alexandriacardinals

Well, I suppose you’re wondering what this photo has to do with hockey (I know I would be!).  Let me ‘splain:

Thanks again to Mikko and Carlson Music Center for bringing David Francey back to Alex.  And last night [Tuesday] he was introduced by Alexandria mayor, Sara Carlson, who apparently has some connection to the facility (in fact, Ron was a late arrival to the concert as he was down at their new store location in Woodbury).  Sara introduced them as “David Francey and the guys.”  Well, Francey picked right up on that noting they haven’t established a group name and are just known collectively as “David Francey.”  😉  He said the banjo player suggested “David Francey and the Tour de Francey.”  I kinda like “David Francey and the Guys.”

Here’s his video of “Skating Rink,” which impressively is the theme song of Hockey Day in Canada broadcasts:

“Skating Rink”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq_07HbxIUU

So, now you know.  🙂  Friday was the season opener for the Cardinal girls’ hockey team.  We lost six key seniors off last year’s team – and our participation numbers are down.  Yet, we enter the new season with optimism about another state tournament run.  We had a turnover in the coaching staff.  Blair Hovel, who was the assistant coach when we won the state championship in ’08, is back as the head coach.  Ashley Secord-Holmes, who was an all-state defenseman on the ’08 team and has graduated from North Dakota where she played D-1 hockey for four years, is now an assistant coach.  And when we look back, we started following girls’ hockey in ’03, when Ashley’s class were 8th-graders, and are now beginning our 11th year as Super Fans!  And our Fans-ness hasn’t waned.

Alexandria – 6, Albert Lea – 0

We didn’t know what the Tigers would bring.  But they didn’t stress us much.  It was a good start – the Cards dominating play throughout after a feeling out start.  Here’s the player introduction, Roger Riley remains undefeated as the singer of the National Anthem, and a few minutes of the start of play:

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni8whpP5xBA

[Coaches Ashley Secord-Holmes, Blair Hovel, and returnee, Brittin Boike]

[The new coaches]

[And here we go . . . with sophomore forward, Hanah Hansen (11).  As you’ll recall from last year, when Hanah was on the fast developing 3rd line as a freshman, she is the grand niece of Oscar-nominated actor, John Hawkes.]

[Senior co-captains Melissa Drown (6) and Taylor Ellingson (24) with sophomore defenseman Karina Carlsen (31).  I’m assuming Karina is the younger sister of last year’s senior, Anna, who also wore 31.  🙂  On a team whose strength appears to be on defense (Coach Hovel wants these defensemen to be aggressive offensively), we note that both Melissa and Taylor began their varsity careers on defense and are now expected to be leading scorers as forwards.  I recall my youthful brain used to remember who scored every goal, and in what period.  Now I can’t.  I know in this game Melissa had 3 assists and was named player-of-the-game.  I’ll report back later as to who scored all the goals when I get the official game report.]

[Let the scrum begin!]

[Karina, up close and personal.]

[The puck tries to escape the mayhem by rolling along the boards.]

[Sophomore forward, Sam Klimek (37), and junior forward, Micaela Swenson (34).  Sam’s jersey still has “Illies” on the back, for Becca who had the number last year!  😉 ]

[Junior defenseman Nicole Bartels (23) will get her share of points this year.]

[Another “rookie,” sophomore forward McKenna Schroeder (28).]

[Sophomore forward Mari Wosepka (18) with Nicole.]

[Sam]

[McKenna]

[McKenna and Nicole]

[McKenna and Sam.  By luck of the shutter, I seemed to be mainly capturing our new starters early on.]

[“The Voices” in deep concentration.]

[Well, for Pete’s-sake, is that Kim Kardashian at a hockey game?]

[Mel and Karina]

[Are they passing out Blizzard coupons on the bench?]

[The door is open, come on in . . . said the spider to the fly.]

[I heard the volleyball team got double hot fudge Blizzards?]

[Nicole on a rush from her defense position.]

[ . . . and still going.]

[I can’t wait for the door to open; I’m going over the top!]

[Do you believe in those Kim Kardashian sightings?]

[Next shift!]

[Taylor and Mel]

[Nicole and sophomore defenseman Lauren Niska (21).]

[Lauren]

[Yup, Lauren.  Well, we have a Victoria Heights connection.]

[Just a guess, but I believe it’s a . . . GOOOAAAALLLLLL!]

[GOOOOOALLLLLL . . .]

[GOOOOAAAALLLLLLL . . .]

[Mel in hot pursuit . . .]

[Her pursuit appears to have been successful . . .]

[Ending with a shot.]

[We noticed Ashley . . .]

[Was continually educating her charges . . .]

[After each shift.  🙂 ]

[Smiling through mouth pieces . . . a goal?]

[Must be a . . . GOOOOALLLLLL!]

