UMD women a-Blais, leave Gophers becalmed
Nobody personifies the University of Minnesota-DuluthÂ’s fantastic hockey weekend, and the whole Bulldog women’s season for that matter, better than Emmanuelle Blais. The slim and quick freshman winger from Montreal became the calm before the storm for the Bulldogs. Or maybe the calm DURING the storm.
Blais scored three goals and set up two more, all of them at pivotal points, as she set the tempo for a goal-scoring festival that trampled arch-rival Minnesota 7-1 and 5-1 in their season-ending series to decide second place in the WCHA.
The season-long struggle with injuries is over, and just about everybody got back in time to celebrate. “WeÂ’re the little engine that could,†said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “We wanted to beat Â’em, and we did; we wanted to sweep Â’em, and we did.Ââ€
Finishing second means a 19-6-3 league record (20-8-4 overall) and the playoff chance to play host to seventh-place St. Cloud State this weekend, a team UMD has beaten four times, and outscored 13-2. “Now that we have our depth back, our focus is going to be on ourselves,†said Miller.
Blais wonÂ’t be taking anything for granted, but sheÂ’s a different player now. She had worked hard all season, and looked good in speedy flashes while scoring eight goals this season and filling a support role as a freshman. When the injuries got up to eight or nine missing players, she had to play more and acquired more responsibility. She was pressing a little, or a lot, right up until the season-ending series against the Gophers. Then everything changed.
“I got to play more when we had players injured,†Blais said. “But really, the difference was that I had a talk with coach Ouellette.Ââ€
That would be Caroline Ouellette, former UMD and Canadian Olympic star who this year joined Joakim Flygh as an assistant coach. Ouellette is also French-Canadian, so, on UMDÂ’s multi-national roster, she speaks the language for Blais, in more ways than one.
“I had the chance to play with her before,†said Blais. “So I know her. She didnÂ’t really tell me what to do, we just talked, but it really helped me. When we came into this weekend, I didnÂ’t have anything in my mind. My problem is that I had thought too much before. She told me to just not think about anything, to be more calm.Ââ€
If Blais was calm, she seriously jangled the Gophers nerves.
Miller kept Blais with Saara Tuominen, a center from Finland and another of the seven freshmen in the lineup, and left wing Jessica Koizumi, just back from a knee injury but still braced heavily. The setting for the games was changed to Mars-Lakeview Arena, because the usual DECC was being used for a boat show. A bright and shiny facility that seats only 1,500, Mars-Lakeview is the newest arena in Duluth, located at Marshall High School, just above Skyline Drive.
Game one, introductions over, tension high, first minute of play. Tuominen won a left corner faceoff and took the puck behind the Minnesota goal, passing out front. Blais smacked it past goaltender Kim Hanlon, and UMD led 1-0 at 1:00. The standing-room crowd went properly wild, waving banners and all.
A minute later, Minnesota takes a penalty. Miller sends Blais right back out and – bang – she scores again, knocking in a loose puck after Noemie Marin’s shot from the right side. It was 2-0, and Blais had her ninth and 10th goals of the season when the game was only 2:38 old.
If she was still calm, she was the only calm one in the building. Minnesota, bristling with skilled players, was pinned into its own end by the supercharged Bulldogs, although the game stayed 2-0 until 8:37 of the second period. Then Marin scored, making a great move to her backhand to beat a defenseman coming out of the left corner. Barely a minute later, Michaela Lanzl got the puck deep on the left boards, carried to the net and jammed a shot off Hanlon and in to make it 4-0. With 31 seconds to go in the rousing second period, it was Blais again, this time sending a perfect pass to Tuominen, whose one-timer from the slot hit Hanlon and trickled through, making it 5-0 at the second intermission.
Minnesota got one, when Erica McKenzie raced up the left side and beat UMD freshman and former Swedish Olympic star Kim Martin with a low shot at 6:52 of the third period. Obviously, 5-1 was still substantial, but Elin Holmlov, another freshman from Sweden, scored midway through the final period, and added another goal five minutes later after Marin’s slick drop pass – her third assist of the night.
UMD coasted home 7-1 to a victory that meant Minnesota could not catch the Bulldogs for second place. So aroused were the Bulldogs that even though their edge in shots was only 34-25, they had a whopping 72-48 edge in total attempts. Somebody, believe it or not, asked Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson afterward what she thought about UMDÂ’s DEFENSE!
After a pause, Halldorson said: “I was more impressed with their offense. We never got anything going. We got outplayed, and it was a disappointing loss, but usually they get pretty fired up to play us.Ââ€
Miller said she loved the arena atmosphere. “The fans were great, with all the signs and the cowbells,†she said. “Our entire team is finally back together, and we came out and we jumped. Any time you play a great opponent, you want to put them on their heels. We did that.Ââ€
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Everybody in the building knew that the Gophers would come out more forcefully on Sunday, and that Game 2 would be different. They did, but it wasnÂ’t.
