Bulldogs blow lead, game to Badgers
MADISON, WIS.
Wisconsin captain Steve Reinprecht surprised himself a little when he scored at 5:21 of the third period Friday night, climaxing a Badger comeback from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 victory over luckless UMD.
The victory came before 10,632 in Wisconsin’s shiny new Kohl Center, and gave the Badgers the first game of the weekend series. “We’ve beaten ’em three times this season now,” said Wisconsin coach Jeff Sauer. “And we came back from two goals down, which is something we haven’t done this year. We also had nine freshmen in the lineup, and three of our four goals were by freshmen.”
Those goals, by David Hukalo, Matt Hussey and Matt Murray lifted Wisconsin to a 3-3 tie after two periods, and set the stage for Reinprecht’s game-winner, which stood up despite a finishing barrage by the Bulldogs, who had a 40-35 edge in shots.
“We’ve got to be running out of ways to lose,” said UMD captain Bert Gilling, a defenseman who scored his first goal to get the Bulldogs started.
The Bulldogs, last in the WCHA with 23 goals coming into the weekend, made it look routine by scoring the first goal, 6:36 into the opening period. The revised first line, with Derek Derow elevated to right wing with center Jeff Scissons and Ryan Homstol, forechecked behind the Badger net, and Gilling moved in alertly from the point, setting up in the slot. Derow got the puck and reversed it on the end boards to Homstol, who slid it out to Gilling. Taking his time, Gilling drilled a wrist shot just under goaltender Graham Melanson’s left arm.
The red light came on, but Gilling was congratulated somewhat hesitantly. It was as if he and the Bulldogs couldn’t believe Gilling, who hadn’t scored all season, had put one in, or that they had actually taken the lead. “I just wanted to make it look like it was routine,” said Gilling, with a sheepish smile.
It stood for three minutes, then the Bulldogs were victimized by one of those things that could be called unlucky, or simply the vaguaries of referee Don Adam’s selective process. The Badgers rushed in, goalie Brant Nicklin made the save, and as the puck went behind the net, freshman defenseman Dave Tanabe barged toward the net. He crashed over a defenseman in his urgency to get there, then scrambled into the crease, where he tangled with Nicklin.
Timing is everything, and just about then, David Hukalo had retrieved the puck on the end boards, circled out to the right, and backhanded the puck in past the well-occupied Nicklin. Adam pointed at the net, signifying it was a goal, as if nothing untoward was going on.
Unruffled, the “Dogs took command in the second period with a pair of opportunistic goals. Derow, one of UMD’s more effective forwards in recent games, rushed deep on the right and passed to the slot on a power play. The Colin Anderson tried to 1-time it but misfired, and the puck skimmed past Tanabe toward Judd Medak, wide on the left. Medak turned to block the puck with his skate, then flung a backhander that beat Melanson and snared the upper right corner of the net at 5:36.
Less than two minutes later, defenseman Jesse Fibiger went deep to get the puck behind the Badger net, passed out and Colin Anderson scored with a screened shot into the upper right corner.
But the 3-1 command was short-lived. The Bulldogs were careless with the puck behind their own goal, failing to gain possession, then losing it when Matt Hussey checked Fibiger. Hussey turned, grabbed the puck, and slid a shot through a scramble that glanced in off Nicklin’s skate at 14:53 of the middle period.
The Bulldogs swarmed back on attack, and peppered Melanson with a flurry of four shots, but all of them hit the kneeling goaltender in the chest, and the Badgers finally broke out, with Matt Murray carrying up the right side. A left-handed shooter, Murray used the better angle to shoot from the top of the right circle, using defenseman Bert Gilling for a screen and beating Nicklin to the lower left for the 3-3 tie.
The Badgers broke the tie at 5:21 of the third period on a determined individual effort by Reinprecht. Carrying up the middle on a harmless-looking 3-on-3, Reinprecht faked a shot and battled against Gary Reierson’s check all the way to the net, where he flipped the puck on net and it hit Nicklin and dribbled across the line, just inside the right post.
“I just tried to put it on Nicklin,” said Reinprecht, who now has nine goals. “I didn’t have any idea it would go in until I was behind the net and saw it. I’m not complaining.”
