alexandriacardinals

To understand America, it is merely necessary to understand Minnesota. ~ Sinclair Lewis

Oy! (Thus proving I do not understand Minnesota, preferring the monosyllabic “oy” to its local equivalent “uffda,” because it is a space saver except when one employs a long parenthetical explanatory narrative.) Joyce Rogosheske is a leading proponent of the old axiom: It’s hard to beat a team three times in one season! Last night it gave us pause, for a while.

The Cards came out logy last night – possibly as a result of nervousness over the first tournament game, or . . . because their record is 22-3 (15-3 in conference) while Rocori is 4-23 (3-15 in conference), and the Cards won both regular season games by a total of 46 points! Alex usually jumps on a team like Rocori from the outset and bounds out to an early lead. They couldn’t shake the pesky Spartans for most of the first half. Then, as the half wore down, the Cards opened up some breathing room and carried a 29 – 13 lead into the lockerroom. I’m sure they felt they finally had the game in hand.

Then the 2nd half began. The Spartans began throwing up three-pointers that deflected off the rafters, ricocheted off low-flying birds in the arena, and dropped into the hoop; made falling down, awkward, contested shots inside – while the Cards were missing everything they threw up (I don’t think we made a three all night). About 6 minutes into the half the Cards were clinging to a precarious 35 – 30 lead. [Editor’s aside here on the Rogosheske axiom: The Little Falls boys hockey team was the No. 1 tournament seed with a 20-4-2 (12-2-1 in conference) record and St. Cloud Apollo was 6-19-1 (2-14-1 in conference) – and Little Falls won both regular season games by a total of 9 goals. Apollo won the opening round of the tournament, 3 – 1, despite being outshot 48 – 29 by the Flyers. Our Cardinals then beat the Eagles, 4 – 0, in the section semi-finals and will meet Willmar for the section title tomorrow night.]

Then the Trumm sisters decided we’ve had enough! In about the next 4 minutes, the Cards went on a 27 – 4 run. Sam and Lauren turned on the turbo-chargers and were suddenly making plays all over the court – looking twice as quick and twice as fast as anyone on the court. Lauren was flying in for fast break lay-ups. They started feeding Sam in the post and she scored 10 straight points. Sam is right-handed (and with that hand swished about 6 free throws in a row) but she prefers shooting with her left inside. We chuckled one time when she made a quick interior move to her right, had an uncontested lay-up, and banked it completely over the basket. From then on she always went left, could have told the Spartans she was going left, and still spun so fast she was banking in leftie after leftie, one time from about 8-feet out. At the completion of that run, everybody got playing time. The final score was 65 – 39. Depending on your source, Sam either had 29 (KXRA), 27 (my last notice on the scoreboard), or 25 (St. Cloud Times) points and Lauren had 17.

The Cards (No. 2 seed) now play Sartell (No. 3 seed), a 57 – 44 winner over Apollo, in the section semi-finals at St. Cloud State @ 3:00 on Saturday (the teams split during thr regular season). The other semi features Fergus Falls (No. 1 seed) against Detroit Lakes.(No. 4 seed) @ 1:00 – these teams also split during the regular season, with DL winning the last game, so Fergus is not a lock.

In preparation for the Florida trip, the supervisor was sunbathing on a snow-covered deck lounge the previous day – it was a sunny, balmy 20-something. Last night at game time, the wind chill was 20 below zero – again! Even Ruthie thought that was getting to be a bit much!

[Photos will be added later as posted by the staff photographer.]

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.]

A various assortment.  From “Hoops v. Cancer” night:

The Alexandria Aces:

Future dance teams:

[A real trooper, she continued the routine absent her “lost” umbrella.]

The fans:

[“Gimme an ‘A’!”]

[* This May Take More Than One Column, Maybe Several]

[Editor’s note:  I am often asked (OK, a couple of e-mailers on the East coast) what am I doing up at 3:00 am?  Press deadlines!  And access to the supervisor’s computer.  It takes two computers to run this operation.  Video downloads are performed on the supervisor’s computer where they are then uploaded to YouTube.  A 5-minute video takes 45-60 minutes to upload on YouTube – if I’m running three at a time, as this weekend, that’s at least 2 1/2 hours.  While that’s running, on my computer I download still photos, cropping and adjusting as necessary, and do any scanning required for a 1st-rate publication (well, for a publication).]

[Jody Sundlee (l) said I never take her picture.]

Column IV, or wrapping up the weekend. The annual United Way Beer & Wine Tasting Gala attracted a record crowd on Friday. (It was 7 below zero that night – would go down to 15 below – and 7 below again yesterday. It is almost March – we believe (?) we have seen the last of the sub-zero days.) The high school’s Rainbow Strings again provided the entertainment against the background din of people noshing and sipping. Rainbow Strings performers were discouraged from participating in the beer & wine tasting portion of the festivities.

Rainbow Strings video (with cameo appearances by “Dangerous” Dan, the supervisor, and Barb Benson):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXPs4W15rFQ

Yesterday we ventured to the winery expecting to see Matt Veline as the musical performer. Instead, we found Finestra w/ Karen Page. We like them too – apparently they had to flip-flop weekends with Veline. The place was crowded, the fireplace was going, and sunlight was streaming through the windows – it got hot in there. A Minnesota solution was to crank the windows wide open (see, in the photo?) though it was below zero outside – seemed to work.

Wrapping up the weekend sports activities, “Marvin Windows Team USA All-Stars” beat So. St. Paul 5-1 for the state class A hockey championship.  This was not unexpected.  The final results of all games showed our Cards well – we beat So. St. Paul, 3-2, in the season opener; and Red Wing, who beat us in the consolation round, went on the win the consolation championship over Hutchinson, 5-4.  The Cards could play with anyone in the tournament, except the “All-Stars,” who probably could have won the class AA championship.

The girls section 8AAA basketball pairings have been set:

http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/showbrackets.asp?tournid=504 

The Cards host Rocori on Tuesday @ 7:00.  If we win that game, we would have to beat Sartell, then Fergus to win the section championship.  Fergus getting the No. 1 seed was important as now they only have to face either Sartell or Alex, rather than both of them.  Through deep research, I was able to discover the Cards are rated 1,442 in the country, and 42^nd in the state.  How do they come up with this stuff?  I would be astounded if there are 41 teams in the state better than the Cards – now we can sneak up on people!  🙂

Echo photos of Cara and Alli: