[Yup, first boys’ game. It’s always something. But we’ve had a pretty good season so far considering we lost 4 senior starters off last year’s state tournament team. We’re now 12 – 7 overall, 9 – 4 in the conference, good for 3rd place.]
[Lot of seniors on this team too. That’s the thing about high school sports, seems like a brand new team every year.]
[The New Voice, Dave McClurg (DMac) with Old Voice 2, Bob Cunniff. They were originally scheduled to cover the girls’ hockey game at Pequot Lakes, but that game, the last regular season game, was weathered out and will not be made up.]
[National Anthem formation.]
[Team intros began with Kris Setterstrom (3), 6′ senior guard.]
[Joe Gorghuber (5), 6’3″ senior center, starter on last year’s state tourney team.]
[Ben Corson (13), 6’2″ senior guard.]
[Travis Krueger (25), 6’1″ senior forward, key 6th man last year.]
[Number 10 for the Sabres, Kyle Och, a 6’4″ senior guard (thus taller than any of our starters), who it seemed totally swished every 3-pointer he took in the game.]
[Roste played the top of our switching zone – didn’t seem like a pure 1-3-1?]
[We’d try to double team at every opportunity.]
[Did Jaran get the steal here? ]
[Gorghuber goes for the block. The Sabres were taller and had better shooters. So, how did we win? Volume!]
[One of the two key sequences in the game. When the Cards put Tyler Owen (35), 6’5″ senior forward, into the game, he immediately took it over. I think he made his first 6 shots, with a variety of spin moves in the lane and showing a deft touch inside.]
[Roste with the ball, Owen looking for ye olde pic-and-roll.]
[Roste to Courson. The Sabres defended our 3-point shooting well. We didn’t get many chances.]
[Brayden Amundson (23), 6’2″ junior guard, possibly better known as Richie and Marlene’s grandson.]
[Grant Toivonen (1), 5’10” senior guard, as Owen moves to cut off the drive to the basket.]
[Will it?]
[Owen and Toivonen seem to be a matched set on defense.]
[Roste had a lot of free throws. A gifted player, also the quarterback on the football team, he finds a way to get into the lane and draw fouls. As his game matures, he’ll be able to find the dump off underneath to the likes of Gorghuber and Owen.]
[At the half . . . pretty even game as it would continue to be.]
[Didn’t shoot many photos in the the 2nd half – just watched the game. Here Alec Wensman (55), 6’6″ junior forward joins the fray. Noticing Kruger in the photo, he was the key sequence in the 2nd half. I think at one time the Cards got down by 5. Krueger hit two key 3-pointers to get our mojo back. I don’t know if we had more than one other 3-pointer the whole game?]
[Wensman gets a freebie . . . ]
[Then Setterstrom. I understand this has been a bug-a-boo all year. In fact, we only made 12 out of 31 the previous game (yet still won?). In this game we were 14 – 23, which drew kudos from the broadcast team. That’s still only 60%, so it’s an area where we have to improve – it’s crucial once sections start.]
It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to have to paint it. ~ Steven Wright
Some time back in the deep, dark recesses of December we received a query from Basketball Dan. Would we be interested in attending a Gopher Men’s basketball game this year? Now this is no small request. If you have read the ‘bio’ of this gentleman (contained somewhere in this blog) you would know that he has attended a basketball game at every Division 1 school that plays the sport – some 340-plus. Based on an understanding of simple math, that translates to 10 games a year for over 30 years. In other words, he leaves town almost every winter weekend (yes, he’s never been married). Since that task is now complete, his new avocation is visiting far away places with strange sounding names. He can’t do that quite as often as going to such as Louisiana for a long weekend of three college basketball games.
