Author: David Shama

The state hockey tournament always stirs the public’s passions, but there’s extra juice when Edina, Roseau and Warroad make the trip to St. Paul.  Welcome to something special in 2008 with the Hornets and Rams in the Class 2A tournament, and the Warriors in Class 1A.  The script could get even better if Edina (in the Class 2A upper bracket) meets Roseau (lower bracket) in Saturday’s finals.

Edina, perceived as the affluent school with all the advantages, has long been viewed as Public Enemy No. 1 in the state tournament.  Roseau and Warroad, the small town schools from up north, rank at the top among all-time underdog darlings.

Former Gopher and North Star coach Glen Sonmor, who now scouts the high schoolers for the Minnesota Wild, remembers the zesty rivalry of 1969 when the Henry Boucha-led Warriors lost to the Hornets in a state tournament game for the ages.   Boucha was injured by an Edina player in the game and wasn’t around when his teammates lost 5-4 in overtime.

It was hard work finding someone who didn’t live within the Edina city limits that wanted the Hornets to win. “They all rooted for Boucha and Warroad,” Sonmor agreed.  “Nobody wanted Edina to win.”

To this day a whole lot of hockey people believe that had Boucha played the entire game the Rams would have won.  He was a prep superstar who later played in the NHL.  Sonmor remembered that for years there’s been a tale that Boucha, who did suffer a punctured ear drum, wasn’t injured badly enough to leave the arena but had to because an “EDINA doctor” sent him to the hospital.

Sonmor laughed while recalling how years ago the innovative Edina student section padded its reputation for snobbery during player introductions.  “They all read newspapers when the opposing team’s players were introduced and then they would put the papers down and yell, ‘who cares!’”

Sonmor said on Wednesday he thinks “there’s a good chance” Edina and Roseau will meet in the championship game.  He begins any discussion of the tournament’s elite players with Roseau star defenseman Aaron Ness.  “He may be good enough to lead them (to the finals),” Sonmor said.

Edina, though, is his pick to win the Class 2A title.  He likes the Hornets’ overall talent and depth.  That would mean an end to Roseau’s storied undefeated season, 29-0 and counting after destroying Blaine 8-0 in a quarterfinals game.

Sonmor has been watching every state tournament since 1966.  He said it’s much more difficult now for one player to dominate the tournament like Boucha and other legendary old timers once did.  The reason is there are so many other skilled players that bring more competitiveness and balance to the tournament scene.   Today’s players, he believes, are the best ever.

What doesn’t change are rivalries including the regular season meetings of Roseau and Warroad, a community that long ago labeled itself as Hockey Town USA.  “When you think about all-time rivalries in sports, Roseau versus Warroad is as good as it gets,” Sonmor said.

During the 2007-08 regular season, the Rams defeated the Warriors twice, 5-2 and 8-0. The two communities are absorbed by hockey all year.  When one populace travels to the other’s home town on game day, there aren’t many folks left in the community whose team is on the road, Sonmor said.

It was better, of course, years ago when it was a one class tournament, not two.  Now it’s not possible for Warroad to mix it up with Edina and Roseau.  But the Warriors won their opening tournament game on Wednesday and are after a third Class 1A title in six years.  Warroad defeated Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 4-0 to advance to the semifinals today at 11 a.m. against Duluth Marshall.

No wonder Sonmor describes this as a “most enjoyable” time of the year.

There’s proposed legislation at the capitol in St. Paul to make hockey the official state sport.  With people so passionate about various sports it’s not good judgment to showcase one above all the others.

The Minnesota Wild has the second best fans in the NHL, according to a players’ poll in this week’s Sports Illustrated.  Montreal received 35 percent of the vote followed by the Wild at 13 percent, and Calgary, 11 percent.

It was two years ago yesterday that Kirby Puckett died.  The former Twins star would have celebrated his 48^th birthday on March 14.

Rick Sutcliffe, ESPN baseball analyst, said on Wednesday’s spring training telecast of the Yankees-Twins game that Minnesota has the “best bullpen” in the American League.

Former Gopher basketball coach Dan Monson is having a difficult first season at Long Beach State. His overall record is 6-23.

UMD guard Jordan Nuness set the school record for career (241) and single season (100) three point field goals on Wednesday night.  Nuness, who played in high school for Eden Prairie, started his career with the Gophers before transferring to UMD.

If you are among the minority who can access the Big Ten Network, you can watch the women basketball Gophers play an opening game in the conference tournament tonight (Friday) against Michigan State beginning at 8 p.m. in Indianapolis. The game can be heard on radio, KBEM FM, 88.5.  The Gophers, who finished with an 11-7 Big Ten record, are the No. 4 seed, while the Spartans, 10-8, are seeded fifth.  Minnesota is led by first team all-conference guard Emily Fox who finished fourth in Big Ten scoring at 17.2 points per game.

It was a memorable year for the basketball program at Minneapolis Community & Technical College.  Coach Jay Pivec won his 500^th career game and MCTC won the 600^th game in school history dating back to 1965.

Hamline hockey juniors Dustin Fulton and Joe Long were named MIAC Co-Players of the Year for the 2007-08 season. Fulton led the conference in point and goal scoring, finishing with 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points. Long led the MIAC in power play goals with eight and finished 10th in the league in points with 20. Hamline coach Scott Bell was chosen conference Coach of the Year. Hamline won the regular season title, its first in 50 years, with an 11-3-2 record.  Award winners are determined by a vote of conference coaches.