Bulldogs look for new hockey success
By John Gilbert
Jack Connolly has been in too much of a hurry to stop and think about what UMD has accomplished during his time with the Bulldogs. But as the 2011-12 season began, there were a couple of lasting memories that were right near the surface of his consciousness.
First, he naturally recalls UMD’s first NCAA tournament championship, won last spring at Xcel Arena in St. Paul, when the Bulldogs beat Notre Dame 4-3 in the semifinals, then also beat Michigan 4-3, in overtime, for the title. His memories of Notre Dame are particularly significant, because that’s the team that will open UMD’s season Friday and Saturday at Amsoil Arena.
“Notre Dame plays a fast-paced game, and their two best players were freshmen,†said Connolly, after the Bulldogs opened with a 5-1 victory over Lakehead University from Thunder Bay. “They were a young team, and they return a lot of players, so we know we’ll get one of our toughest games right off. Fortunately, we came out on top when we played them at the tournament, and we’ll have to be ready to play our best against them.â€
Connolly also recalls his time as a freshman, when he came out of the USHL after his days of stardom at Marshall, and had to prove himself as a 5-foot-8 hustler in college hockey.
“As a freshman, you hear it a lot,†he said. “The seniors tell you to enjoy your time in college, because it goes quick. You don’t think about it much, but they were right.â€
That’s right, Connolly is a senior, and one of his biggest duties as captain will be to make sure the Bulldogs don’t spend too much time being full of themselves for their NCAA title run last season. “We have to be leaders and get the young guys headed in the right direction,†said Connolly, who always has been a leader by example on the ice.
Last season, Connolly centered Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine on what was the nation’s top-scoring college line. Their play at full strength and on the power play was a vital factor in UMD’s success. Fontaine was senior, and signed with the Minnesota Wild. Mike Connolly, who was a junior, signed a pro offer from Anaheim. So Jack Connolly has new linemates for this season.
To start with, at least, he will play between fellow-senior Cody Danberg and sophomore J.T. Brown. Danberg injured his knee last season and was given the chance to return as a red-shirt senior this season. Brown had an impressive freshman season, capped by being named most valuable player at the Frozen Four. Brown sat out last weekend’s exhibition game for breaking team rules in an off-ice incident after last season. The line, however, shows great promise already, as does the second forward unit with Travis Oleksuk centering Dan DeLisle and Joe Basaraba.
Against Lakehead, a team that seemed more eager to run into UMD players and make the game ragged than to try to set up any shots — Connolly scored the first goal of the season on a power play, and after Lakehead tied it 1-1, Oleksuk set up a goal by Basaraba to end the first period, then scored power-play goals himself in the second and third. Adam Krause, a 6-foot-3 freshman from Hermantown, got his first collegiate goal to cap the victory. UMD outshot the Thunderwolves 28-9, and Lakehead’s ninth shot was a length-of-the-ice clearing try that happened to go on net.
Other impressive Bulldogs last weekend included David Grun, who ran over several foes with timely offensive-zone hits. And the goaltending appears a strong point, with Kenny Reiter and Aaron Crandall splitting the Lakehead game. Connolly, Danberg, Oleksuk, Grun, defensemen Brady Lamb and Scott Kishel, and Reiter are the seven seniors on the club.
After the severe test promised by Notre Dame next, the Bulldogs will welcome what is expected to be a much improved Minnesota team next week, making four playoff-quality games to start the regular season.
BULLDOGS FIND EXPLOSIVENESS
UMD football coach Bob Nielson said before last Saturday night’s game against Minnesota State-Moorhead that he thought this year’s Bulldogs would have to be a grind-it-out team, that may lack the offensive explosiveness of the past three seasons.
Then came Saturday night, and if you ask the visiting Dragons, UMD seemed plenty explosive. In what may have been the offense’s coming out party, the Bulldogs whipped MSU-Moorhead 49-21. Junior quqrterback Chase Vogler threw touchdown passes to Kris Olson and Joe Reichert in the first quarter, then threw another to Reichert in the second for a 21-0 halftime cushion.
The big question for UMD this season, however, is the running game, and who would step in as the big gun. After the top three running backs — all seniors — departed from the 15-0 championship run of a year ago, a trio of freshmen have filled in, and suddenly blossomed. The depth chart shows Austin Sikorski as first-team running back, Brian Lucas as second-team running back, and Zach Hulce as third-team.
Vogler, a dangerous runner when he’s not passing, was 17-21 for 204 yards and three touchdowns, and also ran seven times for 46 yards. Sikorski carried 12 times for 48 yards, and Lucas, who came in from the U.S. Army military prep school, carried 12 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns. In the second half, MSU-Moorhead kept rallying to threaten, and Nielson turned the offense over to hulce, who carried seven times for a game-leading 127 yards and a TD. Zach Zweifel, another freshman, playing wide receiver, caught six passes for 99 yards to lead a balanced group of eight receivers with at least one reception.
The Bulldogs miss the warm weekend weather in Duluth and travel to Winona for a game Saturday night, but they now stand 4-1 overall, and 3-1 in the Northern Sun. The Bulldog football team doesn’t return home until October 22, and by then the UMD volleyball team will have clinched the title and be aiming for national honors, while the UMD men and women will be well into their hockey season.
