alexandriacardinals

[Kismet?  New garage door the day of the season opener!]

Skating Rink by David Francey

So, It’s Hockey Season . . .

[“The Voice” is back in his aerie, this evening assisted by Mitch Loch, coach of the 2008 state champs.]

[Your winter sports schedule . . . and you can’t tell the players without a scorecard.]

[Courtesy of “Weakie,” your winter sports schedule pre-game meal!  🙂  ]

[Your prototypical hockey parents . . .]

[And their prototypical hockey playing progeny.  (Photos borrowed from the O’Connor Facebook page, and Donnacha cannot understand how his solid Irish heritage could have produced three girl hockey players?]

[So this is Onna (32), the eldest of the O’Connor girls, a sophomore playing forward on the JV team against the visiting team from Hastings.]

[This is Kristen Trosvig (15), a freshman forward, who kind of jumped out at us in this game.  She had several length of the ice rushes where she just blew by everybody.  In other words, she’s got wheels!]

[Talia Olson (27), freshman defense, appears to get off a shot in a high traffic zone.]

[Kaia Illies (13), sophomore forward (remember her sisters Claire and Becca?), and Ashten Oberg (3), sophomore forward, top; and Ms. Trosvig back protecting her goalie.]

[Get outa here, you Raider!   Our goalie, No. 35, is not in our program?]

[Another Kristin rush on goal.  The thing we’ve noticed over the years is a rink-long rush, particularly for younger players, ends with losing control of the puck at the goal.  It must be the excitement of having a shot with no one between you and the goalie?]

[Onna, standing her ground!]

[Kaia on face-off.]

[A certain gentleman behind the glass on the right looks strikingly like our son-in-law.]

[Cheers!  In the final seconds of the game, Kristin converted one of her rushes – the only goal of the game!  🙂  ]

[Playing it out . . .]

[We win!]

[The varsity takes the ice.  Gee, you guys came here all the way from Hastings?  You must be really tired?]

[Your Alexandria Cardinals . . . ]

[And the coaches (l-r):  Blair Hovel, Molly Arola, Brittin Boike, and Mark Niska.  In the letter jacket, goalie Bailey Serum, just finished swimming season, i.e., moving from soft water to hard water.]

[Player intros, Lauren Niska (21), junior, 2-year starter on defense, now a forward.]

[Nicole Bartels (23), senior defense.]

[McKenna Ellingson (24), 8th-grade forward.  There are apparently more Ellingsons on the way.]

[Kaitlin Leary (26), sophomore defense.  I owe you one Kaitlin.]

[Really like this shot.  Don’t know why?]

[McKenzie Revering (29), sophomore, 2-year starter on defense now a forward.]

[OK, like the similar one.]

[Amy Jost (33), junior goalie.]

[Super Fan Roger Riley sang the Anthem.  He had an unblemished record until . . . well, I just gave it away.  Super Fan “Weakie” posited after the game that the school song wasn’t played??  Roger’s unblemished record may continue on a technicality?]

[Let’s kick butt!!  (Or words to that effect.)]

[This is our first line.  Two former defensemen and an 8th-grader.  It will be a work in progress, but they are all talented.  Here trying to set up our opening gambit where they can create an opening for Nicole to dart through from her defense position and take off with the puck.]

[McKenna and McKenzie work the boards.  Our “Big Mac” attack?]

[It was a good game.  The teams were pretty evenly matched.]

[After one . . . ]

[After two . . . the goal was scored on a scrum in front of the net.  Yeah, didn’t take a lot of action shots in this game.  Just wanted to see what we’ve got.]

[Ms. Trosvig also played with the varsity – and may have had our best scoring opportunity.]

[Time-out, with seconds left.  We were down 1 – 0, with about 3 minutes left.  One of our Cards was skating shoulder-to-shoulder with the Raiders star player, Kiki Radke, who most certainly is all-state caliber, and they both went down.  The Cardinal got the penalty.  Go figure?  Ha!  So instead of having a chance for the tying goal, we spent most of the final minutes killing the penalty.  When we were finally able to pull our goalie, Radke scored into an empty net with .2 seconds left.  So the final score was 2 – 0.  The next night the Cards traveled to Brooklyn Park to play North Metro – the JV won 6 – 2, and the varsity won 4 – 3 in OT.  Nicole got two goals, including the game winner.]

