Gophers urgently need urgency in WCHA

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — Urgency has become the key word for the University of Minnesota hockey team. Urgency has been notably absent from the considerable arsenal of weapons that made the talent-laden, two-time defending NCAA champion Gophers the unanimous pick as preseason favorites to win the WCHA.

Urgency is usually a given in the high-speed world of college hockey, but this year, it has remained elusive for the Gophers. Even a sweep over Alaska-Anchorage last weekend failed to end the season-long quest for urgency, and with only two weekends remaining in the regular season, that quest has becomeÂ…well, urgent.

“We are lurking,” conceded coach Don Lucia, who is well-aware of the team’s potential compared to its performance. “All of our players are not playing their best, and the next couple of weeks, against Denver and St. Cloud State, will be real indicators.”

Some of the Gopher players are aware that the intangible quality called chemistry has not yet materialized, although the return of Grant Potulny from a shoulder injury seemed to help jump-start Gino Guyer, for example, who got a goal each night against Anchorage.
“I’d say if you measured us against our potential, we’re probably at about 80 percent,” said Guyer, who acknowledges that he was among those sputtering. “For a lot of the season, we’d play two good periods, then take one off. The guys definitely want it, it’s just a matter of getting it done.”

Potulny has watched the inconsistency. “I think 80 percent is right on,” said Potulny, who was eager far more than the spare duty and power play shifts he got against Anchorage. “We’ve been getting a lot of spark from our third and fourth lines, but we seem to have two lines going most nights, and we’ve got to have four lines going. We just need one weekend where we get everything going, and maybe Denver will be it.”

When Minnesota won the last two NCAA titles, the Gophers didnÂ’t win the WCHA title either time, seizing national championships after 2001-02 champ Denver and 2002-03 winner Colorado College both were upset in NCAA regionals. Both times, however, the Gophers were on a steady upward surge through the closing weeks of the regular season. Yet this team is so talented that the Gophers could stumble for another few weeks, even in WCHA playoffs, and still manage to get into the NCAA tournament, then turn it on and go all the way to a threepeat.
Lucia rolled his eyes about lurking to that extreme. “It’s possible for a team to turn it on in the playoffs, but it’s not going to happen very often,” he said. “More often than not, a team has to be playing well at the end of the regular season to do it. I think you finish where you do in the standings for a reason.”

A nice winning surge over the last two months elevated Minnesota to respectability, and since boosters look only at wins and losses, a 16-2-2 tear from mid-December into the first week of February seemed to make everything OK. One Twin Cities columnist, who hadnÂ’t been seen at a game all season, made a point of praising the Gophers for the great turnaround after a dismal start. The greater question was: How could a team so loaded with talented players and depth, as well as expectations, virtually eliminate itself from title contention by starting the season 1-6-1 in the WCHA?

Lucia was jokingly accused of going to extremes to try to make his favored Gophers underdogs, but there were many reasons. Injuries (which every team suffers), too-high expectations (the residue of two straight NCAA titles), a lack of leadership (when captain Grant Potulny was injured), inconsistency (when too many goals were allowed), and inability to score (lack of goals by Guyer, Barry Tallackson and Matt Koalska, key participants the last year or two, who worked hard without tangible results).

The scoring of sophomore Thomas Vanek and speedy Troy Riddle offset the liabilities, but among the team enigmas is Vanek, a finesse player with a golden scoring touch, who inexplicably led the Gophers in penalties as well as scoring. “Thomas still leads our team in scoring chances,” said Lucia.

Early injuries to star defenseman Keith Ballard and skilled sophomore Chris Harrington provided more ready excuses, and Kellen Briggs has taken over in goal and can be excused for a few shaky games because heÂ’s only a freshman, albeit a 20-year-old freshman. Meanwhile, rationalizations have become a clear and present danger as replacements for realistic self-evaluation to recognize and correct shortcomings.

“We have some deficiencies and I don’t know if they’re correctible,” said Lucia.

Technical breakdowns might be traceable to a lack of chemistry or hunger, but such deficiencies can be summed up by that key word – urgency. A nonconference sweep over Bemidji State completed the 16-2-2 run the first weekend in February, setting up a decisive trip to Duluth. Minnesota-Duluth had opened the season by swiping two games from the Gophers at Mariucci Arena, 4-3 in overtime and 4-2. So with both revenge and the chance to climb into WCHA title contention, various Gophers were quoted saying they’d be ready for an all-out effort. Instead, UMD throttled the Gophers 6-1 and 4-1 to take over first place, dropping the Gophers to 11-10-1, and various Gophers were quoted the following week saying they “weren’t ready” at Duluth.

