Loch happy with the way things ended for his team

Alexandria girls' hockey coach Mitch Loch took a vacation with his family after his team got back from the state tournament.

I was able to get ahold of Loch when he returned, and I talked to him a little bit about the girls' play at state and how he felt about the season as a whole. 

The Cardinals finished fourth at the Xcel Energy Center after beating Faribault in the opening round and falling to Warroad and South St. Paul after that. Warroad went on to win the Class A championship. 

No coach is ever satisfied with losing, but Loch was thrilled with the fact that his girls were able to hoist a trophy at the end of this season.

"I was happy with the way things finished," he said. "Of course, all coaches want to finish higher at the end of the day. But when we got that fourth-place trophy, I have never seen so many smiles. They were pumped, and they were proud of what they accomplished. Several times throughout the year, we could have called it a season. They didn't do that and they got a trophy at the end of the year, and we are very proud of that."

It was a season that had its ups and downs. The Cardinals finished with a 14-14-2 record overall. They lost five straight heading into the tournament but rebounded nicely to advance to their sixth state tournament in the last seven years. 

"I think we made a lot of progress," Loch said. "Just like any other team, we had our ups and downs, but the important thing is that you always remember how you finished. These girls will be remembered as a team that advanced to another state tournament."

The Cardinals were a fairly young team but will have to replace seven seniors off this squad. Jessica Waldack, Alexis Nielson, Alyssa Haugen, Allyson Nielsen, Beth Rindy and leading scorer Michelle Anez all played their last game in a Cardinal uniform. 

This program has proven over the last four years that it is always a threat in Section 6A come playoff time. Loch is confident the young girls on this team have benefited from this year's state tournament and will be hungry to get back there again next season. 

"I think we will be able to compete," he said. "It's going to be a work in progress. We have enough girls who have the skills, but it's going to take some work to replace a girl like Michelle Anez. Who knows what can happen. Obviously, Morris-Benson will be good again. Then there is Fergus and Detroit Lakes is an up and coming team."

Posted by: Eric Morken on 3/09/2010 at 1:05 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Predicting a loaded 6A-south subsection field

The Section 6A girls' basketball tournament got underway with three play-in games on Monday night. 

Ashby, Wheaton-Herman-Norcross and Hillcrest Lutheran Academy all earned the right to play against the top three seeds on Thursday night. It's a reward I'm not sure any of the three teams are too thrilled about.

Parkers Prairie, Brandon-Evansville and Hancock are seeded No. 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Any one of these teams could come out of this subsection for the right to play for a state-tournament berth. 

Parkers Prairie -  The Panthers have to come in as the favorites. They are 3-0 against the Chargers and the Owls this season. They shot the lights out for three out of four halves against Brandon-Evansville. That led to a 75-37 win on December 11 and a 76-65 win on January 28. They also won a relatively close game against Hancock on February 13, 67-59. 

Parkers Prairie should enter this tournament confident but also humbled by its two losses this season. When the Panthers are shooting well, I think they could handle any team in the Class A field. They looked like a team that couldn't be beat early this year by dominating teams like Brandon-Evansville and Underwood. 

The Panthers had not been tested until they traveled to Battle Lake and got beat 54-53 on January 15. Head coach John Noga felt it was probably good for his team to see first hand that it isn't invincible. I tend to agree. They weren't just beating teams up until that point, they were handling them by 30-40 points a game. It would be easy to get complacent after beating teams like that.   

The Panthers got back on track and rattled off nine straight wins before a close loss to fourth-ranked Bertha-Hewitt on February 20. I think those two losses will have the Panthers focused heading into play on Thursday night. They know this is no time to take any team lightly.

Brandon-Evansville - The Chargers enter the tournament playing really good basketball. They held a seven-point lead over West Central Area in the final minutes last Friday before letting one slip away against the Knights. If that doesn't happen, Brandon-Evansville takes a 10-game winning streak into the tournament. 

