Potter, Ouellette keep UMD’s NCAA hopes alive

Four incredible seasons, including championship runs in the only three NCAA womenÂ’s hockey tournaments ever conducted, have brought the University of Minnesota-Duluth to an enormous pressure point this weekend at the WCHA Final Five tournament. Winning the tournament is foremost on the minds of all five contenders, but for the Bulldogs, itÂ’s win the tournament or forget about defending their three NCAA titles.

However far the Bulldogs go, it also will end the amazing collegiate career of Jenny Potter, formerly Jenny Schmidgall, as well as for her UMD senior teammates, Tricia Guest and defenseman Satu Kiipeli. Guest and Kiipeli have been a part of all three NCAA championship teams, while Potter missed a couple of years – one to play for the U.S. Olympic team in the 2002 Winter Olympics and another while having a baby.

The post-season run by Potter also will signal the end to an unusual alliance between Potter and Caroline Ouellette, who have been linemates and fellow finalists for the Patti Kazmaier award. Ouellette, a star on the Canadian Olympic team that beat Potter and Team USA 3-2 for the gold medal at Salt Lake City, have become such sensational coconspirators of UMDÂ’s attack that it would seem natural for one of them to defect so they could continue to play together.

After the two went nose-to-nose at Salt Lake City, Potter returned to UMD last year as a junior and found Ouellette there as a new recruit. The two not only were teammates, but coach Shannon Miller found they were extremely compatible as linemates. With the heavy hit of graduation depleting UMDÂ’s roster from the strength of its third straight NCAA crown, the offense fell squarely in the hands of Potter and Ouellette.

They couldnÂ’t have done much more. They went into the final regular-season series 1-2 for the national scoring lead. They faced Minnesota State-Mankato goaltender Sheri Vogt, another Kazmaier Award finalist, who hadnÂ’t given up more than four goals in any game this season. Vogt also had beaten and tied Minnesota, and anchored a pair of season-opening one-goal victories over UMD.

In the first game, UMD blitzed Vogt and the Mavericks 9-0, with Potter scoring three goals, and Ouellette notching two goals and four assists. That tied the two for the national scoring lead at 72 points. Vogt was positively brilliant in the rematch, when UMD outshot the Mavs 56-14 but had to battle throughout to win 3-0. Ouellette scored two first-period goals, and Tricia Guest scored the third-period clincher.

That leaves Ouellette with 29-45—74 as the national scoring leader, and Potter with 35-37—72 as a close second, going into the WCHA tournament. In WCHA games, Potter won the scoring title with 28-29—57, while Ouellette was second at 21-34—55.

Despite their close scoring proximity, there is no competition between Potter and Ouellette. In fact, after scoring two first-period goals Saturday night to pull ahead of Potter for the national scoring lead, Ouellette had a breakaway chance for a hat trick in the third period, but instead of shooting, she tried to force a pass to Potter and the play misfired.

“Caroline wants Jenny to win the scoring title and the Kazmaier Award so bad that she’ll do anything to help her,” said coach Miller. “And that includes trying to pass when she should be shooting in the third period. It’s been a great year for both of them. Jenny has really emerged as a team leader for us this season.”

It’s been a strange year for UMD. First, Miller lost two prime recruits. Evalina Samuelsson, a standout for the Swedish national team and teammate of former UMD stars Maria Rooth and Erika Holst, was set to come in last fall, but she suffered a serious back injury – “it was while playing lacrosse, or soccer, or some off-season sport,” said Miller. Then Laura Stosky, a star defenseman for Canada’s under-22 team, decided to stay home with her father when her mother died last summer. Jen Lipman, another promising player from Phoenix, also was a no-show.

“On top of that, Amelia Hradsky quit school, and then, just when it looked like we were getting going, Bethany Petersen dropped out of school at Christmas,” said Miller. “So we went through the whole season four scholarships short. Then we lost Larissa Luther for two months at the start of the season and for two weeks later, and Jessica Koizumi was out for three weeks with two different injuries. And Tricia Guest was out over a month with mono.”

Despite the short bench, the Bulldogs snapped MinnesotaÂ’s attempt at an unbeaten season, tied and lost to Harvard, stunned Dartmouth 6-2 before losing the rematch at Dartmouth, lost 3-2 to St. Lawrence despite a huge shot advantage, then whipped St. Lawrence 5-0 in a decisive rematch. Minnesota, Harvard, Dartmouth and St. Lawrence just happen to stand 1-4 in the current Pairwise computer ratings, the guide for the NCAA selection committee to use in picking tournament entrants.

