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2005 U.S. National Junior Team Tops North Dakota, 3-0,
Begins Exhibition Play in World Junior Championship
U.S. Captain Ryan Suter netted
Team USA’s first goal with 3:09 remaining in the first period.
December 19, 2004
Courtesy of USAHOCKEY.COM
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Team USA opened its 2005 World Junior Championship exhibition schedule with a 3-0 shutout win over the University of North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena here this afternoon.
The United States’ top line of Patrick O’Sullivan (Winston-Salem, N.C./Mississauga Ice Dogs), Drew Stafford (Faribault, Minn./Univ. of North Dakota) and Ryan Callahan (Rochester, N.Y./Guelph Storm) accounted for five points, while U.S. goaltenders Al Montoya (Glenview, Ill./ Univ. of Michigan) and Cory Schneider (Marblehead, Mass./Boston College) made a combined 22 saves in the win.
The defending IIHF World Junior Champion United States broke a scoreless tie with 3:09 remaining in the first period on a Ryan Suter (Madison, Wis./Milwaukee Admirals) shot from the slot. Suter, who was recently named the U.S. captain along with alternates O'Sullivan and Dan Fritsche (Parma, Ohio/Sarnia Sting), beat Jake Brandt to the goaltender’s right side on Team USA’s sixth shot of the game.
North Dakota outshot the United States, 10-6, in the second period, but was outscored, 2-0, with T.J. Hensick (Howell, Mich./Univ. of Michigan) and O’Sullivan providing the offense. Hensick converted a Fritsche pass while alone in the slot at 18:27 of the second, while O’Sullivan knocked a loose puck in at the 8:42 mark to close Sunday's scoring.
U.S. forward Drew Stafford collects two assists against his Fighting Sioux teammates.
Montoya, the NCAA leader in minutes played this season, recorded the win with a 15-save effort. O’Sullivan (goal, assist) and Stafford (two assists) picked up two points to lead the United States, and Stafford led the team in shots with three.
Team USA plays one more exhibition game, Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. CST in Thief River Falls, Minn., where it will face Germany. The 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship opens in earnest on Dec. 25 and will be played at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks and Ralph Engelstad Arena in Thief River Falls from Dec. 25, 2004-Jan. 4, 2005.
USA 1 2 0 -- 3
UND 0 0 0 -- 0
First Period
Scoring: 1, USA, Suter (O’Sullivan, Stafford), 3:09. Penalties: Likens, USA (roughing), 14:38; Weller, USA (holding), 9:20; Fylling, UND (slashing), 8:09; Fuher, UND (tripping), 2:08.
Second Period
Scoring: 2, USA, Hensick (Fritsche), 18:27; 3, USA, O’Sullivan (Stafford, Callahan), 8:20. Penalties: Goligoski, USA (holding), 15:47; Likens, USA (illegal equipment), 13:20; Dowell, USA (tripping), 11:08; Hagemo, USA (holding), 3:45; Genoway, UND (slashing), 0:00.
Third Period
Scoring: None. Penalties: Genoway, UND (tripping), 14:03; Schneider, UND (holding), 12:48; Radke, UND (cross checking), 4:24.
Shots: USA: 7-6-9 -- 22. UND: 6-10-7 -- 23.
Goaltenders: USA: Montoya (15 shots, 15 saves); Schneider at 9:29 of the second period (8 shots, 8 saves). UND: Brandt (10 shots, 8 saves), Lamoureux, at 9:29 of the second period (12 shots, 1 save).
Officials: Rick Looker (referee), Robert Ludwig (assist. referee), Kile Bergen (assist. referee)
Attendance: 9,924.
***2005 IIHF World Junior Championship***
OH CANADA, OUR HOME AND NATIVE LAND.........
Who will win? Check the latest poll -- and to vote:
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/special_packages/world_juniors/
Who will win the World Junior Championship?
