State senators appear receptive to DECC funding --Duluth News Tribune

Don Davis / State Capitol Bureau, Duluth News Tribune
Published Wednesday, January 31, 2007
ST. PAUL — Senators appear ready to fund a Duluth Entertainment Convention Center expansion this year, whether it is paid for with borrowed money or cash.

“I personally think it is time to get this done,” Senate President James Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul, said Tuesday during a committee hearing.

DECC officials and Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, couldn’t agree more.

“We would take whatever the state would give us,” Mayor Herb Bergson said after the hearing.

But, Prettner Solon added, using cash could get construction under way sooner.

Prettner Solon, Bergson, DECC Executive Director Dan Russell and DECC board Chairman Mark Emmel appeared before the Senate Capital Investment Committee, the panel that decides which construction projects to fund.

Committee Chairman Keith Langseth, DFL-Glyndon, said the DECC is important because lawmakers and Gov. Tim Pawlenty promised the expansion would be funded. This is not a year when the Legislature normally funds construction projects.

“Even though this isn’t an emergency, since it fell through the cracks, we feel justified,” Langseth said.

The DECC wants $37.9 million from the state to add an arena to its existing facility. The total estimated $76 million cost is $9 million more than when lawmakers and Pawlenty failed to fund the DECC a year ago.

The city’s portion of the cost would be paid with a 0.75 percentage point increase in the citywide sales tax on food and drink sales. The University of Minnesota Duluth and the DECC itself also would contribute to the construction cost.

Revenue from the tax increase will not be enough to pay for the addition if construction costs rise much more, Russell said.

Duluth’s delegation told senators the expansion would allow the DECC to host more conventions and other events that need more space than now available. Russell said the center already has the 11th-most conventions in the country.

Construction would mean 300 jobs, mostly for area workers, Russell said. Costs would be lower the sooner construction can begin, he added. Work could start as soon as June 18 if funding is approved early enough.

Langseth and Finance Chairman Richard Cohen, DFL-St. Paul, said no decision will be made about how to finance the DECC until March, at the earliest. A House committee also will take up the matter.

UMD/OSU tie 1-1

Strange that the weekend after Riitta was the defensive player of the week, Kim Martin played both games at OSU. I know Koizumi had/has the flu so Riitta could have easily been sick as well this weekend.

Anyway 1-1 tie today with OSU with both goals scored in the first period. Karine Demeule continues her huge play of late with her 11th goal of the season. Kim Martin stopped 31 of 32 shots in the game.

UMD beats Ohio State 5-3

I didn't get a chance to listen to the game, but 4 third period goals got UMD the win. I'm sure Coach Miller's not happy with only 23 shots on goal. The UMD powerplay has scored in 3 straight games now I believe, which normally isn't newsworthy except that lately, they have been terrible on it.

Heidi Pelttari did indeed play, but was a -2 for her time on the ice. Coming into the season THIS late (and off injuries) is going to be tough for her to catch up, even as an international star.

The Lanzl Koizumi Marin line that saw a little time together last year was the first line tonight, while Karine Demeule and Saara Tuominen (with Blais) combined for the physical line tonigh. That has to be an interesting contrast, Demeule and Tuominen aren't nearly as fast as Blais in open ice.

New WCHA.com UMD article by John Gilbert

Click the blog title to go to the full article.... some highlights:

"We lost Kim Martin at the Four Nations Cup," said Miller, starting her recount with the freshman and former Swedish Olympic star who aggravated an old leg injury. "We got Elin Holmlov back for one game at 100 percent against Ohio State, then she went home to Sweden and hurt her back... Sara O'Toole suffered a back injury in the first game against Niagara... And Samantha Hough twisted her knee while dancing."

Miller was asked if she was not about to outlaw dancing, and was she reconsidering her willingness to send her players back to assorted countries for mid-season tournament play.

"No way, it's what's best for them and for hockey," Miller said. "These players are some of the best young players in the world. They need to come here to get better than they might get in their own countries, then they need to go home and help their countries. You've got to look globally at the big picture. I've coached seven years at the national level."