Wisconsin is fifth, and UMD split an early series with the Badgers, then lost two close games at Madison to stand 1-2-1 for the season against Wisconsin. Those results are pivotal to No. 6 UMD going into the WCHA Final Five, because the Bulldogs face Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Saturday in the first WCHA semifinal. A loss to the Badgers would undoubtedly leave UMD without much chance of reaching the four-team NCAA field. A victory by UMD would probably propel the Bulldogs past the Badgers in the rankings, making the teams 2-2-1 against each other, and with UMDÂ’s schedule decidedly tougher. Wisconsin, for example, hasnÂ’t played Harvard, Dartmouth or St. Lawrence, while those three teams all must compete against each other in the ECAC playoffs, where two of the three must lose somewhere along the way.

The Bulldogs, of course, also are aiming at beating league champion Minnesota for the league playoff title, because that, too, would positively influence the ranking and just might elevate the Bulldogs to the Final Four. Surely the NCAA would be better served by having two East and two West teams in the Frozen Four, and it would seem beneficial to also have the winner of all three NCAA titles in the field, rather than eliminated by arbitrary committee decision.

Whatever, the scoring of Potter and Ouellette will be pivotal for the Bulldogs. Miller entrusts so much of the teamÂ’s offense to the pair that she let Potter design the first power-play strategy, with an assist from Ouellette, naturally.

One of Miller’s strengths as an exceptional coach – beyond her obvious tactical ideas – is that she is receptive to ideas from wherever they may come. She even listens to observers from the stands, including Rob Potter, Jenny’s husband, and Duane Schmidgall, Jenny’s dad. In fact, after the 3-0 victory over Mankato, and the 56-shot barrage at Sheri Vogt, Duane Schmidgall approached Miller and suggested a few ideas on how the power play might be improved. Miller showed amazing restraint by taking it all in – without telling Jenny’s dad that the power play he was questioning had been designed by Jenny.

Thin as the roster is, the Bulldogs have gotten Guest, Koizumi and Luther back in the lineup from their assorted broken bones, injuries and illnesses.

“We’re happy and as healthy as possible,” said Miller. “All we can do is beat Wisconsin and try to win our playoffs, and then if St. Lawrence drops a game in their playoff, maybe we can make it back to the NCAA.”

It would seem abnormal if they didnÂ’t.

WCHA playoff tradition faces reality of upsets

This is the week that tradition runs into reality. Tradition says the top five teams in the WCHA should end the seasons of the bottom five, but reality says an upset is more than merely possible in the first round of league playoffs.

North Dakota won the MacNaughton Cup for the fifth time in the eight years coach Dean Blais has been at the helm, and heÂ’s taught his assistants well. Scott Sandelin, a former North Dakota assistant, brought Minnesota-Duluth home second. Brandon Bochenski, a North Dakota junior, scored 16 goals with 23 assists for 39 points in strictly WCHA play, while Junior Lessard, a UMD senior, tied him for the league scoring title with a league-high 19 goals and 20 assists for his 39 points.

ItÂ’s been that kind of season in the WCHA. We can go back to last October, before the season began, when the annual Grand Forks Herald coachesÂ’ poll was announced. Tradition says the coachesÂ’ choice almost never wins the WCHA title. Reality says the coaches set new standards for missing the mark this time around.

Consider that not one single team finished where it was predicted to finish by the coaches. There is one close call. Denver was projected to finish fifth, and the Pioneers tied Minnesota for fourth, which means they also tied for fifth. But Denver holds the tie-breaker edge on Minnesota, having beaten the Gophers three out of four games, so the Pioneers technically are fourth.

League champion North Dakota had been projected as second, while second-place Minnesota-Duluth was seen in a tie for third with Colorado College. Third-place Wisconsin was picked seventh by the coaches, making the Badgers the biggest positive surprise in the WCHA. Tied with Denver for fourth, but getting fifth in seeding, is Minnesota, which was the unanimous pick to win the WCHA title.

In sixth place, St. Cloud State was picked for eighth; seventh-place Colorado College was picked in that tie for third, making the Tigers co-holders of the biggest disappointment with Minnesota; eighth-place Alaska-Anchorage was picked to repeat in 10th; ninth-place Minnesota State-Mankato was picked for sixth; and 10th-place Michigan Tech had been projected ninth.

All of that means the coaches are far better at coaching than predicting, but it also shows what a tangle the WCHA has proven to be this season. Which brings us back to this weekendÂ’s first round of playoffs, best-of-three affairs that will determine the Final Five entries at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul next week.

In an amazing finish, every single position in the standings went down to the final weekend, and three of the season-ending match-ups will be duplicated as first-round playoff pairings. Michigan Tech, which could have finished eighth, was swept at North Dakota, dropping the Huskies to 10th and securing the fifth MacNaughton Cup in coach Dean BlaisÂ’s eight years at the Sioux helm. That finish also sends Tech right back from Houghton to Grand Forks this week.

