Alexandria – 50, St. Cloud Tech – 30

Posted on February 8, 2013 by tomobert63

2-7-13-1

[Honestly, that was the score when I walked in at halftime of the JV game on Thursday.  Against St. Cloud Tech, no less?  But more on this as we merrily go along.]

12-4-10-1So, did you miss us?  Not my fault.  The supervisor awakened one morning with the post-holiday blahs and made a management decision.  We were going on a road trip.  Now she and I are very much alike in that we both would rather be too cold than too hot.  In that vein, she decided a trip to Boston, in January, sounded absolutely peachy!  Arrangements were made, and we have gone and returned.  I know everybody is eagerly awaiting the full details of our adventure . . . particularly the competition – Conde’ Nast, Rick Steves, and AAA!  But that story will be for another day.  We have Cardinal stories to report!

We missed two key hockey games in our absence.  But the team continued their great play in new year – they are now 10 – 1 in 2013.  They beat Bemidji 4 – 2 on senior night – a game fortunately well-covered by staff and will be reported upon anon – in game the Super Fans reported to be quite super; and they also beat a big time Fargo South team, 3 – 1.

We return you now to the Tech basketball game . . .

2-7-13-2

[There was no sign of life on the court when I arrived.  I thought maybe the game had been called because of a slaughter rule or something?  Eventually the two teams meandered back on to the court.  I’m going to assume the Cards applied great and continuous pressure in the 1st half to build such a commanding lead.  The 2nd half was better balanced with all the Baby Birds getting plenty of playing time.  Here we have three of the players responsible for the big lead – Jaylen Olson-Rodel (25), junior; Alyssa Freiderich (31), junior; and Kendall Kohler (45), 8th grade.]

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[Macy Hatlestad (11), 8th grade, walks the ball upcourt.  The Tech coach is in the foreground undoubtedly wondering who is this wunderkind?]

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[The 9th grade game is on the far court.  The Cards had a double digit lead most of that game and hung on to win by 5 (I believe).]

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[Likely to be at the top of the 1-3-1 for years to come – Macy, Kendall, and on the far side, Gretchen Revering (3), sophomore.]

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[Under the category of “things I’ve learned so far,” Ms. Kohler has a scorer’s mentality.  Here she goes in for a nice lefty lay-up.  As I recall, she had 14 points in the 1st half.]

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[And she heads back on defense before the ball clears to net – because her mom requires such!  😉 ]

2-7-13-8

[Ms. Revering attempts a free one.  That appears to be Carli Dropik (5), sophomore, on the left lane – she was impressive in this game with her ability to get out and go.]

2-7-13-10

[On this play, the Tigers doubled their 1st half score.]

2-7-13-12

[Jaylen, Heather Johnson (15), sophomore, and Natalie Amundson (13), sophomore, on defense.]

2-7-13-13-1

[Jaylen gets significant playing time with the varsity as well.  I don’t know why I hadn’t really noticed until the varsity game this night (old-age dysfunction?) that Jaylen has some serious hops!  Mark Nelsen, the cross-country coach, was sitting nearby, and I asked if Jaylen was a high jumper on the track team.  Nope, said he, but she is a hurdler.]

2-7-13-14

[The 9th-grade game complete, I switched sides when the southside stands were wheeled out.  Hope you didn’t get vertigo or anything?]

2-7-13-15-1

[Anna Lee (33), sophomore, launches a baseline jumper.]

2-7-13-16

[Did it go in?]

2-7-13-17

[JV game over.]

2-7-13-18

[El!  No, not the Chicago transit system; The Pasty King!]

2-7-13-20

[Varsity warm-up.]

2-7-13-21

[Pre-game coach’s visit.  A shout-out to Kohler for her Breaking Barriers award from the Minnesota Coalition of Women in Athletic Leadership.  She was selected to the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003, has led the Cards 7 state tournament appearances including the championship in 1997, and has over 450 vistories in 27 years of coaching (really? impossible!).  🙂 ]

kohlerwendy3-16-11echo

[Kohler’s attention-getting whistle at Williams Arena during the 2011 state tournament.  Echo Press photo.]

2-7-13-23

[Introducing Amanda C (5) who plays pattycake with Sarah Bruzek.  Sarah was in civvies and we noticed later she was wearing a soft cast on her right foot.  Now I always have to notice what’s going on in the background because of Kendall (45) – here sticking her tongue out!  😉 ]

2-7-13-24

[Karly Betterman (21)]

2-7-13-25

[Jess Syvrud (23)]

2-7-13-26

[Kalli Bowser (35).  I somehow missed Dani Strater (13) – probably picking my nose?]