Kim Martin stopped all 10 first-period shots by the Gophers, and started “Blaising†at 6:37, when Blais fed Tuominen for a goal and a 1-0 head start. It was a much tougher and much closer game, and it stayed 1-0 until 17:25, when Lanzl, a speedy sophomore who was GermanyÂ’s best player in the 2006 Olympics, raced up the right side, cut in hard and did a neat little hop-step over a defensemanÂ’s stick, shooting as she landed. “Five hole,†said Lanzl. “She went down, and there was nobody else with me, so I shot. This atmosphere is so great.Ââ€
Just like Saturday, Sunday afternoonÂ’s rematch started 2-0 in the first period. And, just like Saturday, the Bulldogs volleyed in three more in the second, including one in the last minute, to make it 5-0. The decisive third goal came at 1:34 of the middle period, when Jill Sales fed Tuominen, who hit Blais, who was blazing up the left side. She ducked by a checker to turn a 2-on-2 into a 2-on-1, and when she cut for the goal, she looked to pass, then snapped a shot that beat Hanlon cleanly to the short side, making it 3-0.
Midway through the second period, Lanzl swiped the puck and passed to Marin, who walked in on the right and scored for a 4-0 count. At 19:10, Sara O’Toole – another returnee from rehab – came off the bench on a late change and somehow hid at the Gopher blue line. Ashly Waggoner passed her the puck and O’Toole cruised in to score on the solo dash to make it 5-0.
The Gophers kept battling, outshooting UMD 11-5 in the third period, and getting a goal when Dagney Willey scored with each team a skater short. When it was over, Minnesota had outshot UMD 33-23, but Martin had stopped 32 of them. “We played a lot better, a lot harder,†said Halldorson. “It was closer than a 5-1 game.Ââ€
But it seemed like 5-1 to Hanlon, who missed 14 games early in the season, and has had to play every game since fellow sophomore Brittony Chartier left school to return to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, at midseason. She recalled watching from the sidelines when Minnesota beat UMD 5-1 and 1-0 on the first weekend in November.
“I remember watching,†she said. “But now, all of us need to show up at the same time. TheyÂ’re fast, and they use their speed to their advantage. I didnÂ’t play as well as I could have, but they made a lot of great plays.Ââ€
Those great plays were rare when the injuries led to some UMD inconsistency during a 1-7-1 stretch before Christmas. But the Bulldogs seemed to regain more than just good health, as they moved the puck freely, passing with more sharp precision than at any time this season. With playoffs coming up, the resurgence couldn’t have come at a better time. Same for the experience. It may still say “freshman†after names like Emmanuelle Blais, Saara Tuominen, Elin Holmlov, and defensemen Sarah Murray, Jaime Rasmussen, and Heidi Pelttari, and goaltender Kim Martin – but all of them are remaining calm, and playing like hard-core veterans.
Grand Rapids-Greenway rivals join in girls state effort
Northern Minnesota dominated the boys state hockey tournament for several decades, up until Edina and Bloomington Jefferson wrested control from the Iron Range. But in girls hockey, the North has been slow to develop, with only a few Hibbing, Cloquet, Bemidji and Warroad teams rising above a thin crop.
Section 7AA proved very competitive this season, however, capped when the combined Grand Rapids-Greenway team tripped Cloquet-Esko-Carlton 2-1 in overtime in the final to emerge as the latest challenger to the Twin Cities powerhouses.
Grand Rapids and Greenway of Coleraine merged into one team. Interesting.
The two have been the fiercest of state rivals in boys hockey – right up there with the more storied Roseau-Warroad rivalry. But Roseau and Warroad are 20 miles apart across the borderland. On the West end of the Iron Range, Grand Rapids is the paper-mill town that has jokingly been called “the Edina of the Range,†while Coleraine is only seven miles east and is the start of the hard-core Iron Range. Greenway High School is located in Coleraine, but it draws its students from nearby Bovey, Calumet, Nashwauk, Keewatin, Marble, and various other tiny but once-thriving mining towns.
When Grand Rapids faced Cloquet-Esko-Carlton at the Mars-Lakeview Arena in Duluth, it was interesting to see the Grand Rapids kids sitting in the end section, and the green-and-white jacketed Greenway students in the second section. Emily EricksonÂ’s second-period goal had put Grand Rapids-Greenway ahead 1-0, but midway through the third period, Leanne Gittings of Cloquet smacked in a goal against sophomore Grand Rapids-Greenway goaltender Jessica Havel, tying the game 1-1.
As overtime loomed, the Grand Rapids fans started the usual and traditional, if trite, chant, “We’ve got spirit, yes we do; we’ve got spirit, how about you…†After about the third time that the Lightning fans tried it and the Cloquet fans predictably responded, the Greenway fans stood and cheered with their new partners. If Grand Rapids and Greenway fans can stand together and cheer, no wonder their combined girls hockey team proved strong enough to make it to state with a 21-7 record.
