McGregor, Johnson lead Bulldogs out of cellar
There will be the usual “Senior Night†at WCHA home sites for this weekend’s regular-season finales, and when UMD plays host to Wisconsin, it will be an emotional moment for Bryan McGregor, Jeff McFarland, Ryan Geris, and Josh Johnson. If the WCHA wanted to advertise the benefits of completing four years of college hockey, the perfect method would be a poster of that Bulldog quartet.
McGregor would have to be front and center in any such array, because he has the most compelling story of the four. He came to the University of Minnesota-Duluth as a highly-sought, 112-point scorer for the Vernon Vipers, champions of the junior British Columbia Hockey League. Then he sat and waited, played a little, sat some more, and waited, but he understood, as a freshman on a veteran team. He admits he spent three restless years failing to get much chance, and at one point had packed up to leave for a waiting position in the Junior A Ontario Hockey League. But he decided to stay, even though he scored only 9 goals-12 assists—21 points – total, through three miserable seasons.
As a senior, there was little indication things would be different, but he was different. But he has worked his way to a major-impact senior year. He played hard and effectively to move from the third line, to the second, and has finally become a solid resident on the first line, a solid 6-foot, 210-pounder who moved from center to right wing with sophomores Mason Raymond on the left, and MacGregor Sharp at center.
“Coach (Scott) Sandelin told me to quit thinking about hockey, to just go home and work someplace, and donÂ’t even think about hockey until I came back to school,†said McGregor. “I went back home to Niagara Falls, Ontario, and worked construction, and I came back with a fresh perspective – a clean slate. I knew I had to come out of the gate well, too, but I had 10 breakaways in the first eight games and didnÂ’t score. IÂ’ve probably had 65 breakaways this season, and I should have about 50 goals.Ââ€
McFarland, another hard-working senior who has been a solid team guy but without much to show for it, and Geris, a defenseman who was granted a final year of eligibility after two injury-plagued seasons, also are hard-luck stories. So is Johnson, a goaltending star at Cloquet-Esko-Carlton High School, who won the Frank Brimsek Award as the stateÂ’s best goalie with a 1.67 goals-against average, and eight shutouts en route to a state tournament trip. He had one solid year of junior hockey, but had never started more than four consecutive games during his first three seasons. He slid to a career-low 3-4 record with a 4.19 goals-against and .848 save percentage last season, as a junior.
After Johnson, Nate Ziegelmann, and Alex Stalock each played a period of the 8-1 preseason romp over Lakehead, freshman Stalock was granted the position, starting the next10 straight games. Johnson started only one of 17 games. When Sandelin decided to try alternating him with Stalock, he suffered a bad cut on his hand when teammate Andrew Carroll jumped over the boards while Johnson was manning the gate on the bench, and was set back another three weeks. He finally got into an alternating spot during Christmas break. In January, Johnson beat Michigan Tech, Colorado College, Northern Michigan, and took over after also beating Denver to open February. He has started a career-high five straight games, and has gone 4-1-1, and 6-2-1, with a loss and tie at North Dakota and the other loss against St. Cloud State.
For the year, Johnson goes into the Wisconsin series with a 7-4-1 season record – equaling half of his total victories through three seasons (14-12-2) – and has a 2.51 goals-against average and has brought his save percentage steadily upward to .901. He said he couldn’t remember where he was playing, possibly Cloque-Esko-Carlton High School, the last time he started five straight games, but in the five he has a 3-1-1 slate and a 2.00 goals-against mark.
If JohnsonÂ’s patience has been a virtue, McGregor also is nearing the end of his college days, but he seems to be just beginning to realize the potential that had failed to materialize through three seasons of part-time work, which could make him a plum as a free-agent for some discerning NHL team.
McGregor has 13-11—24 statistics this season, exceeding the 21 points he totaled in his first three years. Raymond, the team’s most explosive scoring threat, has 14-29—43, and has been involved in 45.3 percent of all of UMD’s goals this season. McGregor has worked well with him, and scored seven of his season’s goals in a six-game surge that also has coincided with UMD’s late-season upswing. The last goal in McGregor’s run was last weekend in the 3-2 victory over Alaska-Anchorage, which also was the sixth time he had scored UMD’s first goal in a game, before he failed to score in the 5-0 second game. The sweep lifted UMD out of 10th place, dropping the slumping Seawolves to last, with their WCHA season completed.
