Inside College Hockey | Frozen Four: No-Go Gare

April 11, 2003
NCAA Frozen Four
No-Go Gare

NCAA Tournament Coverage

By Mike Eidelbes and Joe Gladziszewski

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Of all the things that Lanny Gare has discovered in his hockey career, the lesson he learned on Thursday afternoon was that the coaching profession is not for him.

All hockey coaches were players at some point in their lives, and to a man they'll tell you that the emotions of nervousness, excitement, and anticipation they feel during a big game are magnified in their mentorial role. It's much harder as a coach than as a player.

Gare got a first-hand look at that aspect of hockey and decided that it wasn't for him. Thursday was a tremendously emotional afternoon for the senior, who watched his Wildcats play on television in the dressing room. He couldn't bring himself to sit in the arena, and when the coaching staff and players joined him in the room after the win, Gare was in a cold sweat, obviously overcome by the game being played just outside of the dressing room.

There was also a possibility of Gare's playing on Saturday night, but that was just an optimistic take on things. His right shoulder is still too sore to play in the championship, but he did join his Wildcat teammates on Friday for practice, skating in just warm-up pants and a practice sweater, with a baseball cap turned backward.

His impact on the team from an off-ice standpoint is just as important as what he contributes on the left wing.

"He'll put all of his energies into the locker room and leadership off the ice," UNH coach Dick Umile said. "It will be an important part for the guys."

Minnesota head coach Don Lucia listens to a question at Friday's press conference at HSBC Arena.

FOR (FRESH)MEN ONLY

It's a line Don Lucia has uttered on a number of occasions during the course of his coaching career: For men only.

No, the Minnesota coach isn't trying to incite a Martha Burk-led protest at the Fleet Center next April. He's just trying to convey the fact that NCAA tournament play isn't for the faint of heart. Still, it's an interesting statement coming from a guy who relies night in and night out on five freshman and a goalie who played sparingly during his rookie season. Ask the team's rookies, however, and they'll tell you they know exactly what their coach is talking about.

"We know what he means," said freshman forward Thomas Vanek, who scored the overtime winner in his team's Frozen Four semifinal victory against Michigan and added an assist on Troy Riddle's second-period tally. "We didn't come here as little boys. Just not be scared and play our game like we did all year."

Because of the graduations of key seniors such as Jordan Leopold, John Pohl and Adam Hauser and the loss of Jeff Taffe to the professional ranks over the summer, the Gophers knew they'd have to get contributions from the freshman class to stay in the NCAA title hunt. That learning curve accelerated when veterans such as Grant Potulny, Jon Waibel and Barry Tallackson got hurt early in the season.

"We all got a lot of playing time at the beginning of the year because of injuries," Guyer said, "so we've been able to mature a little quicker than normal."

Thursday's semifinal was a microcosm of the importance of the freshmen to the team's success. In addition to Vanek's production, Gino Guyer got the game-tying goal in the third period of Thursday's game on a play started by rookie blueliner Chris Harrington. At least some of the freshman class' poise can be attributed to the fact that they've played in big games before enrolling at the "U".

"We have guys that have played at the midget national championships, the Minnesota state high school tournaments, the USHL Clark Cup finals," Guyer explained. "We have guys who have been there before and kind of know what it's about."

FRIDAY FUN

A recurring theme throughout the practice session on Friday was the fun that the players were having on an off-day between games. The nuts and bolts of practice focused on a little bit of work on forechecking and breakout transition, before a cool-down stretch and entertaining breakaway contest. The breakaway contest is something that the New Hampshire team started doing this season on Thursdays or Fridays before a game.

The contest determines only one loser. The last person to score on Jeff Pietrasiak has to pick up the pucks.

With the scoreboard clock ticking down on the end of practice, two contestants still hadn't scored. One wasn't much of a surprise, that was assistant coach Scott Borek, and the other was Colin Hemingway, who scored just as the buzzer sounded and left the coach to gather the biscuits.

