Points & Prattle: The Return (Feb. 4, 2011)

Settling in to a new semester and working extensively in the office these last few months of my collegiate career, I figured it might be time to get back in the saddle here on the Voice of the Saints. Fall 2010 was such a hectic semester for me; the site sort of got left in the dust, but I’m back and ready to make up for lost time, starting with the first Points & Prattle of the new year. I’ll try to roll out some more original content as it comes to me, but for now, this will suffice. On to the points:

• This winter hasn’t been the easiest of seasons for a St. Scholastica sports fan, but there’s plenty of time left for our basketball and hockey teams to make up ground in the UMAC and NCHA, respectively.
• At the same time, there’s plenty of success and excitement when it comes to the Saints Nordic ski and Track & Field teams lately. So, we can take solace in that.
• Men’s hockey will be in action on the road this week. They’re in the cellar of the NCHA right now, but can make a move by defeating Wis.-Stevens Point and St. Norbert this weekend. The Saints had a rough time with the Pointers in the opening weekend, but revenge will be on their minds Friday night. As for St. Norbert, CSS split a weekend series with the Knights earlier this year, so winning the season series is a distinct possibility. (Preview now available)
  
• The problem for men’s hockey this season, from a fan’s point of view, is certainly consistency. Friday night, the Saints put on one of their most impressive showings of the season in defeating Wis.-Stout, and then came back Saturday night and fell in a close game to a beatable Wis.-River Falls team. Consistency will be key as the Saints look to improve playoff positioning down the stretch.
• On the same note, the Saints women’s hockey team is on the outside looking in at the NCHA O’Brien Cup tournament bracket with just a few weeks to go, sitting just two points out of eighth place. After a much deserved bye week to close out January, the Saints take on the sixth-ranked Wis.-Stevens Point Pointers at home this weekend. To say these are must-win games would be an understatement, but CSS will continue to take on the teams just ahead of them in the standings as they travel to St. Norbert and host Wis.-Eau Claire in the weeks to come.
• Yours truly will continue to be the voice of Saints women’s hockey this weekend, available on the iFan Sports Network as well as on demand at csssaints.com. Here’s the proper links: Live, On-Demand.
• The Saints men’s basketball team seems to be heating up at the right time as winners of five of their past seven against conference opponents, including a home win on Tuesday against Northland. CSS is now fourth in the UMAC which sets them up for hosting a playoff game, but if I know Coach Staniger’s squad, they’re looking for more than that.
• CSS takes on Northwestern and Crown this weekend, a pair of teams they split with earlier in the season (defeating Crown 83-67 while falling at Northwestern 64-79). It’s worth noting that 83 point vs. Crown is currently a season-high scoring output for the Saints.
• On the women’s side, the Saints have won three of their last five, including a 66-56 defeat of the LumberJills on Tuesday night. CSS is sitting fifth in the UMAC currently, and continuing their current path should land them a playoff spot, but CSS will look to improve on their 4-4 record in their second trip through the conference schedule.
• Of course, CSS will also take on Northwestern and Crown like their male counterparts. Just like the men, the Saints women split against the Storm (W 75-39) and the Eagles (L 54-69) and put out their season-high scoring output against Crown.
• I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about Nordic skiing, but I do know how to read (thankfully). So, I know that Jeremy Hecker and Waylon Manske impressed for CSS over the weekend on the men’s side, while Julia Curry led the way on the women’s side. Keep up the good work, Saints!
• Heading back indoors, CSS track & field athletes keep finding themselves on the list of weekly UMAC honors, this week led by Cyrus Beckwith and Alec Seeley. School records fell on Friday as Beckwith broke his own pole vault record and Justin Hanson finished second in the 55-meter hurdles.
• On the women’s side, Maggie Bair matched Hanson’s feat of breaking the 55-meter hurdle record. Seeley earned her UMAC honors in winning the weight throw event on the evening.
• The Track teams will both be traveling across the bridge this week to compete in Superior at the Border Battle. Preview Now Available!
  
