UMD scares Gophers, Williams Arena crowd, before falling
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — It was just an exhibition game, just a preseason tune-up for the University of Minnesota basketball team, but there it was on the Williams Arena scoreboard — the UMD Bulldogs were leading the Gophers 53-45 with 10 minutes remaining. Equally amazing, the Bulldogs were still clinging to the lead at 59-57 with 3 minutes remaining.
But, as expected, and much to the relief of 12,821 fans who had been stunned to something approaching silence, the Gophers came back to score the last 10 points in the game, which allowed them to catch the Bulldogs at 59-all, and claim a 67-59 victory in their historic nonconference season-opener.
Everybody thought playing their in-state affiliate was a good idea, although nobody in the Gopher dressing room really thought losing to a Division II team — even a very good Division II team — was possible. There were a few young men in the visiting dressing room, however, who thought otherwise. But the moment at which the Bulldogs vaulted from a 42-38 deficit to take that 53-45 lead, UMD coach Gary Holquist paused in his tributes to the Gophers to crack a smile and admit he glanced up at the scoreboard.
“It felt very good,” Holquist said.
“It was definitely surprising,” said Rick Rickert, the giant 6-10 freshman from Duluth East who is already an instant impact player inside and outside for the Gophers, but found himself in the difficult position of playing against some good friends from off-season ball.
“It was definitely scary when we were down 6-8 there, because usually our exhibition games are 50-point blowouts,” said Dusty Rychart, a 6-7 senior from Grand Rapids who applied some veteran savvy to help pull the Gophers through.
“We had some guys who were nonbelievers,” said Minnesota coach Dan Monson. “We told them what guys like [Chris] Stanley and [Jake] Nettleton could do, but they didn’t believe us.”
The disbelieving Twin Cities media, anticipating a blowout, questioned Monson about the Gophers misfiring and struggling so much.
“Put ’em away? We were fortunate to win the game,” said Monson. “I have a lot of respect for that program and how they play, and a lot of the problems we had tonight were due to how well they played against us. I was a lot more pleased with our team after tonight’s game than after the Harlem Globetrotter game. We stayed together a lot better tonight; a week ago, we would have gone five different directions.
“It concerns me that when we were up 16-8, we’ve got to understand that we can’t let a team get into a rhythm. When you let a team think they can win, they’re a lot tougher. They got back into it, and if they didn’t quite have the physical tools we did, they had the mental tools and the toughness. They weren’t getting the rebounds above the rim on us, they just wanted the ball more than we did and went after it.”
Rychart scored 17 points to lead both teams, while Jerry Holman had 13, with Rickert and Mike Bauer scoring 10 each for the Gophers. UMD was paced by Nettleton’s 13 and Stanley’s 12.
“We had ’em,” said Stanley. “We missed four shots at the end, there. When we got ahead, then they came back, but if we could have hit any shots during that last stretch, we could have won. But you can’t beat all of this, especially for a game that doesn’t count.”
The Gophers two Northern Minnesota players led the way at the start of both halves. Minnesota started out with a 14-8 lead, and Rychart had 12 of the 14 points. It got to the 16-8 margin Monson referred to when UMD’s Ben Raymond scored with an underhand scoop shot under Rickert’s arm, then Stanley hit a three-pointer and Nettleton scored on a drive. The 7-point spurt closed it to 16-15, and even though Jerry Holman’s two baskets boosted the Gophers to a 20-15 edge, the Bulldogs knew they could play with their talented but youthful adversary.
Marcus Jackson hit a field goal and Nettleton connected on a three to tie the game 20-20, then Jackson scored again for UMD’s first lead, 22-20 with 4:50 to go in the first half. The Gophers turned up the intensity then and scored 10 in a row themselves, capped by a long three by Rickert, and at 30-22 it appeared UMD’s flirtation was brief. But Nick Cheney hit two shots sandwiching another three by Nettleton, and the Bulldogs closed it to 32-30 at the half.
