The Cub files heartbreaking report from Ridder
Our Cardinals -- Abby Williams (kneeling on the right, white top) won the Herb Brooks Award for class A, led the state in scoring (102 points: 51 goals, 51 assists), and was named all-state; Ashley Holmes (standing directly behind Abby, red shirt, black jacket) was named all-state defense; Kathryn Del Zoppo (standing, green top) was named honorable mention all-state (48 goals, and I believe 92 points); and Danielle "Roadblock" Justice (kneeling next to Abby, green top) was named honorable mention all-state goalie.
Trailboss,
Welcome home! It looks like the Rolfsruds had some great family get-togethers. And the website for the family is a great idea. (www.rolfsruds.blogspot.com)
Many events occurred in your old hometown in your absence. We'll start with the girls hockey team (what else?) - the above photo was taken at the Pizza Ranch where the Diehard Fans treated the team in thanks for a terrific season. It seems the Heckler now wants to do a story on "the fans"???
Anyway, lots more stories on hand - from Alex's Mardi Gras to new education foundation executive director Paul Donley. Just let me know when - don't want to over do it.
Cubbie
Congratulations to the Cardinals girl hockey team . . .
By Tom Obert,
Die-hard Fan and Cub reporter
What a great season!! It came to end Thursday morning in Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota - a 5 - 4 OT (yes, another overtime) loss to Breck. Just like last year (we played eventual champion So. St. Paul in the 1st round), we drew a very difficult bracket - Hibbing/Chisholm in the first round was a match of the 2 and 3 ranked teams in the state - a toss-up. And then today, we drew Breck, which lost in the 1st round to No. 1-ranked Blake and had only two losses all year other than those to Blake! As the cub reporter-in-training is apt to point out, Breck is a big-city private school that plays a big-school schedule.
Extenuating circumstances
Nevertheless, in this unbiased reporter's humble opinion, there were extenuating circumstances in the loss to Hibbing/Chisholm on the first day, and to Breck. It was confirmed that the ice at the Xcel Center yesterday was mushy as the temperature was way too warm - the players said they were overheating!
This did not favor our Cards as even the Star Tribune reported that Hibbing "used physical play to slow the speedy Cardinals." Voice of the Cardinals, Dave Harris, further confirmed today that the Hibbing game plan was to take a penalty anytime Abby Williams or Kathryn Del Zoppo, the highest scoring duo in the state, appeared to be in position to make a play. To their credit, the strategy worked.
Disallowed
Breck came out obviously determined to deploy that same strategy. After the Cards finally opened scoring in the 2nd period, Breck came back with three straight goals to take a 3 - 1 lead. The last two goals came on a 5-on-3 power play - "Road Block" Justice had no chance to repel the first goal; but we all thought that Breck had a least one player in the crease on the second power play goal (and thus it should have been disallowed).
The Cardinals stormed back to take a 4 - 3 lead late into the final period. It was here that the constant pummeling of Abby and Del became noteworthy (they looked like snowmen from having hit the ice so often) - at one point a Breck player skated by Abby, who was standing still, and blatantly flipped her, right in front of an official who called nothing. (Abby was also pushed head first into the net after the whistle had blown - at least a penalty was called, but it was a dangerous move.)
Del was smashed into the boards on a potential breakaway and was momentarily dazed - what should have been a 5-minute major penalty was only charged as a minor penalty. Ultimately, we fans became most upset when with a little over 2 minutes left in the game, Ashley Holmes was blatantly tripped bringing the puck out of her own end, no call - Abby picked up the puck in center ice and was tackled, no call - Breck then picked up the puck and with a mass charge into the net, knocking it off its post, scored the tying goal - the Cards vigorously protested to no avail. The game was now a 4 - 4 tie and headed into overtime.
Despite the constant physical attacks upon their persons, Abby and Del, in marvelous displays of perseverance, each had two of our four goals. Then, just as the day before, with but 8 seconds left in overtime, a Breck player took a shot that somehow managed to find its way through about 10 players and into the net - we're sure there's no way Danielle could have seen that shot. So Breck won - and congratulations to them. But unlike Thursday, when we thought Hibbing deserved the win, today our Cards deserved the victory.