Molly Arola, a sophomore, scored after just 21 seconds of sudden-death overtime to send the Lightning to state. It wonÂ’t hurt the season-long unification of the team that Arola and Erickson are two of the six players from the Greenway school district playing on the team, along with Marina Guyer and Haley Guyer, as well as Emily Erickson and Hana Johnson. The remaining 14 team members are Grand Rapids girls. The amalgamation is interesting, because of some of the traditional names involved. The Guyer name is legendary from Greenway, while Markie DeGrio, Maggie Rothstein, Natalie Newton, and Kayla Clafton are some of the familiar last names from Grand Rapids boys hockey teams of a generation ago.
Grand Rapids teams had to change their name from Indians to the more politically correct Thunderhawks a decade ago, and Greenway, which is the Raiders, came together under the name Lightning.
“ThereÂ’s been no problem putting this team together,†said coach Pat Rendle. “This is the first time weÂ’ve ever gone to state, but thereÂ’s a lot we hadnÂ’t done before that this team accomplished – like beating Hibbing, and beating Cloquet.Ââ€
At the time, Rendle was familiar with Wayzata, which had upset defending champion and undefeated Eden Prairie, snapping the Eagles 57-game winning streak 3-2 in the Section 6 semifinals. He also was familiar with Edina, from the same section, and was ready to face either. “Edina thumped us, and we lost to Wayzata by a goal,†said Rendle. “But weÂ’re a much better team now.Ââ€
However, both Wayzata and Edina met the same fate as Eden Prairie, and Benilde-St. Margaret’s emerged as the Section 6 champion, and will ascend to the favorite’s role with a 24-3-1 record when it faces Grand Rapids-Greenway at 1 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the Class AA tournament. In fact, assessing the tournament might require looking back to the Schwann Cup, which doesn’t have any connection with the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament – either girls or boys – and is really a strong cross-reference of top teams that hopes to capitalize on the state tournament to make a little money over the Christmas break.
But this year, it could be a likely harbinger of what will happen, particularly in the girls tournaments. Benilde-St. MargaretÂ’s whipped Blake 6-2 in the Schwann championship game of the girls Blue Division for top-rated teams, and anyone witnessing that one will not be surprised that both teams are in the state tournament. In fact, Benilde is the favorite in Class AA, while Blake is the choice in Class A.
There, thatÂ’s settled.
Actually, Benilde-St. Margaret’s 24-3-1 record represents Section 6 in Class AA for larger schools, and that stands as the best record – particularly after a string of upsets sidelined highly regarded No. 1 ranked Eden Prairie, and No. 2 rated Edina on the same night. So when the Red Knights take the ice Thursday at 1 p.m. against Grand Rapids-Greenway, they will do so as prohibitive favorites in AA.
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The first AA game has Burnsville against North Metro, at 11 a.m. Thursday, while the opening night session will have Bemidji facing Stillwater at 6, and Roseville against Rochester Mayo at 8. Roseville looks like the team hitting a peak at the right time, and with the best chance of getting to the final out of the lower bracket.
Benilde is led by the scoring prowess of seniors Amanda Trunzo, who recorded 42-43—85 for statistics, and Shannon Reilly, a hard-shooting defenseman, plus goaltender Amanda Nagel.
The girls tournament kicks off Wednesday, with the Class A opening round, where Blake puts a 23-4 record out against Breck – also 23-4 – in the 11 a.m. opening game. The battle between long-standing private-school rivals should be interesting, but Blake has not lost since its Christmas break 6-2 setback against Benilde at the Schwann final.
If Benilde and Blake go on to win their championships, everyone will wish for a meeting between the two. Even though they met in that Schwann final. That night, Blake goaltender Rachel Bowens-Rubin had an uncharacteristic bad night, and it was 6-2 after two periods, when she was pulled for ninth-grader Chloe Billadeau, who played brilliantly in shutting out the Red Knights the rest of the way.
Beyond that, Benilde goaltender Nagel proved her value by repeatedly stopping Blake’s aggressive attackers. The Chute Sister act for Blake is, alone, worth the price of admission. Senior Katharine Chute has 38-34—72, and was picked as the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Metro Player of the Year. She is tall, lanky, and elusive. If there is a more dynamic player on the rink, it is sophomore Margaret Chute, who seems to be wherever the puck is at the right time.
They stand to make Blake the favorite in Class A, but Breck, and others, have the credentials to win it all.
After the Blake-Breck game at 11, Alexandria, with the best record in the field at 25-2, will find out at 1 p.m. how much that record is worth against perennial Northern power Hibbing, which has the shakiest record in the field at 14-11-2. The opening night bracket in A finds Crookston (23-3-1) facing Marshall (21-7) at 6 p.m., followed by the 8 p.m. finale between Farmington (21-5-1) and Austin (24-3).
