The blog needs more staff! We’re falling behind, as Irondale Cam readily points out (and Gretchen Nelson, too).  🙂

[Congratulations again to John Hawkes on his Oscar nomination.  The supervisor actually watched the show just to see if he would win.  I cannot watch award shows.  So, I banished myself to the bedroom where I watched The Mating Habits of the Tangerine on PBS.]

The Cards boys’ hockey team is in the championship game in section 6A! We beat Fergus, 4 – 3, in 2 OT’s, in the first round last Tuesday; then we beat St. Cloud Apollo 4 – 0 in the semi-finals on Saturday. We play Willmar this Thursday at the MAC in St. Cloud @ 7:00 for the section championship! Road trip?

We lost track of them while we were chasing the girls’ team all over the state. The section was thrown for a tizzy when Apollo (5-19-1, 2-14-1 in the conference) beat the No. 1 seed, Little Falls (20-3-2, 12-2-1 in the conference), 3 – 1, in the quarterfinals. I have no idea how that happened? So, good for the Cards, as we beat an obviously inspired Apollo team. Coach Scott Woods’ report in the Cardinal Connection:

Alexandria – 4, Apollo – 0
The Cardinal Boys Hockey team advanced to the section final Saturday night. The first period Alex played well but looked tight and threw the puck around. Neither team was able to score. The second was all Cards. The shots were 17-4 and the period ended 4-0. Goals were scored by Brock Wood, Garrett Skinner, and Jordan Domine (2). Assists went to Scott Hennen, Charlie Wensman, and Chase Porter. The Cards player very well in the third and once again dominated the play. However, no goals were scored. The shots ended up 57-25. “Playoff teams need to play disciplined hockey to be successful. We focused on what we had to do and didn’t let anything or anyone get in the way.” Ben Allen had an excellent showing and earned a 25 save shut out. Willmar won the other semi-final game so it will be a match-up of the Cardinals on Thursday in St. Cloud.

The boys’ basketball team won 76 – 73, in OT, against Fergus on Friday. Stringers at the game reported it was a good one! Then we beat Morris-Chokio on Saturday, 66 – 54. Two more regular season games before the tournament starts.

Karley Sylvester won the state’s Ms. Hockey award. She is very good. Thus, she is going to play for Wisconsin? (Why can’t we keep our best players home in any sport anymore?) She played for “Marvin Windows Team USA All-Stars,” but she is from Little Falls. Is there something in the water in Little Falls that produces so many good hockey players?

On the alumni side, it must have been a heckuva weekend in Grand Forks. UND, with Ashley Holmes, was hosting Bemidji State, with Abby Williams, in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. The Sioux won 2 games to 1, with the last game being a 3 – 2 OT win. Congrats to both Ashley and Abby.

[Ashley, No. 12, from a previous posting on the UND site.]

Danielle Justice keeps rolling up shutouts and records for Gustavus. She picked up her 40th win for the Gusties on the 18th. She subsequently followed that up with two more shutouts.

[Danielle’s 40th as posted on the Gusties website.]

What a prediction! As the basketball game was winding down, I said, “I bet Alli has 20 rebounds – and that Sam is in double figures, too!” I asked Alli at the root beer float soiree after the game if she knew how rebounds she had – she didn’t. Ha! But Coach Wendy Kohler’s report in the Cardinal Connection confirmed my analysis – Alli had 20, one off the school record, and Sam had 14:

[34 rebounds from the Dynamic Duo!]

Alexandria – 43, Sartell – 37
The Cardinals celebrated SENIOR NIGHT in a big way on Thursday evening as we settled the score with the Sabres 43-37 in the Jefferson Gym in front of a great crowd! The Cards controlled the tempo for most of the night and our defense made it very difficult for the Sabres to scores. The Cardinals again, had great balance in the scoring department and dominated the boards. Sam Trumm was aggressive in the post pinning, sealing, and getting the 6’5 Abby Whitney in foul trouble. Sam led with 13, Alli Haar 11, 9 for Joie Warnes, Lauren Trumm 4, Cara Wood 3, Whitney Gesell 2 and 1 for Amanda Christianson. Bri Ebert did not score but played a great defensive game for the Cards. Alli Haar was a monster on the Boards as she unofficially ripped down 20 Huge rebounds… 1 rebound away from the school record set in 1979 by Mary Jo Baltes!!! Sam Trumm tore down the ones that Alli didn’t get as she had 14! Cara Wood again, set the tone for the Cardinal offense as she dished out 6 assists to her teammates. LT Trumm logged 5 big steals as she made it tough for Sartell to get comfortable in their offense all night. We recognized our Fabulous Seniors and thank them for their wonderful Legacy that they are building and putting their final stamp on in the Cardinal program, The Seniors are Sam Trumm, Lauren Johnson, Brianna Ebert, Marisa Eigen, Alli Haar, Jolynn Warnes, and Trine Siri Dahl. No time to rest on any laurels however as the Cards secured the #2 seed going into Section playoffs and HOST the Rocori Spartans tomorrow night at home. We hope the gym is rocking as we begin our final quest down the stretch for our goals!! The Cards finish the regular season with a 21-3 record. Great job Ladies.. Here we go!

And, just for fun, how many of you recall what your high school looked like in August 1971?

[Photo by the editor, back in the days when cameras had “film”?]

I’d previously noted that the staff photographer recently posted about 600 photos from the last four games.  Never one to waste good blog site space, now is probably as good a time as any to post those from the Bemidji game.  Bemidji has a player who was recruited by the “U,” but she was injured and didn’t play.  I believe they had one or two other players on recruiters’ lists, as well.  Several of our conference teams, Fergus and Sartell, for example, have more than one player on these lists.  The Cards have none.  And that’s probably fair – recruiters are looking for scorers and the Cards do not have that dynamic individual scorer.  But they have a team of terrific athletes, who excel in multiple sports, and who play terrific defense together.  They have a way of “disappearing” stars from other teams.

[Joie shooting, Amanda on the lane.]

[Cara shooting, Sam on the lane.]

[Amanda shooting.]

[Lauren J and Whitney.]

[Lauren T and Whitney.]

[Sophomore Jess gets a hug from Senior Lauren J.]

[Brianna, LT, and Sam.]

[Alli inbounds to Cara.]

[Cara meets a Lumberjack.]

[Referee Mulder greets Sam, the Bemidji star in civvies on the left.]

[ . . . and Joie.]

[OK, just one from the next game.  Cards engulf a Spartan.  Rocori is our 1st-round opponent tomorrow night.]