Fighting Sioux hope to rebound against puzzling Pioneers

ThereÂ’s no place like home for the holidays, or, rather, for the playoffs. Just ask Dean Blais, coach at North Dakota, which dropped from what seemed like annual contention to have to go on the road for last yearÂ’s playoffs. This year, the Fighting Sioux ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the first half of the season, then dropped through most of the second half, but held on to fourth.

The “Zach Attack” led by freshman center Zach Parise may someday rival the “Hrkac Circus” for the NCAA championship days of the Tony Hrkac-based offense, but Parise is only a freshman, albeit a spectacular freshman. With the top five WCHA teams getting home ice, it should be a relief to the Fighting Sioux to have home ice, but the presence of powerful Denver, the defending WCHA champion, at Ralph Engelstad Arena promises to make the Sioux in something less than a hospitable mood.

“It’s good to be back having home ice after having to play at Minnesota last year,” said Blais, whose North Dakota club went 14-9-5 in league play to finish one point ahead of Minnesota-Duluth. The Sioux swept Wisconsin to end the season, while UMD was splitting with Michigan Tech, which proved the difference between fourth and fifth.

“We had two good games out at Denver,” said Blais. “We lost both games, but they were good games. This could be the toughest series of all, the way Denver moves the puck.”

Denver coach George Gwozdecky is aware that the Pioneers are one of the WCHAÂ’s puzzles this season. Big, strong, fast and impressive, and with outstanding goaltending, the Pioneers were the consensus pick of the WCHA coaches to win the league title. When Minnesota suffered some key injuries early in the season, Gopher coach Don Lucia was most concerned that Denver might run off with the league title.

Instead, the Pioneers had their own problems, dropping to the middle of the field, and ultimately missing home ice, finishing 11-11-6.

“We’ve had a disappointing year from our perspective, and for a number of different reasons,” Gwozdecky said. “We felt some of our strength would be up front, and we’ve struggled to score goals at times. On blue line, we also at times struggled. In goal, Wade Dubeliewicz got hurt and missed nine games.

“But now, weÂ’ve got zeroes across the board. ItÂ’s a new season, and weÂ’re going into a very tough place to play against a very tough team. If you play well, you continue to move on, if you don’t, you don’t.”

Both teams have done extremely well in nonconference games, which is why both have remained ranked among the top 15 teams in the country, ahead of, for example, Minnesota-Duluth, which has never risen above the “also received votes” category despite finishing ahead of Denver. North Dakota is ranked 11th in the polls, while Denver is 14th, and UMD is either 19th or 20th. North Dakota’s 14-9-5 league record swells to 24-9-5 overall, while Denver’s mediocre 11-11-6 league mark looks a lot better at 20-12-6 overall.

“We took advantage of our home games in the first half, and we were playing well,” Blais said. “We went 10-0, nonconference. Zach Parise is an atypical freshman. He is always dangerous offensively, and he and Brendon Bochenski carried us with their scoring the first half of the season. Exactly what happened in the second half was that teams with last change had their two best defensemen out against Zach and Bochenski. Their scoring dropped off a little. As good as the players are in this league, the coaching is so good, you can’t outmaneuver anybody.”

Parise, the son of former NHLer J.P. Parise, has 25 goals, 32 assists for 57 points. That’s a remarkable season for anyone, let alone a freshman, and it ranks him fourth-best among national scorers in points per game. Bochenski, a sophomore who always has had the knack of beating goaltenders, is 32-25—57, with the same overall points as Parise, and the WCHA leader in overall goals, one ahead of Peter Sejna. Obviously, their scoring is pivotal to the Sioux hopes.

“The fact that we were falling off, not knowing if we’d get home ice, has made us a better team,” said Blais. “The only question is, is there a goaltender out of our four who can make a difference?”

Gwozdecky is proud of his teamÂ’s 7-1 nonconference record, and says a key factor in DenverÂ’s demise to a .500 WCHA record was losing all four games to arch-rival Colorado College.

