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St. Cloud State University
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Huskies prepare for No. 3 ranked 'Dogs
By Joshua Fox
Published:
Thursday, December 9, 2004
After splitting a weekend series with No. 6 St. Lawrence last weekend, the women's hockey team hopes to pick up more wins against a ranked opponent, the No. 3 ranked University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (11-1-2 overall, 9-1-2 WCHA).
The Huskies know they have to prepare for a series with a lot of contact and the coaches have spent time this week adjusting the style of play.
"In practice this week, we practiced on playing tenaciously, getting all over them and taking away their time and space," head coach Jason Lesteberg said. "The referees allow contact, you just can't body check, so we are going to have to play physical and we know that."
The series promises to be one of the more physical of the season. The team is well-prepared for the battle.
"They are aggressive and they are a good team and one of our top things is to go in there and be aggressive," senior captain Tina Ciraulo said.
Playing UMD is something many players look forward to because of the physicality the series often produces.
"I love playing Duluth. Because they have a big team and I am a big player, so it is a little rougher, which I like," senior Melanie Pudsey said.
The team is not intimidated by the fact they are taking on the No. 3 team in the nation on their ice.
"We look forward to the competition just because we know that they are ranked No. 3. We have that mindset going in that we can beat the No. 3 team in the nation and it is something we feed off of," junior Rachel Solgon said.
Assistant captain Randie Jelinski is trying to do her part to make sure the younger members of the team do not get intimidated by UMD's ranking,
"We really have to stay focused and we have to feed off the fact that we have been winning, we have only lost two of the last seven games," Jelinski said.
Ciraulo has done her part to try to keep the team's focus on playing and not on UMD's ranking.
"We know we can play with any team if we play our hardest," Ciraulo said. "We don't go in there thinking that they are better than us. They are just another team and we just have to go in there and play our hardest."
The DECC Center, which has the smallest ice rink in the conference, is not only 15 feet narrower than the Olympic-size ice at the National Hockey Center, but at 190 feet long is 10 feet shorter than any other rink in the WCHA.
"We say it is smaller and we don't make it a big thing. We have played on smaller sheets of ice before, we just go in and say, 'it's a sheet of ice and we've got to go play hockey on it.' It is not one of the top things we think about." Ciraulo said.
Jelinski said most of the players are used to playing on smaller sheets of ice.
"Most of us have come from teams where we have played in smaller rinks, so we have experience. We get to practice on it and after the pre-game skate, we are good to go," Jelinski said.
In the end, the Huskies look forward to the challenge of playing a top WCHA rival and the chance to knock off another highly-ranked team.
"We look forward to them, especially because they are ranked so high and we do look from one of the top pedestals in the league," Solgon said.
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