Ross scores four as Gophers stun No. 1 UNH in semis

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — New Hampshire roared into the NCAA WomenÂ’s Frozen Four with the No. 1 national rank, the top-rated power play, and the best record in the country, but Minnesota had Bobbi Ross. The sophomore from Saskatchewan fired four goals into the UNH net Friday night, scoring every which way including a penalty shot and the game-winner, to give the two-time defending champion Golden Gophers a stunning 5-4 victory.

The Gophers (29-10-1) will seek their third straight championship against Wisconsin (35-4-1), a 1-0 victor over St. Lawrence in the first semifinal at Mariucci Arena. The two victories assure that a WCHA team will win the sixth straight NCAA women’s hockey tournaments – out of six that have been held.

Minnesota will be an underdog against the WCHA season and playoff champion Badgers, who beat the Gophers 4-1 in the league playoff final, but the Gophers also were underdogs against the Wildcats, who brought a 33-2-1 record into the Friday night game, including a 28-0-1 unbeaten streak. That streak is now over, and the Wildcats will take a 33-3-1 record back home to Durham, N.C., after a predominately Gopher boosting crowd of 2,876 fans saw what was the most entertaining, if not the best, performance by the rebuilding Gophers all season.

“I’m still smiling from that game,” said Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson afterward. “It was a tremendous women’s college hockey game. We had the lead, lost it, led again, lost it again, got behind, found a way to come back, and win it.”

Asked where this victory ranked on her list of most enjoyable career coaching victories, Halldorson said: “It’s right up there. This was a huge win for us.”

It was a total team effort, but it was Ross who took charge, firing shots with a forceful confidence that even included a second-period shot off the crossbar. Her prize was the game-winner, with 1:51 remaining, and leaving the Wildcats suddenly out of time to stir up one more counter-rally, as freshman goaltender Brittony Chartier stood firm to the finish.

Ross scored in the game’s first minute, picking up a loose puck and scoring at 0:46, then giving the Gophers a 2-0 head start when Andrea Nichols pounced on a poorly aimed UNH back-pass and fed the slot off the end boards. UNH came stalking back with three straight goals – by Jennifer Hitchcock on a power play and Kacey Bellamy two minutes later in the first period, and by Nicole Goguen on a screened shot from center point to start the second and give UNH a 3-2 lead.

Ross, however, tied it on a penalty shot – the first in Minnesota’s history – and when the teams traded goals in the third period, the game seemed destined for overtime. But at 18:09, Whitney Graft carried the puck into the New Hampshire zone on a 2-on-2 rush, and cut to her left, toward Ross. At the top of the left circle, Graft left a neat little drop pass for Ross. Maybe that’s why they call them STUDENT-athletes, because Graft recognized the hot handed Ross and decided to give her the puck. Ross cut in and fired a shot through goaltender Melissa Bourdon, breaking the tie.

“I saw it was a 2-on-2, so we had to isolate on one defenseman to make anything happen,” said Ross. “Graft left me the puck, and I was able to cut to the middle. I thought I’d shoot for the far side…but I didn’t really know.”

The penalty shot was called because a UNH player, killing a 5-on-3 Minnesota power play, covered up the puck in the crease. Ross, who now has 21 goals for the season, was the shooter of choice for Halldorson.
“At that point in the game, with what was at stake, and we get a penalty shot,” said Halldorson. “The coaches said, ‘Who do you want to take it?’ I thought, Bobbi is calm, cool and collected, and she’s hot. She made a great shot.”

When Ross went out to center ice for the penalty shot, the referee took time to explain the options to UNH goaltender Bourdon.

“I was glad they took extra time,” said Ross, “because I was trying to get my legs to stop shaking. Actually, the last practice we had some extra time, and one of the goalies stayed out for some extra shots. I came in and did that same move three times in a row – I’m not really that creative – so I knew what I was going to do.”

Ross skated in fast, cut to her left and shot into the left edge of the net as Bourdon went down. The goal came at 10:39 of the second period, and the 3-3 tie gave the Gophers a lift.

In the third period, Becky Wacker got in on the fun, skating up the middle to sweep in the rebound of a long slapshot by Nichols at 2:27.