Colorado College, which went into the final regular-season weekend just three points behind Denver and Minnesota, and could have finished as high as fourth, was swept at Denver last weekend to stay in seventh and be destined to return to Denver Friday, to face a team that could have dropped to seventh but finished fourth. The Pioneers, however, will be without speedster Connor James, a senior who has 12 goals, 23 assists for 35 points. James suffered a broken right fibula in FridayÂ’s concluding game against Colorado College.

St. Cloud State, needing a split to stay ahead of Minnesota and claim home-ice, instead lost twice at Minnesota and drops to sixth. Adam Coole returned to the St. Cloud nets in the second game, a 4-2 setback, but he appears to have won the playoff starting slot after a strong showing in the face of repeated Gopher breakaways held the Huskies close. The Huskies chose to return home up I94 after both games at Minnesota, so the route will be more than just familiar after this weekend, especially if their series against the Gophers goes three games, and they wind up doing shuttle service to Mariucci Arena.

The only two playoff pairings that avoided rematches find eighth-place Alaska-Anchorage traveling to Wisconsin, while ninth-place Minnesota State-Mankato goes to Minnesota-Duluth.

“It’s OK with our guys to come right back and play Minnesota again,” said St. Cloud coach Craig Dahl. “We like to play at Mariucci, and it’ll be familiar to our guys who are used to playing best-of-five playoffs in junior hockey.”

The advantage to St. Cloud, Colorado College and Michigan Tech, by that logic, is that they are facing foes in “best-of-five” settings where the opponents’ first two victories don’t count any more.

An intriguing edge to the WCHA playoff picture is that in the Pairwise computer ratings, which replicate the NCAA selection committee criteria for picking teams for the national tournament, five WCHA teams rank among the top eight. North Dakota is first, UMD fourth, Minnesota fifth, Denver sixth, and Wisconsin eighth.

So, in reality, all five rank highly enough that if any of them lose this weekend, and fail to advance to the Final Five, they might still rank highly enough to be assured of a berth in the 16-team NCAA field. That may make the five home teams a bit complacent this weekend, but it certainly will add extra incentive to the five visitors, who know they must win the league playoff to assure themselves a possible NCAA slot.

For good measure, St. Cloud State is 15th and Colorado College 16th in the Pairwise. With Colorado College host to one of four NCAA regionals, the Tigers are in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, unless they can make a dramatic playoff run to strengthen their rating.
It seems unlikely that any league could get as many as five teams into the NCAA, but if all goes according to form in the playoffs, the WCHA may well end up with five.

With Bochenski and Lessard sharing the scoring title, Bernd Bruckler of Wisconsin has the edge in goaltending statistics, leading the league in minutes played, and in goals-against at 2.11, as well as in save percentage at .928. Right behind Bruckler in goals-against come North DakotaÂ’s duo of Josh Parise at 2.14 and teammate Jake Brandt at 2.18. Trailing Bruckler in save percentage come UMDÂ’s Isaac Reichmuth, Brandt, and Chris King of Alaska-Anchorage in a three-way tie at .913.

While goaltending is of primary importance at playoff time, BrandtÂ’s strong finish gave him the leagueÂ’s top winning percentage, with a 12-2 record. Second was Reichmuth, with a league-high 17 victories to go with three losses and two ties. Next comes Parise 8-3-3 and then Bruckler, at 14-6-7.

If the top five regular-season finishers win their opening round playoff series, the spotlight on Xcel Energy Center will shine on Minnesota facing Denver to break their regular-season tie next Thursday night. The Gophers, who play across town in Minneapolis, are contractually bound to play the Friday night game, for attendance draw purposes, so the good news for crowd-size is that the Gophers will have to play all three nights in order to win the league playoff. The bad news for the Gophers – and Pioneers, for that matter – is that no team has been able to win three straight games from the play-in game to the title.

Under those circumstances, the Minnesota-Denver winner would face North Dakota in one semifinal next Friday, while Minnesota-Duluth and Wisconsin would tangle in a match of premier goaltenders in the other semifinal. The semifinal losers, who would meet in a third-place game Saturday afternoon, might need a victory about then to improve an NCAA tournament seeding. The championship will be Saturday night.
Who might win the playoff title is anybodyÂ’s guess. But, based on their preseason picks, donÂ’t ask the coaches.

Bochenski, Horak make both UMD teams suffer

By JOHN GILBERT

The only way the weekend could have been better for Deborah Bochenski and Rob Horak is if there was some way to accrue “frequent driver” miles up and down Interstate 35 in Minnesota.

The next-to-last weekend of the regular WCHA seasons for both men and women came on what was arguably the biggest hockey weekend of the season in the state of Minnesota, even though neither the NHL Minnesota Wild nor the two-time NCAA champion University of Minnesota menÂ’s team was involved. The Wild, after a great playoff run last season, were on a road trip, with chances fading of making the NHL playoffs this time. The Gopher menÂ’s team, who captured the fancy of the state for the past two years and were favored to win the menÂ’s league title and ranked No. 1 in the country at the start of the season, were playing in Denver where they were trying to hang on to the fifth and final home-ice playoff spot.