There is only slim hope that the Northern Minnesota teams can swipe a championship, although Hibbing and Alexandria are present in Class A, and Bemidji knows its way around Class AA – along with Grand Rapids-Greenway, the new kids on the block, from an old traditional pair of Iron Range rivals.
New Patriot adds more-rugged twin to Jeep’s Compass
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — The biggest news from Chrysler Group in the past couple of weeks is the financial situation, in which owner Daimler Benz is investigating possibilities of selling off the U.S. brand. While the news is not exactly uplifting, the fact that Chrysler Group continues to turn out interesting vehicles that could have a solid future is a definite positive.
The new Jeep Patriot actually is a feel-good story for those who like to have “domestic†manufacturers build domestic vehicles in U.S. plants. While Chrysler joins General Motors and Ford in closing U.S. plants with high-paid United Auto Workers in favor of less costly production in Canada and Mexico – which can be called domestic because of the odd workings of the North American Free Trade Association – the Patriot is built in the Belvidere, Ill., plant.
That is the same plant that builds the Dodge Caliber and the Jeep Compass, and the Patriot joins those vehicles as being based on the same platform. Sharing platforms just makes sense, although the vehicles have distinctly different personalities. The Caliber is a neat do-everything vehicle for consumers with active lifestyles, but itÂ’s not an off-road churner.
The Compass and Patriot are closer, and they are an interesting pair of Jeep twins. The Compass came out almost a year ago, and its gently rounded edges and stylish rear made it look like a Jeep that got hit over the head with a contemporary-styling magic wand. Predictably, hard-core Jeep off-roaders ridiculed the Compass for being a “chick car.†And in a way, they were right.
It’s not a putdown to say women will be attracted to the Compass – and 55-60 percent of Compass buyers are women. But in these emancipated times, who’s to say women don’t like to live active lifestyles that may include a little off-roading? But while women will buy a car seen as a rugged, macho “guys’†vehicle, men won’t go near a car if they perceive it as a chick car.
So Jeep quietly slipped out with the Patriot, which takes its place alongside the Compass, but is aimed at attracting about 60 percent male customers. The trick is a new outlook for Jeep, as an entity.
“We have Jeep Modern, and Jeep Rugged,†said designer Don Renkert. “The Grand Cherokee and the Compass fit into Jeep Modern, as family vehicles that men can appreciate, but which also serve women and the family. The Wrangler and the Commander fit into Jeep Rugged, with capability for doing serious off-roading.Ââ€
The Patriot, then, is sort of a crossover among crossovers – being a modern Jeep that also is rugged. It’s slightly longer and within an inch of the height and width of the old Cherokee. Built in the familiar Jeep “two-box†format, the basic Patriot Sport comes with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder world engine with variable valve timing and 158 horsepower bolstered by 141 foot-pounds of torque. A CVT (continuously variable transmission) and front-wheel drive are included in the $14,985 base price. Adding Freedom Drive I all-wheel drive adds the 2.4-liter version of the engine and boosts the base price up to $16,735. Going up to the premium Freedom Drive II with an off-road package takes the sticker to $19,175.
The fancier Patriot Limited starts the front-wheel-drive model at $19,985 for the larger 2.4 engine with 172 horsepower and 165 foot-pounds of torque. It goes to $21,735 for the Freedom Drive I version, and $23,530 for the Freedom Drive II off-road package-equipped top model. The 2.4 coaxes estimates of 26 miles per gallon city and 30 on the highway from the EPAÂ’s often-bewildered computers with front-wheel-drive and the 5-speed manual transmission, which matches the 2.0. As you add features, the mileage dips a bit, but still is 21/23 with the full-boat off-road model with special low-range features.
Other than ruggedness, the main differences between the Sport and Limited are interior amenities. You get a decent two-town interior of vinyl or fabric on the Sport, and leather is standard on the Limited, it either a pebble beige or slate grey. There are a lot of little storage bins, and the lid on the console can store an iPod. The rear hatch opens upward, and you can reach an audio unit built into the hatch, folding it down to aim the two speakers for optimum tailgate/picnic needs. The spare tire is under the skidproof floor of the storage area. The rear seats fold down flat, in one-third and two-third segments. The front passenger backrest also folds forward to make a longer flat surface, so if you needed to haul some 8-foot boards or other lumber pieces, or a stepladder, you could do it.
The rear dome-light also pops out and turns into a bright, LED flashlight that recharges when itÂ’s in place in the Patriot.
Describing the various powertrain choices gets a little technical, because Jeep has developed so many off-road units. Best to remember that in the Patriot’s case, going to anything called “Freedom Drive†means going to the CVT as well, but Jeep has made the pulley-based steel-toothed belt work in off-road circumstances is impressive.
Once you move up to Freedom Drive I, you get the 2.4 with the CVT and an electronically controlled clutch with four-wheel lock up to assure 50-50 split of torque to the front and rear axles.
