alexandriacardinals

[Yup, pretty dominant performance as the Cards have moved up to No. 5 in the state rankings.]

A pre-game tribute to Dave Harris for his 48 years of announcing Cardinal sports on KXRA:

Since the video setting was all warmed up, how about the first 5 minutes of the game:

[The contortions one has to go through to stay on side . . .]

[It’s Nate Folsom (5), junior defense, who I learned is known as “Nino Niederreiter” (of the Minnesota Wild) for reasons unknown.]

[Alec Wospeka (8) in on goal – you’ll notice in the opening video he had a couple of good scoring chances early.]

[Mr. Wosepka skating toward the bench with energy.  And why not, he’d just scored a short-handed goal at about the 8 minute mark.  🙂   ]

[Chris Leary (18), senior forward, skates toward the bench in search of . . . a power bar?]

[Chris Canavati (11), senior defense, in on goal . . . wait a sec, it’s probably Zach Johnson (17), senior forward.  It’s one of those two, and I’m sticking with it.]

[Apparently to celebrate a goal by  . . . Zach, less than 2 minutes after Alec’s.]

[Zach takes the face-off with Chris back on defense.  Ryan Marciniak (20), senior forward, is one of our injured players who has missed a few games – he made a few cameos in this game.]

[Ryan, no doubt happy to be able to stretch his legs on the ice again.]

[GOOOAAAAALLLL, the 3rd of the 1st period!  By Micah Christenson (39), listed as sophomore defense but playing forward in this game (because of the injured forwards?), who I thought looked terrific throughout.  Found out he’s like most of the guys – also excels in football and baseball.]

[To add insult to injury, the periods ends with the Stars goalie overcome by a cloud of ice chips.]

[Between periods the real hockey began.  The varsity stayed on the ice to provide sideline barriers so the Cardinals-of-the-future could show off their wares.  🙂   ]

[In period 2, senior defensemen Parker Revering (3) and Chris play a little blueline catch.]

[Parker starts one on goal.]

[There’s a scrum in front with Alec and Jack Steffl (2), junior forward.]

[And a couple frames of Chase Nielson (10), senior defense, who also appeared to be playing mostly forward (hint: see last goal of the game).]

[Giving it the ole high school try . . . how many hockey players can you fit in a hockey goal?]

[Nick Partington (26), senior defense, launches one goalward.]

[I’ve been told that if you want to stand on your left skate with your right skate back and in the air, your hockey stick should be parallel to the ice surface and facing southeast.]

[I believe Micah received a 9.1 score from all five judges for this well-executed full swan dive across the goal crease.  Not a bad picture if I do say so myself.]

[Here comes that guy Wosepka again . . .]

[He circled around and got his 2nd goal of the game.]

[Parker performing one of the mandatory requirements, according to the judges, a full about-face within the confines of the neutral zone.]

[Ryan comes out again in the 3rd for a little skate around.]

[Alec goes low to chase the puck behind the net.]

[Cammeran Brown (21), senior forward, and Lukas Bigger (24), senior forward, are in on the forecheck.]

[And the puck made one more entrance into the net, this time off of Chase’s stick, for our 5th an final goal.  All-in-all, I thought we looked pretty sharp the whole game.]

Some people think of the glass as half full. Some people think of the glass as half empty. I think of the glass as too big.  ~  George Carlin

Up next:  It’s hockey week in Alexandria

Editor’s note:  We had some computer issues this week.  Got a new one for the new year because I’ve almost worn the letters off the keyboard on my old one.  But because technology exists only to create frustration, the new one would not respond to my operational coaxings . . . or even to my threats of physical violence!   Ultimately, it took Jami, a metallurgical engineer, working in conjunction with grandson Tom at Purdue, pretty much an entire ‘work day’ to de-bug the d*mn thing!  I’m still on the old one – afraid the new one will blow up if I touch it!  Now I’ve worked with computers, on the job and in retirement, for . . . over 30 years?  Why is it they continue to get less and less user friendly?  I asked the kids, what do “old people” do when they get computers.  Danny said, “They take them to a computer store and pay someone to the set up the blankety-blank-blank thing.”