The Chargers know their strength and are really good about going to it. Megan and Heather Strese are a nightmare for opposing teams down low. The sisters are a double-double threat every night and will prove to be a tough match-up for whoever they play in the tournament.

This team can be really dangerous when they are hitting enough from the outside to keep a defense honest. Michelle Bruns has been playing pretty good basketball, especially during the second half of the season. At 6'0", Bruns can step outside and hit the open three. Megan and Katie Boesl also make this team dangerous with their ability to shoot, handle the ball and defend the perimeter. 

The Chargers also return a lot of experience from last year's section championship team. Almost all of these players know what it's like to play in high-pressure games. They handled that really well last year.

Keep in mind that the Chargers came within six points of Ada-Borup in the section finals a year ago. The Cougars then won three games by an average of 30 points a game on their way to a state title. People shouldn't underestimate the significance of having been there before.

Hancock - I have to admit that of the top three seeds, I know the least about the Owls. I have not had a chance to see them play yet this year with them being outside the Echo Press coverage area. What I do know is they have a heck of an individual player in Bree Holleman.

Holleman has been nicked up a little bit coming down the stretch. The Owls played without her with what they were calling a minor shoulder injury in the regular-season finale. Kendra Schmidgall stepped up in her absence and had 26 points and eight rebounds in a win against Barnesville, a team that is the third seed on the north side of Section 6A.

Hancock has proven itself to be a legitimate contender with its body of work throughout the season. The Owls bring a 20-3 record into the tournament. Two of those losses, though, came against Brandon-Evansville and Parkers Prairie. They lost to the Chargers by two in overtime early in the year before dropping the close game to the Panthers.

How I see it ending - If I had to make a prediction, I would say this is Parkers Prairie's year. The Panthers are led by maybe the best player in the entire state, regardless of class, in Sari Noga. She has a lot of help around her this season. 

I watched the Panthers hit 12 threes in the first half against Brandon-Evansville on January 28, six of those coming from freshman Madison Dorn. If they are on, I just don't see this team losing. I think you will see a focused Parkers Prairie team every time out in the tournament. 

Posted by: Eric Morken on 3/03/2010 at 3:04 PM | Comments (14) | Permalink

Alex skaters talk about another state tourney trip

The Cardinal girls' hockey team celebrated its sixth section championship in the last seven years by picking up a 3-1 win over Morris-Benson Area at the Willmar Civic Center last night. 

"This never gets old," head coach Mitch Loch said as he watched his players still celebrating on the ice almost 20 minutes after the final buzzer rang. "It's nice to get back here. Every team starts out with a goal of getting to the state tournament and only 16 teams get to see that celebration.

"It's a goal and a dream for these girls to get to go play in the greatest hockey venue in North America at the Xcel Energy Center. It's something that they will remember for the rest of their lives."

It was a game that lived up to the billing as just a goal separated these two teams for most of the night. Alexandria came in as the No. 1 seed but the Storm entered with a 23-2 record. Included in that was a 3-1 win over the Cardinals on November 21. That game was a distant memory for Alexandria.

"Pretty high," sophomore goaltender Stephanie Drown said of the team's confidence coming into the game. "We just try to stay positive. We knew we were a good team, and we knew we could beat them deep down. It was at the beginning of the year that they beat us, and we have improved so much."

Michelle Anez got the Cardinals going with a nice goal in the first period. Alexandria was coming off a great penalty kill where the Cardinals actually controlled the puck for much of the power play. Anez wasted no time giving her team a 1-0 lead after they got back to full strength.

Sara Rajewsky got MBA right back in it at the start of the second period. She took control of the puck off a rebound and skated the length of the ice before sending in a goal to tie things at one apiece.

The go-ahead goal for the Cardinals was one that swung the momentum in their favor in a big way. It came with less than one minute remaining in the second when Beth Rindy sent a shot toward the net. Storm goaltender Brooke Falk blocked the shot but the rebound came back and bounced off a Storm player that was battling for position with Claire Illies. The puck bounced back into the net for a 2-1 Alexandria lead. Falk laid face down on the ice in disbelief as the Cardinals celebrated. 