• I spend an obscene amount of time on Twitter and surfing the internet (never at work, of course), here’s some of the winning highlights of the past few weeks:
• Did Peter, Bjorn and John (http://tinyurl.com/48jdd5a) rip off the Muppets (http://tinyurl.com/25dt246)? I say yes.
• A “comprehensive, totally understandable explanation of what’s happening in Egypt:” http://bit.ly/eJla66 Mind you: this is a tad bit outdated now, but if you’re less in the know than me, it might help you catch up.
• And finally: is Facebook making us sad? http://www.slate.com/id/2282620 -- a very interesting read for the Facebook-obsessed.

That’s all for now, folks. I hope you enjoyed the return of P&P for the week. We’ll be back next week to take another look at the playoff picture for the Saints as well as (hopefully) some more intriguing non-CSS related fun. Thanks for reading!

EDIT: 2/4/11, 11:23 AM Added preview links for men's hockey and track & field.

Points & Prattle (Oct. 15, 2010)

Good morning sportsfans,

After a short hiatus for the sake of… being way too busy, Points & Prattle returns to the Voice of the Saints blog! My apologies to anyone who was looking forward to it (Mom?), and I’ll do my best to be more diligent about getting these blogs to you weekly. So, without further ado…

Cross Country
The Saints men and women both ran well in Iowa last week at the Wartburg Invite. This week, they’ll be competing at two meets – half of the team at the Brooks Invitational hosted by the University of Wis.-Oshkosh while the other goes to St. Bonifacius for the Crown Invitational. Now, the points:

• While we were out, Jessie Lovering won the Northland Invite. We never got a chance to properly congratulate here, so congrats, Jessie! She also paced the Saints with a top-10 finish at last week’s Wartburg Invite.
• On the men’s side, Nick Mangan has paced the men for two straight weeks, finishing third at Northland and 12th at Wartburg.
• This week will be the first time that the Saints will score as a team at the Brooks Invitational. Last season, they had six runners run four personal bests and two season-bests at the race. All in a days work…

Football
Saints football stumbled at home for the first time this season last week, but they were tripped up by a powerful Greenville squad, who remain undefeated in the UMAC with the victory. This week, the Saints are on a bye, so there’s not much to say, but let’s do a little house-cleaning from the past two weeks:

• Defensive end Chas Lemon was named to the D3Football.com Team of the Week for Week 5, making five tackles including one TFL and a batted pass. He also made an athletic tip-ball interception which he returned for a program-record 55 yards.
• Alex Thiry and Justin Trautmiller were named UMAC Players of the Week last week. Thiry was 20-26 for 265 yards while throwing four TDs while Trautmiller collected a program-record three interceptions against Crown.
• Next week, the Saints return to action against Minn.-Morris in Cougar country. The Cougars stumbled against Martin Luther last week, but will get a chance to rebound before they face the Saints, taking on Northwestern this week.

Men’s Soccer
It was a roller coaster of emotions for the Saints’ men last weekend, beginning Friday with breaking six offensive program records and ending Sunday with a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the nationally-ranked University of Wis.-Oshkosh. Here’s the points:

• Cody Sveiven was named UMAC Player of the Week, and rightfully so. He scored 10 points last Friday against Northland, including four assists. Both are program records.
• His accomplishments somehow overshadowed Jermaine Dacres’ five-minute, 57-second natural hat trick, the seventh-fastest in NCAA history, and (obviously) the fastest in program history.
• Altogether, the Saints scored 13 goals in the win, as well as 20 assists, for 46 points. All of those statistics are also program records.
• Sunday, the Saints were forced to play a man-down for 30 minutes after a pair of yellow cards sent a player to the showers early, but played outstanding against a nationally-ranked Wis.-Oshkosh team. I’d argue that the Saints are beyond moral victories at this point, but at the very least, they definitely gained the Titans’ respect in that game.

Volleyball
I had the opportunity to watch last Friday’s volleyball match with Northwestern as a fan, and I must say, the Burns Wellness Commons was pumped up to see the Saints down the dreaded Eagles, and in three sets! The Saints are still at home this weekend, so be sure to head out to the BWC for more action tonight and tomorrow.

• After sweeping the UMAC awards for several straight weeks, the Saints volleyball team has gone a couple weeks without an honor from the conference, and I say: what gives? They just earned two sweeps last weekend, and they’re undefeated in the UMAC… But I’m just saying.
• CSS has not been undefeated through seven conference games since the 1999 season, when they were 8-0. They will look to match that tonight and extend it on Saturday.
• CSS will play Minn.-Morris this evening, and take on Presentation and Wis.-Oshkosh tomorrow afternoon. The CSS Saints are a combined 34-2 all-time against their conference opponents this weekend, including a perfect 19-0 against Presentation. It will be no cake walk, but the Saints definitely have a couple of victories within their grasp.

