November, Numbers and Expectations

12-3-90

It was a pretty good week for Cobber sports. November ended. The Cobber winter sports teams used November to learn lessons, mostly from losses. The hockey team went 3-4 in November. The men's basketball team went 1-2.

The Lady Cobber basketball team capped the month with two losses. And November left our pretty-good wrestling team without an individual title in any weight class after two multi-team events.

But those are just numbers. Behind those numbers are real people, looking to post better numbers. The numbers matter. They aren't everything. They aren't life and death. But they matter. So do expectations.

The Cobbers' numbers to date, and expectations that suggest different numbers, form the context for the season ahead.

Expectations of athletes and their teams, like expectations in presidential primaries, are, fairly or not, a frequent measure of a team's success. The Cobber athletes who live with those expectations can see them as burdens or inspirations or irrelevancies. But they are there. And they have to be dealt with.

Most coaches, like presidential candidates, hate high expectations. High expectations can make a win seem like a loss and a loss seem like a disaster. Other coaches, a minority, see them as a challenge, a constant reminder that being pretty good might not be good enough, and working pretty hard might not be hard enough. The expectation of winning, these coaches argue, can actually get you some wins.

Following Cobber sports is enhanced by knowing both the people behind the numbers and the expectations that hang over our teams. Here, then, at some risk, is a capsule look at some of those people and the expectations they face.

The Cobber Hockey Team: Steve Baumgartner's crew was tabbed early as one of the top three teams in the nine-team MIAC hockey race.

After finishing third last year, they have nearly the whole team back, including an all senior, all Canadian, all all-MIAC front line of Mike Hassman, John Town, and Shawn McGurran. This often-dazzling line scored more goals per game (we think) than any line in college hockey last year, 82 goals in 28 games.

Hassman, who scored 42 goals himself in 1989-90 and was first-team all-America and the league's co-MVP, has a legitimate shot at going high in the NHL draft. He put on 15 pounds of muscle over the summer because he knew he was going to get pounded. Now he's getting pounded, has a sore back, and is starting to hit last year's stride. Shawn McGurran is a small, studious pre-med major who can create the best kind of havoc on the ice.

Town is the model Cobber, a polite good student off the ice, but fearless in pads and quicker than his usually-bigger hockey foes.

These three will get the publicity when the team succeeds, and much of the blame when they lose. But this is a big and talented team. They will be expected to maintain a level of intensity that is not often sustainable. They have legitimate hopes of a playoff spot, even a title. But, with the league so balanced in talent, and hockey being so flukey, following the Cobbers this winter, as so many do, will almost surely be a wild ride.

The Lady Cobber Basketball Team: In the first six years of Duane Siverson's tenure as the Lady Cobber coach, an average season has been exactly 24-5. The Lady Cobbers have won four of the last five MIAC titles. High expectations here are simply a way of life. So, one might as well see them as an inspiration.

The three Cobber seniors, Michelle Thykeson, Kim Fierke and Rhonda Schneekloth, are trying to win a third MIAC title, a fourth trip to the NCAA tourney, and another national crown to bookend the one they helped win as freshmen.

Thykeson, the 6-2 all-American and MIAC MVP, is a reluctant superstar, preferring to have the spotlight shine elsewhere if possible. Fierke, a 6-0 post, is a self-made woman who, against all odds, took her crude, self-doubting, Iron Range game and advanced to being good, and then to being excellent. Rhonda Schneekloth, the team's natural leader, is a 6-1 post trapped inside a 5-10 body, always having to improvise and make the most of what seems a disadvantage. This year she has to step into the leadership role vacated by last year's graduated point guard, Becky Ehnert. These seniors will get leadership help from a junior shooter-without- a-conscience, all-MIAC guard Cathy Johnson.

The Lady Cobs like the expectations that face them.

That's why they came here. Whether they can live up to this year's hype, and their own lofty goals, will be well worth watching.

The Cobber Wrestling Team: Ron Nellermoe's team never expected the limelight.

Wrestlers are realistic. But they could make a pretty good case for getting some this season. After finishing fourth in the MIAC last year, this team has a solid shot at being second in the league behind awesome Augsburg.

All-American Chip Halverson is back at 167 with his cleverness and will do well again. Steve Larsen, maybe the team's best wrestler, has made it down to 158 and could well make it the national meet. Senior heavyweight Kirk Leinwand, who's bad back caused him to miss what should have been a second season as an all-MIAC guard in football, is healthy and searching for another appearance at nationals. Sophomore Ryan Sikorski, who dodged the burnout bullet last year and ended up second in the MIAC at 190, is back stronger than ever. Todd Johnson is coming into his own at 126 and Dan Schultz might be one of the MIAC's best at 134. And the Cobs even have some guys at 118. This team will be good if they stay healthy.

The Men's Basketball team: Coming off a 6-19 year and having a host of new players with apparent talent, the expectations of the men are for something better. This team is filled with good, likeable guys who want to do well and are searching for the key's to success. Their growth into a cohesive whole could prove to be the winter's most satisfying story.

They aren't there yet. But be patient.

Their gregarious all-MIAC post, Eric Gardner, is ending an odyssey that has taken him from Fargo South High to two years at Moorhead State, a year away from buckets in Texas, and now a second year at Concordia. Tim Boudreaux, the diplomatic, pre-law point guard, has only this year to show his stuff. Coming from Gary, Ind., to Concordia, via Moorhead St., has given this young man a good perspective.

Bryan Flam and Mike Hilley, the team's usually-deadly designated shooters, are, like nearly everyone else, trying to get to know their teammates. After an all-MIAC sophomore year, Flam missed last season with a broken foot and still has some rust on his game. Hilley, whose silky style supposedly clashed with NDSU's new full-court game, came to Cobberville to finish what has been a very solid college career.

These four strangers will get help from a blue-collar Moorhead boy, Brad Keenan, who can rebound with the league's best. Pete Myrvik, an ebullient shooter, and Pat Sonju, the team's hardest worker, will help off the bench. So might some others. Time will tell.

December Begins: Saturday, Dec. 1, began with the hockey team getting a sweet 6-5 win over St. Olaf and the men's basketball was beaten 67-45 at home by a good Hamline team. The wrestlers had some bright spots at the River Falls Open.

And the Cobber women had the weekend off, recharging, we hope, for a winter of success.

These teams should all be fun to watch as their seasons unfold. Hopefully, as the numbers get posted, we'll keep in mind that there are a lot of successful and admirable young people behind those numbers. And we'll try to remember that playing under the glare of our scrutiny and expectations, regardless of the numbers, is still considered an integral part of education here in Cobberville.

These pages are maintained by Jerry Pyle pyle@cord.edu. These articles are copyrighted © and may not be published or reproduced without the express permission of Jerry Pyle.

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