The Gophers then had to kill three straight penalties, and they got through two, and faced enormous pressure from the full might of the UNH power play on the third, with Chartier battling for survival. The Wildcats finally scored an artistic goal, as Leah Craig passed to the blue line, and Amy McLaughlin shot purposely wide to the right of the net, where Nicole Hekle deflected it in at 12:11.

The teams then traded rush after rush to the finish, until Ross took matters into her own hands one more time.

“Hats off to Minnesota, they played great,” said UNH coach Brian McCloskey. “It was an interesting game of ebb and flow. We gave up those two quick goals, but then we came out in the second period carrying a lot of momentum. We knew their speed was going to be an issue – we don’t see many teams that can do what Minnesota did. We’re used to making teams turn the puck over at the blue line, and Minnesota didn’t do that”.

Freshmen lift Badgers past St. Lawrence in 1-0 semifinal

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Freshman Tia Hanson scored a third-period goal and freshman Jessie Vetter kicked out all 27 St. Lawrence shots as Wisconsin slipped past the Saints 1-0 Friday to move into the NCAA Frozen Four championship game.

The Badgers will return to Mariucci Arena to face Minnesota in Sunday’s 4 p.m. title game, and while the Badgers have some impressive veterans to key on, overlooking their freshmen would be a mistake, because it was the second straight NCAA victory for the Badgers, and the second straight time Hanson and Vetter held the prominent roles.

Last weekend, Hanson scored in the second overtime to lift the Badgers to a 2-1 victory in the NCAA quarterfinals against Mercyhurst in Madison, while Vetter also played a strong game in goal.

“After scoring the goal in double overtime, I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance to score another goal as big,” said Hanson, who is from Medicine Hat, Alberta. “Then I get another chance in the Frozen Four.”

The goal came after the two teams locked up in a tight, tense defensive standoff, with scoring chances far fewer than the shots might indicate. Early in the third period, when it appeared any goal would be precious, suddenly Hanson scooped up the puck on the left side, made a neat move to filter past a defending St. Lawrence player, and drilled a snap shot high far side, into the upper right corner.

“I remember getting a pass off the boards, and got around one player,” said Hanson, whose goal was her 10th of the season. “All I meant to do was get it on net, and it went into the top corner.”

St. Lawrence goaltender Jessica Moffat said she saw the puck clearly, and saw the play developing. “I knew from the get-go it would take a goal like that,” said Moffat. “I did what I could do, and she just made a good shot, up high.”

The Saints, making their third trip to the Frozen Four in the last four years, outshot Wisconsin 27-25, gaining a 14-8 edge in the first period, thanks to three straight power plays. Vetter, coach Mark JohnsonÂ’s choice over senior Meghan Horras, said it didnÂ’t seem that busy.

“They got a lot of shots but they were from far out,” said Vetter. “Our team played very well defensively, and my D did a good job clearing the rebounds.”

The Badgers were at their best killing penalties against St. Lawrence, which had the second-best power play statistics in the country coming in. After killing the only three penalties of the first period, the Badgers also had to kill a fourth straight in the second period. Then Wisconsin got two power-play chances, but other than a few scrambles at the net at both ends of the big rink, quality chances were scarce.

Both teams were primed for such a game, because while Wisconsin needed two overtimes to get past Mercyhurst 2-1, St. Lawrence beat Minnesota-Duluth 1-0 in its quarterfinal.

“We won the same kind of a game 1-0 last weekend,” said St. Lawrence coach Paul Flanagan. “Great game to win, tough game to lose. I have to give congrats to Wisconsin, they played a real good game and didn’t give us a lot of great chances. We had some chances on the power plays early, and when you don’t score on those, sometimes it comes back to haunt you.”

St. Lawrence captain Tracy Muzerall had never watched a game here, but her sister, Nadine Muzerall, who is eight years older, was the first superstar when Minnesota started playing varsity hockey. Nadine Muzerall set the first scoring records for the Gophers and was voted All-America, while Tracy was a youngster growing up in Mississauga, Ontario.

Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said his decision to play Vetter was a tough one, because both his goaltenders have been solid – Horras is 16-2-1 with a 1.54 goals-against average, and Vetter had a 9-1 record with an 0.93 GAA. She improved to 10-1, and lowered the GAA.

“It was a decision that wasn’t made overnight,” said Johnson. “Meghan Horras has done a wonderful job for four years, and I thought about it. Jessie had don a good job against St. Cloud up here in a pressure game, and did the same against Mercyhurst too. So I just went with a hunch.