We have to realize what a great season it was - really, just a couple of bounces away from a perfect record. They only had four losses - all by one goal, with three in the last seconds of overtimes. So many congratulations to our Cards - we're already looking forward to next year!!
Trailboss,
Welcome home! It looks like the Rolfsruds had some great family get-togethers. And the website for the family is a great idea. (www.rolfsruds.blogspot.com)
Many events occurred in your old hometown in your absence. We'll start with the girls hockey team (what else?) - the above photo was taken at the Pizza Ranch where the Diehard Fans treated the team in thanks for a terrific season. It seems the Heckler now wants to do a story on "the fans"???
Anyway, lots more stories on hand - from Alex's Mardi Gras to new education foundation executive director Paul Donley. Just let me know when - don't want to over do it.
Cubbie
Congratulations to the Cardinals girl hockey team . . .
By Tom Obert,
Die-hard Fan and Cub reporter
What a great season!! It came to end Thursday morning in Ridder Arena on the campus of the University of Minnesota - a 5 - 4 OT (yes, another overtime) loss to Breck. Just like last year (we played eventual champion So. St. Paul in the 1st round), we drew a very difficult bracket - Hibbing/Chisholm in the first round was a match of the 2 and 3 ranked teams in the state - a toss-up. And then today, we drew Breck, which lost in the 1st round to No. 1-ranked Blake and had only two losses all year other than those to Blake! As the cub reporter-in-training is apt to point out, Breck is a big-city private school that plays a big-school schedule.
Extenuating circumstances
Nevertheless, in this unbiased reporter's humble opinion, there were extenuating circumstances in the loss to Hibbing/Chisholm on the first day, and to Breck. It was confirmed that the ice at the Xcel Center yesterday was mushy as the temperature was way too warm - the players said they were overheating!
This did not favor our Cards as even the Star Tribune reported that Hibbing "used physical play to slow the speedy Cardinals." Voice of the Cardinals, Dave Harris, further confirmed today that the Hibbing game plan was to take a penalty anytime Abby Williams or Kathryn Del Zoppo, the highest scoring duo in the state, appeared to be in position to make a play. To their credit, the strategy worked.
Disallowed
Breck came out obviously determined to deploy that same strategy. After the Cards finally opened scoring in the 2nd period, Breck came back with three straight goals to take a 3 - 1 lead. The last two goals came on a 5-on-3 power play - "Road Block" Justice had no chance to repel the first goal; but we all thought that Breck had a least one player in the crease on the second power play goal (and thus it should have been disallowed).
The Cardinals stormed back to take a 4 - 3 lead late into the final period. It was here that the constant pummeling of Abby and Del became noteworthy (they looked like snowmen from having hit the ice so often) - at one point a Breck player skated by Abby, who was standing still, and blatantly flipped her, right in front of an official who called nothing. (Abby was also pushed head first into the net after the whistle had blown - at least a penalty was called, but it was a dangerous move.)
Del was smashed into the boards on a potential breakaway and was momentarily dazed - what should have been a 5-minute major penalty was only charged as a minor penalty. Ultimately, we fans became most upset when with a little over 2 minutes left in the game, Ashley Holmes was blatantly tripped bringing the puck out of her own end, no call - Abby picked up the puck in center ice and was tackled, no call - Breck then picked up the puck and with a mass charge into the net, knocking it off its post, scored the tying goal - the Cards vigorously protested to no avail. The game was now a 4 - 4 tie and headed into overtime.
Despite the constant physical attacks upon their persons, Abby and Del, in marvelous displays of perseverance, each had two of our four goals. Then, just as the day before, with but 8 seconds left in overtime, a Breck player took a shot that somehow managed to find its way through about 10 players and into the net - we're sure there's no way Danielle could have seen that shot. So Breck won - and congratulations to them. But unlike Thursday, when we thought Hibbing deserved the win, today our Cards deserved the victory.
We have to realize what a great season it was - really, just a couple of bounces away from a perfect record. They only had four losses - all by one goal, with three in the last seconds of overtimes. So many congratulations to our Cards - we're already looking forward to next year!!
No comments:
Post a Comment