“This was the first time IÂ’d ever been on a team that was in last place, and it doesnÂ’t feel too good,†said McGregor, of the long, torturous struggle. “Nobody respects you, around the league or even among our own fans. But you have to go through adverse times. If you never faced it, you wonÂ’t know how to deal with it.Ââ€
McGregor, more than anyone, knows how to deal with adversity. Back home in Niagara Falls, his parents supported him fully, as did his grandparents, who lived up the street. His grandmother backed him a chocolate cake every time he scored a hat trick in youth hockey. Then he had the chance to play for Cowichan Valley in the British Columbia junior league. He lived with former NHLer Doug Bodger, who taught him a lot through example, and by watching every hockey game and old videos on a 70-inch television set.
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Cowichan Valley acquired a flashy scorer named T.J. Caig and a couple of other players for the stretch run, and a week later, one of them made a serious impression on McGregor. “I was skating a drill in practice,†McGregor recalled, “and this new guy caught me with an elbow and drove it right into my face. It broke my jaw, and I landed face-first. It pretty much shattered my face. The coach rushed me to the hospital, and they had to do a lot of surgery, and put metal in my jaw, and wire my mouth shut.Ââ€
Nobody expected him back, but he returned after six months at home, joining Cowichan Valley for a game in Nanaimo. “I was skating out for my first shift, and a guy from their team punched me right in the face,†McGregor said.
He recovered again, and played three weeks with Caig, who was a scoring machine who later was recruited to UMD. “He was my idol,†said McGregor. “But I was doing well. I scored three goals and three assists one night, and after the game, our coach told me I had been traded to Vernon. I couldnÂ’t believe it. But I got a goal on my first shift, got 2-2 in the game, and we went on to win the BCHL championship.Ââ€
McGregor scored 49-46–95 for Vernon in 61 regular season games, and added 10-7–17 during an undefeated run through 12 playoff games. That’s a 59-53–112 season in 73 games. So coming to UMD, McGregor had high hopes and unlimited potential.
Instead, he met only frustration when he couldnÂ’t crack the lineup, and more when he’d get in, play well, then be a healthy scratch the next game. That 2003-04 season also was an adjustment off the ice.
“I was rooming with Jesse Unklesbay,†McGregor recalled. “He was 26, and I was 18 — eight years older than I was. WeÂ’d be home at night, and heÂ’d be talking to his fiancé on the phone, and IÂ’m watching cartoons.Ââ€
A friendly, personable sort, McGregor adjusted, but he couldnÂ’t adjust to not playing regularly, and he wondered if he had made the right choice by going to UMD. At one point, he was informed that he had a guaranteed spot to play with Peterborough in the prestigious Ontario Hockey League. He was set up with a family to live with, and even told who he would play with on a line.
“I almost left,†he said. “I had my car all packed, and I was ready to go.Ââ€
But he stayed, and fought through the frustration. This season, despite the teamÂ’s struggles, has made up for the first three years. And McGregor knows that for him and his fellow seniors, as well as for the whole UMD program, there is still room for more before this season officially ends.
Wisconsin, of course, is the defending NCAA champion, and travels to Duluth needing to beat UMD to survive the hectic middle-of-the-pack battle where the fifth and final home-ice spot for the playoffs is still up for grabs. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, need to keep building on the momentum of their 4-2-1 run in order to have any chance of springing a playoff upset. It would take an opening-round series upset to reach the WCHA Final Five, then three straight victories there to earn an automatic berth in the NCAA.
ThatÂ’s pretty far-fetched. But after what Bryan McGregor has been through, anything is possible. Besides, he scored two goals in three straight games in the last month, but he hasnÂ’t gotten a hat trick yet in a college game. And back in Niagara Falls, his parents and grandparents follow every game Bryan plays. And grandma still sets a chocolate cake mix on the table before every game, just in case.
Cars, surprises, cold, and fun fill Chicago Auto Show
CHICAGO, ILL. — The Chicago Auto Show is, without a doubt, the most fun of the major U.S. shows. At least, from the standpoint of auto journalists who attend media days prior to the public start of the show, which continues through February 18 at McCormick Place, the Chicago show is as casual and low-key as shows at Detroit, Los Angeles and New York are intense and hectic in their attempts to out-sophisticate the rest.
