Western Collegiate Hockey Association
UND and Brittany Kirkham in action against UMD |
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Jaques, Kirkham Lead Fighting Sioux Upswing
Jan. 30, 2008
By John Gilbert - Rising from the lower reaches of the women's WCHA standings is tougher now, than it was in the first few years of the still-growing but most-prestigious women's college hockey conference. So North Dakota's steps have been painstakingly slow, but Melissa Jaques has been taking those steps, and she can feel the progress.
"It's a lot different this year," said Jaques, a one of five juniors on the Fighting Sioux team - which has no seniors.
"We've been working on doing the little things, and I think we do them so much better. We're right there now, we just need to find a way to win some of the close games we're in."
She gives credit to first-year coach Brian Idalski, who got the job last April and has been able to install some new teaching techniques and system play.
"It's a big difference from last year," Jaques said. "Last year, we'd lose games 8-0, but this year, I think the freshmen have stepped up to play right away, and it feels like everyone is contributing."
North Dakota is 4-16-2 in the WCHA, and 4-20-4 overall, but the record is not a true reflection of how competitive the Sioux have become. For example, they opened by tying both Boston University and Northeastern, and have a 3-1 record against last-place Bemidji State, another team that is building from the bottom.
But better proof of North Dakota's level are the other close games against top-caliber teams. Such as a 3-1 loss to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; a scoreless tie followed by a 4-3 loss against Ohio State. A 3-2 loss to Minnesota-Duluth; a 3-3 tie and 3-1 loss against St. Cloud State; a 2-1 victory for a split against Minnesota State, Mankato; 3-2 setbacks to Wisconsin and at Ohio State.
Finally; a stirring series against Minnesota, where the Fighting Sioux lost 4-1 and then 2-1.
"And the winning goal came on a penalty shot by Bobbi Ross," said coach Brian Idalski, who has facilitated the upswing in his first year at the helm.
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North Dakota made the trip to Duluth for the rematch series with high hopes. When they scared the Bulldogs in that 3-2 loss, it came a day after UMD had inflicted a 9-2 thrashing in Grand Forks, and the Sioux might have caught the Bulldogs a bit full of themselves.
That was a tendency UMD had through its first few series, but coach Shannon Miller has apparently gotten them over it. After whipping North Dakota 8-1, UMD came right back for a 5-0 victory in the second game. Even then, though, the Sioux played UMD 0-0 through the first period, and blanked the Bulldogs in the third as well.
In fact, UMD had to rely on a big period in each game - scoring four in the second period to take a 5-0 lead in the first game, then unloading in the second period of the second game. North Dakota played hard, and play got a little chippy in a few spots, causing the referee and assistant referees to be peacemakers. The spirited Sioux were not going to go down easily, and a few punches to the facemask or a crosscheck in front of the net showed the frustration of trying so hard without success.
Jaques has been the key to Idalski's building blocks, along with sophomore goaltender Brittany Kirkham. Jaques had several scoring chances - the best North Dakota scoring chances, it turned out - but she was foiled by the flawless play of goaltender Kim Martin, who didn't allow a goal for the weekend, and raised her nation-leading save percentage to nearly 97 percent.
Jaques leads North Dakota with nine goals and 16 points. Fellow sophomores Ashley Paulson and Jodi Holland have six goals each, and junior Randi Motsko has five. The Sioux have four players from Minnesota, four from Manitoba, two from Wisconsin, and one each from North Dakota, California, Texas, Ontario and New Brunswick. Curiously, Holland is the only one of the four Minnesota players who came from the rich and broadening state girls high school programs, while the other three are from the Minnesota Thoroughbreds, an amateur Midget team of high school age players that used to be the focal point of the best development in the state - before the high schools started competition.
Jaques, who names is pronounced "Jake," rather than the French-Canadian "Zhawk," because she is from Manitoba.
"I played guys hockey until Peewees," Jaques said. "And I figure skated. I'm from Cooks Creek, a little town 45 minutes east of Winnipeg. I went to other towns to play from Peewee on up. I played with Jess Larocque on UMD's team, and I played summer hockey with Laura Fridfinnson, who's a freshman for UMD. There are some girls teams and I think they're improving in Manitoba."
Idalski knows there is a lot more ground to cover, but he's also impressed by the improvement so far. "Jaques is our best scorer, but we're still a little thin, so other teams can load up to cover her. We're hoping for another couple of good recruiting years, so we can move up and challenge for position with St. Cloud State, Ohio State, and Minnesota State - the next tier, under the 'big three.'
"Kirkham has been fantastic," said Idalski. "The only problem is that she's had to play too many minutes. She sees so many shots, I hate to have her have to play so much.
"But our players understand the game a lot better, and we can throw some things at teams that maybe they haven't seen before."
"I tried some different things against Duluth, but Shannon (Miller) is too smart," said Idalski. "She's been around enough to recognize some of those things and adjust. And she's got defensemen like Joss Larocque and Myriam Trepanier - they're so big and strong, they can beat the trap all by themselves. All championship teams have that capability.
"At Minnesota, we tried some different looks, and we even tried to trap. We figured if we could slow them down, we had a chance to compete with them. We had Minnesota 1-1 except for the penalty shot, and in the last 10 minutes, Minnesota played only two lines."
That was one of those small rewards that Idalski hopes his players appreciate.