“We have a lot of confidence in these young ladies, and they’re not like freshmen any more. Our other freshmen have done a great job all season, and they certainly have made contributions. It’s nice to relax for a couple of minutes, because our last two games were pretty intense. It’s great to see the commitment, but also the passion these players have.”

Johnson singled out senior Nikki Burish for being willing to block shots, and in the third period, after Hanson had scored, Hanson also dived to sweep-check the puck out of the Wisconsin zone an instant before a Saints skater would have gained possession.

“Nikki has been blocking shots for four years, and it’s great to see from the bench that the kids want to win so badly they’ll dive to clear the zone,” Johnson said. “When you have young freshmen to graduating seniors all doing it, it’s a compliment to the players.”
Hanson, who had one game-winning goal during the regular season, now has three, and reached double figures for goals. Vetter simply enjoyed the seemingly tense pressure.

“I just love these live-and-die games,” Vetter said.

Badgers set to back up No. 1 NCAA rank at Regional

Wisconsin is the No. 1 seed at the Midwest Regional, which figures, because the Badgers are the No. 1 seed in nation among NCAA Division I college hockey teams. The Badgers, therefore, are favored to get past Bemidji State in SaturdayÂ’s semifinals at Green Bay, Wis. Colorado College and Cornell tangle in the other game, and the Badgers stand as favorite to also win the Sunday final against that winner.

None of that will be easy, of course. Wisconsin (26-10-3) seems to have overcome a late-season flat spot, although it would be a serious mistake to overlook Bemidji State (20-13-3), a team that is unranked but gained the NCAAÂ’s automatic berth for one team from College Hockey America, and a team that swept Minnesota-Duluth in Duluth, and also swept Minnesota State-Mankato.

Colorado College (24-15-2) came back from an upset loss to St. Cloud State in the first round of WCHA playoffs, so the Tigers are rested and ready to return to the ice based on a strong enough Pairwise computer rating. They face Cornell (21-8-4), a team from the perennially underrated ECAC but with an impressive record.

For Wisconsin, the key question is whether it has regained a full measure of confidence. Confidence is an enormous factor in hockey, as in all sports, but it has varying degrees of importance. Sometimes, a player or a team can overachieve by lacking confidence, and by being driven to prove superiority. In the case of the Badgers, confidence spells the difference between being the best team in the country, and a team with exposed vulnerability.

Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves knew he had a veteran team in a WCHA dominated by more youthful, rebuilding teams, and this is the first team where every player is an Eaves selection, knowing what is expected – make that demanded – by their disciplined, hard-driven coach.

With brilliant goaltending from Brian Elliott, a solid but mobile puck-handling defense led by all-WCHA first teamer Tom Gilbert, and a balanced and creative offense without a high-profile superstar, the Badgers tore into the season impressively. At the start, they were battle tested by overtimes in their first three games, beating St. Lawrence 3-2, then losing to St. Lawrence 2-1, and then tyhing 2-2.
A 1-1-1 start was at best inauspicious, but at that point the Badgers took flight, soaring to a run of 18-1-1 and what looked like a stranglehold on the WCHA title and the No. 1 rank in the nation. The only loss was 4-2 to Michigan Tech, which the Badgers overturned with a 7-0 rout the next night. That opening 19-2-2 run carried through January 14 when they swept 3-2 and 9-1 victories at CC.

In that stretch, the Badgers were spectacular to watch, sweeping from their end with quick-passing attacks, and, when passing lanes were blocked, laying passes ahead where teammates would speed to scoop up the pucks at full flight.

Suddenly, though, Elliott injured his knee in practice. The Badgers were at home against Denver, and possibly the only flaw in Eaves’ coaching was exposed. Freshman goaltender Shane Connelly had not played a game, and was thrust into the nets. Denver won 1-0, and followed it up with a 4-2 victory. Minnesota – a team the Badgers had swept 4-3, 4-0 in Minneapolis – came in next and also swept the Badgers in Madison, 5-4 and 3-1. Connelly was not the problem in those four straight losses, the problem was that the team played differently – as if subconsciously deciding it had to pull back from its free-wheeling attack to a circle-the-wagons defensive caution.