McCormick Place, incidentally, is large enough to encase the Detroit, L.A., and New York shows simultaneously, they tell us, and without question, there is no need for a workout after trying to hit all the displays in a two-day stretch.
Let’s do a quick run-around, which begins with a drive from Minneapolis to Chicago. My son, and photographic helper, Jack, and I departed in a Ford Escape Hybrid. I had driven the Hybrid for the week prior to heading for Chicago and the timing was perfect, because it worked without hesitation during a stretch when it rarely got above zero in Minnesota. A lot of misinformation has been spread about how the Escape uses Toyota licensed technology, when in reality Ford did its own work, but on completion found a half-dozen of its items had been patented by Toyota. Rather than redo things, Ford decided to simply license those few items – and, in fact, Toyota used some Ford techniques in return.
The reason that’s a topic is that I had experienced a previous Toyota Prius that warned “Do Not Drive!†when it got to 20 below zero. The Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive boasts properly of being a “full hybrid,†because it will run on electric power alone, but that’s a two-headed sword, because it doesn’t want to ever run on the gas engine alone, using it instead as a generator for creating electric power. So, in severe cold, if the battery power goes to zero, the gas engine will start, but it doesn’t want to run the car. In the Honda, the gas engine runs all the time, so that wouldn’t be an issue, and further evidence that the Ford Escape Hybrid is not dependent on Toyota’s system, the Escape Hybrid can run on electric alone at low speed, on gas engine alone at high speed, and on both during mid-range or acceleration. It gets better fuel economy in city than on highway driving, similar to the Toyotas, and I got 28 miles per gallon on the 400 miles from Minneapolis to Chicago. I would have liked more, but more on that later.
It was cold and nasty on the way. Semis were off the freeway, closing them in places, and cars had skidded off on ice and packed snow every now and then. Interstate 90 just south of Madison was closed for what sounded like an indefinite period to clear up a semi and car multiple crash, so we veered east on 94, through Milwaukee, and came into Chicago from the north. We made amazingly good time, until we got to Chicago, when we again experienced the best reason for light-rail transit in the universe. Chicago’s “El†works so well because cars and traffic don’t work.
The Swissotel was our headquarters, a great hotel, with a view of Lake Michigan from our 28th floor perch. Bridgestone puts on a great welcome reception for the media, and greeted us warmly. Just as Michelin sponsors a lot of media stuff at Detroit, Bridgestone handles it all at Chicago, and its image is not hampered by the uplift in fun.
At the show, the Midwest Auto Media Association (MAMA) breakfast to kick off media days had Ford executive Mark Fields was the keynote speaker. He kicked off the whole week by proclaiming that Ford was going to rename the 2008 Five Hundred sedan as the Taurus, and the 2008 Freestyle crossover SUV as the Taurus X. The companion Mercury Montego will become the Sable for 2008.
Talk about an identity crisis! Ford’s financial woes have been big news recently, but it can’t even decide what to name its cars anymore. It started with the sleek new Lincoln Zephyr, which reclaimed a proud old name that was used back in the 1950s as Lincoln’s hottest performer. After about six months, they decided to change the name to MKZ. The reason? Ford corporate types decided that Lincoln didn’t get used enough when people talked about the Navigator or Continental by their names only, so it went to MKZ so folks would call it the “Lincoln MKZ.†Of course, those new-age marketing wizards must not have been born when the previous Zephyr lived, because NOBODY called it the Zephyr – everyone called it the “Lincoln Zephyr.†So Lincoln went away from that to try to gain what it might have had with it.
While continuing to make the Taurus as a fleet vehicle in its last days, Ford brought out a slightly smaller sedan, called the Fusion, and a roomier one, called the Five Hundred. And, Ford insisted, we had to spell it out, even though Ford had gained great fame with a numerical 500 years ago. The past few months have seen numerous stories on how sad it is that the loyal Taurus, which was the largest-selling sedan in the U.S. for years, no longer exists. More stories came when the last one rolled off the assembly line. There was enough negative publicity on the TaurusÂ’s demise to make it seem heroic in retrospect. I wondered, at the time, why they just didnÂ’t put the name Taurus on one of the new cars that would replace the Taurus.