Belarus 7 votes (4%)
Canada 84 votes (51%)
Czech Republic 1 votes (1%)
Finland 1 votes (1%)
Germany 1 votes (1%)
Russia 1 votes (1%)
Slovakia 0 votes (0%)
Sweden 2 votes (1%)
Switzerland 3 votes (2%)
United States 64 votes (39%)
164 people have voted so far
Midwestern community prepared to roll out red carpet for '05 WJC
By Brenda Haugen
Special to usahockey.com
Grand Forks, N.D., plans to welcome checks -- Czechs, too -- during the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship, which takes place Dec. 25, 2004-Jan. 4, 2005 at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
Actually, the community of about 52,000 will welcome 10 teams composed of the best hockey players in the world under 20 years of age. The financial impact for Grand Forks, though, can’t be underestimated. (A second facility in Thief River Falls, Minn., also named Ralph Engelstad Arena, will also host tournament games, and can be reached by car in about an hour.)
“It certainly is a tremendous opportunity for our community,” said Grand Forks Mayor Michael Brown.
According to Tanya Kuntz, the World Junior Championship event manager, a study by Grand Forks’ Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) conservatively estimates the tournament will generate about $29 million in the community.
Retailers are gearing up for the event and welcoming visitors by offering everything from sweatshirts to hockey jerseys to pucks with each country’s name and emblem emblazed on them. Some retailers and restaurants are also planning to extend their hours and remain open during the holidays in an effort to cater to the visiting hockey fans, according to Sandy Dobmeier of the CVB.
“There is excitement, definitely,” she said.
As of early November, the CVB is busy getting welcome signs and banners ready to greet the teams and their fans. It also is sending out visitor packets to those requesting more information about what the community has to offer.
Dobmeier said hotel rooms remain available and the CVB is keeping a close eye on the situation. More information about places to stay during the tournament can be found by calling the CVB at 1-800-866-4566. The Ralph Engelstad Arena website (www.theralph.com) also has information on everything from ticket availability to members of the community who are willing to rent out their homes to visitors.
According to Kuntz, ticket sales for the event have been brisk, starting just months after the community learned it was chosen to host the World Juniors. About 4,400 ticket packages were sold through March 2003, and, at last count, only about 400 tickets remained for the gold medal game, though about 1,500 upper-bowl tickets are available for most other games. Some lower bowl 21-game packages remain as well, but they are disappearing, too.
“We really want to see all the seats filled," Kuntz said of the remaining open seats.
Total attendance at the tournament is expected to number around 250,000. Among those in the seats will be approximately 300 NHL Scouts and more than 150 members of the media, the majority of which will be coming from Canada.
Kuntz said she’s still recruiting volunteers for the tournament, all of whom must be at least 16-years-old and willing to commit to 25 hours of work.
“We’re definitely looking for quality people,” she said. “That’s a big job.”
She’s also pushing to get more information on the event out to the Grand Forks community, with the help of the CVB.
“We’re certainly full-steam ahead,” Kuntz said. “We’re not just waiting for it to come.”
In fact, gearing up for the World Juniors has served as a way for people living and working in Grand Forks to get to know their community better, Dobmeier said.
“Sometimes you don’t know what’s right out your back door,” she said.
The CVB will conduct tours for frontline staff, including hotel and restaurant personnel, later this month. Interest in the tours is so intense, the CVB expanded from two planned tours in one day, to two tours on both Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. The goal is for tour participants to share information on city amenities and activities to people visiting not only during the tournament, but throughout the year.
And there will be no shortage of activities to keep hockey fans entertained between and after games. In the Betty Engelstad Arena, which is connected to “The Ralph,” Fan Jam will offer a wide variety of fun, from interactive games and cultural presentations to celebrity appearances and live music.
“We are looking at cultural entertainment every day,” said Cheri Reitmeier, chairperson of Community Events. “Every day, it’s just so exciting to be involved. And it’s going to be just great hockey.”
Those venturing out into the community will find more cultural events to enjoy. According to Reitmeier, the Lions Club’s annual Festival of Lights will have an international flavor this year, along with extended dates and hours. The event is held in Grand Forks’ Lincoln Park, an area once dotted with homes that were demolished following a tragic flood in 1997 that covered the community.