“No question,” said Eaves. “Elliott went out, and our whole team dynamic changed.”

Coinciding with WisconsinÂ’s sudden struggle, Minnesota went on a late-season tear, led by the explosive scoring of Ryan Potulny, and a defensive corps that gained overnight confidence from a long video lesson on the busride to North Dakota. The Gopher defense, which had been inept at best in two home losses to Wisconsin, learned from a video of the 2002 Gopher NCAA championship game and suddenly played with the assurance of Jordan Leopold, Keith Ballard and Paul Martin from that title team. Confidence carried through, and the Gophers won the WCHA regular season title.

The title became less important than getting everything back in order to Eaves. The Badgers regrouped and appeared back in the groove in a 7-2 romp at Duluth, but the pesky UMD Bulldogs came back to win 4-1 the next night, and the uncertainty returned. The regular season ended with Elliott returning to the nets for a troubling 4-4 tie with Michigan Tech, and two shocking losses, 6-4 and 7-3, at Mankato, before sweeping St. Cloud State.

So the team that started 19-2-2 finished 5-7-1 in the regular season. Elliott seemed to get back on track with 4-1, 1-0 sweep against Tech in the WCHA playoff first round, but at the Final Five, Wisconsin ran into a red-hot North Dakota team, and after the Badgers took an early 2-0 lead, the Sioux came back to win 4-3 in the semifinals.

At that point, Wisconsin went into the third-place game with that question still hanging overhead. But the foe, in Saint Paul, was Minnesota, a team that always makes the Badgers see red, so to speak. Against the No. 1 natiionally ranked Gophers, Elliott was perfect, and the Badgers cruised to a remarkably easy 4-0 victory.

The Wisconsin offense free-wheeled, and the likes of Joe Pavelski, Robbie Earl, Ross Carlson and Adam Burish sparked a solid performance by all four lines, while the defense broke out smoothly and Elliott notched his third shutout in the last six games. Wisconsin gave up only six goals in those last six games – four of them to North Dakota in the WCHA semifinals. The question now remains whether that intensity that returned in full measure against Minnesota can be counted on the rest of the way.

“The intensity of the rivalry depends on how good the teams are,” said Eaves. “That intensity is going to be there all the time against Minnesota because of the rivalry, but it goes to a high level this year, because both teams are good.

“It helped, jumping out to a 2-nil lead,” said Eaves. Yes, he REALLY said “2-nil.” Eaves also was careful not to put too much emphasis on the game, even though the nation’s No. 1 seed was hanging in the balance.

“They’re an up-tempo team, and we were able to control the tempo,” added Eaves. “Our No. 1 goal all year has been to get to Milwaukee to play in the NCAA Frozen Four. “The No. 1 team is whoever wins the NCAA championship.”

Colorado College, still armed with the 1-2 scoring tandem of Brett Sterling and Marty Sertich, which carried the Tigers to the Frozen Four last year, got voted back into the NCAA field by the vagaries of the NCAAÂ’s computer system. That system has been refined to follow the coachesÂ’ insistence on removing all subjectivity, but it is not without flaws. For example, if a team focuses on league play and finishes second, should there be a computer system that can declare four of its league rivals ahead of it?

Denver finished in a second-place tie with Wisconsin in the WCHA season, after a ferocious three-way battle with the two of them and Minnesota for the league title. Denver was upset at home by Minnesota-Duluth in the WCHA first round playoffs – just as CC was beaten in Colorado Springs by St. Cloud State.

Still, within the WCHA, DenverÂ’s power was unquestioned. The Pioneers had their problems with Minnesota, going 0-3-1, but they were 2-0 with Wisconsin, split 2-2 with North Dakota, and went 3-0-1 against Colorado College, for a 7-5-1 mark against the four WCHA teams that were voted into the NCAA. But Denver had gone 4-7 in nonconference games, including losses to Ferris State and Princeton.

That led the NCAA computations to over-rule the WCHA standings. Despite finishing second in the WCHA, the two-time defending national champion Pioneers ranked fifth among league teams via the computer, so Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Colorado College advanced, while Denver was bumped out of the 16 selected teams.

Ironically, Denver benefited by the same system that bit it this year when the Pioneers lost in the first round of league playoffs two years ago, got voted into the NCAA field, and won the championship. Colorado College could follow that same formula to victory this year. But that will require a truly sterling performance in a Midwest Regional where a confident Wisconsin Badgers outfit is the clearcut favorite.

