Ross, McKenzie lift Gopher women to sweep UMD
The stimulation of the 10th year anniversary of their program’s existence, and a tribute to beloved equipment manager Bonnie Olein, who died of cancer earlier in the week, meant a lot to the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team. But seniors Bobbi Ross and Erica McKenzie made certain that the emotion remained focused on Minnesota-Duluth, their favored – and favorite – opponent.
Minnesota won 3-1 and 5-1 to sweep their No. 1 ranked and previously unbeaten Bulldogs out of Ridder Arena to turn the WCHA standings from a potential runaway back into a scramble. Ross, who is in her third season as captain, scored three goals for the weekend — including two shorthanded goals in the first game — and added three assists, while linemate and penalty-killing buddy McKenzie had two goals and three assists for the weekend – including yet another shorthanded goal in the second game.
“Erica and I communicate well out there,†said Ross. “She did a great job on the penalty kill, and we always know where the other one is at.Ââ€
McKenzie concurred.Ââ€We see each other well out there,†McKenzie said. “It seemed as though we kind of hit each other with passes pretty well.Ââ€
The sweep was startling enough, but the manner of the sweep was more remarkable. Brad Frost, in an interim year as head coach after Laura Halldorson surprisingly stepped down before the season, decided to pass up junior Kim Hanlon and start freshman Jenny Lura in goal. She did the job so well that she got a repeat chance in the second game.
The series started a pivotal month for Minnesota, which includes six consecutive make-or-break games – two against UMD, then two at Wisconsin, then two more at UMD. It was pivotal not only because UMD had started 5-0-1, and 4-0 with four shutouts in WCHA play, to claim the No. 1 rank in the country, but because a curious lack of fire had prevailed when the Gophers followed two nonconference victories by tying and losing against St. Cloud State, and splitting with Ohio State to stand 1-2-1 in a sputtering Women’s-WCHA start.
“It was an emotional time for us,†said Minnesota coach Brad Frost. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I think it helped we were playing Duluth. They bring out the best in us because our rivalry is so good.Ââ€
Ross said: “Now we know how we can play, and nothing else will be acceptable. We dug ourselves a bit of a hole with our first four games, and we had a great weekend. But it means nothing if we don’t follow it up.Ââ€
McKenzie concurred. “There was a lot going on, and it could have been distracting, but we knew we had a few huge weekends coming up,†said McKenzie. “The biggest thing is that we were playing Duluth. Whenever we play Duluth, whether they’re No. 1 or No. 20, both teams are always ready to play.Ââ€
The big plans for the weekend included Halldorson rounding up players from Minnesota’s early seasons, to be introduced on the ice and to be available for autographs to celebrate a decade of Gopher women’s hockey. The weekend also was dedicated to cancer awareness, in hopes of honoring Bonnie Olein, a former Minnesota softball player who had worked at the university for 30 years, and had been equipment manager for every Gopher women’s hockey team until cancer forced her to quit earlier this year. Tragically, Olein lost her battle to cancer on the Tuesday preceding the weekend, so the series instead became a memorial tribute. The entire Minnesota team attended Olein’s funeral Saturday morning before the second game of the series.
Ross and McKenzie worked their magic on virtually ever turn on the ice, making sure that the Gophers gained sufficient reward for two strong efforts. The Gophers still had to perform on the ice, because two losses in the series would have rendered Minnesota effectively out of contention at 1-4-1 while UMD would have been 7-0-1. Instead, the Golden Gophers rise to 3-2-1 and UMD slides to 4-2 in WCHA games.
“Against St. Cloud State and Ohio State, we’d play well, but then we defensively let them back into the games,†said Frost., after the first game. “Tonight, six people on the ice took over. The way we played tonight is the way we have to play.Ââ€
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The first game was properly intense through a scoreless first period, then Ross scored shorthanded, set up by a pass from McKenzie, and after UMD’s Emmanuelle Blais tied it less than a minute later, Ross fed Rachel Drazen, a defenseman who sat out last season after transfering from UMD, and she barged through the defense to make it 2-1 with a power play goal before the second period ended.