Downtown, local theaters will be hosting events ranging from a musical series to a special production of A Streetcar Named Desire.
“The city has really adopted [the World Junior], as well,” Reitmeier said.
On New Year’s Eve, Grand Forks celebrates First Night. The 11th annual event is held in various venues downtown and is geared toward families. For the price of a $7 button, people can take in as much music, art, cultural activity and other entertainment as they desire. Ice sculptures will also grace the area this year, Reitmeier added.
Mayor Brown said the World Juniors offers Grand Forks the opportunity to show the world the hospitality of the Midwest. It also opens the door for possible business opportunities, and offers a chance to share the educational advantages found at the University of North Dakota.
“It certainly is an opportunity to showcase our community,” he said.
The city of Grand Forks is doing its share to help make sure the event runs smoothly by giving $200,000 toward the tournament costs. This money will be used to increase busing service during the tournament and for added law enforcement.
The 2005 WJC really will become a regional event, thanks to the second venue in Thief River Falls and exhibition games slated for nearby North Dakota and Minnesota communities. Kuntz said she hopes these communities will adopt the teams they see in exhibition games and follow them throughout the tournament.
Mayor Brown expressed his excitement to see Team USA play Canada, an already heated rivalry that led to last year's dramatic, and historic, come-from-behind U.S. win.
“It’s gonna be a grudge match,” Brown said. “And [Grand Forks] wins, no matter who wins.”
Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.
http://www.usahockey.com/usa_hockey/international/main/home/0405rl_forks_111004///
WORLD JUNIORS: First teams arrive
Posted on Thu, Dec. 16, 2004
Herald Staff Report
GrandForksHerald
The first teams arrived Wednesday for hockey's World Junior Championship.
Slovakia flew into Grand Forks on Wednesday afternoon, and the Czech Republic flew into the Twin Cities on Wednesday and planned to drive to Grand Forks.
Both teams hit the ice for practice today for the tournament, which will run Dec. 25 through Jan. 4 in Grand Forks and Thief River Falls.
Slovakia is practicing today in Thief River Falls and the Czech Republic at Gambucci Arena in Grand Forks.
The U.S. team begins practice Friday morning. Canada's first practice in Grand Forks will be a week from Friday.
The Ralph announces entertainment
Music and sports entertainment events will accompany the tournament daily beginning Christmas Day, Ralph Engelstad Arena announced Wednesday.
The "FANtastic" festival will be free and open to the public in the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center. It will include photo opportunities with the Stanley Cup, autograph sessions with National Hockey League players, area bands, games for children and gambling and alcohol service for adults.
Festival doors will open two hours before the first game each day and close at midnight.
Music will start after the final game each day. Acts include the Johnny Holm Band, Tim Mahoney, 32 Below, Martin Zellar and The Roosters.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/10427588.htm
World Championship Tournament of Junior Hockey.....
- - - - - The Little Rink on the Prairie in North Dakota - - - - -
Mike Mohaupt for The New York Times
The Ralph Engelstad Arena is a $100 million hockey rink that is the home
of the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.
NYTimes
November 5, 2004
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - When the Red River rose and flowed across the flat land seven years ago, people fled and viewed the flood damage on television from miles away. They saw rooftops surrounded by rising water and downtown buildings burning. "Come hell or high water," said the headline. Who knew what would replace the devastation?
Today, among the new buildings and the new dikes, there stands an incongruous jewel of an ice box called the Ralph Engelstad Arena, a three-year-old hockey rink that is the home of the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux, a perennial power of American college hockey.
When the world championship tournament of junior hockey begins here on Christmas Day, The Ralph, as it is known, will temporarily become the center of the sport's universe in this season of the National Hockey League lockout.
It could dazzle the international tourists and television audience.
"This is the Taj Mahal," said Thomas Clifford, the university's former president, who helped secure a donation of more than $100 million from the arena's namesake, a former North Dakota player, to build it. "They don't come any better."
