Presenting the VOTS All-Time Best Men's Hockey Name Team!

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning St. Scholastica!

I promised something new and exciting this week, so here it is. In honor of the Saints men’s hockey team opening their season tonight against Wis.-Stevens Point, I give to you the presentation of the VOTS “All-Time Best Men’s Hockey Names Team.” But before we get started, one necessary note that would have been in P&P this week had I not planned this. Be sure to check out this video of the women’s soccer team hanging with first graders. It’s adorable and it’s on the front page of our site. But anyways, without further adu…

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Part of my job in the Sports Information department is updating all our archives for use in media guides as well as online. For hockey, this includes the Saints’ all-time roster. If there’s one thing I know from growing up in the “State of Hockey,” it’s that the sport produces a lot of great names, and St. Scholastica’s program has been no different through the years.

Now, I could have done this using anyone whose name was the least bit suggestive, but I won’t. I’d like to think the sense of humor here at the VOTS is a bit more high-brow than that (if only just a bit). So, we’ll stay away from the adolescent humor (for the most part) and keep it clean. Here are some of the highlights, followed by the “Voice of the Saints All-Time Best Names Team.”

From the “Same Name” Department…
Rolf Flaig (1981-82)
G-Fridley, Minn
It’s not spelled the same, but it’s still basically the same name. Rolf’s a good guy; I met him at the athletics golf outing a few years back, but let’s face it: he shares his name with a Muppet. But if we’re going to fault somebody for that, we’ll have to get after every Sam, George, Clifford, and Sweetums we encounter, and that would be just silly.
Brad Johnson (1984-87)
F- Silver Bay, Minn
Any Minnesota Vikings fan knows who this is referring to, but what you may not know is that he also shares his name with a former Marlboro Man and a Civil War general. While our Brad may have never caught a touchdown pass from himself, he is the 1986-87 Saints Team MVP and captain as well as being an All-NCHA selection that season.
Jim Johnson (1979-83)
F-Virginia, Minn.
For this one, I could go with a NASCAR driver, one of three football coaches, a cornerback, a quarterback, a tight end, a right-handed pitcher, a left-handed pitcher, and two other Minnesota-based hockey players. Take your pick. This one is a former captain for the Saints in the 1982-83 season.
Guy LeBlanc (1980-84)
F-Silver Bay, Minn.
I suppose no one would REALLY mistake the 1980-81 Saints Rookie of the Year for the Canadian composer, but they still share a name. For some reason, I thought there was a more famous Guy LeBlanc out there, but when the only other option is this guy, I guess I was wrong. Either way, our Guy LeBlanc is 9th on the list of all-time scorers for the Saints, so he deserves some recognition.
John Miller (1980-84)
C-Minneapolis, Minn.
Here’s another name with options, but I had originally intended for this one to refer to the voice of ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, alongside Joe Morgan. While Jon Miller may have called the most infamous home run of our generation, John Miller is a former captain at CSS.
Rick Royal (1986-90)
G - Pengilly, Minn.
It’s not THAT close, but will I ever have another legitimate reason to post this on the blog? It may only be funny to me, but the internet meme is close enough to the 1989-90 NAIA All-American’s name for me to include him.

From the “Gotta be a Nickname” Department…
Buzzy LaFond (1974-78)
F - International Falls, Minn.
After scouring the records, I have found out that Buzzy’s real name is Robert LaFond, but several of our records have him as just “Buzzy,” so this stays. His name seems more fitting to be attached to a member of the Superior Yellowjackets, but luckily for CSS, the 1976-77 NAIA All-American was on the blue-and-gold side of the bridge, as he racked up 155 points in his career, good for 7th all-time in Saints program history.
Bun Carlson (1974-78)
G - Cloquet, Minn.
Bun’s only referred to as “Bun” in the record books once, usually appearing by his full name, Warren Carlson, but once is enough for me. It’s difficult to say where the nickname might have come from: perhaps he was the first-born, his mother’s first “bun in the oven.” Nonetheless, what his nickname lacks in intimidation, it makes up for in fun.
Rocky Maas (1989-90)
F - Duluth, Minn.
I don’t know if Rocky was Mr. Maas’s real name, but what I can tell you is that the time frame is a bit too close to say that he was named after this guy. The movie came out in November 1976, so he would have to be only 13 or 14 when he played for the Saints. Despite the fact that the ’89-90 team was 3-23-2 on the season, I doubt they skated a middle schooler, no matter how skilled he may have been.
Carney Miller (1982-83)
F - Minneapolis, Minn.
Carney could be short for something cool like Carnell, and if it was, he probably should have stuck with that. He could also have gone with Cadillac. Although, it’s probably best that he didn’t, because his career would have been injury plagued after a good rookie campaign. At any rate, carnies are pretty scary, so I guess this name has the intimidation that Buzzy and Bun lack, but it comes up short in the ‘fun’ category, unless you consider this fun.