“To be successful, you have to have a good start and maintain your health,” Gwozdecky said. “My hat’s off to Minnesota, because they had some real health issues, but they hung in there. We’ve had patchwork lineups since November. But our nonconference record is 7-1, and we shut out Michigan State 5-0, won 4-0 against New Hampshire, and 6-0 against Miami, and those are pretty good quality teams.

“But our season has been challenging from the perspective of playing very well at times, in the season and within some games, then look like we’ve never even practiced. ItÂ’s happened a lot in recent games, and it’s a concern. ItÂ’s been a collaboration of a lot of different things. At this time of year, youÂ’ve got to start strong, stay strong and finish strong. Part of it is tactically, part mentally.”

North Dakota has been pretty healthy all season, then suddenly has a major question mark with David Hale, one of the team’s most solid defensemen. “David Hale lost 15 pounds, and didn’t have an ounce of fat on him,” said Blais. “He had night sweats, was sick. We finally got him down to Rochester, and he has a condition called IGA, which is kind of a kidney disease. He came back and skated on his own, but he’s going back down there. It hurts us a lot to lose him, but they feel they have a handle on his problem in Rochester. There’s a chance we might get him back, but right now, getting him healthy, and making a full recovery, is what’s most important.”

Denver will go with its favored goalie rotation, with Adam Berkhoel Friday and Wade Dubeliewicz on Saturday, and if it goes to a third game? “We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Gwozdecky.

For both Denver and North Dakota, ratings are important, because only one of the two can advance to the Final Five, and whichever team loses this series is in serious jeopardy as far as NCAA invitations are concerned. “We’re playing best hockey of year, but basically, if you lose to Denver, then it’s all in the hands of a selection committee,” said Blais.