Now regarding this request. Over the years we have yet to convince him (or brother Cam) that the finer points of women’s hockey make it a far more entertaining game than men’s basketball. So, in reviewing his stated options, I was determined to find an adjunct to a basketball game, i.e., I was not going to drive all the way to The Cities to watch one game featuring our somewhat challenged Gophers. I discovered his last option was perfect. Last Saturday, the Gopher women’s hockey team was hosting Ohio State @ 2:00; the Gopher men’s basketball team was hosting Nebraska @ 5:00. First game over, just walk across the street to Williams Arena! And away we go . . .
[Arrived in Ridder Arena, the supervisor immediately let the world know by Facebook.]
[Ridder Arena – the best venue in hockey! 🙂 ]
[The Buckeyes from THE Ohio State University.]
[The Gophers from THE University of Minnesota.]
[The super proudly in her maroon and gold scarf, which due to its texture can double as a dishwashing sponge. Yeah, it looks empty here but ultimately it was a decent crowd over half capacity.]
[So, Buckeyes, congrats on your national football championship. But you should be aware . . . hockey is OUR sport!!! Team captains Rachael Bona (7), in the left, and Rachel Ramsey (5).]
[Go Gopher Victory!]
[I heard the supervisor and the cub reporter hit Erbert’s & Gerbert’s before the game!]
[Where’s my hat?]
[Frosty gives last minute instructions, “Score more goals than those guys!”]
[Opening face-off, from the left, Meghan Lorence (20), senior wing; Kelly Panneck (19), freshman center; Bona; and Megan Wolfe (12), sophomore defense.]
[Maryanne Menefee (14), junior wing]
[Hannah Brandt, see the top of the page.]
[Hannah forechecking, she is possibly the best collegiate hockey player in the country.]
[Dani Cameranesi (21), sophomore wing, as with many of the Gophers we saw her play (for THE Blake School) in the state high school tournament.]
[The Brandt line in the Buckeye zone.]
[A shot by Menefee.]
[Cara Piazza (20), freshman wing (from Illinois, no less); and Brooke Garzone (18), junior wing (from Oklahoma, no less, though through Shattuck).]
[The Pannek line.]
[Lee Stecklein (2), sophomore defense, from the Olympic team.]
[GOOOOAAAAALLLLL! Kate Schipper (6), sophomore wing, from Pannek and Ramsey.]
[Hurray for us!!!]
[Halfway through the first period, no shots yet for the Buckeyes.]
[Cameranesi apparently had just seen Tim Conway’s “Dorf on Hockey.”]
[Stecklein and Milica McMillen (13), junior defense, two of the three (with Ramsey) 6-footers on defense. Plus, if you look on the left margin of this blog, you will see Milica when she was an 8th-grader playing for Breck in the 2008 state championship game against our Cards.]
[Milica has a slapshot that will challenge the guys. I had to laugh during the game (don’t tell our boys’ coaches!) – when the Gopher defense would pass across to their partner at the blue line, it was always a one-timer blasted right on goal (every time I’ve seen our high school boys try a one-timer, it’s been a mishit?).]
[After one! Total domination by the Gophers (though not an excess of goals?).]
[Crazy band people.]
[Goldy and friends.]
[Recruiting trip?]
[Here come the Buckeyes.]
[Here come the Gophers.]
[Whitey’s after the game?]
[Ski-U-Mah!!!]
[Period 2 is under way.]
[Brandt wins the draw back to Sydney Baldwin (9), freshman defense.]
[Baldwin again. She was “new” to me, but I thought she had impressive speed.]
[Gophers on the attack . . . ]
[We have Schipper and Cameranesi in on net . . . ]
[Then Schipper and Pannek . . .]
[Then, GOOOAAAALLLL! Pannek from Ramsey.]
[Cel-e-bration!]
[Yah, you betcha!]
[Menefee and Brandt . . . and Brandt SCOOORRRREEDDD from Pannek (two centers on the ice, they were obviously in the midst of a line change)!]
[After two periods – still all Gophers.]
