Simms scored on a penalty shot with 18 seconds left in the third period Sunday to tie the game against Ohio State, and then at the 2:49 mark in overtime, she scored on a rebound to give the Badgers a 4-3 victory and its eighth national title.  

There was a video clip on social media that showed Badgers head coach Mark Johnson on the bench asking who wanted to take the penalty shot and Simms’ hand went up right away. 

“I can’t really say it was initially my choice,” Simms said with a laugh. “I had everyone on the bench screaming ‘Simms, you do it,’ so I was like ‘You know what, whatever.’ Coach is going to need to see my hand go up for me to actually go. After that, everyone just really instills confidence within me, and I actually have to thank all my teammates for that because I was super nervous going into that moment, obviously. But they all calmed me down and reminded me to just be confident in what I do and what I decide to do, and it (ended up) working out for us.” 

When asked about that video clip, Johnson talked about the mentality needed to be able to score on a penalty shot in that crucial of a situation. 

“Most (people) don’t want to go out there and embarrass themselves,” he said. “I’ve had players that don’t want to take penalty shots even though they were awarded one because they’re thinking negatively. They think they’re going to miss it. If you’re lining up for your birdie putt and you think you’re going to miss it, you’re probably going to miss it. I wanted to see who wanted to step up and own it. Who felt comfortable in the setting, because you can’t have one ounce of negativity in your mind as you pick the puck up. It’s got to be all positive, because if you think about what’s going on, you’re going to miss your putt and you’re going to miss the shot. That’s what the ultimate pressure in our game is about, and you can’t get any more pressure than that. 3-2, you’re down, national championship game. If you miss, the game is probably over other than maybe we get something off a faceoff on the power play.

“Laila (Edwards) came back, she was adamant that their player had their glove on the puck inside the crease, which your team is awarded a penalty shot. Then it comes down to who wants to step up. So, a couple players mentioned Kirsten and then the ownership is hers. ‘I’ll take it.’ ‘Okay, go get it.’

“I looked away. I didn’t even watch. I was like (goalie) Ava (McNaughton). I was asking several people after. I don’t know if I was playing, I would take the shot just because you’ve got to be as free as you can be right in that moment. You can’t be thinking about anything other than I’m going to score.” 

Familiar foes in the national title game
This was the third year in a row where Wisco faced OSU for the national title. After coming up short last year, the Badgers got the job done this time around. The Badgers also finished the season with a stellar record of 38-1-2, with the only loss coming against the Buckeyes back in November.  

“Obviously, we found a way to win,” Johnson said. “I don’t think we played one of our better games, but as I told the team a few minutes ago, we figured out how to get to the finish line. I’ve always said Monday always comes. Well, Monday’s coming tomorrow, and we’ve got the national championship trophy back in Madtown. So, it’s a good day.” 

While the Badgers were celebrating, the Buckeyes were visibly distraught with a few players lying face down on the ice and attempting to come to grips with what just happened as they were just seconds away from back-to-back national titles and their third overall in program history.  

“There’s not a lot to really say after a tough loss,” said OSU coach Nadine Muzerall. “Fantastic human beings (her players). I thought they played phenomenal tonight. I think it was just more of the way we lost, with 18 seconds left. It was just an unfortunate outcome. A debatable penalty shot, hard to challenge it when we’d already used our timeout. Very exciting hockey game though.” 

When asked about Simms’ penalty shot, which came because OSU’s Maddi Wheeler covered the puck with her hand in the crease, Muzerall explained what the officials told her after a video review. 

“The covering of the puck, she (the referee) just said she (Wheeler) had her hand covering it,” Muzerall said. “It’s not like she just swatted it away. She actually put her hand over it, and then you kind of lost sight of it because it went under her. I get that it was a penalty shot. I just question the actual penalty shot. And we didn’t have enough proof to rule against it in that quick moment. But we were contemplating if the puck moved back on her penalty shot, and I already used a timeout, so I didn’t want to go down, possibly 6-on-3.” 

