Sweden tops Russia 3-0 for women’s world bandy title
SwedenÂ’s national womenÂ’s bandy team attacks with the suddenness of a Porsche, and defends with the security of a military tank. But SwedenÂ’s 3-0 victory over Russia in SaturdayÂ’s championship game of the WomenÂ’s Bandy World Championships more resembled a Volvo sedan.
Solid, safe, conservative and technically very sound, just like the cars they make in Gothenburg, Sweden, the yellow-clad Swedish team capitalized on its opportunities for two quick-striking goals by Mikaela Hasselgren in the first half, then concentrated on preventing Russia from getting any clear scoring chances in the second. Johanna Pettersson converted a pass from Johanna Karlsson seven minutes into the second 45-minute half, and Sweden stayed within the speed limit the rest of the way, to skate off the John Rose Oval in suburban Roseville, Minnesota, with the World Championship.
Swedish coach Roger Jakobssen said he enjoyed the comparison to SwedenÂ’s cars, best-known for their focus on keeping everything safe. “It was our final game, and everyone expected Sweden to win so easily,†Jakobssen said. “But we had to work really hard in most of the games, and especially today. Russia challenged us in a tough way, and we had to have a great deal of patience. We are the World Champions, and we played some excellent bandy, and I think we were excellent ambassadors for the game of bandy.Ââ€
Bandy boosters are hoping to get their sport into the Winter Olympics, and it would seem a likely candidate, because of its popularity in Scandinavia and Russia, and especially Siberia.
Norway, which had tied Russia 1-1in round-robin play for the highest moment in its century of bandy, but lost to the Russians in the semifinals, came back to defeat Finland 2-1 in the third-place game for the bronze medal. The U.S. earlier had beaten Canada 2-0 in the game for fifth place.
Bandy features never-ending skating, played with a tennis-ball-size ball and short sticks, like 11-player soccer on a soccer-sized rink. The sport is at a pinnacle in Sweden and Russia, where it is played by many, sometimes in indoor arenas, and rivals soccer and hockey in popularity. Crowds of over 20,000 are common in Russia, but the game is little-known in North America. The John Rose Oval is MinnesotaÂ’s only official-size bandy rink, and CanadaÂ’s team, an under-20 Winnipeg ringette team, was put together for the tournament and doesnÂ’t even have a bandy rink to practice on.
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Minnesota’s team averages about 38 years of age, and is hoping to expand with a youth program at Roseville. It wasn’t an attempt to be perfect hosts that the U.S. failed to win a game during the round-robin play – tying Norway 1-1, and losing 1-0 to Canada while also playing very well in a 2-0 loss to Finland, and its first victory in two World Championship appearances came in the fifth-place playoff game against Canada.
Minnesota Nice seemed to extend beyond the John Rose Oval facility, and just in time to make teams from Sweden and Russia feel comfortable, the Twin Cities region imported this winterÂ’s most severe cold snap down from northern reaches of Canada. It was about 5-below zero with a 30-mile-per-hour wind for much of the tournament, and all sorts of outdoor events elsewhere were cancelled, but the bandy went on. One unwitting photographer, bundled well except for his ears, froze his windward ear in about 20 minutes of picture-taking in the Friday sunshine. A woman volunteer minding the southeast corner of the rink tried to stay warm with hot coffee from her Thermos jug. The first time she tried it, all went well; the second time, she found the coffee in the Thermos had frozen solid.
It was less harsh on Saturday, and a rowdy group from Sweden wore yellow and blue hats and jerseys, waved flags, and sang assorted chants to cheer on their team. After the championship game, two-goal scorer Hasselgren said: “Cold? No. Not like yesterday.Ââ€
In nearly every game, the rhythmic flow of constant skating was occasionally interrupted by corner pass-in plays, which follow stoppages in play caused by the defending team knocking the ball out of bounds. Most of the tournamentÂ’s goals came off corner pass plays, ball three of SwedenÂ’s goals in the final came off direct attacks.
“We tried to get corners,†said Petterson, who not only scored the final goal, but got off the shot that led to Hasselgren’s second goal, on a rebound.
KarlssonÂ’s passes set up Hasselgren for the first goal of the game, as well as PetterssonÂ’s final goal. The Swedish players will now return to their club teams, three of which contributed players to the national team, and their schedule runs through March.
Russian coach Aleksandr Skirdenko was in good spirits after the game. “It could be better, if we win,†he said. “But we have given everything we could, and Sweden has a very strong team. We knew the Swedish team was very strong, very fast, and that we wouldnÂ’t have many chances against them. So our plan was to defend first, then counter-attack when we could. We had a few chances, but we didnÂ’t score.Ââ€
Oxana Pronshina, who had led Russia with two goals to a 7-0 victory over the U.S. and with three goals in an identical 7-0 romp over Canada in preliminary round play, said the first goal was pivotal. “If we had scored early, scored first, anything would be possible,†she said. “We would have put our bodies in front of the net, anything, to stop the Swedish team if we had gotten the first goal.Ââ€
Jakobssen, the coach and/or “Volvo driver,†said his team executed his tactics well. “We wanted to be careful in the second half to not lose the ball. A couple of times we lost the ball in the middle of the field, and they got their best chances then.Ââ€
But, with the Swedish teamÂ’s figurative shoulder harnesses strapped on, and roll-bars in place, and smooth-running efficiency unhampered by Siberian-like cold, there was never a chance SwedenÂ’s trip to the World Championship would be threatened.