[The Wall Of Fame. And I’m thinking, if Amanda Kessel comes back next year for her final year of eligibility, she’d be paired with Brandt again and likely Cameranesi. That could be one of the greatest lines ever . . . and I may want to spend a lot of time at Ridder next season. 🙂 ]
[A funny bounce – the shot came from behind the goal, hit a passing bread truck and trickled in? And that was the final score. Got a hint of hockey of the future. The Gophers, of course, are almost all Minnesotans; the Buckeyes are mostly Canadians, a sprinkling of Minnesotans, but their best player, at least on this night, is from . . . Texas (?).]
[Then it was on to Williams Arena, where we had the usual old people trouble trying to meet up for ticket exchanges. I wouldn’t have gone up any higher without Sherpas and oxygen.]
[A Brief History of Gopherdom.]
[Charles Buggs (23), 6’9″ sophomore and a work in progress; and Nate Mason (2), 6’1″ freshman guard bring it up.]
[From my FB posting: The Gopher women’s hockey team is arguably the best team in the country again, and unquestionably the best ever over the past four years. They play in the best hockey venue in the country. It cost us $5.00 each to see them play Ohio State. The Gopher men’s basketball team is arguably competitively challenged, as is Nebraska, the team they were playing. They were playing in historic Williams Arena, a competitively challenged arena (it’s time for a new building). It costs us $48.00 each to see this game. And when the basketball team takes a time out, 10 men in suits hop up onto the floor – what the heck is that all about other than causing ticket prices to be $48.00? OK, I feel better now.]
[Mo Walker (15), 6’10” senior center, had 19 points and 8 rebounds. When he plays like this, the Gophers will have a chance against most teams.]
[Visible on defense, DeAndre Mathieu (4), 5’9″ senior; Carlos Morris (11), 6’5″ junior; and Walker. The Gophers’ defense befuddled the Huskers all game long.]
[Joey King (24), 6’9″ junior; and Walker.]
[Gopher women all-timers!]
[The first half left a lot to be desired. There were questions as to whether either team could hit 20 by halftime.]
[Mascot halftime game . . . business mascots?]
[Just because I remembered the same two guys in flannel shirts did the halftime mopping for about . . . 50 years?]
[I was impressed by the Gophers second half offense – they had good player and ball movement throughout.]
[The Gophers used some kind of press for most of the game.]
[A Mo stuff . . .]
[And one.]
[He was good from the line – 5 for 5 for the game.]
[Here come the suits? One coach for each player?]
[Mason was 3 for 4 from the line, the team 14 – 17, very good for a team that has struggled there.]
[Mason again.]
[‘Barn Sweet Barn” It used to be heresy to talk about replacing Williams Arena. I was part of that group for years . . . the history, the tradition. But now the time has come. The concourses are like being in a German U-boat. It’s got to be a detriment in recruiting. We can preserve old Williams in a new arena . . . just bring along the raised floor.]
[Player of the game.]
[A big and needed conference win.]
[The finer points of the game discussed between brother Cam (“The Gamecock”) and Basketball Dan.]
[Where are we going for dinner?]
[Where we were was right next to Uncle Dick’s (Gophers’ No. 1 fan!) long time seat, which Cam and I honored after the game! ]
[And this, of course, is Uncle Dick.]
[We decided to have dinner at “Whitey’s” in Minneapolis, 400 East Hennepin to be exact. I had no idea there was such a place. For many years, “Whitey’s” in Arlington, Virginia, just a couple blocks from where I lived, sponsored our softball team. Very similar places, and for the locals, the Reuben I had there was the best I’ve had since Lincoln Del closed. The Arlington “Whitey’s” was so famous (for it’s “EAT” sign and broasted chicken), it has an artist’s rendition!]
[Mpls. “Whitey’s” menu]
[Arlington “Whitey’s”]
Always do right; this will gratify some people and astonish the rest. ~ Mark Twain
[Told ya! And the Flyers were just coming off a 3 – 0 win over perennial section power St. Cloud Cathedral.]