The first period was a tight one throughout as both teams generated decent chances early on, but made some key defensive plays near the net to keep it at 0-0. The Buckeyes got on the scoreboard first thanks to a great individual effort by Joy Dunne. With OSU trying to kill a penalty, the sophomore zoomed past three Wisconsin players and deked out McNaughton for a shorthanded goal to make it 1-0 at the 8:22 mark.

However, just 12 seconds later, Wisco cashed in on its power play as Edwards did almost the same thing to Buckeyes goalie Amanda Thiele, beating her to the left post, just before a diving OSU player could knocked the puck away.  

OSU answered back though as Sloane Matthews skated into the Badgers zone along the far boards and beat McNaughton top shelf to put the Buckeyes back up 2-1 at 14:44. The Buckeyes would maintain that slim lead going into the second.  

Just 10 seconds into the second, the Buckeyes struck again. OSU’s Makenna Webster skated around the Badgers net and tried to feed Jocelyn Amos in front, but the puck deflected out to a waiting Emma Peschel, who blasted a shot past McNaughton to make it 3-1 Buckeyes.

Wisco wouldn’t go away though. At 5:27, the Badgers’ Caroline Harvey trimmed the deficit to one goal. Harvey got a pass across the slot from Simms and sniped it past Thiele to make it 3-2 heading into the third.  

After struggling to get good chances throughout the last period of regulation, the Badgers got a great one in the last 1:50 as the Buckeyes were whistled for too many skaters. With McNaughton on the bench for the extra attacker, Wheeler committed her penalty, Simms was given a penalty shot and she buried it to tie things up at 3-3 and force overtime. 

The post Simms Steps Up appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

This is the 18th Hockey Day Minnesota, and it makes you wonder what it took those who make such decisions so long before going to the northernmost reaches of the state to select Warroad as the host. The town population is about 1,800, which is only a percentage of those inside Warroad Gardens, the perfect indoor arena that fills up for every home game of the Warroad Warriors.

The town also boasts some of the greatest iconic players of Minnesota’s long hockey history, and is half of the state’s most intense hockey rivalry. The other half is Roseau, which is about 20 miles to the west of Warroad. Travel five miles east to find Baudette, another small town that would rather boast about its walleye fishing than its hockey. 

Warroad, located on the southwesternmost tip of Lake Of The Woods, a huge, sprawling lake that stretches into Canada and houses various resorts and cabins and countless of the delectable-eating walleyes, would never shrug off its fishing heritage, but it also would never let it intrude on its love of hockey.

If you go back in the annals of state hockey, you find legendary names such as Max Oshie, the Marvin family, brothers Gordon, Roger and Billy Christian, Henry Boucha, Alan Hangsleben, Gopher All-America Larry Olimb, and on up to the modern era, when T.J. Oshie of the Washington Capitals and Brock Nelson of the New York Islanders carry the torch for Warroad’s current presence in the NHL.

The Marvin family owns Marvin Windows, the largest employer in the area and the builder of classic windows and doors for home building. Cal Marvin, meanwhile, managed the Warroad Lakers, a senior men’s team that lured outstanding ex-college stars to Warroad to work, make a living and play for an amateur team that was the only American senior team to win Canadian amateur senior championships.

The Christian Brothers ran the Christian Brothers Hockey Stick factory, which once filled the stockrooms of all the top area Division I colleges. They played at North Dakota, and the three brothers all played together on the National and Olympic teams including the 1960 gold-medal U.S. Olympic team that beat the Russians and won Gold at Squaw Valley, Calif.

So, the subtle highlight of Hockey Day Minnesota, with games televised by Bally Sports North, is that there are great high school games. That includes the 4:30 p.m. Saturday-afternoon battle between the Warroad and Roseau boys’ teams. But at 8 p.m. Friday, there will be a Warroad-Roseau alumni game — which could be a classic, depending on who can round up more alumni.