Borek bragged to some friends after practice that it was the first time he's lost the contest, but Preston Callander said it might have been a case of selective memory.

"I think coach might be embellishing that a little bit," Callander said. "Maybe his record isn't quite as good as he says."

"That's bull----," Borek emphatically replied. "Preston said that? I'll have to talk to him. He's one of the guys who always scores early, so he never sticks around for the end of the practice."

"Pietrisiak usually gives me a little something, but today he didn't help me out," Borek also noted.

During the regular season Jim Abbott, Josh Prudden, and Sean Collins, were regulars in puck clean-up detail.

OLD SCHOOL

Vanek piqued the interest of reporters after practice Friday, wearing a cap with "Vanek Hockey School" emblazoned across the front.

The forward explained his father, who played professionally in Czechoslovakia and Austria and is now a junior coach in the latter country, runs a hockey camp during the first two weeks of August every year. Vanek works at the school, as do his brothers and mother.

When asked if the Gophers' run to the championship game would boost enrollment figures this summer, Vanek replied, "Let's hope so."

SEEN AND HEARD AT HSBC ARENA

• Wildcat fourth-liner Tim Horst dabbled in the media business on Friday. For a spoof with WMUR-TV in Manchester, N.H., Horst took the microphone and cameraman and interrupted a small group of reporters that were interviewing head coach Dick Umile.

"I'm here with coach Dick Umile, and coach, the people want to know why you don't play the fourth line more often?" Horst inquired.

"Well, Tim, if you saw how some of those guys skate, I think you would understand," was Umile's witty response.

• Mike Ayers set another goaltending record on Friday afternoon, on a personal level. Ayers, named a second-team All-American by Inside College Hockey earlier this week, entertained fans with a balancing act. He rested the butt end of his goaltending stick on his chin, with the rest of the stick pointing straight up at the scoreboard in the HSBC Arena.

As the stick perilously balanced, Ayers extended his neck to push the stick up and down. He managed 15 lifts of the stick without it falling. The display was encouraged by assistant coach Tim Churchard.

"Church asked me to do it. I think he was trying to take my mind off of things and maybe loosen me up a little bit," Ayers said. "I got 15, which was a record. I like to see how many I can do. The best one before this was eight."

• One distinct advantage of playing the early semifinal is the chance to scout things out in the later game. New Hampshire's coaching staff didn't organize a team meeting or event for them to follow. Instead, players were able to do what they wanted.

"Some people came and watched it live, some people stayed in the hotel and watched it. Everybody was kind of doing their own thing," Nathan Martz said. "I personally watched it back in the hotel room. I was pretty tired after the game and kind of just laid down."

• At the end of his Friday afternoon press conference, Don Lucia expressed admiration for his counterpart in Saturday's championship game, New Hampshire's Dick Umile.

"If we weren't playing in the game, I'd probably be rooting for New Hampshire," Lucia said. "They're a program that definitely deserves to win a national championship. Just not this year."

• Lucia assessed the stakes attached to the championship game by using the visual image of post-game merchandise.

"There's two boxes of shirts and hats back there and one says UNH and one says Minnesota. One will get broken out (after the game) and one will get shredded."

• How good was last night for Minnesota hockey fans? Probably as bad as it was for fans from Michigan. Not only did the Gophers advance to the NCAA title game for the second straight season by beating Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinals, but the NHL's Wild won its first Stanley Cup playoff game in franchise history, topping Colorado to take a 1-0 lead in a best-of-seven, first-round series. Meanwhile, in Detroit, the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings were upset by visiting Anaheim in game one of another first-round series, losing on Paul Kariya goal in the third overtime.

• Reason no. 4,325 why college hockey is great: On the ice for Minnesota's Friday skate were Lucia's oldest son, Tony, and two of associate head coach Mike Guentzel's three sons. The Guentzels even participated in the Gophers' breakaway drill at the end of the hour-long session.