UMD posts biggest surprise on a Friday of WCHA upsets

If anything was proven in the WCHA through the first month of mostly nonconference play it was that Denver and Minnesota would fight it out for league and national laurels, while North Dakota might zoom up to be their top challenger. Conversely, it seemed as though St. Cloud State, Minnesota State-Mankato and Minnesota-Duluth might be relegated to also-ran status.
And then came the weekend of November 8-9, when Denver, Minnesota and North Dakota all went into their series undefeated in league games. So what happened?
 North Dakota went to St. Cloud and was ambushed 7-3 by the Huskies.
 Minnesota went down Hwy. 169 to Mankato and promptly got stung 3-2 by Minnesota State-Mankato.
 But the biggest surprise of all came out at Denver, where Minnesota-Duluth stunned the nationÂ’s No. 1 ranked Denver Pioneers 3-2.
Never mind that on Saturday night things were reversed: The Fighting Sioux came back to gain a 3-2 overtime victory at St. Cloud, and the Gophers came back to win 7-4 in the rematch at Mankato. But at Denver, even a second-game 4-2 victory by the Pioneers failed to dampen the enthusiasm around Duluth, which returned home with a 2-1-1 record for four tough road games at Anchorage and Denver.
“I guess that Friday was a good night all across the country,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “The funny thing at Denver was that I thought Denver probably played better than us on Friday, and we might have outplayed them a little on Saturday. We’ve got a long season to go, but so far, we’ve been pretty consistent through eight games, and as young as we are, I guess consistency is the biggest surprise for our team. We haven’t had a lot of bad periods.
“We may have taken a positive step coming back against Colorado College, and then getting three points up at Anchorage.”
Before hitting the road, the Bulldogs had tied 4-4 and lost 4-3 against Colorado College, prompting CC coach Scott Owens to say: “We’re done with ’em and I’m glad. UMD is a better team than last year, and if they get those two guys – Caig and Williams – eligible, they’re going to be a pretty good club. We won three points out of four, but if we’d tied or even lost I wouldn’t have been upset.”
With that, Colorado College – all but overlooked so far – went home and smacked Alaska-Anchorage 4-1 and 5-2. With Anchorage struggling to score in the early going, that was the only series that went according to form, and with Denver, Minnesota and North Dakota all stumbling, it also thrust the CC Tigers into first place in the league.
Still, the surprise of the early going remained UMD, which had proven its toughness against CC with a three-goal third period in the 4-4 tie, and then won 3-2 and tied 2-2 at Anchorage, before bushwhacking Denver. The Bulldogs may still be a bit light in the scoring department, but the two players Owens mentioned, C.J Caig and Justin Williams, both are capable scorers awaiting expected eligibility clearance. Caig is already clear to start play next semester.
“We’ve had a lot of guys step up,” said Sandelin. “We knew Jon Francisco would be solid, and his whole line, with Tyler Brosz and Junior Lessard, has been playing very well. Brosz started off scoring, and Luke Stauffacher already has four goals after getting none last year as a freshman. Nick Anderson has been strong along the wall, and Brett Hammond and Josh Miskovich have both been pleasant surprises, and are now playing some specialty shifts.”
Defensively, Beau Geisler is much stronger and has played very well from the outset. But some other blueliners have surprised.
“Tim Stapleton has gotten off to a good start, and guys like Steve Czech and Todd Smith have been solid defensively,” said Sandelin. “And Jay Hardwick has stepped up and been one of our best defensemen the last two weekends.”
The other big change for the Bulldogs is freshman goaltender Isaac Reichmuth, who came in amid controversy because Sandelin pulled the scholarship of hometown ace Adam Coole, from Duluth East, after his sophomore season to make room for Reichmuth. The freshman from Fruitvale, British Columbia, started at Anchorage even though senior Rob Anderson had played well against Colorado College, and when he won with 15 saves, he came back and played even better, with 25 saves, the next night.
Sandelin went with Reichmuth at Denver, too, and after the first-game upset, he started his fourth straight game on Saturday, although Sandelin pulled him in the second period to try to shake up his teamÂ’s lethargic offense.
“I know last year, with some of the moves I made, some people were saying, ‘OK, they’re going to have to win, now,’ ” said Sandelin, who is in his third year at the UMD helm. “Well, what do those people think I’ve been trying to do? That’s why I made some moves. I was brought in here to win, and the expectations rise every year.
“Isaac played well at Denver, and the only reason I pulled him in the second game was to shake up our guys. We came back and scored two goals, and Robbie Anderson came in and played well.
“I think what happened with all the upsets shows how much parity there is in college hockey this year. There are the top 10 or 12 teams, but the gaps are closing in. I love the way Denver plays. They’ve got speed and depth and great goaltending. Minnesota is proving its depth with all the injuries they’ve had. I think Colorado College is right up there, too. They’re a lot younger than Denver, but they’re going to be tough, too.”
As for the Bulldogs?
“If we can keep getting points and hang around up there with the top teams, you never know what can happen,” said Sandelin. “This stretch coming up is really important to us. We went 2-1-1 on the road, but we haven’t won at home yet, with the tie and loss to CC. Now we’ve got eight of our next 10 games at home, and we’ve got to win at home.”
After facing Wisconsin in a weekend series, UMD plays St. Cloud home-and-home, then Alaska-Anchorage comes to the DECC for a return series, before the Bulldogs play nonconference against Bemidji, home-and-home, and Union College at the DECC.
“We’ve got Wisconsin coming in, and we know Mike Eaves has those guys working harder than any Wisconsin team in a lot of years,” Sandelin said.
“We know we’re going to get Caig and Williams, sooner or later. Williams might have become eligible right away, but he broke his foot when he got hit with a puck in practice, so he may be out until Christmas anyway. Then we lost Jesse Unklesbay, and we don’t know for how long. He got hit knee-to-knee Saturday night at Denver. I was pretty upset about that one, because there’s no place in the game for that kind of hit. Unklesbay broke his tibia, the big bone under his kneecap, and he may be out a month.
“So maybe at Christmastime we’ll have Caig, Williams and Unklesbay coming in all at the same time. Hmmm…That would be a pretty good line.”