The building, the college team, the prestigious international tournament and the hockey-rich environment suggest hockey's robust underpinning, despite its disarray at the major professional level. Children, middle-aged adults and even senior citizens play the game in this city of about 49,000. High school hockey thrives and a top junior league has its headquarters here, with teams spread across the Midwest.
The Engelstad Arena is one of 9 indoor and 14 outdoor rinks in the metropolitan area, which includes East Grand Forks, Minn., a town of about 8,000 that is across the Red River. North Dakota, which has won seven National Collegiate Athletic Association championships, regularly sends players to the N.H.L. The current roster of 25 players includes 10 N.H.L. draft choices, including two from the first round, two from the second and one from the third.
The Fighting Sioux - the name has been vocally criticized by American Indians and others as insensitive - are recruiting local players like Jake Marto, a senior defenseman for Grand Forks Central High School, whose father, Perry Marto, has played for 20 years in a recreational league.
"Hockey is the No. 1 winter sport here by far," Perry Marto said. "The kids all look up to those guys at U.N.D." Marto started flooding his yard when his son was 4 years old. "Him and his little buddies would skate every day," he said. "We even put a sign up: 'Marto Arena.' '
Marto watched from a balcony on a recent Sunday afternoon as his son scrimmaged with friends who had rented the indoor ice at the Eagles Arena, one of the other indoor rinks in town. He said Jake might delay college to play for a season in the United States Hockey League, a Tier I junior circuit whose headquarters is in Grand Forks.
The junior league includes teams in cities like Sioux City, Iowa, and Sioux Falls, S.D. It was once a professional minor league; Gordie Howe played in the league for Omaha in 1945-46 when he was 17. Like many hockey elements here, the league is intertwined in the region's culture.
Gino Gasparini, the league's president, is a former North Dakota coach; several current Fighting Sioux players came from the league. "Junior hockey is a lot more prevalent in the Midwest than it is in the East," Gasparini said. "We'll do over 100 Division I scholarships a year. We average close to 3,000 fans per game."
The league's Prospects All-Star Game will be held on Feb. 8 at The Ralph. Both the junior league and the college league offer alternatives to Canada's major junior leagues, which have been the traditional feeder systems for the N.H.L.
North Dakota, which won the N.C.A.A. championship most recently in 2000, has sent to the N.H.L. players like goalie Ed Belfour of Toronto. High over one of the nets in The Ralph are banners from N.H.L. teams with former Fighting Sioux players.
The university has had a hockey team since 1946. One of its early goalies was Engelstad, a native of Thief River Falls, Minn., which is 45 miles east of Grand Forks. Ten of the 31 games of the world junior tournament will be played there in a building also named the Ralph Engelstad Arena, a smaller version of the Grand Forks rink. It, too, was built with Engelstad's philanthropy.
Engelstad, who died two years ago, played two seasons for the Fighting Sioux, the last of which was in 1949-50, before starting a construction business and moving to Las Vegas, where he eventually owned a casino, the Imperial Palace. He is remembered by friends and foes as generous and imperious.
After pledging the money to build the arena in Grand Forks, Engelstad became upset when American Indians and others tried to change the team's nickname. In a letter to Charles E. Kupchella, the university president, Engelstad threatened to stop construction and let the harsh weather of North Dakota destroy the partly built arena.
"I will take my lumps and walk away," Engelstad wrote to Kupchella. "It is a good thing that you are an educator because you are a man of indecision and if you were a businessman, you would not succeed.'
Engelstad also wrote that his letter should not be considered a threat. "It is only notification to you of exactly what I am going to do if you change this logo and this slogan," he wrote.
Engelstad had already been known for his eccentricities. In Las Vegas, he was host to parties on Hitler's birthday and collected Nazi memorabilia. Engelstad won the nickname struggle, and the building went up according to his wishes.
It has perfect sight lines, marble floors, 48 luxury boxes and 11,400 leather chairs. In a town surrounded by farmland, about 150 miles south of Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Ralph offers amenities to impress the most spoiled sports sophisticates from New York or Los Angeles.
