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Girls Can Play Too...

Like Marion Gaborik on the ice or in a Formula One Car, this time of year the hockey action is coming at us at a break neck pace!

It started with the Minnesota Girls State High School Hockey Tournament. I was fortunate enough to work with some great people, like Karyn Bye Dietz, Winny Brodt Brown, Mike McGraw, Ali Lucia and the KSTC crew, and we were all fortunate enough to have watched the best girl’s hockey in Minnesota history!

The Hockey Madness will continue right through the Boys State High School Hockey Tournament and include the WCHA Final Five, all the way to the Frozen Four, and then hopefully onto spring time playoff hockey with our Minnesota Wild.

Getting back to the aforementioned Minnesota State High School Girls Hockey Tournament, here are some of my memories from the weekend…

My Top 5 Moments of the Weekend

5. South Saint Paul knocking off #2 seed Breck.

- Ali Chulla scores the game winner on the power play at 10:16 of the third to help the Packers beat Breck 1-0.

- Considered to be perhaps the weakest of the goalies in the semi finals, Katie Felton stopped all 26 shots for the shutout and gets named to the Class A All Tournament Team.

4. Warroad wins back-to-back State Championships

- Dave Marvin keeps his team composed: going into the third period down 1-0 to upstart South Saint Paul, his team finds a way to break through the 1-2-2 forecheck employed by Packer Head Coach Dave Palmquist that had stymied the Warroad attack for nearly 40 minutes. The Warriors were a team that scored nine in the semis, and erupted for five goals in the final period, while capping it with a beautiful snipe by Lynn Astrup, crushing the Packers’ cchances of an upset victory. The best team won the A Bracket, but not without a fight from a group of courageous girls from South Saint Paul. Congrats to the Warroad Warriors and a big hats off to the South Saint Paul Packers.

3. Warroads’ Karley Sylvester wins Ms. Hockey 2011

- 31 goals on the regular season, including the big one in the Championship game.  She then was introduced at the Ms. Hockey Banquet as the 2011 winner, on the same night Olympic Silver Medalist, and Warroad All-time leading scorer Gigi Marvin speaks about winning the 2005 award. A great weekend for Hockeytown, USA.

2. Amy Peterson nets State Championship winner for Minnetonka

- Cool as a cucumber, Sophomore Forward, Amy Peterson comes up clutch when the lights were the brightest. She scores two goals and adds four assists in the tournament and leads the Skippers to the title, scoring the tournament winner with 1:39 left in the game.

- It wasn’t so much that she scored it, it was how she scored it. At times, even the most skilled of NHL players would have shot the puck too early in the situation, but not Amy Peterson. Just a sophomore, she got the puck in front of the net, has the presence of mind to pause making the goaltender hesitate, and with no fear of getting blown up (as she did) she calmly roofs the puck past one of the best goaltenders in the state, Edina’s Maddie Dahl. Peterson showed the state what the next wave of talented girl hockey players have to offer.

1. Minnesota Girls High School Hockey Rises to the Next Level

-  All you had to do was watch the great play of these young women, playing what all too recently has been known as a man’s sport: how the ladies of today think the game, like when Sami Reber waited patiently below the goal line with a defender pressuring her and zipped a no look pass up the slot, like Andrew Brunette does for the Wild; how Reber hit Lizzy Otten in stride, on the tape, for a ginormous goal in the title game.  It’s the stickhandling ability of a Hanna Brandt from Hill Murray, or the efficient skating of a Rachel Bona of Coon Rapids, who is headed to the University of Minnesota; the girls game in Minnesota has taken great strides in the last 17 years, and I can’t wait to see where it goes in the next 17.

The 2011 Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament was a smashing success, with solid ratings and superb young athletes taking the game of girl’s hockey in Minnesota to new heights!

With that said, I’ll leave you with these thoughts…

One more thing, a lasting memory in my mind of how I would want to see an athlete compete at any level, was on the game winning goal, The Edina defensemen sold out and gave everything she had to try and prevent Amy Peterson from scoring.  It was a spectacular tackle, by the way! My point is, that kid gave everything she had and it showed the fire, and passion, and every reason why we play sports.  In that one play, she was playing it for the love, for her parents that sacrificed for her, for her teammates and most importantly for herself.  When the game is over, you hope you gave all you had, and leave an impression on the sport you played. She did that, the team did that. I will not so much remember the score of that game, but I'll remember how hard those girls competed....and in the end that's all you can control.

