Obama to get UMD jersey

Posted on September 8, 2010 by rinkandrun

A Minnesota Duluth traveling party of 24 is expected to attend an NCAA Division I Champions Celebration on Monday afternoon at the White House in Washington, D.C.

The Bulldogs, who won the 2010 women’s hockey title, are to fly from Minneapolis at 6 a.m. Monday and be part of a 4 p.m. outdoor event hosted by President Obama. UMD returns home at 6 a.m. Tuesday, said coach Shannon Miller.

Twenty members of UMD’s 2009-10 team, along with coaches Miller, Laura Schuler and Michelle McAteer (now head coach at Augsburg College), along with Chancellor Lendley “Lynn” Black are to make the trip. It will mark the fifth White House appearance for the women’s hockey program.

“This is a remarkable honor for all of us and there’s a great deal of positive energy from all of our players. They’re excited about having such an opportunity,” Miller said Tuesday.

Two senior defensemen from last season are traveling the furthest — Jaime Rasmussen from home in Garden Grove, Calif., and Sarah Murray from Switzerland, where she’s teaching and playing hockey. Emmanuelle Blais, a senior forward and team MVP from last season, is coming in from home in LaSalle, Quebec.

The Bulldogs are bringing a gift for the president — a maroon UMD hockey jersey with the name Obama on the back and No. 10, which notes the year.

It’s believed championship teams in all Division I sports for men and women, except football and basketball, will be recognized at Monday’s event. The tradition was started by President George W. Bush.

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Goucher, Tollefson in Runner’s World

Posted on September 8, 2010 by rinkandrun

Two longtime Minnesota running rivals, friends and Olympians — Kara Goucher and Carrie Tollefson — are featured in the October Runner’s World in a look at Fit Mamas.

Tollefson, 33, had her first child, daughter Ruby, in April in St. Paul. Duluthian Goucher, 32, is expecting her first child, a boy, on Sept. 29 in Portland, Ore., although the word is the timetable has been moved up to Sept. 22. Women’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe, 36, of England also has a due date of Sept. 29 for her second child.

Tollefson is on the Runner’s World cover and her advice for a return to running following a layoff is here.

Goucher and Radcliffe are featured in a Runner’s World question-and-answer feature entitled Great Expectations here.

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St. Cloud State hires assistant

Posted on September 7, 2010 by rinkandrun

Steve Johnson, former head coach of the Fargo Force in the U.S. Hockey League, was added to the St. Cloud State staff Tuesday. He replaces Eric Rud, who took over with the Green Bay Gamblers of the U.S. Hockey League. A story from the St. Cloud Times is here.

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UMD No. 9 in College Hockey News ranking

Posted on September 7, 2010 by rinkandrun

College Hockey News is getting set for the Division I season that is now…well, one month away from real games. CHN has a preseason Top 10 which shows Minnesota Duluth at No. 9 behind two Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams. Defending NCAA champion Boston College is No. 1. That ranking is here.

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What coaches are facing a pivotal 2010-11?

Posted on September 6, 2010 by rinkandrun

The College Hockey Blog takes a quick look at five college coaches facing a pivotal 2010-11 season. Three are from the WCHA. The link is here.

Also, Zach Franko, a 17-year-old forward from Winnipeg, Manitoba, had made a commitment to Bemidji State for 2011-12, but has now decided to play in the Western Hockey League and forgo his college eligibility. The story in the Bemidji Pioneer is here.

Also former Minnesota Duluth runner Brandy Erholtz of Bailey, Colo., was 15th in Sunday’s 26th World Mountain Running Championships in Kamnik, Slovenia. Andrea Mayr of Austria was the women’s winner in 49 minutes, 30 seconds for 8.5 kilometers in a field of 69, while Kristin Price, 28, of Raleigh, N.C., was the top American in 53:19, and Erholtz, 33, finished in 53:57. The United States was fourth among 13 teams.

Joe Gray, 26, of Lakewood, Wash., led the U.S. men to a second-place finish, placing 10th in 59:27 on a 12K course that had 4,200 feet of vertical climb. Chris Lundstrom, 34, of Minneapolis was 59th in 1:04:34.

A link to full results is here.

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Houck wins half-marathon

Posted on September 5, 2010 by rinkandrun

Former Duluth resident Jen Houck of Salem, Ore., won Sunday’s inaugural Eugene (Ore.) Women’s Half-Marathon, leading a field of 1,555.