"I got into a real bad slump," said Schaublin, after blanking St. Cloud. "It was mental. Kim came in, but that wasn't the problem. I had one bad game, a really horrible game against Mankato, and it broke my confidence. I lost my cockiness. It affected me everywhere in life. I don't know what it was, and it came back gradually. Finally, I believe in myself again."

The last quote, by Riitta basically sums up her season perfectly

Riitta Defensive Player of the Week

WCHA Defensive Player of the Week
Riitta Schaublin, Sr., G, University of Minnesota Duluth

Jan. 23, 2007 - Riitta Schaublin, a veteran goaltender at the University of Minnesota Duluth, is the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week for Jan. 23-29.

A senior from Basel, Switzerland, Schaublin made 26 saves in shutting out Bemidji State, 5-0, in the conference series opener last Saturday (Jan. 20) and then stopped 22 of 23 opponent shots in a 3-1 victory last Sunday (Jan. 21) to complete the sweep against the host Beavers.

Schaublin, a Patty Kazmaier Award finalist last season, moved her record to 9-3-2 this season while helping Minnesota Duluth move into second place and extend its unbeaten streak to seven games.

Others nominated this week were: Lisa Chesson, Jr., D, Ohio State; Brittni Kehler; Jr., G., Minnesota State; and Bobbi Jo Slusar, Sr., D, Wisconsin

As always, view the full article by clicking on the blog title!

DECC Arena in Pawlenty's budget plans THIS year

The NEWS Tribune today reports that Tim Pawlenty has included the DECC in his budget requests. The next thing that needs to happen is the state legislature needs to okay the budget.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty included $37.9 million for the proposed Duluth Entertainment Convention Center expansion in his 2008-09 budget, released Monday.

The governor’s $34.4 billion budget proposal includes enough to pay for half of the design and construction costs for the project, which would replace the existing 40-year-old arena with a larger rink and 30 percent more seating.

This will be the second go-around for the DECC measure, which failed to pass during the last legislative session.

“The governor has been a strong supporter of this project … and [said] that he wanted to get it done this session,” DECC Executive Director Dan Russell said. “Obviously, we are very, very thankful for his leadership on this.”

If the state pitches in $37.9 million for the $70 million project, the remainder of the cost would be shared by the city of Duluth, the DECC and the University of Minnesota Duluth. UMD has said its hockey program needs a larger arena with more amenities to compete with other programs in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

The expansion also would provide an opportunity for larger concert and convention business in the city, supporters have said.

In February 2006, Duluth residents approved a 0.75 percentage point addition to the citywide sales tax in restaurants and bars to pay the city’s share of the DECC expansion.

Sen. Yvonne Prettner Solon, DFL-Duluth, is the lead author on the bill that would allow Duluth to levy the additional restaurant and bar tax. The DECC will have a presentation before the Senate Capital Investment Committee sometime before Jan. 30.

Prettner Solon said she was pleased by the governor’s support of the DECC expansion but called it “just a starting point.”

State Reps. Mary Murphy, DFL-Hermantown, and Tom Huntley and Mike Jaros, both DFL-Duluth, are authors of the city’s $37.9 million bonding request to help build the $70 million facility.

But Prettner Solon said a bill is being readied to request a one-time allocation for the expansion rather than bonding for it.

“It would allow [us] to let proposals earlier and perhaps cut down on some of our costs,” Prettner Solon said.

The new arena would seat about 8,000 for hockey. The current arena holds, with standing-room space, 5,100.

The project would include a 200- by 85-foot rink, compared to the current 185- by 85-foot rink, and expand the DECC’s parking ramp by 500 spaces.

The proposed expansion enjoys widespread support from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Russell said.

If lawmakers fund the expansion this session, the new arena would be ready in October 2009, he said.

As always, you can go TO the article by clicking on the blog entry title.

UMD Sweeps BSU

From UMDBulldogs.com:

Two goals by senior captain Noemie Marin and one by sophomore Myriam Trepanier further strengthened the University of Minnesota Duluth’s hold on second place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association by carrying the Bulldogs to a 3-1 win over Bemidji State University on Sunday afternoon.

The Bulldogs (15-7-2, 14-5-1 WCHA) went 2-for-9 on the power play and out-shot the Beavers 33-23 in the contest. With the victory, UMD is now unbeaten in its last seven contests, going 6-0-1 in that span.

Minnesota Duluth is now 33-0-1 against Bemidji State in the all-time series between the two squads. The lone tie for the Beavers came on Feb. 3, 2002 when the Bulldogs and Beavers skated to a 3-3 over-time tie in Duluth, Minn.

The upset-minded Beavers struck first in Sunday's contest when Helena Tageson scored at 7:36 in the first period and the Bulldogs were held at bat until early in the second period.

At 5:11 in the second period, Trepanier evened things up for UMD when she scored her fourth goal of the season on a power play with assistance from junior Karine Demeule and freshman Saara Tuominen.

Less than three minutes later the Bulldogs’ offense would strike again when Marin scored at the 8:07 mark of the second for her 13th goal of the season. Jessica Koizumi assisted Marin on the goal.

Midway through the third period Marin would show why she is ranked second on the team in scoring when she scored a power play goal at 9:12 on the clock for her 14th goal of the season to give the Bulldogs an insurance goal and a 3-1 lead. Freshman Emmanuelle Blais and Koizumi earned assists on the play.

Senior goaltender Riitta Schaublin earned the win for the Bulldogs, making 22 saves in the game. Schaublin moved her record to 9-3-2 win the win. Emily Brookshaw took the loss for Bemidji State, coming up with 30 saves against UMD.

The Bulldogs will travel to Ohio State University next weekend (Jan 26-27) to wrapup the season series with the Buckeyes. The puck is set to drop at 6:07 p.m. in Friday's contest and at 3:07 p.m. on Saturday.

UMD beats Bemidji State 5-0

Wow... I just got home from a day of basketball games and a Cloquet high school boys game, and checked the game stats/results from today. UMD wins 5-0 over BSU. Karine Demeule continues her great play scoring the first two goals of the game, her 9th and 10th. Lanzl also is on a nice streak the last 3 games, with her 6th on the season.

I of course wanted UMD to win, but 5-0 was a surprising result given BSU's recent successes. Riitta Schaublin stopped all 26 shots she faced also. Watch out WCHA, Riitta's definitely back.

UMD even scored a powerplay goal tonight!

UMD at BSU Umdbulldogs.com preview

UMDBulldogs.com has the weekend preview posted:

BULLDOG NOTES: With UMD's sweep over SCSU last weekend, the Bulldogs move into a tie for second place in the WCHA with the University of Minnesota. Both teams sport a 12-5-1 record in conference play with 25 points. The University of Wisconsin leads the WCHA with 31 points and a 14-1-3 record in league play. Senior goalie Riitta Schaublin currently leads the Bulldog goal tending staff in wins with seven. Her record on the season is 7-3-2. Freshman goalie Kim Martin, sidelined due to a knee injury, is 6-4-0 on the season. Schaublin sports a .916 saves percentage and a 1.97 goals against average. Senior forwards Jessica Koizumi (14-11-25) and Noemie Marin (12-13-25) are currently tied for the team lead in points with 25.

BEMIDJI STATE NOTES: The Beavers extended their unbeaten streak to a season-high six games with a sweep over the University of North Dakota (4-1, 1-0) last weekend. The sweep marked the third sweep over UND in the past three meetings with North Dakota. The unbeaten streak is the longest for the Beavers since the 2001-02 season when they had an eight game unbeaten streak. BSU will continue its four game home stand when the Beavers host the Bulldogs this weekend.

As always, click on the blog title to go see the COMPLETE article.

Saara Tuominen Rookie of the week!

From WCHA.com:

WCHA Rookie of the Week
Saara Tuominen, Fr., F, University of Minnesota Duluth

Jan. 16, 2007 - Saara Tuominen, a freshman center at the University of Minnesota Duluth from Ylojarvi, Finland, had one assist in her team's 4-2 victory over St. Cloud State on Jan. 13 and helped the Bulldogs run their unbeaten streak to five.

Tuominen has six goals and 19 points in her rookie season, third best on the team. Others nominated this week were: Jasmine Giles, Fr., F, Wisconsin.

UMD News Tribune Article

Today's article from the 1-0 shutout by Riitta Schaublin to complete the sweep of St. Cloud.

Great article on Riitta getting over the slump she had back in November. Click the blog title to read the entire article.

