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It was clean, fast, and almost surgical, and when it was over, Forest Lake High School hockey coach Aaron Forsythe came up to Duluth East coach Mike Randolph in Forest Lake’s arena and said, simply: “What a team!”

There was no hostility, no animosity, just something approaching wonderment in Forsythe’s comment. Appearing rejuvenated and totally focused after having their perfect season shattered in a 9-3 blowout loss to Minnetonka last Saturday, the Hounds tic-tac-toed the puck around and through the mesmerized Rangers for a 9-0 victory Tuesday night.

Steven Holappa scored the first and last goals for East, the first from Hogan Davidson as the third line came through, and the last with assists from Kyle Campion and Domenick Bergeland for a fourth-line strike. Conner Valesano connected for the second line to make it 2-0 in the first period, before the sizzling first line scored, with linemates Dominic Toninato, Ryan Lundgren and Jake Randolph zipping passes around at high speed before Randolph fed from deep on the left side out to the slot, where defenseman Meirs Moore rifled a shot into the upper right corner of the net for a 3-0 lead.

In the second period, Toninato scored in the first minute and again at 3:13 to make it 5-0, prompting Forest Lake’s second goalie change in the game. Alex Toscano made it 6-0, and Lundgren sped down the ice to convert a Valesano set-up for a shorthanded goal and a 7-0 lead at the second intermission. The third period called for running time, which was about the only way to slow down the Hounds. Jack Forbort and Holappa added goals, as East outshot Forest Lake 32-11. There was no rubbing it in, or piling on the goals. All four lines scored, and the ill-informed critics who claim Randolph plays his first line “75 percent of the games,” as one insisted to me last week, can be excused for their foolish views -- because all four lines flew the way the first one usually does.

East is now 17-1 for the season, but there was even more big news for East this week. Jake Randolph, the coach’s kid, and one of the most creative playmakers in Duluth hockey history, and currently leads the Greyhounds in goals and points, accepted a scholarship offer from Dean Blais at Nebraska-Omaha on Monday. Blais made the trip to Duluth to talk to Randolph and Toninato before East’s practice on Monday. “I had seen the campus there before,” Jake Randolph said. “When Coach Blais came to Duluth and talked to me, I wanted to accept right away, but I held off so I could tell my dad, first. He said, ‘Well, go tell Dean right away.’ So I did.”

East lost its No. 1 rank to Minnetonka this week, which is just fine with the Hounds. They had stunned Minnetonka 6-2 in the Schwan’s Cup final, jumping ahead 5-0 in the first two periods. Payback, on statewide television on Hockey Day in Minnesota, was harsh, but not unexpected by Randolph. Consider that starting goaltender Dylan Parker had to sit out a two-week suspension that ended at Minnetonka, forward and top sniper Trevor Olson was out with a knee injury, defenseman Beau Hughes was also out with an injury, and senior defenseman Nate Repensky tried to play with a wrist injury that needs more recovery time, while Valesano, sparkplug on a line with Olson and Toscano, had to sit out with a peculiar major and game disqualification penalty assessed in East’s previous game, a 6-4 victory over Apple Valley. 

Those are just facts, not something for the Hounds to hide behind. “Minnetonka came out on a roll, and just kept coming,” said Mike Randolph. Another fact is that had East found a way to win that Minnetonka rematch, it would have been a supreme test, if East happened to face the Skippers in the state tournament, to try to beat them for a third time. As it is, the East players no longer need to play as though trying to protect an undefeated record. A loss, and particularly a harsh one, should make the Hounds focused on each game the rest of the way. And the Forest Lake game was a start. Olson and Repensky sat out and watched, but should be ready next Tuesday when East goes to Superior. Parker returned to the nets and got a shutout, while Valesano had a goal and three assists in his “comeback.”