The Bulldogs came back with their own determination, attacking and forcing play, but the scoring touch that had been theirs earlier in the game, however briefly, had abandoned them.
In the final minute, with Nicklin pulled for a sixth attacker, Tommy Nelson got the chance for his first collegiate goal. But when he jabbed a rebound past Melanson with 44 seconds left, the whistle had blown a split second earlier, and the goal was waved off.
“That’s about the fifth time we’ve had a no-goal called against us,” said UMD coach Mike Sertich, exasperated by yet another strange way to lose a hockey game.
UMD faces ‘big’ test at Wisconsin
In sports, it’s common to exaggerate the importance of events. The biggest game, biggest play, biggest star. Until the playoffs, however, when a loss means the end of a season, such hyperbole can be wearying.
In the WCHA, if UMD doesn’t win this weekend at Wisconsin, it won’t doom the Bulldogs to failure this season, although it would make their hold on last place seem more secure.
As turning points go, however, this weekend’s series against the Badgers at the new Kohl Center in Madison is the biggest one the Bulldogs have got right now.
* While neither team will move up into WCHA title contention — barring an incredible hot streak by either one — both are fully capable of finishing from third to fifth, which would assure home ice for the first round of playoffs. UMD must start moving up soon, however.
* UMD and Wisconsin are the WCHA’s two lightest-scoring offensive teams. It was also that way when the two teams met at the DECC two months ago, and Wisconsin won a pair of 3-1 games.
* The season isn’t officially halfway over yet. The Bulldogs have played 12 games and have 16 games remaining in WCHA play. But the month-long break from league play came at a point when UMD has already played one series against all the teams it plays twice. The extra games are against Denver and Colorado College, the teams UMD plays just one weekend each this season.
* While going only 2-8-2 in the 1998 portion of the schedule, UMD proved tough to beat, but a failure to generate goals knocked them out of all 10 games the Bulldogs either lost or tied. In those 10, UMD held opponents to only 30 goals, exactly 3.0 goals against per game; but the Bulldog offense scored only 12 goals in those 10 losses — a bleak 1.2 goals for per game.
* The Bulldogs won their last two WCHA games, sweeping 5-1 and 6-2 games at Michigan Tech, then came home and lost twice to Colgate in nonconference play.
* There was good news during the holiday break, but it was followed by disappointment every time. UMD scored four in the first game against Colgate, but Brant Nicklin had a rare off-night and gave up five. UMD went east and beat Union 4-2, then oursot RPI 51-21 but lost 4-1 as the scoring touch vanished. UMD erupted for five third-period goals to beat stubborn Air Force 7-2 last Saturday, but they followed their first home victory by being blanked 3-0 by Massachusetts-Lowell in Sunday’s Silverado Shootout final.
While disappointed at being blanked at home, the Bulldogs have adjusted their hustling, team-oriented style as coach Mike Sertich installed a more European-style circling/regrouping system before the two holiday tournaments. It paid off with the two victories, and they outshot RPI 51-21, Air Force 57-14, and Lowell 30-20.
So the Bulldogs have improved their play and maintained an amazingly high spirit level. In addition, a fill-in line of sophomore Derek Derow and freshmen Nate Anderson and Eric Ness has been among UMD’s most effective units. Derow got two goals against Air Force after getting the lone tally against RPI, and Nate Anderson scored against Union, while Ness has generated some scoring chances.
A more stylish system can be highly entertaining as well as successful, but just about the time the ‘Dogs had it in place, they found Lowell unwilling to engage them in a run-and-gun finesse match. The River Hawks played tough, in-your-face defensive hockey and the Bulldogs were neither willing nor capable of blasting through the resistance for scoring chances or rebounds.
Regardless of style, spirit or luck, the need for positive reinforcement — in the form of winning — is getting near the critical point. If the Bulldogs are going to move up, out of the WCHA cellar and maybe even to middle-of-the-pack status, Denver, Anchorage, St. Cloud State, Minnesota, Michigan Tech and Wisconsin are all teams they can catch and pass.
