There is no real explanation for it, but no matter how strong a team is and how good its record, there are going to be flat spots in a sports season. Being up and down is common, but the best teams find a way to put it all together and hit a peak near the end of the season. As in, playoff time.
The UMD men’s hockey team was in just such a flat spot going into last week’s North Star College Cup tournament at Xcel Center. Captain Adam Krause knew the team was struggling, and he spoke up in a players only meeting after UMD lost 4-0 to upstart Bemidji State. But he had to take matters into his own hands in the third-place game, which had become a vital match for UMD because it came against Minnesota. The Gophers, who had lost to Minnesota State-Mankato 4-2, fell 2-1 to UMD Saturday night, with Krauss stepping up above and beyond his stabilizing leadership role to score both goals.
“We had a meeting with just the players after Friday,” Krause said. “We talked about what direction we wanted to go. We were ready to play either team, and it would have been nice to play Mankato, because they were No. 1 in the country. But obviously, playing Minnesota no matter what they’re ranked, especially playing down there, with a very pro-Minnesota crowd, made it really good. Not that we need more incentive, but we were at a point where we needed extra jump, an extra push.
“We were at a pivotal point in our season,” said Krause. “We were feeling the pressure a little bit. Getting a win against Minnesota meant we could come back to the rink feeling good and feeling ready, with our confidence back a little bit. We know we’ve got a real strong Denver team waiting for us.”
The Bulldogs had hustled through an over-achieving first half of the season, and enough were ranked among the national leaders. Then the scoring tapered off, right about the time superb freshman goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo started letting in a few pucks that he had been stopping earlier. The Bulldogs lost four straight games, although one was officially a tie. After winning at North Dakota, the Bulldogs lost the second game then they came home and battled Western Michigan to a 2-2 tie, with Western winning in a shootout. UMD lost 4-2 to an empty-net goal the next night. As Krause pointed out, a shootout loss counts as a tie, but when you leave the rink, you know you lost.
In the scoreless start against the Gophers, Krause did what the coaches had been urging and went hard to the net, stabbing in his own rebound for a 1-0 lead.  He swung out from behind the net and tried a wraparound. When goaltender Adam Wilcox blocked it, but didn’t cover, Krause went right back in and knocked the puck in.
“I saw the puck and I think the ref saw it,” Krauss said. “He kept saying ‘In play, in play.’ He said keep playing it, so I did. I kept whacking at it and it went in. It was important, especially when we’re pressing, pressing -- we wanted to get the first goal.”
After outplaying the Gophers through two periods, the Bulldogs gave up a power play goal to start the third period, and were getting thoroughly stifled in the teeth of a Minnesota surge. They went without a shot until barely 2 minutes remained in the 1-1 game, as goaltender Matt McNeely made the best of his rare chance to start, stopping everything the Gophers could muster. Then Krause scored again. It was a classic goal, after a brilliant play by Alex Iafallo, who appeared to throw a blind pass behind his back and right on Krause’s stick.
“We were expecting a push from them, and that power-play goal really jumped them,” said Krauss. “They’re a desperate team with an awful lot of talent. They made that final push, and Matt -- I’m happy for him -- played well.
“We didn’t get any offensive zone time. When I crept into the zone, Alex took a look over his shoulder and we kinda made eye-contact. It looked like a blind pass, but I knew he was a special enough player that he could make that pass. It was a little bit of bouncing puck, but once I got it on my backhand, Wilcox was moving to the left so I just tried to throw it on net as hard as I could. I’m pretty sure it went 5-hole. It tells you what kind of a player Alex Iafallo is. He has a long, long career ahead of him.”
Krauss said the players know that victory guarantees nothing going to Denver in the tightly bunched NCHC. “I believe we play in the strongest league in the country,” he said. “Seven of the eight teams could win it. We have high expectations for ourselves. Every weekend, there’s no let-up, and whether you win or lose, you know you’ve played a tough team.”
A strong weekend at Denver could thrust UMD back clearly into title contention. If it happens, the Bulldogs may look back to that night at Xcel Center, when their captain took the scoring slump into his own hands.


John Gilbert has been writing sports for over 30 years. Formerly with the Star Tribune and WCCO. He currently hosts a daily radio show on KDAL AM.

Seahawks Still on the Rise for ‘Super Bowl II’

My usual routine during the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl is to immerse myself in hockey, catch up a little on basketball in the area, take in a couple of movies, and get together with family members as much as possible. Any distraction will do, as long as it helps avoid the two weeks of almost brainless hype that gushes out of the television every time any player on either Super Bowl team says anything, no matter how inane.

It’s been difficult to do that this year, because we have wily ol’ Bill Belichick trying to bob and weave his way out of accusations that his New England Patriots ball boy purposely deflated some of the footballs used against the Indianapolis Colts in the 45-7 AFC championship game rout. Belichick, who has perfected that stern sideline look of concern during games, is a coach of few words. But compared to his normal curt interviews, he has been positively gushing about this “Deflategate.”

We would probably dismiss the whole thing as silly, except that Belichick was once busted for videotaping a New York Jets practice. So we know he’s capable of such skullduggery. We also know that anyone who would stoop to such ridiculous measures for an ever-so-slight advantage would be more than capable of lying to cover his tracks. Also, one man’s surprisingly length attempts at explanation could be another man’s protesting too much.

It is getting to be time to focus on the game, however. Can Tom Brady and the Patriots move the ball effectively against Richard Sherman and the Seahawks “Legion of Doom” defense? Can Marshawn Lynch bust through the Patriots defense a couple of times to gain enough yards to enhance the multi-faceted threat that quarterback Russell Wilson presents?

The Patriots are close to being a dynasty, and are certainly one of the elite legends in NFL history, with the glowering Belichick and the GQ-ready Brady. The Seahawks are the brash new kids on the block who may well be on their way to becoming the next NFL dynasty, a theory that would be reinforced if they could win their second straight Super Bowl.

One key difference to me is that the bubbly Pete Carroll gets involved in every play and has a brilliant coaching staff, and the Seahawks have a fascinating gang of players.  They have attempted -- and succeeded -- to convince casual observers that they might be a tad arrogant, but it’s mostly a show. Russell Wilson is the straight guy at quarterback. Marshawn Lynch plays the media like a fiddle by refusing to answer the constant barrage of inane questions. And Richard Sherman -- a Stanford guy, remember -- might play any self-appointed role in post-game interviews. I’d love to hide in their locker room and hear what goes on in their private moments. They are clearly having fun, and part of that is suckering the media.                                                 

On Sunday, Belichick will glower, Carroll goes for a record number of chomps he inflicts on his gum, and the Seahawks prevail. By seven.


East’s Youth Movement

Normally, Duluth East’s hockey team would be refining itself for the glide-path to the Section 7AA tournament. This year, there is no gliding for the Greyhounds. They will show up, all right, and they might make a real run at the 7AA title, but it will be an interesting peaking of coach Mike Randolph’s youth movement.

The Greyhounds beat Maple Grove 4-1 last Saturday at Heritage Center, and for much of the game, Maple Grove traded rushes despite a record that might indicate the Crimson is struggling. Unfortunately, the game deteriorated into a penalty-fest in the third period, and the inconsistent officiating may have caused the game to be ragged after a smooth and swift first two periods.

For East, the obvious standouts were Ash Altmann, a lanky junior forward who scored the first three goals for the ‘Hounds, and senior goaltender Gunnar Howg, who had lost his starting job with inconsistent play but now seems focused on keeping it. He made 29 stops against Maple Grove.

But a more subtle indication of East’s future came from Randolph playing four lines a lot, expanding a bit because winger Luke Dow was missing with a shoulder injury. But while Altmann’s three goals staked East to a 3-1 lead, center Ryder Donovan kept making smart, heady plays on his shifts. Then you glance at the program and realize that Donovan is an eighth-grader. When East skaters are in eighth grade, they normally play on the Bantam team. But Donovan is a poised, clever playmaker who doesn’t try to do too much, just accomplishing all obligations.

In the last six minutes, Donovan got the puck to Garret Worth, who skated up the right side, turned the corner on the last Maple Grove defenseman, then lost the puck. However, his quick hands allowed Worth to regain control, and the partial misplay worked perfectly to be the ultimate deke, as he cut across the crease and scored to make it 4-1. Garret Worth is a ninth-grader. Ian Mageau, on the other wing, is also a ninth-grader, meaning East has an exceptional line with an eighth-grader and two ninth-graders, and defenseman Luke LaMaster is another ninth-grader.

There are some outstanding teams in Section 7 this season, and most of them might be assuming East is having a “down” year. But selling the Greyhounds short is, as usual, dangerous.