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Emotionally tough time
In her first season as coach of the Minnesota ice hockey team, Laura Halldorson led the Golden Gophers to a fourth-place finish at the 1998 national championship. And in 2000, Halldorson led Minnesota to a 30-6-1 record and the national championship title. Halldorson's diary appeared on CNNSI.com throughout the 2001 season.
March 19, 2001
It's over. What a disappointing end to our season. Even though we were the WCHA regular season champions, we were not selected as one of the four teams for the inaugural NCAA championship. The trouble came last weekend (March 9-10) when we failed to win either of our WCHA play-off games. It's been an emotionally tough time since my last entry. We traveled to Rochester, Minnesota, for our league tournament on Wednesday, March 7. Our WCHA banquet took place that night, and our team won several awards. Defenseman Courtney Kennedy and goalie Erica Killewald were named first team All-WCHA, while forwards Ambria Thomas and La Toya Clarke made the second team. Courtney also won Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, which were both tremendous accomplishments. I was given the Co-Coach of the Year (even though I did not feel deserving of the award). Since we were the top seed as the league champion, we just practiced on Thursday, while the other teams had games. Duluth beat Mankato; Wisconsin beat Bemidji; and Ohio State beat St. Cloud State. So we faced Ohio State on Friday night. The Buckeyes played very hard. They also played together very well. They did a good job, defensively, and after a period the shots on goal were 5-3 in favor of us. The problem was that we were losing 1-0 on a goal that was scored from a bad angle. Normally, our goalie doesn't let a shot like that go in. Well, the second period was similar to the first. Ohio State scored another goal, and their lead became 2-0. So going into the third period, we were really feeling the pressure. We dominated the third - outshooting OSU 17-4 - yet losing the period 2-0 (including an open net goal). We had several outstanding chances and couldn't bury the puck. We lost the game 4-0. It was heartbreaking. In the other semi-final game earlier that night, Duluth beat Wisconsin in overtime. That was a great game. It meant we would play Wisconsin in the third place game on Saturday. I'm not a big fan of third place games because it seems like all of your momentum and enthusiasm goes away after your first loss in a tournament. However, in order to have a shot at the NCAA Frozen Four, we HAD TO beat Wisconsin. We kept watching the computerized Pairwise Ranking that we knew would be a big factor in picking the top four teams. We went to Rochester in third place on the Pairwise. After losing to Ohio State we dropped to fifth. The Wisconsin game was crucial. We played very well in the first period and got a goal from Nadine Muzerall to lead 1-0. We outshot the Badgers 13-5. The second period was all about power plays, as both teams traded power play goals twice - two by Wisconsin and two by La Toya Clarke. That third goal or ours came with 39 seconds left in the period, and at that point, we were in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, the game slipped away from us in the third. We led 3-2 going into the period, but gave up two even strength goals to lose the game 4-3. I gave Wisconsin a lot of credit for getting stronger as the game went on and for playing with a lot of intensity and emotion at the end. I wish we could have found a little more of those ingredients. We had them last year, but we really struggled to play consistently throughout this season. I had heard so many people say that it is harder to repeat as champions than it is to win it the first time. Now I know what they meant. Looking back, I have come up with three things that I think were differences this year. First of all, everyone brought their "A" game to play the defending national champions. We saw our opponents at their best. Second, maybe we basked in our own glory a little too long. We might have thought that our talent was going to take us places instead of remembering how hard we had to work to win last year. Lastly, while we were reminiscing about last year's success, all of our opponents also got a lot better. Our league was much stronger this year than it was last season. When you combine all three of these factors, it is no wonder that we didn't win as many games this year. After the Wisconsin loss, there was a lot of emotion in our locker room. We felt that our season was over. The ten seniors did not want it to end like this. We ate dinner and then came back to the rink to watch Duluth beat Ohio State 3-0 for the tournament championship. Then we had the bus ride home. Before we got off the bus I said a few words to the team. I said it was, obviously, a disappointing weekend and that our future was in jeopardy. I also told them to keep things in perspective. We had a great season - we won our league title. In the big picture, when they're old and gray, they will remember some of the games and outcomes, but more than that they will remember the friendships and the fun times. Our players are wonderful people who get along well. Maybe we didn't have that intense drive and determination we had at the end of last year. What we did have, though, was a close group who had fun together and made each other laugh. I enjoyed their company. I also got a little emotional when I addressed our seniors. I said, "As much as you guys make me mad sometimes, I love you all I thank you for four years of hard work. I will really miss you next year." They probably hadn't seen me with tears in my eyes before because I usually try not to get too emotional. This was an exception. These players were here from the start of the program, and it truly will not be the same without them. We practiced on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday of the following week - knowing that there was an outside chance we could be selected. The ECAC tournament had another round of games the following weekend, so we waited for those results. Not only did we skate, we promoted the Frozen Four tournament at the Mall of America on Friday and Saturday. There was a big display with a giant inflatable Goldy Gopher and a "shoot out" for kids to shoot pucks for prizes. Half the team went each day. Last night (Sunday March 18th) we got together to watch the NCAA announcement of teams, which was broadcast on the Internet. There was a nervous feeling in the room, but one of optimism because Brown and St. Lawrence had lost out East. We had moved up to fifth in the Pairwise Ranking, and we were hoping that our league title might count for something. When it was announced that Dartmouth would be playing St. Lawrence, we knew that we were out and the room became deathly silent. As we watched the remainder of the 15-minute show in silence, most players held their heads in their hands - shocked and disappointed that our season was officially over. It has been a fun four years with our seniors. (Courtney was here for three, officially, because she transferred in her sophomore year.) They took a risk in coming to a brand new program - a program that was without players, without a league, and without an identity. They helped "put us on the map" in women's hockey and build us into a national champion in three short seasons. They had to figure things out without the guidance and benefit of upper classmen ahead of them. This year we had our share of adversity. One of our best players, Winny Brodt, left to train with the national team in the fall. Freshman standout Bethany Petersen suffered a serious concussion against Dartmouth in December and missed the remainder of the season. Our goalie coach left in November and went back to school. This is life, though. Life isn't always easy and life isn't always fair. Hopefully, they will remember the good times and learn from the hard times. My wish for them is to take their experiences from our team and make an impact in people's lives. Make a difference somewhere. Be positive and work hard. These are the lessons I hope they received as a member of Gopher Women's Hockey. My thanks to Angela Borek, Emily Buchholz, Courtney Kennedy, Erica Killewald, Betsey Kukowski, Megan Milbert, Nadine Muzerall, Kelly Olson, Kris Scholz, and Ambria Thomas. You have definitely left your mark. Thank you.
-- Coach Halldorson
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