February
26, 2004
Is
the Cup a Curse?
By
Jess Myers
The MacNaughton
Cup, which is 90 years old this season, is one serious piece of
hardware. Weighing 40 pounds, the trophy sometimes takes as much
effort to lift as it does to win. In fact, the effort required
to hoist the big silver chalice seems to leave some WCHA title
teams too tired to win many games afterwards.
That’s
one theory anyway. Crazy explanations are what one is reduced
to in trying to explain how the last team to win the MacNaughton
Cup outright and win the NCAA title in the same season was in
1991. And the Northern Michigan Wildcats, who accomplished that
feat, haven’t even been members of the WCHA for the past
seven seasons.
So with that
record out there, and with several scary good MacNaughton Cup-winning
teams failing to even make the Frozen Four in recent years (North
Dakota ’99, Wisconsin ’00, Denver ’02 and Colorado
College last season come to mind), does anyone want to win the
Cup anymore?
Minnesota
coach Don Lucia won three Cups at Colorado College, but failed
to win the NCAA title. With the Gophers, he’s failed to
win the Cup in his five seasons, but has claimed two NCAA titles
in that same span.
“You
still definitely want to win the Cup, but you don’t want
to do it at all costs,” said Lucia, acknowledging that the
increased importance of the NCAA title has lessened the luster
of winning the WCHA’s regular season crown. “You’re
not going to rush a player back from an injury in the final two
weeks of the season in hopes of winning the Cup. You’re
better off getting your guys healthy and putting yourself in a
better position for the playoffs.”
In his two
decades at Wisconsin (during which he won two MacNaughton Cups
and two NCAA titles), Jeff Sauer said the national title was always
his team’s focus, and the Cup was an added bonus if they
got it.
“It’s
very difficult to win both trophies for whatever reason, and I
never put a lot of focus on winning the MacNaughton Cup because
of that,” said Sauer. “It may be the most beautiful
trophy in sports – even nicer than the Stanley Cup in some
respects – and it’s nice to have in your office, but
the NCAA trophy looks better.”
 |
| T.J.
Caig and the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs could clinch the MacNaughton
Cup this weekend – assuming they want it. |
Minnesota
Duluth has a chance to clinch the MacNaughton Cup for the fourth
time in school history this weekend, and the Bulldogs clearly
have their sights set on a run deep into the NCAA playoffs. It
was suggested to UMD sports information director Bob Nygaard that
history says the Bulldogs would be better off finishing second
if they want to make their first Frozen Four appearance since
1985.
“Forget
that,” said Nygaard. “We want to raise a banner.”
So to whichever
team wins the Cup this weekend or next weekend, we offer our congratulations,
and this advice: don’t expend too much energy and effort
hoisting the big silver bowl. You’re going to need that
strength in March, and possibly in April.
SEEN
AND HEARD IN THE WCHA
Four
Years Later, a Promise to Fulfill –
April of 2000 was a busy and glorious time for Minnesota Duluth
coach Scott Sandelin. He had just accepted the Bulldogs' head
coach position, then had returned to his post as the top assistant
coach for North Dakota, and was prepping for the NCAA championship
game versus Boston College, which would be his last game working
for his alma mater.
At the time,
the Bulldogs were a mess, having won just 14 WCHA games in the
previous two seasons. Outside the Sioux locker room in the Providence
Civic Center, after North Dakota’s practice on the Friday
afternoon before the title game, Sandelin talked about how hard
it was to leave North Dakota after playing there for four years
and coaching there for another six. Those emotional struggles
were offset by the excitement of getting to run his own D-I college
program for the first time.
Sandelin talked
of the good-natured ribbing he’d endured from Sioux players,
who threatened to treat his team harshly in the future when they
faced the then-lowly Bulldogs.
“I told
the guys that my first three years in Duluth, they’d probably
win, but in my fourth year, when I’ve got all my own recruits,
I’ll take them,” said Sandelin on that sunny Friday
afternoon in Rhode Island.
In his fourth
season at the helm of the UMD program, with all his own recruits
on the roster, Sandelin is 0-3 versus his alma mater in three
games played in Grand Forks, and he’s 4-10-1 versus the
Sioux since taking over in Duluth. But the Sioux visit the DECC
this weekend, and a sweep by the Bulldogs would clinch the MacNaughton
Cup.
One wonders
if the coach remembers the promise he made.
|
Great Weekend Getaway |
 |
|
North
Dakota at Minnesota Duluth (Fri.-Sat.)
It’s fitting that these two teams end up
battling for the WCHA title with two weeks to play, because
they’re alike in so many ways. The Sioux and Bulldogs
have probably the most overall talent at forward of any
two teams in the western half of the college hockey world,
with Parise, Bochenski, Stafford, Murray, Genoway and Fylling
on one side, and Lessard, Schwabe, Caig, Stauffacher, Stapleton
and Brosz on the other. And both teams feature sizeable
if not spectacular defense. The key difference may be found
in goal, where the Sioux netminders have seemed a bit rattled
in the past month, while UMD’s Issac Reichmuth, who
struggled in November and December, has been solid in 2004,
and the key to the Bulldogs’ school-record 14-game
unbeaten streak. The MacNaughton Cup will be in the DECC
this weekend. Whether anyone gets to hoist it on Saturday
night will be determined on the ice.
