UND, CC, Denver all have shots at NCAA finals
The NCAA hockey tournament field is set, and there are no surprises: The CCHA got four teams in, and the ECAC got only two. That’s no surprise, because every year, even though all four major NCAA conferences appear to be quite even, the ECAC gets shafted when it comes to the NCAA tournament.
At Madison’s Dane County Coliseum, North Dakota is No. 1 seed, and will play the winner between Northern Michigan and Boston College and Northern Michigan; Michigan State is the No. 2 seed, and will play the winner of Colorado College vs. St. Lawrence. At Worcester, New Hampshire is seeded No. 1 and faces the winner between Denver and Michigan; Clarkson is No. 2 seed and plays the winner of the Maine-Ohio State game.
Good match-ups, all. No quarrel there.
But this was a breakthrough year for the ECAC. In most seasons, the ECAC starts later and its teams usually lose early games to teams from conferences that start a couple weeks earlier. But this season, St. Lawrence and then Princeton came out West and smacked Minnesota, while Colgate came out and beat UMD 5-4 and 2-1. Clarkson, St. Lawrence, RPI, Colgate and Princeton were all capable of competing with anybody, but only Clarkson and St. Lawrence got picked.
North Dakota and Colorado College the class of the league although CC dropped off the pace when it ran into serious injury trouble, and Denver came on strong at the end to finish third. Hockey East had UNH, Maine and Boston College at the top. The CCHA had Michigan State, and then a scramble that included Northern Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame. But that scramble doesn’t mean the CCHA teams deserve four teams to bump the ECAC down to two. I like both Ohio State and Northern Michigan, but pick one.
The criteria are constantly adjusted to update the power ratings, but they still can be skewed toward one conference, such as the CCHA. If the information fed into the computer might indicate that its teams are stronger, for whatever reason, then all teams in that league would benefit in strength of schedule and in opponents’ strength of schedule. The fairest way would be to start out assuming all four conferences are equal, and only an extreme case should prevent three teams from each league in the tournament.
As it is, the WCHA has a good chance to get a couple teams to Anaheim for the final four. North Dakota should beat Boston College for one spot, and Colorado College could beat St. Lawrence and then have a good chance to beat defense-minded Michigan State for another. Denver, the hottest team in the country, has the tough road — having to knock out defending NCAA champ Michigan and then Hockey East champ New Hampshire. In the fourth bracket, I like Maine to beat Ohio State and have a great game against Clarkson to gain the fourth spot.
In other NCAA tournament news:
* North Dakota coach Dean Blais kept his mind on hockey last weekend, even though he also met with North Dakota benefactor Ralph Engelstad, the former Sioux player from Thief River Falls who is now a multi-millionaire in Las Vegas and recently gave his alma mater $100 million, half to build a new arena and half to the school’s other needs. They huddled after Friday night’s 6-2 Sioux victory over Minnesota in the semifinals, and while no official word was forthcoming, best estimates might be that Blais, an International Falls native, was offered a total package worth nearly $200,000 a year. Speculation is that terms of the contract are for five years, but could contain a rollover clause that renews itself to always stay at a five-year arrangement.
* The most intriguing rumor in college hockey is that people aligned with Minnesota have extended feelers to Blais and Colorado College coach Don Lucia to see if they’d be interested if Minnesota decided to dismiss coach Doug Woog. The juicy part of that rumor is that the contacts supposedly were made before athletic director Mark Dienhart was quoted in a Twin Cities newspaper saying that other schools would be scouting around for potential replacements, but that Minnesota hadn’t done that, out of respect for Woog.
* Denver won the WCHA Final Five and who can question the Pioneers merit? They are on the nation’s longest win streak, at nine, they finished third in the league, and they knocked off No. 2 CC and No. 1 North Dakota in the tournament. At that, they had to come from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Fighting Sioux 4-3 in the final.
* Beware North Dakota and CC in the NCAA, however. The Sioux played without 25-goal scorer Lee Goren, who will play this week after being given an extra week to recover from a serious skate cut. And CC’s injuries have had an extra chance to heal, which means Superior’s Darren Clark (broken arm) could be ready to go, and Jon Austin (sprained ankle) also should be 100 percent. That would leave only Toby Petersen (broken leg) out.