Other East-related tidbits: Minnetonka may have been focused on revenge against East, but if so, they overlooked a proud Edina team that came back from a 6-0 thrashing at Minnetonka’s hands in the Schwan’s Cup semifinals to beat the Skippers last week -- a loss that didn’t prevent ranksters from lifting Minnetonka past East to No. 1. Minnetonka still must face Eden Prairie, Wayzata, and Edina once again, in conference play.

There has been some talk that East should play Hermantown, now the only undefeated team in the state, and the No 1 team in Class A. Duluth News-Tribune sports editor Rick Lubbers, often seen at high school hockey games throughout the area (he added, sarcastically), wrote a whole column demanding they should meet. Another guy, Howie Hanson, actually wrote that Class A is “better” than Class AA this year. Please.  East plays the toughest schedule in Minnesota against Class AA teams, knowing the rugged competition will make the Hounds better, and also secure them the No. 1 seed in Section 7AA. I would love to see East play Hermantown; it would probably be a heck of a game. But should East drop Burnsville, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Wayzata, Maple Grove, Moorhead, Centennial, Anoka, or Apple Valley in order to play Hermantown? The fact that cynics, critics, and ill-informed sports columnists should realize is that there is one way to assure that East would play Hermantown.  If the Hawks wanted to face the Hounds as eagerly as their backers want them to, the Hawks, who have a tremendous hockey program, can simply move up to Class AA.

In my opinion, any program that can compete in Class AA should play Class AA, and should be embarrassed to play in Class A. Look at the best teams in Class A:  Hermantown, St. Thomas Academy, Breck, Benilde, Marshall, and usually Warroad. In my perfect world, all private schools would have to play up in AA, which would take care of St. Thomas Academy, Breck, Benilde and Marshall. Hill-Murray, it should be noted, always has played up, and other private schools should follow suit. And the Class A teams that have the potential to play competitively with Class AA teams, such as Hermantown, or Warroad, should also opt up, the way Roseau did.

JOE PATERNO DIES

The news that Joe Paterno died suddenly of lung cancer this week was sad indeed. Paterno, at age 85, had just won the game that gave him the all-time record for coaching victories in Division I football when the scandal caused by his Penn State assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, erupted. We need to underline the facts once again. 

A pedophile spends much of his time gaining total support from a young victim’s family, and much of the rest of his time hiding his terrible habit from any public disclosure. When another assistant coach, an intern, saw what he claims was a heinous act by Sandusky with a young kid in a shower, he reported it to Paterno. Now, when you hire someone to work for you as an assistant, you trust him. When he works for quite a few years for you, you trust him more. Paterno might have disbelieved that Sandusky could have committed such an atrocity, but he reported it to his administrative superiors at Penn State. It is at that level that the administrators decided to conceal the information, rather than go to law enforcement officials, apparently to insulate Penn State from being embroiled in scandal. They resigned or were dismissed.

But when Penn State officials chose to fire Paterno immediately, it made it look as though Paterno was covering for Sandusky. In fact, Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan called Paterno “an enabler” for Sandusky, and made it sound like Paterno deserved the full measure of disgrace Penn State heaped upon him. Paterno said in retrospect he wished he had done more than he did. But Joe Pa in no way can be blamed for the activities a once-trusted assistant coach might have done in complete secrecy. The students at Penn State, and every player who every played for Paterno, know what he meant to the university and how much Penn State meant to him. And that should remain his legacy. Rest in peace, Joe Paterno.

SUPER BOWL, YAWN

Maybe the New England-New York Giants Super Bowl will be a scintillating affair, worth all the hype that will cover us all for the next two weeks. But I can’t generate much enthusiasm for it. New England held off the Baltimore Ravens to win on a missed field goal at the finish, after the Ravens and someone named Joe Flacco outplayed the legendary Tom Brady all day. The Giants got past the 49ers in the rain at San Francisco, because Eli Manning was outstanding. On the basis of those two games, and how well their defenses played, I think the Giants will beat the Patriots in Indianapolis a week from Sunday.

