Badgers set to back up No. 1 NCAA rank at Regional

Wisconsin is the No. 1 seed at the Midwest Regional, which figures, because the Badgers are the No. 1 seed in nation among NCAA Division I college hockey teams. The Badgers, therefore, are favored to get past Bemidji State in SaturdayÂ’s semifinals at Green Bay, Wis. Colorado College and Cornell tangle in the other game, and the Badgers stand as favorite to also win the Sunday final against that winner.

None of that will be easy, of course. Wisconsin (26-10-3) seems to have overcome a late-season flat spot, although it would be a serious mistake to overlook Bemidji State (20-13-3), a team that is unranked but gained the NCAAÂ’s automatic berth for one team from College Hockey America, and a team that swept Minnesota-Duluth in Duluth, and also swept Minnesota State-Mankato.

Colorado College (24-15-2) came back from an upset loss to St. Cloud State in the first round of WCHA playoffs, so the Tigers are rested and ready to return to the ice based on a strong enough Pairwise computer rating. They face Cornell (21-8-4), a team from the perennially underrated ECAC but with an impressive record.

For Wisconsin, the key question is whether it has regained a full measure of confidence. Confidence is an enormous factor in hockey, as in all sports, but it has varying degrees of importance. Sometimes, a player or a team can overachieve by lacking confidence, and by being driven to prove superiority. In the case of the Badgers, confidence spells the difference between being the best team in the country, and a team with exposed vulnerability.

Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves knew he had a veteran team in a WCHA dominated by more youthful, rebuilding teams, and this is the first team where every player is an Eaves selection, knowing what is expected – make that demanded – by their disciplined, hard-driven coach.

With brilliant goaltending from Brian Elliott, a solid but mobile puck-handling defense led by all-WCHA first teamer Tom Gilbert, and a balanced and creative offense without a high-profile superstar, the Badgers tore into the season impressively. At the start, they were battle tested by overtimes in their first three games, beating St. Lawrence 3-2, then losing to St. Lawrence 2-1, and then tyhing 2-2.
A 1-1-1 start was at best inauspicious, but at that point the Badgers took flight, soaring to a run of 18-1-1 and what looked like a stranglehold on the WCHA title and the No. 1 rank in the nation. The only loss was 4-2 to Michigan Tech, which the Badgers overturned with a 7-0 rout the next night. That opening 19-2-2 run carried through January 14 when they swept 3-2 and 9-1 victories at CC.

In that stretch, the Badgers were spectacular to watch, sweeping from their end with quick-passing attacks, and, when passing lanes were blocked, laying passes ahead where teammates would speed to scoop up the pucks at full flight.

Suddenly, though, Elliott injured his knee in practice. The Badgers were at home against Denver, and possibly the only flaw in Eaves’ coaching was exposed. Freshman goaltender Shane Connelly had not played a game, and was thrust into the nets. Denver won 1-0, and followed it up with a 4-2 victory. Minnesota – a team the Badgers had swept 4-3, 4-0 in Minneapolis – came in next and also swept the Badgers in Madison, 5-4 and 3-1. Connelly was not the problem in those four straight losses, the problem was that the team played differently – as if subconsciously deciding it had to pull back from its free-wheeling attack to a circle-the-wagons defensive caution.

“No question,” said Eaves. “Elliott went out, and our whole team dynamic changed.”

Coinciding with WisconsinÂ’s sudden struggle, Minnesota went on a late-season tear, led by the explosive scoring of Ryan Potulny, and a defensive corps that gained overnight confidence from a long video lesson on the busride to North Dakota. The Gopher defense, which had been inept at best in two home losses to Wisconsin, learned from a video of the 2002 Gopher NCAA championship game and suddenly played with the assurance of Jordan Leopold, Keith Ballard and Paul Martin from that title team. Confidence carried through, and the Gophers won the WCHA regular season title.

The title became less important than getting everything back in order to Eaves. The Badgers regrouped and appeared back in the groove in a 7-2 romp at Duluth, but the pesky UMD Bulldogs came back to win 4-1 the next night, and the uncertainty returned. The regular season ended with Elliott returning to the nets for a troubling 4-4 tie with Michigan Tech, and two shocking losses, 6-4 and 7-3, at Mankato, before sweeping St. Cloud State.

So the team that started 19-2-2 finished 5-7-1 in the regular season. Elliott seemed to get back on track with 4-1, 1-0 sweep against Tech in the WCHA playoff first round, but at the Final Five, Wisconsin ran into a red-hot North Dakota team, and after the Badgers took an early 2-0 lead, the Sioux came back to win 4-3 in the semifinals.

