA representative at this week’s state tournament.
The Elks always attract attention for their hard-charging style and tireless work ethic, and sometimes for colorful outbursts by coach Tony Sarsland, and his snakeskin boots. But as teams Up North painfully learned, the focus of attention on this year’s Elk team is Martin, a tall, lanky defenseman, who spends almost all of every game on the ice and making sure the Elks come out on top.
Martin got only one assist in the last two games, when the Elks beat defending state Class AA champion Duluth East in a 4-2 Section 7AA semifinal at the DECC, and beat Hibbing in a 2-1 triple-overtime classic in the 7AA final in Hibbing. But he was the dominant performer in both games, blocking shots, breaking up rushes, and swift and efficient as he broke the puck out of the Elk zone and generated most of their offensive rushes.
As the Elks skate onto the Target Center ice sheet for Thursday’s first round, the focus of attention will be on No. 15, Martin. It’s doubtful Martin can spend as much time on the ice as he did through the Section 7AA tournament, but with the Elks facing Hill-Murray, then possibly Hastings, you can look for Martin to be on the ice more than on the bench.
“Martin is the best player in high school hockey,” said Sarsland. “We thought about playing him up front this season, but in my opinion he’s the best defenseman in the state.”
What has become unfortunately typical of high school hockey these days, USA Hockey tries to encourage areas to develop players like Martin, then USA Hockey tries to lure them away to their elite program in Ann Arbor, despite the devastating blow it delivers to the hometown high school.
“I’ve thought about it,” said Martin. “I know that if I went there, I would improve my game from the longer season. But it’s so much more fun in high school in Minnesota.”
Sarsland, who gave his blessing for Martin to leave the high school team and fill in on the USA Select team for a trip to the Czech Republic a month ago, is confident his prize will stay at home.
“We let him go on that trip, and we know he could go to Ann Arbor or to the USHL next season, and he could get more games, no question. But there are things more valuable to him,” said Sarsland. “He’s a three-sport star. He’s a wide receiver in football, and plays first base in baseball. Not only that, he ran track last spring.”
State tournament attention, and the play of Martin, are a welcome relief for the Elks, who have come to be looked upon as the state’s villains for being assigned to far-flung sections and prevent other good teams from making it to state. None of that is Elk River’s fault. Until last winter, Elk River spent four years in Section 8AA, where they had the misfortune of having one of the best teams in the state the same years as Moorhead, which always prevailed in the sectional, once beating the Elks in a four-overtime classic.
When the Elks were finally taken out of Section 8AA, they were plugged into 7AA, where they lost in the title game to Duluth East last year, making it five straight years an excellent Elk River team had failed to make the state tournament since its only appearance, in 1993.
Sarsland has established a trademark of a hard-working, unwavering attack, coupled with the flamboyance Sarsland’s snakeskin boots and sometimes-controversial statements that are much more direct than they are tactful. Sarsland attracted more of the wrong kind of attention last year, when he verbally threatened Joey Bailey, a good-skating junior, and long-time assistant coach Marly Glines quit in the aftermath, even though his son was a junior goaltender on the team.
But everything has been in order this season. Bailey plays on the first line with fellow-senior Jed Leonard and sophomore Joel Hanson. It was Hanson who scored at 0:12 of the first period to ignited the Elks past East in the DECC, but the most dramatic game of Elk River’s season was still ahead.
The Elks outshot Hibbing 62-28, but it wasn’t until 3:56 of the third overtime that Leonard who took a feed from Bailey and broke to the net from the left side, jamming a shot in to end a sensational, 60-save performance by Hibbing’s sophomore goaltender Travis Weber.
Another key performer for the Elks is sophomore Trevor Stewart, who centers juniors John Brummer and Justin Nikle. Stewart set up Brummer for two goals in the second period to break a 1-1 tie against East, and it was Brummer’s power-play goal with 2:13 remaining in regulation that tied Hibbing 1-1 and forced the three overtimes.
“I was worried because we put so much pressure on Hibbing, and their goalie played so great,” said Glines, who has remained solid in the nets for Elk River all season, and can now display his 1.9 goals-against average and 89-percent save mark at state.