Video snaps Gopher defense into 1st place form
University of Minnesota hockey coach Don Lucia runs a tight ship, tight enough that a casual observer might think he’s a control freak. But if his defensemen suggest they’d like to watch some videos, Lucia is likely to encourage them to watch all they want – as long as the video is of the final Golden Gophers game of the 2001-2002 season.
That just happened to be the game in which Minnesota defeated Maine in overtime to win the NCAA championship for the first time in 23 years. And even though Minnesota repeated as NCAA champs a year later, the 2002 title game video is No. 1 on Lucia’s “recommended video†list for his defensemen.
It also might be precisely the reason the Golden Gophers have moved within reach of winning the WCHA regular-season championship, are ranked No. 1 in the country, and obviously are now among the elite teams most-favored when it comes to picking this yearÂ’s NCAA championship favorite.
Despite continued protests from Lucia – who insists on saying that winning the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular-season champion is not an objective – his players publicly repeat the coach’s mantra, but privately acknowledge that they wouldn’t mind hanging more than one banner this season. To that end, when Minnesota beat Denver 3-2 last Friday to end the Pioneers 7-game winning streak, the Golden Gophers vaulted past Denver into first place. When they followed up by whipping the Pioneers 5-1 for a series sweep, they elevated themselves to a position two points ahead of Wisconsin and three up on Denver.
With only two weekends to go, the Gophers would have to lose at least two of their remaining four games – against Alaska-Anchorage and Minnesota-Duluth, the bottom two teams in the WCHA. The WCHA this season has been its most unpredictable in decades, if not ever, but the likelihood of the Minnesota Express being derailed seems slim for a couple of reasons. First, because they are on a 7-0-1 surge of their own, and stand 14-1-1 since December 3, which has become a day to remember for the Gophers. Especially their defense.
On that night in December, Minnesota hit its low point for the season. Wisconsin had come to Mariucci Arena and the night after the Badgers administered a 4-3 setback, they humiliated the Golden Gophers 4-0 in the rematch. Wisconsin was flying high, No. 1 in the WCHA and No. 1 in the nation, but the worst part of that weekend was that the Gophers defense seemed powerless to cope with the Badgers. Turnovers gave Wisconsin numerous chances, and a stumbling inability to cope with the resulting rushes rendered Minnesota to also-ran status.
Amazingly, the next weekend Minnesota went up to Grand Forks and swept North Dakota. That sweep got the Gophers rolling, and they have kept on rolling, particularly with a pivotal payback sweep at Wisconsin and then last weekend’s sweep against Denver – their two main adversaries atop the standings.
Lucia doesnÂ’t deal much in superlatives, but the offense has come alive in the last two months. The key triggerman with his scoring consistency is junior center Ryan Potulny, bolstered by the return to health of timely-scoring junior wing Danny Irmen, important goals from surprising sophomore Ben Gordon, smart two-way defensive work from captain and center Gino Guyer, and continued eye-popping set-ups from freshman Phil Kessel. But the performance of those forwards, and goaltender Kellen Briggs, would be comparatively meaningless if the defense hadnÂ’t made a 180-degree turnabout.
So what happened? Did Lucia bring back NHLers Jordan Leopold, Keith Ballard and Paul Martin for that series, and dress them up to impersonate Gopher blueliners?
Almost.
“After that Wisconsin weekend,†Lucia said, “when we went up to North Dakota I had our defense watch a video of the 2002 title game. Specifically, I said to watch Leopold, Ballard and Martin, and how played in our zone, how they used the glass to get the puck out of the zone when they had to, and everything they did.Ââ€
Presto! As if by magic, the visualization lesson took hold and the Gopher defense went from stumbling to self-assured. Senior Chris Harrington, who had strayed far from the confident style he showed as a freshman, and fellow-senior P.J. Atherton played better and better. A Minneapolis newspaper columnist who rarely mentions hockey wrote an item that Gopher defenseman Mike Vannelli is the son of Tom Vannelli, a Gopher star of the 1970s – never mind that Vannelli is a junior, but had gone unnoticed for three years.
Sophomores Alex Goligoski and Derek Peltier snapped into focus, Goligoski returning to the confident rookie he had been last year, and Peltier compressing his play into smart and beneficial shifts. And freshman R.J. Atherton now plays with smooth force, instead of the sort of hesitancy that usually leads to the wrong move.
Instead, all the right moves have cleared pucks from danger and ignited Minnesota rushes, instead of opposing forechecks. By chance, Ballard was back at Mariucci Arena to watch the Denver series, because the weather was more hockey-like than his residence in Scottsdale, Ariz., while playing for the Phoenix Coyotes. Leopold and Martin might have been, but they were in Turin, Italy, as part of Team USAÂ’s Winter Olympic endeavor.