Meanwhile, the Five Hundred didn’t sell, more because of a stodgy design – particularly the grille and front end – so new design chief Peter Horbury did a quick makeover to give it a Fusion-like three-horizontal-bar grille, and the marketing guys waved their magic wands. Presto! No more stodgy Five Hundred, and the 2008 model will indeed become the Taurus. It not only benefits from the new grille, but it also gains some clout with the new 3.5-liter V6. Curiously enough, those attributes were all marketed in a very nice Ford overview booklet at the Detroit Auto Show – exactly one month earlier. Ford boasted about what a great job they had done keeping the change secret; I believe it wasn’t all that tough, because they must have made the decision to change within the month between the Detroit and Chicago shows.
After breakfast, Toyota had an introduction to show off its new redesign of the Highlander SUV, enlarged by 12 cubic feet inside, and with 55 more horsepower by switching from 3.3 to 3.5 liters in its V6, and a hybrid version to follow.
General Motors was next, with Saturn introducing the new Astra subcompact. After the Aura proved to be such a success in its first year, the Astra will follow as the little brother this fall. The Aura won the juryÂ’s nod as North American International Car of the Year for 2007, even though it actually is a refaced Opel Vectra with a Cadillac-designed 3.6-liter V6. So the Opel-ization of Saturn continues with the introduction of the Astra, which will be a version of the Opel Astra, also built by GMÂ’s German subsidiary, with a 1.8-liter Ecotec four-cylinder. It makes good sense, economically and technically, to share key components, and that will rise again for 2008 when the new Chevrolet Malibu is introduced. It, too, is a very impressive looking sedan, and it is another version of the Vecta/Aura triumvirate.
Ford’s turn was next, although its press conference had been upstaged by the breakfast announcement. We were informed that the name-change to Taurus was important because “It would take years for Five Hundred and Freestyle to become household names.†Especially, I must add, if sales didn’t drastically improve. The question now will be whether bringing the name Taurus back will also cause the vehicle to fly off showroom floors.
Chrysler Group showed off its new Dodge models, and said the new retro Challenger would come to live for real as a 2008 model. Dodge also showed off enormous 5500 and 4500 Ram models with Cummins turbo diesels boasting 610 foot-pounds of torque, and capable of running on biodiesel.
Volkswagen displayed its new R32 sporty version of the Golf, which is now the Rabbit. Got it? VW has made the GTI separate from the Golf/Rabbit, and the GLI separate from the Jetta (which hasn’t yet been renamed), as their sporty updates. The R32 is more potent still, with the direct-injection 3.2-liter V6 and 4-Motion all-wheel drive, and the direct shift gearbox – a paddle-shifted automatic shared in Audi vehicles. BMW showed off a new Alpina sedan, an aftermarket project, while its new 3-Series coupe and retractable hardtop-convertible stole the set.
Pontiac concluded the day with vice president Bob Lutz introducing the new G8. Now, the new G8 will replace the Grand Prix, being renamed in alpha-numeric fashion as a large, rear-drive sedan with a V8. Grand Prix was a grand old name, to coin a phrase, and alpha-numeric names can be confusing to the point of being maddening. So at least GM canÂ’t ridicule Lincoln for changing Zephyr to MKZ, even if I can.
Curiously, I was one of those asked to vote on the best of several categories, including concept cars. The new Five Hundred and Freestyle were on the ballot, because, I suppose, Ford was still keeping the secret at the time it was filled out. The Volvo XC-60 was not on the ballot, but it was there, and looked great. The hotly anticipated Honda Accord concept coupe was on display, but the even hotter Advanced Concept Coupe was not. I learned, sadly, that the only one in existence was a hard-foam prototype, shown at the Detroit show. As it waited in storage to be transferred to Chicago, the severe cold temperature caused the foam to crack – so the NSX replacement was a no-show. But it was on the ballot. I considered giving it an absentee vote, but instead I gave part of a vote to the Taurus as a write-in.
Later, we discovered a spectacular new concept version of the Mitsubishi Outlander, a hot, sporty vehicle named the “Evolander†to make a connection with the Evolution version of the Lancer. It was not on the ballot, and we didn’t see it until after the vote had to be turned in. I would have ranked it right up there with the Kia Kue and the Accord coupe – which will be out this fall as the 2008 Accord – as my favorites.
