The forces of nature were struggling to get the final giant ice cubes to melt away from the Canal Park entry over Memorial Day, and it seemed like those same forces were pleading with us to swing our attention away from those giant ice cubes in Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal and New York and get on with the Boys of Summer, or at least the daring young folks in their race car missiles.

It wasn’t difficult to look toward Major League baseball, although the exploits of the high school lads battling to turn a non-season into a forceful climax superseded the high-buck guys bouncing their million-dollar sliders up to the plate, and the others banging out their singles. But when ballplayers scratch and claw their way to win games, it’s somehow far more gratifying when they are high school kids, living their dreams even in the half-season we get Up North.

 The auto racing thing was more compelling as a diversion over Memorial Day, because the Indianapolis 500 was more intriguing than usual, what with new engine rules and new wide-body fuselages for safety reasons, and it came down to a worthy showdown between the best shreds of brainpower at Chevrolet vs. those at Honda.

The day started with faster cars and more high-buck drivers competing in the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Monaco, which was a considerable letdown from the excitement of qualifying. The Mercedes team has things well wrapped this year, jumping in front in developing the new turbocharged but tiny engines allowed, and Lewis Hamilton has led the way, with talented teammate Nico Rosburg close behind. The problem at Monaco is that the glamor of racing past sidewalk cafes and through the tiny twisting streets of the Mediterranean municipality is offset by the simple fact that it is virtually impossible for any race driver to pass any other during the race.

Generally that means the victory will come down to pit efficiency and someone might balk a pit stop while a follower can jump into the lead with a quick one. Instead, it came down to qualifying, where Rosburg did a good job, and was first with Hamilton a close second and coming on strong. They went out for the last session, and with Rosburg leading the field in their final timed runs, he spun out -- somewhat gently, but he spun out, and then made sure his race car was back across the driving lane. Officials had no choice but to cut off the session, and Hamilton was left behind, stewing, and clearly upset at missing the chance for the pole, and probably mostly because he knew that starting second was an invitation to finishing second. But not higher. And that’s the way the race went: A very expensive parade, with Rosburg first and Hamilton a close second in their matching Mercedes race cars. Next, though, in another week, is the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, and that will be a far more exciting race, without much of the glamor but back to fierce on-track competition.

Next came the Indy 500, and it more than made up for the lack of competitiveness of the Grand Prix. First, the race was so clean it went a full halfway without a single caution flag. At the end, though, a potential eight-car chain up front was thinned considerably when Ryan Hunter-Reay and Helio Castroneves were closely pursued by Ed Carpenter pushing in third and Townsend Bell challenging him on the outside. James Hinchcliffe saw a chance and darted low, pulling alongside Carpenter on the inside. In racing, if you get even you can hold your ground, and somebody else has to yield. Hard to blame Hinchcliffe, seizing an opportunity with 25 of the 200 laps remaining.

In my opinion, Bell would have to yield, because he was on the outside, and it is impossible to drive three cars side by side by side into a turn at Indy. Bell didn’t back off, but brushed wheels with Carpenter ever so slightly, but just enough to force him down lower, right where Hinchcliffe was. Now, these aren’t parking lot bumps; they’re going 230 miles per hour at peak performance. So when Carpenter and Hinchcliffe came together, even lightly, they locked up and spun out of control. Both were potential winners, and both were out of the race. Bell kept going, but only until Lap 191, then he crashed hard into the outer wall, raining bodywork debris all over the track.

Indy officials wisely chose to call in the cars for a brief suspension of racing, lining them up in the pits instead of letting them run the final nine laps under caution rules of no passing. When they came out for the restart, Hunter-Reay shot away, but Castroneves was in hot pursuit, and Marco Andretti third. At one point, Castroneves urged his Roger Penske Chevy up and past for the lead. But Hunter-Reay stayed fast on his tailpipes and repassed in his Michael Andretti-owned, Honda-powered racer. On the final two laps, Castroneves tried hard, low and then high, before making a final bid on the outside as they came out of Turn 4 on the final lap. He finished about exactly one car-length behind Hunter-Reay, a timing deficit of 0.06 seconds - the second closest finish to when Al Unser held off Scott Goodyear 22 years ago.

If you spent that much of Saturday captivated by racing on television, you then could switch channels to see Russia beat Finland for the Gold Medal in the World Hockey Championships. Sweden beat the Czech Republic 3-0 for the Bronze. The U.S. and Canada were left with no game and nothing to play for after losing. Russia won because Washington and Pittsburgh had been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention, so Alex Ovechkin of the Caps and Evgeny Malkin of Pittsburgh could go to Minsk and star for the homeland. Erik Haula, the former Gopher who played so well for the Wild, joined Finland and played well.