New and retro Mini Cooper S makes the ‘S’ stand for ‘smile’

TURN-ON IS STANDARD EQUIPMENT WITH MINI COOPER S

If you have the blues, or the blahs, you might spend untold thousands in therapy to try to get happy. Or, you could buy a 2003 Mini Cooper S.
There simply is no way to drive the new Mini Cooper without smiling.
Precious few cars have elicited such a response. One was when Volkswagen reinvented the Beetle, and another might have been the first time you ever saw a PT Cruiser. But maybe not. Whatever your preference, the new Mini Cooper is a retro trip definitely right up there with the BeetleÂ’s resurrection as far as an automotive turn-on.
To clarify: We are talking about the Mini Cooper S, which is the garden-variety Mini Cooper with a supercharged engine and a much more aggressive demeanor, to say nothing of handling capability.
Back in the 1950s, in the days of the original Volkswagen Beetle, Great Britain had a proud automotive tradition of its own and made small cars that fit onto narrow, crowded European streets. One of those tries was the Mini, nicknamed because of its diminutive, squarish size and shape. A tiny, squarish little car with the wheels located way out at the corners, the Mini had great handling and even its tiny stock engine gave it a favorable power-to-weight ratio when it was launched in 1959.
Two years later, legendary British race car designer John Cooper stuffed a potent little formula racing engine into the Mini, and the “Mini” became the “Mini Cooper.” Almost with each passing year through the ’60s, the Mini Cooper’s engine grew in potency. They were made into the 1970s, although they weren’t brought into the U.S. after 1967.
My first contact with one came in one that was used for autocross competition by Jerry Hansen, a Twin Cities amateur racing legend who won multiple national championships and later bought Donnybrooke Speedway and turned it into Brainerd International Raceway. Hansen had a Mini Cooper maintained by his crew and he would routinely hurl it around every Twin Cities autocross course, beating Corvettes, Porsches, Camaros, Mustangs and whatever else showed up.
After one such Sunday afternoon event in the late 1960s, Hansen took me for a ride through a virtually deserted downtown Minneapolis. One of his crew owned a beautiful and powerful Z-28 Camaro, and Hansen drag-raced him for half-block bursts at about six consecutive intersections on a one-way street. Hansen jumped ahead at the start each time, before the Camaro would roar past. Then we came to an intersection where cars were already filling two of the three lanes at a red light. HansenÂ’s crew guy won the race to the third open lane. So Hansen pulled around all three cars on the right, drove up in the bus stop lane, then turned 90 degrees and drove the little Mini down the crosswalk, then he turned 90 degrees again, nosing slightly into the intersection for an instant before backing up until he was right in front of the Z-28Â’s grille.
That was 30-some years ago, but IÂ’ll never forget neither HansenÂ’s brashness nor the Mini CooperÂ’s incredible turning agility and quickness. Now we flash forward, to the mid-1990s, when BMW bought the rights to what was left of BritainÂ’s faltering BMC-Rover group, gaining Range Rover, which it later sold to Ford, and rights to the Mini Cooper.
For 2003, there is a new Mini Cooper, 30 full years after the originalÂ’s demise. It looks like an exact replica, but itÂ’s not. ItÂ’s actually 24 inches longer, 11 inches wider and over 1,000 pounds heavier. With an overall length of 143.9 inches, the Mini is less than 13 feet long, which is more than two feet shorter than a Honda Civic coupe. If the Mini Cooper is the shortest vehicle sold since the GEO Metro, it has a meaningful and aggressive flair.
To say the new Mini is a joint project is putting it mildly. The car is still built in England, with over half its parts from Great Britain and 15 percent of the rest from Germany. The engine comes from Brazil – Brazil! – from a joint-venture plant shared by BMW and Chrysler, which, of course, is now Daimler-Chrysler. So BMW and Mercedes, arch-rivals in everything automotive, both have an interest in this engine, which is an iron-block, 1.6-liter four-cylinder, with a chain-driven, single-overhead-camshaft. That, too, is small, and it turns out 115 horsepower, which is adequate to move a 2,767-pound car.
Ah, but the Mini Cooper S gets a supercharged version of that engine, with 163 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs and 155 foot-pounds of torque at 4,000 RPMs. The engine is controlled by a “drive-by-wire” electronic throttle.
