http://webserv1.startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisSlug=UPUK19
> Published Friday, December 19, 1997
>
> St. Cloud State surprise of the WCHA
> John Millea / Star Tribune
>
> Before the hockey season began, Craig Dahl needed only three things to motivate his St.
> Cloud State players: chalk, a chalkboard, and the other eight WCHA coaches.
>
> Shortly after workouts began, the Grand Forks Herald released its annual WCHA
> coaches' poll. When Dahl received the results, he gathered his team in the locker room.
>
> "I just came in and said, 'Here's the coaches' picks,' and started writing them down," he
> said.
>
> No. 1 was defending NCAA champion North Dakota. No surprise. Then came Colorado
> College at No. 2, and Minnesota at No. 3. Makes sense so far, thought the Huskies.
>
> Dahl kept writing: 4. Wisconsin . . . 5. Minnesota-Duluth. Still no St. Cloud. "Their eyes
> got bigger and bigger," he said.
>
> Like fingernails on the chalkboard, Dahl continued: 6. Denver. The Huskies' response? "It
> was like, 'You're kidding,' " Dahl said.
>
> Then, finally -- mercifully -- he wrote, "7. St. Cloud State."
>
> "I think they were shocked that they would get picked to finish that low," said Dahl, whose
> team plays Minnesota this weekend.
>
> The Huskies had lost three of their top four scorers from last year when Dave Paradise
> graduated and juniors-to-be Matt Cullen and Mark Parrish left to pursue pro careers.
> That apparently was enough for the WCHA coaches to downplay St. Cloud State's
> chances.
>
> Since that eye-opening day, however, the Huskies have proven the coaches wrong. They
> are 10-4-2 overall, 7-1 on the road and lead the conference standings with a 9-2-1
> record. They won twice at Colorado College in November and split a series at North
> Dakota last weekend, led by the outstanding play of senior goaltender Brian Leitza and
> several classmates.
>
> The only bigger WCHA surprise is that the Gophers -- losers of a school-record-tying
> seven consecutive games -- are tied for last place.
>
> "I felt CC and North Dakota were certainly the top two and Minnesota was probably
> third, and I thought it would be a battle for fourth," Dahl said.
>
> Leitza has a 2.29 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage. Seniors Jason
> Stewart (eight) and Mike Maristuen (seven) are the leading goal scorers, and six players
> have reached double figures in points. Stewart, who missed four games because of a
> separated shoulder, is one of several Huskies to be sidelined this season; at one point
> three of the top seven defensemen were injured.
>
> Freshman defender Chris Zaleski will not play against the Gophers because of a
> concussion, and senior defenseman Andy Vicari will miss tonight's game because of a
> game misconduct penalty last Saturday.
>
> St. Cloud State has never swept the Gophers -- who have had two weeks off -- and Dahl
> isn't taking them lightly this time.
>
> "I think we're catching them at a bad time," he said. "They've had time to rest and heal and
> kind of recuperate, and any time you've lost a few games in a row it certainly makes things
> more desperate. I'm sure they're going to be ready to go."
>
> Minnesota's Doug Woog, like most of the other WCHA coaches, thought the key for St.
> Cloud State would be replacing all the lost scoring.
>
> "We knew they were going to have real good goaltending. Leitza is very, very good, and I
> think their defense is one of the best in the league," Woog said. "The doubt was how
> would they replace the scoring of those guys, and geez, everybody has pitched in."
>
> The Gophers, who haven't won since Nov. 7 at Wisconsin, are 12-1-1 against the
> Huskies at Mariucci Arena, the site of tonight's game. St. Cloud has won five of the past
> eight at the National Hockey Center, where Saturday's game will be played. But such
> facts and figures are of little consequence to the Gophers.
>
> "I don't think our team is indicative of the record that we have," captain Casey Hankinson
> said. "A 4-10 record is awful, to say the least, for the University of Minnesota. We haven't
> found a way to win, but it is a fresh start."
>
> The Huskies are ranked seventh in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll, and eighth in
> polls conducted by USA Today/American Hockey Magazine, WMPL radio in Hancock,
> Mich., and WMEB radio in Orono, Maine.
>
 
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