* The WCHA Final Five ended with a big day for Colorado teams, with Denver winning the final and Colorado College beating Minnesota in the third-place game.
* The WCHA Final Five all-tournament team had goalie and most valuable player Stephen Wagner from Denver; defensemen Erik Westrum from Minnesota and Joe Ritson of Denver; and forwards Justin Morrison of Colorado College, Jeff Panzer of North Dakota, and Paul Veres of Denver. Interestingly enough, Gopher forwards Dave Spehar of Duluth East and Reggie Berg of Anoka were left off the team, even though they led the tournament in scoring with three goals and three assists each. After Spehar got two goals and an assist in the 5-3 victory over St. Cloud State, his line got very little ice time in the 6-2 loss to Colorado College in the semifinals because linemate Aaron Miskovich was used on the frequent penalty kills, yet Spehar assisted on both goals, then added another goal in the 7-4 loss to Colorado College in the third-place game. Berg had two goals and two assists in the first game, got his 20th goal in the second, and added an assist in the third. Westrum appeared to be a token pick for the Gophers, after getting four assists, all on power plays, and three of them in the 7-4 loss. Westrum played quite well, but it’s rare to see a defenseman picked from a team that gave up 13 goals in the last two tournament games, while CC’s Scott Swanson — the best defenseman in the country — was also left off the team.
* MSC is going to carry the games from both NCAA regional sites. The Gopher-oriented cable channel had to do some fancy stepping last weekend, starting out with the announcement it would do all Gopher games, plus the championship game. When the Gophers lost in the semifinals, however, MSC pulled the plug on doing the third-place game. But with the Worcester games Friday and Saturday, and the Madison games Saturday and Sunday, college puck fans should get their fill.
* Word is that Shawn Roed, a Gopher recruit from the Twin Cities Vulcans, should be rested and ready to join the club next fall. The Vulcans had to win one of their last two games to qualify for the USHL playoffs, but they had to play the weekend without Roed, who reportedly skipped the games to go to Mexico on a family vacation.
* Best quote of the Final Five came from Denver defenseman Shawn Kurulak, who scored the winning goal for Denver in the 4-3 title game, and it was his first goal of the season. Coach George Gwozdecky said he would have been the last player he picked to score the goal. Kurulak, apprised of that, said: “It was just a matter of time till I erupted offensively.”
‘Dogs miss NCAA party, reload for next season
[Rick–Here is the revised form of the UMD season wrapup/forecast, updated for use. And here are the cutlines you can use for the photos…Hopefully you can still use them in a four-square box, or something…]
UMD’s hockey season ended in a spectacular 4-second turnaround, beginning when Ryan Homstol (27) broke through the defense for a point-blank shot that was stopped by Colorado College goaltender Jeff Sanger. Next, Jeff Scissons fired a backhander on the rebound, but Sanger kicked it out to Jesse Heerema, who immediately passed to Brian Swanson (27), who raced to the other end to score a breakaway goal at 6:17 of sudden-death overtime. UMD goalie Brant Nicklin slumped to the ice in despair.
The NCAA hockey tournament gets underway this weekend, with games at two regional sites, Madison, Wis., and Worcester, Mass. Quite a party, with six teams at each site playing down to two, and those two advancing to the final four at the Pond in Anaheim, next weekend, UMD wasn’t invited to the NCAA’s postseason party this year, after struggling through an amazing season of playing hard, playing exciting hockey in all but about a half-dozen games, but finding enough ways to lose enough games to finish last at 4-20-4 in the WCHA.
With the Bulldogs, the cry “Wait till next year!” is more than just hyperbole, however.
Coach Mike Sertich admitted he was baffled a few times this season as his team went down a 4-20-4 path to last place in the WCHA. He never stopped trying tactical methods to prod the team, it was simply stymied by a lack of goal-scoring. In 13 of those losses, the Bulldogs either lost by one goal, or pulled their goaltender, only to yield an empty-net goal.
“We had such high expectations, and we had to readjust our goals once reality set in,” said Sertich. “We went from hoping to contend at the top, to going for home ice, then to avoid the basement. Each segment, we had to readjust, and it seemed like we spent so much energy battling from behind, we never really got going.
