Roseau stifles Hastings offense for title
Everyone anticipated a tight, tense state Class AA boys hockey championship game Saturday night. But nobody anticipated a shutout.
Roseau, however, weathered early offensive pressure by Hastings’ explosive offense, then skated to a convincing 4-0 victory over the Raiders in the tournament’s championship game.
With a crowd of 15,888 at Target Center and a statewide television audience watching, the Rams and goaltender Jake Brandt stifled the Hastings gunners, who fired the game’s first seven shots, but couldn’t keep it up against the smooth, relentless and poised Rams, who finished the season ranked No. 1 in the Up North Network rating, and take home a 26-1 season record. It was Roseau’s sixth state championship.
The Hastings 1-2 punch of Jeff Taffe and Dan Welch — who figure to place 1-2 in today’s naming of Mr. Hockey — had all the headlines coming into the tournament, but Roseau’s Rams proved the advantage of a total team effort.
Hastings (23-4) showed no indications of being tired from Friday night’s gruelling double-overtime victory over Elk River, at least not in the first period, when the Raiders stormed out and took a 7-0 edge in shots on goal. But Jake Brandt was sparkling in goal to prevent the heavy artillery of Jeff Taffe, Dan Welch and others from puncturing his domain.
Roseau, however, seemed almost content to spend the time in the defensive zone, weathering the anticipated early assault, and waiting for their chance.
The Rams came back for a few good chances, but settled for a scoreless first period. It became evident that the first goal could be significant, and it was.
Josh Olson drilled a shot off what started as a missed pass in the slot, scoring at 6:40 of the second period to give Roseau a 1-0 lead.
At 8:03, Hastings goaltender Matt Klein went down to block a shot, and as he groped to try to cover it, David Klema came by, poked the puck clear to the left, then slid it in for a 2-0 lead.
Hastings needed a break to get back into it, and Adam Gerlach almost provided it, picking off a loose puck and breaking in at top speed. His hard shot from the left circle, however, clanked the right post and the ricochet went harmlessly into the far corner.
Jake Majeski, Hastings rugged defenseman, took the game’s only penalty at 14:29 of the second period, and the game’s only power play overlapped into the third period.
The Rams made the Raiders pay, when Mike Klema scored with a 1-timer from the right side off Josh Olson’s pass across the goal-mouth at 1:27.
Mike Klema skated in alone but was saved. But the Raiders were back on their collective heels by then, as if the toll of Friday’s long game seemed to weigh heavily.
Matt Erickson scored the Rams final goal, at 5:24, when he glanced one in off Klein from the right circle.
Elk River takes 3rd on penalty shot
Amid all the excitement and drama that makes the state high school hockey tournament a cinch to be Minnesota’s premier sports attraction every year is that no matter how many unprecedented things that have occured over 54 years, there is always the chance for something new. Any game, any time.
On Saturday, after three days of amazing happenings, something new occured to decide Elk River’s 3-2 victory over Holy Angels in the Class AA third-place game at Target Center.
The Elks, spent from their double-overtime loss to Hastings in Friday night’s midnight special semifinal, had spotted Holy Angels a 1-0 lead on Adam Kaiser’s goal at 7:28 of the first period. That was a wake-up call that caused immediate response, and John Brumer tied it for the Elks at 8:52.
After the incomparable Paul Martin stickhandled in from defense to break the tie with an Elk River goal at 8:32 of the second period, Holy Angels came up with the equalizer, on Ryan LaMere’s goal at 3:25 of the third period. That set the stage, with Holy Angels coming back from being flattened 6-0 by Roseau to be headed for overtime with Elk River.
With 22 seconds remaining, Brumer, the same junior winger who had scored the first Elk River goal, took a drop pass and blasted a shot from the left slot. Goaltender Justin Eddy threw his glove up, the puck hit it at rocket force, and blew the glove off Eddy’s hand. The glove and the puck both popped up high and almost lazily flew just over the net, landing separately at the end boards.
Because there have been dozens of occasions when nets have been dislodged in the heat of battle in this tournament, many of them presumably intentional, and it never has been called as a penalty, Holy Angels’ Casey Garven made a calculated move to protect his gloveless goalie from facing another shot, and skated directly into the crease to jolt the goal off its moorings.
Referee brothers Pat and Jim Carroll made the call immediately. Penalty shot! The rulebook states that any player purposely dislodging the net in the heat of battle in the final two minutes of a game shall require a penalty shot be awarded to the other team.
On the Elk River bench, coach Tony Sarsland had some snipers to choose from. Paul Martin, Joey Bailey, Spanky Leonard.
“A good coach listens to his players, and I let the players decide,” said Sarsland. “I asked Martin who should take it, and he said ‘Let Johnny do it.’ I asked Joey Bailey, and he said, ‘Let Johnny take it.’ I asked Spanky Leonard, and he said, ‘Let Johnny do it.’ Those kids know, because we play showdown all the time in practice, and they know who has the best moves. The kids picked him, and they were right.”