Houck, 26, a former St. Scholastica cross country athlete, was first in a personal-best 1 hour, 14 minutes, 40 seconds. Liana Bernard, 29, of Medford, Ore., was second in 1:18:36 and Brittany Brenny, 23, of Staples, Minn., was third in 1:21:38. Houck plans to run the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 10.

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The 2-hour marathon debate

Posted on September 5, 2010 by rinkandrun

The men’s world record in the marathon hasn’t been broken in two years, but the intriguing conversation continues of “When will there be a marathon time under two hours?” Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie holds the mark of 2:03:59, in the 2008 Berlin Marathon (Sept. 28). He held the previous mark of 2:04:26 on the same course in 2007.

Exercise physiologist Ross Tucker, who has a Ph.D. and works for the University of Cape Town in South Africa, also co-authors the blog The Science of Sport. Last week he had two in-depth posts on the prospect of a sub-2 hour marathon. Tucker looks at significant data, yet predicting is inexact. He projects the sub-2 hour marathon could come in 11 years, 25 years or 80 years — so no time soon. (The women’s world record of 2:15:25 by England’s Paula Radcliffe, was set in 2003.)

The posts are The Sub-2 Hour Marathon? Who and when?

And The Sub-2 Hour Marathon: What physiology will it take?

Grandma’s Marathon has a course record that was set 29 years ago — 2:09:37 — by Dick Beardsley. The News Tribune took a look at the prospect of a two-hour marathon in a 2009 story here.

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Stalock now further back?

Posted on September 4, 2010 by rinkandrun

Alex Stalock’s path to the NHL got a bit more congested this week as the San Jose Sharks signed a second free-agent Finnish goalie, Antti Niemi, who was with Stanley-Cup winning Chicago in 2009-10.

Stalock, 23, from South St. Paul and Minnesota Duluth, who has had one professional season (as an American Hockey League all-star with Worcester, Mass.), now appears to rank behind three goalies in the San Jose system.

Antero Niittymaki of Finland was signed in July by the Sharks to help fill in for the departed Evgeni Nabokov. And in newspaper stories about the Niemi signing, the third San Jose player mentioned in the goalie equation is Thomas Greiss of Germany.

The San Jose Mercury News had a David Pollak story Thursday that is here.

And the Mercury News has a reaction from Niittymaky and Greiss here.

The Worcester Sharks open the American Hockey League season Oct. 9-10, the same weekend UMD begins play (Oct. 8 at Lake Superior State.) Stalock set an AHL record for wins (39) by a rookie goalie in 2009-10 and was voted the Worcester player of the year. The Worcester Sharks had a review of his season here.

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2011 Hobey Baker hopefuls?

Posted on September 3, 2010 by rinkandrun

The College Hockey Blog recently listed five prospective darkhorse Hobey Baker Memorial Award candidates for 2010-11, meaning these are not the obvious choices. Two are from the WCHA, with North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway leading the way. That Hobey Baker preview is here.

From a blog called Too Many Men on the Site is a condensed ranking of Division I conferences for 2010-11, and, no, the WCHA isn’t ranked No. 1. That list can be found here.

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Chris Garner update and auction

Posted on September 3, 2010 by rinkandrun

Minnesota Duluth equipment manager Chris Garner, 32, who underwent a bone marrow transplant Aug. 4 at Rochester’s Mayo Clinic, is recovering well, according to Facebook’s Chris Garner Support and Benefit Page.

The transplant was needed to fight Myelodysplatic Syndrome, a blood cell disorder. An update is below as posted on the Support Page, followed by information on an upcoming auction to defray medical costs.

Chris Garner update from Tuesday:

Chris has had great results for the past week. The doctors are very happy with his recovery. They tell him he is above the curve for transplant patients. He does have some days that are not so great, but it could be side effects from all the drugs. Overall, he is doing awesome, and it is great to see.

The Chris Garner On-Line Benefit Auction – Coming in Oct. 2010 [HD]

This video shows a few of the many items that will be available for purchase through the upcoming Chris Garner On-Line Benefit Auction. Proceeds from the auction will all go to help Chris with his battle with cancer. The auction is slated to begin in October, so check back at this Facebook page for details.

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