[Such an important goal that Hanah was escorted to her bench by two Tigers?]

[Good job!]

[Mel]

[You may have noticed she was the outdoor maître d’ at Bug-A-Boo this summer.]

[Table for one?  In hockey attire?  Well, she “served up” three goals in this game!  😉 ]

[Nicole]

[Well, I took two so I may as well use them.]

[They say . . .]

[You should always tackle . . .]

[The one you love.  In the previous photo, the ref signals a two-point takedown for Hanah.  😉 ]

[OK, it was another . . .]

[GOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!]

[Junior forward Kaila Dewanz (7)]

[After 2 periods.]

[The puck shoot takes place between periods.  After a hockey mom (I believe?) drilled one through a $25.00 hole, Cardinal alum and past goalie, Stephanie Drown (yup, Mel’s older sister) put one cleanly through the $100.00 hole!]

[Maybe she should have been a forward?  Rink manager Vinnie (in black) greets her with a smile.]

[The $25.00 hockey mom (?) on the right.]

[That’s Steph’s and Mel’s mom, Denise, on the right.  I asked her the next night if Steph took the family out to dinner that night?]

[Meanwhile, back at the game . . .]

[Taylor and Mel]

[After game dinner plans?  Senior forward Rachel Drew (4).]

[Amy, what are you doing over here?  Sophomore goalie Amy Jost (33).]

[I can’t believe she stopped that shot?  I thought I had the 5-hole?]

[Freshman defenseman McKenzie Revering (“Little Rev”) (29) and Mari]

[Little Rev and Lauren.  Get used to seeing these two together a lot!  Three more years of jointly powering the ship.]

[We’re undefeated!]

[One down . . . well, several to go.]

[Do we have to go home now?]

[Post-game fist pumps.]

[Ashley, you’re 1 – 0 as an assistant coach!  🙂 ]

Belatedly:  The scoring summary from Sheree Oberg in the Cardinal Connection:

1st Period:  Lauren;

2nd Period:  Taylor, Hanah, and Rachel;

3rd Period:  Lauren (again) and Mari.

Up next:  The next night’s game v. North Metro, with pre-game at the winery and post-game at SAWA.  Is that like a perfect day, or what?  😉

[“Weakie” gets distressed if the power play ain’t clicking!]

I was reminded of this by Rachel Barduson’s column in Wednesday’s Echo.  Thanks, Rachel!:

[Attribution:  This photo is on loan from Bob Cunniff’s Facebook page.  The photo was taken by Doug Hasz.  The subjects are Doug’s daughters, Megan (67) and Bethany (68) (and I hope I got that right), and their cross country coach, Mark Nelsen.  Bethany had just won the state cross country meet, with Megan finishing second.  Certainly the highlight of a terrific fall sports season for Cardinal girls.]

[Attribution:  This photo was pilfered from the Echo Press website.  It shows the Hasz sisters leading the pack in the state cross country meet held Saturday at St. Olaf.]

But before Saturday, there was Friday night . . .

[The supervisor and I went up to Fergus Falls to see our Cardinals play the Moorhead Spuds for the section volleyball championship.  It was our first road trip of the year . . .]

[And, of course, the first priority of any road trip is . . . where are we going to eat?  As kind of a last minute decision, we decided on Bello Cucina in downtown Fergus, not far from the high school.]

[Inside I noticed a couple on the far side of the room.  I said to the supervisor, “That looks like Paulette Friday over there?”  It was, and she, Alexandria’s story teller, and her husband Ralph stopped by on their way out.  🙂 ]

[For “Weakie,” blackened swordfish with corn salsa and sweet potato fries.  🙂 ]

Spuds – 3, Cardinals – 1

Then it was on to the game.  There were apprehensions.  The No. 1-seeded Cards had already beaten the Spuds twice during the regular season, but they were close games.  And the old adage is, it’s hard to beat a team three times in one season.  Plus, the Spuds were peaking at the playoffs.  The Cardinals peaked in their lead up to the conference championship, which they won against Rocori in the penultimate conference game.  Since that game, however, the Cards had been unable to capture that mojo, and struggled in the first two rounds of the sections.  Our fears were unfortunately confirmed.

[In the Fergus gym, the coaches . . .]

[The band . . .]

[The team . . .]

[The team heading back to the coaches . . . everything goes full circle?]

[Warming up with Wensia . . .]

[And Morgan . . .]

[And the whole team . . .]

[I don’t know whether it was a conscious decision . . .]

[But I probably took most of the “action” photos . . .]

[During warm-ups so I could just be a fan during the game.]

[Amanda C . . .]

[And Emily, with Amanda H to follow . . .]

[And the aforementioned Amanda H . . .]

[And looks like Liz . . .]

[Yup, Liz . . .]