When the second half started, Rickert held off the aroused ‘Dogs by scoring the Gophers first seven points for a 39-34 edge, but again UMD battled back into it. And the Bulldogs did it with moxie more than slick shooting. While Minnesota shot a meager 26 for 60 from the floor, UMD was only 23-73. But a pair of free throws by Stanley tied it 42-all, and Cheney, a sophomore from Duluth Central, scored for a 44-42 UMD lead. Holman, a 6-10 junior rookie from St. Paul by way of Minneapolis Community College, tied it for the Gophers, but Stanley jammed in the fourth follow-up shot on one rugged attack, and Stanley and Matt Williams added buckets for a 51-44 UMD lead.
When Rychart made one free throw, Ben Raymond connected from the floor to put UMD up 53-45.
“I know they’re a good team, but I never thought it would be as close as it was,” said Rickert. “Our guys thought it was just another exhibition game, and they played like it was the NCAA championship. They started sticking with us, and we were making stupid plays and getting outhustled.
“I don’t think they wanted to beat Rick Rickert, they wanted to beat the Gophers.”
Once the Gophers got back to 59-all, the rugged and ragged game came down to free throws. Kerwin Fleming made two, Kevin Burleson hit two and Fleming hit two more during the final 2:15, which, combined with two field goals by Holman, was enough to outdistance the fading Bulldogs, who not only missed all three free throw chances but failed to score a point for the final 3:26.
“I was disappointed how we shot the ball,” said Holquist. “I had told our guys when we’re playing a Division I team, we wanted to play 4-minute games. If we could keep splitting those 4-minute games with them, we’d be OK. Sure enough, it came down to 3-something left, and it was a tie game.
“No question, we knew they’d make a run at us, and we had to try to play through those things. We did it for a while, but it became overwhelming. But this was a fun environment, and I think it was absolutely great for Minnesota basketball.”
Denfeld whips Rapids to gain 7AAAA final
There is no way to calculate all the different elements that have gone into Denfeld’s football team this season, but coach Dave Mooers clearly has extracted great team character out of his collection of characters.
The Hunters trampled Grand Rapids 44-14 Saturday afternoon at Public Schools Stadium to earn the right to take their 9-1 record into Friday night’s Section 7AAAA football championship game against unbeaten St. Michael-Albertville. In the process, they got two touchdowns from Steve Muellner and one each from Matt Lien, Denis Jacobson, Matt Mobley and Sam Dull, and big Matt Smith connected on a 30-yard field goal and five extra points.
The characters were in their prime after the game, but they started to surface before the game even ended. In the fourth quarter, with the victory secured, running back Denis Jacobson was struggling with an awkward problem near the Denfeld bench. He hadn’t played much because of an aggravated hamstring pull, and he was trying to stuff an icepack down the back of his tight-fitting football pants to get to the injured spot.
He couldn’t reach it, so teammate Joel Waters tried to lend a hand. Literally. The problem was, there was Waters reaching delicately down inside the back of Jacobson’s pants, while the Denfeld cheering section was sitting right behind them, in clear view. They seemed oblivious to their fellow students laughing uproariously at the scene.
Embarrassed? Hardly. When asked about it, Jacobson deadpanned: “We’re really close on this team.”
Quarterback John Borich, a linebacker last year who emerged from third string quarterback to direct the Hunters on both sides of the ball, excused Jacobson for dropping the second-half kickoff by heckling: “He can’t hang onto anything in practice, either.”
But Jacobson’s comparatively brief play because of the hamstring was compensated for when he picked up the fumbled ball — he said he just dribbled it once to get ready for basketball season — and sprinted untouched up the left sideline for a game-breaking touchdown. That was a major turning point, or actually the second half of a 1-2 turnabout sequence.
The Thunderhawks, who lost 29-26 to Denfeld with 1:02 remaining in one of the Hunters trademark comeback victories, had spotted Denfeld a 3-0 lead on Smith’s booming 30-yard field goal. Rapids struck back for a 6-3 lead when Richie Cueller scored from 13 yards out, his first of two touchdown runs.
It stayed that way until near halftime, when Borich lobbed a perfect pass to sophomore Matt Lien for a touchdown, but a motion penalty negated it. “It was disappointing,” said Lien, “because our offense was having some trouble, and we finally got one into the end zone, then they took it away from us. But at least we got third down over.”