UMD WOMEN FACE BC
It has become traditional for UMD’s women to challenge for the WCHA and NCAA titles, and there are five NCAA banners waving from the rafters of Amsoil Arena to show for their first 11 years. But this year will be particularly challenging for the Bulldogs, who split two warm-up games with the Whitecaps, an amateur team comprised of former college standouts, last weekend. While the UMD men face Notre Dame at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, the UMD women have a serious opening series against a swift and potent Boston College team at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The challenge this season is that three players from the Swedish National team who were coming to UMD have been sidetracked. Eligibility issues prevented two of them from coming, while the third, Erica Gromm, is still planning to come but was stricken with a food-borne ailment over the summer that has caused her to face a lengthy recovery and she may not come to UMD until midseason, at best.
The loss of three such promising freshmen was particularly noticeable last weekend, when star senior Haley Irwin missed the two Whitecap games, and Jessica Wong, UMD’s sparkplug defenseman, returned from an injury to play at partial speed Friday before sitting out Saturday.
Still, UMD managed to wear down and beat the experienced Whitecaps in the first game, when Audrey Cournoyer scored in the first minute of the second period to tie the game 1-1, and Pernilla Winberg came through for the overtime winner in a 2-1 battle. Winberg pounced on the puck in the crease to score after Katie Wilson’s shot from the left edge hit the far post and landed on the goal line with 45 seconds remaining in the 5-minute overtime.
“We had a lot of scoring chances, and we’ll have to learn to put them away,†said Winberg. “But we have a lot of new players, and we did OK. We’ll only get better.â€
UMD had to come back from a 1-0 deficit to win the first game, but Jenny Potter, former UMD star, Olympic standout, and mother of two, scored the first goal and Erin Cody the second, and when UMD came back for a 2-2 tie on goals by Wilson and freshman Jenna McParland, the Whitecaps responded with two goals 31 seconds apart late in the second period, and Cody, former Bemidji State star, got her second to make it 5-2 before the Bulldogs got Wilson’s second goal of the night in a 5-3 setback.
Wilson centering Cournoyer and Winberg looks like UMD’s top line, regardless of when Irwin returns. Wilson, who has spent three seasons being a strong player but in the shadows of some outstanding Swedish players, now gets the chance to step into a leadership role on the scoreboard as well as with her experience.
Goaltender Jennifer Harss, captain Kacy Ambroz, and defenseman Mariia Posa are the only seniors on the team. UMD outshot the Whitecaps 42-29 in the first game, but Sanya Sandahl, a Duluth Central grad who played at Cornell, was outstanding in goal.
Wilson said she knows the Bulldogs are in for a stiff test against Boston College. “The last time we played BC was in my freshman year,†Wilson said. “They’ve improved, and they went to the Frozen Four last year.â€
GS 350 puts stealth Lexus on the street
A pair of Lexus GS 350 sedans awaited their chance to impress auto writers at Las Vegas Speedway.Â
By John Gilbert
LAS VEGAS, NEV. — On my first lap around the special cone-lined handling course Lexus had set up at Las Vegas Speedway, I powered the Lexus GS 350 through a 90-degree left turn when, facing a bit of a straight chute, something caused me to glance upward. A pair of sleek jet fighter planes, cruising in to land at the nearby Air Force base, glided across my line of vision.
I told the Lexus folks that was unnecessary inspiration. We were sufficiently fired up to drive the 2013 mid-luxury GS models hard enough around the handling course and the adjacent autocross, although I had to admit, watching those F-18 and Stealth fighter planes circling above pushed us to push this new sports-luxury sedan to its limits.
Anticipation for a Lexus introduction is often of technology in a softly comfortable car that is extremely competent, with strong engineering, but stressing luxury and amenities more than performance. The GS has been a Lexus holdout, however, always striving to be a European-like sedan that added sporty performance to Lexus, Toyota’s luxury division.
I suggested that Toyota had better watch its step. First, the compact Lexus IS-F is a blast to drive, and then, in the never-ending duel of base models on the Toyota side, the new 2012 Camry quietly goes past the Honda Accord in sportiness by firming things up and offering its 4-cylinder with a 6-speed automatic and steering-wheel paddles — two sporty features unavailable on the Accord. Now comes the new-for-2013, fourth-generation GS350, impressive in base form, spectacular in F-Sport, and futuristic with its GS450h hybrid alternative. This all could ruin that soft, luxurious image, which Lexus has developed. No chance of that, however, because the GS impressively improves its sporty performance and handling with numerous engineering and performance tactics, without overlooking any luxury concepts.
The GS remains basically a rear-drive sedan as if that alone assures sportiness, but Lexus covers all wheels, as well as bases, by offering optional all-wheel drive, and even all-wheel steering. In combination, all of that thrusts the GS 350 into valid competition with the mid-level German performance sedans, such as the BMW 5-Series, Mercedes E-Class, and Audi A6. And the F Sport version infringes on territory previously reserved for the M5, AMG, and S6 models of those German counterparts.
