March 10, 2004

Four incredible seasons, including championship runs in the only three NCAA women's hockey tournaments ever conducted, have brought the University of Minnesota-Duluth to an enormous pressure point this weekend at the 2004 WCHA Final Five. Winning the tournament is foremost on the minds of all five contenders, but for the Bulldogs, it's win the tournament or probably forget about defending their three NCAA titles.

However far the Bulldogs go, it also will end the amazing collegiate career of Jenny Potter, formerly Jenny Schmidgall, as well as for her UMD senior teammates, Tricia Guest and defenseman Satu Kiipeli. Guest and Kiipeli have been a part of all three NCAA championship teams, while Potter missed a couple of years ­ one to play for the U.S. Olympic team in the 2002 Winter Olympics and another while having a baby.

The post-season run by Potter also will signal the end to an unusual alliance between Potter and Caroline Ouellette, who have been linemates and fellow finalists for the Patti Kazmaier award. Ouellette, a star on the Canadian Olympic team that beat Potter and Team USA 3-2 for the gold medal at Salt Lake City, have become such sensational coconspirators of UMD's attack that it would seem natural for one of them to defect so they could continue to play together.

After the two went nose-to-nose at Salt Lake City, Potter returned to UMD last year as a junior and found Ouellette there as a new recruit. The two not only were teammates, but coach Shannon Miller found they were extremely compatible as linemates. With the heavy hit of graduation depleting UMD's roster from the strength of its third straight NCAA crown, the offense fell squarely in the hands of Potter and Ouellette.

They couldn't have done much more. They went into the final regular-season series 1-2 for the national scoring lead. They faced Minnesota State goaltender Sheri Vogt, another Kazmaier Award finalist, who hadn't given up more than four goals in any game this season. Vogt also had beaten and tied Minnesota, and anchored a pair of season-opening one-goal victories over UMD.

In the first game, UMD blitzed Vogt and the Mavericks 9-0, with Potter scoring three goals, and Ouellette notching two goals and four assists. That tied the two for the national scoring lead at 72 points. Vogt was positively brilliant in the rematch, when UMD outshot the Mavs 56-14 but had to battle throughout to win 3-0. Ouellette scored two first-period goals, and Tricia Guest scored the third-period clincher.

That leaves Ouellette with 29-45=74 as the national scoring leader, and Potter with 35-37=72 as a close second, going into the WCHA tournament. In WCHA games, Potter won the scoring title with 28-29=57, while Ouellette was second at 21-34=55.

Despite their close scoring proximity, there is no competition between Potter and Ouellette. In fact, after scoring two first-period goals Saturday night to pull ahead of Potter for the national scoring lead, Ouellette had a breakaway chance for a hat trick in the third period, but instead of shooting, she tried to force a pass to Potter and the play misfired.

"Caroline wants Jenny to win the scoring title and the Kazmaier Award so bad that she'll do anything to help her," said coach Miller. "And that includes trying to pass when she should be shooting in the third period. It's been a great year for both of them. Jenny has really emerged as a team leader for us this season."

It's been a strange year for UMD. First, Miller lost two prime recruits. Evalina Samuelsson, a standout for the Swedish national team and teammate of former UMD stars Maria Rooth and Erika Holst, was set to come in last fall, but she suffered a serious back injury _ "it was while playing lacrosse, or soccer, or some off-season sport," said Miller. Then Laura Stosky, a star defenseman for Canada's under-22 team, decided to stay home with her father when her mother died last summer. Jen Lipman, another promising player from Phoenix, also was a no-show.

"On top of that, Amelia Hradsky quit school, and then, just when it looked like we were getting going, Bethany Petersen dropped out of school at Christmas," said Miller. "So we went through the whole season four scholarships short. Then we lost Larissa Luther for two months at the start of the season and for two weeks later, and Jessica Koizumi was out for three weeks with two different injuries. And Tricia Guest was out over a month with mono."

Despite the short bench, the Bulldogs snapped Minnesota's attempt at an unbeaten season, tied and lost to Harvard, stunned Dartmouth 6-2 before losing the rematch at Dartmouth, lost 3-2 to St. Lawrence despite a huge shot advantage, then whipped St. Lawrence 5-0 in a decisive rematch. Minnesota, Harvard, Dartmouth and St. Lawrence just happen to stand 1-4 in the current Pairwise computer ratings, the guide for the NCAA selection committee to use in picking tournament entrants.

Wisconsin is fifth, and UMD split an early series with the Badgers, then lost two close games at Madison to stand 1-2-1 for the season against Wisconsin. Those results are pivotal to No. 6 UMD going into the WCHA Final Five, because the Bulldogs face Wisconsin at 1 p.m. Saturday in the first WCHA semi-final. A loss to the Badgers would undoubtedly leave UMD without much chance of reaching the four-team NCAA field. A victory by UMD would probably propel the Bulldogs past the Badgers in the rankings, making the teams 2-2-1 against each other, and with UMD's schedule decidedly tougher. Wisconsin, for example, hasn't played Harvard, Dartmouth or St. Lawrence, while those three teams all must compete against each other in the ECAC playoffs, where two of the three must lose somewhere along the way.

The Bulldogs, of course, also are aiming at beating league champion Minnesota for the league playoff title, because that, too, would positively influence the ranking and just might elevate the Bulldogs to the Final Four. Surely the NCAA would be better served by having two East and two West teams in the Frozen Four, and it would seem beneficial to also have the winner of all three NCAA titles in the field, rather than eliminated by arbitrary committee decision.

Whatever, the scoring of Potter and Ouellette will be pivotal for the Bulldogs. Miller entrusts so much of the team's offense to the pair that she let Potter design the first power-play strategy, with an assist from Ouellette, naturally.

One of Miller's strengths as an exceptional coach ­ beyond her obvious tactical ideas ­ is that she is receptive to ideas from wherever they may come. She even listens to observers from the stands, including Rob Potter, Jenny's husband, and Duane Schmidgall, Jenny's dad. In fact, after the 3-0 victory over Mankato, and the 56-shot barrage at Sheri Vogt, Duane Schmidgall approached Miller and suggested a few ideas on how the power play might be improved. Miller showed amazing restraint by taking it all in ­ without telling Jenny's dad that the power play he was questioning had been designed by Jenny.

Thin as the roster is, the Bulldogs have gotten Guest, Koizumi and Luther back in the lineup from their assorted broken bones, injuries and illnesses. "We're happy and as healthy as possible," said Miller. "All we can do is beat Wisconsin and try to win our playoffs, and then if St. Lawrence drops a game in their playoff, maybe we can make it back to the NCAA."

It would seem abnormal if they didn't.

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