TRIUMPH AND TERROR FOR ST. CLOUD
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Perhaps one of the things that makes hockey so special is when moments of pure triumph and moments of pure terror are separated by so little.
The St. Cloud State Huskies got a taste of both in the third period of their 2-0 win over Wisconsin on Friday, having to sit through the terror of forward Garrett Roe’s head-first slide into the boards that left their leading scorer immobile. The arena, with better than 13,000 on hand, went from raucous to eerily silent in an instant following the play in which Roe dove for a loose puck and just kept sliding until his helmet impacted the boards.
Unbe-Lee-vable: St. Cloud State goalie Michael Lee stopped all 37 shots he faced in the Huskies' 2-0 win against Wisconsin Friday.
Although he was moving all of his limbs freely and insisted he didn’t need it, Roe was taken from the ice on a backboard and thoroughly examined at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Teammates admitted that there were anxious moments in the immediate aftermath of the accident.
“I saw him go down head first, which was kind of a scare to all of us,” said Roe’s linemate Tony Mosey. “But he was moving and the trainer said it was nothing too serious.”
Huskies coach Bob Motzko moved fourth-line center Nick Oslund up to the second-line spot between Mosey and David Eddy, and within seconds, trepidation turned to inspiration for St. Cloud State.
“We knew as a team with (Roe) out we had to come closer and play harder,” said Mosey, who assisted on both Husky goals. “Everyone had to step up for him, not just one or two guys.”
Motzko was initially afraid the injury would rattle his team, but quickly found himself telling players to sit down on the bench, as they were overly eager to get into the play.
“Sometimes when a player goes down, your team gets quiet. That didn’t happen with us,” the coach said. “There was a charge.”
It was also about that time that Motzko said the ice tilted in Wisconsin’s favor, as the formerly high-scoring Badgers peppered Mike Lee with 20 shots in the final 20 minutes. The rookie goalie was equal to the task.
“The type of game we played was sound and it was a hard-fought playoff game,” said Lee. “They got their chances tonight, as did we, and the other goalie was on his game, too. It’s playoff hockey.”
And, at a time of year when it’s all about survival and advancing, the Huskies did both.
EVAN ALMIGHTY
In the 20 games leading up to the Final Five, North Dakota forward Evan Trupp may have forgotten how it felt to score a goal. He had exactly zero in that span. But on the WCHA’s biggest stage, that changed in a hurry.
In Friday’s second semifinal, a 4-3 NoDak win over league champ Denver, Trupp got his second and third goals of the weekend, as the Fighting Sioux advanced to the title game. On the podium afterward, Trupp said it was a change in the calendar, not any kind of change in diet or pregame routine, fueling the outburst.
“It’s playoff time,” said Trupp, a junior left wing from Anchorage. “I’m starting to bear down on my chances, and I got a lot of help from my teammates tonight. The goals I got were really tic-tac-toe plays.”
Trupp and linemate Brad Malone were the key tandem for the Sioux, with each one setting up the other for a goal.
“We’ve seen him do this before,” said Sioux coach Dave Hakstol. “His play all the way through the 60 minutes was tremendous tonight. He was our best player.”
SEEN AND HEARD AT THE X
• With a statue of a triumphant Herb Brooks just outside the arena, it would make sense there were Miracle on Ice connections to be had during Friday’s first game. The leading scorer from 1980, Badger women’s hockey coach Mark Johnson, was on hand watching his son Patrick skate for the Badgers. On the other bench was Huskies forward Jordy Christian, whose uncle Dave was also on the Lake Placid gold medalists.
• The Huskies were clinging to a 1-0 lead with 2:07 to play on Friday when two consecutive icing calls prevented Motzko from changing personnel. To give his kids a break, the coach used a timeout, which turned out to be the right move. “There’s no strategy on the St. Cloud State bench right now,” said Jim Rich, calling the game over the Internet on WCHA.com. “Just breathing.”