UMD Sweeps SCSU!

UMD finished the sweep 1-0 today. Michaela Lanzl gets the game winner stuffing the puck in off a scrum in front of Kendall Newell (yes, they got the goaltender for the opponent correct this Sunday game.)

A little scary moment when Karine Demeule limped off the ice with a ankle injury, but she only missed one shift before returning. Lanzl on her goal, ended up "busted open" with a bloody chin when Koizumi landed on top of her after the goal/scrum.

Riitta only saw 17 shots, but you can tell.. she's definitely got her confidence back to 100%.

Very good series to prove to the players that they can still play with teams even with all the injuries. The only negative is, the powerplay still can't find the net, going 0-20 combined for the last 2 weekends.

Saturday's game article, Karine Demeule

Today's news tribune has the game story from Saturday, mostly focusing on Karine Demeule's move to the first line.

Dogs beat St. Cloud 4-2

Great game for UMD, though the second period the penalties slowed the game way down.

Game winning goal was changed from Noemie Marin(announce Marin) to Jill Sales which SHOULD mean Kirsti Hakala gets her first point of this season with an assist. She held Koizumi's bad (bouncing) pass in the zone (even if she did a 360 and landed on her butt to keep it in the zone) and got it to Koizumi who passed to Sales, whose shot was tipped by a SCSU skater in front of her own net for the goal. Not that it's a big deal, but UMD won nonetheless.

Michaela Lanzl was all over the ice, including knocking in the puck during a scrum in from of St. Jacques.

Riitta Shaublin started out a little rough, but in the 3rd period she was the Riitta we're USED to seeing out there. I'm still not sure she's totally for the idea of having to play the puck up ice, but maybe she's getting used to it now.

Hopefully, the sweep happens tomorrow!

News Tribune pre-series story, injuries

This is in today's News Tribune

Wounded ’Dogs get creative
BY CHRISTA LAWLERnews tribune staff writer, Duluth News Tribune
Published Saturday, January 13, 2007
The Minnesota Duluth women’s hockey team is making do.

With a barrage of injured players, the ninth-ranked Bulldogs have made some creative adjustments — defender Suvi Vacker played forward last weekend in the second game of a nonconference series against Niagara — and found some unexpected help — both freshman defender Jaime Rasmussen and sophomore forward Jessica Hawkins scored their first collegiate goals in the series.

UMD (11-7-2 overall, 10-5-1 Western Collegiate Hockey Association) hosts St. Cloud State (8-9-5, 4-9-3) at 3:05 p.m. today and Sunday in a conference series at the DECC. With first-line dabblers Elin Holmlov (back) and Sara O’Toole (back) out indefinitely, junior forward Karine Demeule is slated to skate on the team’s top line with seniors Jessica Koizumi and Noemie Marin.

“She’s a safe player you can put with anybody,” Koizumi said of the Canadian who scored her sixth goal of the season last weekend. “She doesn’t take risks to the point where you are scared to have her out there. Because she is so smart, you can count on her for defense and offense. She starts things up and she’s in the right place at the right time. She can get those goals. She’s a big, tall, physical player.”

An adjustment has been made to Marin’s travel schedule. The senior was invited to her second Canadian National Team camp and was expected to miss Sunday’s game. UMD coach Shannon Miller explained the extenuating circumstances to camp coaches — the Bulldogs’ gap-filled roster — and now Marin is scheduled to leave later than originally planned.

Additionally, Hawkins, Erin Olson and Kirsti Hakala are seeing more ice time than usual. This worked in Hawkin’s favor on Sunday when she scored the game-winning goal in a 2-1 victory over the Purple Eagles.

The Bulldogs have taken their adversity and turned it into pep talk fodder.

“We had a meeting about this,” Koizumi said. “It’s more of an opportunity to step up, for people who haven’t stepped up before. We can show the country that we’re a team and we aren’t just a few players. Hopefully things go well this weekend.”

Miller has been satisfied with the Bulldogs’ play, given the situation.

“The biggest thing to consider is we haven’t had the goal scoring we need,” Miller said. “We’ve been snake-bitten with goal scoring. We have six scholarship players out of the lineup and we’re still outplaying our opponent. … I don’t worry unless we aren’t working hard and aren’t creative.”