At that point, Wisconsin went into the third-place game with that question still hanging overhead. But the foe, in Saint Paul, was Minnesota, a team that always makes the Badgers see red, so to speak. Against the No. 1 natiionally ranked Gophers, Elliott was perfect, and the Badgers cruised to a remarkably easy 4-0 victory.

The Wisconsin offense free-wheeled, and the likes of Joe Pavelski, Robbie Earl, Ross Carlson and Adam Burish sparked a solid performance by all four lines, while the defense broke out smoothly and Elliott notched his third shutout in the last six games. Wisconsin gave up only six goals in those last six games – four of them to North Dakota in the WCHA semifinals. The question now remains whether that intensity that returned in full measure against Minnesota can be counted on the rest of the way.

“The intensity of the rivalry depends on how good the teams are,” said Eaves. “That intensity is going to be there all the time against Minnesota because of the rivalry, but it goes to a high level this year, because both teams are good.

“It helped, jumping out to a 2-nil lead,” said Eaves. Yes, he REALLY said “2-nil.” Eaves also was careful not to put too much emphasis on the game, even though the nation’s No. 1 seed was hanging in the balance.

“They’re an up-tempo team, and we were able to control the tempo,” added Eaves. “Our No. 1 goal all year has been to get to Milwaukee to play in the NCAA Frozen Four. “The No. 1 team is whoever wins the NCAA championship.”

Colorado College, still armed with the 1-2 scoring tandem of Brett Sterling and Marty Sertich, which carried the Tigers to the Frozen Four last year, got voted back into the NCAA field by the vagaries of the NCAAÂ’s computer system. That system has been refined to follow the coachesÂ’ insistence on removing all subjectivity, but it is not without flaws. For example, if a team focuses on league play and finishes second, should there be a computer system that can declare four of its league rivals ahead of it?

Denver finished in a second-place tie with Wisconsin in the WCHA season, after a ferocious three-way battle with the two of them and Minnesota for the league title. Denver was upset at home by Minnesota-Duluth in the WCHA first round playoffs – just as CC was beaten in Colorado Springs by St. Cloud State.

Still, within the WCHA, DenverÂ’s power was unquestioned. The Pioneers had their problems with Minnesota, going 0-3-1, but they were 2-0 with Wisconsin, split 2-2 with North Dakota, and went 3-0-1 against Colorado College, for a 7-5-1 mark against the four WCHA teams that were voted into the NCAA. But Denver had gone 4-7 in nonconference games, including losses to Ferris State and Princeton.

That led the NCAA computations to over-rule the WCHA standings. Despite finishing second in the WCHA, the two-time defending national champion Pioneers ranked fifth among league teams via the computer, so Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Colorado College advanced, while Denver was bumped out of the 16 selected teams.

Ironically, Denver benefited by the same system that bit it this year when the Pioneers lost in the first round of league playoffs two years ago, got voted into the NCAA field, and won the championship. Colorado College could follow that same formula to victory this year. But that will require a truly sterling performance in a Midwest Regional where a confident Wisconsin Badgers outfit is the clearcut favorite.

Badgers, Gophers, Saints give NCAA test to No. 1 UNH

On paper, No. 1 ranked New Hampshire is favored to beat two-time defending champion Minnesota in FridayÂ’s 7 p.m. WomenÂ’s NCAA semifinal, and Wisconsin rates only a slim edge against St. Lawrence in the 4 p.m. first semifinal. That would set up a 3 p.m. Sunday final where New Hampshire would rate a slight favorite over Wisconsin, if you believe some sources.

One of those is U.S. Olympic womenÂ’s coach Ben Smith.
Wisconsin had just won the WomenÂ’s WCHA league playoff title at Ridder Arena, beating Minnesota 4-1, and Smith was spotted leaving the facility. He sort of shrugged when it was suggested that WisconsinÂ’s performance was very impressive.

“Wait till you see New Hampshire,” said Smith.

“Are they the best you’ve seen?” Smith was asked.

“They’re the best team I’ve seen in women’s hockey in many years,” said Smith.

Interesting. Smith is an Easterner who has been accused of favoring Eastern teams and Eastern players when selecting his U.S. Olympic teams, and itÂ’s easy to see why Smith is so impressed, because coach Brian McCloskeyÂ’s Wildcats had won 16 straight games and ran their unbeaten streak to 27-0-1. When they breezed to the Hockey East playoff title, it was their first since they were in the ECAC in 1966, then they knocked off Harvard in the NCAA quarterfinals.

Still, despite their current 17-game win streak and 28-0-1 overall run, the Wildcats didnÂ’t displace Wisconsin as the nationÂ’s No. 1 team until February 6, and the thought lingered that maybe SmithÂ’s comment was a swipe at the West, and the NCAA tournament dominance by the splendid former teams from the University of Minnesota-Duluth, and the University of Minnesota. Those two are the only teams to ever win an NCAA title.