Without them in the state, the girls state high school hockey tournament was underway at Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus, while boys high school teams were scattered all around the state in quarterfinal and semifinal sectional play. The college hockey spotlight, meanwhile, was split between Duluth and Minneapolis.

In Minneapolis, the top-ranked Gopher womenÂ’s team was at home facing three-time defending NCAA champion and intrastate arch-rival, the fifth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs.

Meanwhile, at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center, the fifth-ranked Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs and their newly obtained possession of first place in the menÂ’s WCHA, along with a school-record 14-game (13-0-1) undefeated streak, faced the No. 1 rated University of North Dakota, which was in hot pursuit two points back.

This is where Deb Bochenski and Rob Horak come onto the scene. The two have known each other for a lot of years. Ten years ago, Brandon Bochenski was a winger in the Blaine youth program, and Jody Horak was a goaltender in the same program. Some girls teams were sprouting up around the Twin Cities, but Jody Horak was good enough to make the Blaine boys team. “We played on the same A Bantam team,” said Brandon, who was scoring goals while Jody prevented them on the same northern Twin Cities suburban team.

Now we flash forward, past high school days when Horak went on to star at the girls high school level and won the goaltender-of-the-year award in 2001, after leading the Bengals to a 25-1-3 record to earn a scholarship at Minnesota. A year earlier, Bochenski had scored three goals and four assists to lead the boys state tournament in scoring while the Bengals went on to win the state championship. After spending a year at Lincoln, Neb., playing junior hockey, Bochenski accepted a scholarship to North Dakota.

Meanwhile, unattached by marriage, Rob Horak and Deb Bochenski recently started going out with each other, and their get-togethers often involved hockey. They could see Jody Horak play whenever the Gopher women were in the vicinity, and they could travel to see Brandon Bochenski play whenever the Fighting Sioux were within reach, at, say, Minnesota, St. Cloud, Mankato, or Duluth.

But last weekend, with so much riding on both series, Rob Horak and Deb Bochenski ran what amounted to an Interstate 35 shuttle covering the 150 miles from the Twin Cities to Duluth. And back. And up and back again. But it was all worthwhile.

The weekend started out with a trip in Duluth on Friday night. Brandon Bochenski assisted on the first of two goals by defenseman Nick Fuher, and North Dakota whipped UMD 4-1 – outshooting the Bulldogs 10-3 in the third period and 36-23 for the game – to lift the Sioux into a tie with the Bulldogs for first place.

Colby Genoway ruined the hopes of the full-house crowd with a goal at 0:57 of the first period, and after Evan Schwabe tied it for UMD on a power play at 6:06, Fuher scored 59 seconds later to break the tie, and he scored again by moving in from the point to convert at 12:02. It stayed 3-1 until the third period, when the Sioux clinched it with David LundbohmÂ’s shorthanded goal at 2:24 to take the rest of air out of UMDÂ’s sails.

After taking Brandon out for a post-game meal, his mom and Rob Horak headed back to the Twin Cities, where they could make it to Mariucci Arena Saturday afternoon, where the Gopher womenÂ’s team had to shift its huge series with UMD because the high school girls tournament was next door in Ridder Arena. The series was pivotal for Minnesota to reclaim the No. 1 national ranking, and because the Bulldogs are clearly the primary rival for the Gophers. Even in their earlier series this season, UMD had whipped the Gophers 4-1, and Minnesota had to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the second game to swipe a 4-3 victory for a split.

Beyond that, the UMD-Minnesota series put four of the 10 Patti Kazmaier Award finalists on the ice, with Jenny Potter and Caroline Ouellette of UMD and Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell of Minnesota. Potter, Darwitz and Wendell are U.S. Olympians, and Ouellette starred for Canada’s 2002 gold medalists. Overlooked in that spotlight was Jody Horak, but she stymied the Bulldogs until Minnesota had built a 3-0 lead in the second period, and the Gophers won 4-2. The only two goals Horak allowed while making 31 saves were Tricia Guest’s goal with 2:54 left in the second and Ouellette’s goal with 36 seconds left in the third – both on power plays.

Leaving immediately after the Gopher womenÂ’s afternoon game, Rob Horak and Deb Bochenski had just enough time to zip back up I35 and get to the DECC as they dropped the puck for the second UND-UMD menÂ’s game.

UMD played much more forcefully in the second game, but it was scoreless until midway through the second period, as Jake Brandt dueled UMDÂ’s Isaac Reichmuth in goal. North Dakota coach Dean Blais, who played Brandon Bochenski and Zach Parise on different lines attempting to spread out the Sioux scoring, tends to unite them whenever heÂ’s concerned, almost like a security blanket.