Badgers, Gophers, Saints give NCAA test to No. 1 UNH

On paper, No. 1 ranked New Hampshire is favored to beat two-time defending champion Minnesota in FridayÂ’s 7 p.m. WomenÂ’s NCAA semifinal, and Wisconsin rates only a slim edge against St. Lawrence in the 4 p.m. first semifinal. That would set up a 3 p.m. Sunday final where New Hampshire would rate a slight favorite over Wisconsin, if you believe some sources.

One of those is U.S. Olympic womenÂ’s coach Ben Smith.
Wisconsin had just won the WomenÂ’s WCHA league playoff title at Ridder Arena, beating Minnesota 4-1, and Smith was spotted leaving the facility. He sort of shrugged when it was suggested that WisconsinÂ’s performance was very impressive.

“Wait till you see New Hampshire,” said Smith.

“Are they the best you’ve seen?” Smith was asked.

“They’re the best team I’ve seen in women’s hockey in many years,” said Smith.

Interesting. Smith is an Easterner who has been accused of favoring Eastern teams and Eastern players when selecting his U.S. Olympic teams, and itÂ’s easy to see why Smith is so impressed, because coach Brian McCloskeyÂ’s Wildcats had won 16 straight games and ran their unbeaten streak to 27-0-1. When they breezed to the Hockey East playoff title, it was their first since they were in the ECAC in 1966, then they knocked off Harvard in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Still, despite their current 17-game win streak and 28-0-1 overall run, the Wildcats didnÂ’t displace Wisconsin as the nationÂ’s No. 1 team until February 6, and the thought lingered that maybe SmithÂ’s comment was a swipe at the West, and the NCAA tournament dominance by the splendid former teams from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and the University of Minnesota. Those two are the only teams to ever win an NCAA title.

The first UMD teams featured brilliant elite players such as Jenny Potter (formerly Schmidgall), Maria Rooth, Erica Holst, Tuula Puputti, Hanne Sikio, Patricia Sautter, and Caroline Ouellette, and they won the first three NCAA tournaments ever held, in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Then, like a tag-team, UMD touched off – figuratively of course – to its intense rival Minnesota, and the Gophers won the last two NCAA tournaments, led by the likes of Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz, Kelly Stephens and Lindsay Wall.

There has been speculation that no team will ever again see the dominance of players from those UMD and Minnesota teams, and it seems certain that Smith must be impressed by them, too. For example, Potter, Wendell, Darwitz, Stephens and Wall all played for SmithÂ’s U.S. team at the just-completed Winter Olympics, and Ouellette was a standout for Team CanadaÂ’s gold medal team, while Rooth and Holst were the top players for silver medalist Sweden. Rooth singlehandedly ruined Team USAÂ’s chance to face Canada for gold by scoring twice, including a shorthanded goal to tie the U.S. 2-2, then also scored the clinching goal in the shootout that led Sweden to a 3-2 victory and left the U.S. seeking bronze.

With that background, WCHA observers can remain unconvinced, awaiting the emergence of New Hampshire. If the Wildcats, and their splendid 33-2-1 record, are to win the championship, they will have their work cut out for them.

The University of Wisconsin has broken through the dynamic duo of Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth to win the WomenÂ’s WCHA championship, and the WomenÂ’s WCHA playoff title, and the Badgers are attempting to be the first NCAA hockey champion with a name from outside the state of Minnesota.

The Gophers will not give up the stateÂ’s domination easily, however, having made the Frozen Four with a 28-10-1 record. The Gophers, ranked fourth in the nation, will face New Hampshire following completion of the first semifinal between Wisconsin (34-4-1) and St. Lawrence (31-4-2). The games are at Mariucci Arena, with its wider Olympic ice sheet.

St. Lawrence took out Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA quarterfinals, with a 1-0 victory last Saturday – the second year in succession the Bulldogs couldn’t get past St. Lawrence to reach the Frozen Four. Wisconsin had its hands full with a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Mercyhurst, while New Hampshire dispatched Harvard, and Minnesota cruised past Princeton.