The transformation to more power is amplified by the sports suspension, wider wheels, all-season traction control and, on the test car, 17-inch alloy wheels with 205/45 Pirelli “run-flat” tires. Such tires appear to be the coming trend, but in the Mini it’s mandatory, because there is simply no spare room for a spare tire. Four-wheel disc brakes with antilock, and an electronic brake distribution device, allows short, sure stops.
I haven’t driven the standard Mini Cooper, which has a base price of $16,850, but the “S” starts at only $19,850 with the blown motor. Add a few options and trim items and you can easily raise those prices by $5,000. Mini Coopers are sold by BMW Group dealerships, and 20,000 of the cars are to be sent to this country, a nominal figure which makes it pretty certain they all will be gobbled up.
Every auto magazine rushed to be first to drive the Mini Cooper, and most of them claimed to be first. But some of the early tests indicated a rough choppy ride and a crummy interior. By the time I test-drove the “S” several differences have appeared. The interior has neat, contemporary seats that are very comfortable and supportive, and I thought the instrumentation was novel, with a large tachometer mounted on the steering column, and a larger speedometer, with other gauges inset, mounted in a big, round instrument right in the middle of the center dash.
A Getrag 6-speed manual transmission on the test car made it perform very well, with factory tests showing 0-60 times of 6.9 seconds (compared to 8.5 with the standard Mini). Theyh also show a top speed of 135 with the supercharger. None of the numbers matter, however. What matters is that itÂ’s quick, itÂ’s fun, and it feels fantastic, no matter how you drive it.
On four freeway trips of two hours each, the Mini never got tiresome. Its smooth stability easy-running engine delivered 28 miles per gallon of premium fuel, and rode straight and true. The handling is so responsive and precise with the quick-ratio power steering that you have to avoid driving by your own rules – tight U-turns, slaloming around slower cars and SUVs – and focus on less-critical things, such as choosing which half of your parallel parking space to use. The optional xenon headlights are bright and well-focused and the foglights illuminate the shoulders to help watch for deer.
The Mini Cooper S has a weird effect on other drivers, particularly those in very large SUVs. Because the Mini is a BMW, you feel safe and secure in the solid build-quality of the Mini, even when surrounded by giant SUVs. But when you come upon an SUV on the freeway and ease past it, count to 10 and you will invariably find the SUV driver charging past you at 80-plus. I passed two women in a minivan at the speed limit, and they soon flew past us at what must have been 90.
Maybe as a link with its predecessor, the new Mini has some idiosyncracies. Switchwork for the power windows and the foglights, for example, are on a little horizontal panel at the bottom of the center dash area, down by the base of the shift lever, and they are separated by little plastic knobs that prevent you from hitting the wrong toggle switch, even if they make it a bit difficult to hit the right one. Still, I liked the switches; IÂ’d simply prefer that they were mounted higher, say above the audio system or between the audio and heat-air controls.
The cupholders are between the center dash and the shift lever, but if you have a thermal cup in the holders, be careful because it will be lodged in tightly against the center dash. When I shifted into third and fifth on several different occasions I was certain I had broken a finger smashing directly into my cup. Fortunately the audio system was strong enough to drown out my choice of descriptive words, and, just as fortunately, my coffee wasnÂ’t in a styrofoam cup, because I would have smashed it instead of my finger.
The well-formed bucket seats offer easy access to the rear. Push down on a lever and the backrest folds forward and the whole thing slides ahead. With the square roofline, there is plenty of rear headroom, although storage space is at a premium, with only a tiny bin behind the rear seat, so you tend to turn it into a two-seater and load up the rear seat with luggage.
The test car also had a sunroof that covered virtually the entire roof, with the front half tilting or opening, while the rear half was a skylight to alleviate any threat of claustrophobia for rear-seat occupants. There is no claustrophobia from the driverÂ’s seat. Only a silly smile that you canÂ’t seem to get rid of.

