Gopher and Badger alums to face off in a true border battle

It’s not unusual for teams from neighboring states and communities at any level of sport to square off in what has been commonly dubbed a “Border Battle.” What is rare, however, is for these battles to literally be contested on the border.

Such is the case on Friday, Jan. 20 when a who’s who of University of Minnesota alumni hosts a star-studded collection of former Wisconsin Badgers on the banks of the St. Croix River. The outdoor contest in Stillwater’s Lowell Park is one of the warm-up acts for Saturday’s Hockey Day Minnesota festivities.

Friday’s events begin with a team of firefighters taking on the police at 4:00 p.m. followed by a 6:00 p.m. meeting between the Minnesota Whitecaps women’s pro team and the Korean National Team. The puck drops on the Gopher/Badger reunion party at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and will be played concurrently with Minnesota’s game at Wisconsin that night.

The players are looking forward to getting back to their outdoor roots and sharing the experience with old friends and former foes.

Former Gopher Jordan Leopold in his Minnesota Wild debut on Tuesday, March 3, 2015 in a Minnesota win over the Ottawa Senators at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

“Outdoor hockey is in our blood,” former Gopher All-American and Hobey Baker Award winner Jordan Leopold said. “All of us guys grew up on the outdoor rinks, or the ponds or whatever it may be. So to get an opportunity to go out and go into a man-made ice arena right next to the bridge, right next to the river, is pretty cool.”

Leopold’s “pond” was Golden Valley’s Wesley Park, roughly a mile from his childhood home. It’s where he honed the skills which propelled him to a 12-season, eight-team NHL career after winning a national championship with the Gophers in 2002.

“I’d get off the school bus and go walk down there, go skate, come back home and go to practice. That was kind of my routine every day. Then also I went up to my grandparents’ lake place, shoveled off a rink and was up there all weekend skating, snowmobiling or whatever it may be.”

Former Wisconsin star, Paul Ranheim’s “pond” was at Edina’s Creek Valley Elementary School where his dream of leading the Hornets to a state championship was born.

“That’s where I went every chance I got,” said Ranheim whose dream was realized as a senior in 1984. “We spent every weekend there. We’d get dropped off with a bag lunch and a, ‘See you later.’”

One of the alumni game’s elder statesmen, the 50-year-old Ranheim was lured into participating by a fellow former Badger. “I got a call or a text from my old teammate, Tom Sagissor, and he says, ‘You’re playing in the alumni game and you’re on my line,’” Ranheim said. “I said, ‘Alright, but you better pass the puck to me.’”

Less than 24 hours after skating side-by-side, however, the pair will have opposing interests on that very rink. Ranheim, an Eden Prairie high school assistant coach, and his Eagles play Sagissor’s son, T.J., and the rest of the Stillwater Ponies at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Will Eden Prairie players be there on Friday night watching Ranheim with interest, much like Minnesota Wild players did nearly a year ago when Wild assistant coach Darby Hendrickson and former assistant Andrew Brunette skated in the Stadium Series alumni game?

The 1988 First-Team All-American and Hobey Baker Award finalist laughed at the notion.

“I hope they’re home resting for the game the next day so they don’t get to actually see what the old coach looks like,” Ranheim said. “He’s a shadow of his former self.”

Eden Prairie assistant and former Badger Paul Ranheim looks on as his Eagles host Prior Lake on Jan. 7, 2016. (MHM Photo by Jonny Watkins)

A veteran of 15 NHL seasons with five teams, including the Calgary Flames who drafted him in the second round (No. 38 overall) of the 1984 NHL Draft, Ranheim said he’s not doing anything special to prepare for the reunion.

“I’m not doing sprints and Herbies,” Ranheim said. “I’m on the ice every day so it’s not like I haven’t been on skates for a while. I just hope it isn’t too fast paced. I hope it’s more of a casual, gentleman’s game.”

The 36-year-old Leopold, meanwhile, has taken some time off, but the 1999 second-round pick (No. 44 overall) by the Anaheim Mighty Ducks says he’s not worried.