New Hampshire is led by junior forward Nicole Hekle, a junior forward who was a Patty Kazmaier final 10 candidate, although she failed to make the final three. She has a strong supporting cast. When the Wildcats overran Boston College 6-0 in the Hockey East playoff final, junior goaltender Melissa Bourdon recorded her fourth – and UNH’s sixth – consecutive shutout. Bourdon has a live shutout streak of 282 minutes, 10 seconds, and the team streak has now stretched to 402:19.

Hockey East rookie of the year Sam Faber was only one of a UNH sweep of the all-tournament team in Hockey East, along with UNH teammates Bourdon, Jennifer Hitchcock, Sadie Wright-Ward, Kacey Bellamy, and Martine Garland. Hitchcock set a tournament record with seven points (4-3—7).

The Gophers are without the abundance of firepower they donated to the Olympic team, but they have rebuilt gamely, and are led by sophomore Erica McKenzie (27-25—52), WCHA freshman of the year Gigi Marvin (16-30—46), and sophomore Bobbi Ross (17-22—39), and the freshman goaltending tandem of Kim Hanlon and Brittony Chartier. Hanlon is trying to return from a twisted ankle suffered in the WCHA playoff final.

In the first NCAA semifinal, an interesting sidelight will focus on Wisconsin’s Sara Bauer, the WCHA player of the year, a junior forward with 22-35—57, and St. Lawrence sophomore Sabrina Harbec, who has 24-36—60, and was the ECAC player of the year. Also intriguing is that Wisconsin defenseman Bobbi-Jo Slusar, a junior, and the WCHA defenseman of the year, and St. Lawrence senior goaltender Jessica Moffat also were top 10 picks as Kazmaier candidates.

The two WCHA entries have both seen the two Eastern teams in the field, but in cross-reference. Minnesota lost 3-1 to St. Lawrence back on October 8, and Wisconsin lost a 2-1 game at New Hampshire.

The Gophers have improved considerably and ended the regular season with a seven-game winning streak, their season’s best, winning four straight against WCHA foes, and adding three more in the playoffs before being thumped 4-1 by Wisconsin in the league final. Wisconsin, however, has credentials that more closely rival UNH’s. The Badgers opened with a loss to UMD, then rattled off 12 straight victories, before losing at New Hampshire. After that, the Badgers embarked on another 12-0-1 streak – meaning the loss at UNH was Wisconsin’s only setback in a 26-game stretch.

Statistically, Wisconsin had the most goals (151) and the fewest goals-against (51) among WCHA teams, with UMD second and Minnesota third in both categories. In scoring by periods, Wisconsin had a large edge on all league foes, scoring a balanced 49 in the first, 48 in the second, and 50 in the third, and adding four in overtime. The Badgers were 4-0-1 in overtime games, while Minnesota was 2-2-1.

The Badgers also had seven of the WCHAs’s top 20 goal-scorers and seven of the top 20 assist-getters, as Bauer’s 22-35—57 led Slusar’s 12-27—39, Sharon Cole’s 15-24—39, Jinelle Zaugg’s 22-13—35, Angie Kesely’s 13-20—33, Erika Lawler’s 13-19—32, and defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson’s 4-27—31, while Nikki Burish (10-17—27) and Cyndy Kenyon (13-12—25) followed closely.

MinnesotaÂ’s McKenzie, Marvin and Ross were the only Gophers among the top 20, but Hanlon led league goaltenders with a 1.12 goals-against and a .943 save percentage, although WisconsinÂ’s Meghan Horras played twice as many games and was second at 1.54 and .928.

UMD goalie Riitta Schaublin, incidentally, was a close third at 1.59 and .941, and joins Bauer and Harbec as the three Kazmaier finalists for the player of the year award, which will be given out Saturday.

If Olympic coach Smith is right, the Minnesota/UMD domination of the NCAA championship will be accomplished by New Hampshire. But Wisconsin has spent the whole season breaking down Gopher/Bulldog dominance, and the Badgers could be primed to make history themselves. After winning their first Final Five, coach Mark Johnson wouldnÂ’t say his Badgers have peaked.

“I prefer it this way, to not be No. 1 right now,” said Johnson. “Other teams can have a lot of incentive to beat No. 1. Our only intention was to become better every month. Now you win and move on, and if you win the game, you’ve peaked.”

