January 22
[The Super “slummed” us again . . . the 340 Hotel, i.e., the top couple of floors of the St. Paul Athletic Club. We’ve stayed here before for previous tourneys – 4 block walk to the ‘X’. We had a gigantic suite with two bathrooms (for one night) . . . ]
[Jeanne and Ken Howell were staying here also, down for other business. But they said they had a room the size of a closet. But then they went Groupon – ha!]
[Did we mention the room came with a bottle of champagne?]
[Hi! We’re here! At the ‘X’! Again!]
[Cards take the ice.]
[The band was here . . . ]
[Hockey moms were here . . . ]
[Let’s get ready to rumbbbblllllleeeee!]
[We’re cheering for the team in red.]
[Goalie Sarah Finley (1)]
[Team introductions on the big board.]
[Ashton Oberg (3)]
[Josie Minnerath (6)]
[Anna Doherty (7)]
[Marki Oberg (10)]
[Marki and Megan Pesta (8), got out of order here?]
[Kaia Illies (13)]
[Mayson Toft (14)]
[Kristin Trosvig (15)]
[Hadlee Hansen (18)]
[Calley Richardson (19)]
[Alexis Heckert (20)]
[McKenna Ellingson (24)]
[Erin O’Kane (26)]
[Talia Olson (27)]
[McKenzie Revering (29)]
[Madisson Gay (35)]
[Taylor Breitkreutz (34), out of order again?]
[Allison O’Kane (36) – I missed Olivia Kopp (40)?]
[Head coach Molly Arola. A little something I learned about Coach Arola just recently. Our Cards were state class A champs in 2008. That team only lost one game all year – 1-0, in OT, at Grand Rapids/Greenway. Grand Rapids/Greenway went on to be state class AA runner-up that year to Eden Prairie. Molly played on that Grand Rapids/Greenway team.]
[The long red line.]
[Remember, Cossetta’s after the game!]
[Oh, we’re playing The Blake School. Blake is defending state champions. They are the No. 1 seed and have been ranked number one all year. They have won more class A state championships than any other team. They belong in class AA. They’re finally moving up there next year.]
[Alexis takes on all the Bears.]
[What we all learned about why they are the No. 1 team is their ability to forecheck.]
[The defensive duo of Mayson and Rev.]
[Video covering the ref?]
[Is that Alexis again?]
[A Bear circles between McKenna and Mayson.]
[Taylor on D, a solid year.]
[Maybe the Cards have a numbers advantage?]
[What makes them so hard to take is this line is two freshmen and a sophomore. Makes it hard for the rest of the class to catch up with them.]
[Cards enter the offensive zone, not an easy thing to do against the Bears.]
[McKenna fighting for the puck.]
[Face-off in our offensive zone.]
[Alexis again.]
[A face-off in their zone with Anna, Alexis, Josie, and Allison.]
[Kristin and Josie]
[Here’s that line again.]
[We’re all even. Skated with them the whole period.]
[Three from the Super . . . ]
[Period 2]
[Oy, get on ’em!]
[Looks like Kristin got the draw.]
[McKenna on the attack – but whenever we did enter their zone with speed, they always seemed to have defenders around.]
[Here comes McKenna again.]
[Crossed swords?]
[It was somewhere around this time that we had a great chance to score. Kristin stickhandled in from the left and her shot looked like it hit the pipe. We took several swipes at rebounds but couldn’t score. I think we all felt if we had scored first . . . maybe?]
[Josie takes a shot at it.]
[They scored late in the 2nd. Still a close game.]
[Sarah was terrific.]
[In the 3rd period, their forechecking was wearing us down. When they got their 2nd goal, we knew how hard it would be to come back.]
[Not quite.]
[Coach Arola takes a time out. Yeah, we played very well against what essentially is a Twin Cities all-star team.]
[Close again.]
[Just have to tip your hat to them. But for the sake of competitive balance, glad they’re finally moving to class AA. They’ve dominated class A for too long, winning the championship again in a not very close game.]
[And a wrap-up from the Super . . . ]
[After the game, as usual, we went to Cossetta’s for a fine dining experience . . . BECAUSE IT’S THE LAW!]
[We’ll see you at Ridder tomorrow at noon!]
You miss 100% of the shots you never take. ~ Wayne Gretzky.
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