Among decorative touches is a monument out front honoring Chief Sitting Bull and 4,000 Indian-head emblems on the floors, walls and furniture. These are among the things that bother the arena's critics, who discussed their feelings in late October at the American Indian Center, which is in an old house less than a half-mile south of the arena.
Gary LaPointe, a senior majoring in entrepreneurship and a member of the Rosebud tribe from South Dakota, called the building "a slap in the face to Sitting Bull," who opposed the United States late in the 19th century.
"If he were here, he'd probably burn it down," LaPointe said.
Merry Ketterling, a Lakota who works as a secretary for the university's Indian Studies department, said it was insensitive to use the Sioux people as a nickname. "We don't want to be dehumanized," she said. "People think Indians are in the past. They think we are all gone. We're still here."
Jim Antes, a professor of psychology, said he was embarrassed to find in his closet apparel with the name Sioux and the Indian logo, which he will no longer wear.
He does not boycott the games, but he walks around the Sioux logo on the floor of the arena and declines to use the word when shouting encouragement to the players. "It's hard to cheer for the team," he said. "You don't know what to yell."
Roger Thomas, North Dakota's athletic director, acknowledged the sentiment against the nickname. But he said change would probably not come from within the university, although St. John's, Stanford and other universities have dispensed with Indian nicknames and logos.
"This would be one of the strongholds," Thomas said with a shrug while standing outside the alumni suite on the arena's luxury box level. "The N.C.A.A. is concerned. Political correctness is part of our world. It might take something at the national level."
Little of this affects the North Dakota players, who come not only from the United States but also from Canada and Europe. Rastislav Spirko, a freshman from Vrutky, Slovakia, said Grand Forks suited him.
"It's a hockey town, a hockey university, hockey is the most important thing here," Spirko said.
Travis Zajac, another Fighting Sioux forward, grew up in Winnipeg. He said he had chosen North Dakota over Canadian junior hockey because "I thought it was the best way to get an education and play hockey at the same time."
He wants to represent Canada in the junior tournament, which is for players under 20 years old. Zajac was chosen last June by the Devils in the first round of the N.H.L. draft. Another Sioux player, Zach Parise, was chosen in the first round the previous year by the Devils.
Parise helped lead the American team to its first world junior championship last winter in Helsinki, Finland. One of his teammates on both the American team and at North Dakota was Drew Stafford, a first-round draft choice of the Buffalo Sabres who is back with the Fighting Sioux this season and will play again for the American junior team.
When Stafford played at Shattuck-St. Mary's, an elite prep school in Minnesota, one of his teammates was Sidney Crosby, a Canadian considered to be the world's best junior player. Crosby, now with Rimouski in the Quebec Major Junior league, will represent Canada in the world tournament at The Ralph in December.
He could be the star of the show. The anticipation over Crosby in hockey has been like that for Bobby Orr in the 1960's, Wayne Gretzky in the 1970's, Mario Lemieux in the 1980's and Eric Lindros in the 1990's. "Canada has been waiting for something like Sid," Stafford said. "He's got that unteachable skill of knowing where to be and how to be there."
Also expected in the tournament is Alexander Ovechkin of Russia, who was chosen first over all in the 2004 N.H.L. draft by Washington and is considered the best European prospect. Because the Americans are the defending champions, and because the N.H.L. is shut down, there is more interest than usual in the junior tournament. Jim Johannson, senior director of hockey operations for USA Hockey, said that some game times had been moved to accommodate ESPN2.
The N.H.L. lockout has also meant that tournament teams have a better choice of talent than in most years. "It helps us," Johannson said of the lockout. "For USA Hockey, it's going to be the best exposure we've ever had at this tournament."
Johannson was among several hockey notables who attended a two-game series between the Fighting Sioux and the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Oct. 22 and 23. Also there were Andy Murray, the coach of the Los Angeles Kings; Darryl Sutter, the Calgary general manager and coach; and Jason Blake, the Islanders forward who is a former Sioux player.