From the “Fun to Say” Department…
James Boots (1995-98)
G - Eden Prairie, Minn.
I could have put him in the “same name” category, but no one wants to be compared to an anthromorphic monkey in red galoshes. So, I won’t go there. “Boots” is a fun word to say (almost as fun as galoshes, coincidentally), so “James Boots” is automatically a fun name.
Bill Hoolihan (1977-79)
D - Grand Rapids, Minn.
The name “Hoolihan” may only be fun to say because of this movie, particularly this man, and because of this scene. Although, it’s spelled and pronounced very similarly to “hooligan,” which is an excellent word. So, Hoolihan gets the nod as one of the most fun names to say in CSS history.
Joey Martini (2004-09)
F- Calgary, Alta.
I’d be remised if I didn’t include the man with the best name in Division-III hockey the past four seasons. On top of being an All-Academic NCHA team member and a two-time All-NCHA Honorable Mention, Joey was a stand-up guy, and had a great name.
Ralph Throckmorton (1979-80)
F - Bloomington, Minn.
What else is there to say, really? “Throckmorton.” Just say it out loud, and you’ll know why it’s here. Also, Ralph. That’s all I’m going to say.

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So, that about does it for the best names in the history of St. Scholastica hockey. With that out of the way, here is the starting six for our names team – the cream of the crop, the best of the best, the Voice of the Saints All-Time Best Men’s Hockey Names Team:

Name	Pos.	Hometown	Years
Buzzy LaFond	F	International Falls, Minn.	1974-78
Rocky Maas	F	Duluth, Minn.	1989-90
Joey Martini	F	Calgary, Alta.	2005-09
Bill Hoolihan	D	Grand Rapids, Minn.	1977-79
Lyle Rock	D	Duluth, Minn.	1984-86
James Boots	G	Eden Prairie, Minn.	1995-98

Hopefully, everyone enjoyed this latest offering and it brought your some amount of humor on a Friday morning. As for those on the list, I would hope you took no offense as it’s all in good fun. Besides, you’re on the list because you have a great name! What’s so wrong with that?

That’s enough for one week. Five Questions returns Tuesday. Points & Prattle returns Friday. Enjoy your weekend!

Points and Prattle, Vol. 6 - Oct. 23, 2009

Good morning, St. Scholastica!

It’s been a relatively quick week here at CSS Sports Information, but with men’s and women’s soccer home all weekend, it’s about to get busy for at least a few days. Even more importantly, we are just one week away from the start of hockey season. There’s no better feeling in the world.

• With winter sports starting next week, it’s a good thing I finished up the fall coaches in 5 Questions this week when we interviewed head women’s soccer coach Dave Reyelts. The interview went great, and it’s one of my favorites to date. (Who knew I was a poet?) So check it out.
• Dave’s lady Saints had their hands full last week with Crown and Northwestern colleges coming to town, but they escaped with a pair of wins thanks to late-game heroics and excellent goal-tending by sophomore ’keepers Bailey Mahlum and Erin Olejnicak.
• For her efforts, which included stopping three breakaway plays by the Storm in route to a shutout, Olejnicak was named the All-UMAC Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday afternoon. Congrats Erin!
• Also named All-UMAC was volleyball’s Sarah Kurtovich, her second-such honor for setting duties in her freshman campaign. She averaged nine assists per set last weekend as the Saints swept Martin Luther 3-0 and edged Bethany Lutheran 3-1. They now have six straight wins going into tonight’s match-up with Minnesota-Morris, which can be seen on the Cougar Sports Network. And that has nothing to do with this sort of Cougar either.
• Men’s soccer had an interesting night on Wednesday as tempers flared against Augsburg. I wouldn’t say the chippiness was the reason, but the Saints did fall for the first time in five games by a 2-1 final. This weekend, Presentation and Minn.-Morris will get to face a frustrated Saints team, and I don’t envy the position. Goalkeeper Sam Reed is now third in the UMAC in goals against average and save percentage, as well as first in shutouts with seven.
• Football dropped their first conference game of the year last week to perennial conference power Northwestern by a 55-28 score. Senior Chris Henagin had another 100+ yard game on the ground as well as putting a pair of touchdowns on the board.
• I must first apologize because the last time I did one of these, I left out Cross Country. That was an accident on my part, and I want to say that the CC runners are just as important to us as any other sport. That being said, cross country competed at two different events last week, and did quite well for themselves.
• At the Concordia-Moorhead Cobber Invite, senior Tara Connolly ran third for the women who finished second overall while sophomore Jim Linn led the men to a third place finish, running 13th overall.
• Meanwhile, on the complete other side of the state (and even further, I suppose), six runners competed at the Wis.-Oshkosh Brooks Invite. Pat Bigaouette, Nick Mangan, and Tony Bye each ran personal bests that were good for second, fourth, and fifth all-time on the Saints all-time list. Katelyn Meger led the women with a 22nd place finish, while Jessie Lovering and Kristin Gronbeck each ran their season-best time.
• And I don’t know why I keep putting myself through this by posting the link, but I’ve certainly never been more “proud” of my hometown than I was upon reading this story.