The first UMD teams featured brilliant elite players such as Jenny Potter (formerly Schmidgall), Maria Rooth, Erica Holst, Tuula Puputti, Hanne Sikio, Patricia Sautter, and Caroline Ouellette, and they won the first three NCAA tournaments ever held, in 2001, 2002, and 2003. Then, like a tag-team, UMD touched off – figuratively of course – to its intense rival Minnesota, and the Gophers won the last two NCAA tournaments, led by the likes of Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz, Kelly Stephens and Lindsay Wall.

There has been speculation that no team will ever again see the dominance of players from those UMD and Minnesota teams, and it seems certain that Smith must be impressed by them, too. For example, Potter, Wendell, Darwitz, Stephens and Wall all played for SmithÂ’s U.S. team at the just-completed Winter Olympics, and Ouellette was a standout for Team CanadaÂ’s gold medal team, while Rooth and Holst were the top players for silver medalist Sweden. Rooth singlehandedly ruined Team USAÂ’s chance to face Canada for gold by scoring twice, including a shorthanded goal to tie the U.S. 2-2, then also scored the clinching goal in the shootout that led Sweden to a 3-2 victory and left the U.S. seeking bronze.

With that background, WCHA observers can remain unconvinced, awaiting the emergence of New Hampshire. If the Wildcats, and their splendid 33-2-1 record, are to win the championship, they will have their work cut out for them.

The University of Wisconsin has broken through the dynamic duo of Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth to win the WomenÂ’s WCHA championship, and the WomenÂ’s WCHA playoff title, and the Badgers are attempting to be the first NCAA hockey champion with a name from outside the state of Minnesota.

The Gophers will not give up the stateÂ’s domination easily, however, having made the Frozen Four with a 28-10-1 record. The Gophers, ranked fourth in the nation, will face New Hampshire following completion of the first semifinal between Wisconsin (34-4-1) and St. Lawrence (31-4-2). The games are at Mariucci Arena, with its wider Olympic ice sheet.

St. Lawrence took out Minnesota-Duluth in the NCAA quarterfinals, with a 1-0 victory last Saturday – the second year in succession the Bulldogs couldn’t get past St. Lawrence to reach the Frozen Four. Wisconsin had its hands full with a 2-1 double-overtime victory over Mercyhurst, while New Hampshire dispatched Harvard, and Minnesota cruised past Princeton.

New Hampshire is led by junior forward Nicole Hekle, a junior forward who was a Patty Kazmaier final 10 candidate, although she failed to make the final three. She has a strong supporting cast. When the Wildcats overran Boston College 6-0 in the Hockey East playoff final, junior goaltender Melissa Bourdon recorded her fourth – and UNH’s sixth – consecutive shutout. Bourdon has a live shutout streak of 282 minutes, 10 seconds, and the team streak has now stretched to 402:19.

Hockey East rookie of the year Sam Faber was only one of a UNH sweep of the all-tournament team in Hockey East, along with UNH teammates Bourdon, Jennifer Hitchcock, Sadie Wright-Ward, Kacey Bellamy, and Martine Garland. Hitchcock set a tournament record with seven points (4-3—7).

The Gophers are without the abundance of firepower they donated to the Olympic team, but they have rebuilt gamely, and are led by sophomore Erica McKenzie (27-25—52), WCHA freshman of the year Gigi Marvin (16-30—46), and sophomore Bobbi Ross (17-22—39), and the freshman goaltending tandem of Kim Hanlon and Brittony Chartier. Hanlon is trying to return from a twisted ankle suffered in the WCHA playoff final.

In the first NCAA semifinal, an interesting sidelight will focus on Wisconsin’s Sara Bauer, the WCHA player of the year, a junior forward with 22-35—57, and St. Lawrence sophomore Sabrina Harbec, who has 24-36—60, and was the ECAC player of the year. Also intriguing is that Wisconsin defenseman Bobbi-Jo Slusar, a junior, and the WCHA defenseman of the year, and St. Lawrence senior goaltender Jessica Moffat also were top 10 picks as Kazmaier candidates.

The two WCHA entries have both seen the two Eastern teams in the field, but in cross-reference. Minnesota lost 3-1 to St. Lawrence back on October 8, and Wisconsin lost a 2-1 game at New Hampshire.

The Gophers have improved considerably and ended the regular season with a seven-game winning streak, their season’s best, winning four straight against WCHA foes, and adding three more in the playoffs before being thumped 4-1 by Wisconsin in the league final. Wisconsin, however, has credentials that more closely rival UNH’s. The Badgers opened with a loss to UMD, then rattled off 12 straight victories, before losing at New Hampshire. After that, the Badgers embarked on another 12-0-1 streak – meaning the loss at UNH was Wisconsin’s only setback in a 26-game stretch.