"It was a momentum builder," Rindy said. "It needed to happen, and we just got the lucky bounce that time."

Alexandria came out of the locker room with a noticeable bounce in its step. The Cardinals controlled the puck almost the entire third period. Their effort paid off with about two minutes to go when Alexis Nielson added an insurance goal to put the finishing touches on the win. 

"We were able to control the puck, mainly because that's what we talked about, getting it deep," Loch said. "But we had the depth over them. That was big. We skated three lines to their two, and we just had the energy left to do what we needed to do.

"And the girls just did a tremendous job of staying composed and taking advantage when they had chances and then playing some solid defense to close it out."

The Cardinals played like the experienced team that they are on Thursday night. The Storm looked deflated in the final period after Alexandria scored the go-ahead goal late in the second. It's pretty understandable. That was the type of goal that if it goes against you, it can be pretty demoralizing.

The Cardinals then came out and finished the game like good teams do. The Storm did not have many quality scoring opportunities in the final period. When they did, Drown made sure to close the door on them. She finished with 19 saves. Pretty good for a young goalie who is still coming into her own after splitting time with freshman Lindsey Lien the past two seasons. 

"It was a nice outing for Stephanie," Loch said. "We have been kind of going back and forth with goalies between her and Lindsey. Steph was kind of down and out for a while because Lindsey was playing better. She didn't get deflated. She continued to work, and she did a tremendous job on Tuesday night (against Detroit Lakes) and did another excellent job here tonight."

Drown is one of 10 players on this team that will be making her state tournament debut next Wednesday. Alexandria is just two years removed from winning the Class A title and still has 10 players from that roster.

Like Loch said, winning never gets old. Those 10 returning players will be able to give the others an idea of what it's like to step foot on that ice at the Xcel Energy Center. Expectations may not be as high this year as they were two years ago. But that doesn't mean the players still don't expect a lot from themselves. 

"It's really exciting," leading scorer Michelle Anez said. "You just have to go out there and have fun. It think we are capable of doing a lot. We just need to be ready, stay focused and have that confidence."

Posted by: Eric Morken on 2/19/2010 at 1:24 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Card girls learn from tough loss to Bemidji, pick up milestone victory

Alexandria girls' basketball coach Wendy Kohler knew this win was coming.

Kohler sat at 399 career victories going into the Cardinals game against Bemidji this past Saturday. She probably should have reached 400 wins against the Lumberjacks, a team ranked third in the Class AAA polls featuring one of the top players in the state in Kayla Hirt.

Alexandria controlled the game for most of the night. The Cardinals had a lead of 11 points with less than five minutes remaining when Bemidji stormed back, forced overtime and eventually won 72-69.

That meant the Cardinals would have to beat Detroit Lakes at home on Monday night for Kohler to reach the milestone victory. They did that with ease, cruising to a 47-13 lead at the half before going on to win 76-38.

"It's a little overwhelming," Kohler said of reaching 400 wins. "But I've enjoyed being a woman in a male-dominated profession, coaching and leading young women. It's fun when they respond and you can orchestrate a team to success like this."

The Cardinals proved their ability to bounce back in the victory. Alexandria already has a win over a top-five team in its class with the 60-59 victory over Willmar on February 5.

The Cards were in great position to pick up another statement win on the road at Bemidji on Saturday. They built a 10-point lead at the break and maintained that through a lot of the second half. Hirt was just a little too much down the stretch, scoring six of the Lumberjacks' eight points in overtime.

Even with the loss, a lot of positive things came out of the game. The Cardinals forced overtime against one of the best teams in the state despite being hampered by foul trouble for most of the night. Angela Christianson was forced to the bench because of fouls and finished with just 17 points. 

In her absence, her teammates stepped up. Gracie Bruzek was clutch from behind the arc on her way to 15 points. Lauren Trumm also added 13 points. The Cardinals proved they have the depth to play with Bemidji. That is what Kohler wanted her players to focus on after the loss. 

