If you want to get the scoop on what makes a baseball team click, as a catcher. He sees it all.<\/p>\n
Likewise, if you want to know what makes a hockey line click, ask the gal in the middle. The good ones seem to have eyes in the back of their heads, and can thread those tape-to-tape passes to waiting wingers for proper burial.<\/p>\n
Such is certainly the case with Wayne State\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds Lindsay DiPietro, who center\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds D-I\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds most prolific line.<\/p>\n
With wingers Melissa Boal (29-22-51) and Sam Poyton (24-24-48) on her flanks, DiPietro (12-36-48) has racked up more helpers than anyone else in the country.<\/p>\n
The trio, all of them juniors from Ontario, occupy spots No. 2, 3, and T-3 in the national scoring parade, with only Mercyhurst\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds Meghan Agosta (36-22-58) seated above them.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdI\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdve got talented wingers,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd said DiPietro, dishing out compliments as deftly as she doles out pin-point passes. \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdIt\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds unbelievable. Just the plays they make, and just how they get open, (makes) it some much fun to play. I haven\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdt had this much fun in a really long time.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
Fun for her, not so much fun for beleaguered backliners who have to try and stop her from stick handling through them.<\/p>\n
It\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds in that same slippery manner that DiPietro (\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdno, I\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdm not related to Rick, but I wish I was”), tries to swivel through a reporter\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds questions.<\/p>\n
Such as, \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdso Lindsay, what\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds the scouting report on your wingers?\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdAnd give away their strengths,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd she replied with a laugh. \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdCome on now.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
Reminded that there are no secrets in hockey, she shifts speeds and motors on.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdBoth of them are pure goal scorers,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd she said. \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdIt\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds pretty easy when the find open ice. If you can get them a pass, they\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdll put the puck in the net. It makes my job a lot easier.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdMel is really fast. Her take off speed is just phenomenal. So she can beat a lot of players, one on one. Sam is bigger (5-foot-10, seven inches taller than Boal) and she\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds more of a grinder. But a finesse player at the same time. She\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds not afraid to go into the corners and get the puck, which helps me out a lot. They\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdre just phenomenal players, both of them. They have different assets, but they both put the puck in the net.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
Still, they can\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdt finish without the puck, and that\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds where DiPietro\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds own skills come to the fore.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdI think I\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdm good at seeing the open ice,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd she said, after a little prodding. \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdThe fact that they can break into that open ice helps a lot. I like to pass the puck. That\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds no surprise. So I just try to find them. They just play off my ability to get them the puck. They make good plays, and I just dish it.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
A key to any line\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds success lies in its ability to communicate. But each troika has it\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds own communication style.<\/p>\n
With this bunch (somebody please, come up with a catchy name for them, huh\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd), \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdmum\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd seems to be the watch word.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdYou know,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd she said, \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdwe don\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdt talk a lot, to be honest. We just know where we\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdre going to be. We\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdve been together for so long. We just have a feeling. They\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdll call \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdLinds, Linds, I\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdm open\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd. But for the most part, I can sense where they are, and I can make a lot of blind passes. Not to say I like to. But I can, knowing that they\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdre going to be there. I just tell them, \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdkeep your stick on the ice, and I\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdll find you.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
Of course one can\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdt discuss Wayne State pucks and avoid bringing up the impending demise of the men\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds team, which will disband after this season.<\/p>\n
The sense of loss is felt deeply in the women\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds dressing room.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdIt\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds disappointing,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd DiPietro said. \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdHaving a men\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds program is like having 25 other guys who know exactly what you\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdre going through, day-to-day. How long the season is, how grueling. They know exactly what we go through. So it\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds a really good support system. So for the girls who have close friends on the men\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds team, it\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds sad to see it go.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
DiPietro said it\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds up to the women to pick up the Warrior hockey banner and hoist it aloft.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdIt puts a lot of pressure on us, now,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd she said. \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdBut it\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds okay. At least we\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdre still around and kicking.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
As we were saying, she sees the ice.<\/p>\n
Every square inch of it.<\/p>\n
Not that the field for the NCAA\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds Hockey Humanitarian Award, now down to eight semifinalists, isn\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdt worthy enough.<\/p>\n
But you could make a case for adding precisely 5,377 more souls to the list of nominees.<\/p>\n
That\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds the number of good-hearted people who streamed into Wisconsin\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds Kohl Center last Saturday for the contest between St. Cloud State (now No. 10) and the fifth-ranked Badgers.<\/p>\n
The crowd, the largest ever for an NCAA women\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds game, came out to root on their Badgers, the two-time national champions, in response to UW\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdFill the Bowl\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd promotion.<\/p>\n
More importantly, a $1 donation from each ticket sold was made to the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin.<\/p>\n
\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdThe event was a tremendous success,\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd said UW spokesman Adam Augustine. \u00ef\u00bf\u00bdSince 5,377 fans showed up for the game, that amount of money was presented to Second Harvest following the game. That translates into roughly 37,639 meals for the local community.\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd<\/p>\n
Oh, gosh by golly, that\u00ef\u00bf\u00bds good goin\u00ef\u00bf\u00bd, don\u00ef\u00bf\u00bdt ya know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
View from the Middle If you want to get the scoop on what makes a baseball team click, as a catcher. He sees it all. Likewise, if you want to know what makes a hockey line click, ask the gal in the middle. The good ones seem to have eyes in the back of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":140328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n