A little video action below to whet your appetite. The best part about high school sports – not one break for a TV time-out! 🙂
***
[And a shout out to the JV for another nice game.]
[Later in the first period (remember we started on video), Mr. Wosepka (8) is at work.]
[And here we have Lukas Bigger (34) and Chase Nielson (10) trying to make life miserable for the Flyers.]
[Cammeran Brown (21) . . . and interesting way he spells his name, B-R-O-W-N? 😉 ]
[Let the mayhem begin!!!]
[Mack Strong (16) zeroes in on a Flyer – just don’t nail him from behind into the boards!]
[Though the Cards held a 15 – 5 shots advantage, the first period was a scoreless draw. Then the Cards-of-the-future took to the ice!]
[Then the kids got to go off with a fist bump from the varsity. Had to be a real treat for them.]
[The Voice heard squatters had moved in during the previous game so he decided to reclaim his perch.]
[GOOOAAAAALLLLL! Ryan Marciniak (20) scored a little over a minute into the 2nd period on assists from Strong and Zach Johnson (17).]
[Chris Leary (18), Micah Christenson (39), and Brown (21) move in.]
[Keeping the pressure on . . . ]
[GOOAAAALLLL, Wosepka scored a little over a minute later to put the Cards up 2 – 0.]
[Strong’s 2nd game back from injury and making his presence felt.]
[Two Flyers make a Cardinal sandwich?]
[And Marciniak carries behind the goal.]
[Parker Revering oversees a face-off in the Flyer zone.]
[GOOOOAAAALLLL! Johnson from Strong and Marciniak, the celebration again at a hard angle for the staff photographer . . . ]
[But got them on the skate to the bench.]
[End of two periods, we’re looking strong.]
[The between 2nd and 3rd period puck shoot. As I reported at the time on FB: The Cardinal Puck Shoot had not had a winner all year . . . until last night. This young man stepped up and put it right down the middle through the $100 slot! He seemed nonplussed about the whole thing. But we laughed when a whole gaggle of young ladies greeted him happily as he came off the ice . . . pizza at The Depot, on him? The video I shot in 2010 – just including it so you can get an idea about what it’s all about.]
***
[In the 3rd period, play was disjointed throughout – the Cardinals took 4 penalties (why?), the Flyers took 2, so no rhythm was ever established. Leary scored the final goal late in the game on assists from Wyatt Wittenburg (9) and Bigger. Then everybody went to congratulate Christian Reimers (31) for pitching a shut out.]
If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you’ve never tried before. ~ Steven Wright
Up next: M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A, Minnesota, Minnesota, Goooooo, GOPHERS!
[This was the first game last Thursday, the girls were hosting the Brainerd/Little Falls Flying Warriors. An overtime pants-wetter. But a big conference win! 🙂 ]
[When we first arrived it appeared KXRA was breaking in a new broadcast team? 😉 ]
[Opening face-off, Cards in home whites.]
[Early game feeling out process.]
[Cards storm the zone with Kaitlin Leary (26), Alexis Heckert (20), and Nicole Bartels (23).]
[Micaela Swenson (34), a senior, her last RCC regular season game.]
[Here comes McKenzie Revering (29) – met and had a nice visit with her dad (and Parker’s) before the game.]
[McKenna Ellingson (24), mustering all the strength an 8th-grader can.]
[A shot . . . from Rev (looks like 29)?]
[Freshman Allison O’Kane (36) pinches in from her defense position.]
[I thought Allison had a particularly strong game, both offensively and defensively.]
[Oh my, looks like Kristin Trosvig (15) has an opening . . . ]
[Heckert and O’Kane, an 8th-grader and a freshman in the middle of things.]
[Karina Carlsen (31) pairs with O’Kane on defense.]
[Hanan Hansen (11) struggles to remain upright after winning the draw.]
[Mari Wosepka (18) tries to open the back door.]