Meanwhile, any NHL or Olympic team would have been impressed to watch the Gopher defense calmly kill two five-minute major penalties in FridayÂ’s game, even with Atherton and Goligoski gone as the two whistled for checking-from-behind majors and game misconducts. No problem. Andy Sertich moved back to defense, and no damage was done.
The defensemen are helping out offensively, too. The 3-2 victory over Denver started when AndersonÂ’s whistling point shot was deflected in by Gordon, Harrington assisted on the always-opportunistic PotulnyÂ’s 23th goal to break a 1-1 tie, and Potulny added No. 24 on a power play for the winner.
The next night ended almost as it began. Denver star defenseman Matt Carle drew a slashing penalty in the first minute, and Irmen – just back from a shoulder injury – scored at 1:08 on the power play, assisted by Harrington and Goligoski. The assist was Harrington’s 100th career point. Gordon finished a perfect 2-on-1 rush from Kessel 29 seconds later, and Irmen scored on Kessel’s rebound midway through the first period for a 3-0 cushion.
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When Gabe Gauthier scored, finally, for Denver at 19:06 of the middle period, Goligoski ignited an immediate counter off the ensuing faceoff, resulting in Potulny setting up freshman Ryan Stoa at the goal-mouth at 19:14, nullifying whatever lift the Pioneers might have gained at 3-1.
“I thought weÂ’d get a momentum change on our goal, but eight seconds later, they came right back,“ said Gauthier. “Everything was rolling on our seven-game winning streak, but we hit a stopper, and it was Minnesota.Ââ€
GoligoskiÂ’s assist was his 100th point as a Gopher, and when he moved in from the right point to score himself midway through the third period, he started on his second 100.
“We got a couple of lucky bounces,†said Irmen. Somebody asked Irmen if the Gophers could see the WCHA title in their grasp now, and he said that no, that wasn’t an objective, and they had to go up to Anchorage and play game by game.
Yeah, right Danny. But with four games to go and a two-point lead, the Gophers would have to cave in to avoid winning the MacNaughton Cup, wouldnÂ’t they?
“Well, I guess we control our destiny, and if the title is there, we’ll take it,†said Irmen.
Irmen spoke as though he had been programmed by a chip installed in his brain at the Don Lucia Clinic of Proper Responses. No boasting, no predictions, no looking too far ahead, and no controversial statements whatsoever. Remember, this is the same coach who told assistant John Hill not to comment to the media the week before Alaska-Anchorage – the team Hill coached through last season before returning to be an assistant at Minnesota – to avoid anything that might end up inspiring the Seawolves.
However, given Lucia’s “programming†of the Gopher defense, and Minnesota’s No. 1 status in the WCHA and in the national polls, three things are pretty certain: Hill will probably remain silent on this week’s trip to Anchorage, the Gopher defense will continue to impersonate Leopold, Ballard and Martin, and the Gophers – protests notwithstanding – will probably move one weekend away from the MacNaughton Cup.
Brodt, Curtin aim to inspire future women’s Olympians
Where were you when Team USAÂ’s womenÂ’s hockey team was upset by Sweden, 3-2 in a Winter Olympics semifinal shootout, to preclude the United State from its assumed slot in the gold medal game against Canada?
A lot of women and girls down to the youngest age of hockey interest may remember exactly where they were. Two of them, Winny Brodt and Ronda Curtin, probably wonÂ’t remember, because they had other things on their minds.
Ronda Curtin, one of the premier elite players in Minnesota’s young but proud female hockey history, was home, helping coach the St. Thomas women’s college team and trying to find time to play for the amateur Minnesota Whitecaps. Winny Brodt, who preceded the most famous sister act in Minnesota hockey annals – Ronda and Renee Curtin – at Roseville High School’s early state powers, was also home. She celebrated her 28th birthday, which came one day after Team USA’s stunning defeat, by also playing for the Whitecaps, a recently formed team that plays amateur senior women’s elite teams from all across Canada.
Both of them were among the best half-dozen players in the history of Minnesota girls high school hockey, starring at Roseville High School, and later at the University of Minnesota. Arguably – although it’s not arguable in Minnesota – both should have been on this year’s U.S. women’s Olympic team, and on the 2002 team as well. But they are not just sitting home grousing about it. They are doing something about it, trying to invent ways to help Minnesota’s burgeoning crop of new young girls at the youth and high school levels to have realistic goals in the sport.
Hockey observers from throughout the world are amazed and impressed with the development of female hockey in Minnesota, and how high school girls hockey has accelerated the development of far beyond any other area of the country, and, in fact, the world. Minnesota high school stars go on to college, and are generally among the better players on their teams. So it might seem logical that Minnesota-raised high school players might dominate the U.S. National and Olympic team, the way their male counterparts did, at least up through 1980, when amateurs played.
But the womenÂ’s U.S. Olympic team, which should be the pinnacle of girls through their development phase, has not been a realistic objective for most Minnesota girls and women. True, Krissy Wendell and Natalie Darwitz, two of the other elite players in MinnesotaÂ’s high school girls annals, and Jenny Potter, the famous mom on the team, were stars on Team USA. But thatÂ’s it. Those are the only three women who grew up playing hockey in Minnesota to make Team USA.