While, that’s all for this week. Things will get pretty busy next week as fall and winter sports start to overlap, but I have something special planned to coincide with the start of hockey season, so stay tuned for that.

Have a fabulous weekend,
-jh
Go Saints!

5 QUESTIONS ...with Women's Soccer Coach Dave Reyelts

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, St. Scholastica!

Hello everyone! It's time to conclude our fall series of coaches with a grand finale featuring head women's soccer coach Dave Reyelts! Dave was excited to do it, and it made for a great interivew. We talked about sports (surprise!), recruiting, and celebrity. You'll get it when you watch. Enjoy!


My apologies for the lack of Points & Prattle last week. It will, without a doubt, return this week. School kept me busy last week. Thanks for watching!

Take it easy,
jh

Approximately 5 Questions ...with Men's Soccer Coach Barry Chastey

An abbreviated version of 5 Questions this week. Long story short, we had some issues with the last question, so it had to be edited out. Just four questions this week. The glory of technology is that we can work around the problems with technology, but I digress. I hope you enjoy the latest in the 5 Questions series:



And with that done, I can announce that next week, we will finish up the fall coaches as I sit down with Women's Soccer coach Dave Reyelts. The people have been waiting, and he's excited to do it. Stay tuned for that, and we'll see you on Friday.

Have a great week,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol 5 - Oct. 9, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, sportsfans!

After a long and busy week, VOTS returns for another exciting edition of Points and Prattle.

• A month into the 2009-10 school year, the CSS Cable newspaper returns with yours truly as one of the co-editors. We’re not online as of yet, so those of you away from campus are out of luck. Soon enough, you’ll be able to read all of the articles on a new-and-improved Cable website. I’ll keep you posted.
• The MLB postseason is underway, and I couldn’t be happier. Baseball on all day long? Seems too good to be true. Now, if only this were less ominous.
• Speaking of professional sports (and I promise this tangent will end soon)… the UFL debuted last night with the Las Vegas Locomotives edging out the California Redwoods. Off-putting names aside, I hear the quality of football was good, so let’s hope this doesn’t go the way of the AFL.
• Speaking of the AFL… Did you catch that great interview from Tuesday with a Arena-ball-coach-turned-CSS-head-coach Greg Carlson?
• Speaking of CSS football… Congrats to senior Chris Henagin on being named the UMAC North Offensive Player of the Week for his 272-yard, two-touchdown performance in the Saints’ third victory of the season on Saturday afternoon. The Saints have a two-game winning streak (for the first time, obviously) entering Saturday’s game against Macalester, who comes to Duluth on a two-game losing streak.
• Speaking of two-game win streaks (I promise, I’ll stop soon)… CSS volleyball is on a two-game victory binge after defeating Minnesota-Morris last night in the first game of Dig Pink week at the Reif Gym. Freshman Paige Hardy led the way with 15 kills and 24 digs in the five-set match which saw CSS come from two games down to win. Come out to the BWC tonight for another Dig Pink match-up, this time against Presentation College.
• Speaking of Presentation (it’s too easy)… Men’s soccer tied Presentation on Sunday afternoon in a thrilling 1-1 double overtime match, but not before suffering their first defeat of the season against Minn.-Morris on Saturday. It’s too bad to see the undefeated streak go, but 8-1-2 is an excellent record and there’s plenty of season left.
• The Saints women (see, I told you I’d stop) also tied in their last match, going to double overtime with Augsburg on Wednesday afternoon. Senior Beth Flesvig earned the game-tying score early in the second half, but the Auggie goalkeeper was able to keep the Saints out of the net for the rest of the game, making nine saves. Also deserving of a shoutout is sophomore goalkeeper Erin Olejnicak, who made six saves to keep her Saints in the game.
• Speaking of ShoutOuts! (sorry, I had to)… The ShoutOuts! continue to roll in on our YouTube account, so if you haven’t seen them yet, check out this week’s batch, starring coaches Carlson, Chastey, Reyelts, and Moore.
• Next week, I hope to have one of the soccer coaches on 5 Questions, but we’ll see which one is available. I know the anticipation will be killing you over the weekend, but hopefully, you can survive.
• If you can, let me advise you to come on out for volleyball tonight and football tomorrow! Or, if you’re down in the Twin Cities metro, go support the men’s and women’s soccer team against Bethany Lutheran and Martin Luther colleges. It should be an exciting weekend for CSS athletics.
• And on a completely unrelated note, was The Office last night excellent, or what?