“Nobody ever said Mitch was any good,” said Sarsland. “But all he’s done all year is win for us. My heart goes out to Hibbing, because I’ve been there. A few years ago [1994] we had the best team in the state but we lost one game, in four overtimes to Moorhead in the section final.
“This time, after all these years, and all the close games, I was on the bench saying, ‘Please, lord, c’mon, just once let us win one of these.’ ”
Traveling to Target Center will be a shorter hop for the Elks, who were conditioned for the road by flying in their own Olympic-sized ice sheet and on the road by Sarsland.
“We haven’t lost a game in three years in our new rink,” said Sarsland. “It’s baloney that we have to come up to Section 7AA to play. Sure, we deserve to be in the tournament, but these Range teams and Duluth teams are the reason the state tournament even exists. We’re not a Range team, we belong in Section 4.
“But because we knew we had to come up here and play Duluth East in Duluth, and Hibbing in Hibbing, we scheduled our last six games on the road.”
Those were at Champlin Park, Burnsville, Anoka and Blaine. The Anoka and Blaine games came after Elk River had achieved the No. 1 seed in 7AA, and the Elks went back and lost both of them to the teams from their legitimate section. That dropped the Elks from 19-1 and the No. 1 rating in the state, but they now have rebounded and stand 22-3.
And now the state’s television crews can scramble to focus on Sarsland’s snakeskin boots. He hadn’t worn them for a while, but he pulled them back on for the sectional. “I’m trying to keep a low profile,” Sarsland said. “But…these are my lucky boots.” Obviously, he’ll be wearing them at Target Center.
Welch’s last-second goal wins for Hastings
The biggest upset of the state boys Class AA tournament was less than one minute from completion Thursday night at Target Center. But with 15,829 fans on the edges of their seats, Hastings star Dan Welch scored the tying goal with 41 seconds remaining, then he swiped the puck at center ice and raced in to score with one second remaining to give heavily favored Hastings a 7-6 victory over upstart Blaine.
There was no question that Hastings, with its prolific offense, would score some goals in the state Class AA hockey tournament. The question was whether Blaine could keep up.
After the two teams collaborated on a state tournament record three goals in 26 seconds, the question was: How many times could they set that record in the game?
They settled for just the one time, and it will be a difficult chore for the Raiders to duplicate in tonight’s 9:45 semifinal against Elk River, a team that tends to business defensively with considerable more intensity.
The final turnabout came after Blaine’s Adam Holmgren completed a hat trick with Blaine’s third straight goal in the third period, for a shocking 6-5 Bengal lead. The upset of the tournament was at hand, but Hastings coach Russ Welch pulled goalie Matt Klein in the final minute, and then his son took over.
The shootout began, appropriately, on the game’s first shift, when Hastings star center Jeff Taffe rushed all the way and scored at 0:22.
Looked like a laugher, but Blain, not getting the punch line, countered with a goal by Adam Holmgren at 0:55.
No, that wasn’t the record run. Hastings came back for goals by Pete Swanson, then a later one by Nick Husting, and a shorthnaded marker by Erik Aarness at 14:41 to take a seemingly safe 4-1 lead after one period.
Then the fun began. Trevor Frischmon overskated a loose puck at the Hastings crease, but reached around for a behind-the-back tap that slid through Hastings goalie Matt Klein at 3:11 of the second. At 3:19, Matt Van Der Bosch scored with a shot off a pass for Hastings, making it two goals in eight seconds. But Blaine came right back in and Erik Johnson steered a one-handed shot that hit the sitting goaltender Klein and popped over him.
The three goals in 26 seconds broke the tournament record of three goals in 32 seconds, set by Eveleth in 1951.
That flurry lifted Blaine to a mere 5-3 deficit, but the plucky Bengals weren’t finished.
Holmgren threw a power-play shot on goal that skipped past the beleaguered Klein at 2:57 of the third period, and Frischmon, who was in the middle of the action all night, left a drop pass for Nate Hendricks, then scored on the rebound of Hendricks’ shot at 4:43, tying the game at 5-all.
Still, to most of the 15,829, the much-publicized Hastings attack seemed ready to respond. But then Holmgren made his rush, deking through defenseman Ben Tharp at the right circle and lifting his shot over Klein for a stunning 6-5 Blaine lead. Would it be enough for a dramatic upset? Not in this one.
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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