Various media outlets started spreading the latest rationalization: UMD had more older players than the Gophers. It can’t be recalled if any of those sources excused UMD for being at the bottom of the standings when they were much younger than the Gophers. But it provided a diversion from those alumni still grumbling that the Gophers have a half-dozen out-of-state players this season – more than in any season during the all-Minnesotan or almost-all-Minnesotan regimes of Doug Woog, Brad Buetow, Herb Brooks, Glen Sonmor and John Mariucci.

Potulny, who is both old, turning 24 March 4,and from just across the river from Minnesota in Grand Forks, N.D., has long been forgiven for those alleged transgressions as third-year captain and unquestioned leader. His attitude may not yet prevail over all the younger players who may have started this season pretty certain that another title would be automatic.

A season-opening tournament at Omaha saw a 4-0 loss to Maine and a 7-3 victory over Nebraska-Omaha, then the WCHA started with two losses to Duluth and a split with Denver, all at Mariucci, and two losses at North Dakota and a tie and a loss at upstart Wisconsin for a 1-6-1 launch. Even though the only losses for the next 20 games were at Alaska-Anchorage and to North Dakota, the top four teams in the league remained above the Gophers.

Success at Duluth could have pushed the Gophers higher, although the 3-2, 5-2 sweep over Anchorage left the Gophers still with the fifth and final home-ice playoff spot. It also got them within striking distance of St. Cloud and Wisconsin for third place, which avoids the deadly “play-in” game between fourth and fifth when the league playoffs reach Final Five status.

“Getting Potulny and Vanek back is big, because we’re 14-3 with a full lineup,” said Lucia.

Alaska-Anchorage coach John Hill, who was Lucia’s assistant at Minnesota before going north, to Alaska, has made great strides with the Seawolves, but is consumed by making more strides. “Minnesota has got an awful lot of skill,” Hill said. “If they play with some grit, they’ll be awfully tough.”

Grit. It’s a great word that’s almost reached cliché status, and it’s related to those others, like chemistry and hunger, that have been hanging there all season. All the words now are preempted though, because it’s time for urgency.

A Galant bid to stand out from midsize car crowd

This has been a great winter for test-driving cars during and after heavy snowfalls – simply because that’s what we’ve had, all across Northern Minnesota. But there’s been more than record snowfalls. It’s been cold. We’re not talking about zero-degree stuff, but real, garden-variety, bone-chilling, hypothermia-inducing cold.

Auto companies used to spend a lot of time in outposts in Northern Minnesota to cold-test their cars, but a half-dozen comparatively mild winters caused most of them to move elsewhere. Too bad. This is the winter theyÂ’ve dreamed of. The lucky car that came to me with the perfect cold-test timing was the 2004 Mitsubishi Galant.

The Galant is thoroughly redesigned, with a completely different look, starting with the grilleÂ’s smile-shaped underline, impressively clustered headlights and foglights under glass, and long and flowing lines with a stylishly contoured rear.

Inside, the controls and instruments are well designed, with a machined appearance and an instrument panel that is not unlike PorscheÂ’s, with a speedometer centered and superimposed over the tachometer on the left and fuel on the right. In a Porsche, of course, the tachometer is the largest, superimposed over the others.

The Galant is equipped to be a star, but the co-star of this epic was the weather. How does an actual minus-31 sound? If that’s not enough, we can find -44, or even -50, in case there’s a discernible difference at that level of suffering. I once saw a sign at an establishment in Hibbing, Mn., which was engraved to read: “30 below keeps the riff-raff out.” Now that should be the state motto, because at such temperatures, you don’t see a lot of panhandlers or street people; they’ve gone south, if they have a clue.

Always a competent sedan, the Galant followed that trend from compact up to midsize, trailing the immensely popular Honda Accord and Toyota Camry, and amid the gang that included the Mazda 626, Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy, Volkswagen Jetta, Ford Taurus and various midsize sedans from every General Motors branch. The competition has gotten dramatically tougher. The Accord and Camry continue to improve, then the Altima leaped up to be a stronger challenger, and last year the Mazda 6 replaced the 626 and moved right to the top of the class, in my opinion, as the tightest, sportiest sedan that is clearly the most fun to drive in the segment.

For 2004, Mitsubishi has taken a large step upscale with the Galant. Its predecessor got glowing reviews, but the new one is longer and much roomier, with the new front, new shape and also a large increase in power. Both the 4-cylinder (2.4 liters) and the V6 (3.8 liters) are large, compared to the competition, and to the engines that made Mitsubishi famous for jewel-like powerplants.

