alexandriacardinals

As this reporter was driving home from the girls’ hockey game Saturday, I listened to the KXRA broadcast of the boys’ basketball game at Fergus Falls. The Cardinals were ahead 70-59 with 1:48 left in the game when I pulled into the garage. Well, a nice road victory, I thought.

Sunday morning while hard at work on the press deadline for the hockey game, I checked the StarTribune website for final scores on both the boys’ and girls’ (they were playing at Detroit Lakes) basketball games from the previous evening – to use as “filler” on the hockey story. Nada – no report on either game? One of the problems with small town life is the absence of 24/7 media coverage of local events of the day – the Echo only comes out twice a week, and you have to be listening to the radio at just the right times.

The boys’ basketball score finally appeared in the Strib Sunday night – the Cards lost 84-79 in OT. I’m not sure what happened. But a guess is that when last I was listening most of the Card starters had fouled out – Fergus probably fouled a lot, the Cards missed foul shots, and the Otters were able to catch up. The Cardinal Comnection this morning reported Fergus tied the game in regulation on a 30-footer at the buzzer.

The girls’ game never made the Strib. I e-mailed the Trumms this morning and learned the Cards did beat the Lakers. The coach said they were a little leg weary from two games in two nights. Rather than paraphrasing the Cardinal Connection, here’s Coach Kohler, in her own words (I love her story lines anyway):

Alexandria 52 Detroit Lakes 36
The Cardinal defense overwhelmed the Lakers as we were in every passing lane, communicating, trapping, tipping passes, kicking passes J, and just seemed like we were having a lot of fun out there even though the legs were weary. The Cards played together well on both ends of the floor as we held our opponents to out defensive goals on back-to-back nights. It wasn’t our best night on the offensive end, but still balanced in our attack and a solid performance by the TEAM. Scoring was led by LT Trumm as she torched the Lakers with 19 points, 9 steals, 4 kicks J and 5 rebounds. Alli Haar continues to play stellar defense and hit a double- double with 10 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 steals as well. Sambo Trumm added 8, collecting 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Joie Warnes continues her contortionist act with some amazing finishes with 7, Whitney Gesell continues to blossom with every outing adding 4 points and ripping down 8 big rebounds for the Cards. Bri Ebert and Lauren Johnson continue to bring the energy and added 2 each. Marisa Eigen and Emily Peck did not score but helped push it to the finish line. The Cards now stand at 12-2 on the season.

Staff photographer Trumm has promised digital imagery evidence of the weekend’s festivities later this week – he is gainfully employed, after all. Thus, it would now be a good time to highlight, from the Trumm files, the Cardinal “length” that makes their defense so daunting:

[Sam getting the tip v. St. Cloud Apollo, January 7]

[Alli with an overhead pass v. Apollo, January 7]

[Sam getting the tip v. Moorhead, January 11]

[Sam getting tip v. Rocori on January 13.]

[Sam and Whitney on “D” v. Rocori, January 13.]

[Lauren at the head of the zone, and jumping out of the picture displaying the stitches she has in her chin as a result of shoe contact in a previous game v. Rocori, January 13.]

[Sam and Alli from a game last year.]

[Sam getting the tip v. the 6’3″ Fergus center, January 15.]

[Sam in summer league.]

[Alli from a 2009 game – Tom Mulder’s son refing?]

[Sam challenged for tip by St. Cloud Tech, December 16, 2010.]

[Lauren, Alli, Whitney in the 1-3-1 zone v. Sauk Rapids, December 21, 2010.]

{Sam getting the tip v. Robbinsdale Armstrong, December 29, 2010.]

[Lauren contesting an Armstrong pass, December 29, 2010.]

[Alli contesting inbounds pass by Armstrong, December 29, 2010.]

The girls hockey team has been going through a spell where it’s been difficult to score goals. That happened in spades again last night. Despite otherwise playing very well against a team that’s ranked 2nd (so I heard?) in North Dakota, the Cards were unable to finish their scoring chances – and they had many. After the 1st two periods, the Cards held a 19 – 14 shots-on-goal advantage, and though not always the case, that did reflect the flow of the game. Still, the score was 0 – 0 after two periods. In the 3rd period, what seems lately like the inevitable happened – the Bruins scored on a shot from behind the net! Though the Cards later (as well as earlier) in the game, had break-aways on the Bruins goalie, they were unable to cash them in. The Bruins scored again late in the game on a good shot. Stephanie Drown had a good game in goal, but the 3rd period again was the team’s undoing. There is only one more home game before section tournament play begins – senior night next Saturday against Bemidji.

The Super Fans were represented by Robo, Dusty, Roger, and, of course, Teddy and Jerry Hockey. Karen Meuwissen was there at the start from the “eating machines” family, but noted that Ryan (an eating machine) was home sick and she may not be able to stay the whole game – sure enough, she got a call early in the game and had to leave. Roger again sang the National Anthem and did a great job. But he kinda snuck it up on us and was performing it before I could even think of making a video. Accordingly, I have resurrected a video of he and Dusty singing the anthem at the Bemidji game in January 2009. And a video of the last night’s game during a stretch in the 2nd period:

As we go to press, the mainstream media has yet to report any scores on last night’s boys’ and girls’ basketball games?