Statistically, Wisconsin had the most goals (151) and the fewest goals-against (51) among WCHA teams, with UMD second and Minnesota third in both categories. In scoring by periods, Wisconsin had a large edge on all league foes, scoring a balanced 49 in the first, 48 in the second, and 50 in the third, and adding four in overtime. The Badgers were 4-0-1 in overtime games, while Minnesota was 2-2-1.

The Badgers also had seven of the WCHAs’s top 20 goal-scorers and seven of the top 20 assist-getters, as Bauer’s 22-35—57 led Slusar’s 12-27—39, Sharon Cole’s 15-24—39, Jinelle Zaugg’s 22-13—35, Angie Kesely’s 13-20—33, Erika Lawler’s 13-19—32, and defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson’s 4-27—31, while Nikki Burish (10-17—27) and Cyndy Kenyon (13-12—25) followed closely.

MinnesotaÂ’s McKenzie, Marvin and Ross were the only Gophers among the top 20, but Hanlon led league goaltenders with a 1.12 goals-against and a .943 save percentage, although WisconsinÂ’s Meghan Horras played twice as many games and was second at 1.54 and .928.

UMD goalie Riitta Schaublin, incidentally, was a close third at 1.59 and .941, and joins Bauer and Harbec as the three Kazmaier finalists for the player of the year award, which will be given out Saturday.

If Olympic coach Smith is right, the Minnesota/UMD domination of the NCAA championship will be accomplished by New Hampshire. But Wisconsin has spent the whole season breaking down Gopher/Bulldog dominance, and the Badgers could be primed to make history themselves. After winning their first Final Five, coach Mark Johnson wouldnÂ’t say his Badgers have peaked.

“I prefer it this way, to not be No. 1 right now,” said Johnson. “Other teams can have a lot of incentive to beat No. 1. Our only intention was to become better every month. Now you win and move on, and if you win the game, you’ve peaked.”

Gophers have questions, Sioux answers in NCAA meet

Minnesota and North Dakota, both Frozen Four entries a year ago, will not both make it this time, because they are in the same West Regional of the NCAA menÂ’s hockey tournament in Grand Forks, with semifinals Friday and the final, which will determine one of the Frozen Four entrants, on Saturday.

Minnesota is the No. 1 seed in the regional, while North Dakota rode in as No. 2 after an impressive showing to win the WCHA Final Five with victories over Wisconsin and then upstart St. Cloud State. The teams could, indeed, collide in SaturdayÂ’s final, if Minnesota can beat Holy Cross at 5:30 p.m. Friday, and North Dakota subdues Michigan in FridayÂ’s 8 p.m. semifinal.

North Dakota, with an amazingly young team finding its maturity at the right time, is playing with confidence and skill, and will have the enormous support of the avid Fighting Sioux fans in Ralph Engelstad Arena. It will be interesting to see if some of those fans show up at the Minnesota-Holy Cross game to cheer on Holy Cross, with yelling against an archrival being more a more compelling target than WCHA unity.

Minnesota, of course, canÂ’t be concerned with such trivia. The Golden Gophers swept two 4-3 games from North Dakota in early December to start on a 20-1-1 streak that carried them through the first round of league playoffs and right up to the Final Five. But the Final Five left the Gophers answering a lot of questions.

A week ago, the prospect facing MinnesotaÂ’s certain move into the NCAA was intriguing. As the clearcut No. 1 ranked team in the nation in all the polls, as well as in the NCAA selection committeeÂ’s pairwise power structure, would the Gophers prefer to go to Grand Forks, N.D., where they might have to face North Dakota, or to Green Bay, Wis., where they might have to face Wisconsin?

Now the NCAA regionals are upon us, and while the question of Minnesota’s whereabouts for the four regionals was easily configured – Grand Forks – there are several more perplexing questions gnawing at the Golden Gophers.

• Did the two losses in the WCHA Final Five, an 8-7 thriller to St. Cloud State in the semifinals and a 4-0 snoozer to Wisconsin, indicate the Gophers took the weekend off, because they knew they were set in the NCAA, or did they get off their game in the process?

• Did the fact that the losses, coupled with Wisconsin beating them, knocked Minnesota off the No. 1 spot, but did allowing Wisconsin to take No. 1 have more than just a psychological impact?

• The Gopher defense, which had been the key to that 20-1-1 cruise through the stretch drive and right up to the Final Five, reverted to the haphazard giveaway style that confounded the team during its 7-5-4 first half struggle; are such problems easily corrected in practice?

• Will Minnesota be able to avoid looking ahead while facing unheralded Holy Cross in Friday’s Region game, making them vulnerable as they consider the prospect of facing the North Dakota-Michigan winner on Saturday?