Winny Brodt, a swift, free-skating defenseman, who defended responsibly but was best-known for her spectacular end-to-end rushes, was the last player cut. Ronda Curtin, third on the all-time Minnesota high school girls point-scoring list, and who went on to star at the University of Minnesota as a forward, and then switched to defense where she was named All-America, didnÂ’t even bother to try out.
“I saw what was happening to Winny, and I decided – why bother?†said Ronda. The fact that Curtin was never invited to camp or encouraged to try out became more curious when this year’s team took one too few forwards and one extra defenseman, with the idea of shifting some players up to play forward.
“Considering that the three best players on Team USA are Jenny, Krissy and Natalie – all from Minnesota – doesn’t it make sense that they might have tried to find a few more from here?†Curtin asked.
Brodt shares RondaÂ’s opinion, even removing her personal involvement. “Forget all those players who are from somewhere else but might have played at Minnesota or UMD, there are only three homegrown Minnesotans on the U.S. team,†Brodt said. “Does that mean, in eight years they havenÂ’t been able to find another Minnesota player?Ââ€
Despite the easy alternative of being bitter, however, Brodt and Curtin have actively moved toward helping future players develop.
“Ronda and I are running a hockey program for girls 8 to 18 at different arenas around the Twin Cities,†said Brodt. “We started last year, at Fogerty Arena, and Bloomington, and Wakota, and we’re going to expand, maybe to Highland and other arenas. The whole purpose is to work on fundamentals in a setting where the highest level of girls of all ages can participate. We have an evaluation to make sure we get the best, qualified players. In girls hockey, with no checking, it’s a lot easier for younger girls around age 10 to play with older girls over 12 or so.
“Last year, I decided I wanted to stay as involved in hockey as I could, and I could see the numbers of youth programs for girls, while I grew up playing with boys because thatÂ’s all there was. ItÂ’s great that there are so many girls programs for younger girls, but what I notice is that in most cases the girls are treated like girls, instead of like athletes. I was treated like ‘one of the guys.Â’ At our camp, we want to treat the girls like athletes, so they can develop to the maximum of their ability.Ââ€
Ronda Curtin is the opposite of Winny Brodt when it comes to playing style. Ronda is tall and strong, a classic skater who can overpower an opponent with her size, strength or booming shot, while Brodt is a shorter bundle of energy who can fly end-to-end and beat foes with great bursts of speed. But they share the common asset of hockey sense, as well as exceptional ability.
“From coaching at St. Thomas, the thing IÂ’ve noticed most is that the girls skate well and have good ability,†said Ronda Curtin. “But they often lack the ability to see the ice. ThatÂ’s one of the things weÂ’re hoping to develop in the camps Winny and I are running.Ââ€
Seeing the ice is hockey parlance for the great and elusive skill of seeming to know where everyone on the rink is during play – of carrying the puck, but knowing where both teammates and foes are and are likely to be. It seems to be a gift of exceptional players – what separates the Wayne Gretzkys and the Neal Brotens from the average stars. It is an extention of “hockey sense,†and many think it is inborn, because gifted players have it instinctively and don’t play mechanically.
Ronda Curtin and her younger sister, Renee – who is the state’s all-time points leader but whose career tragically has been curtailed by repetitive concussions – definitely have that hockey sense, that ability to see the ice. So does Winny Brodt. And, of course, Natalie Darwitz, Krissy Wendell and Jenny Potter also share that same level of the incredible skill.
In fact, if we were going to select an all-time Minnesota women’s team – for now and possibly forever – Darwitz, Potter, Wendell, Winny Brodt, Ronda and Renee Curtin would be the elite six. If we were selecting an all-time girls high school team, the first unit would have Darwitz centering the Curtin sisters, with Brodt and Wendell on defense. If you wanted to add a goaltender, there are many, but we could pick Sheri Vogt, who went on to stardom at Minnesota State-Mankato, and, after establishing clearly the second-best statistics with Team USA, she was a last-cut along with Winny Brodt.
Potter, incidentally, doesnÂ’t make the all-time high school team for an apparently forgotten reason. Various magazine and newspaper features often credit her for being a high school record-scoring phenom at Edina High School. But Jenny Schmidgall played amateur hockey, with boys and with teams like the Minnesota Thoroughbreds, up through the time high school girls hockey was starting. She never played girls high school hockey.
At any rate, Ronda Curtin and Winny Brodt both agree that Team USA has been a great source of inspiration for young Minnesota girls interested in hockey, but so far it hasnÂ’t been a realistic objective. College hockey has been a realistic goal, and high school hockey is the perfect, and unique, stepping stone to college scholarships at the Division I level, or highly competitive play at the Division III state school level. Their objective is to give young girls a way to develop to the peak of their ability, to play the game at their highest personal levels, and to enjoy the game at its maximum.
The Brodt-Curtin connection goes back a couple of decades, when their family homes were — and still are – next door to each other in Roseville. The young women are off on their own, but they still return home frequently, where all the kids in both families grew up playing various sports, but primarily hockey. Roseville Arena and other various indoor and outdoor rinks became familiar to them, but their most prominent venue was the Curtin driveway.