Otherwise, an almost constant flow of strong high school games, a men’s college game with Concordia College-Moorhead facing St. Olaf, a high-ranking Wayzata-Moorhead boys’ high school game, plus high school girls’ varsity and JV games will run throughout the days on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The climax is supposed to be the Saturday night game with Anaheim facing the Wild at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. 

UMD women’s team in midst of tough stretch
All of that doesn’t mean the college hockey teams entering both the men’s and women’s stretch drives are relaxing for the weekend. Hardly.

“Every weekend feels like playoff hockey,” said Maura Crowell, coach of the Minnesota-Duluth women’s hockey team. “I’m lucky to have 20 players who can play at such a high level.”

The Bulldogs are in the midst of a tough couple of weekends. They traveled to Ohio State to face the No. 1 Buckeyes and lost 3-0 and 1-0. That means for the month of January, the Bulldogs lost 2-1 and tied 2-2 at No. 8 Quinnipiac, then swept Bemidji State with a pair of shutouts before suffering the two shutout losses at No. 1 Ohio State. Instead of a rest, the Bulldogs are back home at AMSOIL Arena to take on No. 2 Wisconsin.

“I’m happy with how we’re playing, especially last Saturday night, when we lost 1-0,” Crowell said. “I thought Saturday night was one of the best games of the year. Ohio State is No. 1 — by far, in my opinion right now — and we’re No. 7. I’ll take that for now.”

Crowell’s optimism has infested her players, who seem to have shrugged off the obvious fact that you don’t win many when you get shut out for a whole weekend.

“We played one of our best games Saturday at Ohio State,” said Bulldogs senior forward Clara Van Wieren. “It was good to see us implementing all the things our coaches have been telling us.

“Yes, I’d love to get into a high-scoring game, but the WCHA is so tough, and there are such good goalies that it’s hard to score.”

UMD’s women are 10-8 in the WCHA, fifth behind Ohio State (17-1), Wisconsin (14-4), Minnesota (12-5-1) and St. Cloud State (10-7-1), and being pursued by the rest of the league, Minnesota State-Mankato (4-14), Bemidji State (2-16) and St. Thomas (2-16). The Bulldogs are buoyed by the fact that after losing 3-0 at Wisconsin on Dec. 1, they upset the Badgers 3-2 the next night, but that second game has also probably caused Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson to circle this weekend’s dates.

College men’s hockey teams with their own Hockey Days this weekend
UMD’s men also return home this weekend after a weird series at Western Michigan. The Bulldogs broke open a tight 2-1 game Friday by scoring five third-period goals for a 6-3 win in a rare outburst, with all four lines contributing for a team that has had trouble getting any goals. The Bulldogs lost 5-2 the following night.

In the NCHC men’s race, St. Cloud State (7-2-3) is tied with North Dakota (7-4-1) for first place, with Denver (8-3-1) third. St. Cloud State is home against seventh-place Omaha this weekend, while a major showdown series has Denver at North Dakota. Minnesota-Duluth, sixth with a 4-7-1 record, is home against eighth-place Miami.

“They’re a big, heavy team,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said of Miami. “When we played in their building, we were ready one night, and not ready enough the other. They’re a good hockey team, and we’ve got to approach them that way. They’re behind us, and we want to keep them there.”

Minnesota teams stand 1-2-3 atop the CCHA, with upstart St. Thomas first at 10-6, followed by Bemidji State (8-7-1), and Mankato (8-5-1). With a light slate this weekend, Mankato is at home against Northern Michigan with a chance to rise.

Minnesota has struggled to move into contention in the Big Ten, and this weekend may be the Gophers’ turning point. Standing third with a 7-4-3 record, the Gophers play at second-place Michigan State (10-2-2) for two games, while first-place Wisconsin (10-2) plays at fifth-place Michigan (4-6-1).