• Can goaltender Kellen Briggs regain the form of three shutouts in the five games leading up to the Final Five, or did giving up 12 goals in the two Final Five games dent his psyche, as well as his invincibility?

• Can the Gophers, who have ridden an even-keel approach through most of the season, find the emotional spike, or spikes, that might be necessary to carry a team to victory in the pressure of NCAA playoffs?
Stay tuned. The answers are expected soon.

“I think that our schedule left us with some games that were too easy at the end of the year,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia after the Final Five setbacks. “We played a couple of tougher teams here.
“As for which Regional, it doesn’t matter where you play. If you’re better, you win.”

Minnesota needed no concern after a highly entertaining 8-7 loss to St. Cloud State, which had to win the tournament to advance, and scoring star Ryan Potulny led them back from a 6-3 deficit in that game with an amazing four-goal performance. But the 4-0 loss to Wisconsin is the kind of loss that can shake up a teamÂ’s confidence, while obviously bolstering the Badgers, and it was only the second time all season Minnesota had lost two in a row.

“The last time we got swept in a weekend, good things happened,” said Gopher captain Gino Guyer, noting that Minnesota’s long streak began after two embarrassing losses to Wisconsin. “From here on out, though, you’ve got to win or else.”

As Minnesota prepares to take on Holy Cross, North Dakota is a team that seems to just be rising to its peak, and the Sioux have only one challenge. Michigan.

That is a formidable task of facing the perennial CCHA power is tempered only slightly by the fact that the Wolverines were not a factor in the CCHA race, and come to Grand Forks as a No. 3 seed.

North Dakota has played solidly all season, but with six of their 12 forwards and four of their six defensemen all being freshmen, the Fighting Sioux were pretty well unable to string together any concerted bids for the title, but continued to improve while working under the radar. A pair of 2-1 losses to St. Cloud State at Grand Forks seemed to doom theSioux, but they bounced back to split at Colorado College, sweep Minnesota Duluth, split at Denver, and sweep Michigan Tech to end the regular WCHA with a 6-2 run.

Losing 3-2 at home to Minnesota State-Mankato caused the Sioux to snap to attention. They won 4-1 and 3-0 to reach the Final Five, then beat favored Wisconsin 4-3, and moved ahead 5-1 against St. Cloud State before winning 5-3 for the Broadmoor Trophy.

“A key to our success is the ability of our guys to keep bouncing back, and close out games,” said coach Dave Hakstol. “We looked at it, and said let’s see where we’re at, and what we have to do to get better. We hoped we’d have the ability to compete with the best teams in the country, and we hoped to be playing our best hockey of the year at the end. We’re doing that.”

The Sioux won the Final Five without leading scorer Drew Stafford, whose impact may upgrade the North Dakota offense for the regional. Otherwise, veterans like juniors Chris Porter and sophomores Rastislav Spirko and Travis Zajac have been supercharged by the infusion of freshmen T.J. Oshie, Jonathan Toews, Ryan Duncan and others up front, while Zach Jones, Taylor Chorney, Brian Lee and Joe Finley are all freshmen back on defense.

“At the beginning, we had a bunch of new guys,” said Jordan Parise, the junior goaltender who was the most valuable player at the Final Five. “Communication has gotten a lot better and the guys are more comfortable with each other, and in the last month, we’ve taken a turn for the better.”

To win the Final Five, Parise said: “We weren’t thinking of the past, and we’re not thinking too far ahead, either.”

While Toews is certain to be a first-round NHL draft pick, fellow-freshman Oshie has been igniting the first line for the Sioux all season. If the Gophers and Fighting Sioux do end up in the region final, keep an eye on No. 7 in green along with No. 26 in the Gopher uniform, because the sideshow of Oshie against Minnesota’s Phil Kessel will be an added treat. Kessel has enjoyed the prominence of the multi-media print and television of the Twin Cities, but Oshie has made his presence felt as well. Kessel has 17-33—50 for the season – a tremendous output for a freshman and a number which made him the runaway winner of the WCHA freshman of the year award.

But Oshie has 23-19—42 for the lighter-scoring Sioux, and he has 13 goals at equal strength compared to 7 for Kessel. Also, while Oshie likes to run into people physically, he doesn’t shoot enough. Kessel has taken 170 shots, and scored on 10 percent of them, while Oshie has taken only 85 shots for the season, and scored on an amazing 26 percent of them.

“Oshie is a very exciting player to watch,” said Hakstol. “He is a tremendous competitor with some special skills and ability. If he’s not scoring goals, he’s effective as a physical guy for us. He’s a pretty complete player.”

The selection committee, in fact, appears to have taken a stand against what happened last season, when the Frozen Four all came from the WCHA, because champion Denver, runner-up North Dakota, Colorado College and Minnesota each won a different regional. This year, there are four WCHA teams among the 16 selected teams, but all four are gathered in two regionals.