So Sarsland let Johnny do it, picking Brumer — whose cannon shot had started the whole incident. Brumer skated in, not too fast, and Holy Angels goalie Eddy came out quickly, then backed in slowly. But Brumer made a quick move to his forehand and scored.
The penalty-shot goal, with 22 seconds left, gave the Elks their third-place trophy, and their highest finish ever.
BLAINE WINS CONSOLATION
Blaine, a stunning, last-second loser to Hastings in a 7-6 opening-round classic, won the Class AA consolation trophy with a 2-1 victory over Eden Prairie.
Fergus Falls won the third-place game in Class A, beating Blake 5-3 with three third-period goals. St. Thomas Academy captured the consolation trophy in Class A with a 3-2 victory, scoring the last three goals, two of them in the third period, with the winner, at 12:59, on a shorthanded goal by Bill Flikeid.
Riddle, power-play carry Benilde to A puck title
Try as they might to convince the world that their success is not wholly dependent on Troy Riddle, the Benilde-St. Margaret’s Red Knights needed Riddle to score two goals and set up another Saturday afternoon at Target Center to beat East Grand Forks 4-2 and capture the Class A state hockey championship.
Riddle, an elusive senior with a deadly shot, scored all three goals in the 3-2 opening game against Hermantown, then added two goals and two assists in Friday’s 6-0 semifinal blowout over Fergus Falls. His three points against East Grand Forks gave Riddle seven goals and three assists for 10 points out of the 13 goals scored by the Red Knights.
“We knew that if we kept our focus, as soon as we got some bounces to go our way we’d be OK,” said Riddle, who ends the season with 54 goals. At the end, Riddle had a chance for another goal turned away. “I wasn’t thinking hat trick, I was just thinking hurry up and end it.”
Benilde coach Ken Pauly, whose team ended 26-2, was soaked by a bucket of ice water his players dumped over his red blazer. “It’s colder than heck, but if I ruined the sport coat, that’ll be OK because my wife hates it,” he said.
The Red Knights stressed that they expected to win the game, but confident or not, it was the goal that Riddle had nothing to do with, early in the third period, that rescued a game that had been controlled for two periods by East Grand Forks — the Class A darkhorse, which had never won a championship bracket tournament game before this year, but was on the brink of the championship before ending 16-11-1.
At the start of the game, Andrew Alberts, a giant 6-4, 205-pound defenseman, was penalized for blasting a Green Wave skater into the corner boards. The call was checking from behind, which, in high school, is a 2-minute minor but carries a mandatory 10-minute misconduct.
The Red Knights killed the penalty, and took a 1-0 lead when Troy Riddle scored an opportunistic goal at 14:04. Riddle was skating up the left slot when his brother, Jake Riddle, threw a hard pass from the left boards across the slot. East Grand backchecker Neil Purcell slid to block the pass, and when the puck hit his shinpad it bounced straight back — right on Troy Riddle’s stick, and he put it away in an instant.
But East Grand outshot Benilde 7-4 in the first period, and vaulted to a 2-1 lead in the second, when Shawn Bartlette scored with Jon Stordahl’s breakaway pass at 9:41 and Jonathan Hussey scored with Kyle Cash’s rebound at 10:04. The two goals in a 23-second span didn’t dampen Benilde’s confidence, as they came back for several good scoring chances, particularly on a late power play, when East Grand goalie Tommy White had to be solid.
On the first shift of the third period, Troy Riddle tried to break around the defense and Green Wave defender Hussey tried to stop him. As he cut in, Riddle appeared to step on Hussey’s stick blade and stumble. Hussey was called for tripping. Back after sitting out his 12 minutes in the first period, Alberts, the big defenseman, was sent up front to set up in front the East Grand net.
“I was really excited to get back out there after sitting so long,” said Alberts. “Sometimes I play up front on the power play to get a big player in front of the net. This time, the shot came from the point and I ‘yo-yo’d’ it around, then shot it in.”
With Troy Riddle stationed right at the crease, Alberts teed up the backhand, and snapped it off, high and hard. White, who had an outstanding tournament, was going down, but kicked his leg high. The puck glanced off his leg pad and in, for a power-play goal at 1:18. That tied the game 2-2, and injected the Red Knights with a new supply of energy.
Troy Riddle broke away from the last defender at center ice and scored on a breakaway to put Benilde up 3-2 at 4:08. And Adam Ahern scored Benilde’s second power-play goal at 5:54. Although the bigger Red Knights were the physical aggressor, East Grand Forks drew the only four penalties of the last two periods, and two of them produced power-play goals.
“No question the two power-play goals were the difference in the game,” said Jim Scanlan, East Grand’s intense but always gracious coach. “We did what we wanted to do for two periods, to make it a 15-minute game. Troy Riddle stepped up his game; he’s a smart player who has a high panic-level.
“But the biggest difference was their defense. They’re solid back there, and when they get a power play they have three of those defensemen on the ice.”
With the Alberts goal, that proved one too many.
Roseau championship quotes
[Quotes from state championship AA hockey game, insert where you need them…JG.]