Indeed. On third and 11 from the 19, Borich handed off to Sam Dull, who started to sweep to the right, then pulled up and lobbed a perfect halfback option pass. Again Lien went up for it, again he caught it — this time catching it over two defenders — and this time it counted.
“That was kinda big, I guess,” said Lien. “Sam and I work on that play all the time in practice, and when they called it, Sam and I smiled at each other in the huddle, because we knew we could make it work.”
It was big because it vaulted Denfeld back ahead, 10-6 at halftime. And Jacobson’s kickoff return TD to open the second half made it 17-6.
“That was the turning point,” said Grand Rapids coach Tim Botsford. “That option pass at the end of the first half was a big play, and when they got that kickoff return touchdown, the momentum of the game just jumped to their side.”
Steve Muellner scored back-to-back touchdowns for the Hunters later in the third quarter, and Borich connected with Matt Mobley for an 8-yard scoring pass and a 37-6 lead. Grand Rapids quarterback Sam Heiken hooked up with Ben Moore for a 7-yard Rapids touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the Thunderhawks added a 2-point conversion on Heiken’s run, but that only made it 37-14. And the Hunters had an answer for it, anyway.
Botsford chose to try an onside kick, but Denfeld recovered. Immediately, Dull took off, 48 yards for another touchdown.
In dissecting the victory, Mooers used a herd of runners. Muellner had 18 carries for 91 yards, Dull 6 carries for 76 yards, Borich 4 carries for 60 yards, Tom Kalkbrenner 5 tries for 26 yards, and Jacobson, obviously the focal point for the Thunderhawk defense, had only 10 yards on 6 carries.
Dull, pronounced “Dahl,” moved to Duluth from LeSueur, Minn., before this year, and while he had a big game against Grand Rapids, he had pretty much been kept under wraps this season while Jacobson ran wild for touchdowns.
So effectively did Denfeld run the ball that Borich only passed 6 times, completing 4 of them for 65 yards and one touchdown. And Dull, of course, threw that halfback option pass for a TD, something that Borich knew well from last season.
“I was a halfback last year, and I threw passes on that same play twice, completing both of them for touchdowns,” said Borich.
That depth is another asset the Hunters have, along with great balance, and great coaching, which leads to their excellent execution. And then there’s that weird wit.
Someone noted that Dull had a big day, and asked Borich and Jacobson rhetorically: “Where did he come from?”
“LeSueur,” said Jacobson, never missing a beat.
John Gilbert is a writer for Murphy McGinnis Newspapers.
UMD women get good warmup with lopsided Manitoba sweep
So, what exactly can a team like UMD’s No. 1 ranked women’s hockey team get out of playing a nonconference — noncounting — international game against a team like the University of Manitoba? Simple. They got ready for being shorthanded by a few elite players next weekend, when they must go to Wisconsin and play a Badger team that is sure to challenge them with more intensity than ever.
Beyond the obvious weekend sweep of games, as the Bulldogs followed up Saturday’s 14-1 romp with a more reasonable 5-0 victory Sunday afternoon at the DECC, Maghan Grahn, a freshman from Roseau who had played four saves-worth in one game, got a shutout in her first collegiate start with 12 saves.
Grahn got her chance for two reasons. One, star Tuula Puputti departed early Sunday morning to go home to Finland, where she will tend goal for Team Finland in the “Three Nations Cup” international tournament. Two, Puputti will be missing next weekend also, just as she will for the month of February and the Winter Olympic Games, so Grahn may be the required starter.
Also, Erika Holst and Maria Rooth scored a goal each in Saturday’s game, and they will depart Wednesday for Finland, where they will play for Team Sweden in the same tournament — which is actually the Four Nations Cup, except that Team USA withdrew, citing fears of making such a trip following the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on New York and Washington. That leaves three teams, Canada, Finland and Sweden, playing in the most prestigious international tournament leading up to the Winter Olympics.
But the most important thing was that some of the UMD skaters who have been content to watch the elite Swedish and Finnish players score the majority of goals will have to come through in their absence, and they picked the weekend exhibition games at the DECC as a coming-out party.
Shannon Mikel scored the first UMD goal Sunday, on a diving shot off Tricia Guest’s goal-mouth pass with 43 seconds left in the first period. Holst then scored with 24 seconds to go for a 2-0 lead, after goaltender Allison Nantais had stopped 19 UMD shots. Jessi Flink also scored, at 0:09 of the second period.