While Minnesota and North Dakota are 1-2 in the West Regional, Wisconsin and Colorado College are both in the Midwest Regional at Green Bay, with Wisconsin facing No. 4 Bemidji State and CC taking on Cornell in SaturdayÂ’s semifinals, and their winners meeting in a Sunday final.

Interestingly, it is the CCHA that gets three potential avenues to the Frozen Four, as the Midwest Regional is the only one without a CCHA team. Both Miami of Ohio and Nebraska-Omaha are at Worcester, Mass., for the Northeast Regional, where Miami meets Boston College and UNO faces top-seeded Boston University in Friday semifinals. Michigan State wound up the No. 1 seed in the East Regional at Albany, N.Y., where it will take on New Hampshire, while Maine plays Harvard in the other Saturday semifinal.

It is a tall order to expect Michigan State to win the East, Miami or Nebraska-Omaha to win the Northeast, and Michigan to win the West, but it is interesting that the selection committee chose to move Cornell, from Ithaca, N.Y., away from Albany, and leave the East Region essentially without a close-proximity host.

Fighting Sioux top St. Cloud 5-3 for Final Five title

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Freshmen Ryan Duncan scored two goals and T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews scored one apiece and set up three others, as the North Dakota “kiddie corps” claimed a 5-3 victory over St. Cloud State Saturday night. The victory won the WCHA Final Five championship before 19,282 fans at Xcel Energy Center – the perfect tonic for the Fighting Sioux, who seem to be reaching their peak just in time to play host to one of four NCAA regional tournaments next weekend.

No team that started the Final Five by playing the “play-in” game has ever won the tournament, but the Huskies gave it a run. They knew they had to win the tournament to gain an automatic berth in the 16-team NCAA field, but instead of showing signs of fatigue, St. Cloud struck for the game’s first goal. North Dakota countered just 10 seconds later, scoring twice in 15 seconds, in fact, and sped away to a seemingly secure 5-1 lead. But the Sioux never could put the scrappy Huskies away, and their rally to the finish – and a 40-29 edge in shots for the game – made it an entertaining final.

North Dakota (26-15-1) moves on, while St. Cloud State (22-15-4) goes home, but not without satisfaction from a strong finish.

Konrad ReederÂ’s opening goal for St. Cloud came at 3:50 of the first period, but Rastislav Spirko countered by knocking in OshieÂ’s try at the crease at 4:00, and Toews shot from the slot and knocked in his own rebound at 4:15. That flurry got the attention of the big crowd, but Parise stifled St. CloudÂ’s ability to keep pace with the Sioux scorers.

Oshie finished the first period with a power-play slap shot for his 23rd goal of the season, and Duncan scored two picture goals in the second period to boost the lead to 5-1. At 4:58 of the middle period, Duncan rushed up the left side, faked a slapshot to get goalie Bobby Goepfert to commit, then strode in deeper to shoot into an empty net behind him. At 14:41, Toews rushed in hard and fed a great pass to Duncan for another power-play tally.

The Huskies stormed back, closing the game to 5-3 on goals by Brock Hooten and a third-period marker by Billy Hengen, and were battling for more to the final buzzer.

“I want to congratulate St. Cloud State on a tremendous performance,” said North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol. “Everybody knows what they’ve gone through the past nine days.”

At a time when other coaches might be rationalizing away setbacks by staying focused on the “big picture,” North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol said he and his staff have instead gone after short-term objectives, and this weekend’s strong tournament play was one of them. We’ve taken things on a short-term basis, and we had an opportunity to win a championship, and we did that. The Broadmoor Trophy is going home with us.”

While the Fighting Sioux came in as No. 3 seed, St. Cloud was No. 4, which meant the Huskies, who upset Colorado College in three games last weekend, had to defeat Minnesota-Duluth on Thursday, then get past No. 1 ranked Minnesota in FridayÂ’s semifinals, which they did, 8-7 in overtime. That put them up against the Fighting Sioux, who defeated second-seeded Wisconsin 4-3 on Friday.

St. CloudÂ’s first-year coach Bob Motzko was emotional, but handled it well. “IÂ’ve got to congratulate North Dakota and its coaching staff,” said Motzko. “Five goals by freshmen – what a job that coaching staff did to prepare a young team like that.”

Actually, it appeared freshmen had scored all the goals, but Oshie’s crease-crashing attempt on what appeared to be the first Sioux goal was later changed to Rastislav Spirko. Oshie, runner-up for freshman of the year to MinnesotaÂ’s Phil Kessel, was the best freshman at the tournament, and was a factor with his forceful play every shift he played. While Oshie had a goal and an assist, Toews had a goal and two assists, Duncan two goals and one assist, and freshman defenseman Brian Lee two assists.