The Stanley Cup then resumed with a perfect cadence of every other night. Only the results were surprising. The Los Angeles Kings, the best team still playing, spotted the Chicago Blackhawks the first game, then claimed Game 2, and went home to also win Games 3 and 4. The Kings have not had to depend on the mercurial combination of Anze Kopitar and Marian Gaborik; instead they are getting great depth in scoring from Jeff Carter, and the play of defenseman Drew Doughty has been nothing short of spectacular. Of course, Jonathan Quick has been close to impenetrable in goal, leaving the Blackhawks desperate to win Game 5 at home just to make up a 3-1 deficit in games.

The East championship finds the New York Rangers also gaining a 3-1 hold over Montreal, and while the Canadiens came back to win Game 5, the teams next head back to Madison Square Garden where the Rangers could end it in Game 6. Henrik Lundqvist in goal, and Martin St. Louis setting the inspirational tone up front make the Rangers a likely finalist.

Moment in the Sun...Or At Least Free of Snow

 It is close to impossible to even consider that a team from Northeastern Minnesota can even compete for state baseball tournament honors. Weather in the Twin Cities has been bad this spring, but the Cities and Suburbs don’t know the meaning of “bad.”
Up North, ice and snow cut high school baseball and softball schedules down to the barest of minimums. When the section baseball tournaments commenced this past week, teams were taking the field having played ten or eleven games instead of the 20-plus they’re allowed.
Still, they give it everything they’ve got. Last spring, the same sort of weather didn’t prevent Floodwood from making history and riding into its first state tournament in any sport. This spring, the return of Riley Bernsdorf made the Polar Bears a threat again, but coach Adam Johnson knew better.
“We’ve got three No. 2 pitchers,” he said. “They try hard and they’re all pretty good, but last year, Riley and his brother were our two top pitchers, but Riley hasn’t been able to throw a pitch this year.”
A solidly built catcher, Riley Bernsdorf was knocked out with a torn labrum from football last fall. He was unable to pitch, although he finally got permission to catch, which seems just as taxing. Bernsdorf is hitting .600, with an on-base percentage of about .750. But Floodwood came up short in a 3-0 loss to Silver Bay at Hermantown’s field on Tuesday to end the Polar Bears season, and their hopes of a return trip to state.
Silver Bay’s impressive run made Tuesday quite a day for North Shore ball clubs. Ward Wallin, who used to work in the Duluth park system, moved with his wife to Silver Bay and he took over the Silver Bay baseball program this spring. The Mariners have quickly become a tight, disciplined group with only four seniors -- one of whom is Jonah Koehler, a second baseman and top hitter. But it’s the team that makes the difference, and the Mariners squelched Floodwood and then outgunned East Ridge to gain entry into the double-elimination portion of 7AA.
In 7A, Two Harbors, Silver Bay’s top rival on the North Shore, was seeded sixth, and had to face Moose Lake-Willow River, a perennial power in every sport in the region. The ML-WR Rebels had pinned a 7-2 loss on Two Harbors during the regular season.
 “But we made eight errors in that game,” said junior pitcher Tim Bott. “We were hoping we’d get another chance at them.”
The chance came on Tuesday, when the 7AA tournament took over the Hermantown field before Floodwood and Silver Bay went at it. The Rebels had no idea what they were in for, as Two Harbors rocked them from the start. Coach Rick Coughlin had the Agates primed and ready, and they buried ML-WR 10-1. It was 8-0, then 10-0, before Moose Lake-Willow River got to home plate in the last of the seventh.
Kyle Omtvedt, a stylish left-hander, kept the Rebels off-balance, and trusted a solid defense behind him. The only run he yielded came when junior Brad Fossum caught up to a high fast ball and hit a line drive over the head of the left-fielder. Fossum raced into second and never slowed down. Trailing 10-0, he spent it all and ran hard to third. He arrived an instant after the throw, but kicked the ball free and it trickled off into foul territory. Fossum jumped up and broke for home, narrowly beating the throw to give Moose Lake-Willow River something to brighten their busride home.
Tournament play was to continue Thursday. In other news, Hermantown was shocked by Marshall in a first-round game in 7AAA, meaning the highly favored Hawks don’t get to reach double-elimination, either.
It’s always like that in springtime, just that the upsets have to be condensed into a tighter time frame. The Boys of Summer can take their time in American Legion ball, but those same kids play high school ball, and in the Great White North, the Boys of Springtime do what they can in the time allotted.