Not all of Minnesota’s teams are celebrating Hockey Day Minnesota, but they might as well be.

The post Warroad Is Focus For HDM appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But the women’s representatives from Minnesota deserve to be recognized for their prominence, too. A look at the week before Christmas national rankings show that five of the top eight teams are from the WCHA, starting at the top:

1. Ohio State, 14-2
2. Minnesota, 13-2
3. Wisconsin 13-3
6. UMD, 10-5-1
8. St. Cloud State, 12-5

The 1-2-3 punch at the top had to survive the sort of upsets that never used to happen in the WCHA.

St. Cloud State, clearly the surprise of women’s college hockey this season, invaded Columbus and, after falling behind 1-0 in the first period, scored twice in the second period. Finnish import goaltender Sanni Ahola stifled the Buckeyes the rest of the way for a shocking 2-1 upset. Ohio Sate had lost only one game all season, and while everyone anticipated a tough game, nobody expected a Huskies win.

St. Cloud’s Addi Scribner said that after that upset, an Ohio State fan came up to her and said: “Your goalie is unreal. She’s a Cyborg!”

The Buckeyes came back in the second game and broke a 1-1 tie with four straight goals in the second period to gain a 6-2 victory and a split. While being upset by St. Cloud could have cost Ohio State the No. 1 ranking, it didn’t. That’s because No. 2 Wisconsin suffered a similar weekend, against Duluth.

UMD went to Wisconsin and lost 3-0, solidifying the Badgers position on Saturday. However, the Bulldogs battled the Badgers through two scoreless periods in their Sunday afternoon rematch, and were determined to make their effort stand up in the third. UMD won that second game 3-2 for the split. 

A victory by the Badgers would have elevated them back to the No. 1 ranking.

The upsets weren’t over when the weekend ended, though, because the Gophers had a one-game matchup Tuesday against St. Cloud State. Peyton Hemp gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead but Scribner tied the game in the second period. The game went to overtime and a shootout. Allie Franco’s shootout goal gave the Gophers, who came in on an eight-game winning streak, the extra WCHA point. 

But it seems there are no such things as upsets anymore in the WCHA. At least going into a frantic pre-holiday-break weekend that features Wisconsin at Minnesota, and UMD at St. Cloud State, with Bemidji State at St. Thomas for good measure among Minnesota’s teams.

Minnesota teams have always dominated with NCAA championships
For statistical evidence, it’s not as though the Minnesota teams and the West are just emerging on top. Go back to the year 2000-01, which was the first year the NCAA conducted a national tournament for women’s teams. In the first 13 years it was held, Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota virtually owned the championship.

UMD won the first three NCAA titles, with spectacular players such as Jenny Schmidgall, Maria Rooth and Caroline Ouellette leading the way. Under Shannon Miller’s coaching, UMD won five championships in all, with the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2010 trophies still filling the school’s trophy case. Minnesota won championships in 2004, 2005, 2012 and 2013 — meaning that the Bulldogs and Gophers won nine of the first 13 NCAA women’s championships.

The other four titles were won by the emerging power at Wisconsin, meaning that those three WCHA teams won all of the first 13 women’s national championships. The Badgers won in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2011, and their 2007 team went 36-1-4 to eclipse the 31-3-2 of UMD in 2003 and the 36-2-2 by the Gophers in 2005.

But in 2013, the Golden Gophers had a load of talent throughout their lineup and set the record for all time with a splendid 41-0-0 championship season.

It was the following year, in 2013-14, that Clarkson broke through and claimed the first NCAA title for women for the East, and Clarkson also won championships in 2017 and 2018. And that’s it. Only three times did a non-WCHA team win the title, and all three times it was Clarkson.

All NCAA tournaments took a year off during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. When they resumed, Mark Johnson led his Badgers back for their sixth championship, with Ohio State emerging to capture the 2022 title. Last spring, Wisconsin was a surprise winner of its seventh title, and the same WCHA teams seem clustered for another run this season.