Women’s Hockey
We’re just 21 days from the start of the CSS women’s hockey season, and the Saints held their first tryout/practice this morning. You can see a photo gallery here.

Women’s Soccer
Since I didn’t link to it in the men’s section, the Saints men and women will both be on the road this weekend against Morris and Presentation (I’m noticing a theme here…), and may lock themselves into a high seed in the UMAC tournament with a pair of victories this weekend. It won’t be easy, but there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic.

• The Saints goalkeepers Bailey Mahlum (four) and Molly Bergmann (two) have shutout opponents for six straight contests, including last week’s 3-0 defeat of Northland College.
• The youth movement continues a-rolling as the Saints have eight first- or second-year players leading the team in scoring this season, none moreso than Shannon Carlson, who leads the team with 15 points via six goals and three assists. Right behind her are Rainee Eby (5 G, 3 A, 13 pts), and Taylor Cunningham (5 G, 1 A, 11 pts).
• The Saints will return home on Tuesday for a game against Augsburg.

Well, that’s all for this week. Thanks for reading.

SUMMER SESSIONS w/Head Women's Hockey Coach Jackie MacMillan

Summer Sessions Episode #8

w/Saints Head Women's Hockey Coach Jackie MacMillan

Something a little different today -- we can't very well ask Coach MacMillan offseason questions when she hasn't had her first season yet! So, a special preseason edition of Summer Sessions for all you sportsfans:

-jh

Points & Prattle, Vol 11 - Dec. 11, 2009

Voice of: Joe Hansen

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Good morning, St. Scholastica!

It’s that time of the week. The time when I try to remember what happened during the week and what is upcoming. However, this week, the energy is on high because apparently, there’s some interesting hockey games taking place this weekend. I can’t remember exactly. Maybe we’ll explore that more later.

• A trio of Shout Outs!!! This week for you, from Coaches Deadrick, Salmela, and Wick. Coach Staniger is still to come today.
• Coach Deadrick’s squad, the CSS women’s basketball team, had a pretty good week, to put things lightly. Now 4-5 overall, the Saints hit the century mark in a 101-67 victory over North Central and shot a program-best 60 percent from the field. They also set a new program record for assists with 29 and had 16 players score. Quite a game, quite a game. They’re off until Monday, when they take on Wis.-Superior across the border.
• After being off last week when their meet was cancelled due to lack of snow, the Saints Nordic ski squad is back in action this week in Ironwood, Mich. for the USSA Early Season Classic. While Duluth finally got some snow this week, I’m sure they’re excited to get back on the trails!
• The CSS men’s basketball team has had a tough week, losing two games on the weekend by a combined seven points and then getting ousted in their gym by North Central on Tuesday. But tomorrow, they will look to turn their fortune around against Carleton College. You can catch a preview of the game here, written by fellow CSS student intern Chris Doran.
• I feel bad having forgotten about them last week when they were hosting a meet, but men’s and women’s track & field is underway with their indoor season, and two Saints already received UMAC honors. The first conference Players of the Week for Track & Field are freshman Justin Hanson and sophomore Alec Seeley. Hanson broke the 55m hurdles record at the BWC, while Seeley won the shot put with an 11.06m throw.
• While not playing games for some 300 days, the CSS women’s hockey team has over half of their team recruited, or so says coach Jackie MacMillan, including some local products.
• Last, but certainly not least, there is a men’s hockey game tonight, but I think you already knew that. I’ll be there, you should be, too. It’s going to be a packed house, but I assure you: that makes the atmosphere that much better. Get there early.
• Congrats to Jordan Chong on being named the “third star” of the week in the NCHA, scoring the short-handed game-winner last Friday night against St. Norbert, and another short-handed tally on Saturday.
• There’s also a hockey game tomorrow, but that one, you don’t have to be at Mars Lakeview Arena to enjoy (although, as I said, it will be that much better if you are). Saturday’s game will be broadcast on My9, and as always, both nights, you can listen to the games on ESPN Radio560-WEBC.