“I’ve kind of taken a good eight months off of hockey just coaching my kid,” Leopold said. “I haven’t really worked out a bunch but, you know, when you go out there it’s like riding a bike.

“The muscles may be a little bit sore but more than anything it’s the laughs, it’s seeing the guys, having a couple adult beverages, it’s all about good fun.”

While Ranheim says he’s really looking forward to meeting some of the younger former Badgers he never played with, Leopold is most eager to reunite with the guys from the 2002 Frozen Four title team.

“We don’t get to see each other that much anymore. we all have kids, lives jobs,” Leopold said. “Then you’ve got guys on the other side who I grew up either watching or playing against too.”

Although Leopold and Ranheim played in vastly different eras and never faced one another in college, the two met twice on NHL ice on Feb. 23 and March 24 of 2003, Ranheim’s final season and Leopold’s rookie campaign.

Both players, though, are simply excited about the opportunity to enjoy night playing the game they love outdoors with their friends and share a few laughs along the way, all the  while adding a unique layer to an old, bitter rivalry.

“Playing old Bucky Badger right on the border is,” Leopold paused. “I guess you can’t say you do that every day.”

Border Battle Rosters

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Father and daughter address media in Wild locker room

Jordyn Leopold, whose school assignment to write a persuasive letter ended up circling the globe and proved to be a harbinger for the Wild’s trade-deadline acquisition of her father, squeezed next to her dad in the Wild locker room Sunday night and faced a barrage of reporters and TV cameras.

Jordyn, 10, had led the “let’s play hockey” cheer without missing a beat at the outset of the Wild’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche Sunday night at the Xcel Energy Center.

Asked afterward if she was nervous, she smiled and said, “Yeah. A little.”

With beaming Wild defenseman and former University of Minnesota star Jordan Leopold at her side, Jordyn fielded numerous questions about her letter “to the Wild coaches” that went viral after it hit the Internet.

“I never thought it would be that popular,” she said.

Jordyn’s hand-written letter, which begged Minnesota’s NHL hierarchy to bring her father back to his home in the Twin Cities, was never sent to the team.

“It was another way for me to write my feelings down on paper,” she said.

And now?

“I’m really happy and excited that he’s home.”

Without prodding, Jordyn was able to look at the big picture and comment about how numerous kids around the world are faced with not having one or both parents around as much as they would like. She was feeling that when here teacher assigned her class to write a persuasive letter.

“We all have those times where we miss parents, or we don’t have them, and it was just kind of one of those moments,” she said.

Her dad, who played 10 minutes, 18 seconds against the Avs, talked about how special it was to see the oldest of his four children deliver the pregame “let’s play hockey” announcement.

Equally special, he added, was the reception of her letter after it began to make the rounds. He heard from people in New Zealand, Russia, Israel and dozens of far-flung locations who had seen reproductions of the letter.

“I think she impacted a lot of people and touched a lot of hearts,” he noted. “Definitely, Dad’s.”

Leopold, a native of Golden Valley, seconded his daughter’s assertion that his case is not unique.

“We have military families out there that do this every day, and they aren’t in the spotlight,” he said. “It’s a prime example of what really happens to families. It doesn’t matter; it’s relatively anybody.”

Jordyn did not get an “A” for her letter, she said, but her dad pointed out that the school is now using that letter as a prime example of how to do it.

“It was just from the heart,” he said. “It was sweet.”

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Matt Dumba scores twice as Minnesota wins Jordan Leopold debut

ST. PAUL — It took until the fifth round of a shootout, but the Minnesota Wild (34-22-7) finally cracked the code against the Ottawa Senators (27-23-11).

In a highly-anticipated game because of a couple trade-deadline acquisitions, the Wild beat the Senators 3-2 Tuesday in a shootout with the help of Matt Dumba’s first NHL career multi-goal game and Charlie Coyle’s game-winner.