St. Cloud State women marking their mark
But maybe there will be an additional team in the mix, after St. Cloud State pulled off the seemingly impossible task of upsetting Ohio State on the road and coming home to tie the Gophers. That takes care of the top two-ranked teams, and now they get to take on old rival UMD, which upset No. 3 Wisconsin.

The games at St. Cloud State’s Herb Brooks National Hockey Center are expected to be tight, low-scoring battles, because both teams have two outstanding goaltenders. UMD has record-setting Hailey MacLeod, who is setting records for goals-against and save percentage, alongside freshman Eve Gascon, from Montreal.

St. Cloud State has an interesting duo, with Ahola capturing the spotlight in net. She’s paired with Jojo Chobak, who spent a season at UMD before transferring to St. Cloud State because she had grown weary of backing up Swedish Olympic star Emma Soderberg, who decided to stay another year.

Both teams depend on depth, getting scoring from their three top lines, and four for St. Cloud State. Both play tough defensive hockey but with defensemen who can readily move up into the play to help the rush or fire lasers from the points.

“We hung our hats on being a tough defensive team last year,” said St. Cloud State coach Brian Idalski. “We haven’t changed that and still want to play tough defense, but we’ve added some new players and I think we’re capable of scoring more goals this year.

“Especially coming off two tough games at Ohio State, then tying the Gophers on Tuesday. We’re getting contributions from all four lines, and we’re approaching this weekend like we’re preparing for the playoffs.”

From Duluth’s end of the transition from last weekend’s upset to this weekend’s rivalry series, the sound was similar. Center Mannon McMahon praised third-line center Jenna Lawry, who was cool and poised as she scored the game-winner at Madison.

“It was super cool to see how Jenna and her line have stepped up, and now they’re being rewarded,” McMahon said. “A lot of us were disappointed at losing 3-0 in Saturday’s game, but we were confident enough to not let that happen again on Sunday.

“Our response from the first game to the second was what I was most proud of. Now we have to carry that through to St. Cloud. It’s going to be tough. They just don’t quit, and they love to battle.”

The post Women Take Command appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Forever-linked Johnson, Harrington to go head-to-head from the bench

They have trained together, played together on the most inspirational gold medal team in U.S. Olympic history and beat the USSR hockey juggernaut in the “Miracle on Ice.”

They have signed countless autographs while sitting by one another at memorabilia shows and stood next to one another while their teammates lit the Olympic torch. They have heard thousands of people go to the way-back machine and tell them where they were that February weekend in Lake Placid, N.Y. in 1980.

But they have never coached against one another – until this weekend in Mankato, Minn. when Mark Johnson leads the unbeaten University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team against first-year coach John Harrington and his über-young Minnesota State Mavericks.

“It will be awkward to see him on the other bench,” Johnson said. “The only time I ever coached against him was at fantasy camp at Lake Placid last March. My team won the gold medal.  John’s didn’t do so well.”

Johnson chuckled. He knows what a competitor Harrington is.  Sure enough, Harrington had a response for Johnson.

“I needed to fire my general manager who picked the fantasy team. Neal (Broten) was my GM and we had a poor draft,” Harrington said.

When it was suggested that Harrington has a tough time losing – at hockey or golf, or trivial pursuit, for that matter – the man known as “Bah” interrupted. “Mark is as competitive as I am. He just does it with a different demeanor than me.”

The friends and ex-teammates will come at this weekend’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with different perspectives. Johnson’s Badgers, an NCAA Frozen Four finalist last year, are unbeaten in eight games this season, have outscored opponents 42-2 and have registered a program-record (and WCHA record-tying) six-straight shutouts in league games.