While
You’re There: Take a walk along the creek in Chester
Bowl Park. The oasis of nature is just a few blocks down
the hill from the UMD campus in the heart of the east Duluth
hillside. There’s a small parking lot off Skyline
Parkway (near the base of the ski jumps), and with a comfortable
pair of boots, you can hike along the creek all the way
down to Fourth Street, then cross the footbridge and come
up the other side. Then in the bottom of the steep, wooded
ravine, the trickle of the falling stream will make you
feel like you’re 100 miles from civilization, when
it reality, one block away you can catch a city bus to the
DECC.
|
| Stick
Salute |
| To
Denver goaltender Adam Berkhoel. As the
talented senior from suburban St. Paul heads into the final
month or so of his college career, one thinks he’s
probably deserved a better fate this year. A rash of defensive
injuries and inconsistent play in front of him have left
Berkhoel hanging out to dry too many times this year, which
is why the Pioneers look to be headed out on the road in
the WCHA Tournament for the second season in a row. But
when Berkhoel puts together a series like he did last weekend,
stopping all but one of the 54 shots he faced in a win and
tie at Michigan Tech, you suddenly remember that Wade Dubielewicz
had some help in bringing the WCHA title to Denver two years
ago.
|
| Bench
Minor |
|
To St.
Cloud State’s forwards. The Huskies have
overachieved this season, and are a good bet for their fifth
consecutive NCAA invite, which is best among WCHA schools.
But when you’re fighting for playoff positions and
you’re desperate to grab third place in the league,
scoring just one goal during a weekend trip to Wisconsin
just ain't gonna cut it. |
PUCKS
TO PICK UP AFTER PRACTICE
• Alaska
Anchorage coach John Hill is used to seeing Anchorage
Daily News reporter Doyle Woody, and nobody else, after games
at Sullivan Arena. So after last Friday’s game at Minnesota,
the media throng of five print reporters, three Internet reporters
and a radio crew waiting for him in the bowels of Mariucci Arena
was a little overwhelming Hill. “Wow,” he exclaimed
upon sighting the horde. “This is about a month’s
worth of media for me!”
• Minnesota
freshman Kellen Briggs has started the last 17 consecutive
games between the Gopher pipes, and some suggested that the rookie
might be getting tired after the Gophers gave up 10 goals at Minnesota
Duluth a few weeks ago. Asked about possible fatigue,
Don Lucia said he’s taken a lesson about handling goalies
from a friend in Ann Arbor. “Michigan’s played the
same goalie for about the last 16 years, and they’ve done
OK,” said the coach. “One guy graduates and they stick
another guy in net for four years, so there’s no worry about
fatigue.”
• Nobody
can accuse the hockey ticket-buying populace in southern Minnesota
of being fair-weather fans. If anything, the folks filling the
Midwest Wireless Civic Center this season could be more appropriately
labeled foul weather fans. To wit, the Minnesota State,
Mankato Mavericks are doing better at the box office
this season, with a 3-9-4 home record, than last season, when
they were 15-2-4 at home. With one home game left, crowds have
averaged 3,911 this year (the best in school history) as opposed
to 3,759 last season.
• The
WCHA got its second female athletic director this week when former
Colorado College women’s basketball coach
Julie Soriero was named to the top athletics job at CC. “I
think Julie’s addition as director of athletics is a real
plus for the department and the school,” said Tigers hockey
coach Scott Owens. “Julie brings continuity and a true understanding
of what CC and CC athletics are all about.” Soriero becomes
one of only 175 female athletics directors at the NCAA’s
1,200 member colleges and universities, and joins Denver’s
Dr. M. Dianne Murphy among female athletic directors in the WCHA.
Soriero was the school’s acting athletic director during
the key NCAA vote about
D-III/D-I athletics this winter.
• After
freshman Bryce Luker got the majority of the starts in goal for
Michigan Tech earlier this season, Huskies coach
Jamie Russell seems to have opted for experience in recent weeks.
Junior Cam Ellsworth has started Tech’s last seven games
and has a respectable 3-3-1 mark to show for it.
• Bargain-hunting
Badger backers may be in for a good deal if they
come to St. Paul for the WCHA Final Five. The folks at the Minnesota
Wild’s official team store, the Hockey Lodge, seem to have
ordered a few too many All-Star Game replica sweaters, and as
of early this week there was still a pretty big pile of them for
sale at the Xcel Energy Center. A replica Eastern Conference sweater
with former Badger Brian Raflaski’s name and number on the
back could be had for just over $100. Heck, it’s even red
and white.
• Mavericks
fans looking for a silver lining in this season filled
with dark clouds should focus their attention on rookie defenseman
Kyle Peto. Despite Minnesota State, Mankato’s struggles
this season (the Mavs are 2-10-2 in 2004, and are allowing more
than six goals per game over that stretch), Peto’s offensive
numbers are best among WCHA defensemen. Peto is actually in his
second year with the Mavs, but suffered a separated shoulder in
the third game last season and sat the 2002-03 campaign out with
a medical redshirt. To put a further damper on the Mavericks spirits,
however, Peto won't be traveling to this weekend's games at Michigan
Tech, according to the Mankato Free Press, due to a sprained
ankle.
• Congratulations
to Alaska Anchorage senior goaltender Chris King,
who became a father recently. On Wednesday, February 11, Alayna
Marie Elise King was born in Anchorage, causing Seawolves coach
John Hill to switch his goalie rotation for one weekend. King,
who normally starts on Fridays, got the Saturday home start versus
Michigan Tech after the busiest week of his life. “It’s
kind of calmed down now, but things were pretty exciting for a
while,” said King, who gave up five first period goals in
his initial start after becoming a father. “I’m not
going to use that as an excuse, but maybe I wasn’t as focused
as I could’ve been.”
