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Mike Randolph coached Northern Lakes in a summer game at Proctor. Photo by John Gilbert.
Mike Randolph came home to the Christmas City of the North for Christmas this past week, and he brought his new high school hockey team — and his new all-time winning record — with him.
The first game Randolph coached, the Lightning presented him with his 709th coaching victory, boosting him ahead of retired Rochester Mayo coach Lorne Grosso for the most career victories. Of course, for 32 years, Randolph led Duluth East to becoming the most dominant high school team in Duluth.
Somewhat reluctantly, Randolph agreed with a handful of supporters from the old days who wanted to organize a small, short tribute to Randolph’s record and all he’s meant to Duluth hockey on the ice at Essentia Heritage Sports Center, where the Northern Lakes Lightning would be facing Denfeld. He said he’s excited about breaking the record, but will be more excited about it when he finally retires and can reflect on his accomplishments.
Randolph has a few detractors from his tight-disciplined Duluth East coaching days, and among those are John Magas, who took over as Duluth school supervisor just as the Duluth East administration decided to not renew Randolph’s contract. Magas stepped in and reinforced the move, and Randolph beat the inevitable decision by resigning from the position.
He coached at St. Thomas Academy for two seasons, and when politics raised its ugly head once again, he and top assistant Tom Klein took over the consolidated school program at Northern Lakes, which plays near Baxter in Section 6.
After Denfeld coach Dale Jago gave the organizers permission to hold the brief pre-game ceremony for Randolph, word got to the administration office, and Magas informed Jago that the tribute could not be allowed.
His reasoning was that because Randolph had technically resigned and not retired, such a tribute was out of order. A quick adjustment was made, and the organizers worked with sports artist Tim Cortes, a former goaltender and current goalie coach who has opened a studio on the upper level of Heritage Center. A brief tribute for Randolph would be held in Corstes’ studio after the game.
Someone made up a banner, congratulating Randolph, and others made a neat and subtle poster that would be placed in the arena. But Magas rejected both ideas, If all of this seems incredibly petty, it’s only because it is.
Northern Lakes, with a mixture of mostly seniors and sophomores, lost the game 5-2 to Denfeld, but not until after the Lightning had taken a 1-0 lead on a Jerome Martin goal midway through the first period. Hunter line mates Tristan Nephew and Johnny Scott came back for goals late in the opening period for a 2-1 lead, and Alex Udd made it 3-1 in the second period before Anthony Noyes, a senior from Pequot Lakes, scored again for Northern Lakes.
In the third period, Nolan Harju boosted Denfeld’s lead to 4-2, and Scott — who wound up with two goals and two assists — scored shorthanded with 1:30 remaining for the final tally.
“We’re having a lot of fun,” Randolph said. “Everything we’re doing is all new to them, and new to me too. We’ve got some time off now, but we’ve only had one home game, and we’ve got a really tough schedule. When we come back in January, we play every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
“Our only home game was against Alexandria, the team we’ll have to beat to win Section 6A. We played a great game against Alex, and beat them 5-0. We come back up this way and play at Superior January 7, at Hibbing January 9, at Marshall January 11, and we’ve got two games with St. Cloud Cathedral later, and another game with Alex and a rematch with Little Falls. We end with Warroad.”
Randolph said he was impressed with Denfeld and how coach Dale Jago used home-ice strategy. “We’ve got some key seniors, like Drew Paulbeck up front, and Wyatt Balmer on defense, and our goaltender has been a key, he’s Sam Suja, a sophomore. But Dale never put his top line, Scott and those guys, out when Balmer was out on defense.”
Denfeld has also played well against Hermantown and Duluth East, and with Scott, one of the best pure goal-scorers in the area, the Hunters could make big gains.
The struggles of the start of the season have inflicted many teams at various levels, and while the
Minnesota Wild had avoided early slumps and risen to the top of the NHL standings, injuries have taken a heavy toll right now.
Goaltender Filip Gustavsson, center Joel Ericsson Ek, and assorted other forwards and defensemen went out with earlier injuries but the Wild kept winning. In the pst week, however, and the Wild, who had been the only NHL team to avoid losing two games in succession, have now lost four straight, including 6-1 to the Florida Panthers and 5-0 Saturday in Winnipeg.
I stayed home to watch most of the college football playoffs, but the first round was basically not enjoyable. Notre Dame beat Indiana 27-17, Penn State crushed SMU 38-10, Texas pulled away from Clemson 38-24, and Ohio State buried Tennessee 42-17. If you hadn’t noticed, all four of those first-round games were won by the home teams. Now they take a week off, and resume New Year’s Eve when Penn State plays Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl, and on New Year’s Day, when Ohio State plays Oregon in the Rose Bowl, Texas plays Arizona State in the Peach Bowl, and Notre Dame faces Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
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