The standard GS 350 is well-equipped in basic form, with plenty of standard features, starting with 17-inch alloy wheels, 10-way power seats, and the creature comforts Lexus buyers expect, all wrapped in a new body with what Lexus says is the new “spindle†grille that will become a Lexus signature, on an altered platform that once held the Supra and the SC 430.
GS 350 offers the luxury of a mid-luxury sedan, bolstered by high-tech sportiness.
The car will reach showrooms in February, which is when prices will be divulged. It will come only with a 3.5-liter V6 engine, but it is plenty potent, kicking out 306 horsepower at 6,400 RPMs (red-line 6,600), and 277 foot-pounds of torque at 4,800. It places fuel injectors both in the combustion chamber and the air-fuel runners, giving it both direct and port injection, but it wants costlier 91-octane premium fuel.
The major variations of the GS 350 are to pick the Premium package, which adds 18-inch wheels, rain-sensing wipers, heated and ventilated front seats, and a power rear sunshade. The Luxury package — remember, “Luxury†ranks above “Premium†in Lexus lexicon, which we can call Lexus-con — will get you everything on the Premium list, plus adaptive suspension, adaptive headlights, 18-way power seats, and rear heat-air controls.
The F Sport, with its available 19-inch wheels, with 235/40 front and 265/35 rear tires, uses the same V6 power, with standard four-wheel steering. But it looks meaner, with a mesh grille and retuned suspension with firmer springs, variable dampers, thicker stabilizer bars, variable gear ratios, altered bushings on the shock components, and bigger and stronger front brakes, and stark interior features, with 16-way power seats. Read more
CR-V renews duel with Escape at LA show
New shape, new EcoBoost engines, power the 2013 Ford Escape into the New Year.
By John Gilbert
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. — The earthquake and ensuing tsunami that struck Japan in March of 2011 affected the supply of parts enough to set back production of Japanese automakers all around the world. For Honda, the resulting shortage of the Honda CR-V compact crossover helped Ford Escape sales shoot by and supplant the CR-V as the top-selling SUV in the U.S.
If the Escape and CR-V are going to duel for supremacy in 2012, they will be doing it with entirely new vehicles — unveiled to the public for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Other indications from the same show, which runs through Thanksgiving Weekend, are that the new Escape and CR-V will have plenty of competition.
Much like golf and tennis, the auto show circuit in the United States also has its four “majors,†which stand above the numerous regional shows to compete with each other, and the Los Angeles Auto Show kicks off the new season, to be followed by the Detroit Auto Show in early January, the Chicago Auto Show in February, and the New York Auto Show, which comes in April.
Since moving its date to November, the L.A. show has gained prestige, and last year may have become the most significant, with the domestic Big Three all moving some of their biggest introductions from Detroit to L.A. The Chevrolet Volt, Ford EcoBoost models, and Chrysler’s resurgent redesigns under Fiat tutelage all jumped to join the previously import-dominated Los Angeles show.
With only a few key vehicles, such as the Ford Fusion and Chevrolet Malibu, being held off for Detroit, this year’s Los Angeles show stakes its importance on another strong array of new products, led by the Escape, the CR-V, and other compact crossover SUVs such as the Mazda CX-5, plus production versions of the Range Rover Evoque, and Mercedes ML320.
Honda will try to recapture the SUV lead with a new-generation CR-V.
The CR-V became available to the automotive media a month earlier than the show, but Honda restricted reports on the new vehicle until its official introduction, which came at the L.A. Show. The new CR-V has totally new design in its fourth generation.
The first CR-V was a 1997 model, and was an interesting attempt at making an all-wheel-drive compact utility vehicle. It sold well, competing with the Toyota RAV4 in popularity, and its first renewal came for 2002 when its shape was refined and less boxy. The third generation came in 2007, and closely followed the RAV4’s new model, which was lengthened by more than a foot and added a third-row seat and a V6 engine option. Honda stuck by its more-compact design, with two rows of seats and only a strong 4-cylinder, and it left critics — as well as the RAV4 — behind in sales by taking over the No. 1 slot.
That third-generation model was a considerable change in appearance, with something like a half-circle silhouette rising from the windshield and tapering off to the rear deck. It continued to demonstrate a combination of size, performance and versatile packaging, coupled with with a high standard of initial build quality to remain No. 1 in sales through 2010.
Akio Tonomura, CR-V project leader for Honda, said the vehicle has matured from its first “comfortable runabout†stature through the more-recent casual-formal model that sold 4.9 million in 160 countries. Competition has increased, with impressive new compact crossovers that include the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Rio from Korea, the Nissan Rogue, as well as the RAV4 and the Escape, which grew from an original design for the Mazda Tribute. Changing lifestyles and the economic slump and environmental problems have affected the marketplace.
“But the wants of consumers are unchanged,†said Tonomura. “The fourth generation CR-V improves on being efficient, functional and confident, fused together through synergy. It has the comfort of a passenger car, the versatility of a minivan, and the confidence of an SUV. Only the CR-V can top the CR-V.†Read more
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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