It would remain below zero all day, but it was beautiful out there! The supervisor had been housebound all week battling a cold and was antsy to get out of the house for a while. As a prelude to the big girls hockey game against Fargo South that evening, she decided that an afternoon at the winery would test her mettle (caution: only have your mettle tested under the guidance of a qualified physician!).

Matt Veline was playing at CCW, and we enjoy him immensely. Although he was a professional musician for some time (and full-time nephew of Bobby Vee), he said he now only performs about three times a month. He likes that just fine because he was happy to get off the road. He has settled into the Alex area (from Fargo), and he loves playing at the winery because it’s only five miles from home. The winery had a pretty good crowd during the two hours we were there – what we didn’t understand, as people who are close personal friends with everybody within a 10-mile radius of downtown Alex, is why we didn’t see a single person we knew? Anyway, here’s a video of Matt performing Bob Dylan’s Simple Twist of Fate:

When we left, I, of course, had to shoot a roll of film in the winter wonderland. Regulars and out-of-town guests will recognize the CCW pickup and the performing arts area pergola, now up to their whatzits in snow. Ruthie had to visit the doggies – the winery has dogsled rides on Saturday afternoons, $30.00 for a 30-minute ride and they are so popular you have to make reservations. The time spent outside in below zero temps must have taken its toll – Ruthie decided going to the hockey game would be pushing it.

Aaaaah, the beauty that is winter!

Due to a continuing demand for complete and high quality journalism – OK, mostly as a result of multiple competing venues – this blog site has had to take on additional staff. Friday night, while existing staff felt bound to cover the girls’ basketball against Little Falls [Editor’s aside: You may recall the report on the game indicated our fans’ appreciation for the Flyers. Additional staff research discovered that while the Cardinals beat them twice by well over 20 points, the Flyers played the other conference juggernauts, Fergus and Sartell, to very close games.], there was a major alumni gathering taking place in St. Cloud the very same night. Accordingly, . . .

Sue “Scoop” Justice was put on the payroll and immediately dispatched to the Granite City. “Scoop” was sent to cover the Gustavus-Adolphus – The College of St. Benedict women’s hockey game. The Gusties feature “Scoop’s” daughter, Danielle (now a junior), in goal, while freshman Ally Nielsen is a starting forward for St. Ben’s. What they have in common, of course, is that they were teammates on Alex’s 2008 state championship team. Also “in town” that day from that team was Ashley Holmes, whose North Dakota Sioux were playing at St. Cloud State. The following photos and captions are “Scoop’s” initial contribution to the Alex sports blog [Editor’s note: While “Scoop” is a noted photo-journalist, she is also noted as the mother of Danielle “Roadblock,” the spouse of Teddy Hockey, and the daughter of Jerry Hockey]:

[Before “Scoop” begins, a recently obtained photo of that 2008 team was submitted by another hockey mom, Marnee’ Herd, also a part-time stringer for this site, and whose daughter  Shanee’, a sophomore, is a 4-year starter on defense this year.  Of those mentioned in this article, Danielle is sitting far right, Ally is standing 5th from left, Ashley is sitting 5th from right, and Shanee’ is sitting 3rd from right.]

We met up with Ryan and Jodie Houfburg, parents of Ashley Holmes, at Granite City Brewery in St Cloud before the game. Ashley and her UND team were playing SCSU at the same time as Danielle and Ally’s teams were playing over at the MAC.
L-R: Ted, Sue, Ryan, a friend of Houfburg’s, Jodie, and Jerry.

Ally, #10 for St. Ben’s Blazer during the first period. The score remained 0-0 until less than a minute left when the Gustie’s puck finally hit the back of the net. Shots were GAC 17, CSB 4.

We reunited with Jeanne Nielsen and her son, Josh, between 1st and 2nd periods. Mitch was away on a business trip.

Ally demonstrates why she is on the Blazer’s offensive first line.

The third period started with the Gusties ahead 3-0. Five minutes later Ally was credited with an assist on the only goal, a breakaway, on Danielle.

David’s [“Scoop’s” son] girlfriend, Kelsey Kennedy, no relation to JFK, is on the Gustie’s first line of defense.

Ted.  [“Scoop’s” caption is a tad light here.  Teddy Hockey is the frozen water equivalent of Basketball Dan.]

Danielle in ready-for-anything-hit-her-way position had only 8 shots on her thanks to the incredible defense and the spectacular offense teammates in front of her.  [OK Mom, and she’s pretty good, too!]

And then it got ugly. The Blazers racked up 6 more penalties in the third period. The Gusties scored three times on their power plays.

Another penalty.  [Good shot though!]

My son, Kevin, worked the time clock and the Blazer’s penalty box. He was kept busy as they had 12 penalties. I wonder if he got any phone numbers?

Blazer’s goalie suffering from having 60 shots on her.

Enough said.

Post-game Grandad [Jerry Hockey] and Danielle [Roadblock].

Posing [Roadblock] with her Mom [Scoop].

Ally Nielsen and Danielle after the game. Win or lose they are still great friends.

Thanks, “Scoop!”