“One of the surprises this season is that some of our strengths turned out to be weaknesses, and some of our weaknesses turned out to be strengths. We thought we might have trouble with such a young defense, but the young defensemen played so well, that became our strength.”
After senior and captain Bert Gilling, a steady if unspectacular defenseman, the next most experienced defensemen were sophomores Ryan Coole and Jesse Fibiger. They played well, but a freshman corps of Mark Carlson, Andy Reierson and Kent Sauer all had good-to-exceptional rookie years. Sophomore Craig Pierce played well at the finish, in limited duty. Carlson and Fibiger, particularly, showed signs of being potential leaders. The Bulldogs have freshman Ryan Tessier and new recruit John Conboy from Silver Bay to add to the crew on defense.
“We thought one of our strengths would be that our veteran forwards would score,” added Sertich, “but that turned out to be a big weakness. Other than Jeff Scissons, our forwards were inconsistent at best. We’d show flashes, all through the season, but you have to learn to be an every-nighter, to play with that urgency all the time. A mature team does that, so we’re anxious to see if the year of maturity will help right away.”
UMD will lose only three seniors — Gilling on defense, backup goaltender Tony Gasparini, and winger Curtis Bois, a frustrated scorer who got just six goals this season, and three of those in one weekend. If the pros get insistent, they might come after goaltender Brant Nicklin and Scissons.
“I’m not planning on going anywhere but back to school,” said Nicklin. And his parents are hopeful that he finishes school.
“I’m not looking to get out,” said Scissons, whose brother, Scott, played briefly for the Minnesota Moose, and who watched enough players take a chance on pro hockey with minimal success that he became convinced college was the better choice. “Vancouver drafted me, and I don’t think they’re anxious to have me leave school. I’m still pretty skinny. I usually start the season at about 190, but I’m 182 now, after the long season. I have to work on getting stronger.”
Scissons recalled being a freshman. “When Brant and I came in, we talked about when we’re seniors, how we could have a great team,” Scissons said. “I don’t even see the possibility of me leaving, and assuming everybody stays, we lose less than the other teams. The top teams, like North Dakota, CC and Denver, lose all their best players.”
Scissons was the best UMD forward in almost every game, and he wound up as the top-scoring junior in the entire WCHA. He was tormented, however, by failing to score with a Ryan Homstol rebound in sudden-death overtime in the final playoff game last Saturday night, after which Colorado College countered immediately for a breakaway goal by Brian Swanson at the other end.
Junior goaltender Brant Nicklin will carry the torment of that goal, even though it was a great shot by arguably the league’s best player. Nicklin, however, was brilliant all season, despite the record, and CC coach Don Lucia was only one opposing coach who suggested Nicklin probably was the “best goalie in the league” this season.
The only other Bulldog who might be tempted to turn pro would be Sauer, because he was drafted by the new Nashville franchise. That would seem to be a mistake, because as a big but raw defenseman, Sauer improved as he got more comfortable with the caliber of college hockey, and he undoubtedly would develop more in the fast-paced college game than turning pro, where he might be asked to become the franchise’s fighter.
Without any defections, the Bulldogs could jump all the way from last to WCHA contention next season.
North Dakota and CC finished 1-2, with Denver third. UMD was 0-3-1 against North Dakota, with two games in overtime and a third with an empty-net clincher; the Bulldogs ended their season with four consecutive losses at CC, three by one goal, the other with an empty netter, and two in overtime. UMD split two games with Denver, winning 4-3 and losing 4-2. But while the ‘Dogs proved they could play the best teams evenly, they also sagged to inconsistency against the middle teams, which caused their final record to be a paltry 4-20-4 in the cellar.
Returnees like Homstol, Colin Anderson, Shawn Pogreba, Richie Anderson, Derek Derow, Mark Gunderson, Ryan Nosan and freshmen Tommy Nelson, Judd Medak, Nate Anderson and Eric Ness have scoring potential in their resumes, and if the year’s experience helps them put some pucks away, the future looks bright — possibly extremely bright as soon as next season.
Of the teams in the Final Five: North Dakota, the runaway league champ, loses eight seniors, including scoring stars Jason Blake, Adam Calder, David Hoogsteen, Jay Panzer, Jeff Ulmer, Jesse Bull, and Tom Philion — all forwards — and star defenseman Brad Williamson. Runner-up Colorado College loses six seniors, including top guns Brian Swanson, Darren Clark (from Superior), Jon Austin (from International Falls), plus the nation’s top-scoring defenseman, Scott Swanson (from Cottage Grove), and backup goaltender Todd Gustin (from Hibbing).
Denver loses 10 seniors, including the elusive Paul Comrie, James Patterson and Paul Veres up front, and Shawn Kurulak, Todd Kidd and Ryan Hacker on defense. Minnesota loses only four seniors, but they are pivotal — Wyatt Smith, Reggie Berg, Mike Anderson and defenseman Bill Kohn — and there have been rumblings that a couple underclassmen might leave early. St. Cloud State loses five, including offensive stars George Awada, Jason Goulet, Brad Goulet and Ryan Frisch, and defenseman Kyle McLaughlin.
Elsewhere, Wisconsin loses five players, including defensemen Craig Anderson, Luke Gruden and Tim Rothering; surprising Alaska-Anchorage loses only five seniors, and the Seawolves best players were underclassmen; Michigan Tech, in the process of rebuilding, loses only senior goaltender David Weninger.
UMD will miss its three departing seniors, but other teams will have more trouble filling the gaps left by the magnitude of the players they’re losing.
“Sertie has won four WCHA championships in 17 years. I think that’s pretty outstanding,” said Lucia. “His teams are always very well coached, and they do some unconventional things that other teams are afraid to try. They’ll catch you by surprise doing things like getting their defense involved in the offense, or flying a guy in the neutral zone. Sertie is a tremendous coach who lets his guys play, and play creatively, and when he has top talent, he wins”
Sertich looks at it more modestly.
“We have to look at where we’re headed, and what it is we want, and what kind of players will make us successful again,” Sertich said.
For the first time in 20 years, the Bulldog recruits are all regional. Goaltender Rob Anderson from Superior is set to step in and support Nicklin, and Conboy should help the defense. Forwards Jon Francisco of Hermantown, Andy Sacchetti of Eveleth, and Josh Miskovich of Greenway of Coleraine, all have committed to UMD, although some or all of the three might play a year in the USHL. There are a couple more, still being sought. Because the Bulldogs have only enough scholarships to replace the departing players, most of the recruits will play a year in the USHL, and the challenge will be to decide which players could best benefit from joining the team right now, or coming in as redshirt freshmen to learn Sertich’s systems.
“I don’t fault the effort we gave this year,” said Sertich. “The team was never boring, we never backed off into the trapping defensive style. It’s an an-lib game, and we always want to be creative. Having a successful team is a lot like trying to paint. We don’t want to ever get to the point where we’re just trying to make sure we keep all the paint on the canvas; we say don’t worry about that, just paint the picture.”
And next season, the frustrations of this season may serve to give UMD all the proper colors for a masterpiece.
BC tips Northern, faces Sioux today
MADISON, WIS.
Boston College, the popular choice as the No. 1 college hockey team in the country among some polls and prognosticators, still has a chance to prove it deserves that sort of acclaim if it can beat No. 1 ranked North Dakota in today’s 5:30 p.m. quarterfinal match at the West Regional in Dane County Coliseum.
The Eagles (26-11-4) defeated Northern Michigan 2-1 Saturday, but it took a pair of power-play goals in the second period by Jeff Farkas and Brian Gionta to gain the seventh straight victory for the Eagles, who had faltered to finish third in Hockey East before streaking to the league playoff title. Northern Michigan (22-15-5) thoroughly outplayed the Eagles to take a 1-0 first-period lead when sophomore Fred Mattersdorfer scored on his own rebound, but the Wildcats were undone by penalties in the second period.
Farkas tied the game with his 32nd goal of the season, also on his own rebound and almost from exactly the same place on the rink on a man-advantage at 5:01 of the second period. The Eagles were two skaters up when Gionta stationed himself at the right edge of the crease and deflected Blake Bellefuile’s shot from the left circle at 18:23.
“We were unlucky maybe not to be up by two or three in the first period,” said Northern coach Rick Comley. “We went toe-to-toe with what is maybe the best team in the East on pure talent. I thought we were the better team, 5-on-5, and we had our chances, but their goalie [Scott Clemmensen] played better than I expected him to.”