To catch and pass Wisconsin, the Bulldogs must reverse the first series, when the Badgers won both games at the DECC. Winning twice at Kohl Center may be a tall order, but UMD’s only two victories in the WCHA came on the road, at Michigan Tech, and Tech won at Wisconsin to start the season.
So it’s not only possible, it’s an important pivot point if the Bulldogs are going to move up, or simply be satisfied with playing well enough to lose. It’s an important series, maybe ultimately pivotal. Those who engage in hyperbole might even call it the “biggest” series.
It’s not that big. If the ‘Dogs fail to win at Wisconsin, the sun will still come up. But it will come up with UMD further entrenched in last place.
Too much of a good thing
Duluth East beat a pretty good Edina hockey team a couple weeks ago at Braemar Arena. Beat ’em pretty bad, too. Then last Saturday, East thrashed a rebuilding Apple Valley team 7-2. Meanwhile, Hibbing and Greenway of Coleraine played Eden Prairie and Burnsville in a tournament on the Iron Range; Greenway won both games and Hibbing lost both, all of them close.
Those games all were played in accordance with a state high school league experimental rule allowing 20 minute periods instead of the normal 15. Coaches applauded. College and pro scouts applauded even louder. Those who insisted 20-minute periods were mandatory for improving the development of Minnesota high school players applauded loudest of all.
But you know what? I think it’s too much of a good thing.
I’ve never seen what I would consider too much hockey. I didn’t see the Range tournament, but I did see both East games. was reduced to some frustrated Edina kids running around accumulating charging or cross-checking penalties, and getting away with numerous hits from behind — one of which left East star junior Ross Carlson out for a month with a third-degree shoulder separation.
I kidded a college coach who left early in the third period of the East-Edina game, because he had seen almost exactly 45 minutes of play — normally, a full game. And because East was far better than Apple Valley, the Greyhounds eased off their intensity and sort of went through the motions for the second half of the game.
The Hibbing and Greenway games obviously were better, because they were close. Three of the four were one-goal, with one of Hibbing’s a 4-2 setback. When a high school game is closely competitive, and the pace is evenly matched, then I guess I’d like to see them play as long as possible. But a lot of games aren’t close, even between well-matched teams, and a game that has a three-or-more goal differential can deteriorate into long extra minutes, fraught with frustration and who-knows-what infractions.
So maybe it’s time to reevaluate what it is we get from high school hockey. Is it in place to develop players for college or pro? No. Is it in place to provide a wholesome and competitive atmosphere for the maximum number of participants? Yes. And while doing that, it has done a pretty good job of developing countless college and pro players, I might add.
If you listen, you can hear all sorts of criticism about high school hockey, and how it fails to give kids enough games, fails to develop players to their fullest potential, etc. Junior hockey, such as the USHL, plays more games with longer periods, and is a good finishing program for high school kids who don’t get recruited directly out of high school to college.
In junior hockey the pace is faster, because players can be up to age 20. The hitting is ferocious, because some players hope to impress with their toughness. But the best thing junior hockey does is to quicken the pace at which players function in traffic.
The best thing high school hockey does is it creates an absolute feeling of urgency among coaches and players: You practice hard and creatively, because you only have 25 games, and with only 15-minute periods, you can’t afford to coast for even a shift. So they don’t coast, they play at a frantic pace. And yet there is room to make plays, to be creative. Sometimes when an opponent has a couple of weaker players, better players can exploit them and make sensational plays.
Watch Duluth East, or Greenway, Hibbing, Eveleth-Gilbert or the other top teams Up North. They make neat plays, and when they don’t, it doesn’t meant they haven’t tried to. Trying to be creative, in an atmosphere of creative coaching, is absolutely the best training ground for players from age 15-18. East ran away from Edina and Apple Valley because coach Mike Randolph started out rotating four lines in short shifts, against their three lines, in longer shifts. Surprise! East was far stronger as the game went on, with little letdown in their play. If we go to 20-minute periods, East’s wealth of talent would guarantee the ‘Hounds even more success.
It is the biggest praise of junior hockey in Canada that more games, of longer duration, in a longer season, creates more pro-like players; in other words, players who pace themselves because they can’t go flat out for that long a game in that long a season. Traditional logic is that the more a young player plays, the better he gets. But does he? No, the more he plays, the better he becomes at game-playing, which means the better he gets at stressing his assets and concealing his liabilities.