Johannson played for the United States team in the world junior tournaments of the early 1980's in Sweden and the Soviet Union, at a time when, he said, "it was only mom and dad and a bunch of scouts watching." Now, he said, the tournament has become a spectacle and The Ralph represents "the standard for what the under-20 championship has become.'
Smiling and looking out at the capacity crowd in The Ralph, Johannson said, "Who would have thought the world would come to Grand Forks?"
SCHEDULE/RESULTS Date Gm# Time(CENT) Location Matchup PRELIMINARY ROUND Dec. 25 1 3:30 pm Grand Forks SVK 3 - 7 CAN 2 4:00 pm Thief River Falls BLR 2 - 7 CZE 3 7:30 pm Grand Forks RUS 4 - 5 USA 4 7:30 pm Thief River Falls GER 1 - 4 FIN Dec. 26 5 6:00 pm Grand Forks SUI 5 - 0 BLR 6 6:00 pm Thief River Falls SWE 6 - 0 GER Dec. 27 7 3:30 pm Grand Forks CAN 8 - 1 SWE 8 4:00 pm Thief River Falls CZE 1 - 4 RUS 10 7:30 pm Thief River Falls FIN 0 - 2 SVK 9 8:00 pm Grand Forks USA 6 - 4 SUI Dec. 28 11 7:00 pm Grand Forks GER 0 - 9 CAN 12 7:00 pm Thief River Falls RUS 7 - 2 BLR Dec. 29 13 3:30 pm Grand Forks CZE 5 - 2 SUI 14 4:00 pm Thief River Falls FIN 5 - 4 SWE 15 7:30 pm Grand Forks BLR 5 - 3 USA 16 7:30 pm Thief River Falls SVK 5 - 0 GER Dec.30 17 3:30 pm Grand Forks CAN 8 - 1 FIN 18 4:00 pm Thief River Falls SUI 1 - 6 RUS 19 7:30 pm Grand Forks USA 1 - 3 CZE 20 7:30 pm Thief River Falls SWE 3 - 0 SVK . QUARTERFINAL ROUND/RELEGATION Jan. 1 21 12:00 pm Grand Forks GER 0 - 5 SUI 22 3:30 pm Grand Forks FIN 0 - 3 CZE 23 7:30 pm Grand Forks USA 8 - 2 SWE SEMIFINAL ROUND/RELEGATION Jan. 2 24 12:00 pm Grand Forks SVK 2 - 1 BLR 25 3:30 pm Grand Forks CAN 3 - 1 CZE 26 7:30 pm Grand Forks RUS 7 - 2 USA RELEGATION Jan. 3 27 12:00 pm Grand Forks BLR 3 - 4 GER 28 3:30 pm Grand Forks SUI 2 - 3 SVK 29 7:30 pm Grand Forks FIN 4 - 3 SWE MEDAL ROUND Jan. 4 30 3:00 pm Grand Forks (Bronze) FIN 3 - 2 USA 31 7:00 pm Grand Forks Gold) CAN 6 - 1 RUSSee complete schedule for all dates of Tournament The tournament is set for December 25, 2004 through January 4, 2005 Schedule - http://www.forecaster.ca/hockeynews/hockey/extras.cgi?wjc2005-index , http://www.usahockey.com/2005wjc/shcedule/main/schedules/ , http://ralphsworldjr.com/New2/index.php?page=SGtickets Ralph Engelstad Arena Events - http://www.ralphsworldjr.com/ Ralph Engelstad Arena, Thief River Falls - http://www.ralphengelstadarenatrf.com/ Team-by-team look at key areas, players - http://www.forecaster.ca/hockeynews/hockey/extras.cgi?wjc2005-preview USAHockey - http://www.usahockey.com/2005wjc/main_site/main/2005wjc// HockeyCanada - http://www.hockeycanada.ca/e/teams/mens/junior/2005/index.html TV Coverage - http://ralphsworldjr.com/New2/index.php?page=news_In&dat=Dec17 Grand Forks Herald - http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/sports/special_packages/world_juniors/
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