April 3, 2006

Last week, the media and the Frozen Four hockey coaches were linked by conference call. One Boston-accented television broadcaster who last year repeatedly criticized North Dakota for "dumb penalties" in its 4-1 NCAA championship game loss to Denver, said he noticed that the Sioux used power-play goals to win the West Regional, so he wondered if Dave Hakstol would "talk about" his change in coaching philosophy, turning those dumb penalties into power plays.

Hakstol paused slightly...Hakstol always pauses slightly before delivering astute and articulate answers, even to dumb questions about dumb penalties.

"I have had no change in philosophy, either in how we play, or in the attitude we always try to play with," said Hakstol. "We want to play very aggressively, with speed, and use our natural skill. But we always want to be physical, and everything generates off that."

Great response, Dave. Direct, to the point, exactly the way the Fighting Sioux play. Many coaches would have seized the opportunity to lobby about not taking penalties in hopes of getting favorable treatment from officials, but not Hakstol. It is engraved on the psyche of every Fighting Sioux player that to live up to the program's heritage, they come at you with no secrets - no mystery. Here they are, with their Native American logo proudly on their chests, and if you can't see it too well now, pay attention, because it will be up close and personal in a second, an instant before they crunch you into the boards.

What you see is what you get, and if the Sioux play at a pace that is too rough and too fast for you, well...too bad.Youthful, and inconsistent early, nobody would call this year's Fighting Sioux team physically intimidating, and certainly not chippy. But they play textbook in-your-face Sioux hockey, and they do it well.

Ah, history. They say those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and presumably that goes for hockey coaches as well as Presidents. Hakstol might both learn from, and repeat, some puck history as he takes the Fighting Sioux to Milwaukee for the NCAA Frozen Four.

North Dakota (29-15-1) plays Boston College (25-12-3) at 2 p.m. Thursday in the first semifinal at the Bradley Center, with Wisconsin (28-10-3) facing Maine (28-11-2) in the 7 p.m. second semi. The winners meet for the national title at 6 p.m. Saturday.

It could be said that Boston College and Maine are sort-of surprises at the Frozen Four, while Wisconsin is the favorite. But no moreso than North Dakota, which is the hottest team in the country right now, because it is the hottest of the Frozen Foursome - the only college teams still playing.

Not noted in the press conference was that last year, in Hakstol's first term, the Sioux were ranked No. 10 and were banished to the East Regional in Worcester, Mass. No problem. They simply whipped the best in Beantown, first beating Boston University 4-0 and then taking out No. 2 Boston College 6-3 to reach the Frozen Four. The Sioux took their share of penalties, and then some, but held both BU and BC to identical 0-for-9 power plays. Maybe penalties aren't "dumb" if you kill them off. The Sioux beat Minnesota 4-2 in the NCAA semifinals before losing 4-1 to Denver.

When the television cameras show close-ups of these Fighting Sioux on the ice, look closely and notice how youthful they look. So many of them look like teenagers, and that's not an illusion. With a half-dozen freshman forwards and four of six defensemen also freshmen, these Fighting Sioux are young. Jonathan Toews, a brilliant freshman center, won't turn 18 until the end of the month. Defenseman Brian Lee is still 18.

They may be too young to have a sense of historical perspective, because they were youngsters in fourth grade the last time the NCAA Frozen Four was in Milwaukee, in 1997. But repeating history wouldn't be a bad thing for North Dakota, because North Dakota beat Colorado College 6-2 and Boston University 6-4 to claim the national title in the 1997 tournament at Bradley Center.

That was in the second year of the Dean Blais coaching regime, and his assistants were Mark Osiecki and Scott Sandelin. Blais spent one year rebuilding, then the Sioux won the WCHA championship. It appeared that bigger and better things would be in the future for that Sioux group, but they were impatient, and everything came together as they won the WCHA Final Five, a stepping stone to the Frozen Four title. The team was led by a young sophomore dynamo named Jason Blake, but at Milwaukee, players like goaltender Aaron Schweitzer and checking-line skater Matt Henderson stepped to the team-oriented forefront to lead the way.