UMD women blitz St. Cloud State, but Lesteberg stays focused

Jason Lesteberg is both an optimist and a realist, which are not always easy to juggle for a Division I college hockey coach.
After moving south from Bemidji State to take on the task of rebuilding the St. Cloud State womenÂ’s hockey program, Lesteberg knew what he was in for. The Huskies, like a lot of college teams that have sprung up around the country, may have been caught underestimating the caliber of womenÂ’s hockey, and suffered when caught short of the talent level of the elite teams.
The future, Lesteberg is certain, is bright for the Huskies, because of the eight freshmen playing regularly. Five of his 12 forwards, two of his six defensemen, and one of his two goalies are first-year players. That includes forwards Krista Simonson from Hibbing and Ashley Stewart from Toronto. In addition, two of the other forwards and two of the other defensemen are sophomores.
“Maybe some of our older players have lost a little of the fire from having to struggle so much,” said Lesteberg. “But we’ve got seven freshmen in the lineup, all of them being counted on heavily, and all of our young kids have got that competitiveness inside.”
The WomenÂ’s WCHA has reached an interesting plateau, where Minnesota-Duluth and Minnesota seem to take turns leading the league and subsequently raising the standard of play game after game and season after season. The rest of the WCHA seems to be improving considerably, but the gap still remains.
Lesteberg and his youthful Huskies have seen that gap, up close and personal.
“Our games against Wisconsin, Bemidji State, Ohio State and Mankato have all been very competitive,” Lesteberg said. “But programs like Minnesota and UMD have been running very competitively since they started. We had played Minnesota, and I think UMD and the Gophers are very comparable. So we expected high-tempo games against UMD.”
St. Cloud State got what it expected.
The Huskies were whipped 10-1 and 8-0 by Minnesota, which was ranked No. 1 at the time. Then they went to Duluth, and the Bulldogs administered two more shellackings, 11-1 and 8-2.
Both games had their similarities, because moved ahead 1-0 in the first game, then Roxy StangÂ’s goal tied it for the Huskies, before UMD edged ahead 3-1 at the first intermission. The Bulldogs then broke free and roared to the 10-1 rout. Olympian Jenny Potter had two goals and five assists, while Tricia Guest got her second straight hat trick, and Erika Holst added four goals. UMD outshot the Huskies 52-17, including a 38-8 bulge in the last two periods.
In the second game, again UMD went up 1-0 early, and again Stang tied it 1-1 for St. Cloud State. This time, Ashley Stewart put the Huskies up 2-1, before Potter gained a 2-2 tie for UMD midway through the first session. After that, Potter put on a show, scoring three times in the second period, around HolstÂ’s 20th goal of the season, as UMD went ahead 6-2, then Potter scored twice more in the third, and wound up the game with an incredible six goals. UMD won 8-2, outshooting the overmatched visitors 54-14, and 40-6 over the second and third periods.
Still, Lesteberg retained his even demeanor.
The four crushing losses in succession had dropped St. Cloud State to 3-9 in the WCHA and 3-12 overall.
“But we split with Wisconsin and Mankato,” said Lesteberg. “We played them pretty even in the first period, but we can’t seem to put 60 minutes together. We have a stretch where nine of 13 games are against ranked teams, and if get through that, the second half of our schedule is more favorable from now on.
“A team like UMD can transition on you like the wind blows. We want to get to where they are. We’re trying to bring in the best players and build a program with strength from within. But UMD is at the level of play we want to get to. We’ve got a freshman like Krista Simonson, and we think she has the potential to become like a Potter for us. She has to work on here strength and her hockey sense, but she has the skill level.”
While UMD is the two-time defending NCAA champion, and the Gophers are the two-time defending WCHA league champion, Lesteberg knows thatÂ’s where he wants his Huskies to be going.
“It’s great to play against players like UMD has, with Potter, Holst and Maria Rooth. We don’t really have any upper classmen at that level, but they also have some great players who won’t be in the league next year. I noticed UMD had two true freshmen in the lineup, and we had seven; UMD had three or four sophomores, and we had five or six.
“I like where we’re at with our team, and I REALLY like where we’re at with our younger players. I think a lot of colleges added women’s hockey and I don’t think they knew how good it could get.”
UMD (9-0-1 WCHA, 13-1-2 overall) outshot the Huskies 106-31 for the two games combined. The Huskies goaltenders got a workout against UMD, with freshman Brie Anderson making 41 saves in the first game, and junior Ellen Brinkman blocking 46 shots in the second.
Potter was flat magnificent, taking over the national scoring lead with her fantastic weekend. The quick-striking junior has 18 goals, 24 assists for 42 points, after her seven points on Saturday and six on Sunday, including eight goals among the 13 points.
Lesteberg even saw a ray of hope in watching Potter fill the net.
“Potter got seven points in the first game,” Lesteberg said, “but she got nine points against us once. So we’re improving.”