Despite being outshot 43-20 for the game, the Bulldogs still lurked close at 2-1 and needed only to make one play when they went on the power play in the closing minutes. But McKenzie outhustled the Bulldogs to the puck in the UMD corner and fed Ross for her second shorthanded goal of the game to clinch the 3-1 victory.
Obviously, UMD would come snarling back in the rematch . Or, maybe not. Not if Ross and McKenzie could do anything about it. This time McKenzie opened the game with a shorthanded goal, taking a feed from Ross, cutting to her right at the crease, and backhanding the puck past goaltender Kim Martin. McKenzie made it 2-0 on another Ross assist as the Gophers took a 3-0 lead in the first period. Ross, from McKenzie of course, scored to open the second period as Minnesota built a 5-0 lead through two sessions and cruised to a 5-1 romp for the sweep.
“The Gophers had a ton of emotion, and we played like we didn’t have much to compete for,†said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “I didn’t really yell between periods, because it seemed to me were were drained. If the players have something left and play poorly, believe me, I’ll yell and scream. But the tank was empty.Ââ€
There seemed to be a lack of the usual hostility between the two, all right. “Oh, the first game was plenty intense, with tension every shift,†said Ross. “But it was less hostile. They were very classy, and they approached us before the game and said they were sorry about us losing our equipment manager.Ââ€
Minnesota dominated play even more in the second game, outshooting the Bulldogs 35-26 and jumping ahead 3-0 in the first period and making it 5-0 by the second intermission.
“Duluth ramped it up for the second game, and that’s a credit to them,†said Frost. “But once we got the first goal, then we killed a 5-on-3 power play, we were on a roll. After getting two ‘shorties’ in the first game and the first one tonight, it was such a confidence-builder to come out and play 120 minutes as well as we did.Ââ€
Volvo S80 epitomizes corporate focus on safety
The Volvo S80 proves it’s impossible to have too much of a good thing, at least if you believe that building cars with an uncompromising emphasis on safety is a good thing.
Overlooking safety is common in analyzing cars, because all car-makers are now striving to meet safety standards. Some companies build pretty good cars, then depend on such things as side and side-curtain airbags to reach proper safety levels. Volvo’s endless research into causes and effects of crashes has evolved to high standards for safety that range from structural innovations that are the standard of the industry to new methods for prompting drivers to stay more aware.
You can only do so much by computer, so Volvo runs the vehicles through exhaustive crash-tests at its safety facility in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo sends cars through frontal, front corner, side, and rear angle crashes, and a unique sled sends Volvo models down a long hallway and flings them to rude outdoor rollover tests.
The previous S80 was structurally among the safest vehicles ever built, with a platform strong enough to also work under the XC-90 SUV. Because Ford owns Volvo, it recalled the platform for use under the Ford Five Hundred (now renamed Taurus), and the Freestyle (now renamed Taurus X). The difference is that Volvo uses stronger “boron†steel, which is unbendable, in its pillars and at strategic occupant-protection areas.
The new S80 takes another step forward with even more advanced safety technology, while also continuing Volvo’s trend toward visually attractive lines and contours that make us realize the boxy and outdated Volvos from a decade ago were, well, boxy and outdated. Even then, they were very safe.
The interior of the new S80 is outstanding in its Scandinavian understatement. Excellent ergonomic controls include a little silhouette of a seated person, with push-button arrows toward the head, torso, or feet, for simple airflow selection. It also adopts the S40’s uniquely thin center control panel that has a small storage cubby behind it.
My wife, Joan, doesn’t like gadgets in cars, so she was skeptical of the flashing diode that blinks on the left front edge of the door whenever a car drives into the camera-detected side-mirror blind spot. But she soon changed her mind, appreciating the tip to recheck the mirror, and missing it after our week-long test ended. “I should have known,†said Joan, “that any gadget Volvo might put in would be beneficial for safety.Ââ€
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When the revised S80 was introduced, its all-wheel-drive models came with a 4.4-liter V8, specifically built by Yamaha in close contact with Volvo engineers to be narrow enough to fit sideways between the front wheels. Front-wheel-drive models came with a 3.2-liter, in-line 6-cylinder engine.