Junior hockey is fun to watch. So is pro hockey. So is college. But the absolute best might be Minnesota high school hockey. Fifteen minute periods are entertaining, and every moment is precious.
It ain’t broke, so let’s not go crazy here fixing it. I’m sick and tired of hearing about all that’s wrong with high school hockey. Let’s appreciate what’s right about it.
What quarterback controversy?
Pardon me, if I don’t get all worked up over the Vikings so-called “quarterback controversy.”
If you’ve read the Twin Cities newspapers, or listened to talk shows or watched television, you are aware that the media has concocted something called a quarterback controversy every since the days of Tommy Kramer (who came up with a few controversies of his own, come to think of it), Wade Wilson, etc.
So why should we be surprised that the media has stirred up a hornet’s nest about the assumption that Brad Johnson, who has a big contract as the No. 1 quarterback, now will undoubtedly be traded elsewhere because Randall Cunningham has stepped forth during Johnson’s injuries and became the NFL MVP (if you like initials), and now has also signed a large contract.
What am I missing here? True, the “insiders” spew forth all they know and can project, but let’s break this down a bit. Is a team like the Vikings supposed to have only one good quarterback, and something approaching dogmeat for a backup?
The only reason the Vikings have the best record in the whole NFL, with only one loss in 16 games, is because they had two such talented quarterbacks as Johnson, who is computer-perfect, and Cunningham, who is reborn — you should pardon the expression — and throwing long passes that seem to have destiny and a guy named Moss on the receiving end.
Not once, but twice Johnson went down with injuries and Cunningham stepped in and kept the team percolating along without missing a bubble. By amazing coincidence, Johnson came back and was finally pronounced ready to play in a game when Cunningham got hurt, and Johnson stepped in and completed something like 11 straight passes. Then he got hurt the second time.
Remember the horror Vikings fans emitted when it appeared both Johnson and Cunningham might be hurt at the same time? Only a remarkable recovery by Cunningham prevented mass hysteria.
So, salary cap or no, my question is why must the Vikings keep only one half of their stellar combination?
True, they both want to play, and now that Cunningham has regained his old form — exceeded it, actually — both want to start. Johnson seemingly has said he’ll look elsewhere if he won’t be starting for the Vikings next year.
But maybe it’s time for Red McCoombs to cut a corner elsewhere and keep the two high-dollar stars as the NFL’s best signal-calling tandem.
Quarterback controversy? Consider the alternative. When a team like the Vikings has a great left tackle, they also want the best back-up left tackle they can afford. And yet, to hear the quarterback controversy zealots talk, you get the feeling they can’t afford to have two such outstanding quarterbacks, even though having them has thrust the Vikings into the playoffs as Super Bowl favorites.
Seems to me, they can’t afford NOT to have them both.
UMD blanked 3-0 by Lowell
It turns out, UMD does not have the only players in the country that have been playing well but not getting fairly rewarded for their efforts. Massachusetts-Lowell has been suffering through a similar first half in Hockey East, and, like the Bulldogs, the RiverHawks were determined to use the Silverado Shootout tournament as a springboard to second-half success.
On Sunday, the RiverHawks prevailed, spoiling UMD’s hopes to win their first tournament at the DECC since 1983-84 by beating the Bulldogs 3-0 in the championship game of the Silverado Shootout, before 4,514 fans and a live afternoon home television audience.
Goaltender Scott Fankhouser, a senior from Littleton, Colo., came up with 30 saves for the title-game shutout, but couldn’t remember a tough one. “That’s how good my defense and forwards played in front of me,” said Fankhouser, who was named the tournament most valuable player. “It was a total team effort. This weekend was a big step for us. We really took it to ’em defensively.”
The Bulldogs, who rallied for five goals in the third period to whip Air Force 7-2 in Saturday’s semifinals for their first home-ice victory over the season, found the traffic considerably more congested against Mass-Lowell, which had beaten Army 6-1 in the first semifinal. A UMD offense that had launched 110 shots in the previous two games, outshot Lowell 30-23, but a persistently rugged RiverHawk defense, which had given up more than 30 shots only once in the last eight games, prevailed.