So he installed Bochenski on wing with center Zach Parise and freshman Brady Murray, and Bochenski almost immediately went into the left corner and got the puck, firing a quick pass out front to Parise, who scored at 11:18 of the second period. The Sioux went up 2-0, and held on to beat UMD 2-1 for a sweep that reinstalled North Dakota in first place in the WCHA. With one weekend left, the Sioux went home to sweep Michigan Tech and secure the MacNaughton Cup, while UMD tied and beat Wisconsin to secure second place, with Wisconsin third.

Meanwhile, back to I35 for Deb Bochenski and Rob Horak. Sunday afternoon, it was time to go to Ridder Arena for the second UMD-Minnesota women’s game. “Even though Jody won’t be playing,” said her dad.

Little did he know that his daughter would play a key role in relief. In one of those games that fans love and coaches seize up over, the Gophers and Badgers engaged in a shootout. Potter staked UMD to a 1-0 lead on Brenda Reinen, but Darwitz and Becky Wacker vaulted Minnesota to a 2-1 edge. Satu Kiipeli tied it 2-2 for UMD late in the opening period. It was a rugged game, with bodychecks and takeouts all over the ice, leading to several actual scraps. But the scoring dominated.

Wacker scored again at 8:11 of the second period for a 3-2 Minnesota lead, only to have Larissa Luther tie it again 24 seconds later. Julianne Vasichek put UMD up 4-3 at 11:26, but Kelly Stephens made it 4-4 a minute later. Darwitz scored on a power play at 17:42 of the second, but UMD offset that one 39 seconds later when Ouellette finished off a dazzling shorthanded rush with Potter.

So it stood 5-5 after two periods, and Minnesota coach Laura Halldorson pulled Reinen and sent Jody Horak out for the third period. Amazingly, the game hinged on a roughing penalty to Minnesota’s Allie Sanchez at 9:20 of the third period. Wendell blocked the puck free and raced in to score on a breakaway against Riitta Schaublin at 10:36. Twenty-three seconds later, Kelly Stephens pounced on a free puck and raced down the rink to score again. The two shorthanded goals – while killing the same penalty – lifted Minnesota to a 6-4 lead.

Jody Horak made the goals stand up, stopping all eight shots she faced, and the Gophers had swept UMD for the first time in the four-year history of their statewide rivalry. The penalty-kill play alone was worth the price of admission, with Potter and Ouellette starring for UMD, and Darwitz and Wendell, along with Stephens, leading Minnesota.

“I thought Jody played well in goal yesterday, but both goalies have been playing well, and it was predetermined Brenda would start today,” said Halldorson. “I changed after the second period, and Jody played well, but no lead was safe today. I still have a headache from that one. Both teams have great offensive quick-striking ability, and penalty-killing turned out to be the difference. Every time Potter and Ouellette are out there, you have to be on your toes.

“Usually you stress to your team to stay out of the penalty box, but not today.”

With the WCHA title thus secured, Minnesota finishes the season at St. Cloud State, while UMD must regroup at home against Minnesota State-Mankato.

The playoffs follow, with the womenÂ’s WCHA Final Five played at Ridder Arena March 12-14, and the menÂ’s WCHA Final Five at Xcel Energy Center one week later. The Gopher womenÂ’s team and the Fighting Sioux menÂ’s outfit might face more important games on those two weekends. But there will Deb Bochenski and Rob Horak wonÂ’t have to spend much freeway time to enjoy all the games.

Dodge Magnum, Chrysler 300C go back to rear drive

PALM SPRINGS, CA. — Minivans? Front-wheel drive? Cab-forward design? Chrysler Corporation convinced us of the societal benefits of all of the above, and now the same Chrysler – or a reasonable facsimile thereof – is about to convince us to set those attributes aside and make way for the new Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum.

DaimlerChrysler unveiled its new corporate twins, the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Magnum, to the automotive media last week at Palm Springs. The front-engine/rear-drive twins replace the front-drive LH, 300M and Intrepid. Chrysler hopes to sell enough of the twins to replace the 230,000 Chrysler LH models sold last year.

But if these are twins, Chrysler’s marketeers are desperately trying to separate them at birth. The Chrysler 300 comes in four versions – the 300, 300 Touring, 300 Limited, and 300C – as only a blunt-nosed – almost brick-shaped – sedan; the Dodge Magnum has three different models – the base, the SXT and the RT, all of them resembling chopped custom wagons where the roof has been lowered to leave windows tapering from thin to thinner as you move rearward, emphasizing a “don’t-call-it-a-station-wagon” shape.