That was the quickest goal at the start of any period of any game for any UMD women’s team, compared to the school record of 15 seconds, shared by Michelle McAteer and Jenny Schmidgall. And it also could be called the fastest three goals ever scored by a UMD women’s team, because the first three goals came in the final 43 seconds of the first period and the first 9 seconds of the second, which totals 52 seconds, and the school record is 1:13, against Bemidji State.
While those are better than the UMD record, they also are unofficial, because Manitoba is not a U.S. NCAA team, so all statistics are for personal reward only.
The goal by Flink was a rude welcome for Cherylann Koop, who relieved Nanatais in goal and played the second and third periods. After that goal, however, Koop was strong, stopping 16 second period shots and 14 more in the third, when UMD broke through only for goals by Rooth and Laurie Alexander, at 13:05 and 16:12 of the third period. For the game, UMD outshot Manitoba 54-12.
In Saturday’s game, Guest scored three goals, while McAteer, Alexander, Sikio and Holst got two each, and Kristina Petrovskaia, Leah Kasper and Flink added one apiece.
“We wanted everyone to play, and maybe get a little confidence booster for next week, when we’ll be gone,” said Rooth. “Some of those players who hadn’t played much not only played well, but they scored this weekend. That was awesome.”
The Bulldogs skated, passed and shot well enough, but they didn’t charge the net with their usual hunger for finishing in Sunday’s game, undoubtedly the effect of Saturday’s game, when they led 7-1 after only one period. But Nantais was outstanding in the Manitoba nets in the first period, which helped stall the UMD attack, and Koop did the same the rest of the way.
Denfeld overruns Grand Rapids 44-14 in 7AAAA grid semifinal
DULUTH, MINN. — Duluth Denfeld waited until the final minute to edge Grand Rapids 29-26 during the regular season, but the Hunters were more impatient than that Saturday afternoon, when they rolled to a 44-14 victory over the Thunderhawks in a Section 7AAAA semifinal at Public Schools Stadium.
The Hunters acknowledged that the close first game made them well aware of Grand Rapids’ capabilities, and the Thunderhawks backed it up with a strong first half, even leading 6-3 early in the second quarter. But the Hunters (9-1) turned the game around with two huge plays to end the first half and start the second.
Denfeld, which will play unbeaten St. Michael-Albertville Friday at PSS for the 7AAAA crown, got touchdowns from five different players to overrun Rapids with offensive balance, but the Hunters could only muster a first-quarter field goal by Matt Smith for a 3-0 lead. Grand Rapids countered with a drive culminated with a Richie Cueller touchdown run from 13 yards out for a 6-3 lead.
It stayed that way until Denfeld drove to the Thunderhawk 14 with time running out in the second quarter. On third and 6, quarterback John Borich lobbed a perfect pass into the right edge of the end zone, and sophomore Matt Lien made a sparkling catch for the apparent touchdown. But it was nullified by a penalty.
“It was disappointing,” said Lien, “because our offense was having some trouble, and we finally got one into the end zone, then they took it away from us. But at least we got third down over.”
Indeed. On third and 11 from the 19, Borich handed off to Sam Dull, who started to sweep to the right, then pulled up and lobbed a perfect halfback option pass. Again Lien went up for it, again he caught it — this time catching it over two defenders — and this time it counted.
“That was kinda big, I guess,” said Lien. “Sam and I work on that play all the time in practice, and when they called it, Sam and I smiled at each other in the huddle, because we knew we could make it work.”
It was big because it vaulted Denfeld back ahead, 10-6 at halftime. And it got bigger because the Thunderhawks spent halftime trying to figure out how to get back ahead, and on the second half kickoff, the project became more difficult.
Denis Jacobson, Denfeld’s star running back who was hampered all game with a hamstring injury from the previous Denfeld game against Monticello, waited for the kickoff, then dropped it. He joked about dribbling once to get ready for basketball, but whatever, he picked it up and took off. The Rapids coverage may have reacted to the apparent fumble, but Jacobson reacted by sprinting to his left, turning the corner and going untouched for a 90-yard touchdown.
