The Cup, and rings, and valid inspiration

By John Gilbert

Last weekend was about as big as it can get for UMD athletics, with the football team winning an enormous Homecoming game, the women’s hockey team opening its season with two rousing victories over an outgunned Connecticut team, the volleyball team sweeping two more matches to defend its No. 2 national ranking, and the men’s hockey team extending the weekend to Monday night with an explosive 7-1 victory over Lakehead University.

The whole thing started, and was highlighted, by Norm Maciver’s presentation of the Stanley Cup. Maciver, who was a standout defenseman at UMD in the 1980s, is now the standout assistant general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks. Tradition has it that everybody on the winning team gets one day with the actual Stanley Cup, and Friday was Norm’s day with the sparkling silver chalice. He came home to Duluth which allowed him to visit his family and also to give Duluthians a chance to get up close and personal with the Stanley Cup.

Norm Maciver, former UMD star now assistant GM of the Chicago Blackhawks, at AMSOIL Arena.

Later he brought the Cup out to Heritage Arena where his son was practicing with Denfeld’s team, but the biggest presentation was at AMSOIL Arena. Before UMDs women faced Connecticut to open their nonconference series, Lord Stanley’s glorious cup stood at the west end of the concourse, while fans and interested spectators circled three-fourths of the entire concourse waiting for the chance to see and get photographed with the Cup.

The Cup is a wonderful spectacle on its own, with all the teams, and all their players, inscribed on ring after ring of space. Everyone knows what the Stanley Cup looks like, and everyone who earns the right to handle it can tell endless stories of weird things that have happened to the prized trophy while in the hands of individual players. But can anyone think of a trophy for professional baseball, football, basketball, or anything else, that approaches the Stanley Cup for class and elegance?

It’s the second Cup for the Hawks while Maciver has held a key position in player selection and assignment, and it’s typical of his class that he wouldn’t forget his adopted home.

Lord Stanley’s Cup stood for hours and thousands of Duluth hockey fans at AMSOIL Arena.

Just as intriguing is the pair of rings Norm displayed, signifying the two Stanley Cup championships. Maciver put one on the ring fingers of either hand, and held them out. I kidded him that it was about as much weight-lifting as he is required to do these days to put both rings on and simply lift his hands.

Norm Maciver displayed the gigantic pair of rings for both Blackhawks Stanley Cup runs.

Maciver stayed beyond his scheduled time with the Cup at AMSOIL, although he did finally have to take it and depart for other commitments and leave a few hundred fans in line. As he stood off to the side, talking with old friends, acquaintances and former teammates, I couldn’t help but ask Norm if he didn’t get a little weary of the long day of being such an attraction.

“No way,” he said. “How many times in anyone’s life do you get the chance to do something like this?

Typical. Norm Maciver could have put the Cup on his back deck and entertained his closest friends and family in a private day with the most impressive trophy in all of professional sports, but he never considered that. It was his time to share, and give back, the highest honor in hockey to Duluthians.

CUP RUNNETH OVER

Maybe the Stanley Cup gave special motivation to all the sports teams at Minnesota-Duluth, Maciver’s alma mater.

The women’s hockey team hammered Connecticut 7-0 on Friday and 6-1 on Saturday, amassing a 109-38 edge in shots in the two nonconference games. The Saturday victory was Shannon Miller’s 350th as the only coach of the Bulldogs. That free-scoring weekend may serve the Bulldogs well as they head for Grand Forks this weekend to face a North Dakota team that is ranked as a contender in the WCHA, while UMD is not.

On Saturday, the UMD football team broke from a rain-drenched 7-0 deficit in the second quarter to an amazing eruption of points and a 44-7 victory over a St. Cloud State team that looked like possibly the better team through the first half. Still ranked No. 11 in the nation among Division II teams, the Bulldogs will hit the road with renewed confidence in their running game and their defense and play Saturday at Minnesota State-Moorhead.

Immediately after the football game at Malosky Stadium Saturday, it was possible to go across the parking lot and inside the warmth of Romano Gym to watch the No. 2 ranked UMD volleyball team disassemble Winona State in three straight games for the Bulldogs second victory in as many nights. And then, there was time to dash down to AMSOIL Arena to catch the second UMD-Connecticut women’s hockey game.

That all-victorious weekend spilled over to Monday, when the UMD men’s hockey team opened its season with a game that went from a close encounter to a 7-1 blowout victory over Lakehead. That will pump up the Bulldogs for this weekend’s official season opener with a pair of nonconference games against Michigan Tech at AMSOIL. Tech, of course, was one of UMD’s first Division I rivals back in the 1960s, when UMD first moved up to D-I, and after such a long-standing rivalry, it’s great that the two schools can stay involved on a nonconference basis now that Tech remains in the WCHA and UMD splits for the great unknown of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, where the Dogs were picked sixth out of eight teams.

Maybe Norm can find a way to come home every weekend to spark the Bulldogs teams. And he should bring the Cup and those rings.

Comments

• About the Author

  John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
  
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• Exhaust Notes:

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

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

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