Mitsubishi four-cylinders used to measure 1.6 and then 1.8 liters in its sporty cars and sedans, then offered a 3.0-liter V6, all of which revved high to run with their rivals. The new GalantÂ’s 2.4 is about as large as a four-cylinder gets, and has MitsubishiÂ’s advanced variable valve timing to yield 160 horsepower at 157 foot-pounds of torque. The V6 is as large as the aging GM 3800, although MitsubishiÂ’s overhead cams develop 230 horses and 250 foot-pounds of torque, and leaves the Pontiac-Buick-Chevy engine with its outdated pushrods behind.

Mitsubishi always had built over-achieving engines, and its newest SUVs, such as the Outlander and Endeavor, have proven to be tough and weather-proof on one end, while cars like the compact Lancer and the high-spirited Lancer Evolution have received universal acclaim for uncompromising performance.

The Galant slides upscale to both make room for the Lancer and to compete with the Accord-Camry-Mazda6-Altima types. The big V6 lets the Galant perform with, or better than, anything in the segment, but it also reduces the usually outstanding Mitsubishi fuel economy to a more normal 22 miles per gallon, although that was in what we’ll call “severe” cold. The EPA estimates the car will get 19 city, 27 highway.

Having gotten out of the compact Outlander SUV after it made easy work of a couple of heavy blizzards, I eagerly took the Galant on a series of lengthy trips in the cold. I went from Minneapolis to Duluth, then to Grand Forks, then back to Duluth, back to the Twin Cities, and finally on a drive to Chicago. On a Friday morning a couple of weeks ago, I got up to see the thermometer on our house reading an actual 31-below. ThereÂ’s not a lot of numbers below that figure on any thermometer.

Parked outside, the Galant fired up pretty promptly, with only an understandable hesitation as its internal parts awoke to find unprecedented chill. Then it ran fine, with only the slight creaking that accompanies tires relearning roundness, and suspension flexing stubbornly. My wife, Joan, and I drove Northwesterly to Grand Forks that day to check out how the fabulous facilities the Ralph Englestad Arena will house next year’s World Junior Hockey Tournament. We stayed in a motel that night, and the next morning, the headline on the front of the Grand Forks Herald screamed: “44 BELOW.” That’s right, it was an all-time record low for Grand Forks. Maybe it was just for visitors, answering the question of why each parking slot had a little plug-in receptacle for engine heaters.

ItÂ’s an education, when it gets that cold. For those of us who are metrically challenged, the Celsius thermometer on which zero is the equivalent of +32 Fahrenheit, we learn that at 40-below, both are identical. YouÂ’re advised to not stay out more than five minutes with any exposed skin in temperatures that cold, or risk frostbite. Thermal underwear, fleece pullovers, down jackets, insulated boots and lined gloves help a lot. I also rely on my trusty old wolf fur hat, custom made for me 20 years ago near Rhinelander on a similar midwinter drive across Wisconsin.

Not only was it cold, but Grand Forks also proved the exception to the rule that when it’s extremely cold, it doesn’t snow. It was extremely cold, and it also snowed several inches that day. In Grand Forks, they don’t cover everything with salt, which was refreshing but required extra caution. There were ledges of white ice – forget the trendy “black ice” stuff – and drivers simply slowed down and were more cautious. Again, the Galant functioned very well, taking us over to the fabulous arena, and even getting us to Widman’s legendary candy store before we left town for “Chippers,” those chocolate-covered potato chips.

We stopped for gas in the little town of Fosston, Mn., about 50 miles east of Grand Forks, and learned another startling fact: It had been -50 the previous night in Fosston – and it was NOT a record! I don’t even need to know what the record actually is, but I acquired a new particle among the intelligence nuggets I’ve stored away over the years – I will probably not be building a retirement home in Fosston, Mn.

At temperatures like that, you appreciate a good heater and defroster, and the Galant did a fully adequate job getting and staying warm. Plus, the heated leather seats were greatly appreciated. Nothing like heated seats to allow survival time until the heater starts putting out serious heat.

Standard safety elements, such as front and rear crumple zones and side impact beams, dual-stage airbags up front, and unseen assets such as four-wheel disc brakes with antilock and traction control, and front and rear stabilizer bars, bolster the GalantÂ’s stable feel. The test car was the LS model, the top luxury model, with only the GTS sporty model above that. It came with all sorts of power features on the seats, mirrors, windows, etc., and the rear seat has a pass-through to the trunk, to accommodate hockey sticks or skis.