It was the Wild’s first win at home against the Senators in the past five meetings.

Dumba struck just 52 seconds into the middle frame to get the scoring started. Left alone in the circle, he fired a slapper up high after receiving a cross-ice pass from Mikael Granlund. At 8:05 of the period, the Wild took a 2-0 lead when Dumba drove to the net and accepted a picture-perfect pass from newcomer Chris Stewart behind the net.

“It was a good game tonight,” Dumba said. “Really fun game to play in. We want to keep this going for sure.”

But Ottawa didn’t go away quietly. They chipped into the two-goal deficit just 28 seconds after Dumba’s second goal. Mika Zibanejad scored from the slot. A couple minutes later, Bobby Ryan got his second point of the game with a goal.

For Dumba, the goals were his fifth and sixth goals of the season. He has four goals in the past seven games. Despite the goals, Coach Mike Yeo said he liked Dumba’s defensive game the most.

“Needless to say, it was a pretty strong game from him tonight,” Yeo said. “He’s showing that he can play some big minutes.”

The possibility of a hat trick was on the table, but was that on Dumba’s mind?

“No,” he said. “I don’t think anyone really thinks of that.”

In the shootout, Mikko Koivu led off with his signature backhand move for a goal. Jason Pominville beat Ottawa goaltender Andrew Hammond glove side, and Coyle puck-handled his way toward the goal before taking a high, glove-side shot.

Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk reacts after making the shootout-clinching save on Senators’ rookie Mike Hoffman to seal his 16th win in 21 games with Minnesota. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

In goal, Devan Dubnyk set a franchise record by starting his 21st consecutive game. This week he was also the first player in Wild history to be named the NHL First Star of the Month. Dubnyk made 31 saves and is 16-3-1 with a 1.65 GAA and .937 save percentage with the Wild.

He not only came up with the final save in the shootout, he also helped keep the game tied late in the third, as his team killed a penalty. Ottawa clanged iron on two shots during that man advantage situation.

Once that flurry was over, the Wild headed down to the other end and put on the pressure. Dumba hit Granlund with a pass on the rush, but Hammond made a spectacular save. He finished with 36 saves.

That last penalty kill and following Wild offensive zone pressure was arguably the most excitement the Xcel Energy Center saw during the first and third periods Tuesday.

Another contending moment was early in the game when Justin Fontaine had a chance to get the Wild on the board. With Hammond on his stomach, the bouncing puck found Fontaine’s stick for a wide-open chance at the net. But he shot the puck right into the body of the goaltender.

The game included two players making their Wild debuts: Stewart, from Buffalo, and Jordan Leopold, from Columbus. Both were acquired before the trade deadline Monday.

Former Gopher Jordan Leopold made is Wild debut on Tuesday in Minnesota’s win over Ottawa at Xcel Energy Center. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Leopold, a Golden Valley native, has been the talk of the state of hockey with the trade returning him home. A lot of attention also went to a letter his young daughter wrote to the Wild coaches that went viral on social media.

“Absolutely wonderful feeling to be home,” Leopold said. Then he quipped: “Well, we better keep winning, because I don’t want anybody blaming it on me.”

The defenseman has 67 goals and 146 assists in 678 NHL games spanning 12 seasons. The hometown player was a standout with the University of Minnesota hockey team, leading the Gophers to an NCAA National Championship in 2002.

“I told Leo that I watched him when I was little,” Dumba said, who’s 14 years younger than the 34-year-old Leopold.

It’s good to be home near family, Leopold said, and he knows there are a lot of people in the stands who are happy for his return.

But there’s a flip side to that.

“There are a lot of kids out there that have no idea who the heck I am,” he said.

In his Wild debut Tuesday, Leopold became the 21st Minnesotan to play a game with the Wild. He was a minus 1 with 17:19 of ice time, but some extra minutes could be attributed to Nate Prosser leaving the game early with an illness.

So, how did Leopold feel afterward?

“My back hurts,” he said. “It’s been a long day.”

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