Should He Stay Or Should He Go?

Of course the Minnesota Wild would love to add some scoring punch, and with a team that could use someone in a hurry, the natural place would be to look at what they have in the pipeline. When we saw Houston last at the Xcel Energy Center, we were bored to tears with guys trying so hard they were squeezing their sticks in half. That day, as we were also being lulled to sleep by the potent Houston attack, we noticed that they didn’t have much that could help our beloved Wild either this year or,  for that matter,  next. Naturally, we have to look then to whom they have drafted in the last couple years. If we look west to the WCHA, we find slick skating forward Jason Zucker of the number four rated Denver Pioneers. Zucker happens to be leading one of the country’s best teams toward what they hope is a national title season. Zucker, from Las Vegas, Nevada, has been dominating since day one, and he leads the entire nation in rookie goal scoring, including the WCHA in rookie points.  He also happens to be a second round draft choice of the Wild, just what they need.

I spoke with him recently, and we talked about the possibility of him signing after his freshman season and moving on to help the Wild, first in Houston, and then hopefully for our sake down the road in Minny.  He’s lightning fast with a hair trigger release, and he’s got a rocket of a shot, all while not being old enough to get into a bar. I asked him about what he works on as he tries to get better, to improve his chances of playing in the NHL. The first thing he told me was that his main goal right now was to still win an NCAA National Championship. That’s points for him, a team player, that puts his team first! Personally he realizes he’s quick and has a great shot, but definitely doesn’t take that for granted and wants to continue to work on getting better in those areas, plus become well rounded as a two way player. His plans were to evaluate at the end of the season, look at how things went and then get into touch with the Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher. Of course Fletcher will determine if what he sees and what he thinks is the best situation for him. They’ll also determine whether that’s to sign him this summer and send him to camp with the Wild and start in Houston, or if it would be to have him return for his sophomore season at Denver. We obviously know what Denver would want. Minnesota of course will have their opinion, but when it comes time for that decision, Jason said he would listen to what the Wild had to say, talk with his family and some of the other people that would be advising him, and ultimately make the decision that’s best for him at the time.  Which is how it should be; it should be the kid’s decision and what he would be comfortable with.

I personally feel that as electrifying that he can be, he also could stand to put on a few pounds. He is also just a kid who hasn’t even experienced a full year of college hockey, and when we think back on how many of these great college players that have had one or two years and signed the big ticket, for every Paul Stastny or Phil Kessel, there is three Greg Naumenkos, or Jack Skilles.  DU has a good thing going and Pioneers Head Coach George Gwozdecky has developed some prime NHL talent. If the Wild want a solid top six forward that will help them for years to come, maybe going back to school isn’t so bad. It worked for a skinny kid named Dany Heatley.

Hockey Day Minnesota 2011

As Minnesotans we’re known for our cold winters, and hockey is what we do to get us through those treacherous months. Especially when it gets so cold out that it hurts walking from the arena to car following a game or practice.  It helps us forget that winter is too long and that the only things that should live in our winter climate are Polar Bears and Bud Grant. For me the best part of being back in Minnesota and experiencing my first winter at home in 10 years is the newest great Minnesota tradition, and that’s Hockey Day Minnesota.

I watched for the most part all the coverage that began on Saturday starting at 9 am on FS-North, similar to the nine hour NFL network pre-game show on Super Bowl Sunday, except this coverage, I really enjoyed all they had to offer.  Mike Pomeranz did a wonderful job hosting and got great insight from guys like Tom Chorske, who had his dreams as a high school hockey player come true when he became a Minnesota Golden Gopher as a collegiate athlete.  More impressively he continued that dream as a Stanley Cup Champion with the New Jersey Devils. Most of us will never get that chance, but its great to see one of our own live it.

The day’s coverage brought us wonderful human interest features on Apple Valley Hockey Sophomore star Hudson Fasching, and how he’s a big brother to his siblings that can’t walk or talk because of a rare DNA disease, or the nostalgic piece on new Hall of Famer and former Minnesota North Star Dino Ciccarelli. It was a great way to lead up to the day’s events with an early game in Moorhead between Wayzata and Roseau, who both brought their best games considering the conditions.  The drawbacks to the games were that both teams only had their white uniforms and the sun was so bright that it made the game hard to watch a bit on tv. In the end it set up for high drama when Wayzata’s Marc Richards, shorthanded, slipped a shot short side, off of a faceoff in the Roseau end following a Roseau time out.  It was an interesting way to end a game that saw 67 shots and only three goals.