Apres hockey . . .

[After the game, we immediately bolted to SAWA for Dan Mahar.  He hadn’t performed here for about a year.]

[You know where we are . . . it’s now Saturday afternoon at the winery . . .]

[With Anthony Miltich . . .]

[And with friends.]

[They were advised of the supervisor’s ploy with Piano Man, so they all ran up to Anthony’s tip jar when he got to “. . . and put bread in my jar.”  🙂  ]

[The table behind us – hunting widows? – complained when our table won a 2nd door prize drawing.  So John went back and gave them his prize, immediately befriending the entire table.  Whatta guy!]

[Anthony also had a chat with that table and discovered one of the widows (?) was a singer.  So he invited her up, and she sang “Me and Bobby McGee.”  Not bad!  🙂  ]

[And then that evening it was back to SAWA for Cheese Bots.  The excitement never ends!]

And the Hasz sisters did again . . .

[This was the Upper Midwest regional meet in Sioux Falls.  Now they’ll both be off to the nationals in Oregon!  Photos from their dad.]

[And on Sunday, the high school’s production of “Our Town.”  The kids were really great and put on a wonderful show.  I had to take this photo (no flash!) to show the kind of things they can do now with the performing arts center.]

And then came winter . . .

[It began Monday morning. The first shot was 5:00.  Jami and I went out to shovel at 7:30 and quit at 9:00.  We shoveled the slab, then just down the driveway to clear an exit, and then had to do the slab again.  When it was done, I measured 7 inches on the deck that wasn’t wind blown.  Neighbor Arnie stopped by to laugh.  He was going to leave for Florida for the winter on Tuesday, but put it back another day.  He gave us about 40 pounds of potatoes that Jami’s holding in our winter version of “American Gothic.”]

[And with winter’s onset, brother Cam had to hang up his Cardinal uniform.]

The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.  ~  George Carlin

Up next:  Whatever winter allows.

For the supervisor:

Roses are red, roses are puce,

I like lefse, and so do you yuce.,

Roses are pink, roses are yellow,

Now I’m really, one confused fellow.

[When the trees went bare, neighbor Arnie came over and helped the supervisor double-team the leaves and make the final mow.]

[The League of Women Voters co-sponsored three political forums this season. At this, for the sheriff’s race at city hall, my camera battery went dead after the first photo.  Not a well-prepared faux journalist!]

[October 27 marked the unofficial beginning of the winter sports season with the first girls’ hockey practice.  I noted at the time we seemed to be deep and speedy.  🙂  ]

[Octoberfest on Broadway . . .]

[And at the Maritime Museum!]

[Photo courtesy of Bill Engebretson, who was drumming at the museum that evening.  One of the better cell phone photos I’ve ever seen.  🙂  ]

[November 1 brought on the social event of the season – the annual Turkeyfest at Basketball Dan’s in Woodbury.  Since we were going through St. Paul anyway, we planned a stop at the Science Museum to see “Flight of the Butterflies.”]

[You wanna do what?]

[Well, I’m not sure if you can do that here!]

[Grandma, what big teeth you have?]

[No really, it’s this BIG!]

[It was at some point during my excursions through the museum that I walked through a door marked “stairway exit,” only to find I had locked myself in a stairwell!  I hadn’t noticed any signs about “emergency exit only,” but I schlepped both to the top and the bottom of the stairwell only to find all exit doors locked.  I had visions of future headlines reading, “old man discovered dead in museum stairwell.”  I really don’t remember how I got out?  Anyway, the movie was an interesting history.  I hadn’t realized it was a Toronto couple who wondered where Monarchs went in the winter – and it took them 25 years to ultimately discover it was a three generation (of butterflies) roundtrip north and south.  It was a Monarch tagged in Minnesota that gave them proof that these tiny creatures actually did migrate that far, to the mountains of southern Mexico.]

[Arriving at Dan’s, Sid greets us at the door.  Once lost in the wild fields of eastern suburbia, Dan’s is now pretty much surrounded by malls.]

[The Alexandria Cardinals have arrived, beverage of choice in hand.]

