Points & Prattle #13

Good afternoon, sportsfans!

The days go slow, but the week goes quick. It’s Friday, and that means that it’s time for another exciting edition of Points & Prattle. There’s plenty to cover, so let’s get straight into it.

• The Saints split their weekend UMAC series last week in men’s and women’s basketball as I made my debut behind the mic for PA duty, so the women and men still sit at fourth and fifth, respectively, in the conference.
• The stars of the weekend for basketball were junior Chris Hamers, on the men’s side, and freshman Bri Allen for the women. Hamers went 7-for-19 from three-point land, netting 43 points on the weekend. Allen was a perfect 9-for-9 on free throws and earned 29 points in two games.
• The two teams are back in action tomorrow afternoon against conference rival Northland. The LumberJills are a perfect 7-0 atop the UMAC, while the ’Jacks, at 2-5, sit 7th on the men’s side.
• More intriguing, the two coaches for the men’s game will be sporting sneakers on the sideline as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Suits & Sneakers Weekend. For more information, check out the Coaches vs. Cancer web site and then pull on your favorite Nikes and get out to the game tomorrow.
• The Saints men’s hockey team bounced back to the No. 5 spot in the USCHO poll after a sweep of conference rival Wis.-Eau Claire last weekend, though it did not come without tribulations. Early in the second period, sophomore goaltender Brennan Poderzay was knocked out of the game, forcing senior Zach Kleiman to come in. Kleiman performed admirably, not allowing a goal on the night as his Saints rallied from two down to earn a 5-2 victory.
• Saturday, Kleiman again stepped up and earned the victory, allowing just one goal as the Saints completed the sweep. For his impressive weekend, Kleiman was named NCHA Player of the Week. Congrats, Zach!
• The Saints Nordic ski teams again had an impressive weekend at Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis, with Waylon Manske and Mason Bacso leading the men while Julia Curry and Eleanor Magnuson led the Saints women. Click these links for more.
• Nordic returns to the snow tomorrow afternoon for a two-day event in Telemark, Wis.
• Accolades continue to roll in for the Saints’ indoor track and field team as again they swept the UMAC Player of the Week awards. Justin Hanson won on the men’s side after breaking school records in both the 60- and 200-meter hurdles at the Blizzard Open. Freshman Rachel Miller broke her own team triple jump record for the third consecutive meet at 35-feet, 4.5 inches at the same event. I could not dream of triple-jumping that far (or running hurdles, for that matter). Congrats to both Justin and Rachel!
• I told you last week that we were on the cusp of spring sports appearing in P&P, and I did not lie: the Saints baseball team got some good news over the week when they learned that they were starting the year ranked No. 22 on the d3baseball.com preseason poll. On the schedule, the Saints are slated to face two ranked teams: No. 25 St. Olaf and No. 1 St. Thomas. The Saints stole one last year against the eventual-National Champion Tommies. They’ll meet up again on Mar. 7 on Mall of America Field for a doubleheader.
• Last, but certainly not least, it was announced that the Saints led the way in Fall Academic All-UMAC honors. Click here for the entire list and here for just the Saints. Congrats to all 70 of our student athletes who earned the honor.

That’s all for now, folks. “5 Questions” returns next Monday with Nordic Ski coach Chad Salmela, just days before he heads off to Vancouver for the Olympics! So, keep an eye out for that! And we’ll see you and your Nikes at the basketball doubleheader tomorrow.

Take it easy,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 9 - Nov. 20, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, St. Scholastica!

On one of the biggest college hockey weekends in the city of Duluth, Minn. in the 2009-10 season, the Saints are on a bye week, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have plenty to get excited about here at St. Scholastica with men’s and women’s basketball well underway and the fall sports teams still racking up the accolades for an impressive season!

• The fall season came to a close for at least one team last week as the Saints women fell by a 3-0 score to the Macalester Scots in the NCAA tournament. There’s nothing to hang their heads about, they had a great season and battled back from some injuries. Congrats on a great season!
• With their season over, the CSS men’s team received a pair of prestigious awards this week as Toby Peter (Jr.) was named a Second Team Academic All-American by CoSIDA (College Sports Info. Directors of America) and ESPN (I think you know what this is), and Geofrey Kalanzi (Fr.) was announced as the recipient of the prestigious National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Lea Plarski Award. Read more about Kalanzi and the award here.
• Katelyn Meger (Sr.) will not let the fall sports season end. She’s off to Nationals for cross country, her second straight appearance, after finishing ninth in the NCAA Central Regional last week. Congrats, Katelyn! I know you’ll do CSS proud.
• Men’s basketball saw the nation’s longest winning streak come to an end in their season opener Sunday against Wis.-Eau Claire, but rebounded with an impressive victory over North Central Tuesday. The Saints will tip-off against Concordia-Moorhead tomorrow night, which can be seen live here.
• As discussed in this week’s “5 Questions,” Coach Stacy Deadrick has inched one step closer to 200 career victories with win #199 Tuesday against North Central. The Saints are at Wis.-Stevens Point for a tournament this weekend and will take on Concordia-Moorhead and Stevens Point or Rockford College. The tournament web site can be found here.
• Read some quick previews on this weekend’s basketball games here (men’s) and here (women’s), courtesy of my fellow sports information intern Chris Doran.
• As I stated earlier, the Saints men’s hockey team is off this weekend after a pair of ties that was as frustrating as it was exciting in last weekend’s series against Wis.-Stout. Despite the ties, the Saints jumped Stout in the rankings and are now No. 8 in the nation, according to the USCHO.com/NCAA Division-III poll.
• Next weekend, the puck drops on our Thanksgiving Classic as the Saints play host to Salem (Mass.) State on Friday night and Lawrence (Wis.) Univ. on Saturday night with a 7:05 p.m. start time each night. The No. 1 team in the nation, St. Norbert, will play the opposite team each day at 3:30 p.m. With the short week next week, we won’t have a 5 Questions, but Tuesday or Wednesday, I’ll be posting a preview of the tournament action, so stay tuned for that.
• Finally, the Saints Nordic Ski team starts this season this week in West Yellowstone, Mont. Good luck to them this season, and I hope they enjoy their trip!

That’s all I have for you on a relatively slow week in CSS athletics. Stay tuned for the aforementioned Saints Thanksgiving Classic preview next week.

Enjoy your weekends,
-jh
Go Saints!

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!