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The Freedom Drive II has a different gear set that includes a 19-1 low ratio, plus tow-hooks front and rear, a 3 mm skidplate under the engine and fuel tank, heavy-duty cooling to allow higher engine speed and lower speed for off-roading, and upgraded fan motor, alternator and other elements – including an inch taller ride height for a 9-inch underside clearance. The vented differential is located higher than the 19-inch river-fording height.
The top model gets the “Trail Rated†designation Jeep uses on its most-rugged vehicles, and the CVT is an example of how Jeep engineers have made use of the always-shifting, belt-drive transmission.
We drove off into the desert and hilly mountain areas near Scottsdale, and the Patriot handled all chores of normal highway use with ease. It also did a good job on a rugged off-road area through some rocks and river washes.
The Patriot proves that things like antilock brakes, an electronic stability program, roll-mitigation sensors, and side-curtain airbags to augment front and side airbags can fit well into a multi-purpose compact SUV. For off-roading, there is a hill-descent-control device, which holds at anything 5 mph or under for climbing down rocky slopes. Step on the gas or brake, and the control releases. The brake-lock differential, and brake-traction control work to transfer power across the axle to the other side, with obvious benefit to anyone doing some serious off-roading.
Our test was serious enough for me. With the wheels pushed out to the corners, the PatriotÂ’s design provides 29-degree approach angle, 34-degree departure angle, and 23-degree breakover angle, which Jeep claims are all best-in-class figures. What impressed me as much was the quick steering, and the 35-foot turning radius, which was surprisingly tight.
My codriver was a woman journalist who is a fairly-aggressive driver. She enjoyed the roominess and safety characteristics of the Patriot, but also had a good time going over the steep, rocky off-road stuff, where the stiffness of the frame caused it to hoist a rear wheel a foot or two off the road, while the engine/transmission combination kept feeding power to the wheels still in firmer command of terra firma.
Going down such extreme stretches allowed us to experiment with the gear sets. Shifting the CVT into low-range, then engaging the hill-descent control, meant you could creep down treacherous areas by trusting the Patriot choose its own pace.
With large SUVs and large sedans faltering in the marketplace, and compact cars and compact crossover SUVs leading the upswing at the other, more fuel-efficient end, JeepÂ’s timing looks pretty good. Having the Compass join the fray as a smaller vehicle for Grand Cherokee types is one good idea, and now sending the Patriot out as a more streetable partner for the Wrangler, but also a more rugged twin of the Compass, pretty well covers the marketplace.
Newell disrupts sweep, but Bulldogs gain semis
On paper, it appears that the WomenÂ’s WCHA playoffs followed form to create the most competitive league semifinals in the leagueÂ’s history. Top-seeded and No. 1 ranked Wisconsin faces the strongest Ohio State team in that programÂ’s history, followed by the second semi between storied rivals Minnesota-Duluth, the No. 2 seed, and Minnesota, No. 4, on Saturday afternoon at Ridder Arena in Minneapolis.
Form did follow, for Wisconsin, which dispatched North Dakota, for Minnesota, which eliminated Bemidji State, and for Ohio State, which narrowly edged past highly competitive Minnesota State-Mankato – all with two straight victories. Little on the form chart, however, could prepare Minnesota-Duluth for needing three games to escape after an upset loss at the hands of St. Cloud State’s “secret weapon†goaltender Kendall Newell, to squeeze past St. Cloud State in three games.
UMD coach Shannon Miller said sheÂ’s eager for the semifinal match against the Golden Gophers, the team UMD swept to clinch second place two weeks ago, and who remain the main hurdle between the Bulldogs and a potential NCAA tournament berth.
“I love playing the Gophers,†said Miller. “ThatÂ’s who weÂ’ve always wanted to play.Ââ€
There may have been some relief amid her enthusiasm, just to get to this weekendÂ’s semifinals. Seventh-place St. Cloud State was 0-10-2 against the top three finishers in the WCHA, but the Bulldogs knew all about Newell, after her sensational performance in a long scoreless game that wound up a 1-0 UMD victory in January. But Newell, a junior from Phoenix, Ariz., never touched the ice again after that 1-0 UMD loss, sitting out the last five weeks of the WCHA season for reasons known only to first-year Huskies coach Jeff Giesen.
Newell is part of a three-goaltender routine with senior Lauri St. Jacques and junior Carman Lizee, and unlocking the hunches of a hockey coach choosing which goalie to play would take a master safe-cracker who does psycho-analysis on the side. In the coachÂ’s defense, all three goalies have played well at times, and St. Jacques had the most victories, with six.
To say NewellÂ’s season looks irregular is an understatement. She started three of the first five games, then sat out 12 straight, started four in a row, sat two, played the 1-0 classic in Duluth, then sat the next 11, while St. Jacques started nine and Lizee two.
The most compelling statistic going into the playoffs was that in the 12 games against Wisconsin, UMD, and Minnesota, Newell had a remarkable 1.98 goals-against average, a .944 save percentage, with an 0-2-2 record in five games, having stung No. 1 Wisconsin with an overtime loss and two overtime ties. St. Jacques was 0-6 with a 5.59 goals-against and an .828 save percentage, and Lizee was 0-2, with 2.78 and .905 stats.