The second game featured the number one team in the state, the Hill Murray Pioneers, and the hometown Moorhead Spuds.  It was a game in which the Spuds would like to forget the outcome, and it was marred a bit by the ice conditions, but all in all the Moorhead community put on a spectacular event and kept up with the great tradition.

The big boys played their portion inside, and the University on Minnesota came to life for Hockey Day by lambasting the #4 Denver Pioneers, a team that only had two losses in their previous 16 games, and chased sensational freshman goaltender Sam Brittain early in the second, en route to a 7-3 blowout. Probably the highlight of the Gophers game was the Glen Sonmor tribute. I would have liked to have seen maybe a nice video put together, but after coaching the Gophers to the 1971 National Championship game, taking the North Stars to the 1981 Stanley Cup Finals, and winning the coveted Lester Patrick Award for his contributions to U.S.A. Hockey, at 81 years old Glen announced that he is retiring form Gophers Hockey as their radio analyst.  Play by play announcer Wally Shaver presented him with a gift on the ice, and he got to salute the 9,000 in attendance one last time, as they gave him a well deserved standing ovation. A great University of Minnesota supporter, and an even more wonderful man, calls it a career.

Finally, the Wild continued their surprising run with a weekend sweep of the St Louis Blues and capped Hockey Day with a mark of 9-2 in their last 11 games. putting them in the top eight in the Western Conference, in line for a playoff spot.

Not a bad day for hockey in Minnesota, and for the fifth time in five years, all the money spent, all the slushy ice patched up and all the coverage from your local affiliates to FS-North, it was a weekend sweep for all Minnesotans, and shortened the ice cold winter by one more day! Next up the Girls State High School Hockey Tournament, February 25-26th on KSTC Channel 45.

5 Reasons Why The Wild Can Make The 2010 NHL Playoffs

As hockey goes, the Minnesota Wild is the only positive story on ice on the Minnesota sports scene at the moment.

The Wild have found themselves coming out of the All Star Break only one point out of a playoff spot.  Here are my five reasons how this year’s version of the Wild can make the playoffs for just the fourth time in 10 years, and help Minnesotans forget this brutal winter and ‘ol Number Four’s texting transgressions.

5. They have an identity again – After the departure of Jacque Lemaire the team had a hard time shaking that defense-first identity. They don’t even employ a trap as their system and still get labeled with it at times these days. They used to have explosive players like Brian Rolston, Pavel Demitra, a healthy Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Marion Gaborik and they didn’t score goals, except on the power play and off of turnovers. If that group of forwards were able to play in Richards’ system the Wild would be top three in the conference. These Wild are a lot less talented, and now they have zip for explosive players, outside of Martin Havlat (when he wants), and they try and get up and down the ice and find that they score their goals by banging and grinding picking up the greasy ones around the net. They have now etched their own identity as one of the hardest working teams in the NHL. They are 24-17-3 when they are out-shot in games by their opponents.  When you think about it, the Wild are that much better now than they were when they had more talent, considering they work so hard that people still think they are a defensive trap-oriented juggernaut.

4. Take advantage of the X – Minnesota was 11-11-2 at the Xcel Energy Center this season, which ranks them only ahead of Edmonton in the Western Conference. Had this team at this point won just three more games in front of one of the best fanbases in the NHL, they would have 61 points and would be roughly the four seed in the West. Paul Stastny, the All Star forward from the Avalanche, told me when he played here during the 2008 Playoffs that it was one of the loudest rinks he had ever played in.

3. Must get grittier performances – In my opinion, with the way the Wild have to work for their goals and the fact that guys like Kyle Brodziak, and Antti Miettinen aren’t your most gifted of top six forwards in the league, they have to play a tougher game. And I think they have as of late. Since the Wild went through a stretch where they were 1-5-2, they are 15-8-1 and have moved from 14th into 8th in the West.  This is because guys have bought into the system and have followed the lead of guys like Andrew Brunette and Matt Cullen.  Too many guys were playing perimeter hockey and I felt that included some of the key guys like Miettinen, Mikko Koivu and Martin Havlat. I know with certain guys you can put perfume on a pig and it’s still a pig, but there are a handful of guys that need to play a tougher game. Defenseman Cam Barker has tried at times to implement more toughness into his game, and you have to commend him for that, but when you’re under-talented, guys have to play like Greg Zanon and Cal Clutterbuck. I feel most of the Wild goals are either special teams goals or second chance opportunities. They don’t have enough talent to win on talent.