[Name that Cardinal? Right-handed, number starts with a ‘2’? Go for it!]
[Swenson on the left, Mackenzie Abrahamson (17) on the right.]
[Looks like Ellingson with the puck popping up at the goalie’s eye level.]
[Despite all that action, the first period ended in a scoreless tie.]
[The defensive pair of Leary and Bartels (also playing her last regular season RCC game) ready for the 2nd period face-off.]
[A Cardinal behind the goal, a Cardinal in the goalie’s lap, Revering moving in, Leary protecting the right flank . . .]
[The Cards are buzzing with Trosvig and Sam Klimek (37).]
[Bartels unleashes a slap shot.]
[Rev and Sam are in again.]
[Ohhh, and another just missed.]
[McKenna chases it down, and yet somehow through all this, a really good period for the Cards, the Flying Warriors scored two goals early in the period? There must have been a tear in the space-time continuum?]
[O’Kane continuing her fine game . . . ]
[And finally Heckert scored unassisted to pull the Cards within 1 – 2 after the 2nd period.]
[And now the 3rd period face-off? I must have had a concentration lapse here . . . ]
[Because this my only other 3rd period photo, thereby missing Rev’s tying goal on an assist from Trosvig.]
[So, we went into OT.]
[I felt comfortable going into OT because I thought we were the better team . . . though anything can happen. We got the only penalty of the game in the overtime period so I thought, “Oooops!”]
[But almost as soon as we completed the penalty kill, Hanah scored the game winner on assists from Kristin and Kaitlin. Woo-woo! Only one more road game left on the regular season schedule.]
[And then it was on to the boys’ game against Brainerd. Brainerd and Little Falls fly solo on the boys’ side – in fact we would host Little Falls the following night, so stayed tuned.]
[The flag bearers from our all powerful bantam teams.]
[Split right, 44-Z square out, Omaha, on the deuce. Ready. Break!]
[Let’s play hockey! We appear to be back to full strength, so the line of Mack Strong (16), Zach Johnson (17), and Ryan Marciniak (20) has been re-united.]
[Eli Heckert (27) with a slapper from the blue line. If the name sounds familiar, see game one.]
[Appears to be Parker Revering (3), with Strong in arrears.]
[Johnson and Strong on an offensive zone face-off.]
[After another strong push by the Johnson line, the first period ended in a scoreless tie despite a 19 – 6 shots-on-goal advantage for the Cards.]
[In the 2nd period, that line is on the attack again.]
[Alec Wospeka (8) circles the net while Jack Steffl (2) comes down the middle.]
[Micah Christenson (39) in full flight . . .]
[Yup, that’s Micah.]
[GOOOOAAAAALLLL! Strong from Marciniak after the Warriors had scored earlier in the period.]
[Chris Canavati (11) providing protection for goalie Christian Reimers (31).]
[Despite total domination by the Cards, we remain tied after two periods.]
[GOOAAALLLL! 15 seconds into the 3rd period, Marciniak scored from Johnson . . . ]
[The congrats . . . ]
[A minute later Wosepka scored . . . ]
[From Revering and Canavati.]
[We were finally going to put this bad boy away!]
[Incredibly the Warriors scored two goals in the next two minutes to tie it up again? Four goals in less than 4 minutes in the period! What the . . . ?]
[So this game goes into overtime. Uffda! Did I mention the supervisor gave up the ghost after period one – the whole girls’ game and the first period of the boys’ hockeyed her out. Super Fan Robo and I managed to last the entire night.]
[Into OT spoiler alert . . . we won! Oh, you knew that already.]
[It was only fair because we dominated the whole game.]
[Canavati scored the winner from Steffl and Wosepka! Impressive performance by the Cards. And most amazing, I didn’t know till I checked the stats, we didn’t get a penalty the entire game.]
[Well done – now rest up for the Flyers on the following night.]
If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2? ~ George Carlin
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