"We really battled foul trouble and did not play with our full complement of players," she said. "We just told them after the game, it is really important that we don't suffer a hangover from this loss."

They obviously didn't. The win over Detroit Lakes highlighted a couple of things that Alexandria does really well - pressure defense and running the break.

The Cardinals swarm the ball on defense, constantly sending double teams and pushing the opponent's deep out onto the perimeter. Nothing forces a team out of its offense more than having to start it 40 feet from the basket.

"There are a lot of things that we can do [based on our defense]," Kohler said. "Depending on the team we play, different things bother different teams. That's really a strength of this team, that we can adjust, and we can usually find the one thing that is really going to bother our opponent."

The Cardinals' defense leads to a lot of offense on the fast break. But they don't need to create a turnover to push the ball. Alexandria runs up the court at all times. Even off of made baskets by the opposition, the Cardinals are going to get up the court in a hurry. 

They did so with ease against Detroit Lakes on Monday night. Gracie Bruzek is usually the catalyst of that. She finished with 12 assists against the Lakers, throwing over the top of the defense on many occasions to set up easy layups for her teammates.

Establishing that style of play is really important for the Cardinals. There aren't a lot of teams that can keep up with them if they dictate the tempo.

The key to stopping Alexandria will be forcing them into a half-court game. Kohler knows that is one thing her team has to improve on come tournament time. The Cardinals tend to rush things when they are forced to play in the half court.

"I think we need to really get to the boards hard and keep executing in the half court," she said. "Sometimes we're a little impatient when we have to set up in the half court. But I've seen a lot of improvement on that. Starting in the Bemidji game and then tonight, we were able to execute and get some good looks."

It is fixing those little things that could go a long way toward determining how far this team goes after the regular season.

Posted by: Eric Morken on 2/16/2010 at 2:03 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Cardinal girls ready for Willmar, McCoy, Peper make state

The Cardinal girls' basketball team will play their biggest game of the season to this point when it travels to Willmar tomorrow to take on one of its biggest rivals in the Central Lakes Conference.

Alexandria lost by two to Willmar at Jefferson High School on January 5. Willmar then slipped up against Brainerd a week later to make things interesting atop the CLC. Both teams come into this game with 11-1 records.

The Cardinals know what they need to do to be successful tomorrow night. Alexandria is at its best when it can create turnovers and get up and down the court. Willmar, on the other hand, has a front line that features three girls who are 6'0" or taller down low.

Whichever team can establish its preferred style of play should have the advantage. Alexandria has been able to create a high number of turnovers all season. The Cardinals will need to do that again tomorrow night.

"That's really important," senior guard Angela Christianson said. "And that's what we're good at, too. We're good at the fast break. So that's a key thing that we can do and have an advantage over them. They can't keep up with us, so I think that's the main thing we'll do. Keep pushing it and do what we do."

I talked to both Christianson and fellow senior guard Gracie Bruzek after their win over Sauk Rapids-Rice this past Monday night. Both of them seemed excited about the opportunity that awaits against Willmar.

They know the Central Lakes Conference title will likely come down to Friday night. Whichever team wins will control its own destiny the rest of the way against CLC opponents that they will be expected to beat. Check out the Friday Sports section of the Echo Press to see what Christianson and Bruzek had to say about the match-up.

- The Alexandria Nordic ski will have two skiers represent the Cardinals at the state tournament later this month.

Seniors Sarah Peper and Austin McCoy both qualified for the meet with their performances at the Section 8 meet yesterday. McCoy finished 10th overall with a total time of 34:09, while Peper finished 11th for the girls with a time of 38:49.

Both skiers are captains who have put in a lot of time and effort to get to this point. They both improved their times this season after the Cardinals failed to send anyone to state a season ago.

The two Cardinals skiers will battle the best in Minnesota on February 11 at Giants Ridge in Biwabik.   

Posted by: Eric Morken on 2/04/2010 at 9:25 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink