Points & Prattle (Sept. 24, 2010)

Good morning sportsfans,

Time for an abbreviated edition of Points & Prattle for this week. We'll be back with plenty for next week's Homecoming spectacular, but I've been out of the office so much this week that I should probably get down to business on some actual work around here. So, without further adu, the points:

• Football will look to bounce back from its first loss of the season last week. The trip to Chicago was not as successful as hoped, but it’s a non-conference loss – since we’re heading into conference play this week, it’s time to look forward rather than back.
• Cross Country returns to action this week, as they will run the Roy Griak Invitational. It’s probably the biggest race they’ll run of the year in terms of volume, and probably second in terms of importance to the Conference Championship. It even has its own Facebook page.
• Men’s Soccer continues to roll, earning an overtime win off the foot of Jermaine Dacres on Tuesday afternoon over St. Thomas, their first victory over the Tommies since 1994. The Saints finally return to Saints Field for a six-game homestand starting this weekend.
• Congrats to Rob Johnson for being named UMAC Player of the Week. He was also the St. Scholastica student newspaper’s (The Cable) Athlete of the Week. Congrats, Rob!
• The Saints volleyball team is still off to their hot start, despite going 2-2 last weekend, and open UMAC play this week. The Saints start on the road, but they are road-tested, with no better proof than the fact that Paige Hardy, Nikki Hughes, and Sarah Kurtovich swept the UMAC Player of the Week honors this week.
• Women’s Soccer remained undefeated in conference play last weekend, going 1-0-1 on the weekend. They, too, return home this weekend for an extended stay. While the Saints have lacked offensive firepower, they have still been able to stay off the losing end the past couple of weeks, so things are looking up for the young Saints. We’ll see if they can start a winning streak back home.
• A reminder that I’ll be on the iFan Sports Network this weekend, lending my voice to the Saints soccer broadcasts, provided the weather holds up. You can listen/watch live here.

Well, that is it. I told you it would be abbreviated. I confined all my ramblings into a few short paragraphs. Good job, Joe! Thanks for reading. We’ll see you next week.

Still Alive

Greetings sportsfans,

If you're a dilligent fan of the VOTS and our video blogs, you're probably wondering where the new content is. Well, it's coming -- and soon. It's been a busy past couple of weeks around the office for me as well as for the coaches. Summer Sessions will return on Monday with head men's basketball coach David Staniger, and after weeks of saying the same thing, I will try to have a second video up next week as well. In the meantime, check out our archived Five Questions and Summer Sessions videos to tide you over.

Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you on the other side.
-jh

Catching Up! [Updated!]

Good morning sportsfans!


Wow, what a busy past few months I have had. I am sorry to have neglected you for so long, but I return with good tidings. Since my last post, the Saints have captured the UMAC Regular Season Championships in baseball, softball, and men's and women's tennis, as well asPostseason Championships in baseball, softball, men's and women's tennis, and women's track and field. Congrats to all the Saints!




As promised, this summer we will return to do some more "vlogging" with a new video interview series called "Summer Sessions." Similar to "5 Questions," Summer Sessions will give you a look into the offseason work that each of our St. Scholastica coaches goes through each year and an update on what fans can expect from the team moving forward. I hope to start as soon as next week in order to include everyone, so keep an eye out for the series to begin very soon!

If you're not already, follow the Saints on Twitter @csssaints. Sports Information Extraordanaire Jesse Robinson will be at the NCAA Midwest Regional with baseball this week, so expect some updates along the way from Whitewater. Also, be sure to come out to the Saints' spring football game this afternoon if you're in town. Should be a fun time as the Saints prepare for the Can-Am Bowl at Blue Bomber Stadium next week.


Until next time,
-jh

---

UPDATE (6/3/10 @ 11:01 A.M.): "Summer Sessions" will debut tomorrow afternoon with an interview with Saints women's volleyball coach, Dana Moore. So, stay tuned!

CSS vs. UWS: NCHA Playoffs Preview

If you're a fan of mine (Mom, that's you!) and you're itching for some midweek writing by me OR if you're a fan of the CSS men's hockey team (that's everybody else), check out this NCHA Peters Cup Quarterfinals preview at csssaints.com.

That is all.

See you Friday with more,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 14

Good afternoon, sportsfans!

In honor of tonight’s WhiteOut, today’s Points & Prattle will be delivered exclusively in white text.

If you actually highlighted this to read it, you get one gold star.

... Just kidding.

• The No.-4 Saints return to their home ice tonight after two weeks on the road, and St. Scholastica’s Connectica is sponsoring a Whiteout which includes free t-shirts. Supposedly, it’s the college’s social media headquarters on the web, but I noticed one site in particular missing from their archives. I’m just saying.
• The important of tonight’s game stretches beyond free t-shirts (shocking, I know), because the Saints opponent is St. Norbert – the team immediately ahead of them in the USCHO poll (No. 3) and in the NCHA standings. With three points separating the two teams with four games to go in the regular season schedule, the Saints could clinch the tiebreaker and climb within one-point of their first NCHA Regular Season title.
• It won’t come easy, and the Saints will need stellar play from their two-time, defending NCHA Player of the Week goalkeeper, senior Zach Kleiman, if they want to take another game from the Green Knights, who they split with in Green Bay earlier this season. The Saints have not defeated the Knights twice in a season since the 1992-93 campaign when they swept three meetings against St. Norbert.
• With a win against St. Norbert, the Saints will have plenty of reason for optimism: their remaining schedule will be played entirely in the Twin ports, and they are undefeated against their remaining three opponents this season, including Wis.-Stevens Point, who they host Saturday.
• Men’s and women’s basketball take the long trip to Minn., Morris and Presentation over the weekend, after splitting with Northland last weekend. Freshman Brett Tester led the men to a victory with 18 points, while senior Kirsten Haukom scored 10 points in the women’s loss.
• MILESTONE WATCH: Haukom needs just 10 more points to become the 11th player in program history to register 1,000 career points. She ought to accomplish it this weekend, so let us be the first to congratulate her on that impressive feat.
• The men have nothing quite as exciting to watch for this weekend, but they did sweep the PC Saints and Morris Cougars when the teams traveled to the BWC last month, so they have plenty of reason for optimism.
• For our Nordic ski teams, junior Waylon Manske and sophomore Eleanor Magnuson continued their succss with another impressive weekend at Telemark. Coach Salmela called Manske’s weekend the best of his career, so read about that here and here, and Magnuson and the women here and here.
• Since we couldn’t have Coach Salmela on for 5 Questions this week, and he will soon be off to the Olympics, here’s a link to an interview I did with him about that very subject earlier this school year.
• Saints sophomore Wendell Booth met the preliminary qualifying mark for the NCAAs in the long jump last weekend, for the second straight season. For his 22-ft-9-inch jump, Booth won the event and was named UMAC Men’s Indoor Track & Field performer of the week. Sophomore teammate Alec Seeley broke her own previous school record, tossing it a distance of 38’-3.5” (11.67m) to win the event and her own UMAC Athlete of the Week honors.
• Spring must be in the air because tennis season begins tomorrow. The teams will both play host to the University of St. Thomas, starting with the women at 1:30 pm.
• As for our other spring sports, softball and baseball begin in 10 and 25 days, respectively, so look out for their presence in these blog posts coming soon.

That’s all for today… if you’re a student reading this, enjoy Snowball tomorrow evening and don’t be a fool about it. If you’re just a fan, then I’ll see you at the hockey games. Enjoy the weekend!

Take it easy,
-jh

Points & Prattle, Vol. 12 - Happy 51st Blog post.

Good afternoon, sportsfans!

Here's some classic moments in blogging history:

• Men’s & Women’s Basketball tip off our CSS weekend this week because they’re at home. There’s very little for me to say because Chris Doran has a pair of great previews here (men’s) and here (women’s).
• The Saints men come into the weekend as winners of three of their last four since the calendar turned to 2010, most recently falling to conference foe Northland College on Saturday. For the fourth straight game, Danny Schmitz led CSS in scoring, netting 17 points in a losing effort. The Saints men will look to turn their fortunes around tonight.
• The Saints women also come into the weekend off a loss to Northland, with Kirsten Haukom leading the way with 13 points. The Saints have split their last four games, picking up a win and then dropping a game consecutively, so they might be on track for a victory tonight (and, hopefully, a snap of that streak by picking up another Saturday).
• Last week was a disappointing one for all the Saints’ team-sports with the hockey team taking one on the chin Friday night before having a victory stolen from them and settling for a tie on Saturday. Words can not describe my frustration with the officiating on the entire weekend, but it’s best we leave it at that in fear of losing my job. Brennan Poderzay continued to shine in net both nights, and the Saints had 10 players with points on Saturday, so there are some positives to take out of the weekend.
• The Saints, now 7th in the USCHO poll, will need to rebound quickly as they travel to Wis.-Eau Claire this weekend for another conference series with a lot on the line. As always, you can catch the game locally on ESPN Radio 560-WEBC, and online here.
• Track & Field continued success in their indoor season as Peter Drinkwine and Tara Connolly shined at the Super 8 Invite in Bemidji, earning UMAC Player of the Week honors for their efforts. Drinkwine leaped a personal-best 42’-2.25” (12.86m) in the triple jump to finish second and Connolly was the only CSS performer to win her event as she took first place in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:18.08 seconds.
• The Saints Nordic team, led by the Bacso brothers (Mason and Kasey), successfully defended their Minnesota College Championship for the third straight season on the men’s side. The Saints women also earned back-to-back titles, getting off to a strong start by Julia Curry who finished third to lead CSS.
• Spring sports started up their preseason this week (at least in the form of captain’s practices), just a month away from opening day for baseball and softball and a couple weeks for tennis. We’ll be busy, busy around here soon as well, which isn’t so bad for me. I’ll have more to write about.
• Another reminder that I’ll be performing PA duties at the basketball games for the first time ever this weekend, so it will be an interesting experience for all of us.
• It’s a new semester, so if you’re new to the blog, be sure to follow us on Twitter @thejoehansen and @csssaints. Or, if Facebook is more your thing, you can become a fan of the Saints here.

That’s all for today. Hope to see you at the games this weekend, and if not, enjoy the NFL Championship games on Sunday - and when you get home from basketball tonight, tune in to Conan.

Take it easy,
-jh

Welcome Back, Blogger.

Good afternoon sportsfans!

It’s a fresh semester at CSS. The students have returned, class is in session, and the Voice has returned to the Web.

As you can see, I’ve refreshed the look and feel of the page. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it just yet, so things may change again, but for now… this is what we’ve got.

I’ve got another exciting semester planned for you all, including the return of 5 Questions. We have a few more Winter sports to hit before we hit the final stretch – the Spring sports – and then we will have to find something else to entertain the masses. I have a few things planned that I think will be interesting, so stay tuned for that.

Points & Prattle will return this Friday afternoon, so mark your calendars.

Another thing to mark on your calendars (shameless plug incoming), is that I will be the “Voice” of this weekend’s basketball games, taking over public address duty in the stead of our regular PA man, Dave Cook. I have big shoes to fill, but I’ll try my best. Stop by and say hello if you’re there.

That’s all for today. Tune in on Friday for the return of Points and Prattle.

Take it easy,
-jh

Points and Prattle, Vol. 8 - Nov. 13, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

---

Good morning, St. Scholastica!

A Happy Friday the 13th to you all! Sportscenter asked this morning who my favorite player who wore/wears #13 is – and I emphatically said NOT Alex Rodriguez, but that’s neither here nor there – which made me think of Saints athletes who wore number 13 in recent years. Here’s the list, as I can tell:

• Baseball: Adian Kummet (’09)
• Basketball: Kyle Allen (’09)
• Football: Drew Holm (So.)
• Hockey: Shawn Barlette (’08)
• Soccer: Abby Arrowsmith (Sr.), Geofrey Kalanzi (Fr.)
• Volleyball: Emily Lindquist (Fr.), Erin Niles (’09)

So, as you can see: a pretty star-studded group of current and former athletes, but still rather sparse in terms of numbers. It would seem that in the sports where players have the most leeway to choose their numbers, they aren’t taking 13. Superstitious? Maybe. With that out of the way, let’s review a busy week of Saints athletics with the latest edition of Points & Prattle:

• The week began with the crowning of three UMAC tournament champions, adding to our collection of five on the fall season, as men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball joined men’s and women’s cross country atop the conference.
• If you weren’t at any of these games, you missed some great action. You can catch the women’s soccer championship game (with commentary from yours truly) on demand by clicking here.
• Speaking of commentary from yours truly… Did you miss Saints hockey taking on Saint John’s last Friday? Check that here.
• …but back to the Fall sports, we saw an impressive second season come to an end for Saints football on Saturday as they fell to Martin Luther. But there is plenty of reason for optimism coming off a 4-6 season which saw the Saints finishing third in the UMAC. All-Conference football awards should be announced soon, and I suspect we will see more than a few Saints honored this year.
• Already this week, the Saints have had 11 athletes selected to the First Team All-UMAC in their respective sports, and six more chosen as Honorable Mentions. Check out the names, headed by two-time UMAC Player of the Year Toby Peter (Jr.), by clicking your favorite sport: Men’s Soccer, Volleyball, Women’s Soccer.
• Saints soccer isn’t done as of yet, because the Saints women’s team was selected for the third straight season to compete in the NCAA Tournament. They will take on Macalester tomorrow evening, and you can catch live video of it here, starting at 7:30 p.m.
• They are joined in NCAA competition this weekend by the cross country teams who will compete at the NCAA Regional in Grinell, Iowa. Coach Pfingsten previews the meet here.
• The 10th ranked Saints men’s hockey team returns to their home ice tonight against No. 9 Wis-Stout. A sweep could put the Saints alone atop the NCHA standings as fellow conference leaders No. 1 St. Norbert and No.8 Wis.-River Falls do battle with Wis.-Stevens Point and Wis.-Eau Claire, respectively. Coach Wick previewed the match-up in his first ShoutOut! Of the year.
• Saints men’s basketball goes to work on defending their own UMAC Tournament championship starting Sunday when they take on Wis.-Eau Claire. Coach Staniger sat down for 5 Questions with VOTS earlier this week, talking about his young team, who was picked to finish third in the UMAC this year, despite touting the nation’s longest winning streak at 11 straight games.
• The Saints women don’t start this season until next Tuesday when they take on North Central, but it was announced earlier this week that UMAC coaches tabbed them to finish fourth in the conference.