The option list included a power sunroof, alloy wheels, a Mitsubishi audio upgrade with eight speakers, a six-CD changer and remote audio controls on the leather steering wheel, plus side airbags up front, and rear heater ducts – which would be welcome at any time, and possibly mandatory if you live in Northern Minnesota this year and wanted your kids to be comfortable.

The options lifted the Galant LS sticker price from $20,997 to $25,299. The Galant lacks the manual-shift variation that you can get on the Mazda6, but the standard four-speed automatic has a manual shift gate with a spring-loaded Tiptronic style shift control. Like the Mazda6 and the new Altima, the Galant strives to take a different look from the clone-like cars that used to try and fail to mimic the Accord and Camry. It is now distinctive looking, and while it remains in hot pursuit of the segment leaders, it works willingly when itÂ’s cold. REAL cold.

Bulldogs sweep Gophers again, claim WCHA lead

Where, do we suppose, is the “Taconite Trophy?”

That was the question asked, delicately, of Minnesota coach Don Lucia after the two-time defending champion Gophers had been blitzed 6-1 by Minnesota-Duluth in a stunning Friday night series opener at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.
“The what?” said Lucia.

“The Taconite Trophy,” it was repeated.

“I’ve never heard of the Taconite Trophy, and I have no idea what it is,” Lucia said.

This is not a case of arrogance, or of anything else. The Taconite Trophy was created somewhere around three decades ago, and it was to go to the winner of the intrastate season series between Minnesota and UMD. There was a time, in the first 38 years since UMD got into the WCHA, that the Bulldogs had the upper hand on the big-city Gophers. In fact, the ‘Dogs had won the series 10 times in those 38 years, although never once in those 10 seasons did they ever sweep all four games.

Since some fantastic league-championship Bulldog teams won the trophy in 1982, ’84 and ’85, they have only held the upper hand on the Gophers once, and that was in the 1992-93 season, proving that while UMD was experiencing the usual ups and downs of any college program, Minnesota had remained a perennial WCHA power, seemingly impervious to the “downs.”

So that means that Lucia needn’t be embarrassed about not knowing about, or the whereabouts of, the Taconite Trophy, because it has been in the hands of the Gophers for 11 straight years – so long that it is never even brought out for debate. In fact, the UMD coaches were as perplexed as Lucia when the subject was brought up, because they had never heard of it, either.

Somebody said it is collecting dust on some shelf in some supply room at the University of Minnesota. But maybe itÂ’s time to find it, dust it off, and UPS it on up I35 to Duluth, because not only did UMD stun the Gophers 6-1 on Friday, but they seconded the notion with a 4-1 victory on Saturday. Raucous crowds of 5,406 and 5,418 filled the DECC for the games, which also were on statewide television.

The sweep also goes into the history books, because UMD, which opened the season winning 4-3 in overtime and 4-2 to sweep Minnesota at Mariucci Arena, thus completed the first four-game season sweep any Bulldog team had ever inflicted over any Gopher team in their 39-year WCHA hockey rivalry. Over those years, Minnesota had swept the Bulldogs seven times, most recently in 1994-95, 1995-96 and 1999-2000 – three times in the last decade. So it’s about time for the ‘Dogs to howl, but there wasn’t much of that.

UMD coach Scott Sandelin remained his usual self, which means that despite being immensely satisfied at what he has built in four seasons at UMD, he is never going to be tossing out a controversial line, or boasting, or showing any emotional outbursts. The only difference in SandelinÂ’s post-game demeanor is that his office between the UMD dressing room and the weight-training facility was jammed with friends and well-wishers.

Aside from demolishing their big-campus rivals, the sweep boosted the Bulldogs into sole possession of first place in the WCHA, because North Dakota split at Colorado College to fall out of the week-old tie with UMD. Yet another impressive layer to UMDÂ’s surge is the extension of the nationÂ’s longest unbeaten streak to 12 games (11-0-1) to claim the top WCHA slot at 16-5-1 (20-8-3 overall).

At the other side of what has become one of the more surprising WCHA races in years, the Gophers – two-time NCAA champions and unanimous preseason pick to win the WCHA – dropped to 11-10-1 in the WCHA, still clinging to the fifth and final home-ice playoff slot behind UMD, North Dakota, St. Cloud State and Wisconsin. The Gophers seem secure in holding that spot, with a three-point edge on Colorado College and only six games remaining. But nobody anticipated the talented and veteran Gophers to be one game over .500 at this point in the season.