The opportunities are there, Miller said. UMD outshot the Purple Eagles 43-14 in Sunday’s win.

“We’re doing OK,” Miller said. “We know that the next few weeks are going to be hard. But everybody understands and is accepting responsibility. Everyone is stepping up while we’re waiting for people to heal.”

As always, click on the blog title to go to the actual article

SCSU preview Umdbulldogs.com

UMDBulldogs.com has the weekend series preview up, team notes follow:

BULLDOG NOTES: Despite a rash of injuries that sidelined up to nine UMD players over the weekend, and with another playing with Team Germany, the Bulldogs showed their true grit and determination in pulling out a 3-3 overtime tie and a 2-1 win over Niagara University on Saturday and Sunday. Down 2-0 after the first period, the Bulldogs having not played in a month, overcame some sluggish play when freshman defenseman Jaime Rasmussen scored her first goal of the season at the 2:47 mark of the second. She was assisted on the play by senior captain Noemie Marin. The third period started off with a bang for the Bulldogs as senior forward Jessica Koizumi rocketed the puck into Niagara’s net just 41 seconds into the period. NU scored again at 8:51 in the third period but then UMD freshman forward Saara Tuominen scored the game-tying goal at 13:31 in the period. She was assisted on the goal by freshman defenseman Sarah Murray. Unlike the previous afternoon’s game between UMD and Niagara in which the Bulldogs were down by two goals after the first period, UMD went up 2-0 after the first period and held on to the lead for a 2-1 win. Junior forward Karine Demeule put the Bulldogs on top halfway through the first when she scored her sixth goal of the season at the 9:47 mark. Senior defenseman Jill Sales and freshman forward Emmanuelle Blais assisted on the goal. Late in the first period, sophomore forward Jessica Hawkins intercepted the puck close to center ice and rocketed it past the Purple Eagles’ netminder at the 16:48 mark of the period to score her first collegiate goal. NU scored at the 6:59 mark of the second period but it was all the offense NU could muster throughout the reminder of the game. Despite only two goals, the Bulldogs’ offense caught fire in the contest by out shooting Niagara 43-14. Senior goaltender Riitta Schaublin made 13 saves in the contest for the Bulldogs. With the win, she is now 5-3-2 on the season.

ST. CLOUD STATE NOTES: After skating to a 2-2 overtime tie against non-conference opponent Boston University last Friday, St. Cloud State University capped off the weekend with a 4-1 trouncing of BU on Saturday. Freshman forward Holly Roberts scored both of the Huskies’ goals in the 2-2. In Saturday’s contest, Meaghan Pezon scored two goals for St. Cloud State while co-captain Hailey Clarkson scored her eighth goal of the season and freshman forward Caitlin Hogan scored an empty net goal with 37 seconds left in the third period. The Huskies' goaltender, Lauri St. Jacques, made 34 saves in the win over Boston University to move her record to 4-4-0 on the season.

Click the blog title to see the entire preview.

Bert Blyleven misses out *AGAIN*

I know this blog is usually a women's hockey thing.. but because he keeps getting ripped off, vote after vote I'm copying another blog of mine:

Once again, Bert Blyleven didn't get enough votes for the baseball Hall of Fame. It doesn't make any sense. Below is an associated press story from MSNBC.com:

MINNEAPOLIS - Bert Blyleven wore down opposing hitters over 22 seasons on his way to compiling some impressive statistics.

Now in his 10th year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame, Blyleven is hoping he’s wearing down the baseball writers in much the same way.

After getting just 83 votes on his first try, Blyleven received 277 votes in the 2006 results — showing up on 53.3 percent of the ballots. Election requires 75 percent of the votes, which are limited to 10-year members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Players remain on the annual ballot for up to 15 years as long as they get 5 percent of the votes each year.

Because it’s beyond his control, Blyleven will continue being patient. And because he has slowly picked up more votes each year, Blyleven will continue thinking positive about his progress.

“It’s an honor to play the game as long as I did. Whether I make it or not, I still had a lot of fun playing a kid’s game,” Blyleven said Monday from Florida, where he lives when he’s not doing his job as a television analyst for Minnesota Twins games.