Boot hockey, the perfect method for developing stickhanding skills as well as how to function in congestion, was an almost daily endeavor, all summer, and often through the winter, unless the two households of kids chose to walk over to the outdoor rink adjacent to Roseville Arena, where the John Rose Oval is now located. The driveway kept hockey alive all summer, however.
“Luke Curtin and I were the same age, and we were the two oldest, so we would be on opposite teams,†said Winny. “IÂ’d get Kurt, who is LukeÂ’s younger brother, and Luke would get Ronda on his side, and then Renee would play, too. WeÂ’d have some pretty ferocious battles.Ââ€
Ronda Curtin remembers those days, too. “My dad had street hockey nets there for us in the driveway, and a board we could shoot against,†said Ronda. “WeÂ’d play 2-on-2, or 3-on-3, or 3-on-2 – depending on who showed up. Sometimes my dad would flood the back yard in winter, so we could skate, but weÂ’d still play boot hockey in the driveway, too.Ââ€
When it came to organized hockey, there were precious few chances for girls. So Winny Brodt played on the Roseville boys A Peewee team at age 10-12, and then starred for the Roseville A Bantam team, age 12-14.
“We learned from playing with and against boys, and as the boys got older and stronger, we had to improve the same way,†Winny said. “That was the driving force behind our playing ability.Ââ€
When girls started playing high school hockey, Roseville came on board a year later, and Winny Brodt was on that team. In 1996, Winny won the first Ms. Hockey award. “Ronda was a freshman on that team, and Renee played as a seventh-grader,†Winny recalled. She also recalled being able to dominate those early high school games, often skating from her own zone, past every opponent, to score goals.
“It is really amazing to see how far high school hockey has come in such a short time,†Brodt said. “It was like skating around cones in some games back when I played. I probably had better hands then than since.Ââ€
There still could be future involvement for Brodt and Curtin with Team USA, and, they hope, for more and more Minnesotans in the future, possibly graduates of their camp. The shocking U.S. loss to Sweden in this yearÂ’s Olympic semifinals is expected to signal a major change in philosophy for USA HockeyÂ’s womenÂ’s teams.
Until now, the team has been pretty much a private club selected by coach Ben Smith, who was named coach of Team USAÂ’s women since it first participated in the Olympics and won the gold medal in 1998 at Nagano. It was logical to select an Eastern-dominated team back then, because Eastern colleges had played hockey for years and the West was just getting started at the college level, and players like the Curtins, Brodt, Darwitz and Wendell were helping with the high school upsurge.
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After the 1998 gold medal, a normally reasonable Minneapolis Star-Tribune sportswriter wrote that Team USA might have won the Olympic gold medal, but there was a question whether it could beat a Minnesota high school all-star team. I was that writer, and I absorbed a lot of criticism for it. But after that season, a game for elite players was conducted at Columbia Arena, including high school, college and Olympic players, and a line of high schoolers named Darwitz, Curtin and Curtin scored twice on the first shift and dominated the game.
Still, Smith and Team USA stayed intact, but added Darwitz and Wendell, with Darwitz leaving her final two high school years to prepare for the 2002 silver medal team. So they were part of the mix this year, with Potter, as top players on the 2006 bronze medal. The apparently downward spiral from gold to silver to bronze, culminated by the shocking loss to an improving Sweden team – which almost didn’t participate in 2002 because Swedish hockey officials weren’t sure they could be competitive – will undoubtedly signal a change.
The selection process may shift to more of the format the men used to use when amateurs manned the teams, through history, of selecting a coach for each yearÂ’s national team, and having regional tryouts, where the East vs. West rivalry led to intense competition but also to selections that were more than simply retaining personal favorites.
Harvard coach Katey Stone is a possible new coach, or Mark Johnson, the coach at Wisconsin, which won the WCHA womenÂ’s title this season. Whatever, it may bring a change in concept to USA HockeyÂ’s national team selection.
“IÂ’d love to see an all- Minnesota team play the Olympic team right now,†said Winny Brodt. “It would be great if they had actual games between the East and West to use for selection of the team.Ââ€
East-West rivalries were common to the men. In fact, when the late Herb Brooks selected 12 Minnesotans to the legendary 1980 menÂ’s Team USA, he worked so hard downplay the fact that 16 of the 20 players were from the west, that every movie, book and chronicle of that team, so far, has featured Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione and Jack OÂ’Callahan, three of the four Eastern players.
WomenÂ’s hockey is at the stage where it deserves similar treatment. The rise in the competitive level of Minnesota girls hockey is unprecedented in high school sports not only in the state, but nationwide. In other parts of the United States, girls play on youth club teams in small pockets, and the most elite of them advance to prep schools and perhaps NCAA colleges.
In Minnesota, every young girl with an interest in skating and hockey can find an outlet of rapidly expanding youth teams, or maybe playing on boys teams at younger levels. Then they can look forward to the Minnesota State High School LeagueÂ’s programs for large or small school teams that continue to reach out to every corner of the state.
ItÂ’s a worthy and realistic objective. And if college, or national team, participation follows, that would be just fine with Winny Brodt, Ronda Curtin, and all of Minnesota. Anyone seeking more information about the Brodt-Curtin girls elite training camp can find it at www.skaterslink.com.