Coming into the series in Duluth, Minnesota had made a run up from a shaky start to go 11-1-2 over 14 games. As usual, that had commanded enough attention to obscure UMDÂ’s 9-0-1 run.

In fact, when UMD faced Colorado College on Jan. 16-17, the national ratings showed North Dakota first, Wisconsin fourth, St. Cloud State sixth, Denver seventh, Minnesota eighth, CC 10th, and UMD 12th. That’s a very impressive showing for the WCHA, with seven teams among the nation’s top 12. But UMD, being 12th, was in the same old syndrome – no respect. At that point, UMD had already swept Denver and Minnesota on the road, and was about to sweep CC.

Two weeks ago, the same ratings prior to the first weekend in February showed North Dakota still first, Minnesota fifth, Wisconsin seventh and UMD eighth. On top of that, Minnesota came into the series boasting the top power play in the country, going 41-for-146 for a blistering .281 percentage. As if all that wasnÂ’t enough to amplify the pivotal nature of the weekend confrontation at the DECC, the pairwise rankings, approximating the NCAA tournament selection process, ranked Minnesota and UMD tied for fourth, behind only North Dakota, Boston College and Maine.

The great thing about all of that is it could be set aside when the puck dropped. And when it dropped, the Bulldogs showed why they have been the most consistent team in the WCHA all season, with quick-countering attackers, balanced on every line with small but aggressive skaters, plus a veteran, rangy defense that was solid throughout, led by Beau Geisler, whose hand injury finally seems healed; and Tim Hambly, who is playing his best and most confident hockey in three years. Neil Petruic, also, played superbly all weekend. And behind them, sophomore goaltender Isaac Reichmuth was near-flawless.

Nick Anderson and Tyler Brosz staked Duluth to a 2-0 lead in the first game, and Barry Tallackson countered for Minnesota with a screened 35-footer to cut it to 2-1. But Gopher scoring star Thomas Vanek, a finesse player who somehow leads the Gophers in penalty minutes this season, charged and blindsided Jesse Unklesbay at the end of the opening period, setting off a brief but intense five-on-five scrap, and earning UMD a four-minute power play.

Geisler skated all the way from the point to the net to score at the end of that power play, then UMD astounded its fans when Brosz scored at 14:44, Evan Schwabe scored at 15:58, and Junior Lessard got his 20th goal of the season at 18:30. Four unanswered goals in the second period, and the 6-1 final was engraved.

The next night, Marco Peluso took center stage, breaking hard across the goal-mouth while blocking a pass ahead and quickly stuffing it past Minnesota goaltender Kellen Briggs for the only goal of the first period. Keith Ballard, MinnesotaÂ’s All-America-class defenseman, scored a disputed goal while being knocked skates-high into the crease at 7:46 of the second period, and the 1-1 tie appeared a probably springboard for rally by a much more intense Gopher team.

But in the last minute of the second period, Hambly and Petruic strung together slick passes and Peluso deftly tipped the puck in from wide right for UMDÂ’s tie-breaker. In the third period, Lessard notched his 21st on a power play, and Luke Stauffacher hit an open net for the 4-1 clincher.

Reichmuth stopped 60 of 62 Minnesota shots for the weekend, the Bulldogs stifled Minnesota’s power play with 0-for-10 futility, while UMD was 3-4 the first game and 3-6 the second. That was the final touch: UMD not only took first place in the WCHA, swept the Gophers for the weekend and the series, finally passed them in all the rankings, and also now has the best power play. The Bulldogs are 31-for-107 in league play for 29.0 percent (to Minnesota’s 28-104 for 26.9), and overall, the ‘Dogs are 42-158 for 26.6 percent (to Minnesota’s 41-156 for 26.3).

There was no gloating, no boasting from the Bulldogs. They all expressed determination to continue their surge next weekend at Colorado College. Then they come home for a monumental showdown against North Dakota, before finishing the regular season at Wisconsin. If the Bulldogs are going to win it, they will have to earn it. But they have a respectful admirer in Lucia, who, after UMD swept the Gophers at the start of the season, said he thought the Bulldogs could win the league title. He hasnÂ’t changed his opinion.

“They were good at the start of the season, and they’re much better now,” said Lucia. “We watched ‘em on video, and we play the top teams from all over the country, so we knew how good UMD was. Reichmuth is very good, and they have a lot of experience, and everybody is playing hard. They can play six defensemen, and if they keep getting that kind of goaltending, they’re in great shape. They’re in first place now, and they control their own destiny.”