That’s about all that’s going on for Saints athletics this week. Stay current with CSSsaints.com, and click to proper links on the side to follow the Saints on Twitter and Facebook. We’ll be back next week with more.

Enjoy your weekend,
-jh
Go Saints!

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

Voice of: Joe Hansen

---

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

Points and Prattle, Vol. 3 - Sept. 25, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

---

Happy Friday, sportsfans!

It’s time for an abbreviated edition of Points and Prattle, with a busy day ahead of me, and hopefully, an exciting Homecoming weekend for everyone here at CSS!

• As predicted right here two weeks ago, my days of announcing Saints soccer were not yet over. My career continued with the Saints men’s match against St. Thomas on Wednesday afternoon.
• The men are off to their best start since 1985 – it’s confirmed now, 1985’s team was awesome – in going 5-0-1. They are still unbeaten, but lost their winning streak in the aforementioned tilt against St. Thomas. As I called it on the iFan broadcast, the game was a battle of attrition with neither team allowing any significant scoring chances outside of the two goals scored. Freshman Josh Odukomaya netted his fourth goal of the season for the Saints, a beauty, in that one.
• Speaking of ties, despite a tie last weekend against Northwestern, the Saints women have extended their regular season conference unbeaten streak to 60 consecutive games, dating back to Oct. 12, 2003. For a point of reference, a gallon of gasoline cost less than $1.50 in October 2003. The Saints also ‘stormed’ over Crown 5-0 last weekend, with sophomore keeper Bailey Mahlum earning her third career shutout.
• Despite taking a loss in Superior, football’s Chris Doran was honored as a UMAC Player of the Week for two fumble recoveries, his first collegiate sack, and double-digit tackles in the Saints’ game Saturday vs. Wisconsin Lutheran. Congrats, Chris!
• Cross Country also saw some athletes honored, as sophomore Jimmy Linn ran his personal record of 29:47 to earn UMAC POTW honors while senior Katelyn Meger finished fifth best among NCAA D-3 runners with a season best 23:23 at the St. Olaf Invite. Congrats, runners!
• Last, but certainly not least, volleyball split in their two games in Illinois, following to host Illinois Wesleyan before responding with a sweep of Webster University. Senior Rebecca Udermann led the Saints with 27 kills on the afternoon, while sophomore Nikki Hughes had 41 digs.
• As previously mentioned, it’s Homecoming weekend, so you have your pick of the litter for games: men’s and women’s soccer starting at 2 p.m. today, volleyball at 7 p.m. today, as well as soccer, volleyball, and football tomorrow afternoon. Cross country gets a much-deserved rest to enjoy the festivities, and I am envious.
• If nothing else, my mother is a fan of 5 Questions on VOTS. I continued to ask the tough questions when I sat down with Steve Pfingsten this week. Next week, we’ll try something new, but 5 Questions will return soon.
• Also on the multimedia front, ShoutOuts! received a blast of youth this week as some top student athletes joined their coaches to invite the fans out to the game. If you’re a fan of Angie Groh or Jonny Bennett, then today’s ShoutOuts! are perfect for you. You’ll also find some from earlier in the week on our YouTube channel, now located in the “Follow CSS” section over yonder. >>>

Programming note: I’ll be on the air again this afternoon, starting at 2 p.m. calling the action for the Saints men’s and women’s soccer team taking on Martin Luther College, on the iFan Sports Network. Click here and follow the appropriate links for that. Also, I’ll be writing game recaps for this weekend’s soccer matches if you are a big fan of my writing. Which, of course, you are.