[And there you have it, proof positive that the headline was dead on, i.e., correctamundo!  This game was Tuesday night, and I didn’t notice until it was pointed out to me that player statistics panels have been added to the southside scoreboard.  Makes it easier now as from where sit I don’t have to shoot through the basket at the northside scoreboard.]

But first, in other news . . .

[On Friday, we had a sun dog, a preliminary event to celebrating Danny’s birthday (a day late) at Doolittle’s and then on to SAWA to see a Cardinal basketball player of the future.]

[On Sunday, we de-Christmasized the house and decided to ‘wined’ down the day accordingly.]

But, back to the game . . .

[By the luck of the pre-draft lottery, Kiyana Miller (21), sophomore G/F, was randomly selected as the warm-up player of the game.]

[Warm-ups were interrupted by a meeting of the captains at center court . . .]

[So, how do you guys handle having to drive on Division Street?]

[Well, how do you guys handle driving on Broadway?]

[Cool it!  Kohler’s listening in!]

[First time fans . . . they knew they were on camera!]

[Back to warm-ups with Kiyana.  With her in this picture, sandwiched with Brooke Heggie, is Gretchen Revering (25), senior guard.  Gretchen is the designated 3-point shooter.  At one time in the game when the Cards were floundering a bit, she came in a hit a big ‘3’ to right the ship again.]

[Winding up with Kiyana, finally got her shooting.  She seldom shoots in games – ballhandling and defense are her fortes.]

[The first-time fans are still there.]

[Emma Ziegler (1)]

[Kendall Kohler (3)]

[Macy Hatlestad (11)]

[Brooke Heggie (45)]

[Cheyenne Hendrickson (55)]

[And Brooke wins the tap in the “Home of the Cardinals.”]

[Kendall and team on aggressive ‘D.’]

[Macy sets a pic for Kendall . . . or is it the other way around?]

[I remember this . . . Carly Dropik (33), a/k/a, Instant Defense, came in and immediately got a steal.  Unfortunately, her shot attempt was knocked away as she was going in.]

[Macy drives . . . and undoubtedly crashed to the floor underneath the basket.  Oy!  (Or should I say, “Ouch”?)]

[And it looks like the ref is signaling an over-and-back on the Tigers.  Either that, or signaling he knows the capital of Burkina Faso?]

[I’ve got 38 . . . I’ve got 12 . . . I’ve got 22 . . .]

[Emma leaps attempting to deflect a pass . . . to prevent her coach from being hit!]

[Brooke with a freebie.]

[Cheyenne and Emma rush to aid a fallen Tiger?]

[Macy again has an uncomfortable reunion with the floor.  Ouch!]

[A time-out to discuss the evening’s dining arrangements . . . or Chaucer?]

[Cheers for me!  Captured a jump shot in action – lookin’ good, Brooke.]

[Cheyenne at the line . . .]

[Macy drives . . .]

[Carly, Carly, Kendall.  With the lead, the Cards were obviously fouled a lot at the end. While usually pretty good from the line, we had issues this time.  Better foul shooting would have put the game away earlier.  But that’s nit-picking a win where strong defense again ruled the day.  🙂  ]

The Cards then went down to Willmar on Friday night and came home with a 71 – 47 win. We are now 9 – 2 on the season.

No normal man ever fell in love after thirty when the kidneys begin to disintegrate.  ~  H.L. Mencken

Up next:  Hockey, hockey, and more hockey.

Tuesday night the boys’ hockey team hosted the Moorhead Spuds, a perennial class AA juggernaut.  The Spuds were ranked No. 15 in the large school category.  As the game was winding down . . .

The Cards were ranked No. 12 in class A when the game started.

The game ended . . . the Spuds pulled their goalie with a little over two minutes left, creating quite a bit of excitement.  Then the new rankings came out this week:

1.		Hermantown	12-2-0	1
2.		Duluth Marshall	11-1-1	2
3.		East Grand Forks	10-3-0	3
4.		Mahtomedi	11-1-1	4
5.		Breck	8-5-0	5
6.		St. Paul Academy	11-2-0	8
7.		Alexandria	11-0-1	12
8.		Thief River Falls	6-6-0	6
9.		St. Cloud Cathedral	10-4-0	14
10.		Warroad	9-5-1	7

***

The video start of the game:

***

[The Cards appeared to be featuring Alec Wosepka (8) a lot in this game.  We figured it out later.]