That’s all for today. Just one more blog before we take a much-needed holiday break. Hopefully, I come up with something interesting between now and Tuesday. But until then, take it easy and enjoy your weekend.

Go Saints!
-jh

MacMillan: Women’s Hockey will be “competitive in the first couple of years”

Press Conference Transcription – July 1, 2009

Don Olson, Athletic Directior: “The College of St. Scholastica is very excited to, number one, be starting a women’s hockey program at the intercollegiate level. We have had a club program which, for the past six seasons, has been very successful, had great participation, and the natural transition from that would be to move to an intercollegiate program. We also feel that there’s many positive reasons for starting a program at St. Scholastica, given our geography (Northeastern Minnesota), the strong growth of high school hockey programs in the surrounding area, the strength of our men’s program and the conference which we play in. [It also] gives us a balance between our intercollegiate programs … ten sports on the men’s side and ten sports on the women’s side. So, we feel that’s a positive step for us.
“The first and most important step is to find the right fit as a coach. We conducted a national search. We had a tremendous talent pool, and we feel that, without a doubt, getting Jackie MacMillan to accept our position as the women’s hockey coach at the St. Scholastica is absolutely the right fit. Her background, starting as a player, growing up in Buffalo, Minnesota and being a pioneer in the area, having to play with the boys – not only excelled but took on many leadership roles. She played at Wisconsin, in their inaugural program, and excelled as an athlete and … academically. She was an all-conference performer and an academic all-conference honoree. What she expressed to us, and what we feel, is that participating in that inaugural program will help give her a feel as to what it’s going to mean to those student athlets who are part of our first recruiting class.
"Her experience in coaching at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Union College in Shenectady, New York, and most recently at New England College gives her a broad depth of … knowledge to take on the role as the first women’s hockey coach at the college, and I think, most importantly, being a private, liberal arts college – understanding the value of that … education and the balance between academics and athletics – is something that she well understands. So, it’s my great pleasure to introduce Jackie MacMillan, women’s hockey coach, College of St. Scholastica.”
Jackie MacMillan, Women’s Hockey Coach: “Thanks, Don. I’m extremely excited about the oppurtunity to come to Duluth and be a part of the community at St. Scholastica, and I want to thank Don and the rest of the people to start the program here. It’s an exciting oppurtunity to join the community of Duluth and hockey and all it has to offer, and hopefully, I can help in growing girl’s hockey in the area. I’m excited to work with Coach Wick and the men’s program and think we have a good opportunity to build a relationship between the men’s and women’s programs here. It’s a great opportunity for our student athletes to play hockey here. Hopefully, we can get some of the area girls to want to play – and be impact players – at the Division-III level here, and start a good program here. So, I’m excited about the opportunity.
Josh Zenner, WDIO TV (Duluth): “Jackie, if you had a vision for the team – maybe not so much wins and losses – but the type of team and the type of players, what would you like to see?”
MacMillan: “I’ve talked a lot about the type of players I want to bring in here, and definitely, for me, the value of hard work, a good, hard-working player is something that I really want to start building this program around and players that want to fit in at St. Scholastica and the community and just be good people and good citizens on campus – players who love hockey and want to be here for the right reasons.”
Rick Weegman, Duluth News Tribune: “About being a first-year player at Wisconsin, will you use any of that experience to help you in your first year here at St. Scholastica?”
MacMillan: “Yeah, when I found out that St. Scholastica was starting a program here, I thought that would be a very appealing opportunity for me since I had that experience as a player … It was very unique and very special, something I will never forget. Just wanting to give back and give players the opportunity to experience something very exciting. Actually, I was at Wisconsin the year before we actually started the program, and I was practicing with the men’s team. It was a very unique experience with me.”
Weegman: “That was something you will familiar with, being around the boys?”
MacMillan: “Yeah, it was quite an adjustment for me, going from boy’s hockey to girl’s hockey. There’s such a different dynamic, going from playing with boy’s to playing with girls.”
Weegman: “How was the experience of playing with boys in Buffalo (Minnesota)?”
MacMillan: “They were like brothers. They knew that I just wanted to play hockey … They were very protective of me. It was such a great experience, you know, I am still talking to a lot of them. They were excited for me to have the opportunity to go off to college and play.”