“This one hurts, because we came to play,” said Motzko. “We made three mistakes and they cost us the game, but we had a very strong game. North Dakota played well, and their freshmen carried them. Pretty impressive, and with Zach Jones and that young defense, killing penalties – itÂ’s scary how well they played.”

The Fighting Sioux had six freshman forwards and four of their six defensemen were freshmen. And Drew Stafford, one of their few veterans, and the Sioux leading scorer, is out with an injury suffered last weekend in the first game of a tough, best-of-three victory over Minnesota State-Mankato. The Sioux also had to engage a St. Cloud State team that had beaten them three out of four times during the season, including a sweep at Grand Forks.

“When St. Cloud swept us in our building, it was the low point in our season,” said Duncan. “After that, we decided to collectively come together as a group, and we’ve been going the same direction every since.”

The losses to the Huskies were both 2-1, with the second in overtime. Since then, the Sioux have gone10-3, and four straight victories, including the two in the Final Five.

Jordan Parise, North Dakota’s goaltender, came in comparatively unheralded against the likes of St. Cloud’s Goepfert and Wisconsin’s Brian Elliott – the two goaltenders he and his teammates beat in the tournament. Parise was named most valuable player of the event, and was joined on the all-tournament team byu defensemen Kyle Klubertanz of Wisconsin and Matt Smaby of North Dakota, and forwards Oshie, St. Cloud State’s Brock Hooten and Minnesota’s Ryan Potulny.

Parise had no chance on the opening goal, a power-play rush with Reeder one-timing a neat backhand pass to the slot by Aaron Brocklehurst. He also was beaten at 16:20 of the second period by Hooten, whose speedy burst up the left boards got him past the defense, and he cut across the goal-mouth before scoring inside the right pipe. That goal gave the Huskies life for the third period, and HengenÂ’s goal came in a scramble when his shot hit Parise, popped up high, and as Joe Jensen crashed into Parise in the crease, the puck landed behind him and trickled across the line at 5:07, inspiring the Huskies to keep pressing.

“We weren’t thinking of the past, and we’re not thinking too far ahead, either,” said Parise. “There have been games I haven’t been at my best, but it hasn’t caused my confidence to deteriorate a bit. I have a job, and my teammates rely on me; they have a job, and I rely on them to do it.”

A few goals didnÂ’t hurt, either.

Motzko, reflecting on how far the Huskies came this season, said: “We became a good hockey team, and we belong here. Maybe we had to experience this – to stand out there on the ice, and watch North Dakota get that trophy.”

Elliott, Badgers stop Gophers for 3rd, and much more

SAINT PAUL, MN. — Had Minnesota and Wisconsin played for the WCHA Final Five playoff championship Saturday night, it is impossible to predict what might have happened. Instead, they played in the afternoon third place game, which meant the duel of the two teams that have dominated the nationÂ’s No. 1 ranking all season were left with whatever intensity they could muster after disappointing semifinal losses.

It was no contest. Wisconsin whipped Minnesota 4-0 before a third-place-game record crowd of 16,164 fans at the Xcel Energy Center. The Badgers (26-10-3) thoroughly outplayed the Gophers (27-8-5) from start to finish, getting shutout goaltending from Brian Elliott, while Andrew Joudrey scored in the first period, Jack Skille scored midway through the second, and Ross Carlson and Robbie Earl chipped in with third-period goals.

The victory pushes Wisconsin from No. 2 to No. 1, displacing Minnesota, in the Pairwise computer rankings that the NCAA selection committee uses to select the field that will be announced today for the national tournament, which starts next weekend. Both teams undoubtedly will be top seeds for NCAA regionals, which will be held at four sites, including Grand Forks, N.D, and Green Bay, Wis.

Wisconsin undoubtedly will now be the No. 1 seed at Green Bay, while Minnesota very likely will be No. 1 seed at Grand Forks – where North Dakota, a resurgent team that played St. Cloud State Saturday night for the WCHA playoff title, will be the host, and a crowd-favorite.

Neither team came to the tournament to play in the third-place game, and both had reasons to lack intensity Saturday: Minnesota lost an emotional 8-7 overtime semifinal to St. Cloud State Friday night after rallying from a 6-3 deficit to tie it in the closing seconds; Wisconsin had earlier lost a tough 4-3 game to North Dakota, after blowing a 2-0 lead.

“Our team responded well, redemption being a great motivator, and nobody on our team was looking at this as just a third-place game,” said Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves. “We were playing for possible No. 1 in the Pairwise, and this was also the rubber match between the two teams. With the rivalry, intensity is going to be there all the time, but the intensity goes up a level this year, because both teams are good.”