CC surge intensifies final series with Denver
A month ago, Minnesota, Denver and Wisconsin were racing toward a three-way finish atop the WCHA, and while winning the title is paramount, all three top spots are important when it comes to league playoffs. Once the playoffs reach St. Paul for the Final Five, teams 4 and 5 must play each other, with that winner advancing to the semifinals, where Nos. 1, 2 and 3 await. So winning the playoff title means winning three games in three days for the teams that miss the top three slots.
The fact that Minnesota clinched the season title by sweeping at Alaska-Anchorage last weekend is significant, even though it seems Denver and Wisconsin might be comfortably finishing the seasons to decide which will be second. But don’t look now – Colorado College has won its way back into the picture.
While Denver came off a seven-game winning streak by losing three in a row, including last weekÂ’s split against North Dakota, Wisconsin lost twice against Minnesota State-Mankato to finish 2-7-1. While those two have faltered, Colorado College, by sweeping 5-0 and 5-2 victories at Minnesota-Duluth, has now won four in a row, and six out of seven, to climb within two points of third-place Wisconsin and three points of second-place Denver.
So Colorado College goes into its traditional closing home-and-home series with arch-rival Denver – starting on Thursday – facing the tall order of getting another sweep, but a sweep that would vault the Tigers into at least third and possibly second place.
“The most important thing to us was getting our rhythm back,†said scoring leader Brett Sterling. “We had to stick with our identity – to work hard and use our skill and our speed. We know we have great goaltending, defense and forwards, but usually we peak in January or February. Right now is the best time for us to peak.
“The best thing about it is that third place is still in reach. And we have to play Denver, and every time we play them, itÂ’s something special. Sure, we can sweep them; why not? They did it to us. TheyÂ’ve been struggling a little, and we had a stretch like that when we lost five n a row. The way we were playing, we couldnÂ’t beat a Bantam team, when we played Denver.Ââ€
In recent weeks, CC also lost the services of Aaron Slattengren, a solid and speedy forward who helped balance the offense. Slattengren ran afoul of some academic rules at Colorado College and is no longer eligible. Setbacks like that, and an injury to goaltender Matt Zaba, didn’t promise a stirring finish for the Tigers. But that’s changed.
Sterling scored the winning goal in SaturdayÂ’s 5-2 victory at UMD. He was on a power play, and he spun around and shot going down, and the puck found its way through goaltender Isaac Reichmuth for a 3-1 lead. It came three minutes after Andrew Carroll scored to pull UMD within 2-1, and stood up as CC went up 5-1 by the second intermission.
That goal was the 26th of the season for Sterling, trailing only the 29 by Minnesota’s Ryan Potulny among WCHA snipers. But the key item for CC in the stretch drive is that the Tigers have found that they can win with more than Sterling and Marty Sertich – CC’s 1-2 punch that were 1-2 in the Hobey Baker voting last year won by Sertich – getting the goals.
“WeÂ’re a dangerous team,†said coach Scott Owens, after the 5-0 first game. “But we had a huge January lull. WeÂ’re bouncing back a little, and while Sertich and Sterling get a lot of minutes, we came into this series just trying to be playing better – to get our rhythm back. If we do, I think everything else will fall into place.Ââ€
Twenty-four hours later, the rhythm was back, and things were more than falling into place.
“The good thing is we got four points,†Owens said. “And we got some other guys scoring.Ââ€
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Indeed. For the weekend, CC got 10 goals, and they came from nine different goal-scorers.
Brandon Straub, Joey Crabb, Chad Rau, Jesse Stokke and James Brannigan scored in the 5-0 first game. It was 3-0 after two periods, then Stokke scored his first goal, and, as time was running out, Brannigan scored a goal with the clock reading “0:00.†The red light, however, was on, and a quick review indicated the goal was in before time expired – just the way things have been going for the luckless Bulldogs, and for the Tigers.
In the rematch, J.P. Brunkhorst and Brandon Polich scored 49 seconds apart to stake CC to a 2-0 lead in the first period. It took an extended power play continued from the first period for UMDÂ’s Carroll to get his teamÂ’s first goal of the weekend, and then Sterling got his goal. Crabb notched his 17th as the only CC 2-goal scorer, then Jack Hillen made it 5-1. Sterling had two assists for the weekend, along with his goal, and Sertich had three assists without getting a goal.
“ThatÂ’s the best thing,†said Sterling. “WeÂ’ve changed lines again, and Marty and I get some points, but the other guys are scoring too.Ââ€
CCÂ’s offense is working again, the defense looks solid, and goaltender Matt Zaba is back in the lineup after an injury. Zaba made 25 saves for the Friday shutout, and 32 saves while giving up two goals Saturday.
“WeÂ’re fighting for home ice for the playoffs, and we want to be home for our fans,†said Owens. “We donÂ’t particularly want to go to North Dakota or St. Cloud for a playoff series.Ââ€
That could still happen, but the Tigers are looking up now, not behind them.