[And Wensia . . .]

[And Brooke . . .]

[And looks like Kalley . . .]

[And Amanda C, again . . . The competition, a/k/a, the school photographer, is in the background.  Seeking advice from a professional, I asked him what advice could he give me.  He said point at your subject and push the button down.  😉  Well, he noted he did shoot at a really high ISO, 6400!]

[Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair . . .  (OK, I’ve probably used that before.)]

[WENSIA!!  The cry from the crowd when she buries one.  🙂 ]

[And Emily . . .]

[Ooops?]

[And Amanda H . . .]

[And we’ll finish with Alexis . . .]

[Lookin’ good!  🙂 ]

[Ready for player introductions?]

[Let’s do it!!]

[The fan club made it . . . in fact, we had a good turn out of Alex folks!]

[So, do we get to go to Mable Murphy’s after the game?]

[Or should we wait until we get home and do D. Michael B’s?]

[Kalley, can you get us a table for 20?]

[What?  No Blizzards?]

[“The Twins” are ready . . .]

[We’ll see them in the same positions next year.]

[And we’re playing . . .]

[Liz will be back next year.]

[Wensia appears to be the subject of everyone’s attention, including “The Voices” who were hiding behind the net from me.]

[Liz and Amanda H track the ball to the Spuds side . . .]

[Our point!]

[Now the first step in the tango is a slide step right.]

[Can you tango?]

[My only support back here are the drummers?]

[As Kalley serves, band director Greg DeGier (background) holds up the sign-up sheet for the compulsory spit valve maintenance class.]

[I’ll take Wensia to block.]

[Did she or didn’t she?]

[No way!  Kim Kardashian couldn’t have followed us from Alex?]

[Let’s have a meeting?]

[There she is again?]

[Jump, Kalley!]

[Game 1, we came back nicely from an early deficit.  And now I became mostly a fan . . .]

[Future Cards?]

[Game 2, this time we couldn’t quite overcome a big early deficit.]

[We gotta get untracked here!]

[Yah, sure, you betcha!]

[Game 3, this one was the killer.  We fell way behind, large double digits.  And staged a great rally that almost caught them at the end.  By not being able to pull it off really sapped any chance we had in Game 4.]

The Spuds played really well and deserved to win.  The Cards fell way behind early in every game and that has to be physically and mentally stressful playing catch up all the time.  The Cards never were able to maintain any successes.  Looking back, it’s amazing the games were as close as they were.  We must have a set a record for net violations in this match – lots of free points for the Spuds.  And though we served well this time, we had several instances of not playing the ball, thinking it was going out and it didn’t.   But it was a fun season – and congratulations to the team for their conference championship.  The team was very entertaining to watch . . . and has now made the supervisor a big time fan.  She said she couldn’t sleep after we lost this game!  😉  Good luck and thanks to seniors Amanda C and Emily, though we’ll see them in other sports yet this school year.  And we look forward to next year!

Saturday Professor Anthony Miltich was at the winery.  There was a good crowd, so once again it was pretty noisy.  Nevertheless, I took three videos:

“Departure”:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzdnE42dmWk

[We believe this was the class of ’74 from Lisbon, North Dakota – they said they were planning for their 40th reunion.  One of the classmates is now an Alexandrian!  🙂 ]

“Make You Feel My Love”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkjOPsq5qFg

[Anthony with Debi Kilde . . . they once were part of a tour group.]

“Home on the Prairie”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqlIMA_1ALI

The last song was spontaneous and unrehearsed.  Makes it fun.  Anthony should feel free to ask Debi to join him anytime.  😉

Up next:  I was hoping (for all the good reasons) to miss next weekend’s girls’ hockey season openers – we would rather have gone to the Cities for the state volleyball tournament.  Now we’ll look forward to hockey against Albert Lea on Friday night and against North Metro on Saturday night.  Then on Saturday, rush immediately to SAWA to catch as much of Lisa Lynn as possible!

Oh, and we won, 3 – 0 over Detroit Lakes in the section semifinals.  [The final will be Friday in Fergus Falls v. Moorhead.]

[Tuesday night, the team lines up for the last volleyball player introductions ever at the Jefferson High School gymnasium, a facility so old that this reporter played on it when he was the age of these players!  The floor has been replaced, and Dave Harris is a couple generations down the announcer tree from Ray Lang, but it is essentially the same place.  It was on this very floor (well, the original floor) I first discovered I needed glasses.  Because baseball season always began when snow was still on the ground, our initial practices took place in the gym, and I got hit by a ball in a place one does not like to get hit by a ball because I couldn’t see it.  Here everyone is looking to the far end of the court because of another alleged Kim Kardashian sighting.]

[Sheree attempts oversight of the student section.]

[DL came with fans . . . and a banner!]

[The future leaders of our country . . .]

[Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, doesn’t it?  😉 ]

Before game commencement, Kohler (the girls’ basketball coach) walked by, noticed us, and stopped for a chat.  Ever the victim of my cub reporter instincts, I asked her to explain the current plethora of terrific girl athletes in our school system?  Without hesitation, she replied, “Coaching!”  That, of course, was the perfect answer.  Ha!  🙂  And now the video to start the game:

Player intros and game start:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm-9ai98enM

[Gretchen leads off our still coverage; Sheree watches nervously from the background.]

[Amanda H and probably Liz go up for a block.  As noted in the video, the Cards jumped off to a quick early lead.]

[Chaos theory in practice.]

[It’s like making 6 chess moves . . . simultaneously!  😉 ]

[I’ll cover the vertical if you handle the diagonal?]

[You cannot run a play without the preliminary high five.]

[OK, is everybody finally in their correct place?]

[The Amanda H jump serve . . .]

[Amanda does this well, as does Amanda C.  But the team has had issues with serves in the last couple of games . . . it would be nice to get that straightened out as we move up the competition chain.]

[OK, what just happened?]

[What’s that, coach?]

[The ball flies high as the Cards attempt a block.]

[It must have flown high and long as there was cause for celebration!]

[Coach’s play worked!]

[Liz’s jump serve.  It hasn’t been quite as reliable since her finger dislocation, and having her ring finger and pinkie taped together has got to effect her feel for the ball.]

[Get ready!]

[Concentrate now . . .]

[Now up!!]

[My sources advised No. 12 for the Lakers has a Division 1 golf scholarship.  She and her partner, No. 3, had a height advantage on us and really gave us fits in the first two games.]

[Wensia, and the crowd behind her, are hoping it goes out!]

[After our big early lead, the Cards wandered into the Twilight Zone for a while, as young teams are wont to do.  They never get panicky, however . . . their fans get panicky, but they don’t.  So after the Lakers tied the game late, they just take an attitude of enough of this silliness, let’s end this thing!]

[Known patrons of the arts . . .]

[And they like sports, too.  😉 ]

[The high “X” is a new one for me?]

[This is the happiest team.  They’re even smiling through their rough patches.]

[Emily, Kalley, and Liz are on the back line for this rotation.]

[Let’s get a good return here!]

[The front line readies . . .]

[We did good!]

[So let’s celebrate!]

[Now get ready for the next point.]

[Liz and Amanda H go up for a block.]

[Then return back to the earth.]

[One of my favorite shots.  Their No. 3, as I recall, is 6’1″ and was really tough for us to handle.  But here, Amanda H, all 5’5″ of her, goes up as a solo blocker . . .]

[And stuffs it!  🙂 ]

[And then it was interrupted by the bane of the sports photographer.  😉 ]

[Sheree somehow manages all this without a whip and a chair . . .]

[But they all have a good time together!]

[One of those games where our serving didn’t allow us to get anything going.  It was a close game all way, and the Lakers actually had a one point lead at around 20.  But again, the Cards finished strong.]

[No going to a 5th game tonight . . .]

[So double hot fudge Blizzards are out!]

[DL’s toast, let’s wrap this up . . .]

[Hey, I just saw Kim Kardashian over there!]

[Seriously, ask Sheree . . .]

[She was by the blue garbage can!]

[Yeah, good one, Kalley!  😉 ]

[Hey, did you hear Jess Lourey has a new book coming out?]

[Yeah, January Thaw, should be available by Christmas.  It’s the 9th of her murder-by-month mysteries that take place in Battle Lake.]

[And that Mrs. Berns is a hoot!!]

[And speaking of Jess Lourey, if we can’t have double hot fudge, I want a Nut Goodie Blizzard!]

[I hear ya!]

[“The Twins” played great.  Kalley was player-of-the-game.]

[The fans are psyched.]

[Just a reminder about the importance of potassium.]

[No. 12 gives it a swat . . .]

[But is out of control and goes under the net.]

[Point for the Cardinals.]

[Final team meeting . . .]

[This game was never in doubt . . .]

[As the Cardinals were firing on all cylinders.]

[Amanda H and Liz go up.  The fans are zeroed in on the action.]

[Where’d it go?]

[Kalley’s got it.]

[And then our expansive coverage of celebration with a singe shot, here including “The Voices,” the team, and the students . . .]

[Then just the team and the students . . .]

[Then just the team.]

[That was fun.  Let’s do it again . . .]

Then I videoed the end of the game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny_VncJmW7A

[And we wrap it up with the cheerleaders.]

[See y’all next year at Alexandria Area High School!]

[Reportedly all will acknowledge acquaintance with the Super Fans.  😉 ]

[Our Jami with PBS superstar, David Brancaccio (left).]

On to Fergus!