(John Gilbert has covered the WCHA for over 35 years and writes features for the men’s and women’s website. He just completed his first book, “Return to Gold Country,” about last year’s Minnesota men’s NCAA championship team, and he can be contacted at jgilbert@duluth.com.)

Colorado College threatens early end to WCHA title race

It’s been a year of surprises in the WCHA. North Dakota, Minnesota State-Mankato and Minnesota-Duluth all have made surprisingly strong runs at contention, but all of those teams could become “other” surprises while being outdistanced by Colorado College. The Tigers have lost just two of their first 28 games overall, and only one of 20 WCHA games while claiming the top rung in the WCHA and the nation.
Last weekend was the most recent example. North Dakota was ranked No. 1 in the nation when it came to Colorado Springs last weekend (Jan. 31-Feb. 1), even though CC stood two points ahead of the Fighting Sioux in first place in the WCHA, and had skated the Sioux to a pair of ties in Grand Forks.
No respect.
When the Sioux jumped ahead 3-0 in the first period of the first game, it looked like the bubble might be bursting for Colorado College. But the Tigers stalked back, cutting it to 3-2 by the second intermission, then becoming the first team all season to sting the Sioux when Dakota led after two periods, winning 5-3 on an empty-net-goal finish.
The Tigers won 4-1 the next night, and found themselves remarkably alone atop the WCHA standings. At 14-1-5, the Tigers have 33 points, leading second-place Minnesota State-Mankato by six, and Mankato has played two more games than CC. The challenges keep on coming, however, and as soon as CC finished whipping North Dakota to supplant the Sioux as No. 1, they find defending NCAA champ Minnesota coming to Colorado Springs this weekend (Feb. 7-8).
CC coach Scott Owens admitted that even he is surprised at how his team has run up a 10-game unbeaten streak (7-0-3), taken over the No. 1 ranking in the nation, and threatening to turn the rest of the WCHA into a race for second.
“I’d have to say I’m surprised at our record,” said Owens, after his Tigers climbed to the 14-1-5 WCHA record and a stunning 21-2-5 overall mark. “We’ve found different ways to win. Sometimes it’s the Clark-Sertich-Sejna line, sometimes it’s the power play, or the freshmen. And out goaltender has played exceptionally well.
“We’ve also gotten some help, because some people are beating each other.”
However, nobody is beating the Tigers these days. Owens and the Tigers point to great chemistry, that elusive quality of togetherness and mutual respect that teams either have or wish they had. They also, however, have some exceptional individuals.
In Peter Sejna, the Tigers might have the best individual player in the country, a cinch All-America and Hobey Baker candidate. They also have Tom Preissing, quite possibly the best defenseman in the WCHA, the country, and in the minds of Hobey Baker voters.
Sejna, a junior winger from Slovakia, got lucky last weekend, assisting on an empty-net goal, before notching a goal and two assists in the second game to run his point-scoring streak to 29 games and give him 19 multiple-point games. He has 18 goals and 20 assists in league games for 38 points – second only to Minnesota State-Mankato’s Shane Joseph, who has 40. Overall, however, Sejna has 28-29—57, which not only leads all WCHA scorers, but outpaces runners-up Grant Stevenson of Mankato and Zach Parise by eight points.
If Sejna is the ignition for the offense, linemate Noah Clarke is fourth in league scoring at 8-23—31, and an overall season of 12-34—46, where his 34 assists leads the nation. Three of Clarke’s 12 goals and five of his 34 assists have been game-winners. Centering Sejna and Clarke is Marty Sertich, a freshman who has shown all sorts of flashes rarely seen since his dad, All-America and Olympian Steve Sertich, patrolled center-ice for Colorado College a couple of decades ago.