Tom Hansen, Northland’s Newscenter (Duluth): “Was it just a bonus that you had relatives in the area – you were originally born in Duluth, correct? (MacMillan: “Yep.”) Was it your goal to return to Duluth?”
MacMillan: “It’s interesting, because every time I came back here [with Wisconsin] to play against the Bulldogs, it just happened to be a family event, and I always had 30 or 40 people in the stands that were cheering me on. We had quite the Wisconsin contigent just because of my family. It wasn’t something that I originalyl planned, but it just happened to be a unique opportunity and a great fit. The school itself – I’ve been part of the small school atmosphere in a private college – was just a great fit for me.”
Hansen: “You’ve coached at the division-III level [and the division I level] as well as played at the division-I level. Is there a seperation there, between the two levels?”
MacMillan: “Less and less now. With the growth of women’s hockey in the past five years, it’s completely different now. The level of play has gotten so much better. The school I was coaching at the past two years, New England College, I think we could have played some Division-I schools … and be very competitive. The gap is closing and today’s women’s hockey players want to play hockey, and are serious about it. Whether it’s Division-III or Division-I, they want to play hockey; they want to be good hockey players; and they want to be part of a good program.”
Weegman: “Any plans on where to recruit from?”
MacMillan: “Well, first, I want to get the best players around the area in Northern Minnesota, but I want to get the most competitive players and the players who are going to be impact players at the Division-III level. You know, the players I am looking for will be the players that could play at the Division-I level but they want to be impact players at the D-III level and have a good experience at a great institution.”
Hansen: “[In regards to the club team,] what will your role be? Will there be potential players on your team two years from now?”
MacMillan: “I certainly would be scared to have 20 freshmen the first year, so I think, starting there and having conversations with any players who are part of the club program and are interested would be a good first step … I’m sure I will be around and would like to watch some games … I am sure I will be on the road quite a bit trying to field a time. I’ll be around to watch the games as much as I can and talking to those who hope to be a part of the program.”
Zenner: “How do you think it will take to field a competitive team [in the NCHA]?”
MacMillan: “I’m an ambitious, competitive person so I’m hoping to be competitive in the first couple of years. There’s a lot of good players out there and they all need a team. Finding a good first couple of classes, I think we will be competitive within the conference. Before long, I think we will be a top team in the country – that’s one of my goals. Obviously, I’m taking it one step at a time.”
Weegman: “Do you know if there are already a lot of players on campus that will be a part of the program?”
Olson: “Maybe I can [answer this.] I just spoke with the club coach this morning … Our roster on the club program has been in the range of 16-17 student athletes … Our estimation would be that there would be four to seven or eight members who would be willing [and able] to compete at the varsity level … and also six or seven incoming freshmen [for the 2009-10 school year] who might be interested in two years.”
Weegman: “How many applicants did you have and how important was it for you to get the coach in place now?”
Olson: “We had 55 candidates, and we felt very, very strong about our pool of candidates. The strategy at the College of St. Scholastica – football being the most recent example – has been to … hire a coach at least a year in advance, giving the coach the opportunity to recruit, to plan the schedule, to buy equipment, and those types of things. It was very important for us to start this summer and find the right fit. We are very excited about the process and the result, and now, we move forward from there.”
Dana Moore, Volleyball Coach: “[Coach MacMillan,] you recently finished your master’s degree, and [the committee didn’t hear] a more strong recommendation than from one of your professors. Can you tell us a little about your master’s program?”
MacMillan: “I participated in the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s educational leadership program. It was a two-year program that involved class work, but mainly, I focused on a project, the development of team cohesion, which works very well with what I’m doing now. I followed a team for an entire season, watching a program which was known for traditionally winning a championship, and it was just an interesting process. Hopefully now, I can use what I learned on that to help develop team cohesion in my program here.”
Hansen: “Obviously, [the team will] practice and play at [Mars Lakeview Arena], is there any thoughts to doing anything else locker room-wise or facility-wise over at that complex to accommodate?”
Olson: “I’ve had a lot of conversations with the board and Brandan Flaherty, the rink manager, and we are working on that process. We are looking at several different plans, and that’s the best I can say now.”
Jesse Robinson, Sports Information Director: “Thank you for attending. Don and Jackie will be available outside for further questions.”