“No excuses, we flat-out got beat,” said UMD coach Mike Sertich. “We didn’t compete 1-on-1. They sure eliminated us, right away. They wouldn’t allow us to cycle the puck along the boards. They’re a big, strong team and we didn’t fight through it. It was nothing fancy; well done, though.”
Mike Mulligan gave Lowell a 1-0 lead at 6:50 of the first period. Brad Rooney’s power-play shot from the left circle was deflected by goaltender Brant Nicklin off the right pipe, and Mulligan knocked the rebound out of the air and in.
The pace was hard and the hitting was harder in the second period, when the RiverHawks increased their lead to 3-0 on goals by Kevin Kotyluk adn Chris Bell. Kotyluk moved in from right point to play a clearing attempt of the boards, and flung a shot from there that found its way past Nicklin at 5:45. Bell scored at 17:23 after Kevin Bertram’s pass sprung a 2-on-1, and John Campbell shot from the right side, with Bell rapping in the rebound at the crease.
The RiverHawks were so good defensively that they seemed to take penalties without concern as the game wore on. They took five of six penalties in the third period, and while the Bulldogs pressed to control the puck, the aggressive penalty-killers kept the shots to minimal danger. UMD wound up 0-for-10 on power plays, although their time with the man-advantage and Lowell’s concentration on tight defense gave them an 11-2 edge in third-period shots.
“We’ve got a lot of similarities with UMD,” said Lowell coach Tim Whitehead. “I’ve seen Duluth outplay quite a few teams without winning, and we had the same situation. Right before break, we outplayed Boston University twice but lost both games. I saw them score five goals in the third period last night, and I knew we’d have our hands full. That’s a good hockey team, but tonight they couldn’t finish.”
Mainly because the RiverHawks finished them before they could finish.
Air Force outlasts
Army for 3rd
Air Force coach Frank Serratore, being an Iron Range native, would have dearly loved to have his Falcons beat UMD in the Silverado Shootout, because all the intense hockey fans among the cadets back at the Academy in Colorado Springs would have congratulated the young Falcons. But Sunday, the Falcons got the more important victory for them, beating Army 2-1 in a feverishly fought third-place game, and all the cadets will appreciate that one.
“Army and Air Force — this is not about feeling good or bad,” said Serratore, who once tended goal at Greenway of Coleraine. “We’re the only two service academies playing hockey, and these kids were playing for their lives. It’s such a big game for the kids on both teams that you almost feel bad for the team that loses.”
Almost is the operative word here. Serratore equated the victory to the pride the whole administration displays when Air Force beats Army or Navy in football. And there could be extra pride because Minnesotans were involved in all the scoring on both sides.
Derek Olson, from Baudette, scored at 13:53 of the first period after Billy O’Reilly, from Rochester, fed him on the rush for a 1-0 Air Force lead that stood until the third period. Jace Anders, an impressive freshman defenseman from St. Louis Park, scored at 1:41 of the third, with a shot from the left point that filtered through a dozen legs and found the net for a 2-0 lead.
Andy Lundbohm, from Roseau, scored for Army at 5:14, shooting from 12 feet out, near the left circle. But that was the only shot among 32 to elude goaltender Marc Kielkucki, even though Army stormed the net through the final period, outshooting Air Force 32-23 for the game.
“We’re pretty evenly matched,” said Army coach Rob Riley. “Every time we play them, it’s like this. It’s even bigger when one of us is at home, because of the fans, but for a consolation game, at 11 a.m., you’re not going to see a more intense game.”
Fankhouser paces
all-tourney team
Massachusetts-Lowell goaltender Scott Fankhouser, who blanked UMD 3-0 and yielded only one goal all weekend, was named Silverado Shootout most valuable player, and outstanding goaltender. The six-man all-tournament team included goalie Marc Kielkucki of Air Force, defensemen Wil Tormey and Anthony Cappelletti of Lowell, and forwards John Campbell of Lowell, Derek Derow of UMD and Andy Lundbohm of Army.
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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