Gophers have questions, Sioux answers in NCAA meet

Minnesota and North Dakota, both Frozen Four entries a year ago, will not both make it this time, because they are in the same West Regional of the NCAA menÂ’s hockey tournament in Grand Forks, with semifinals Friday and the final, which will determine one of the Frozen Four entrants, on Saturday.

Minnesota is the No. 1 seed in the regional, while North Dakota rode in as No. 2 after an impressive showing to win the WCHA Final Five with victories over Wisconsin and then upstart St. Cloud State. The teams could, indeed, collide in SaturdayÂ’s final, if Minnesota can beat Holy Cross at 5:30 p.m. Friday, and North Dakota subdues Michigan in FridayÂ’s 8 p.m. semifinal.

North Dakota, with an amazingly young team finding its maturity at the right time, is playing with confidence and skill, and will have the enormous support of the avid Fighting Sioux fans in Ralph Engelstad Arena. It will be interesting to see if some of those fans show up at the Minnesota-Holy Cross game to cheer on Holy Cross, with yelling against an archrival being more a more compelling target than WCHA unity.

Minnesota, of course, canÂ’t be concerned with such trivia. The Golden Gophers swept two 4-3 games from North Dakota in early December to start on a 20-1-1 streak that carried them through the first round of league playoffs and right up to the Final Five. But the Final Five left the Gophers answering a lot of questions.

A week ago, the prospect facing MinnesotaÂ’s certain move into the NCAA was intriguing. As the clearcut No. 1 ranked team in the nation in all the polls, as well as in the NCAA selection committeeÂ’s pairwise power structure, would the Gophers prefer to go to Grand Forks, N.D., where they might have to face North Dakota, or to Green Bay, Wis., where they might have to face Wisconsin?

Now the NCAA regionals are upon us, and while the question of Minnesota’s whereabouts for the four regionals was easily configured – Grand Forks – there are several more perplexing questions gnawing at the Golden Gophers.

• Did the two losses in the WCHA Final Five, an 8-7 thriller to St. Cloud State in the semifinals and a 4-0 snoozer to Wisconsin, indicate the Gophers took the weekend off, because they knew they were set in the NCAA, or did they get off their game in the process?

• Did the fact that the losses, coupled with Wisconsin beating them, knocked Minnesota off the No. 1 spot, but did allowing Wisconsin to take No. 1 have more than just a psychological impact?

• The Gopher defense, which had been the key to that 20-1-1 cruise through the stretch drive and right up to the Final Five, reverted to the haphazard giveaway style that confounded the team during its 7-5-4 first half struggle; are such problems easily corrected in practice?

• Will Minnesota be able to avoid looking ahead while facing unheralded Holy Cross in Friday’s Region game, making them vulnerable as they consider the prospect of facing the North Dakota-Michigan winner on Saturday?

• Can goaltender Kellen Briggs regain the form of three shutouts in the five games leading up to the Final Five, or did giving up 12 goals in the two Final Five games dent his psyche, as well as his invincibility?

• Can the Gophers, who have ridden an even-keel approach through most of the season, find the emotional spike, or spikes, that might be necessary to carry a team to victory in the pressure of NCAA playoffs?
Stay tuned. The answers are expected soon.

“I think that our schedule left us with some games that were too easy at the end of the year,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia after the Final Five setbacks. “We played a couple of tougher teams here.
“As for which Regional, it doesn’t matter where you play. If you’re better, you win.”

Minnesota needed no concern after a highly entertaining 8-7 loss to St. Cloud State, which had to win the tournament to advance, and scoring star Ryan Potulny led them back from a 6-3 deficit in that game with an amazing four-goal performance. But the 4-0 loss to Wisconsin is the kind of loss that can shake up a teamÂ’s confidence, while obviously bolstering the Badgers, and it was only the second time all season Minnesota had lost two in a row.

“The last time we got swept in a weekend, good things happened,” said Gopher captain Gino Guyer, noting that Minnesota’s long streak began after two embarrassing losses to Wisconsin. “From here on out, though, you’ve got to win or else.”

As Minnesota prepares to take on Holy Cross, North Dakota is a team that seems to just be rising to its peak, and the Sioux have only one challenge. Michigan.

That is a formidable task of facing the perennial CCHA power is tempered only slightly by the fact that the Wolverines were not a factor in the CCHA race, and come to Grand Forks as a No. 3 seed.