Giesen decided to go with St. Jacques, and she played well enough with 32 saves, after the Bulldogs jumped to an early lead. Freshman Emmanuelle Blais spotted a gap at the short-side post and drilled a narrow-angle shot from deep in the left corner at 4:36. The Bulldogs sailed off from a 1-1 deadlock to a 4-1 lead when Karine Demeule and Saara Tuominen scored in the second period, and Jessica Koizumi converted a slick pass from Michaela Lanzl midway through the third.
The gritty Huskies, who administered a solid physical thumping to the speedy Bulldogs, rallied up on a daring gamble by Giesen. He pulled St. Jacques with 4:50 remaining and the Huskies trailing 4-1, but on a two-skater power play. Laura Fast scored on the 6-on-3 with 4:50 remaining. He pulled St. Jacques again for the final minute, and St. Cloud’s offensive leader Holly Roberts – who had scored the first-period goal – set up Caitlin Hogan with 25 seconds left. But UMD senior goalie Riitta Schaublin held on for the 4-3 victory.
With the end of the season looming as certain as the 12-inch blizzard blowing in off Lake Superior, Giesen turned to Newell, who didnÂ’t know sheÂ’d play until “about 10 a.m. that day,†she said. “I was so anxious and excited and ready to goÂ…I just kept talking to myself, feeding myself positive thoughts, and focusing on making the first save. After about the first 8 minutes of the game I had finally calmed down and settled into my rhythm, and I felt good.Ââ€
UMD helped her find that rhythm, firing the first six shots of the game. “I really don’t remember many scoring chances, I just remember my nerves were going nuts and I was just so focused on calming myself and getting into a routine,†said Newell.
Laura Fast scored with a Roberts power-play pass at 5:38 when UMD freshman goalie Kim Martin got tangled up behind the net, and the Huskies had their first lead of the series at 1-0. With their confidence shooting to a peak, the Huskies traded rushes with the talented Bulldogs. Roberts scored herself with a big slapshot on another power play late in the period for a 2-0 lead, while Newell stopped all 11 UMD shots. The 2-0 lead lasted until Lanzl knocked in her own blocked pass midway through the second period.
“Lanzl went to pass across, and Brita Schroeder made a great play and blocked the pass,†said Newell. “I was playing the pass across and moving with it, and the failed pass went back to Lanzl, right on her tape, and she banked it off the outside of my knee as I was trying to get back.Ââ€
But that was it. Newell regained her touch to block everything else, ending up with 35 saves, and when Roberts found an empty net with 1:25 to go, the Huskies had a stunning 3-1 victory to square the series 1-1. That forced Game 3 on Sunday afternoon, again at Mars-Lakeview Arena because the UMD men and high school sectional semifinals filled the DECC.
Newell got the start again in Game 3, but things were markedly different from the opening faceoff. The Bulldogs, naturally, played much more intensely. “Our backs were against the wall for the first time,†said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “The key was, we didnÂ’t get lured into a football game, like in the first two games.Ââ€
While the Huskies were effectively physical through the first two games, referee Dan Lick called the penalties even, 12-12 in Game 1, and 8-8 in Game 2, which drew MillerÂ’s ire, particularly after freshman defenseman Sara Murray, called the most improved player on the team by Miller a week earlier, was tripped and hurtled into the boards, suffering a broken ankle that ended her season in Game 2. Lick tightened things up in Game 3, under the watchful eye of officiating supervisor Greg Shepherd, calling the first six penalties against St. Cloud State. By the time Lick switched, and issued four straight penalties to UMD, the Bulldogs had a 2-0 lead. For the game, the Huskies had nine penalties to UMDÂ’s six.
Marin, UMDÂ’s tireless offensive leader, scored her 22nd goal of the season at 1:13 of the first period. “The first goal was huge,†said Miller, “because everybody had a little bit of nervousness.Ââ€
The power-play parade helped, too, and Blais, a slender and lightning-quick freshman from Montreal, drilled a one-timer from wide to the left on a two-skater power play midway through the first session. After scoring seven goals through the first 29 games of her freshman season, Blais made it 2-0 by registering her sixth goal in five games. Blais scored her eighth goal in the second game at North Dakota, scored the first two goals in a 7-1 rout against Minnesota, then added another in the 5-1 second Gopher game, on the final regular-season weekend. She also scored the first goal in playoff Game 1, before her 13th of the season became the ultimate game-winner in Game 3.
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Newell survived several flurries in the second period, used her glove to rob Blais on a breakaway, and, two power plays later, came up with the save when Jessica Koizumi passed to the crease and Tuominen deftly redirected it between her own legs.