And one more thing for still-suffering Green Bay Packers fans: It was alarming how the Packers came unraveled against the Giants, and how the usually precise Aaron Rodgers had his worst day of the season at the worst possible time. Remember back to when the Packers deactivated Rodgers for the final regular-season game? I thought all it did was secure Drew Brees as the best quarterback in the NFL, because he threw the most touchdown passes as well as passing for the record most yards for the season. But there was more. Rodgers didn’t play against the Lions, then he had the bye week off, so by the time he had to take the field in Green Bay to face the Giants, Rodgers hadn’t played for three weeks. No wonder he looked like he couldn’t find his usual rhythm.

JACK CONNOLLY RECORD

UMD’s senior center Jack Connolly goes back to work against Michigan Tech this weekend at Amsoil Arena, and may extend his team record of 22 consecutive games with at least one point. Connolly set up Travis Oleksuk for a goal in the 2-1 first game against Alabama-Huntsville last weekend, and he was at his best in the 4-3 second game, when he scored the first goal of the game, assisted on a Joe Basaraba goal to tie the game 2-2 after one period, then scored again, his 15th goal of the season, to make it 3-2 in the second.

Much the same as Duluth East can literally focus on going one game at a time after ending its run at an undefeated season, the Bulldogs had their school record 17-game unbeaten streak (14-0-3) snapped at Nebraska-Omaha the previous week. “We knew it had to happen at some point,” said Connolly. “Better that it happened at this point than in the playoffs.” 

True, the Bulldogs came off that loss at Omaha to sweep Alabama-Huntsville, and now the can focus in on each Michigan Tech game. “In the back of our minds, we know that every game we play from here on out is a WCHA game,” said Connolly. My bet is that the Bulldogs win the WCHA title.

OVECHKIN SKIPS ALL-STAR GAME

The Minnesota Wild won at Colorado Tuesday night to claim the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference as the NHL breaks for its all-star game, which will be held in Ottawa. That’s a good thing for the Wild, although Mikko Koivu’s injury, which will cost him a chance to play in the all-star game, is not a good thing, although he’ll benefit from the rest.

Meanwhile, the whole hockey world is caught up, justifiably, in trying to curtail concussions and injuries from rough play. In high school hockey, officials reacting to a new tightening of the rules are calling a lot of major and misconduct penalties on marginal hits the might have even gone unpenalized in recent years. That’s a good thing, overall, but a word of caution is mandatory. If there is a good chance that a good, stiff bodycheck will lead to a major and game disqualification, some top players may take the first opportunity to leave high school for the USHL junior hockey league. That would not be a good thing.

At the NHL level, the league has a history of being particularly harsh to Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Caps’ Mad Russian. Ovechkin is perhaps the league’s biggest attraction, and he plays aggressively. Interesting, isn’t it, that right now the three most spectacular players in the NHL are Russians, with Pavel Datsyuk of Detroit, Alexander Malkin of Pittsburgh, and Ovechkin all playing at their peaks. But a few days ago, Ovechkin went in forechecking hard against Pittsburgh, and when he saw Zbynek Michalek with the puck in the right corner, he sailed in at him. Ovechkin stopped striding and came at a fast glide, and at the last instant, he jumped up a couple inches off the ice as he popped Michalek with a bodycheck. There was no penalty called on the play, which seemed fitting and proper. But the league office, which had penalized Ovechkin in the past, seized the opportunity to show they can enforce a progressive discipline, and they suspended him for three games.

When I heard that, and saw video of the incident, I said to my son that the NHL wants to promote itself by using Ovechkin, but they also are quick to be too strong in disciplining him, and I wouldn’t blame him if he informed the NHL that he was not going to play in the All-Star Game. Only a few minutes later, word came over the internet that Ovechkin announced he wouldn’t play in the All-Star Game, and the report said the announcement came a short time after the NHL suspended Ovechkin. Good move, Alex. I don’t blame you.