The base cars have the high-tech, dual-overhead-camshaft 2.7-liter V6 with 190 horsepower and 190 foot-pounds of torque; the middle models come with the single-overhead-cam 3.5-liter V6, with 250 horsepower and 350 foot-pounds of torque; and the top models have the Hemi, a 5.7-liter V8 with 340 horsepower and 390 foot-pounds of torque that will send the cars from 0-60 in 6.3 seconds.

Prices run up over $30,000 and beyond for the top models of both, which have Hemi power and all-wheel drive, but the most amazing features is their low base price — $23,595 for the 300 and $22,495 for the Magnum, including destination charges. The cars are built at Brampton, Ontario, which makes them “domestic” U.S. cars via NAFTA.

The pushrod Hemi V8 also gets a five-speed automatic instead of a four that handles the overhead-cam V6s. The all-wheel drive system – a concession to those of us who drive in snowy climates – will be available by fall on either the 3.5 V6 or 5.7 Hemi V8 cars, but not on the 2.7 base cars, although all models will have traction-control devices. The all-wheel drive system will not be flexible but will have a constant fixed ratio of 62 percent power to the rear and 38 percent front. Chrysler’s splashy new “Hemi” refers back to the hemispherical combustion-chamber 426 V8 engines that powered Dodge and Plymouth cars to NASCAR stock car domination, back in the 1960s and 1970s, when NASCAR forced entrants to run engines based on their production powerplants. Nowadays, all of them run a formula-enforced engine size that none of them builds, so the engines, like the cars, are strictly purpose-built with a phony body resembling a stock car.

Chrysler did put hemispherical tops on the combustion chambers of the new 5.7, but the engine is of pushrod configuration. Pushrods are those devices that actuate valves when the camshaft is located down in the engine block, a process rendered obsolete by overhead camshafts over the last couple of decades.

Chrysler officials admit that if a combination of escalating fuel prices, increasing fuel-economy standards, and tightened emission standards were to occur, manufacturers might have to go back toward lighter vehicles with front-wheel drive and overhead cams. But for now, the corporate lobbyists have suppressed such changes, and manufacturers are creating more and more power. Once higher than 300 horsepower, front-wheel-drive units are strained to handle it all and steer as well, so the trend is toward rear-wheel drive, for the advertised purpose of better handling.

The new pushrod Hemi has been refined with an eye on fuel economy, with a multi-displacement system that deactivates four of the eight pistons when you donÂ’t need full power. General Motors is preparing its second attempt at variable piston firing, but ChryslerÂ’s vehicle development manager Jack Broomall is pretty confident that his company will be first on the street with it.

“Our multi-displacement system will give us a 15 to 20 percent improvement in fuel economy,” said Broomall. “When you’re cruising, the V8 will run in four-cylinder mode. Everything from the pistons, the valves and the roller-type valve lifters shut down on the front and rear pistons on the left side and the two center pistons on the right.”

Broomall said the difference between the four pistons that work all the time and the four that take cruising-time off is slight, but he conceded that after 150,000 or so miles on dynamometers, he could notice a slight difference in the wear characteristics of the piston rings.

Both the 300 and Magnum are impressive to drive, although in the time allotted, we didnÂ’t get time to drive all of them in one day of hustling from desert to mountain top and back to desert in both models. My copilot and I wanted to try the base 300 to see if the high-tech but small 2.7-liter V6 could move such a hefty car efficiently. But by the time we both had driven a Touring model with its mid-range 3.5-liter V6, we were meeting with the group for lunch at a home originally built by Frank Sinatra, for $75,000 in 1946. Piano-shaped pool and all, it sold a few times subsequently, most recently when an entrepreneur got it in rough shape for $135,000 in 1996, and resold it for $1.3 million in 2000.

By the time we came out, the Chryslers had disappeared and we were whisked away to climb aboard Magnums. This time, we pounced on a Hemi, and followed the same route. The V8 provided much more power and a much deeper sound, as anticipated. My co-driver said he had been told all the Magnum Hemis were all-wheel drive, so when I got my turn behind the wheel, I believed it, the way the Magnum tracked around curvy mountain switchbacks and stayed pointed where I aimed it.

Although there was a little snow in the mountains, it was wet, slushy stuff and definitely not icy, but I was still impressed with the carÂ’s capabilities. I was even more impressed afterward, when I learned that these were preproduction models, and did NOT have all-wheel drive.

Chrysler officials claim that the 300, which is a couple inches higher and slightly shorter than the existing 300M, represents the “new definition of the classic U.S. sedan.” It has a large, bold grille on that vertical front, a high vantage point that is aimed at satisfying the demand of SUV-buyers to have a higher outlook on traffic, and a lot of room inside.

The interior layout is well thought out, seats are comfortable and supportive, and stowage behind the second seat in the Magnum is vast, as is the 300Â’s trunk. The cars are stable and feel firmly planted, possibly aided by their weight, ranging from 3,750 to over 4,000 pounds.