“It should be a great playoff,†Owens said. “ThereÂ’s really no team you WANT to play. But for us, weÂ’re only looking ahead to Denver. Our games with them have been wars. Their power-play killed us, and they may pull it together for us. But for us, itÂ’s a short week to get ready, and itÂ’s an emotional thing.Ââ€
UMD stars lift 7 different women’s Olympic hockey teams
Anyone watching the Winter Olympics had to come away impressed with the development of women’s hockey. They also had to be surprised when Sweden upset Team USA 3-2 in a semifinal shootout. But anyone who has watched the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the Women’s WCHA could be excused for hanging up their rampant patriotism and be totally enthralled with UMD’s impact on the women’s Olympic hockey tournament.
Canada and the U.S. had been practically granted berths in the gold medal final of the womenÂ’s tournament, because neither of the international powers had ever lost a single game to any team other than each other. Canada was a prohibitive favorite for the gold this year, but both Canada and the U.S. figured to dispatch Sweden and Finland in the semifinals, and leave those two Scandinavian rivals to fight for the bronze. SwedenÂ’s upset is the first evidence that womenÂ’s hockey might be on a faster track than anticipated in striving for some sort of healthy parity.
Back in the “real world†of the WCHA, UMD’s current Bulldogs have been struggling against the same sort of new-found parity the Women’s Olympics showed. No question the Bulldogs missed a couple good players who went off to the Olympics, and during that span, Wisconsin clinched its first WCHA title, and UMD dropped back to second, and then to a second-place tie withn Minnesota. The Bulldogs were unable to preserve a one-point edge on the Gophers during the closing weekend.
As UMD regroups for the league playoffs, Bulldogs hockey fans could have found immense satisfaction from the fact that no fewer than seven different nations had their women’s hockey teams improved by the presence of UMD players past and present. Team USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Germnany, Switzerland, and Russia all displayed their Bulldog quotient prominently. To their credit, all of those Bulldogs came through.
From the start of the womenÂ’s games in Turin, Italy, network and cable broadcasts heaped praise and publicity on the University of Minnesota-DuluthÂ’s program, and from the way the current and former Bulldogs played, it was more than just well-deserved publicity, and stands as a tribute to the UMD programÂ’s international flavor.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran continuing articles about Minnesota’s contribution to the Winter Olympics, and it listed every former Gopher women’s team player, even though they may have been in Minnesota only to play college hockey. But it named only Jenny Potter, who played for UMD, as the school’s only contribution to women’s hockey, without naming any of the others.
The Duluth News-Tribune ran a story, and a follow-up editorial-page column, proclaiming the presence of such former and current UMD players in the womenÂ’s Olympic hockey as: Potter of the U.S.; Maria Rooth and Erika Holst of Sweden; Caroline Ouellette of Canada; and Nora Tallus, Satu Kiipeli, Mari Pehkonen, and Anna-Kaisa Piironen of Finland.
Strangely, however, the Duluth paper completely overlooked current Bulldog freshman sensation Michaela Lanzl of Germany, former UMD goaltender Patricia Ellsworth-Sautter who starred for Switzerland, and RussiaÂ’s Katrina Petroskaia, who played three years ago at UMD.
These players may only be temporary Minnesotans, but no different from the Gopher “imports.” Besides, UMD has made an indelible impression on the Olympians.
“I am not looking forward to leaving, because I love it here at UMD,†said Lanzl, just before departing for the Olympics. “But I am looking forward to playing in the Olympics. It will be very good to play for Germany.Ââ€
Granted, there were a lot of standouts from U.S. womenÂ’s college teams, players such as University of MinnesotaÂ’s Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz, Kelly Stephens, Lyndsay Wall and Courtney Kennedy on Team USA, and WisconsinÂ’s brilliant defenseman Carla MacLeod playing for CanadaÂ’s gold medalists, and Ohio State’s Emma Laaksonen playing for Finland, among others.
But consider the contributions of UMDÂ’s representatives.
In the opening game, Team USA won 6-0 over outmanned Switzerland, but it was only 1-0 midway through the game, and 2-0 after two periods before the Swiss skaters ran out of gas. The Swiss goaltender, known as Patricia Sautter when she backstopped UMD to the 2003 NCAA championship, never faltered. She made 50 saves against the perpetual U.S. attack and was one of the biggest stars of the first dayÂ’s games.
Potter might have been the most effective Team USA player, as coach Ben Smith curiously had his lines pretty messed up as the tournament began. Instead of playing the all-Gopher line of Darwitz, Wendell and Stephens together, he had put Stephens on a different unit, where she played well almost all season, but she never approached the productivity that would have been certain had she been with Darwitz and Wendell. Potter played with Darwitz and Wendell much of the second half of the exhibition season – which meant, in some opinions, the best three centers on Team USA were on that line. As the tournament progressed, Potter played with various combinations, always strong and effective. After the victory over Switzerland, Potter, on national tv said: “Their goalie really played well.†Could it be that Jenny was so focused she forgot that she and Sautter were teammates on an NCAA championship team at UMD?
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Another star was Ouellette, who finished her UMD career last season and will undoubtedly be the second player to have her jersey, No. 5, retired by the UMD women. Powerful as Canada has been in winning silver in 1998 and gold in 2002, no Canadian womenÂ’s player ever had scored more than one goal in a period. Ouellette scored twice on her first shift. Her versatility is such that CanadaÂ’s coaching staff uses her both up front and on defense. After her two goals, Ouellette went back to defense and promptly whistled in her third goal before the first period ended. Ouellette would prefer to let others get the glory, just as she did at UMD, and many other Canadians stepped forward to score dozens of goals. But Ouellette was as good a player as Canada had on its gold-medal roster.