[This long running affair features friends and colleagues from those glorious college days of yesteryear, long before there was even a Woodbury, who meet at Dan’s for a full Thanksgiving dinner (a few weeks before the actual holiday) to gorge on a 26-pounder and all the fixings, and to watch as many college football games as possible.  Most have assigned duties they repeat year after year . . . and a good time is had by all!  🙂  ]

[We returned home for a Central Lakes Concert Association performance the very next day.  Mr. Desare was excellent.]

And then came election day.  Oy!

And thanks again to all the candidates, their families, and the worker bees!  Good job by all!

When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, “Did you sleep good?” I said, “No, I made a few mistakes.  ~  Steven Wright

Up next:  Hockey?

[Friday night, Lisa Lynn is playing at SAWA, I’m hoping for a quick 3 and out by the Cards in the 2nd round of the sections v. Monticello.  Monticello?  Have we ever played them in anything before?  They’re the “Magic,” I know I’ve never heard that nickname before.  As “Weakie” says, “I have no idea what section any sport is in?”  This section extends from Monti to Bemidji, or a plane ride and two bus transfers?  Anyway, with every new visit to the new school, some nice new (3 times in one sentence) additions have been . . . added(?).  New championship banners have gone up as well as banners from the conference schools  – “warms” the place up by covering the stark white walls.]

[The number of  double high fives exchanged over the course of a match . . . well, have you ever wondered where Carl Sagan’s signature quotation, “Billions and billions and . . .,” came from?]

[The Voice checks to make sure I’m in position.]

[And now for the warm-up smack downs served up by assistant coach Jackie Peters, whose other duties include keeping an eye on the Fat Boys at the ‘Y’ every morning.  First up is Abby Aker (15) . . .]

[Then Amanda Haack (11) . . .]

[Abby Pohlen (5) . . .]

[Liz Schultz (1) . . .]

[The band (lots of numbers) – their first appearance when I’ve been here.]

[Student section dressed in anticipation of upcoming holiday.]

[And a ball gets in the way of a shot of “seniors-on-a-stick!”]

[Sheree Saxton, publisher and editor of the Cardinal Connection, also chaperones, and kids with, the kids.]

[The Voice with Assistant Voice, Michelle Johnson – Fourteen ninety on your radio dial.]

[Time for introductions . . .]

[Will always warm the cockles of my heart!  🙂  ]

[Cheer oh cheer for Alex!]

[Ms. Pohlen again . . .]

[Katie Dolan (7) . . .]

[Alexis Stern (8) . . .]

[Hmmm, I have no 9 in my program?]

[Gracie Schroeder (10) . . .]

[Ms. Aker (15) . . .]

[Syri Williams (14) . . .]

[Ponytailed number? . . .]

[Ms. Schultz (1) . . .]

[Kalley Bistodeau (2) . . .]

[Morgan Melrose (4) . . .]

[Brooke Swanson (6) . . .]

[Ms. Haack (11) . . .]

[Jordyn Lamb (12) . . .]

[Gretchen Watkins (3).]

[Coach Becky Schlichting]

[Katie with the game’s first serve, with Kalley on her left.]

[Then rush in on defense.]

[Liz,up front, directs her fellow netmates, Amanda and Jordyn.]

[OK, we did good on that one.]

[Alexis serves, with Gretchen with her on the back line.  She may have been our most consistent server in the first two games.]

[Kalley serving with Liz on the side.]

[Brooke and Morgan on a block attempt.]

[And you are this year’s Publishers’ Clearinghouse winners!!]

[Double high fives all around!]

[Hey, that was fun, let’s do another!]

[I was thinking at the time that the joy of playing the game is just so much fun because this occurred just after our own serving fault?]

[Jordyn and Liz on the block . . .]

[It must have been a successful one.]

[The Fourth Estate]

[Liz has been outstanding as the season winds down.  But I notice she does get warm out there.  A true Minnesotan, not likely to become a snowbird?  😉  ]

[Kalley goes for a kill.]

[Brooke and Amanda leap and . . . where’d it go?]

[Amanda serving with Liz . . . and the double blue garbage cans guarding the rear flank.]

[There was no doubt the Cards were the better team.  A 3 – 0 sweep was looking good to me as the super and friends were holding down a table at SAWA.]

[Aaaayyyyyyyyyyy!!!]