Kind words, indeed. NowÂ…about that Taconite TrophyÂ…

Cayenne V6 husky enough to conquer Yukon

WHITEHORSE, Yukon — As a kid, I recall the radio crackling through DuluthÂ’s chilly winter night air as “Sgt. Preston of the Yukon” made its weekly radio visit, in which a Canadian Mountie and his faithful lead sled-dog King kept the Yukon clear of villains. It might have run through the summer, too, but in my memory, it had to be winter. Anyone over 50 might recall hearing Sgt. Preston yell: “On King! Mush, you huskies!” as his dogsled took off, skimming across the frozen tundra.

Ever since then, IÂ’ve wanted to visit the Yukon, even though I had no clue where or even what the Yukon actually was. History and geography classes seemed to pretty well overlook northwestern Canada. So when Porsche recently invited me to an automotive media introduction for the Cayenne with a new V6 engine, to be held in Whitehorse, Yukon, I immediately signed on.

Winter can be harsh across the northern tier states of the U.S., and even harsher in the Western Canada provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. As tall as those provinces look on a map, though, there is another row of provinces above them. The Yukon is the one above British Columbia, with nothing to the west but Alaska, and nothing to the north but the Arctic Ocean – stretching just west of Northwest Territories, another province I need to someday visit.

If you had enough time to drive down the Alaskan Highway, from Fairbanks or Anchorage to Vancouver or Seattle, you would travel through Dawson City, where the legendary gold rush started, and head southeast another 300 miles to reach Whitehorse. The magical name originally was given to the city by early settlers who thought the rushing white water of the Yukon River resembled the flowing white manes of horses. A Whitehorse resident told me that the population of 20,000 makes Whitehorse outnumber the rest of the province. It was the gateway to Klondike gold for those pioneers coming up from the States or “lower” Canada over a century ago, and those who remained after the gold ran out were a hardy lot, mingling with the natives, and knowing big-city society was replaced by wolves, caribou, coyotes, muskox, and lynx.

What could be a better location for cold-weather testing by Porsche, which does things to extremes? In this case, the company had to arrange duffel-bags full of severe-winter clothing, from fur-trimmed parkas, snowmobile pants, enormous boots and gloves for the auto-writers, those fair-weather wimps. Honestly, one writer from Los Angeles flew up wearing only a heavy sweater.

Cayenne has proven Porsche wise beyond its sports-car heritage. In its first year, enough Cayennes have been sold to prove that Porsche buyers want SUVs as much as normal folks, and now they donÂ’t have to compromise by buying something lacking the Porsche marquee. Introduced a year ago in two forms, the Cayenne S has 340 horsepower and 310 foot-pounds of torque from an all-new 4.5-liter V8 engine, and the Cayenne Turbo has twin turbochargers on the same 4.5-liter V8, producing 450 horsepower and 457 foot-pounds of torque. Since most SUV-owners never venture off the road, I asked why Porsche didnÂ’t also make a model that would be a great wagon without some of the performance or off-road excellence, so it could be priced less than the $88,900 of the Cayenne Turbo, or even the $55,900 of the Cayenne S. I settled for the answer that Porsche would never make such a compromise.

But a year later, Porsche has compromised as only Porsche could. Porsche offered Volkswagen a version of the Cayenne platform from which to develop its own SUV, the Touareg, which comes with either the 4.2-liter Audi V8 or VWÂ’s own VR-6. In the Touareg, the V6 has 217 horsepower and 224 foot-pounds of torque, good for most low-end demands although it wheezes a bit at the top-end if you try to hustle. Porsche arranged to obtain the same 3.2-liter narrow-angle V6 from VW and went to work on it, redoing the intake manifold so impressively that they got the power up to 247 horsepower.

How could a company take a good engine, developed to 217 horsepower over a decade, and suddenly ratchet it up by 30 horsepower? The answer, as delicately as a Porsche engineer could put it is: “Volkswagen has a lot of money, and Porsche has a lot of engineers.”

While not as imposing as the V8, the revitalized V6 doesn’t ever wheeze, on or off any road. It will take the Cayenne to a 133 mile-per-hour top speed, and go 0-60 in about 9.5 seconds. With Porsche’s 6-speed Tiptronic transmission, you can shift the Cayenne with steering-wheel switches, like a 911, but you also can tow 7,760 pounds, unlike a 911, or many other SUVs. The V6 Cayenne – to be called simply Cayenne, as opposed to the S or Turbo – has a sticker price of $42,900. That should bolster sales even more, being right in there with a lot of luxury SUVs that could never hope to duplicate the Cayenne’s off-road ability.