“If we would have gotten a goal at that point I feel like we would have been a little bit more confident to claw back into the game,†said Newell. “We weathered the second period fairly well and were getting out of it without a goal, and then the funny bounce came. ItÂ’s always hard allowing a goal with under a minute and a half left in a period.Ââ€
But Newell’s luck ran out when Blais was credited with another goal at 19:23 of the second period, after her hard power-play pass to the right circle hit a defenderÂ’s skate and the ricochet slithered just inside the right post, beating the diving Newell. The goal later was awarded to Saara Tuominen.
The Huskies, still alive with the 3-0 deficit in the third period, got a goal from Meaghan Pezoni, who rifled a great shot into the upper right corner past Kim Martin at 12:21. Newell remained the story of the weekend, but the Bulldogs were not to be denied, and secured the victory when Tawni Mattila scored at 13:58 of the third period, and Marin scored her 23rd on a breakaway that turned into a goal-crashing tally at 16:53.
“When it was 3-1, it was only because of Newell,†said Miller. “She was outstanding in Game 2, and she kept them in it again.Ââ€
Giesen seemed unable to take any solace in his teamÂ’s strong run at UMD. It was suggested to the coach that the Huskies had played hard enough to take the action to the Bulldogs through much of the series. “We always play hard,†he said. “WeÂ’ve proven we can play with anybody.Ââ€
It was further suggested to Giesen that after surviving several flurries, and making some spectacular saves, Newell had given the Huskies a chance to win again in Game 3. “I would like to see a few more saves,†said Giesen. “I looked up one time, and they had two goals, and only 12 shots.Ââ€
Since the Huskies wound up with one goal on 22 shots, only a shutout could have prevented their season from ending 12-18-7. UMD, meanwhile, heads for Ridder Arena and a semifinal date with the Gophers, complete with a 6-1 finishing run, a 22-9-4 overall record, a No. 7 national rank – and a large sigh of relief.
Badger women get back-up goals to claim title
MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The University of Minnesota womenÂ’s hockey team was playing for its life Sunday afternoon, and impressively shut down WisconsinÂ’s top scorers with a single goal. But Mark Johnson, coach of the No. 1 ranked Badgers, urged contributions from his third and fourth unit support players, a pair of little-known home-staters came through with the goals to boost the Badgers to a 3-1 victory at Ridder Arena and the WomenÂ’s WCHA playoff championship.
Freshman fourth-line center Emily Kranz, from the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha, Wis., broke a 1-1 tie with her fifth goal of the season midway through the second period, and, while the Badgers eliminated MinnesotaÂ’s opportunities with stifling efficiency in the third period, third-unit sophomore defenseman Rachel Bible, from Black River Falls, Wis., scored an opportunistic clincher at 6:50. It was BibleÂ’s second goal of the season, and sheÂ’s obviously specializing in playoff goals, because her first goal was last weekend, in the WCHA playoff series sweep against North Dakota.
“We spent so much of the first 10 minutes on the power play, we werenÂ’t playing a lot of people,†said Johnson. “So I went to the players and said we needed something from our second group – our third and fourth liners. Emily scored, and that gives you some energy. And Bible scored last week, so I told her that if she keeps scoring, I may have to move her up to forward.Ââ€
The victory gives Wisconsin a pretty impressive resume. The Badgers all season have been defending WCHA, WCHA playoff, and NCAA champions, and now, at 33-1-4, they are current WCHA and WCHA playoff champions, and the unknown of the NCAA coming next. Minnesota, meanwhile, is 23-12-1, and despite playing well enough to upend Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 in overtime in SaturdayÂ’s semifinals, and giving the Badgers all they could contend with, coach Laura Halldorson and her players left Ridder Arena skeptical of their chances to reach the eight-team NCAA field.
“IÂ’m proud of my teamÂ’s effort, and this weekend was very positive for us, the way we held together,†said Halldorson. “But this emphasizes the importance of the entire season – you canÂ’t wait till the end. We put ourselves into position to have to win to get in. The feeling in our locker room was that we had played our last game.Ââ€
An hour after the game, Halldorson’s pessimism was proven correct. Wisconsin and UMD both were selected to the NCAA tournament, but the Gophers were not. Wisconsin, the No. 1 seed, will be host to Harvard (23-7-2). In the same bracket, No. 4 New Hampshire will be host to St. Lawrence (28-7-3), while in the other bracket, UMD (22-10-4) will go to No. 2 Mercyhurst (32-1-3), and No. 3 Dartmouth (27-4-2) will be host to Boston College (23-9-2). The UMD game is March 9, the other three March 10. Winners advance to Lake Placid for the March 16 semifinals.
Going into the weekend, Wisconsin was rated No. 1, but UMD was only seventh, and Minnesota ninth. Despite some Eastern teams losing in their playoffs, the Pairwise ratings didnÂ’t change much. UMD, in fact, didnÂ’t move up one notch when the Bulldogs beat Minnesota 7-1 and 5-1 two weeks ago, although the losses dropped the Gophers from eighth to ninth. So beating UMD and playing well against Wisconsin didn’t lift the Gophers back up. “We needed to gain ground,†said Halldorson.