Patient Tigers beat St. Lawrence, face MSU
MADISON, WIS.—
Part of the reason Colorado College coach Don Lucia is one of the best in the country was spelled out on Saturday afternoon in the first game of the NCAA West Regional hockey tournament at Dane County Coliseum. After his Tigers came away from a dominant, 19-shot first period trailing St. Lawrence 1-0, Lucia didn’t complain about misfiring shooters, but instead stressed defense.
“Even though we hadn’t scored, we had had a lot of very good chances, and their goaltender had made some great saves,” said Lucia. “But I stressed that we had to keep playing good defensively.”
Lucia trusted the offense to come through on its own, and sure enough, the Tigers erupted for three goals in a 42-second span in the first couple of minutes of the second period, then relied on its stifling defense and the goaltending of freshman Jeff Sanger to whip St. Lawrence 5-2.
The victory moves CC (29-11-1) into today’s quarterfinal game against idle and No. 2 seeded Michigan State (28-5-7) at 2 p.m., with that winner going to Disneyland — for the final four at The Pond in Anaheim. “We know Michigan State is a great team, a well-coached team, and in Mike York they have one of the greatest players; we’re definitely the underdog,” said Lucia, proving that psyche-jobs are another part of coaching he’s mastered.
St. Lawrence coach Joe Marsh, whose team finished at 23-13-3, was impressed by CC and by Lucia. “Colorado College is quick, and they play the game the way it should be played, with speed and finesse,” said Marsh. “They handle the puck well, and Donny is a great coach. I had a chance to work with him at last year’s college all-star game. They use their quickness well in close, and they support the puck well and they know how to protect a lead.”
It’s true that many hockey theorists think it’s suicidal to sit on a lead, but Lucia has proven over the last six years that his CC players have the discipline to fall back defensively and win.
St. Lawrence goaltender Eric Heffler looked unbeatable in the first period, with an assortment of spectacular saves, while Brandon Dietrich pounced on the puck shorthanded when CC defenseman Scott Swanson fell when his skate caught a rut in the Dane County Coliseum ice. Dietrich veered out front, held the puck as he crossed the crease to let Sanger drop, then backhanded a shot over him at 10:48.
The Saints also killed off an overlapping power play that lasted until 1:03 of the second period. “I thought when we finished off that kill, it was a big thing when they scored their first goal right away,” said Marsh.
At 1:21 of the second, Cam Kryway scored coming out of the corner. “He made a good individual effort coming out of the corner, and made a good deke to get me to come off the post,” said Heffler, the Saints solid senior goaltender.
Justin Morrison followed up with a goal 11 seconds later, virtually off the ensuing faceoff. “They came in and got us confused a bit,” said Heffler. “I was a little tight in my net, and he picked the corner on me. At that time, after giving up two goals in a row at the start of the period, it was not the time you want to be facing a breakaway.”
But that’s what he faced, and Aaron Karpan roared in and shot into the upper left corner. “I was thinking ‘deke’ all the way, but the goalie was deep in the net,” said Karpan, who said his only previous breakaway came two years ago as a freshman, in the final four, when he came out of the penalty box. “So I’m 1-for-2 now.”
Undaunted, the Saints came back to outshoot the Tigers 13-8 in the middle period, and got within 3-2 when the puck took a weird bounce off the door seam on the end boards and came right out to Charlie Daniels. Startled, Daniels flung the puck across the crease, where a more-startled Sanger went down but missed it, and a still-more-startled Al Fyfe swung and missed before putting his second try at a backhand into the empty net at 9:26.
The Tigers regained control at 16:34, however, when Scott Swanson shot from the right point and Shaun Winkler, a freshman from Bemidji, redirected the puck past Heffler. Swanson said Winkler said he wasn’t sure he touched the puck, for what was his second goal of the season, and he joked about how it was moving so slowly, maybe he didn’t want any credit for it.
St. Lawrence stormed to the attack in the third period, outshooting CC 13-4, but the disciplined CC defense kept the high-quality shots to a minimum, and Sanger took care of those that got through. The only goal of the period came with 20 seconds left, when Morrison got his second of the game into an empty net. It was the 23rd goal of the season for the sophomore from Los Angeles, who had scored only four as a freshman.