We loaded up our cold-gear and hit the highway to Annie Lake, where two special handling circuits had been plowed into the frozen surface, one zig-zagging around cones for emergency-handling, and the other a quick little oval track to show how the right vehicle, and proper driving techniques, can get around where traction is scarce. Later, we drove up and down the hilly terrain to Fish Lake, where a long, 2-plus-mile road-racing course had been plowed onto the frozen surface.
The road back to Whitehorse was lined with snow piles, and in some places might be best described as a two-way, one-lane road, up and down hills and around all sorts of curves, where we tested the hill-descent control, which can be switched to lock all four wheels into shared low range, and using the engine to hold about 10 mph without touching either gas or brakes while going down a steep hill.

I heckled the congenial Porsche PR-types, because I had just written about road-testing cars in temperatures like -31, -44 and -50 from Duluth to Grand Forks. When I left for Whitehorse, the thermometer read an actual -22 at my house, and after a flight from Minneapolis to Edmonton, then a two-and-a-half-hour flight north to Whitehorse, I was prepared for something like -50 or -60. The Celsius thermometer fooled me for a while, but I was honestly disappointed when I learned that the reading in Whitehorse equated to +11. That seemed tropical, except that the trip occurred on the same week that my wife, Joan, found a special rate to join some old high school friends for a trip to the Caribbean. LetÂ’s see, Joan left Yukon-like cold for Grand Cayman; I went to the Yukon seeking more cold in a grand Cayenne. Or something like that.

It probably got down to -5 or so overnight on Fish Lake, when we were treated to a caribou dinner in a heated tent, then went outside to gather around a roaring bonfire on a raised fire-pit ringed with director’s chairs lined with thick muskox-fur pelts. Bright stars lit up the sky, although it stubbornly refused to show us the Aurora Borealis. Staring at the fire created a mesmerizing end to a long day of intense driving. All we lacked was some deep-voiced Yukoner reading “The Cremation of Sam McGee.”

Porsche folks setting up the itinerary said they had seen four lynx and a coyote, and even came upon a scene where a mama lynx had sent a coyote limping away in a tussle over a bit of road kill. The only critters we saw were several teams of sled dogs, which we got a chance to put to another test. It was awesome, being a musher, urging a half-dozen eager sled dogs to pull our lightweight sled skimming across the smooth, frozen surface of Fish Lake. I was sharing ride and mush time with another journalist, so I yelled things like “Let’s go,” and “Gee” and “Haw” a few times. I suppressed the other urge – to bellow, “Mush, you huskies!”

Sgt. Preston had to be swift to get all the bad guys by dogsled, because he only had a half-hour each week to get it done. It would be far easier today, especially if he was charging across the Yukon in a Porsche Cayenne.

Lessard puts hockey, goal-scoring, in perspective

Junior Lessard always looks calm and under control as he patrols right wing for the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. HeÂ’s tough and competitive working along the boards or for scoring chances, which he puts away efficiently. But when he doesnÂ’t score, he remains unruffled and keeps working hard.

You could say he resembles a shark, the way he cruises with smooth power, seeming to sense where the puck is going to be. You could say that, but the red-headed senior would just as soon avoid any nautical analogies, thank you.

Lessard has come to appreciate Lake Superior, the huge and beautiful blue sea that dominates life in Duluth, and a truly terrifying moment last summer in the big lake made him see his senior season and his promising future in the game in an entirely new perspective. Nearly losing your life can have that effect.
“Today, I go down the hill to practice and see the big lake, and I can’t help thinking about what happened,” Lessard said. “You go to practice and some days you might not feel like practicing…But every day, I think how nice it is, and how lucky I am to be here.”

Lessard doesn’t trust much to luck on WCHA rinks. Traditional WCHA powers, like North Dakota, Minnesota, Denver and Colorado College, seem to get more acclaim than his UMD Bulldogs, even though UMD has won six straight games and climbed to second in the WCHA behind only North Dakota. It’s the same for Lessard personally: Brandon Bochenski of North Dakota and Thomas Vanek of Minnesota are well-known as the WCHA’s most explosive and prolific goal-scorers. But Lessard has 18 goals this season – second only to Bochenski’s 20 among the nation’s goal-scorers. And in WCHA games only, he and Vanek are tied with a league-leading 14 goals.