Meanwhile, Germany was overmatched, but Lanzl continued to draw praise with her great, quick dashes through opposing defenses, forcing every opponent to respect the Germans. Lanzl scored a goal and set up another when Germany beat Switzerland 2-1, but her most memorable rush might have come shortly after NBC ran a huge between-periods feature on former Harvard star and Patty Kazmaier-winner Angie Ruggiero, calling her possibly the best defenseman in all of womenÂ’s hockey. Shortly thereafter, Lanzl raced down the ice and, with a head fake and a high-speed deke, darted untouched past Ruggiero for a spectacular rush and shot.
Finland opened with the familiar names of Tallus and Kiipeli in the forefront, and Piironen as a goaltender, but Finland’s most effective player might have been current Bulldog Mari Pehkonen, who scored her team’s first goal in each of Finland’s first two games. Russia, meanwhile, battled gamely, showing strong improvement in the past couple of years, yet almost escaping, except when the cameras moved in for close-ups after strong shifts, was No. 14 – Petroskaia. She was one of Russia’s best players.
Sweden, however, was the headline team of the tournament. In 2002, when Rooth and Holst were still at UMD, they were uncertain if they would be leaving to play in the Salt Lake City games. SwedenÂ’s federation was debating whether to even bother sending the team because it might not be competitive enough. They went, they were competitive enough, and Rooth and Holst were their best players.
Now, in 2006, RoothÂ’s No. 27 hangs from the rafter at the DECC in Duluth as the only womenÂ’s number ever retired, a tribute after she led the Bulldogs to the national championships in the first three years of NCAA womenÂ’s tournaments. Rooth is an emotional ambassador for how beneficial it was to attend UMD and play for coach Shannon Miller. Before Sweden’s first game, Rooth and Holst, SwedenÂ’s captain, were singled out as SwedenÂ’s top scoring threats by Cammi Granato, whose presence added class to the NBC analysis set, but who might better have been used on the ice, scoring a few goals for Team USA.
Granato, though, was cut. The less cynical among observers can only assume that it is mere irony that Team USA is living in the past, with a pronounced overload of Eastern players, even while two western schools, UMD and Minnesota, have won all five NCAA titles ever held. There would be grounds for having a decided western flair, but the last cuts included Granato, who is from Illinois, and Minnesotans Winny Brodt, a former Gopher and a speedy defenseman, and goalie Sheri Vogt, a star at Minnesota State-Mankato.
Similarly, we can assume that itÂ’s merely ironic that every Patty Kazmaier Award winner went along with the Olympic programÂ’s Eastern bias every year until Wendell finally broke through last year as the first Western Collegiate Hockey Association winner of the award. Potter, Ouellette and Rooth have been finalists, but all fell short in the final vote.
Can it be linked by coincidence or irony that the WCHA dominates college hockey, Minnesota grows as the unmatched leader in girls hockey development anywhere in the world by its high school structure, and the most impressive three players on Team USA arguably were Potter, Wendell and Darwitz — the only three Minnesota-raised players on the team — yet Team USA continues to focus on Eastern players, while results systematically have dropped from gold, to silver, to bronze?
At any rate, former UMD star Holst was her usual strong, stable and always-smart and threatening self for Sweden, and Rooth was simply the most impressive individual in the tournament.
Given no chance against Team USA, Sweden trailed 2-0 in the second period until Rooth scored, then she scored again, shorthanded, to tie the game 2-2. It ended that way, after overtime, which meant a five-player shootout. Sweden got one goal, the U.S. none, then Rooth skated in and scored her third goal of the day to clinch the shootout 2-0 with only one turn left. Goaltender Kim Martin played brilliantly with 37 saves, and then she stopped everything in the shootout, including Potter, Wendell and Darwitz. Remember that name, Kim Martin, because she will attend UMD this fall as a freshman. Sound familiar?
Team USA recovered from the shock of losing 3-2 to Sweden in the semifinals to beat Finland 4-0 in the bronze-medal game. In the gold medal final, Rooth, Holst and Martin gave it all they had, but Canada was too much for Sweden and claimed a 4-1 victory. Ouellette scored a picture goal to clinch the victory, and the chance to watch Ouellette play against Rooth was a wonderful final spectacle for UMD and WCHA hockey fans.
Back in the WCHA — sounds like a good name for a Beatles song — UMD spent the final weeks hanging on, tying and winning at Minnesota State-Mankato on the final weekend to leave room for Minnesota to climb into a tie with the Bulldogs for second. The return of Lanzl and Pehkonen should help rejuvenate the Bulldogs for the playoffs, however. Pehkonen returned directly, while Lanzl, who was expected to return home for a week to Germany, where her father recently died, came later.
Injecting Olympic heroics into UMD’s struggling lineup could make an enormous difference between struggling and finding new glory at the college level. If not, well, UMD’s Olympians have helped put the school and the WCHA on the international map.
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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