Jim Rice, Rich Gossage and Andre Dawson are the other holdovers who finished with more votes than Blyleven last year, and Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire and Cal Ripken are the headliners among 17 newcomers in the 2007 candidates.

“I vented earlier on, because I wanted my pops there,” Blyleven said, referring to his father, Joe, who died of complications from Parkinson’s disease more than two years ago. “But it’s up to the writers, and I think I’ve learned over the years to be patient. Whatever happens happens.”

Dogs beat Niagara 2-1 Sunday

UMD won 2-1 today, outshooting Niagara 43-14. Sara O'Toole left with a back injury it looked like, where she couldn't even put a skate on the ice. She tried to come back for a shift but as soon as she stepped on the ice she had to crawl on the ice back to the bench. Trainers carried her from the bench to the back.

Jessica Hawkins got her first career goal (first period) and the game winner on a giveaway in the Niagara zone, she walked in and buried the puck go put UMD up 2-0.

With as little credit as I gave Niagara before the series, if they had any offensive prowess at all they'd be back in the national spotlight. Their goaltending stopped 73 of 78 (just about 94%)shots on the weekend but only put 34 shots on net for the 2 games. Allison Rutledge really covered up rebounds well (collegehockeystats.net says their other goaltender played today, but I actually think Rutledge played both games, not 100% sure now.)

UMD & Niagara tie 3-3 Saturday

As the title says, UMD and Niagara tied 3-3.

The lack of a crowd today was terrible. Mind you, the City of Duluth was holding an outdoor skating party 200 feet from the DECC with fireworks. The fireworks 'finale' went off about 2 minutes into overtime and you could hear them clearly while the players were playing.

Today was one of the better officiated games of the season at the DECC. Even with a couple questionable non-calls during the overtime, after UMD took a penalty IN the overtime, a lot of referee's would look to even the teams back up and Evonne Young was given 2 chances to do that.

UMD's first period looked like they hadn't been on the ice in 2 months, but a lot of that HAS to be due to the lines being thrown together, since the flow was better the 2nd and 3rd periods. Jessica Hawkins and Erin Olson saw regular shifts throughout the game and usually kept Niagara bottled up in their own zone.

Suvi Vacker played sparingly, mostly spot shifts at forward to spell Jill Sales who was playing both her defense position plus a wing about every 3rd shift.

Sarah Murray picked up an assist today, but seemed a step behind a few times today leaving Rasmussen to fend for herself 2 on 1.

Paying more attention to Riitta Schaublin today, it seems her problem lately in net is teams are screening her a lot more and she's not seeing the puck or the shot with the congestion in front of her. The defense needs to do a better job of clearing the lanes in front of her.

News Tribune article, bunch of Bulldogs injured

This was in YESTERDAY'S News's Tribune.. I missed the article yesterday so here it is today. Just the injury parts are below:

Heidi Pelttari, a Finnish defender slated to join the team Dec. 29, injured her knee while playing hockey in Europe. She is set for knee surgery this week, but may return by the end of the month.

Swedish freshman forward Elin Holmlov (four goals, 15 assists), who in the Ohio State series finale had finally reached maximum health after surgery for a herniated disk last February, re-aggrevated the injury. She is scheduled to return at the end of the month.

Swedish freshman goalie Kim Martin, who has a .950 save percentage, 1.39 goals against average and three shutouts, has a return date yet to be determined. She has been spotted in and out of the lineup since the Four Nations Cup in November.

Junior forward Samantha Hough is done for the season. She is expected to take a medical red shirt to retain two more seasons of eligibility.

Senior forward Juliane Jubinville, who has been plagued with side effects following a preseason concussion, is not expected to return.

Meanwhile, forward Michaela Lanzl (3-5—8) is playing in a tournament with the German national team and returns Jan. 10.

The good news — a sort of triage system has some players who are almost fully recovered making an early return: senior defender Suvi Vacker, who has been out with a leg injury since the end of November, is expected to play Saturday. She may even see some time at forward, the Finnish player said.

Junior Karine Demeule, who has a back injury, will likely skate. And first-line winger Jessica Koizumi, who recently returned from a Team USA tryout camp, will likely play despite a groin injury.