“Maybe we don’t get enough credit, but it will come,” said Lessard, who has scored two hat tricks this season. Last weekend, he notched two goals in a 4-1 victory against Colorado College Saturday, after scoring a big goal to ignite a 4-3 first-game triumph, in UMD’s sixth series sweep this season. Five of the sweeps have come in the WCHA, including two on the road, at Minnesota and at Denver, preceding the sweep of CC – three teams that all were ranked ahead of the Bulldogs going into last weekend.

Finally, UMD rose from 12th to No. 9 in the polls, which themselves were put in perspective when the Pairwise rankings were released showing UMD fourth in the analysis that contributes to the NCAA tournament consideration. Meanwhile, the co-offensive players of the week were Vanek, who had four goals and three assists out of 15 goals the Gophers volleyed in at Minnesota State-Mankato, and North DakotaÂ’s Zach Parise, who got four goals and two assists out of 12 goals his team scored in sweeping at Michigan Tech. Lessard also figured in half of his teamÂ’s goals, scoring three goals and one assist among the eight goals UMD scored in a far tougher series against CC. But he wouldnÂ’t complain.

“Parise and Vanek are really good players, and they deserve the recognition,” Vanek said. “ItÂ’s nice to get the recognition, but if you donÂ’t get it, you still play hard. WeÂ’ve made progress all four years IÂ’ve been here, and the best part of our team is that if my line — with Even Schwabe and Tyler Brosz – doesnÂ’t score, Tim Stapleton or Luke Stauffacher might score on the next line, or T.J. Caig might come through on the line after that. WeÂ’ve got pretty good depth.

“You have to earn respect, and we’re going pretty good. We’ve won six in a row, against pretty good teams, and we’ve got some big games still to go. But we don’t look too far ahead. We’ve got Michigan Tech this weekend, and they beat us once at their place, so we know they’ll come in here playing hard.”

Lessard, who looks bigger than his 6-foot, 195-pound dimensions, is from St. Joseph deBeauce, Quebec, and he took his French accent to the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior League, where he scored 60 goals and 108 points in 1999-2000, and was recruited by former UMD coach Mike Sertich. After getting four goals as a freshman, he scored 17-13—30 as a sophomore, 21-16—37 as a junior, and now has 14-10—24 as a senior, with 14 more league games, and potentially a few more playoff games, remaining.

Last summer, he stayed in Duluth all summer to work out. After a cool start, summer came to Duluth hot and heavy through July and August. Even during a hot summer, Lake Superior is so cold and so deep that there are only a few days when hearty swimmers can venture into it. On one of those days, Schwabe and his girlfriend from Saskatchewan, and Lessard and his friend, Leah Kasper, who plays on UMDÂ’s womenÂ’s team, all went to Park Point, the long, sandy-beached peninsula that extends south from the Aerial Bridge and separates Lake Superior from the Duluth harbor.

“We were going to spend the day at the beach,” Lessard said. “So we all went out into the water. You can go out a long way before it gets deep, and we were out quite a way, but we could still stand on the bottom and the water was about to our shoulders. Suddenly, we weren’t touching the ground any more. Leah called for help, but the current was so strong, the undertow started to sweep us out. We tried to swim, but we kept getting swept farther and farther out.

“Schwabe got out, and when he was able to get back to the beach, he went to some people for help. A guy was there with his family, and he had a wetsuit and flippers, and he had a lot of experience with emergencies. He came out and saved us. He saved all three of us. He got the two girls first, and I was the last one he rescued. I was probably out there two or three minutes altogether, but it seemed a lot longer. I kept trying to swim, and I swallowed a lot of water.

“By the time he got me to shore, I was exhausted. I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t feel any part of my body. Then I started throwing up blood. They took me to the hospital, and I was in there for four or five hours before they decided I was OK.”

The group learned later that a youngster had drowned near where they were. It happened a few minutes earlier, but they didnÂ’t know about it at the time. The tragic day could have been far more tragic if the rescuer had not happened to be in the vicinity, or if Schwabe had been unable to get to the beach to call for help.

It was an experience the personable Lessard will never forget, obviously.

“For the first couple of weeks after it happened, I couldn’t sleep,” Lessard said. “Every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was myself out there in the water.”

Freeze the water, put some boards around it, invite 4,500 people, and throw the puck in the corner – suddenly it’s easy to understand why Lessard can keep his cool and patience.

Lake Superior has enthralled viewers for centuries, but even when it looks placid and smooth, it can rise up without warning and prove its dominance to anyone who doesnÂ’t show it proper respect. At that, the big lake does create an unmistable analogy to Junior Lessard, and his UMD Bulldogs.

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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.