A video of the game’s opening minutes – a tad sloppy as the beginning of games have tended to be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf_YByGpKj8

You will note as the players align for the opening tip that the Cardinals are player-for-player a full head smaller than their Tiger counterparks.  This once again brings into question the general wee-ness of our athletes.  I have a new theory.  We are on the edge of the prairie – the supervisor will tell you she had no idea Alexandria was so windy!  Thus, an evolutionary adaptation was to produce smaller people to avoid a “sail effect” when buffetted by the wind.  As you move even farther west, to Fergus or Moorhead, for example, the wind is such a factor that the only recourse was to grow larger, heavier people to help keep them grounded during the daily gales.  Similarly, St. Cloud is far enough “inland” that the wind is less of a factor and people can grow to sizes large enough that, like me, they are constantly banging their heads on low-lying impediments.  Well, that’s my theory and I’m sticking with it!

In any event, looking at the match-ups it appeared our Cards were going to be overmatched.  The Tigers were much bigger and appeared to be good athletes.  Plus, they were undefeated in the conference.  So, of course, Karly Betterman, all 5’5″ inches of her, went out and totally dominated the 1st half all by herself with her constant gnat-like defense and by scoring 16 points, which I believe is probably more than she has ever scored in an entire game – and the Cards went on to a 20-point victory.  It’s why they play the game.

2-7-13-27

[Amanda C and Emily Thul (3) play alley-oop over a Tiger.]

2-7-13-28

[No. 23 for the Tigers, Kaila Burroughs, is an all-stater.]

2-7-13-29

[Amanda C looks to take it to the hole . . .]

2-7-13-30

[Draws contact . . .]

2-7-13-31

[And gets to the free throw line.]

2-7-13-32

[The last time I did the full Kohler squat in the living room, both knee caps flew off and took out two lamps and a curio.]

2-7-13-35

[Emily and Jaylen play DEE-FENSE!]

2-7-13-36

[Karly being Karly.]

2-7-13-37

[Karly and Dani hound the Tigers.]

2-7-13-38

[RUN!]

2-7-13-39

[Jess contests a Tiger.]

2-7-13-40

[Dani’s a blur as Karly brings it up.]

2-7-13-41-1

[Back, back!]

2-7-13-42

[A giant heart.  They beat the crap (can you say “crap” in a family publication?) out of her (and Amanda C) all game, but she kept comin’ after ’em.  Here you can see the wadding in her left nostril after she had to go out for repairs to a nose bleed.]

2-7-13-43

[We did something good!]

2-7-13-44

[Amanda C, above, and Karly, below, get freebies.]

2-7-13-45

2-7-13-46

[Jaylen and Emily – Emily hit several base line jumpers in the 2nd half to help us pull away.]

2-7-13-47

[Karly and Emily chase after the pumpkin.]

2-7-13-48

[Karly finishing off a great 1st half getting 2/3’s of the team’s total points.]

2-7-13-49

2-7-13-50

[A point guard’s mom remains a forever fan!  🙂 ]

2-7-13-52

[The staff photographer on the job while mom’s of recent alums converse.]

2-7-13-57

[The band.]

2-7-13-58

[Oh, you figured that out all by yourself.]

2-7-13-60

[The parents of recent alums . . . and one of those alums.]

2-7-13-62

[Dani with a freebie.]

2-7-13-63

[After leading the JV to victory, Macy gets some big varsity minutes.]

2-7-13-64

[The loneliness of the point guard.]

2-7-13-66

[Kalli lowered the arc of her ball flight and had a nice night at the line.]

2-7-13-67

[All by myself . . . again.]

2-7-13-68

[Jess plays the passing lane . . . and below.]

2-7-13-69

2-7-13-71

[The haze on the lower right is from a mass of gray, white, or blond hair in the line of fire.]

2-7-13-72

[Doesn’t anyone want to play with me?]

2-7-13-73-1

[Oh, Emily will.]

2-7-13-77

[Bring it on home, ladies!]

2-7-13-78

[R-E-B-O-U-N-D!]

2-7-13-79

[Jess looks good.]

2-7-13-80

[Kalli receiving congrats.]

2-7-13-82

[Whadya think, Culver’s or Taco John’s?]

2-7-13-83

[The above and below are presented for Kendall’s facial effects . . .]

2-7-13-84

2-7-13-86

[Kendall gets PT!  😉 ]

2-7-13-88

[Looking for some action.]

2-7-13-89

[And here she comes.  At one point Kendall chased after a ball between two large Tigers.  She was pancaked like a piece of lefse during rush hour on Syttende Mai.  But with her 8th-grade body, she popped right up and after retrieving a shoe from the 5th row, continued the fray.]

2-7-13-90

[No problemo!]

2-7-13-91

[These two will be fun to watch over the next four years.]

2-7-13-92

[Along with Ms. Dropik . . .]

2-7-13-93

[Who appears to have the get out and go attitude.]

2-7-13-94A few photos this week from the on-site camera of the new high school construction:

2-2-13

2-3-13

2-4-13-2

2-4-13

2-5-13-2

2-5-13

2-6-13

And, lest you missed it, a 10-foot tall ice heave on Lake Carlos:

carlosiceheave1-30-13echo

[Echo Press photo.]

About tomobert63

The Journey Begins Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described: 10-26-07-4 “It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits. ~ The Editor, May 9, 2014 p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State. *********************************************************************************** Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin! **********************************************************************************
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