[Jack Steffl (2), I think, chases a Spud.]

[Steffl wins the draw, with Chase Nielson (10).]

[Chris Canavati (11), co-captain senior defense]

[The first game for the new KXRA broadcast crew.  AD Hartmann drops by to welcome them to Cardinal Nation.  🙂  ]

[Appears we found Mr. Wosepka again, pertinent because . . .]

[After a 1st period pretty much controlled by the Spuds, the 2nd period began with another burst by the Spuds that led to the first score of the game.  Not long after that, however, Alec broke loose on a breakaway and scored the tying goal.  And it was about then, those of us who haven’t seen a lot of games yet, finally realized we had been playing without Ryan Marciniak, our leading scorer, and Mack Strong, both usually first line forwards!  They had been injured but I believe are expected back for the next game.  And thus the emphasis on Alec as our leading goal scorer, who we kept trying to hit with long breakaway passes to keep the Spud defense honest.]

[Nah, that couldn’t have been an eagle??]

[Canavati appears ready to launch a one-timer. . .]

[And again.]

[Cards win the draw.]

[After 2, about as even as could be.]

[Assistant Coach Jon Crouse and Head Coach Ian Resch find a shortcut to the lockerroom between periods.]

[Wospeka swoops in again, with Zach Johnson (17) providing support.]

[Oooohhhh, the puck makes a getaway, stage left.]

[Seriously, I shoot randomly, but this game turned into the Wosepka/Canavati show?]

[Chris Leary (18) and Cammeran Brown (21) forecheck to keep it in the zone . . .]

[It worked!  Chris tipped in a shot by Cammeran to give the Cards the lead!  Group hugging then is not only permitted, but encouraged!]

[And then Cammeran fed Zach for the final goal of the game.  Kinda like the Zach led parade here.  🙂  Terrific showing for the Cards playing shorthanded . . . expectations are starting to grow!]

[As the Cards prepare for the final minutes, anticipating the Spuds pulling their goalie, the discussion went something like this, or so I was told . . . I want pepperoni and mushrooms . . . are you kidding? gotta be sausage, olives, and green peppers . . . now way! just extra cheese! . . . hey, who’s buying?]

A lot of people are afraid of heights. Not me, I’m afraid of widths.  ~ Steven Wright

[Last Sunday, over beautiful Lake Darling.]

Up next:  Depends on the weather.

  Game 1

Last Monday and Tuesday, the Cardinals hosted their 402nd (well, it’s been a lot) Annual Girls’ Basketball Holiday Tournament.  The invitees this year were Buffalo, Hutchinson, and Robbinsdale Armstrong (a regular attendee).  Hutchinson and Armstrong played first and, in a portent of things to come, Hutch won in double overtime.  Then the Cards played Buffalo and, not to be outdone by events of the first game, also won in double overtime.  The super and I got a room on the south side of town then rather than risk the long ride home to the north side of town in the wee small hours of the morning!

[We didn’t realize at the time, but we should have asked the two alums, and student manager, from our last state tournament team to suit up.  By the time the game was over, we were running out of players.]

[It seems prescient in hindsight. but my pre-game warm-up player-of-the-game (a new record in the use of hyphens) was senior co-captain, Cheyenne Hendrickson (55).  She would take, and hit, the first ‘3’ I’ve ever seen her attempt to send the game into OT (either the 1st or 2nd, who remembers a week later).]

[The usual pre-game coffee clatch and ‘a cappella’ sing along.  I still have no idea what they chant?  It may be a Gregorian chant . . . or a boy band rap?]

[Brooke (45) won the opening tap, then looked to pass from the high post.  Hers was the only position where we had a height advantage.]

[Macy (11) on ‘D.”  We play much more man-to-man than in the past – likely because we don’t have the overall team wingspan of previous teams to play the 1-3-1 effectively.]

[And man-to-man better sets up block out positions for rebounding.]

[Kelby (13) has a lot of her older sister’s leaping ability which makes her good at the point of the press.]