NCAA NOTES: The Tigers got back the services of International Falls senior Jon Austin from a sprained ankle, and Cottage Grove junior defenseman Dan Peters from a sprained knee, but Superior senior Darren Clark was declared not ready to play yet with his broken arm, and, of course, Toby Petersen of Bloomington is out for the season with a broken leg.
CC ends UMD’s season 5-4 in overtime
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.
Brian Swanson, Colorado College’s scoring leader and a prime Hobey Baker candidate, broke away on an end-to-end play and scored at 6:17 of sudden-death overtime Saturday night, to give the Tigers a heart-stopping 5-4 victory over UMD before 7,089 fans at the World Arena.
The victory gave CC a sweep of the first-round WCHA playoff series in two games, and propels the Tigers into this week’s WCHA Final Five at Target Center. It also ended the season for the Bulldogs, but they refused to go down without one last, valiant fight.
When the Bulldogs trailed 4-2 with only seven minutes left, it might have seemed like a merciful end to an exasperating season. After all, UMD (7-27-4) was last in the WCHA, while CC (27-10-1) is the WCHA’s second-place team.
But the Bulldogs stubbornly refused to let their season go, and freshman Andy Reierson scored with 6:40 remaining to make it 4-2, and sophomore Jesse Fibiger scored with goaltender Brant Nicklin pulled with another shot from the blue line with only 42 seconds remaining, to send the game into overtime.
For Colorado College, the game had taken a sour turn midway through the second period, when junior star Toby Petersen — who had just recovered from a broke right ankle — got twisted up and fell heavily, and was taken from the ice by stretcher with a reported broken left leg.
The Tigers establishied their offense in the first nine minutes, benefitting from two power plays to outshoot UMD 10-1. At 10:15 of the first period, Mike Stuart threw the puck in front, and Jon Austin shot quickly. Nicklin blocked it, going down, and Justin Morrison chipped a backhander over the fallen goalie for a 1-0 lead.
At 10:58, with the injured Darren Clark watching from the stands, his freshman brother, Trent Clark, carried the puck in from the left corner. UMD’s Shawn Pogreba was all over him, but Clark, from Superior, battled the check until he got to the crease, then slid his shot just inside the left post. With the two goals in 43 seconds, it was the seventh time that CC had scored twice within a minute this season.
The Bulldogs countered at 3:01 of the second period, when Nate Anderson rushed up the left side and slid a pass to Ryan Nosan, who shot into the lower left edge to cut the deficit to 2-1.
At 7:20 of the middle period, Petersen went down with the tragic end to his season, and at 9:00 the Tigers made it 3-1 when Nicklin stopped Scott Swanson’s shot but Cam Kryway smacked in the rebound at the right edge.
That 3-1 deficit looked pretty steep for a UMD team that had settled for scoring either one goal, or less, 13 times this season. But before the period ended, the ‘Dogs made sure this wouldn’t be No. 14.
While killing a penalty, Colin Anderson knocked Brian Swanson down as he tried to score on a rebound at the UMD net, then skated up the left side. When he got within range, Anderson faked a slapshot and slid a pass to the slot, which Jeff Scissons one-timed, and sent into the lower left at 17:16.
That shorthanded goal gave the Bulldogs hope for the third period, but an interference penalty on Nosan with 13 seconds to go in the second period left the Tigers on a power play to open the third, and Scott Swanson scored from center point at 0:58 with a screened shot into the lower left corner.
The Bulldogs survived a later CC power play, and got one of their own that paid off at 13:20, when Andy Reierson scored with a screened shot from the right point that caught the lower left corner.
That again brought the ‘Dogs back within one goal, but a penalty on Mark Gunderson with 2:09 left seemed to doom the ‘Dogs. However, referee Tom Goddard bounced back with a tripping call on CC’s Mark Cullen with 46 seconds left, and UMD took time out. Coach Mike Sertich diagramed what might have been the last chance, and the play took only four seconds, with Scissons pulling a right-corner draw straight back and Fibiger whistling his screened shot past Sanger.
And the Bulldogs, stubborn to relinquish their chance to play, got to overtime.
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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