• Of the three big trophies available to WCHA teams (MacNaughton Cup, Broadmoor Trophy and NCAA title), Badgers coach Mike Eaves remains stuck with just the third (and arguably most important) of them to his credit. The Badgers, who will play for third on Saturday, most recently won the Final Five in 1998, last played in the title game in 2000, and are now 10-12 all-time in Final Five games.
• Denver left wing Anthony Maiani left Friday’s game early and will be out on Saturday as well after blocking a shot and taking a puck to the hand. After the mess of injuries the Pioneers dealt with in their brief NCAA tournament appearance a year ago, here’s hoping the junior for suburban Detroit gets well soon.
• The last three MacNaughton Cup champs are now a combined 0-5 in the Final Five, after ’08 champs Colorado College and ’09 champs North Dakota lost twice, and Denver lost on Friday.
• A reporter commented on the Sioux and their overall balance on Friday, noting how they’ve learned to thrive “without a real superstar” which was a nod to the November loss of star defenseman Chay Genoway. “I’d rather have the superstar,” was North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol’s reply.
PLUSSES AND MINUSES
Always a treat to have former Colorado College, Denver and Colorado Avalanche broadcaster Norm Jones on hand for some great stories about the earlier days of the WCHA. Originally from Colorado Springs, Jones started calling Tigers games in 1969 and was in a hockey broadcast booth nearly non-stop until retiring two years ago. He was even the voice of the NHL’s Colorado Rockies for the six years they spent in Denver after they were the Kansas City Scouts and before they were the New Jersey Devils.
We’ve noted it before, but it bears repeating: North Dakota’s green road sweaters are the sweetest-looking in the WCHA, and possibly all of college hockey. And if that logo on the front is forced to go away someday, it will be a shame.
Mike Lee repeatedly lost his stick during Friday’s game, prompting a nice quip from the rookie goalie when asked how to combat that problem. “I think we’re going to tape it to my blocker and hopefully I won’t lose it again,” he said.
At a time when the debate about what constitutes a major penalty rages, the last thing WCHA officials needed was Wisconsin’s Cody Goloubef’s hit on SCSU’s Nick Oslund, which drew a five-minute major for contact to the head.
Hello, offense? Where are you? We appreciate good goaltending as much as anyone, but were hoping for more than four goals in the first six periods of the tournament. Nice test of those red goal lights on Friday night. They still work.
There’s always been a kind of morbid curiosity about what the crowds at this tournament would be like without Golden Gophers in the mix. Now we know, and we don’t like it. Decent audiences for both games on Friday to be sure, but not the near-sellouts we’ve come to expect in St. Paul in March. In fact, Friday night’s crowd of just over 14,000 was the smallest semifinal audience since the move to the Xcel Energy Center in 2001.
INCH’S THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT
3. Mike Lee, St. Cloud State - The rookie goalie had 37 saves — 20 of them in the third period — for his second career shutout. On Saturday he’ll try for a second championship at the Xcel Energy Center, having won a Minnesota high school title there in 2007.
2. Chris VandeVelde, North Dakota - Through 84 minutes of play in this tournament, the Sioux had recorded three goals. The North Dakota senior assisted on the first two, and scored the third one himself.
1. Evan Trupp, North Dakota - Two games, three goals, and a chance to bring a trophy home to Grand Forks. This is what is meant by getting hot at the right time.
WHAT’S NEXT
Saturday evening’s title game appearance will be the fourth all time for St. Cloud State, and the second under Bob Motzko. The Huskies won their only Broadmoor Trophy in 2001, beating North Dakota in overtime.
North Dakota’s quest to do the formerly impossible continues, as they will need to win their third game in three nights to claim the trophy. “We did it last weekend, with three games in three days,” said Trupp. “We’re a team that thrives on that.”
Wisconsin and Denver will face off in the afternoon in what is expected to be the final third-place game in tournament history. The league will soon announce a new format for the tournament (to accommodate the expanded 12-team league next year) that will have only one game on Saturday. For the Pioneers, NCAA tournament seeds are definitely not the primary focus.