[Kendall (3) looks to penetrate.  Come to think of it, we may have had a height advantage at point guard with their No. 11 (but she was pretty strong and fast).]

[Carly (33) and Brooke]

[Kendall and Macy]

[Macy bringing the ball up (or is it “bringing up the ball”?).  Things were looking great up to about halfway through the 2nd half . . .]

[Brooke was happy as we built up to about a 13 point lead, as I recall . . .]

[Then bad things began to happen.  If you look between Brooke and Macy in the photo, you’ll see Kendall on the bench with her right foot raised.  While driving the baseline, she crumbled in pain . . . a sprained ankle, she was out for the game.]

[A funk settled over the Cards – Kendall is a spiritual and energetic leader – and the Bison went on a 19 – 0 blitz.  Oy! . . .]

[And then Macy, then Brooke, fouled out – our three leading scorers were out of the game!  Then two more starters fouled out.  Double oy! . . .]

[But if you harken back to last year, you may recall the freshmen team was undefeated (as this year’s frosh are as well) – and that was without Macy and Kendall, who were both playing varsity . . .]

[And the bulk of this year’s varsity, and all of the JV team, are sophomores, i.e., last year’s undefeated freshmen.  It’s what one would call deep depth!  So, our 2nd team played all of both overtimes . . . and pulled it out!  A major woo-woo!]

Game 2 

The game the next night against Hutchinson was remarkably similar to the game the night before.  Despite the absence of Kendall, who was in a walking boot (but is expected back for the next game against Brainerd on the 8th), the Cards had a double-digit lead well into the 2nd half.  Then the same thing happened – we just hit a wall and only scored 10 points the rest of the game.  Lesson to be drawn from the two games – gotta find a way to make nice with the referees!  Uffda!  The first game was not fun losing all our players to fouls; in this game Hutch had a 19-point free throw advantage – they made 25 of 32, we made 6 of 11.  This seems really . . . imbalanced?  Amazing we were even able to get it to OT.

[“The Voice” visits with Dave McClurg, who will succeed him as Voice of the Cardinals.]

[You will notice we’re on the other side of the gym tonight – behind the benches and the scorer’s table.  Something to do with an end of game video . . .]

[Where we usually sit.]

[Tonight’s warm-up player-of-the-game is senior Carly Dropik (33).]

[From the student section, we weren’t as likely to be “raining 3’s” without Kendall.]

[We usually sit with them . . . they all look good from the other side.]

[Kendall models her new footwear in greeting Kiyana.]

[“The Competition” drops by to say good-bye to “The Voice.”]

[Kohler says good-bye to Dave and Evie.]

[Kendall will be another assistant coach for this game.]

[Here’s that chant-kumbaya thing again.]

[An advantage of sitting on the bench side is being able to get up close and personal with the huddles.]

[Sitting with the totally non-partisan Cardinal parents, we came to the totally unbiased conclusion that Hutch’s No. 15 committed about 25 fouls in the game and yet did not foul out.  Good for her if she figured that out.]

[OK, maybe we committed a foul in the bottom photo?  😉  ]

[Hey, we did get some free throws.  And Macy, of course, made them.]

[Kayla (43) played a big roll in the previous night’s win.]

[Macy at work.]

[Just checking to see if she maintained her form from her previous visit.]

[And this is a family photo from our summer vacation . . .]

[You put the ball in the basket and prevent them from doing so . . .]

[Local scouts again filing their reports.]

A video at the start of the 2nd half:

[Macy arcs one beyond the reach of my camera.]

[Now what?]

[Winding down in regulation.]

[Kohler is bracketed by Kelby and Kiyana – hey, the Special K’s – while giving last minute instructions.]

[The tip-off to start overtime.  The rest of the game was just watching Hutch shoot free throws.]

A video of Dave Harris’s last game wrap-up, after 48 years of broadcasting Cardinal sports.  Of course, the audio quality is terrible with all the background noise, but I gave it the good ole high school try.  Here Dave interviews Coach Kohler and then Emma Ziegler, as-player of-the-game:

 

I will not meet you at the pier, as it will probably be chilly.  ~  Anton Chekhov to Olga Knipper

Up next:  Probably the next posting.