Sound familiar? Hakstol is in his second season, and he did his rebuilding job on the Sioux last year and part of this one. Osiecki will be at the Frozen Four too, but as assistant coach at Wisconsin, while Sandelin is now head coach at Minnesota-Duluth. Hakstol's assistants are defensive specialist Brad Berry, and the redoubtable Cary Eades, who went off to coaching accolades at Warroad High School before returning to his alma mater as Hakstol's assistant. No one has checked his driver's license, but "in-your-face" might be Eades' middle name.

Other similarities? The Sioux are led offensively by a freshman dynamo named T.J. Oshie, who would as soon run over an opponent as score a goal, but he has scored 24 goals, including a nation's best nine game-winners. The attack that came of age winning the WCHA Final Five playoffs includes 10 freshmen and only a couple seniors - indicating the Fighting Sioux might be a year or two away from being a dominant team.

However, the biggest lesson from 1997 is that championship teams take advantage of opportunities when they arise, and if you wait for the so-called dominant team to rise to the surface, it might not happen. When the Sioux won in 1997, they were a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in 1998 and 1999 as well, but both of those exceptional teams were upset, and neither made it to the Frozen Four. (The Sioux made up for it by winning the NCAA title again in 2000.)

Nobody would say this year's Fighting Sioux had a dominant season. They started WCHA play 1-3, struggled to stay above .500 much of the year, tying Colorado College for fourth in league play, finishing 16-12 in the WCHA. But that's old news. The Fighting Sioux are 29-15-1 overall, and after never winning more than three games in a row all season, they now have won six straight games, having finished off Minnesota State-Mankato with two straight victories after an opening playoff surprise, then beating Wisconsin and St. Cloud State to win the Final Five, before taking out Michigan and upstart Holy Cross to win the West Regional, at home in Grand Forks.

Junior Drew Stafford missed the Final Five with an injury, but came back to notch his 24^th goal of the season in the regional. That ties him with freshman Oshie in team goals, while Toews has 21, making the Sioux the only Frozen Four team with three 20-plus goals. While many scorers can boast about padding their statistics with power-play goals, Stafford's 24 include a nation's best 7 shorthanded goals.

The balanced scoring has come together, and the Sioux power play is clicking at 29.4 percent in their last 15 games. At the regional, in beating Michigan 5-1, Oshie, Stafford, Ryan Duncan, Toews and sophomore Travis Zajac each scored a goal, and in beating Holy Cross 5-2, again five different scorers connected, with Toews, Duncan, junior defenseman Matt Smaby, Zajac and freshman Matt Watkins scoring. Toews had three assists with his two goals in the two games, and was named outstanding player at the regional.

"Toews is an extremely big part of our team," said Hakstol. "He was a pretty young man coming tour campus last fall, but he's adjusted very well, on and off the ice. He didn't put up the numbers he expected of himself early, and now we're seeing the results. He's really starting tocome on and is a dynamic force offensively.

"The play of our defensive corps is a mirror image of our whole team. With four freshmen back there, we did some great things, but also had some inconsistent play. Certainly Brad Berry has done a great job staying positive with them, and they're not afraid to play; if they make mistakes, they're not afraid to go right back out there. In the WCHA you're dealing with some outstanding forwards, so it's a pretty big learning curve for young defensemen - especially in the first half of their freshman year."

One of the intriguing things about this particular Frozen Four is that all four teams have exceptional goaltending. Jordan Parise, who has emerged as an outstanding leader as well as perhaps the most competitive goalie in the nation, mans the nets for the Sioux, and will oppose Cory Schneider, who recorded eight shutouts for Boston College. Brian Elliott is the star goaltender for Wisconsin, and Ben Bishop has had a strong season for Maine.

Boston College coach Jerry York suggested his team has some other parallels with North Dakota. "We have four freshman defensemen too, and as the year went on, we had a better team than I had envisioned," York said. "We had a little slide, but then we rallied to win against Vermont, and caught fire. We're a little dangerous to play, right now."

BC's offense is a bit of a surprise, too, because Kevin Collins, who was a strong player and a "9-11 goal scorer for three years," said York, suddenly found a belated scoring touch and has 31 goals, earning one of three Hobey Baker finalist slots, along with Elliott, and Denver defenseman Matt Carle.

The Sioux don't have anybody up for such lofty awards. But they have a dedicated focus on the big team plaque that's given out Saturday night.

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