Ken Olson - Superior Telegram 1/26/2009

Heavy Metal Hockey went a perfect 8-0 to win the 5th annual Great Lakes Classic Pond Hockey Championships this weekend at Barker’s Island.

HMH, which is located in Duluth, defeated Superior’s Need a Fifth, 25-19, in the championship game to win in their debut in the tournament.

Members of the winning team were Steve Rodberg and Ryan Vieau of Twig, Minn., Rheese Carlson and Ben Johnson of Duluth and Tony Scherber of Proctor.

“It was tied 17-17, but then we were able to pull away with it,” Vieau said. “We had a lot of fun and it was a great set up, so we definitely plan on coming back (next year).”

Heavy Metal Hockey went 5-0 in round-robin play, then defeated the Young Gunz, North Stars and Need a Fifth on its way to the title.

Members of the Need a Fifth team are Tim Nelson, Jay and Chad Matushak, Rob Downs and Clayton Weiby.

Need a Fifth is no stranger to the Championships, having won the first event, finishing runner-up another year and losing last year’s semifinals.

Players on each team were also familiar with each other. Rodberg, Vieau and Carlson all played with Chad Matushak for the University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjackets.

Jay Matushak played his college hockey at Notre Dame and Nelson played at UW-Eau Claire.

“I saw a flyer at a gas station, brought it to the office and when Lakehead Painting, Kari Toyota and Heavy Metal Hockey said they would sponsor us, we started putting a team together,” Vieau said.

Vieau works at Lakehead Painting, Carlson works at Kari Toyota, Johnson owns HMH and Rodberg is finishing up his education at UWS.

The only loss HMH suffered all weekend was the loss of Scherber, who suffered frost bite on his feet Friday night.

“He actually didn’t play our first game because he was working,” Vieau said. “When he showed up for the second game, his feet were already cold from working on his construction job, and he ended up going to the emergency room for frost bite on his feet.

“The doctor told him no more hockey this season and no working in cold weather for a while.”

Despite the negative temperatures, the tournament went off as planned. The only change made was moving the mini mite tournament indoors to the Superior Ice Arena.

“Considering the weather we had to put with this year, it was a great success,” Championship organizer Mike McCoshen said. “It never got above zero most of the weekend and temperatures were 30-40 below with wind chill at times, but nobody complained.

“All the teams showed up to play, all the people showed up to work, so things went very well.”

Other champions on the weekend included Duluth’s Rusty Five winning the Over 40 division and Superior’s Don Leigh’s Ladies winning the Women’s Division.

The Rusty Five went 4-0-1 on the weekend and defeated last year’s Over 40 winners, Too Old and Cold, in the championship game. The two teams tied 13-13 in round-robin play.

Members of the Rusty Five are Gary Gilbertson, Joel Heikes, Dane Youngblom, Russ Williams and Superior’s Mike Hinaus. All are Duluth firemen, except Russ Williams.

“We had a great time,” said Hinaus. “It was a warm, balmy 30 below all weekend. Just kidding. Except for the weather, we had a great time.”

Members of the Don Leigh’s Ladies team were Superior’s Jill Thompson, Terri Fair, Stephanie Keup, Erica VanDamme and DeeDee Kolanczyk.

Finishing second among the women was the Twin Cities’ Freeze (Jolene Erola, Kathy Amborn, Melissa Blaylock and Jackie Jabs). Coming in third was the Dugout Lounge (Gwen Grills, Leah Raboin, Trisha Mueller, Brianne Nelson and Tina Mergen).

“We only had three teams in the women’s division but elected to run the tournament anyhow,” McCoshen said. “They had a great time and all said they’d be back next year.”

McCoshen and other organizers are already looking ahead to next year.

“One of our goals is to increase spectator participation,” McCoshen said. “We’re going to do more things in the tent. This year we had music in the tent Friday night and it was a great success. We’re already talking about providing live music on Saturday afternoon next year.

“Another goal is to increase the number of teams, especially in the women’s division.”

The event, which included a party Saturday night at Barker’s Island Inn, also raised $450 and a barrel full of food for the local food shelf.

2009 Great Lakes

Pond Hockey Championships

Jan. 23-25 at Barker’s Island

Men’s Pool Winners

HMH, 1st Bank of Barnum (Kyle, Dennis, Andrew, Patrick and Shawn Genereau), Duluth’s North Stars (Peter Sandelin, Dan Olson, Dan Krunkala, Josh Birchill and Jeremy Ziac), Superior’s Thin Ice (Jon Austin and Doug, Darren, Trent and Ryan Clarke) and Need a Fifth.

