{"id":40289,"date":"2011-12-13T11:58:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-13T17:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=40289"},"modified":"2020-08-24T21:22:39","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T02:22:39","slug":"minnesota-blue-line-is-a-big-key-to-teams-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2011\/12\/13\/minnesota-blue-line-is-a-big-key-to-teams-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota blue line is a big key to team’s success"},"content":{"rendered":"
Getting noticed isn’t difficult for a hockey defenseman. Fall down or get your pocket picked when you’re the last skater back, or cross-check someone into next week, and they’ll notice you all right.<\/p>\n
Positive recognition proves a little tougher to attract. In the 14 years that the Patty Kazmaier Award has been tendered, defensemen have been named top three finalists six times, none since Angela Ruggiero won in 2004, the only defenseman to do so. Six of 43 finalists — there were four in 2000 —\u00a0 seems a bit low, considering a third of the players on the ice at any time are defensemen.<\/p>\n
Joel Johnson coached two finalists, Courtney Kennedy in 2001 and Ronda Curtin in 2002, during his first stint as a Minnesota assistant. Now, he is the position coach for perhaps the best group of defenders in Minnesota history.<\/p>\n
“The thing that I’ve noticed this year is that we’re willing to all lean into the same challenges together,” Johnson said. “Where one person might fail, another member of our defensive corps seems to pick them up, and that’s really been exciting. It’s on the ice, and it’s more importantly off the ice. I think we really are staying together.”<\/p>\n
Johnson has previously demonstrated the ability to bring together a unit. Minnesota won its first NCAA title in 2004 with only five defensemen, four sophomores and a rookie, that stood 5 feet 4 inches, 5 feet 4 inches, 5 feet 5 inches, 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches tall. In comparison, this season’s defensemen measure 5 feet 6 inches, 5 feet 9 inches, 5 feet 10 inches, 5 feet 11 inches, and two are 6 feet tall.<\/p>\n
“They’re good — when you’ve got [Anne] Schleper and [Kelly] Seeler and [Megan] Bozek,” said coach Eric Means of WCHA rival Minnesota State. “I think the biggest thing is just the way they snap the puck around. Those passes are coming hard, and they always seem to make that first pass. They control the pace of the game a lot back there.”<\/p>\n
According to Seeler, who hails from Eden Prairie, Minn., the ability to handle the puck is one of the foundations of Minnesota’s system.<\/p>\n
“It all starts in our defensive zone, making that first pass,” the senior said. “If you don’t have a good first pass, it puts the second pass at a disadvantage, and the third and the fourth. If we break out as a unit defensively, move that puck up quick and make that crisp, solid pass, I think that’s been successful for us and will keep our team winning games.”<\/p>\n
Another key to the team’s 17-3 start, fashioned in part by holding opponents to an average of 20 shots, is preventing them from entering the offensive zone with possession of the puck.<\/p>\n
“Our forwards have been doing a great job in the neutral zone, especially of backchecking,” Seeler said. “When they backcheck, it allows us to step up in the neutral zone. We’ve been working on getting our gap up and keeping that up so we’re able to step up before that blue line in our defensive zone.”<\/p>\n
Her classmate Schleper, from St. Cloud, Minn., was named a First-team All American and WCHA Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, despite battling wrist injuries for much of the last couple of seasons.<\/p>\n
“I took the summer off of basically hockey and a lot of heavy lifting just to kind of heal up,” Schleper said. “I have a lot more confidence in my passing and my shooting. I’m not dropping my stick half as much. It’s definitely good to be on the healthy track now.”<\/p>\n
Schleper has competed with international teams throughout her career, and earned a gold medal last April at the World Championships, and both she and Bozek were named to the United States holiday camp roster. Schleper said USA Hockey supported the decision to have surgery to repair her wrist.<\/p>\n
“They kind of gave me a heads up that I do need that time off to heal, so that when I’m there, I can be healthy and be 100 percent and not just 80 percent,” she said. “I’m really looking forward to that camp, just to kind of prove to myself that I am healthy and what I can do when I’m healthy.”<\/p>\n
Her 99 career points rank third all time for Minnesota defensemen, behind only Winny Brodt (134) and Kennedy (112).<\/p>\n