North Dakota has played solidly all season, but with six of their 12 forwards and four of their six defensemen all being freshmen, the Fighting Sioux were pretty well unable to string together any concerted bids for the title, but continued to improve while working under the radar. A pair of 2-1 losses to St. Cloud State at Grand Forks seemed to doom theSioux, but they bounced back to split at Colorado College, sweep Minnesota Duluth, split at Denver, and sweep Michigan Tech to end the regular WCHA with a 6-2 run.

Losing 3-2 at home to Minnesota State-Mankato caused the Sioux to snap to attention. They won 4-1 and 3-0 to reach the Final Five, then beat favored Wisconsin 4-3, and moved ahead 5-1 against St. Cloud State before winning 5-3 for the Broadmoor Trophy.

“A key to our success is the ability of our guys to keep bouncing back, and close out games,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “We looked at it, and said let’s see where we’re at, and what we have to do to get better. We hoped we’d have the ability to compete with the best teams in the country, and we hoped to be playing our best hockey of the year at the end. We’re doing that.”

The Sioux won the Final Five without leading scorer Drew Stafford, whose impact may upgrade the North Dakota offense for the regional. Otherwise, veterans like juniors Chris Porter and sophomores Rastislav Spirko and Travis Zajac have been supercharged by the infusion of freshmen T.J. Oshie, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Duncan and others up front, while Zach Jones, Taylor Chorney, Brian Lee and Joe Finley are all freshmen back on defense.

“At the beginning, we had a bunch of new guys,” said Jordan Parise, the junior goaltender who was the most valuable player at the Final Five. “Communication has gotten a lot better and the guys are more comfortable with each other, and in the last month, we’ve taken a turn for the better.”

To win the Final Five, Parise said: “We weren’t thinking of the past, and we’re not thinking too far ahead, either.”

While Toews is certain to be a first-round NHL draft pick, fellow-freshman Oshie has been igniting the first line for the Sioux all season. If the Gophers and Fighting Sioux do end up in the region final, keep an eye on No. 7 in green along with No. 26 in the Gopher uniform, because the sideshow of Oshie against Minnesota’s Phil Kessel will be an added treat. Kessel has enjoyed the prominence of the multi-media print and television of the Twin Cities, but Oshie has made his presence felt as well. Kessel has 17-33—50 for the season – a tremendous output for a freshman and a number which made him the runaway winner of the WCHA freshman of the year award.

But Oshie has 23-19—42 for the lighter-scoring Sioux, and he has 13 goals at equal strength compared to 7 for Kessel. Also, while Oshie likes to run into people physically, he doesn’t shoot enough. Kessel has taken 170 shots, and scored on 10 percent of them, while Oshie has taken only 85 shots for the season, and scored on an amazing 26 percent of them.

“Oshie is a very exciting player to watch,” said Hakstol. “He is a tremendous competitor with some special skills and ability. If he’s not scoring goals, he’s effective as a physical guy for us. He’s a pretty complete player.”

The selection committee, in fact, appears to have taken a stand against what happened last season, when the Frozen Four all came from the WCHA, because champion Denver, runner-up North Dakota, Colorado College and Minnesota each won a different regional. This year, there are four WCHA teams among the 16 selected teams, but all four are gathered in two regionals.

While Minnesota and North Dakota are 1-2 in the West Regional, Wisconsin and Colorado College are both in the Midwest Regional at Green Bay, with Wisconsin facing No. 4 Bemidji State and CC taking on Cornell in SaturdayÂ’s semifinals, and their winners meeting in a Sunday final.

Interestingly, it is the CCHA that gets three potential avenues to the Frozen Four, as the Midwest Regional is the only one without a CCHA team. Both Miami of Ohio and Nebraska-Omaha are at Worcester, Mass., for the Northeast Regional, where Miami meets Boston College and UNO faces top-seeded Boston University in Friday semifinals. Michigan State wound up the No. 1 seed in the East Regional at Albany, N.Y., where it will take on New Hampshire, while Maine plays Harvard in the other Saturday semifinal.

It is a tall order to expect Michigan State to win the East, Miami or Nebraska-Omaha to win the Northeast, and Michigan to win the West, but it is interesting that the selection committee chose to move Cornell, from Ithaca, N.Y., away from Albany, and leave the East Region essentially without a close-proximity host.

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• 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.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.