Indeed, Wisconsin was virtually unbeatable from the start of the season, going 19-2-2 overall until mid-January, and then losing four straight games and five of six when Elliott was injured, and struggling to a 7-7-1 finish. The drop-off cost the Badgers the No. 1 rank in the nation as well as a huge lead in the WCHA. Minnesota, meanwhile, started off with an under-achieving 7-5-4 through a painful sweep at home against Wisconsin on December 2-3, but since then had ridden an amazing 20-1-1 streak into the Final Five – including a revenge sweep at Wisconsin – while winning the WCHA regular season title and the No. 1 national rating.

After both teams lost in FridayÂ’s semifinals, SaturdayÂ’s game turned WisconsinÂ’s fortunes upward, while the Gophers must shake off their first two-game lost weekend since December. The Gopher players seemed frustrated and a little angry that they had failed to play with any competitive fire against Wisconsin, but their coach rationalized a bit.

“The reality of the game today was what happened last night,” said Lucia. “We worked so hard to get back into the game, then lost in overtime. Had we won, I’m sure we would have been more excited about playing today. Maybe if we had gotten a goal it could have been different, I can’t say I anticipated us lacking intensity, but there were a lot of blank stares today. Both teams are moving on, so you come here to play for a trophy, and we lost that right last night.”

The coaches’ different feelings may best be filtered through a bit of historic perspective. Both Eaves and Lucia stress even-keep approaches to coaching, keeping the big picture in mind throughout the long season. But at playoff time – even league playoff time – spikes in emotional fire can beat even-keel every time. “No question,” said Eaves, who smiled at the recollection of those electrifying Gopher-Badger games of 30 years ago. “You can never forget them.”

Eaves lived through the fullest intensity of the Gopher-Badger rivalry as a star at Wisconsin back in the 1970s, when “Badger Bob” Johnson coached against Minnesota’s Herb Brooks, and the two schools were the premier hockey programs in the country. Hatred is too strong a word for their rivalry perhaps, but then again, maybe not. On the other hand, Minnesota coach Don Lucia played for some very good teams at Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish never had a rivalry that approached the Minnesota-Wisconsin electricity.

The Gopher players refused to accept any crutch from the night before. “As players, you’re supposed to be able to bring it,” said captain Gino Guyer. “It wasn’t there, for whatever reason. We weren’t into it. After the first period, you could tell we were pretty dead. Every time we can win a trophy, we want to win it, and from here on out, we’ve got to win or else.”

Teammate Danny Irmen agreed. “Give Wisconsin credit,” he said. They played well, and they’re a good defensive team. Last night, the energy was there, but today, everybody was looking around for someone else to do it, and you can’t have that.”

Just 3:30 into the game, Jake Dowell chipped the puck off the boards in the Wisconsin zone, and Andrew Joudrey broke up the middle, caught the pass, split the flat-footed Gopher defense, and was gone. Speeding in on a breakaway, Joudrey deked and slid a backhand through goalie Kellen Briggs. It was the 11th time the Badgers had scored in the first four minutes of a game this season.

Wisconsin outshot Minnesota 11-7 in the first period, even though the Gophers had three power plays to one for the Badgers. The 1-0 score stood until midway through the second period, when Jack Skille broke up the right side with both teams a man short, leaned hard against a defenseman as he veered toward the net, and jammed his shot past Briggs at 10:07 for a 2-0 count.

The Badgers clicked on a power play at 3:02 of the third period, silencing the predominately Gopher crowd, which hadnÂ’t had much to cheer about anyway. Defenseman Kyle Klubertanz had the puck at the blue line, and he angled to his right to pick up a screen, then shot for the left edge. Briggs kicked out and blocked the shot with his right skate, but the rebound went right to Ross Carlson, who quickly shot it in.

The Gopher defense, which had a shaky tendency to throw the puck carelessly – something it had overcome during the team’s recent hot streak – saw that issue return in some cases. The costliest might have been when Robbie Earl stepped in to pick off sophomore Alex Goligoski’s D-to-D pass and broke in alone. His shot was blocked by Briggs, but the puck trickled in behind him, and Earl tapped in his own rebound as he sped past the net.

A night before, Gopher fans chanted “HO-BEY BA-KER…” over and over for center Ryan Potulny, who scored four goals and an assist as the nation’s top goal and point scorer. On Saturday, the chant came from the red-clad Badger fans, who chanted “HO-BEY BA-KER…” for Elliott, who seemed to be back in top form, with his third shutout in his last six games.

“I don’t even know what ‘back’ is,” said Elliott. “We kind of took it to them in their end, and when our forwards are going, that’s our best defense. Our defensive corps pushed them to the outside and didn’t allow many good chances.”

Lucia said: “Elliott is a good goaltender, but he didn’t have too tough of a game today.”

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• 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.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.