Minnesota State head coach John Harrington (right). (WCHA.com photo)

Harrington’s Mavericks have yet to win a WCHA game and are 2-7-1 overall. The Mavs dropped a pair of games last weekend at Ohio State while skating 17 freshmen and sophomores. “We have two seniors and one hurt her ankle and the other had a concussion,” said Harrington. “We have a lot of growing pains, but our team is getting more accustomed to the pace of the league and getting better each week. But here comes Wisconsin who hasn’t allowed a goal to anyone and we are averaging 1.1 goals a game.

“I just hope Mark takes it easy on us,” Harrington said. The tone in his voice said Harrington’s team won’t roll over for the Big Red.

Harrington and Johnson have come a long way since being fresh-faced kids who stood on the podium at Lake Placid 35 years ago with gold medals around their necks, while the national anthem played and the country’s sports fans became hockey fans filled with patriotic frenzy.

They were “Bah” and “Magic” then. Harrington was a member of the Conehead Line with Mark Pavelich and Buzz Schneider, while Johnson earned the nickname Magic for his play as the Olympic team’s leading scorer. Now they are they are called grandpa around their families. Both are 58 years old, but still are in great shape physically – probably below the weight they played at in Lake Placid. Harrington works out religiously and Johnson ran his seventh Ironman Triathlon with his son Patrick over Labor Day weekend.

Both are hockey guys, lifers in a sport they love. They aren’t living in the past as characters in the movie “Miracle.” They have forged careers in the sport they love.

Before they became teammates on Herb Brooks’ 1980 Olympic team, Harrington and Johnson played against each other in the WCHA. Johnson played for his dad, the iconic Badger Bob Johnson, at Wisconsin, scoring 40 goals as a freshman in his hometown of Madison, Wis. and winning a NCAA title in 1977. Mark was an All-American who scored 125 goals and had 256 points in three seasons at UW.  Harrington was an overachieving, walk-on from Virginia, Minn. who played at Minnesota Duluth and became a force in the WCHA while playing on a line with fellow Iron Ranger and future Olympian Pavelich.

Following their collegiate careers, Johnson was the leading scorer on the U.S. Olympic team with 11 points, including two goals against the Russians, and Harrington was credited with an assist on Mike Eruzione’s go-ahead, game-winning goal against the Soviet Union in the “Miracle on Ice” semifinal win. Harrington also played on the 1984 U.S. Olympic Team, while Johnson went on to an 11-year career in the National Hockey League, including a 1983-84 season with Hartford when he was the Whalers’ leading scorer with 87 points and tied an NHL All-Star Game record with three assists.

Johnson and Harrington are the only two members of the 1980 U.S. Olympic team to be actively coaching, after Mike Ramsey left the Minnesota Wild’s NHL organization two years ago. Both proudly consider themselves career coaches. Harrington has won titles as a Division III coach, a European pro coach; and, he won a pool B title as Team Slovenia’s head coach at the world championships. Johnson has 368 career victories in 13 seasons at Wisconsin, fourth best all-time in women’s collegiate hockey and 18 wins away from tying former Minnesota Duluth coach Shannon Miller for third place.

“All kidding aside, this will be exciting, coaching against Mark,” said Harrington. “He is one of the great coaches in women’s hockey. I have watched his games in the past as a fan but now, when I study his team on video more closely, I am impressed at how well they do the little things. They have a lot of talented players, but they are just a well-coached team.”

After Johnson’s playing days ended in 1993, he returned to Madison and started at the bottom of the coaching rung. Johnson was an assistant coach at his alma mater, Madison Memorial High School. The next year he coached at Verona High School and in 1995 took a pro job in the Colonial Hockey League with the Madison Monsters, where he coached current North Dakota coach Brian Idalski.

In 1996, the legendary Jeff Sauer hired Johnson to be an assistant coach with Wisconsin’s men’s team, a position he held until 2002 when Sauer retired. There are many folks in Madison today that still wish Johnson succeeded Sauer, but UW athletic director Pat Richter chose to hire Mike Eaves, a former teammate of Mark’s. Johnson then applied to be coach of the UW women’s program, got hired and has experienced great success.