What does the title mean to the Roseau players?
“I broke down on the bench,” said Roseau captain Phil Larson. “This has consumed me since I was 8, when I was sitting in section 234 of the old Civic Center, watching Billy Lund pick up the trophy. I’m sick and tired of looking at all the banners in Roseau that we had nothing to do with.
“This is for my dad, my mom, Roseau…everybody.”
There was no panic when the Rams were outshot 7-0 in the early going.
“I knew they’d come out really rockin,’ ” said Roseau coach Bruce Olson. “I was hoping we could weather that and keep going. They were coming at us with speed, and I had told our guys the game would be won in our end. Jake was fantastic in goal, and after we got past that first part, I thought they looked pretty tired.”
Denver beats CC on visionary goal in overtime
MINNEAPOLIS, MN.—
Denver University overcame an early 2-0 Colorado College lead Friday afternoon, although it took all of three periods and 8:38 of sudden-death overtime to complete a 3-2 victory over the Tigers in the first semifinal of the WCHA Final Five tournament at Target Center.
The victory sends Denver (25-12-2) into tonight’s championship game, and the virtual certainty of advancing to the NCAA tournament. Colorado College will play in the third-place game at 2 p.m., but the injury-riddled Tigers, 27-11-1 and ranked among the top half-dozen all season, also are sure to be picked for the NCAA’s 12-team field.
But this was the first time any of the Denver seniors had ever beaten archrival Colorado College while wearing the dark color of the visiting team. Of course, this season, the Pioneers felt like all their games were as visitors, because they played wherever they could find ice while their new arena is being built. That’s some of the adversity that has made Denver a stronger team, it seems.
The winning goal was something like a phantom. Denver shooter Paul Veres never saw the puck go in, Colorado College defenseman Scott Swanson never saw it after it whizzed between his legs, and CC goaltender Jeff Sanger never saw the puck at all. Denver University coach George Gwozdecky “saw” the game-winning shot, but that was in a pre-overtime vision of some sort.
The stage was set when the Tigers jumped ahead on a K.J. Voorhees goal at 2:36 of the first period, and then on a neat shorthanded goal by Justin Morrison at 7:19.
But the injury-plaged Tigers, second place in the WCHA and now 27-11-1 overall, lost defenseman Danny Peters with a sprained knee before the first period ended, and they also lost the lead when Jon Newman scored at 9:19, and then Paul Comrie scored on a breakaway at 18:56.
Comrie wound up completely alone after the Pioneers caught CC pinching in on defense. “Their ‘D’ pinched in and Gavin Morgan made a great play to get it out on the boards,” said Comrie. “I was in the right place at the right time, and James Patterson gave me a pass.”
Patterson, in fact, was the closest skater to Comrie when the Pioneers’ first-team all-WCHA centerman got to freshman goalie Jeff Sanger and beat him with a deke to his forehand.
That tied it 2-2, and the game stayed that way, even though both teams played hard and had numerous good chances at either end. Sanger and Denver goalie Stephen Wagner had outstanding games.
In overtime, there was more of the same until Veres broke up the left side. “Kelly Popadynetz passed to me going up left wing,” said Veres, a senior who had only five goals for the season coming up that wing. “I tried to beat the defense by going wide all night, so this time I thought I’d pull up and shoot.
“I didn’t even see the puck go in. I just saw the light go on.”
The reason Veres couldn’t follow the puck’s flight is that when he pulled up, CC defenseman Scott Swanson was right in his way. When Veres went to shoot, Swanson braced himself to try to block it.
“He put on the brakes, and he was at a pretty tough angle to shoot,” said Swanson, a first team all-WCHA defenseman from Cottage Grove. “The puck went through my legs. I didn’t feel it hit me, but I must have put a screen on Jeff.”
Since Sanger couldn’t see the puck, either, it was left to Gwozdecky to explain his vision.
“I’m 2-for-2 as far as prognostications,” Gwozdecky said. “In December, in the final of the Denver Cup, we were going into overtime and I wrote down that we’d win the game on a goal by Mark Rycroft from Paul Comrie. That wasn’t too hard to predict. But I only do this before overtimes, so this time I tried to focus in and visualize what would happen.
“As soon as Paul scored, I showed them what I had written down — Paul Veres. And I even got the first assist right.”
CC coach Don Lucia, who is younger and can still learn that visionary stuff, tried to use other means to survive the game, such as filling in lineup slots for the missing Toby Petersen (broken leg), Darren Clark (broken arm) and now Dan Peters (sprained knee).
“I thought the game got better as it went along,” said Lucia. “We hit the post twice in overtime, and Wagner got sharper as the game wen ton too. It was a little wide-open early on, but then with the smaller rink and not-great ice, the game became one of chip it in and chip it out.”
Gwozdecky concurred about the Target Center ice. “The biggest factor in the game was the ice surface,” Gwozdecky said. “The puck was bouncing so much it took away from the skill game, and resembled volleyball more than hockey sometimes.”
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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