“Marty Sertich has been very good,” said Owens. “He has good hands, and I guess you could say he has good bloodlines.”
Meanwhile, Preissing, the captain, is a big and tough leader who has been equally amazing back on defense. He has 18-15—33, which ties him for the most goals ever by a CC defenseman, and gives him the most points of any defenseman in the nation. Preissing is eighth in WCHA scoring with 11-12—23.
“Sejna and Preissing have both been good, especially offensively,” said Owens. “They’ve got the numbers to back them up. Preissing is very improved both offensively and defensively.”
If that means the offense and the defense are in capable hands, what about in goal? It was there that Jeff Sanger graduated, leaving what appeared to be a gaping hole. Curtis McElhinney stepped in, however, and has a 16-2-5 mark, and with his 12-1-5 WCHA ledger, McElhinney is second only to DenverÂ’s Wade Dubielewicz in goals-against with 2.28, and tied for third with a superb .911 save percentage. McElhinney has lost only two of 30 games over two seasons.
“We thought he’d be a good goaltender,” Owens said. “But I’m surprised me by being so far up in all the numbers.”
Colorado College has had the tools for all three of OwensÂ’ years as coach, but the Tigers have fizzled, either a lot or a little, at the start of those last three seasons. In 1995-96, the last year of Don LuciaÂ’s reign, the Tigers started out 16-0-2 and kept up the tempo all the way to the Frozen Four. But when Lucia left for Minnesota, and Owens took over, the Tigers started 3-4 and came in fifth at 14-11-3. In his second season, the Tigers started 6-0 but then lost three in a row and improved just one notch, to fourth at 17-11. Last seson, CC started 0-5 and came on strong to finish fourth again at 16-10-2.
This season, however, things have been different, right from the drop of the first puck.
“This year, we’ve just gotten off to a good run at the start,” said Owens.
But for those who like statistics, CC has compiled some eye-poppers. Consider that the Tigers have scored 90 goals in league games, a 4.5 average, which easily outdistances MankatoÂ’s second-best average of 3.86. The Tigers have scored 60 more goals than last-place Wisconsin. More than that, the 90 CC goals are almost perfectly apportioned, with 30 in the first period, 29 in the second and 31 in the third.
They also lead in goals-allowed – 16-10-20 by periods – for an average of 2.3 per game. That’s sharply better than second-best UMD’s 2.61, and it means the Tigers have given up 34 fewer goals than Alaska-Anchorage.
CC also has the best power play, with 29 goals in 99 chances for 29.3 percent effectiveness, while the Tigers have killed 94 of 108 penalties, for 87 percent efficiency. St. Cloud State is second at 81.7 percent. The penalty-killing unit is another surprise.
While those numbers leave the rest of the WCHA behind, perhaps the most surprising thing is that on paper, the Tigers look like a rebuilding team. “We play at least six freshmen every game,” said Owens. “Five of our 12 forwards are freshmen, and one or two of our defensemen are freshmen.”
Those freshmen include players like Sertich, and center Trevor Frischmon, who, Owens said, “continues to play very well. He can scoot, and he’s a great penalty-killer.”
On paper, the Tigers figured to be rebuilding, and to strive to compete in the middle of the WCHA pack. But these are far more than “paper” Tigers.

(John Gilbert has covered the WCHA for over 30 years. He just completed a book, “Return to Gold Country,” about last year’s Minnesota NCAA title team. He can be reached by e-mail at: jgilbert@duluth.com.)

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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.