2. Goalies have to continue to be the MVP’s – It seems they have been interchangeable parts and the numbers are there to back up the performances of Niklas Backstrom, Jose Theodore and Anton Khudobin.  A remarkable number that reflects just how good the goaltending has been for the Wild, they are 13-6-1 in their past 20 games and in 10 of those contests they have allowed one goal or less (three shutouts).  What’s also good news for Minnesota is that Nik Backstrom traditionally gets better as the season goes on. His GAA is 2.25 with a .921 save percentage and a record of 49-22-19 combined the last three months of the season in his career. Also the emergence of Jared Spurgeon, and Clayton Stoner defensively has helped the goaltending. Todd Richards even said after the February 1st win vs. the Kings, that he feels Stoner is getting back to the way he played last year. Also one might want to note, the last time the Wild made the playoffs a guy named Jose Theodore stonewalled them in round one.

1. Need to add a top line wing – This is only my speculation at this time, but one would think that a guy like Jason Arnott would be attractive to teams at the deadline.  He’s slowed down a bit, with only 12 goals and 22 points but he’s got a great vet presence, a bomb of a shot and just two years ago scored 33 goals. I’m just saying.

In the end, you have to find another scoring forward somewhere if you’re going to get in. I know the Wild are hoping Guillaume Latendresse and Marek Zidlicky come back and help during the final weeks.  I am not sold on Latendresse. It was a good trade for Benoit Pouliot but still not sold on his top six prospects. Unfortunately if you’re relying on a completely healthy lineup to get you through and into the playoffs, you’re rolling the dice, and if the Wild are in contention this fan base deserves better than a roll of the dice.

To me those are going to have to be the five things needed to get the Wild into the 2011 playoffs and give the die hard Minnesota sports faithful something fun to do until this tundra melts in June!

Milestone

Congrats to Andrew Brunette for playing in his 1000th game of his NHL career.

Bruno By the Numbers

- 174th overall pick by Washington in 1993.

- 250 career goals

- 688 career points

- 2nd in Wild history in goals, power play goals, and point

Brunette scored the most memorable goal in Wild history and he once told me, when he scored the goal that knocked out Colorado in Game 7 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals and subsequently ended the career of Patrick Roy, that it almost never happened.

He said that he was headed through the neutral zone and was just about to head off the ice for a line change when he realized that it was the late great Sergei Zholtok who had the puck. Knowing that Zholtok was a pretty skilled player he figured that he would stay out and see if Sergei could make something happen. Low and behold, he followed him into the zone Zholtok drove the middle, both defenders went towards him as Bruno received the puck, next thing he knew he was in all alone and he had just scored one of the great game 7 goals in playoff history! A foot note to that story, he went to go back for his stick after the celebration and it was gone along with the puck.  He searched for it for months before an equipment manager located the stick. He still has it.

Predictions -

With the Super Bowl coming up I called out around the NHL and some of the former greats and current stars sent back their Super Sunday prognostications. Enjoy and thanks for the read and we’ll talk hockey soon.

Andrew Brunette MN Wild Forward

Pittsburgh over Green Bay

 

Bill Robertson VP Communications MN Wild

Green Bay 28 Pittsburgh 21

 

Craig Hartsburg Former MN North Stars All Star Defenseman

Pittsburgh 21 Green Bay 18

 

Paul Stastny Colorado Avalanche All Star Forward

Green Bay 23 Pittsburgh 20

 

Toby Peterson Dallas Stars Forward

Green Bay 24 Pittsburgh 20

 

GiGi Marvin Women’s US Olympic Hockey Silver Medalist

Pittsburgh 24 Green Bay 21

Ralph Strangis Dallas Stars Play-by-Play Broadcaster

Green Bay 38 Pittsburgh 28

 

Glen Sonmor Former Minnesota North Stars Head Coach

Pittsburgh 20 Green Bay 16

John-Michael Lilles Colorado Avalanche Defenseman

Pittsburgh 27 Green Bay 21

 

Tori Holt “Holt on Hockey”

Green Bay 31 Pittsburgh 21