With Johnson on the bench the last 12 years, the Badgers have won four NCAA titles, five WCHA playoff titles and four WCHA regular season crowns while producing four Patty Kazmaier Award winners.

The success has not gone unnoticed. Johnson was named coach of the U.S. Olympic team in 2010 and the American women collected the silver medal, losing 2-0 to Canada in Vancouver, B.C. He has become the face of women’s hockey to many people in North America, but Mark is not the outgoing salesman of the game that “Badger Bob” was. He is more a teacher, quietly explaining the game to anyone who will listen.

You have to ask both Johnson and Harrington if you want to talk about what happened in the Olympics in 1980. Harrington said his new team has yet to ask to see his gold medal. Aside from signing DVDs from the movie “Miracle” or politely talking with fans who bring up Lake Placid in 1980 at the rink, they are unlikely to talk about the past. Harrington sold his Olympic jersey and other gear last year to help finance his daughter in nursing school. They still do the occasional autograph show to sign memorabilia and coached together at the 1980 team fantasy reunion camp last winter. But both guys are very much coaches now, concerned with the present and not living in the past.

Johnson, whose daughter Mikayla is a winger on his team, said “he was very pleased” with his third-ranked team’s two shutout wins over No. 6 Bemidji last week. “Bemidji has a good team. They can limit your chances, have a good goalie and some seniors that can score. When we got (Sarah) Nurse back (from missing two games with an illness) we had a complete team and a good effort.”

Now it’s a road trip to face his old friend and the Mavericks.

Wisconsin head coach Mark Johnson. (WCHA.com photo)

“I think it will be fun,” said Johnson.  “Of all the players on the (1980 U.S. Olympic) team, you are closer to some more than others and Bah is one of those I have always been friends with. We have kept in contact over the years. When he was coaching at St. John’s (in Collegeville, Minn.), we’d talk a lot and we have kept in contact regularly.”

Harrington was an assistant coach at Denver and St. Cloud State (men’s team) before becoming the head coach at St. John’s from 1993-2008, where he led the Johnnies to a 241-142-31 record, five MIAC regular-season titles, five NCAA Division III tournament appearances and four MIAC playoff titles. He coached pro players in Switzerland and Austria and coached the Slovenian national team before taking a scouting job with the Colorado Avalanche. During his tenure with the Avs, Harrington helped out as a volunteer assistant with St. Cloud State’s women’s team and enjoyed the experience.

When the Minnesota State job opened up, Harrington applied for the job, conferred with his old buddy Mike Hastings, the Minnesota State men’s coach, and then called Johnson.

“We’ve had other talks about coaching over the years, but last spring at fantasy camp in Lake Placid, I talked to him about the women’s game and how he enjoyed it and the transition he made from coaching the men (as an assistant) at Wisconsin to becoming the women’s coach,” said Harrington.

“We just talked about the women’s game, in general, and about the league,” recalled Johnson. “I am glad it all worked out for him. He is a very knowledgeable coach. I am sure he is finding his way around the league right now, but he has had a lot of success over the years and I am sure he will there.”

This weekend’s games will be the second women’s series held at the renovated Verizon Wireless Center after years at old, rickety All Seasons Arena, and it will be the first series overhead with a large jumbotron scoreboard overhead.

“It is awesome,’’ said Harrington. “It is a good-looking arena now. Everyone who has seen the place is very impressed.”

“The move to the big rink will give him a fresh start. It was a good time for John to go in there,” Johnson said. “Obviously moving downtown and them renovating their facility downtown and bringing the women’s program back to that facility is a step that’s going to be really positive for that group to start over.”

In future years, there may be bragging rights at stake when Harrington and Johnson go head-to-head. This weekend, it may be more of a reunion, a time to catch up with an old friend who is starting a rebuilding project.

“John has a great track record with a lot of different programs,” said Johnson. “It will be his first time with the women’s side, but I think he’ll do a good job and have an opportunity to put women’s hockey on a different level in his city.”

