Hermantown’s Max Plante (26), Zam Plante (27) and captain Beau Janzig (13) skated to the bench after a goal against St. Thomas Academy. Photo by John Gilbert.

Football with its Super Bowl and all staked a strong claim for its inherent popularity nationwide, but it was given a strong challenge up here in the Great White North by hockey at all levels and the Olympics, which are flying toward their conclusion in Beijing.
But we have to admit the Super Bowl was one of the cleanest and most entertaining of all the NFL’s championship matches, and all of us watching on television were the real winners, as the Los Angeles Rams made one final drive to give Matthew Stafford his first Super Bowl victory with a 23-20 triumph against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Second-year quarterback Joe Burrow battled Stafford to a standoff all day, and he lived up to my expectations. Everybody knew the Rams defense would sack Burrow a few times, and the actual count was seven, a Super Bowl record, but as I suggested, Burrow seems to be the best at getting sacked repeatedly and coming back to play as though it doesn’t bother him. He completed 22 of 33 passes for 263 yards and one touchdown, although he sent running back Joe Mixon – by far the game’s top rusher with 72 yards – sweeping right before throwing a 6-yard TD pass to Tee Higgins at the end of the first half.

Stafford was 26-40 for 283 yards and three TDs, including two to Cooper Kupp, the second of which won the game.
Up here in hockey country, we were watching the Minnesota Wild keep on winning and astounding the NHL observers, and we were enthralled by watching Team USA run through the preliminary games undefeated to enter the final round as No. 1 seed in men’s play, while the U.S. women found their way into the gold medal game against unbeaten Canada, which had been anticipated ever since the U.S. beat Canada for gold four years ago.

Furthermore, the college and high school hockey seasons have boiled well into their stretch drives, and in the NCHC, UMD’s men made a stirring and melodramatic run to bounce back from a tough Friday night 5-3 loss at first-place Denver to trip the Pioneers 3-2 in the Saturday rematch.
The Bulldogs got a first-minute goal from Kobe Roth, but starting goaltender Ryan Fanti had to leave the game after a bout of stomach flu worsened after he was perfect against 13 shots in the first period. That prompted coach Scott Sandelin to insert Zach Stejskal in for the rest of the game.
Stejskal had alternated through the first four games before being diagnosed with testicular cancer and undergoing therapy before living up to his vow to come back and play.
UMD fell behind 2-1 in the third period, but Roth scored his second of the night at 7:46 and sophomore defenseman Darian Gotz broke to the net to score at 15:16, and Stejskal held firmly to win 3-2. That also was Denver’s first loss after as 9-game league winning streak that started right after losing at Duluth and lifted them to the league lead, as well as the Pioneers first home loss.

That means UMD’s return to AMSOIL Arena this weekend against North Dakota is a pivotal series for NCHC contention and playoff pairings. And, besides, it’s North Dakota at UMD – a matchup that allows UMD to charge its highest ticket prices of the season.
Despite the stirring split at Denver, UMD dropped a spot to seventh in the national rankings, because the voters were boosting Minnesota to No. 5. The USCHO top ten: 1. MSU-Mankato, 2. Michigan, 3. Denver, 4. Quinnipiac, 5. Minnesota, 6 Western Michigan, 7. UMD, 8. St. Cloud State, 9. North Dakota, and 10. Massachusetts. So five of the top 10 are from the NCHC.

The UMD women are also home, taking on first-year Division 1 foe St. Thomas in 3 p.m. games both days. The Bulldogs have solidified their hold on fourth in the WCHA and rank No. 5 in the ratings, which show: 1. Minnesota, 2. Ohio State, 3. Wisconsin, 4. Northeastern, 5. UMD, 6. Yale, 7. Harvard, 8. Colgate, 9. Quinnipiac, and 10. Clarkson.