Well, thanks for reading! It’s been a long week, and I am still busy with school work and Cable business, so that’s all I can offer you today.

Enjoy your weekends,
-jh

5 Questions ...with Head Football Coach Greg Carlson

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning St. Scholastica...

It's time for another exciting edition of 5 Questions on a historic day in Minnesota sports. So, to wet your appetite as you get ready for an important baseball game tonight, enjoy my little show featuring head football coach Greg Carlson. We talk arena ball, a successful first half, and being a homeless team. Enjoy!



Win Twins!
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 3 – Oct. 2, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, St. Scholastica!

When I said I’d “try something new” this week, my intentions were not to forget about the VOTS audience, but it happened to end up that way. My sincerest apologies! I’ve been busy with school work all week. Professors, these days! Don’t they understand the need to please the masses with blogs? Oh well, next week will see the return of 5 Questions, so we need not worry about missing two weeks worth of Tuesday blogs. So, without further adu…

• Men’s Soccer continues on their hot streak with three straight shutouts from goalkeeper Sam Reed. He hasn’t done it alone of course, as his defense held Hamline, Bethany Lutheran, and Martin Luther to just nine combined shots on net in the three contests. Freshman Erik Trochimchuk and sophomore Brandon Stemwedel were the offensive stars over the past week, with two goals each in the three games.
• Speaking of soccer stars, junior Greg Doornink was named UMAC Defensive Player of the Week for his part in the pair of conference shutouts over the weekend.
• The Saints women earned a pair of shutout victories over Homecoming weekend as they prepare for an exciting run starting this weekend with games against Minnesota-Morris (Saturday) and Augsburg College (next Wednesday). Senior Angie Groh led the Saints with two goals and three assists on the weekend, and they’ll need that offensive firepower to continue going forward.
• But, even Groh’s scoring prowess was outshined as sophomore Molly Bergmann had her first start in net on Friday afternoon and earned her first collegiate victory and shutout en route to being named UMAC Defensive Player of the Week for women’s soccer.
• After a disappointing Friday evening for Saints volleyball, the women turned it around on Homecoming Saturday and swept their two opponents, Bethany Lutheran and the dreaded Wis.-Superior Yellowjackets. For their part in the weekend, Saints sophomore Nikki Hughes and freshman Sarah Kurtovich were also named UMAC Players of the Week.
• Hughes earned the honor of volleyball’s Defensive Player of the Week with 4.5 digs per set and a .946 receiving percentage. Kurtovich was Setter of the Week with 5.5 assists per set helping the Saints to a .219 attack percentage over the weekend. (And if you understand all of that, my hat’s off to you.)
• And in the biggest game in the short history of Saints football, CSS “brought home the Bacon” (hat tip to the real voice of Saints athletics, Dave Cook) and earned a 22-16 victory over Minnesota-Morris thanks to the late-game heroics of third-string freshman quarterback Matt Bacon. With sophomore starter Jake Olson out for the game with an injury, and sophomore back-up Alex Thiry injured on a two-point conversion try late in the first half, Bacon went 9-13 passing for 120 yards and a rushing touchdown in the second half and helped clinched the Saints’ second victory of the season. Chris Henagin had 156 yards on the ground and a score, while Jonny Bennett had 95 yards and one touchdown receiving. All in all, a great game for the Saints…
• … and in the great injustice of the week, NOBODY earned UMAC Player of the Week honors from the football team. The powers that be at the UMAC must not enjoy cured meat.
• Cross country ran an important race over the weekend, the University of Minnesota’s Griak Invite. Once again, Nick Mangan and Katelyn Meger starred for their respective teams. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record on that one, but they're both excellent runners.
• In coaching news, Chad Salmela, head coach of the Nordic Ski program, has been chosen to once again cover the Winter Olympic Games for NBC. He’ll do some color commentating in Vancouver, and since he did it in 2002 at the Salt Lake games, he can’t be any worse than me. Click here for the full story and here for the Vancouver Games’ official site.
• As for next week’s 5 Questions victim, you’ll just have to wait and see. Oh, the suspense!

That’s all for this week’s P&P. Thanks for reading!

Have a great weekend,
-jh