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.

Minnesota shut out in the shootout as St. Louis rallies from third-period deficit

The Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues each worked overtime for the second consecutive night but 24 hours after the Wild rallied for an overtime win in Dallas, they saw the Blues come back to tie the game in the third and leave St. Paul with a 3-2 shootout win. As he had done the night before against Edmonton in overtime, St. Louis’ Vladamir Tarasenko notched the game winner when his was the only shot to beat either goaltender in the shootout.

The Wild’s Mikko Koivu potted his third goal of the season while Zach Parise scored his ninth of the year and No. 250 of his career to add to his team-leading point total (9-9–18) this season. Niklas Backstrom got the start in goal for Minnesota, making 24 saves through overtime and stopped shootout wiz T.J. Oshie of Warroad and Alex Steen before surrendering Tarasenko’s winner.

Tarasenko’s clincher wasn’t his only contribution to the contest, however.

The game remained scoreless as it reached its halfway point before Tarasenko snapped the tie at the 10:20 mark of the second period. But Koivu and Parise responded with goals 4:35 apart late in the period to give the Wild a 2-1 lead at the second intermission. Minnesota appeared poised to maintain that gap as the 15-minute mark of the final period approached but former Spring Lake Park and Minnesota State star, David Backes, scored his seventh of the year with just 5:33 to go to ultimately send the game to overtime.

But the Wild could not muster a shot in the extra five minutes on Blues goaltender Jake Allen who finished with 36 saves and and denied Parise, Koivu and Jason Pominville in the shootout.

Next up for Minnesota is the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 winners over the Wild on Nov. 8 in Montreal. The Habs visit Xcel Energy Center on Wednesday, Dec. 3 for a rematch scheduled to start a 6 p.m. CT.

The post Blues Battle Back appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

  In a feat never seen before in USA Hockey Olympic history, Warroad Minnesota native T.J. Oshie scored four shootout goals in leading team USA over the Russia 3-2 in overtime.  The epic game lived up to the hype and then some, with both teams playing as if   it was a game seven of the playoffs (or for the Gold medal) instead of a preliminary game leading to the medal round.

With a sellout crowd at the Bolshoy Ice Dome, in a game that had as much hype and build up that would rival the gold medal game featuring Canada and Team USA in Vancouver, the players did not disappoint as the game became a classic.  The game will go down eternally in USA Olympic hockey history.  The feat was noticed from the highest office in the world, with a tweet from President Obama and the White House congratulating Oshie and the team.  It was most celebrated in Warroad Minnesota, the small town just miles from the Canadian border that is the official Hockey Town USA.  No USA team has ever won a medal at the Olympics without having a Warroad native on the roster.

The pace was lightning fast for a full 65 minutes. The hits were punishing and delivered with purpose.  Throw in the bravery exhibited by players like Minnesota native and former Cretin Derham Hall and present New York Ranger star  Ryan McDonough  taking one for the team using whatever body part was available to block shots, including taking one off his unprotected back by diving in front of a one timer by NHL star Alex Ovetchkin, shows the type of determination that leads to victory. 

The loud, pro Russian crowd that included Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the teams skate to a 2-2 at the end of regulation, a score that held up only because an apparent Russian goal with 4:40 left in the third period was disallowed after video review. The long blast from Fyodor Tyutin from just inside the blue line hit the back of the net, was tipped by the left face off dot at about chest level by a team mate past U.S. goalie Jonathan Quick, but was waved off after a video review showed the net was off its moorings.

The five minute 4 on 4 shoot out yielded several scoring chances, including a clean break away by Patrick Kane, who found himself all alone after getting behind the Russian defense.  With two defenders chasing him, Kane tried to go five hole, and his shot was stopped by Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovski.

With the game tied, it was now headed to the shootout, the first time Team USA has ever been involved in one while at the Olympics.

For such a time as this, Oshie was picked for the team. Oshie was one of the last players chosen by Team USA Executives, and in the selection article written by ESPN’s Scott Burnside, this very moment was a key factor for he being on the team.

T.J. Oshie’s magic in shootouts was a frequent topic of conversation when general manager David Poile and his selection committee chose the U.S. Olympic team roster.

“You know at some point we are going to end up in a shootout, and we are going to want T.J. Oshie,” Poile said more than once. Coaches had the same mindset about Oshie’s specialty. The Americans appreciated what he brought to the team in general, but they loved his shootout prowess. He was like the team’s ace in the hole.

The deal maker for Oshie in earning a spot on Team USA was his ability to score in the shoot out.  When called upon this season by the St. Louis Blues, Oshie has an amazing 70% scoring ratio in beating the goalie in a high stakes game called the shoot out.  With the pressure that goes into every game in the NHL, when it comes down to a shootout and the winning team getting the extra point, all of these extra points for winning in a shootout can decide the fate of a team making the playoffs or not. Oshie has made 25 of 46 shootout attempts in his NHL career. This season, interrupted by the Olympic tournament, he has made 7 of 10 attempts, plus the one penalty shot he has tried. No one in the league has made more.

The rules for overtime and shootouts in Olympic hockey differ from those for the NHL.

Preliminary round: Five-minute, 4-on-4 overtime.

Playoff rounds (qualifications round, quarterfinals, semifinals, bronze medal): 10-minute, 4-on-4  overtime.

Gold medal game: 20-minute, 4-on-4 overtime. Teams also get a 20-minute break before the OT period and will change ends.

 Shootouts: This is where it gets interesting. Each coach designates three players for the shootout, and they each must take one shot. According to international rules for Game Winning Shots (aka shootouts), “If the game is still tied after three shots by each team, the GWS will continue with a tie-break shoot out by one player of each team, with a reversed shooting order. The same or new players can take the tie-breaking shots.

Russian Coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov dropped Evgeni Malkin after his first miss and went Ilya Kovalchuk-Pavel Datsyuk-Kovalchuk-Datsyuk-Kovalchuk. U.S. Coach Dan Bylsma went Oshie-Oshie-Oshie-Oshie-Oshie. That proved to be the winning formula.

Saturday’s shootout

Round 1: Oshie scores for US, Malkin misses for Russia

Round 2: James van Riemsdyk stopped for USA, Datsyuk stopped for Russia

Round 3: Joe Pavelski stopped for USA, Kovalchuk scores for Russia

Round 4: Kovalchuk stopped,  Oshie misses (tied 1-1)

Round 5: Datsyuk scores, Oshie scores (2-2)

Round 6: Kovalchuk scores, Oshie scores (3-3)

Round 7: Datsyuk stopped, Oshie stopped (3-3)

Round 8: Kovalchuk stopped,  Oshie scores (USA wins 4-3)

The first question Dan Bylsma faced afterwards in the press conference was why he had stuck with Oshie.   “T. J. has been exceptional on the shootout, and in his career he’s been outstanding,” Bylsma said. “By far the best number on our team, this year in particular. Once we got to the fourth shooter, and the quality moves he had, even when he missed, we were going to ride him out.”

The post Oshie leads Team USA to epic victory over Russia appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.