In high school play, an ugly scene has taken over the sportscasts, involving Duluth East’s sudden loss of composure and discipline, as well as games.
The Greyhounds ended a game in Superior with a fight that saw a player from Superior and two from East ejected. While word of that distasteful ending was spreading through the hockey community, East faced the best Denfeld team in two decades in a rivalry that has continued, even though East, under Mike Randolph, had beaten the Hunters for nine straight years.

With Randolph dismissed by the school board, Steve Pitoscia has found the going rough, but nobody anticipated how the game with Denfeld would end.
The Hunters won 6-2, and near the end, East’s Grady Downs swung behind his net and – according to Channel 21’s diligent video – cross-checked Denfeld star Cooper McClure right in the facemask. The blow flattened McClure, but Downs jumped on him and delivered two or three more cross-checks as he lay flat on the ice.

That incident shortly followed a timeout called by Denfeld coach Dale Jago, who warned his players that East had taken a flurry of penalties, and to not get involved in any of that stuff.
Pitoscia started yelling complaints at Jago, who made a few retorts, and the Greyhounds went back out on the ice and fulfilled Jago’s prophecy.
Downs, whose father is an attorney, was ejected and suspended, although rumors he had been cut from the team are uncertain.
McClure, whose father is a policemen, reported to Ch. 21 that his son has a concussion, and is recovering.
In the game, East incurred 15 penalties, and two major penalties for fighting.
At issue here is that school superintendent John Magas, who announced at the time Randolph was dismissed last summer that he couldn’t discuss the five-month investigation the school district had put Randolph through, because of “data privacy” issues. It was so private, in fact, that Randolph has not even been notified of the alleged findings.

Now, after being apprised of the incidents in the East-Denfeld game, as well as the East-Superior game, Magas has said that discipline had been issued within the school protocol – but no further information could be disclosed because of “data privacy.”
Randolph, as an aside, is associate head coach with Trent Eigner at St. Thomas Academy, which just happened to be visiting the Northland with his new team for games at Grand Rapids, a 3-2 setback, on Friday, and at Hermantown, a rough, 6-3 setback on Saturday afternoon.
Junior Zam Plante had a goal and three assists for the Hawks, while his sophomore brother Max Plante had 2 goals and 2 assists. Max had given Hermantown a 3-1 lea in the second prior’s opening minute, but Cadet captain Tyler Grahme picked off a too-cute behind-the-back outlet pass and skated in alone to beat Hawks goalie Dane Calloway late in the middle period, and St. Thomas struck again at 0:08 of the third to tie the game 3-3. But junior defenseman Ty Hanson put the Hawks back in front, with both Plante brothers assisting on the power play, then Zam and Max each scored to secure the 6-3 outcome.

“We had two great games,” Randolph said. “It was really a good experience for our players to see two arenas where there is such great atmosphere, with big crowds, and cheerleaders, and everything. Both of them make home games a big production, and our guys don’t see that back home.”
On a much brighter note, Duluth’s best female basketball player ever, Gianna Kneepkens, who played at Marshall last season, continues to make a huge impact on the University of Utah varsity.
As a freshman, she scored 21 points and had a career-high nine rebound as Utah beat California 80-75 in overtime, and she scored a 3-pointer to put the Utes into the lead for good with 1:26 remaining, in the process of scoring the team’s final seven points to clinch the victory.
In three games last week, Kneepkens averaged 14.3 points, while shooting 51.6 percent, and 36.4 percent of her 3-point attempts, and 87.5 percent of her free throws, along with averaging 5.3 rebounds per game.
That made her the overwhelming selection as the Pac 12’s freshman of the week, for the third time in the last four weeks, and the fifth time this season.
While keeping track of the various sports events, I must also say that if you take the time to focus in on it, the Olympic curling is as dramatic as it gets.
Both the U.S. men and women have Duluth influences, and John Shuster’s rink from the Duluth Curling Club has made a stirring drive to come back from some early setbacks in its quest to defend the gold medal it won in Korea four years ago.