New for 2008 is a third model, with a turbocharged 3.0 inline-6 and all-wheel drive. Its 285 horsepower is 50 more than the FWD model, and 27 less than the V8.
The V8 AWD model has a three-button control on the console for setting the suspension firmness, and it works so well for optimum emergency-handling control that I was disappointed that the 3.0-turbo AWD model lacked that feature. It needs it, or else a simple alteration to the next firmer setting, because without it, the softer suspension lacks the same precision of agility.
In base form, the FWD S80 model is still expensive at about $35,000, while the loaded, top model with all-wheel-drive rises to over $45,000. That’s a lot of money.
Or is it?
When you consider how much we’ll spend for power or luxury, the perspective of expense breaks down quite directly. If we’ll spend unflinchingly for power or for luxury, then look at the S80. With good power, plenty of luxury, the best seats in the industry, and distinctively subtle style, how much are we willing to pay for that unswerving devotion to safety?
Stylish flair of the Civic carries over to the Hybrid
Since being redesigned for the 2006 model year, the Honda Civic has cut a stylish figure, and the silver Civic I recently test drove showed off its stunning contours, with its long, steeply-angled line rising from the bottom of the front bumper all the way up the “A†pillar to the roof. The silhouette continues the rakish form, and styling alone might have made the Civic the 2006 Car of the Year.
Climbing inside, the spaciousness of the interior is complemented by a high-tech look to the instrumentation, and the firmly supportive comfort of the bucket seats.
If all this seems to describe a normal Civic sedan, this one was the Civic Hybrid. The Civic is an exceptional mainstream car in all models, and the beauty of its Hybrid model is that it looks just like the other models. The difference is that a potent battery pack powers an electric motor system to complement the tiny gasoline engine, combining to create a combination of technological wizardry.
At about $23,000, the Hybrid is just above the loaded EX model, and if it’s a couple thousand more than the EX, its splendid fuel economy — staying above 40 miles per gallon all week, in my test — can make up the difference in price qujite efficiently.
Manufacturers are trying to use hybrid technology to bolster power as much as to gain fuel economy, although the Civic, and its arch-rival Toyota Prius, haven’t taken their eye off the target of creating adequate power and phenomenal fuel economy. It’s fun to have a super-powerful car, and it can be satisfying to blow away the guy next to you who thinks his Cavalier is a race car, but as gasoline wanders above $3 per gallon, mainstream car-buyers might prefer to blow past gas stations all week.
Car-magazine numbers for acceleration feed the U.S. 0-60 craze, but in the real world, perception is more important than factual details. If a car feels fast enough – guess what? — it’s fast enough. Same with interior roominess: If it’s got enough room for you and three or four others, it’s big enough. The Civic uses a high-tech 1.3-liter, four-cylinder gas engine, with a separate, Panasonic-designed battery pack.
The gas engine can power the Civic alone — a major departure when comparing the Civic with Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive. Otherwise, like the Toyota, the Civic Hybrid’s gas engine also sends power to the battery pack, which powers the electric-motor supplement to the gas-engine power.
Technical wizardry aside, the Civic Hybrid also changes your scope of driving. Almost instantly you are converted from the mindset of a jackrabbit-start type into competing to beat the fuel-economy gauge on the dashboard, which calculates your fuel economy at that time. Trying to adjust your driving to improve that mileage figure is more compelling – and a lot wiser – than being concerned with the kid in the Cavalier in the next lane.
Unlike its Toyota rivals, the Civic Hybrid doesn’t drop in fuel economy during highway driving. The Prius runs best as all-electric, so its fuel economy drops off in high-speed cruising, where more gas-engine power is requires. The Civic system, meanwhile, also can run on electricity alone in moderate cruising, but its gas-engine priority in all phases actually is eased during freeway driving, so it gets better fuel economy on the road.