Front-wheel-drive devotees can still choose from the Neon, Stratus or Sebring, or Caravan/Town and Country minivans, which remain the backbone of the Dodge/Chrysler stable. But if the trend toward larger, higher, bigger sedans with more power, the 300 and Magnum should be positioned right up front.

(John Gilbert writes weekly automotive columns; he can be reached at jgilbert@duluth.com.)

Perennial Packer power prevails at girls puck peak

Even the most enthusiastic booster couldnÂ’t have predicted the incredible skyrocket ride experienced by girls hockey in just 10 short years. In the first official Minnesota State High School League girls tournament, even optimistic officials were surprised when Aldrich Arena was filled to overflowing for a four-team shootout.

The tournament moved on to the cavernous but comparatively impersonal State Fairgrounds Coliseum, where it continued to grow. Last season, it moved into the sparkling new Ridder Arena on the University of Minnesota campus. The Gophers women’s hockey team – a national championship challenger every year since its inception – had the facility built specifically for women’s hockey, because it provided a cozier location for the slowly growing women’s crowds than the adjacent Mariucci Arena, which the two-time defending NCAA champion men regularly overfill.

Maybe it is a measure of the impatient upsurge of girls high school hockey that some coaches actually protested that the girls should be placed in the enormous Excel Center in Saint Paul, home of the Minnesota Wild and the boys high school hockey tournament. Cooler outlooks have prevailed, however.

“Ridder Arena is the perfect place for the tournament at this time,” said Dave Palmquist, coach of the South St. Paul team that has been the state’s most consistent girls hockey power. “If we someday grow to the point where we need a bigger facility, great. But I always felt that the worst thing we could have was 3,000 or 4,000 fans in an arena that seats 18,000.”

Besides, there are more serious challenges facing girls hockey, despite the rapid expansion of the sport. Things like the expansion of developmental programs for girls, a comparative fall-off of elite players, the split of AA and A classes by size of schools, the prominence of private schools, and open-enrollment maneuvering as some players seek more-successful programs for their own personal prominence. All of these are difficulties that must be overcome if girls hockey is to continues its growth.

Observing it all, Palmquist is sort of like the driver of a car on a vacation trip – the passengers can all relax and take in the scenery, but the driver has a unique view from a more involved standpoint.

Palmquist, whose hair is thinning on top as the only indication he has aged beyond his 20s, still has the youthful vigor he brought from a job coaching boys hockey at Minnehaha Academy. “I had been at Minnehaha for seven years,” said Palmquist, “I came to South St. Paul for the first year of the program, and this is my 10th year.”

South St. Paul hasnÂ’t overwhelmed the stateÂ’s girls hockey tournament every year, but the Packers have been among the best while developing a unique program. Teams from Apple Valley, Burnsville, Roseville, Blaine, Hibbing, Eagan, Park Center and Bloomington Jefferson have risen to incredible heights and then leveled off, tracing the ever-fluctuating ups and downs of high school athletics, but South St. Paul simply started at the top and stayed there, never experiencing any wavering.

When it comes to ups and downs, South St. Paul has avoided the “downs” while constantly remaining with the “ups.” Palmquist is greatly responsible for being the driver of that limousine, and it never has been more evident than the last three years. After winning the state title in 2002 and 2003, the Packers beat Hastings 4-1 for the Section 2AA championship to ride the crest of a 27-0-1 season, and an incredible 86-game undefeated streak — a record for boys or girls.

A tie against Cloquet-Esko-Carlton early this season was the only reason the Packers record was 85-0-1 instead of 86-0 going into the state tournament.

“On November 25, 2001, we lost 2-1 to Blaine,” said Palmquist. “That made us 2-2 for the season, and we went on to finish 29-2 and win the state title. Last season we went 31-0 and won it again. It’s really something. Winning two state championships really motivates coaches and players, and also the younger kids who see what it can mean. We’ve been able to stay strong because of a special group.”

When Palmquist came to South St. Paul, girls hockey in the state had been confined to only a sparse few youth programs. Individuals like Jenny Schmidgall of Edina either played on boys teams or were attracted to the Minnesota Thoroughbreds, a selected all-star team that gave top players a place to play. From there, a number of girls developed and were recruited by eastern college programs. High school girls hockey, and later the start of Minnesota colleges starting varsity programs at the Division I and III levels, changed all that.

South St. Paul had the benefit of a strong ringette program, which adding the luxury of solid numbers for depth from the start. A tiny seventh-grader named Kelly Kegley attracted great attention as a standout when she transferred in to help anchor the Packers through their development years, and she went on to play at Wisconsin.

