Nobody said it would be easy, even if some efforts to over-analyze things seemed to make these Stanley Cup Playoffs seem pre-ordained. The Wild were underdogs against St. Louis, which won the Central Division, but the Wild played a fantastic series and beat the Blues in six games, surprising many.

That left everybody in Minnesota flushed with optimism, suggesting maybe the Wild would blow through Chicago in the second round. Even losing 4-3 and 4-1 in Chicago didn’t wipe out all the enthusiasm. However, when the Blackhawks silenced 19,349 fans at Xcel Center Tuesday night with an excruciating 1-0 victory over the Wild, suddenly it looked like the Wild’s best hope was to steal Thursday’s Game 4. Patrick Kane got the only goal Tuesday, on a fast-break rush that left him open on the left side for a 20-footer that beat Devan Dubnyk.

The Wild is much better this year, but the Blackhawks are good enough to go all the way. The optimism for the Wild took a hit, however, as soon as the Blackhawks – who had beaten a strong Nashville outfit in the first round – found a way to win Game 1, the anticipation changed 180 degrees. These Blackhawks, we were told, are not the Blues. (No, they aren’t. The Blues – not the Blackhawks – won the division title. And just because the Wild beat the Blues doesn’t mean that the Blues became inferior.)
The other point that true hockey fans are well aware of is that the Blackhawks are still playing with virtually the same nucleus as the team that won the Stanley Cup two years ago. Yes, they lost a few players, but they’ve added a few too. And the backbone of the team remains Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, and Duncan Keith. Among others.

If you pare it down, the Blues were led by Vladimir Tarasenko, David Backes, T.J. Oshie, and Paul Stastny, and the Blackhawks are led by Toews, Kane, Sharp and Hossa. Pretty even match. One of the reasons the Blackhawks had their struggles this season is that Kane was knocked out with a broken collarbone, and he came back early, just in time to start the playoffs. Obviously, watching him in Games 1 and 2 against the Wild, he is back in full stride.

Two years ago, the Wild played hard and played well but lost the first two games in Chicago, before ultimately losing the series in five emotional games. Last season, the Wild were improved, but still lost Games 1 and 2 in Chicago, before rallying back and pushing the Blackhawks to six games.

That’s why losing Games 1 and 2 this year seem to be so devastating. And all of that put tremendous pressure on the Wild to bounce back in Game 3 at Xcel Center Tuesday night. We anticipate that the Wild will give it 100 percent Thursday, but we’re also realistic enough to know that at this time of year, the opposition is so good that a strong team playing at 100 percent might find out that’s not necessarily enough.

Saints Need 3 Straight for UMAC Softball Title

It seems routine for St. Scholastica’s slick softball team to win the UMAC Tournament – again. But there was nothing routine about how the Saints were forced up against their own backstop Saturday. Only a determined rally for three straight victories allowed the Saints to emerge from the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination event to claim the school’s 13th conference title.

Everything went according to form when St. Scholastica opened with a solid 8-0 victory over Crown on Friday, while Minnesota-Morris beat Northwestern 1-0 in the other first-round game. Northwestern then eliminated Crown 5-4, but Morris ambushed St. Scholastica 4-1 in the day’s finale.

That sent Morris to the final, which would be determined by the morning’s St. Scholastica-Northwestern game, which the Saints won 4-1. The UMAC’s automatic berth in this week’s NCAA Division III regional tournament was on the line for the champion, and the Saints battled and used all of coach Jen Walters’s strategy to capture a 6-0 victory and force another game – second in a row for Morris and third in a row for the Saints.

Blessed with solid pitching depth, Walters used it, resting ace sophomore Chrisi Mizera, while Forest Lake junior Micah McGuiness started pitching the second game. The Saints led 2-0 in the top of the fourth when Morris loaded the bases. Walters brought in Mizera, who got a crucial strikeout to end the threat. After Alexa Bremer smacked a two-run  double to left to boost the score to 4-0, Walters brought in junior Rendi Johnson to pitch. She seemed in good command, but with two out in the top of the sixth, Mizera came back in to keep the shutout intact. The strategy worked, both offensively and defensively, as Mizera slammed a two-run home run in the last of the sixth to make it a deceptively easy sounding 6-0 final.

Mizera’s home run was the school record 38th of the season, and the record gained an extra margin in the second game, when McGuiness, who started pitching, hit a home run in the last of the first.

The Saints were clinging to a 2-1 lead when Walter made another strategic move, bringing in Mizera to pitch and putting McGuiness in right field.

The Cougars were still in perfect position to attain their first championship, but in the last of the sixth, with one out, Nikki Logergren blasted a home run to right field, the Saints 40th of the season. Kasandra McCabe later came through with a hard single to left for another run, and Mizera’s single made it 5-1. Mizera and McGuiness combined for the second Saints four-hitter in a row to secure the 5-1 victory and the championship.

At 31-14, the Saints needed their pitching depth and their record-breaking home run touch to advance to the NCAA Division III tournament this week, and those assets will be needed again with the stakes significantly higher.
Sants Host Baseball

One week after the St. Scholastica softball team won the UMAC tournament, the Saints men will set out to duplicate that feat as host to the UMAC baseball tournament this week.

The tournament opens Thursday, with Northwestern the No. 3 seed facing No. 2 Northland College of Ashland at 10 a.m.  No. 1 St. Scholastica then faces No. 4 Bethany Lutheran at 1 p.m. The losers of those two games will meet at 4 p.m., followed by a game between the winners at 7 p.m. – setting the stage for the double elimination final qualifier and final match.

Meanwhile, Minnesota-Duluth is the No. 4 seed at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament, which opened Wednesday. The Bulldogs, 26-10 in the NSIC and 32-14 overall, were to face No. 5 Wayne State in the first round.

Other opening games sent No. 8 Northern State against No. 1 St. Cloud State, No. 7 Winona State against No. 2 MSU-Mankato, and No 6 Concordia of St. Paul against No. 3 Augustana.