The post Golden Boys appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Gopher women’s top line shines in 14th straight win over Wisconsin

Dani Cameranesi needed two third period goals this time to break the doors open against third ranked Wisconsin, but the result is the same. Add another win for the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team onto the streak against its border rivals to the East.

All three members of Minnesota’s top line had multiple points, overcoming an opening barrage by the Badgers to defeat the University of Wisconsin 4-1 in a game much closer than the final score indicates.

Besides Cameranesi, Hannah Brandt scored the go-ahead goal in the second period. Maryanne Menefee assisted on all three of her linemates’ goal. All came after the Badgers matched Minnesota (19-1-2, 12-1-2-0 WCHA) in effort throughout the first forty minutes and tied the score in the second period.

“I think in the first period we started off a little slow,” said Cameranesi. “In that rest after the first period we kind of came in and talked it out. We kind of decided that we needed to put a little more effort and do whatever we could to get pucks on net and hope one finds the back of the net.”

It’s the fourteenth straight victory against the Badgers for the Gophers, who have handed Wisconsin (17-3-1, 13-3-1-0 WCHA) all three of its regulation losses in 2014-15.

“A great win. I’m really proud of our kids and the effort they put forth tonight,” Gopher coach Brad Frost said after the game. “I thought Amanda Leveille was tremendous, really setting the tone for us on that turnover five seconds in. Made a great save there and obviously played great. Our big time players stepped up again here tonight with Cameranesi and Brandt and Menefee in particular.”

Both teams came out swinging early. #2 Minnesota and #3 Wisconsin did not need any time to feel the other out, instead bringing physicality fit for the rivalry. Long stretches of the opening period were spent going back and forth up and down the ice without a whistle.

The Badgers began the game by taking advantage of a Minnesota turnover and forced Leveille to make two or three tough saves ten seconds into the game.

“Wisconsin is a great team and we knew that,” said Leveille, who made 23 saves en route to being named the game’s first star. “It was kind of a lucky bounce that it didn’t go into the net on the first shot. That was good on our part and I think Hannah cleared it behind me.”

“We all got our nervous jitters out of the way right on that play.”

After back and forth play for most of the first period, it was a fortunate bounce late that kept the two teams from a scoreless opening twenty. With just over a minute remaining, Cara Piazza got the puck after a Wisconsin defender tripped over the referee. The Minnesota freshman dove around Badgers goaltender Ann-Renee Desbiens to make it 1-0 and celebrate with her teammates.

“You know it was a case when she ran into the referee and a mistake, but we got a power play to make it 1-1,” Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson said. “We had chances. We just have to dig down a little deeper and get a little bit more.”

Wisconsin got puck luck of its own, however. Leveille was called for delay of game when she took her helmet off to stop play with 9:29 remaining in the second in order to get her blocker. It was a move the junior admitted was “a mini brain fart.”

The end result was senior Karley Sylvester, the lone Minnesotan in the Badgers lineup, tying the game on the power play when she got the puck on her stick off a rebound and buried it for her ninth goal of the season.

Sylvester’s goal with 8:56 left in the second period marked both Wisconsin’s high point and the moment the Gophers top line took over.

Hannah Brandt skated from behind the net into the slot with a shot to re-take the lead 4:50 later. Cameranesi’s goals, one coming off a deke and move and the other from a Rachel Ramsey shot that went off a few bodies, padded the lead. Playing its third game since Sunday against a fresh opponent , Minnesota out-shot the Badgers 12-4 in the final period.

“No game has been easy in those 14,” Frost said. “Our big time players step up and we find a way to win or at least we have in the last 14 games. Any given night we know what these guys can do to us.

Minnesota and Wisconsin play again Sunday at 2:00 p.m. CT. The Badgers hold a 2 point lead in the WCHA standings (games are worth 3 on the women’s side) so a fifteenth win would put the Gophers ahead.

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