Go read the complete article by clicking the blog title.

Weekend preview UMDBulldogs.com

The Weekend Preview for the Niagara series is online.

The UMD notes from umdbulldogs.com:

BULLDOG NOTES: Minnesota Duluth seemed to skate two completely different squads against Ohio State University back on Dec. 8-9. After falling 3-0 to the Buckeyes in Friday’s contest, sending the Bulldogs to a program record four-game losing streak, UMD responded in a big way on Saturday, defeating Ohio State 9-1. The Bulldogs had plenty of scoring chances in Friday’s game but came up empty on every one of them. UMD went 0-for-13 on the power play as opposed to 1-for-3 for OSU. Minnesota Duluth also managed to outshoot Ohio State 26-19 in the contest. Senior Riitta Schaublin took the loss for the Bulldogs, making eight saves in the contest. She shared time in goal with freshman Kim Martin who allowed no goals and came up with eight saves. Stuck in the midst of a program record four-game losing streak and needing a win, the Bulldogs’ (10-7-1, 10-5-1 WCHA) offense caught fire, out-shooting the Buckeyes (11-6-1, 7-6-1 WCHA) 50-34 and going 6-for-12 on the power play. Senior captain Noemie Marin started the scoring frenzy for UMD when she rocketed the puck past OSU’s netminder just 30 seconds into the game. She would go on to score two more goals in the contest. Freshman forward Saara Tuominen, sophomore forward Tawni Mattila (two goals in the game), senior forward Jessica Koizumi, freshman forward Elin Holmlov, and sophomore forward Michaela Lanzl, all managed to score goals against Ohio State. Senior defenseman Ashly Waggoner, senior defenseman Jill Sales, freshman defenseman Jaime Rasmussen, junior forward Karine Demeule, freshman forward Emmanuelle Blais, sophomore forward Sara O’Toole, Lanzl, Marin, Tuominen and Koizumi all earned one or more assists in the victory over the Buckeyes. Martin made 33 saves in the contest to earn the victory.

The Niagara preview:

NIAGARA NOTES: Sophomore Ashley Riggs and freshman Alison Malty were honored by College Hockey America for their efforts in Niagara’s split against Wayne State on Dec. 16-17. Riggs led NU to its first win since Nov. 5, with a 6-3 win over Wayne State, assisting on the game-winning goal. She also scored Niagara’s second goal in the first period and added her seventh goal of the season in the third. Riggs moved into ninth place on Niagara’s all-time points list (65) and fifth place on the career goal chart (36). Malty had three assists in the 6-3 win and assisted on the power-play game-winning goal. The Purple Eagles fell to Wayne State 4-2 the next day.

See the full preview by clicking the blog entry title!

Niagara's top player gone this weekend, a few things about Niagara University

Niagara University's Ashley Riggs won't be in Duluth for this weekend's series due to playing for Canada in the U22 (22 yrs old and under) world tournament.

Just some information from their stats page:

Against WCHA teams, Niagara has SPLIT with Bemidji State, been swept by Minnesota, and Lost and Tied against North Dakota. They have played in 6 overtime games, even though they've been outscored 40-57.

Their goaltender Allison Rutledge has played 20 games and has a GAA of 2.72 which isn't that bad really, if they scored 3 goals a game they'd have a winning record.

Lisa Agozzino makes her return to the DECC this weekend after she played 1 season for the Bulldogs. As of right now she has 3 goals 2 assists in the 20 Niagara University games. She didn't seen much ice time as a UMD Freshman, so it's nice to see she's getting some playing time and scoring as her game matures.

Changes done

Ok, my changes are done. The front page of the blog will be all the posts from the last day I've made an entry. On the right hand side, the blog archive is sorted by week. If you want to view all the posts FROM a certain week just click on that week. If you want to view by titles for any week, click the triangle that points to the right and it will drop down the titles for that week.

UMD takes on Niagara University this coming weekend. Finally there's hockey again :) When Umdbulldogs.com has the preview up I'll post it.

Blog Changes

Today I'm going to change this blog to the new "beta" version of blogger that's been updated... It will have an archive on the left side of the page where you can click on blog titles to see previous posts.. OR click on 'older posts' below the blog to read previous posts as well :)