“That was the turning point,” said Grand Rapids coach Tim Botsford. “That option pass at the end of the first half was a big play, and when they got that kickoff return touchdown, the momentum of the game just jumped to their side.”
That touchdown, and the second of five Smith extra points, boosted Denfeld to a 17-6 lead. And the Hunters seemed to be running downhill the rest of the way.
The Hunters defense stopped Grand Rapids quarterback Sam Heiken and running back Cueller from staying close enough to threaten a comeback.
Steve Muellner scored back-to-back touchdowns for the Hunters later in the third quarter, and Borich connected with Matt Mobley for an 8-yard scoring pass and a 37-6 lead.
Heiken hooked up with Ben Moore for a 7-yard Rapids touchdown in the fourth quarter, and the Thunderhawks added a 2-point conversion on Heiken’s run, but that only made it 37-14. And the Hunters had an answer for it, anyway.
Botsford chose to try an onside kick, but Denfeld recovered. Immediately, Dull took off, 48 yards for another touchdown.
Grand Rapids ends 4-6, after a spirited second half to the season. “We heard Denfeld was behind Monticello 20-0 in their last game,” said Botsford. “We were kinda hoping Monticello might win that one, because they’d have been at our place today, instead of us down here.”
Bulldogs score 5 in second, hang on to beat RPI 6-5 for sweep
There are spontaneous celebrations at the end of hockey games, but they can have different meanings. On Friday, when the Bulldogs poured off the bench, it was to celebrate a 4-3 victory over Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute decided by Mark Carlson’s goal in sudden-death overtime.
On Saturday night, the Bulldogs came off the bench when the third period ended, but it seemed more in relief that they surrounded goaltender Rob Anderson. UMD had scored five goals in a wild and unpredictable second period, and the Bulldogs needed every one of them to escape from the DECC with a 6-5 victory and a sweep of the nonconference series with RPI.
With 3,542 fans at the DECC, hoping to see a repeat of Friday’s 4-3 overtime victory, the Bulldogs spotted RPI a 2-goal lead. Nolan Graham scored on a power play late in the first period, scoring from deep in the right circle with 2:16 remaining in the session.
Then UMD opened the second period with a too-many-men on the ice penalty, and Matt Murley scored his first of two goals for the Engineers at 5:44 when he picked the rebound out of a cluster of bodies in front, stepped to his right and lifted a shot into the empty net.
The Bulldogs continued their quick-strike style, however, and countered with two close-order bursts to apparently take command of the game.
At 7:20 of the second period, Tyler Brosz scored from in front of RPI netminder Kevin Kurk. Eighteen seconds later, Judd Medak came right back in to score, and the Bulldogs had evened the game 2-2.
Midway through the period, UMD was on a 4-on-3 power play when Jon Francisco scored with Medak’s pass across the slot at 11:08. At 12:34, Nick Anderson scored for UMD, giving them two more goals in a 1:26 span, and a 4-2 lead.
But the Bulldogs don’t seem to want to do anything the easy way. Nolan Graham scored for RPI at 13:55, closing it to 4-3 with a power-play tally, and Steve Munn scored the prettiest goal of the night when Mark Cavosie carried up the right side, 2-on-2, and somehow lured both defenders, making a sharp move to his right, then backhanding a pass across the goal-mouth, where Anderson had no chance on Munn’s one-timer.
Francisco broke the 4-4 tie with 1:01 left in the middle period, and the Bulldogs padded the 5-4 lead when freshman Evan Schwabe scored off a neat pass from Mark Carlson at 1:08 of the third.
A 6-4 lead seemed large, but at 8:35 of the final period, Murley scored with a screened shot from the right point, and it was 6-5, and the remaining 11:25 were fiercely fought as the Engineers battled for the equalizer. The threat didn’t go away with a 6-skater attack, but when Anderson made two saves in the last 5 seconds, the Bulldogs streamed off the bench to engulf him. It wasn’t easy, but it was a victory.
The Bulldogs played without Tom Nelson, who rested a sore knee, and lost freshman Luke Stauffacher with a broken wrist during the game. They return to WCHA action at Alaska-Anchorage next weekend.
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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