The best I got in combined city-freeway driving was “47.7†on the Civic’s mpg display. At that point, I exited the freeway and remembered another trick – brake early to use the captive braking energy as regenerative stuff to recharge the battery pack, lessening the amount of gas-engine energy required for recharging. So when I got to the end of the exit, braked early, I got to the stop sign at the end of the ramp and the meter said “48.0.Ââ€
Because the Civic’s use of electric power is as a supplement, if the battery pack ever conked out, you could drive on for another couple hundred thousand miles on the little gas engine alone. The Toyota system, outstanding as it is, is so integrated that the gas engine is really used only to generate the electric power, which moves the vehicle, so an electric-system failure means the car won’t move. Not that either one suffers a noteworthy number of failures.
Performance of the Civic Hybrid is similar, and sometimes better, than the Prius, but that is just another factoid that proves how much Honda has failed to prominently promote the Civic Hybrid.
Mazda6 GT Wagon represents vanishing breed
New-car introductions are always impressive, but the vehicles tend to fade as the vehicle runs through its lifespan of four or five years, as anticipation grows for the “bigger and better” new model to come. Not so with the Mazda6, which is past-due for replacement, and won’t come out for another year. Instead of fading, the current Mazda6 remains among my favorites, and with end-of-the-model-year discounts, the 2007 models may be the best bargains around.
Mazda’s misfortune was the timing of the Mazda6 introduction. It was to replace the 626 — a solid, sturdy and dependable midsize sedan that was a worthy competitor for the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, even though it didn’t sell as well in the U.S. The Mazda6 came out late in 2001, just about two months after the tragedy of 9/11. The auto industry continued to function smoothly after the World Trade Center destruction, but only for about three months, and then car sales joined the rest of the drastic economic nosedive. So the Mazda6 hit showrooms almost precisely as U.S. consumers quit buying cars.
Mazda vowed that the Mazda6 would get it back on track, after a decade of trying to copy the Honda Accord. The current Mazda6 is a sleek, tightly-styled midsize sedan that was, indeed, the most fun-to-drive car in the segment, while also maintaining the dependability levels of Accord/Camry and others. But it was hailed more by analysts and critics than by customers.
The Mazda6 has been slightly tweaked through the last five years, with either the high-revving 2.3-liter four or the Mazda-revised Ford 3.0-liter V6. I’ve gotten 30-plus miles per gallon with the V6, and mid-30s with the world-class four. I just spent a week with a 2007 Mazda6 S Grand Touring wagon, and it was more of the same.
Station wagons lost popularity to minivans, which gave way to SUVs, and now compact crossover SUVs, which greatly resemble tall station wagons. The test car was loaded with features, pushing its price up from $27,000 to over $30,000. But discounts advertised can drop that down nearer to $20,000, and some are offering it for about the same price as the smaller Mazda3. Resale value is an issue, although not if you plan to keep it for 150,000 or more miles.
Equipped with the V6 and automatic, the test car delivered 28.5 miles per gallon in freeway cruising, and about 25 combined with near-gridlock city rush-hour traffic. Not bad, considering that the listed EPA estimate is 20 mpg city and 27 highway, proving not every car is far in arrears of its top EPA estimates. The latest Mazda6 has enhanced its sleek appearance. My favorite is the 5-door hatchback, with a more attractive rear-window slope than the sedan.
Word is Mazda won’t make the wagon for 2008, so the current one is the last one. I hate to see it go, and I have a similar concern for the whole Mazda6 line. I’m all for the latest round of technology, but rumors are it will be larger, like everything else in the class. I think the current one is near-perfect in size, so if there’s a risk that the upcoming one will be less sleek, less sporty, less inexpensive, and less fuel-efficient, I’d say the discounted 2007 version might be the best bargain in the industry.
Lincoln MKZ blows into entry-luxury like cool Zephyr
Lincoln’s new MKZ blows into the entry-luxury segment like a fresh breeze, if not an actual “Zephyr.” Criticism that it’s only a fancy version of the Ford Fusion shouldn’t really be a criticism at all, because the Fusion is an impressive car, and the MKZ is clearly upgraded in style, both inside and out.