Still, it appears that the WCHA — the league that has won all six NCAA championships so far — gets much respect for having the toughest league in its most competitive season. And nobody among the 1,157 fans at Ridder, or on the Wisconsin, UMD and Minnesota rosters, can be convinced that Minnesota, and possibly Ohio State, didn’t deserve more consideration.
Similarly, nobody questions why Wisconsin is ranked No. 1. When Minnesota captain Bobbi Ross scored a startling shorthanded goal at 16:53 of the first period, it was the first goal Wisconsin’s pair of alternating goaltenders had allowed if 324 minutes and 6 seconds – a span that goes back seven games to the third period of a 3-2 victory over Ohio State on Feb. 11. Since then, and up through Saturday’s 4-0 squelching of Ohio State by Jessie Vetter, Wisconsin had piled up five straight shutouts, and senior Christine Dufour wasn’t about to let in anything else Sunday.
“IÂ’m not big on statistics and records,†Johnson said. “I didnÂ’t even know we had a shutout streak until somebody told me about it today. Now IÂ’m being asked about giving up a goal.Ââ€
Wisconsin yielded the goal amid nine shots to the aroused Gophers in the 1-1 first period, then the clamped down to yield six in the second, and – when Minnesota’s NCAA future was hanging in the balance on its home rink – the Gophers could manage only two shots in the third period.
“We never questioned that we had a really good chance to win,†said Ross. “We played two really good periods, but in the third, Wisconsin got more defensive, and took away a lot of our chances.Ââ€
Wisconsin star Sara Bauer, a tiny, soft-spoken, 5-foot-3 center who does something of a Wonder Woman transition whenever she pulls on hockey skates, was too humble to even comment when asked about being named tournament most valuable player right after being honored as the WCHA’s player of the year for the second year in a row. But she acknowledged that the Badgers never seem to wear out in games. “As the game wears on, we feel like we can compete on a higher level,†Bauer said.
The Badgers had beaten Minnesota 3-1 before the teams tied 3-3 in October in Madison, and swept 4-1 and 3-0 games from the Gophers at Ridder in January, but the Gophers were in the midst of an intensely determined weekend, knowing their only certain path to the NCAA was to win the final and gain an automatic berth as playoff champion.
So it was not going to be an easy game for the Badgers, who had lost only one game all season – to UMD. Minnesota didn’t help its cause by starting out too aggressively, earning five of six first-period penalties, including the first three. When Dagney Willey and oRoss went off in succession in the first three minutes, it gave the Badgers a two-skater advantage, and they made quick work of it.
Jinelle Zaugg had the puck deep in the right corner and passed to the slot, where WCHA freshman-of-the-year Meghan Duggan slammed a one-timer past goaltender Kim Hanlon for her 24th goal of a freshman-of-the-year season, and a 1-0 lead at 3:30.
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The Gophers kept taking penalties, but capitalized themselves at 16:53 of the opening period, when Wisconsin’s senior Meaghan Mikkelson – the league defensive player of the year – tried to pass from behind her net to start a power-play breakout, but she almost completely whiffed, and the puck skidded slowly out front on the left side of the goal. Gopher penalty-killer Brittany Francis tried to get a shot away, and when the puck glanced out front, it was to the always-dangerous Ross, who wound up alone at the crease. She stepped to her right to elude goaltender Dufour, and tucked the puck in at the right post for a shorthanded goal and a 1-1 tie. “I waited, and outwaited the goaltender and put it behind her,†said Ross.
With a 9-5 edge in shots in the first period despite spending 10 minutes in the penalty box, the Gophers had a chance to go ahead on an early second-period power play, but the Badgers turned up the intensity of their defensive posture and held firm. Midway through the second period, fourth-liner Kranz came up a huge goal. She stole the puck in front and shot, then stayed after the blocked puck as she moved right to left, patiently waiting for goaltender Kim Hanlon to drop before lifting her shot over her and in at 10:58.
After that, the Badgers rarely allowed the Gophers to stir up any promising scoring chances, until Andrea Nichols nearly scored late in the second period. No team is more poised holding a 2-1 type lead than the Badgers, and they simply stifled Minnesota in the final period.
Then they left it to another member of their support cast to clinch it, when Bible moved up to join a scramble in the slot. Zaugg had sent the puck out front, and third-line winger Phoebe Monteleone tried to reach it on her backhand, but as Gopher defender Whitney Graft restrained her, Bible reached past her and knocked it in.
“It was very important to us to come out of this weekend with two games against hungry teams that had their season on the line,†said Johnson. “ItÂ’s a long season, starting back on September 15, and now itÂ’s March. Everybody sees what happens on the ice, but what nobody sees is what happens off-ice, with the conditioning, and the things these players have to do to prepare themselves to be consistent and to improve over the course of the season.Ââ€
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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