Wild Card Teams

Superior-based Gopher Rejects (Justin Johnson, Ben Delwiche, Chris Green, Drew Liebaert and Steve Murray), Superior’s Young Gunz (Chris Bachinski, Jake Williams, Luke Mertz and Ryan Smith) and Lost Tavern (Joe Carlson, Mike Ellena, Travis Denzel, Mike Morrin and Travis Fast).

Men’s Quarterfinals

Heavy Metal 24, Young Gunz 14

North Stars 18, Thin Ice 13

Need a Fifth 17, Lost Tavern 7

Gopher Rejects 26, 1st Bank of Barnum 8

Semifinals

Heavy Metal Hockey 21, North Stars 15

Need a Fifth 18, Gopher Rejects 9

Championship

Heavy Metal Hockey 25, Need a Fifth 19

Over 40 Championship

Rusty Five def. Too Old and Cold

Hockey Mom’s

1. Don Leigh’s Ladies; 2. Freeze; 3. Dugout Lounge.

 

 Emily Kram

Superior Telegram - 1/22/2009

 

They call themselves the SAHA Hockey Moms, but you won’t find these women on the sidelines.

Ranging in age from their mid-30s to late 40s, the group of 16 women has been meeting regularly for about a year to practice hockey skills. They have faced challenges along the way, but the women think they’re finally getting a feel for the sport.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we have to stop saying sorry when we hit someone ... at least to the other team,” said Gwen Grills one of the Hockey Moms. “We play very polite hockey.”

Today, 10 of the women in the local group will be playing against each other in the Great Lakes Classic Pond Hockey Championship at Barker’s Island.

The outdoor hockey tournament celebrates its fifth anniversary this year with a few changes from past events. Being introduced this year are two new divisions: a mini-mite division for children and a women’s division. Eight teams have signed-up to play in the children’s division, and three women’s groups will compete. Mike McCoshen, an organizer for the event, said he had hoped to have a women’s division last year, but the category was dropped when only one team signed up.

In all, 47 team have signed up to compete in four different divisions. The open division has the most entrants with 30. Five teams are also scheduled to play in the Over 40 category.

Play begins at 6 p.m. tonight at Barker’s Island and will continue until the championship games Sunday.

For the past few years, the number of Canadian participants in the tournament had been growing, but this year none of our neighbors from the north are making the trip to Superior. McCoshen thought perhaps the Thunder Bay teams had more opportunities to play in Canada this year. He hoped their absence in 2009 is just a one-year trend.

The Hockey Moms, on the other hand, are hoping to begin a new trend. They want people to know that the pond hockey tournament, and hockey as a whole, is a sport for women too.

Jill Thompson originated the idea for the Superior women’s hockey group when her sister invited her to a tournament for breast cancer awareness in Blaine, Minn., last year. She thought it would be fun to get some women together to play, and this year the Hockey Moms plan to play in the Blaine tournament at the end of April.

“I was actually surprised how much some of the ladies liked it once they tried it one or two times,” Thompson said.

Grills grew up playing broom ball, so she had some experience on the ice. When she decided to pick up hockey last year, her biggest adjustment was the skates. Mastering the basics of hockey skating was actually one of the greatest challenges for all of the women.

“There were some women who had never skated before,” Thompson said. “Most had experience on figure skates but never hockey skates.”

“To this day we still have stopping drills and cross-over drills,” Grills said.

The drills help the Hockey Moms develop their skills while also giving the women some insights.

Nearly all of the players in the Hockey Moms have children who currently play hockey or have played in the past. After a hard day of practice, Grills says she can now appreciate what her daughter means when she complains about a tough workout.

“Most of the kids think (our playing) is OK,” Thompson said. “They do laugh sometimes.”

The Hockey Moms laugh at themselves too, though. The group cares more about having fun than winning, and so far Grills says playing has been a blast.

“I’m the sucker who volunteered to play goalie,” Grills said. “Actually, I was the only one who volunteered.”

Grills will play for the Dugout Lounge team during the pond hockey games, but she won’t be in goal — no goalies are allowed to guard the 10-inch high net used in the 4-on-4 game.

Other members of the Dugout team are Tina Mergen, Trish Mueller, Leah Raboin and Brianne Nelson. Making up the other local team, Don Leigh’s Ladies, are Thompson, Stephanie Keup, Erica VanDamme, DeeDee Kolancyzk and Terri Fair (Owatonna, Minn.)

The third women’s team, Freeze, is the unknown for the Superior women, but Thompson knows Don Leigh’s Ladies and Dugout will be ready to go.

“I think that most of us are naturally competitive,” she said. “It should be a good game.”