[Liz again marshaling her net forces.]

[And then jump serving.]

[And then attempting a block on their 6’1″ hitter.]

[And then hitting over their 6’1″ player, who I understand is being considered for all-state honors.  Well, we pretty much had her number on the night.]

[Liz and Kalley]

[Morgan and Liz going to block the “tall one.”  I notice Liz is kinda ducking her head here.  Earlier the “tall one” really cracked one, and Liz just laughed at the unreturnable shot and held her ears.]

[The seniors on the big board.]

[Two relatively easy wins – we were clearly the superior team.  So, it will be over soon, right?]

[OK, let’s wrap this up in 3!  And then we can all go to SAWA to see Lisa!  🙂  ]

[Amanda awaits the play, Liz towels off, Jordyn and Morgan discuss the morning’s biology class.]

[That was good, let’s just ride out this big early lead.]

[The end is nigh . . . ]

[Alexis serves . . .]

[Amanda points to the rightfield bleachers, calling her shot?]

[Gretch readying for the perfect set.]

[After a big early lead, the Magic came back and actually had a lead in the teens.]

[Alexis as the free safety behind three linebackers.]

[Yo, band guys!]

[Jordyn and Liz for the block.]

[The Cards had a 24 – 19 lead . . . ]

[The students were singing, “Hey, hey, hey, good-bye . . .”]

[And then a finny thing happened . . .]

[The Magic started winning points . . . ]

[And they got a lead??]

[Then this may have been what the Cards thought was the winning shot . . . ]

[Liz thought she hit the line with a kill – but it was ruled out.  The Magic went on to win the game.  I had to go.  The Cards came back to easily (again) win the 4th game and the match.]

[The next day the supervisor thought I’d be a good time for me to start downsizing my storage in the guest bedroom.  Meanwhile, the Cards prepare for their semi-final match against No. 1-seed Sartell, at their place on Tuesday.]

Tasteless, once again.  ~  The Nanner

Up next:  Gonna try to see the girls’ hockey first practice today.

I have three sporting events in the queue right now, so I’ve decided to combine two of them.  The football game won’t take up a lot of space – because I was late arriving and made up for it by leaving early.  And cross-country, though I was there the whole time, just takes a matter of minutes for completion.  So, first up . . .

[The morning of the first section football game dawned sunny and . . . leafless!  This was Tuesday as our Cards were hosting St. Cloud Tech.]

[I actually didn’t arrive until a few minutes were left in the first quarter.  I had been taking a Community Education class across the street at Grand Arbor, and when you come out of their lobby you’re looking right across the street at the Cardinal side of the football stadium.  There were very few fans there.  It wasn’t that cold, but it was the second of what was to be three straight days of gale force winds.  As the supervisor says, “I didn’t mind moving to Minnesota because of the cold, but I never realized it was always windy!”]

[The Cards were up 7 – 0 on a short field TD after a Tiger turnover, and here we had another short field after an interception and return.]

[The Cards scored again on a short pass catch and run by Justin Cumberbatch.  🙂  ]

[Tech has a sophomore quarterback and a sophomore halfback who were both very impressive on this drive . . . ]

[They will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.]

[Well, that’s it for football.  The Tigers had the ball for what seemed the entire second quarter, marching the length of the field for a touchdown that made the halftime score 13 – 7.  This was the Tech kickoff after their touchdown as we follow the run back by Cumberbatch.  I left at halftime – my clothes were being shredded by the wind.  So I saw very little of a Cardinal offense.  I will defer to the Echo Press then for the story.]

http://www.echopress.com/content/football-alexandria-rolls-section-semifinals-win-over-tech

http://www.echopress.com/content/impact-upon-arrival

http://www.echopress.com/content/roste-growing-his-role

See next we play Moorhead, the No. 1 section seed.  Remember we had them beat until the last minute in the first game of the year?  And Cumberbatch wasn’t the running back then.  But some funny things have happened since then.  Bemidji totally dominated us, and then Moorhead totally dominated Bemidji.  So, go figure?  [This just in:  Moorhead won, but it was the best Cardinal season in a few years – and it looks good for the future.]

[Allegedly classmates of mine, according to their FB post.  I don’t think so!  Maybe their mothers?  This photo has absolutely nothing to do with the preceding or proceeding.]

[The next morning – to prove that the previous day’s leafless day was not a fluke.  It was the morning of the cross-country section championships at Arrowwood.]

[Mark Nelsen, recently retired coach who still dabbles in course and runner maintenance and marvels at the Fat Boys at the Y every morning, offered me a ride to the finish line this time.  But his cab appeared to be full . . .]

[Will the runners please report to the starting line!]

[The boys were first . . . and here they go.]

[The Cards’ Aaron Runge is in the lead pack at the first switchback.]

[He’s 2nd from the left.]

[And the peloton.]

[Aaron’s still right there.]

[Then a couple of Cards.]

[And a couple more Cards.  We were a favorite team coming in.]

[The loneliness of the cross-country fan.]

[Aaron has the lead.]

[All his teammates keeping a good pace.]

[Aaron crossing the finish line in 3rd place individually for the Cards leading them to the team championship!  All their placements are at the end.   I did not take this photo – it was taken by the gentleman in the following photo.  You may recall from the Lions’ meet a couple of weeks ago it was a long amble to the finish line and back again to the starting line.  I decided not to chance it lest I miss the start of the girls’ race.]

[Said photographer of the preceding picture.  Doug Hasz is a close personal relative of a couple of the competitors in the upcoming race.]

[The girls begin prepping.]

[Okay ladies, huddle up . . .]

[Split right, Z-square, toss power trap left, on two!]

[Well, Nelsen has an empty cargo carrier now?]

[Please assemble, the start is in two minutes . . .]

[And yes the Hasz sisters, Megan and Bethany, also double as punters for the football team.]

[And they’re off, with Megan and Bethany jumping to an early lead, as usual.]

[Dad sets up at the first switchback site . . .]

[By then his daughters already have a substantial lead on the field.  The field, incidentally, included the No. 3 in the state ranked runner, the No.-1 ranked team, and, I believe, two other teams in the top ten.]

[A quick, no viewfinder look shot of who dad later confirmed to be Megan as she flashed by.]

[And here comes the No. 3-ranked runner, Jenna Trudeson (199), and a Bemidji teammate in 3rd and 4th positions.]

[And from the archives, the sisters and Trudeson in the section finals two years ago.]

[The peloton.]

[And some Cardinals.  🙂  ]

[A couple of switchbacks later, the field is no longer in sight.]

[In what seemed like minutes later, the Bemidji runners appear at the top of the hill.  I went directly from here to the finish line so I wouldn’t miss it as I did in the Lions’ meet.

[Megan and Bethany complete an amazing performance, far ahead of the field.  As my former principal, Wayne Elton, noted, they seemed to be fresh as daisies at the end while enjoying tea and crumpets with friends and family.  It was a very warm day at 68 degrees, not conducive too distance running, and several runners collapsed at or near the finish line.  They were all immediately tended to so all were OK.]

[Trudeson eventually finished 5th . . . ]

[And all the Cardinals, whose placings follow.  Congratulations to all of them . . .]

Because you can’t tell the players without a scorecard, from the Cardinal Connection:

CROSS COUNTRY

SECTION 8AA

CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS at Arrowwood here in Alexandria!!!!

It was an exciting section meet for both our girls and boys varsity on a great course that we have run before at the Lions Invite almost three weeks ago. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect for the fans!!!  Maybe a tad bit warm for the runners, but no one was complaining.  The coaches were extremely pleased with the great preparation, great focus, great attitudes and great effort of these runners.  Our boys and girls both knew going in that we are in a very competitive section with only the top two teams and top eight individuals advancing to the state. 

Girl’s Report:  The Alexandria girls’ team knew they were a bit beat up and were ranked as sixth or seventh place team on paper by many coaches.   Willmar, Bemidji, Monticello, Sartell, and Moorhead had defeated them soundly more than once.  Alexandria ended up with a great performance of 5^th place with many underclass individuals to help us out.  Their potential is great. The coaches were so proud of their efforts.  Willmar was the class of the section and many believe are a legit top team at state.  

Girls’ Team Scores:   Willmar 38, Bemidji 69, Moorhead 83, Monticello 145, Alexandria 147, Sartell 152, St. Cloud Tech 199, Brainerd 236, Rocori 269, Becker 278, Detroit Lakes 291, St. Cloud Apollo 320, Thief River Falls 335, Little Falls 341, Fergus Falls 371, Sauk Rapids Rice 455 

Individually Megan and Bethany Hasz continue to do their “twin thing” with another 1-2 finish, separating themselves from a championship field by almost 1 minute and Megan posting the fastest time ever on this course for girls 13:41.  Megan Shulstad ran a 16:29 season best time on a challenging course.   Ellie Hurlen toughed it out with the season and we are ready for this fierce competitor for another season.  Calley Richardson and Kayla Egenes, freshman, will also be back next year and finished off this season with great confidence. Allison O’Kane did not get to race with a late season injury, but will definitely be a part of this solid core team that has a fun potential for next year. And last but not least we will miss our Senior Hannah Wendel who works so hard and has been a great leader. 

Individually for the Alex girls:  Megan Hasz 1, Bethany Hasz 2, Megan Shulstad 39, Ellie Hurlen 49, Callie Richardson 56, Kayla Egenes 80, Hannah Wendel 91

Runners of the Meet:  Girls: Megan and Bethany Hasz along with Megan Shulstad. 

Boy’s Report: The Alexandria boy’s team knew they were going to be in some tough competition with many exceptional runners especially form Bemidji battling for two slots to advance to the state meet down at St. Olaf.   It was an amazing race to watch.  I’m not sure anyone could tell the team finish order because of the quality of runners up front and many alex runners and Bemidji runners.  Bemidji had 5 runners in front of our five runners, so it was too close to call.   The Alexandria boys were instilled with confidence after winning the CLC last week.   In addition, they ran very well on this course in early October at the Lion Invite placing 4^th with some impressive teams there.  They truly expected to run well.   Coming into the meet, Bemidji was the team to beat and Alexandria came home with the Section Championship beating Bemidji by five points!!!!  Hats off to the BOYS ALEXANDRIA CROSS COUNTRY TEAM FOR BATTLING TO THE END AND EARNING THE 1^st PLACE FINISH WITH A SCORE OF 72! Bemidji put five solid races together also and had a great race, we will be looking to continuing our improvements and do well at state!  Bemidji was 2^nd with 77, Detroit Lakes 3^rd with 123, Moorhead 4^th with 148 and Willmar 5^th at 158.

Full Team Scores: Alexandria 72, Bemidji 77, Detroit Lakes 123, Moorhead 148, Willmar 158, Little Falls 159, Rocori 170, Sartell 183, Brainerd 197, Monticello 215, St. Cloud Tech 231, Becker 307, St. Cloud Apollo 421, Sauk Rapids Rice 422, Thief River Falls 442, Fergus Falls 447

Individually for Alexandria, Aaron Runge ran 16:23 finishing 3rd making him an individual qualifier to state, with a great performance.  Also John Kumorowicz continues to impress with a 9^th place finish with a solid time of 16:52.  Brandon Jerde came through also with a 17:11. Colton Sailor also had a good race running a 17:23.  Senior Jesse Groettum is a fierce aggressive competitor finishing with a time of 17:24.  Grant Rudolph, junior, ran a very determined race finishing at 17:45.  Keaton Gruber, 9^th grader, demonstrated great consistency with a time of 17:47. 

Individually for the Alex boys:  Aaron Runge 3, John Kumorowicz 9, Brandon Jerde 15, Colton Sailor 22,  Jesse Groettum 23, Grant Rudolph 32, Keaton Gruber 33

Megan and Bethany Hasz and our boys’ varsity team are excited about representing their school and the opportunity to compete at the State Cross Country Meet a week from Saturday at St. Olaf College.

Runners of the meet for the Boys team was the TEAM – Section Champions

[Award ceremony photos taken by Mr. Hasz.  And congratulations to all!  I had already fled to the next event of the day, which I believe was some sort of political forum.]

[For the second year in a row, we will not be able to attend the state meet in St. Olaf next Saturday as it once again conflicts with Basketball Dan’s turkeyfest.]

Last week I forgot how to ride a bicycle.  ~  Steven Wright

Up next:  Volleyball . . . and, hey, don’t forget to see The Addams Family at the AAAA!