Other programs came up with exceptional players – Winny Brodt and sisters Ronda and Renee Curtin made Roseville the early dominant team, and later Krissy Wendell at Park Center and Natalie Darwitz at Eagan made girls hockey a true attraction. Those players, in years to come, may be looked back on as the John Mayasich-type heroes of the first years of boys hockey. Darwitz, in fact, bypassed her senior year at Eagan to join Wendell for a development year with the U.S. National team, and became key players on the 2002 U.S. Olympic team, which was upset by Canada in the gold medal final. Both now play for the No. 1 ranked Gophers.

“Krissy and Natalie, the Curtins, Winny Brodt – they were so talented that they set a standard for girls hockey,” said Palmquist. “They stood out by so much both because they were so talented and because a lot of other teams just starting out didn’t have players who could play with them.”

There is no Darwitz, who scored 85 goals as an eighth-grader at Eagan, or Wendell, who played boys high school hockey up until her junior year, then scored over 100 goals in a season when she switched to girls hockey at Park Center, on current girls teams, or even visible in youth programs. But top teams now have a lot of players from new girls youth teams who raise the average skill level enough to make it more difficult for the standouts to stand out.

So dominant were Wendell and Darwitz that they continue to be universally referred to by their first names only. “We were the only team to beat Krissy’s Park Center team,” said Palmquist, “after beating Natalie’s team to get to state.

“I’ve talked to a number of people who think that the development of girls hockey has definitely leveled off, and maybe even declined a little,” Palmquist added. “A lot of programs just don’t have the numbers coming up. It takes a lot of money, and a major commitment by parents and families, driving the kids around to practice. We’ve been able to stay pretty consistently strong, and I attribute a lot of that to a good group of youth coaches.”

Some of the top Packers players this season include Amanda Stohr, Maggie Fisher, Ashley Young and Felicia Nelson. It helps the program that Stohr, a Ms. Hockey finalist, is one of only two seniors on the squad, with goaltender Sarah Crnobrna – who has never lost a game – the other. Fisher, Nelson, and Young, who is the daughter of former Packer and Michigan Tech star John Young, are among a half-dozen juniors on the team. So there shouldn’t be much letdown next season.

“We’ve maintained it pretty well, but eventually, I think size could catch up to us,” said Palmquist. “We’re a small school, and we’re pretty locked in with no chance of growing. When you look around the state, you see so many good pockets of good players, but I think we’re faced with some of the same situations as the boys.”

Strictly for the sake of nurturing girls hockey, a split into two tournaments might have been more productive if the second class was for new programs, to encourage more start-ups. But the high school league followed guidelines used in other sports and split by enrollment. Smaller schools have been allowed to choose to play up, as South St. Paul has done, but some state powers, such as Warroad and Hibbing, play dominant roles in Class A.

“I think the split to AA and A took away some merit from the state tournament,” said Palmquist. “The South St. Paul boys team dropped down to Class A for the first time this season, and someday we might have to.

“Open enrollment is another problem, because, just like the boys, kids are moving to more successful programs. It’s happening all over the state, and it’s a tough issue. The strong get stronger, and the private schools keep getting better. If you look, you’ll see a lot of the same big schools at the top of the ratings for both boys and girls. The biggest suburban schools keep getting more dominant, and unless you’re in some place like Eden Prairie or Eagan, most of us have the bare minimum of girls coming up.”

For the first decade of girls hockey, however, South St. PaulÂ’s program has managed to stay among the best powerhouses. When the state resectioned its teams, and expanded the state tournament to eight teams, South St. Paul ended up in a section that also included perennial powers Eagan and Roseville. In some years, they were three of the stateÂ’s four or five best teams, all with strong supporting casts as well as standouts.

While some may say that individual stars havenÂ’t been as visible, Palmquist personally knows they still exist. South St. Paul has had Erica Hawkinson, Sarah Ahlquist, Ashley Albrecht and the current crop. The Packers had to find a way to penetrate Hill-Murray goaltender Emily Brookshaw in the 2AA semifinals, and it took 50 shots to produce goals by Fisher, Nelson, freshman Rita Simones and Young for a 4-1 victory.

That sent the Packers into the final, where they had to confront a Hastings team that got by Henry Sibley 5-2 when Erica McKenzie scored a hat trick. McKenzie, a strong-skating stickhandler with a powerful shot, is a two-time Metro player of the year and another Ms. Hockey finalist.

McKenzie is skilled enough, and had a strong-enough supporting cast, to be a valid threat in the 2AA final to South St. Paul’s hopes of a threepeat, while the Packers – well aware that their incredible streak must end sometime – countered with their usual balance and depth of talent. The Pack shut down McKenzie and broke open a tight game late for a 4-1 victory, getting two goals from Amanda Stohr and one each from Fisher and Young.

“We’ve had the quality at South St. Paul pretty consistently,” said Palmquist. “And we want to keep it going as long as we can.”

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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.
  
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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.