The MKZ runs impressively, holding the road well and delivering surprising performance and fuel economy. The shiny black test-vehicle I drove even had all-wheel drive, and delivered on all its promises at $35,000. At that, the Lincoln comes well equipped with options, such as heated and cooled perforated leather seats, and a navigation system, which raised the sticker from $31,050 to $35,640.
A change for 2007 is that Ford, which had tried to coax every bit of energy out of its 3.0-liter Duratec V6 up through 2006 models, has come out with a very impressive new 3.5-liter V6, with all the latest high-tech features — dual overhead-camshafts, variable valve-timing, etc. With 263 horsepower and 245 foot-pounds of torque, it works very well for extra power. EPA fuel estimates are 18 city and 26 highway, and the MKZ reached 23.5 in combined city and highway driving, then hit a surprising 27.8 miles per gallon while freeway cruising. Many cars can’t hope to reach their EPA maximum, and here the MKZ — with all-wheel drive — exceeds its top estimate.
Ford tends to make its Lincolns with mildly rounded corners on squarish shapes, referring to that technique as “formal.” Think Town Car, here, a name that could have been Land Yacht for its sheer enormity, but with square features still cherished by airport limo companies, and a few folks of advancing years who may someday turn them into large garden planters. The new-age MKZ, on the other hand, has an impressive vertical-blade grille, with the formal design squaring softly on the rear and the dashboard.
The formal dashboard colors tend toward grey, with satin-finish silver accents. The neat brushed silver panel of buttons for heat/air, and the seat heaters and coolers, are too small, though, and are located at the bottom of the center dashboard switchgear, just ahead of the six-speed automatic shift lever. The lettering on those little and distant switches is small enough to rank as unreadable, unless you can take 10 seconds at a stoplight to bend down and focus on the poorly-contrasted designation. I actually guessed once at changing the airflow direction, and didn’t realize I mistakenly hit the seat-heater until moments before reaching medium-rare.
The name MKZ also demands scrutiny. Sometimes companies get caught between retro and modern. Two years ago, the new Lincoln was named Zephyr, which is a proud old name of a quite-sporty vehicle that lasted until the 1950s, if my childhood memory accurately recalls the one owned by an uncle in Milwaukee. The car’s name had the stylish elegance of a word for a smoothly speeding gust of wind. I thought it was a neat aside that I never heard anybody call it the “Zephyr,” it was always the “Lincoln Zephyr,” with both names used almost in tandem: “Lincolnzephyr.”
Two years ago, a new and stylish Lincoln came out called the Zephyr, but now, after only a year, Lincoln announced that the Zephyr would be renamed the MKZ. Hmmm. (No, it wasn’t named the “MKZ HMMM” — just the MKZ; the “Hmmm” is mine.) Why, I asked, when car companies are struggling to find neat names before settling too-often for alpha-numeric tags, would Lincoln forfeit the great name Zephyr for three seemingly unrelated letters? I was told it was for brand identity. People refer to the Navigator as the Navigator, not Lincoln Navigator, so Lincoln marketeers decided that people would be more likely to say “Lincoln” along with MKZ, rather than saying just “Zephyr.”
I told the marketing whiz that he was too young to remember the original Zephyr, which ironically was always referred to as the “LincolnZephyr,” rather than just Zephyr. So in their quest to gain identity, they botched name recognition, exclusivity, and the perfect blend of retro-class.
Peter Horbury, who came on as Ford’s chief designer just about the time car was introduced, talked about the name-change and, being a Brit, he inadvertently called it the “Mark Z.” Turns out, on the car itself, the “MK” are a tiny bit smaller than the “Z,” so it does resemble “Mk. Z” more than just MKZ. I could live with that. Besides, it wouldn’t be so easy to confuse with the equally new Lincoln MKX crossover SUV. Which is another alpha-numeric story.
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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