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The Chicago show is so much fun because itÂ’s in Chicago, which is filled with night spots, great restaurants, and a vibrant lifestyle, the Blackhawks notwithstanding. By chance, the hockey team was out of town, so we ended up two nights in a row at the House of Blues, the latter at the annual Stars, Cars and Bars party. Jim Belushi surprised most of us by Blues-Brothering up a storm in a stage show that would have made his late brother John proud.
The next morning, we had an early start again, with Porsche talking a little racing and showing off the new redesign – subtle as it may be – of the Cayenne SUV. Then it was next door for Toyota to take over again, this time introducing two new Scion models. Toyota’s plan all along was to revise and change the subcompact entry-level Scion models, so the XA will be replaced by a new XD, which shares platforms with the Yaris subcompact, and the square-ish XB will prove, in Toyota’s words, “We will always have a box in our lineup,†although the new one is a foot longer and three inches wider. These are youth-market aimed, and have attained the industry’s youngest average age of 30, but older drivers also might appreciate the electronic gizmos and the iPod connectivity.
Maserati showed off its magnificent Quatroporte and said it would make a coupe version of that, retiring the MC Victory.
Nissan has redone the huge Armada SUV outside and in, and will offer a V8 engine in the Pathfinder for the first time, boosting it to 7,000-pounds of towing. Kia, from Korea, has a new Kue that is a stunning concept vehicle, and the sporty Rondo SX.
At that point, it was time to take off. We had a long, seven-hour drive back to Minneapolis, and we had given in to a request to seize the opportunity to test-drive the all new Ford F450. Ford trucks start with the Ranger (for now, at least), then the full-size 120, heavier duty 350, and enormo 450 with a giant turbo diesel V8, and dual wheels on the rear. As a 4×4, itÂ’s actually a 6×6, I guess, because it has six drive wheels, counting the dualies. When I saw it, I realized it was huge. It is not like having a living room on the road; it is like having a living room and a large den on the road together.
It was large enough that we passed up our trip-long plan to swing by GinoÂ’s East on the way out of town, to pick up a deep-dish sausage and pepper pizza and eat it on the way home. I never eat deep-dish pizza except in Chicago, where it is the best, and GinoÂ’s, which uses corn-meal in its crust, is worth craving whenever youÂ’re not in Chicago. We blew it, and off we went, still craving GinoÂ’s East.
We made good time, beating rush-hour, so there was only heavy congestion, not gridlock. The big Ford handled well, although it sure filled the lane with little to spare on either side. Sirius satellite radio was good too, with me seeking Coffeehouse for its contemporary singer-songwriters, and Margaritaville, for its Jimmy Buffett-flavored content, but we spent most of the trip at the three comedy stations. ItÂ’s impossible to get too drowsy behind the wheel when youÂ’re laughing at Lewis Black, countless others, or sessions by the late Mitch Hedberg.
On the freeway home, we made it to Osseo, Wis., by dinnertime – just in time to pull off and stop at the Norske Nook for a hot-beef and mashed potatos in a homemade breadbowl, with a small dose of pecan-fudge pie. The meal was great, the pie was sensational, and the coffee was…well at least it was hot. Strong does not equal good when it comes to coffee, and I’m a Dunn Brothers snob because in Minnesota, Dunn Brothers out-Starbucks and out-Caribous all the others. I know where to find it in the Twin Cities, and in Duluth, and even in Forest Lake, at a joint car-wash and Dunn Brothers(?), and I know how long my thermal mug can go between their various locations.
However, while it had been hinted to me that even that gigantic Ford F450 might get 25 or so miles per gallon with the diesel, I was distressed first to notice that diesel fuel was $2.59 a gallon – 30 cents more than premium – and I was distressed more when I calculated and recalculated my fuel economy and couldn’t make it come out any better than 9.1 to 9.7 no matter how I did it.
If it hadnÂ’t been so cold out, I could have taken solace from the fact that if I had been towing a house trailer it probably wouldnÂ’t have gotten any worse than 9.1 either. But then, I didnÂ’t have any house trailer available. That Ford Escape Hybrid’s 28.6 mpg looked really good, about then.
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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