Sports

SPORTS & SCHOOL

Emmel named Assistant Track Coach of the Year

Hockey boys enjoy road trip, narrowly lose to Roseau in OT

Music Listening Team heads to State for 11th year

One-Act Play advances to section contest

Journal-Press Sports Editor Heather Reinhart may be reached
by phone at 763-682-1221 or click here to email her

The Buffalo Nordic ski team headed to man-made snow at Andes Tower Hills on Tuesday, Jan. 24, for the Alexandria Invitational. The race was a 1.5K loop that the athletes covered three times.

“Because of conditions this year this was the first classic-designated race we’ve had, which was nice before the section meet,” Coach Tim Heisel said.

The Buffalo boys club team went first and did well. Andrew Gutknecht led the first lap, settled into third place on the second lap, and ended up in that same spot with a time of 13:26. He finished just 12 seconds behind the winner.

“He looked good and strong, and was easily noticed in our boys’ “official” dress, his flannel shirt,” Heisel said.

Michael Burgdorf was a few places behind Gutknecht in sixth place with a time of 14:05. Ryan Bunting placed 18th in a time of 16:01, Jacob Jungwirth finished 22nd in 16:30, and Jonathan Eastlund was 23rd with a time of 16:34. There were 34 skiers in the boys race.

Heisel said the nice surprise for the boys was that they placed second overall behind St. Cloud Tech. Tech had 42 points for the win, Buffalo had 49 points, and St. Cloud Cathedral had 51 points for third place. Also skiing were Alexandria (fourth with 52 points), St. Cloud Apollo (fifth with 71 points) and Willmar (sixth with 84 points).

In the girls varsity race, the Buffalo team finished third out of five competing schools. Emily Bedker led the way with a second place finish in a time of 16:03.

“Emily had a real breakthrough, showing everyone, including herself, how well she can ski,” Heisel said.

Claire Pearce finished in 11th place with a time of 17:47, Angela Eastlund placed 13th in 18:02, and Nina Johnson finished 25th overall with a time of 19:33.

“She is moving up well in comparison to those around her from the other teams, beating more of them each race,” Heisel said of Johnson.

Heisel said the Eastlund siblings (Angela and Jonathan) were both out with the flu last week and it showed as they both lacked strength at the end.

Cathedral won the girls team competition with 19 points, Alexandria was a distant second with 39 points, and Buffalo took third with 51 points. Apollo placed fourth with 64 points, and Willmar was fifth with 115 points.

Buffalo’s next meet is the Granite Ridge Conference Meet on Thursday, Feb. 2, at Riverside Park in St. Cloud. The Section Meet will follow on Thursday, Feb. 9, at a location yet to be determined.

Boyd Emmel has been coaching track and field for 37 years and was honored for his efforts and for the achievements of his athletes during the Minnesota Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame and Coach of the Year Banquet, which was held Friday at the Double Tree Hotel in Bloomington.

Emmel was named the Minnesota State Class AA 2011 Assistant Coach of the Year during the banquet, which is an award he said he never saw coming.

“I’ve been coaching a long time and you don’t ever expect these things to happen, so it’s really nice,” he said.

Last spring after the track season ended, Emmel was named the Assistant Coach of the Year within his section, which put him in the running for the statewide award. He was nominated by Bison Head Coach Scott Palmer, who Emmel has worked with for the majority of his career.

“Boyd is part of the foundation of the track and field program and a huge part of the success that we have had,” Palmer said.

Emmel started his coaching career at Oshkosh West High School in Wisconsin. He was the assistant track coach for two years, then the head coach for five years before taking a teaching job in Buffalo. While in Oshkosh, Emmel also coached cross country for six years, and as the assistant boys basketball coach for a season.

After moving to Buffalo and taking a job as a science teacher, Emmel took over as head coach of the track team for six seasons from 1983-89. He then took two years off, before returning to the track as an assistant coach under Palmer in 1991. And he’s never left.

“When I was first hired as head track and field coach in 1996, Boyd was the first person I talked to about joining the staff,” Palmer said.

Emmel has worked with the hurdlers for the past 16 years and has produced a long line of state qualifiers and medalists. He said it started around 1997 when Jed Kassulke qualified for state.

“I have some kids that have done really well in the hurdles, not just one or two, but a whole string of them,” Emmel said.

“I attribute this to the kids and the program,” Emmel said. “The kids got me some attention. I tell them it’s ‘we’, not ‘me’.”

“Boyd brings a tremendous amount of knowledge, experience and enthusiasm for the sport of Track and Field,” he said. “Along with this experience, knowledge and enthusiasm, Boyd has the ability to relate to kids.”

A visit to the University of North Dakota’s Ralph Engelsted Arena that included a tour of the facility and an evening Division I college game between UND and Wisconsin may have provided just the inspiration that the Buffalo boys hockey team needed.

The next day, the Bison boys battled with state powerhouse Roseau and almost pulled off a victory, instead losing 4-3 in the final minutes of overtime.

“We kind of just kept going at them no matter what,” said senior Sam Klein. “It was the best game this season for sure.”

“I think it really showed our team that we can hang with teams like that,” added senior Tyler Burg.

The weekend started Friday with a long bus ride to Grand Forks, ND, where the Bison toured the world-class facilities of the college hockey arena. The arena features green leather seats with cherry wood arms, marble floors, and a 10,000 square foot weight room. The group from Buffalo had the opportunity to watch the college hockey team warm up before its game, and Bison players were later able to skate on the ice themselves in an hour-long practice.

Burg and Klein said they got to tour the locker rooms, and enjoyed watching the UND/Wisconsin college game from the student section later that evening.

“It was fun listening to all their chants and cheers,” Burg said. “It pushes you to want to get to that level.”

After spending the night in a hotel, the team continued its journey north to Roseau on Saturday morning. Along the way, they watched inspirational movies and hockey videos.

As for the game itself, it was Roseau with the early goal and Klein said he was nervous about how the team would respond.

“We’ve gotten down after goals in the past, but not this time,” Burg said. “We’d come back just as hard or harder.”

Buffalo’s Jack Becker scored a shorthanded goal just one minute into the second period to tie the game at 1-1 and give his team a spark. Roseau came back with a power play goal later in the period, but Buffalo never let down and Aaron Rouse scored two minutes later to tie the game again at 2-2.

“Before the third period, I told them they had 17 minutes to do something special and they did,” Coach Jason Fairman said. “This was something in life to remember. I couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”

In the third period, Roseau got an early goal, but Buffalo came back again when Connor Martin scored on a power play to even things up at 3-3.

The battle continued throughout the remainder of regulation and into overtime. With just two minutes left, Roseau scored to win the game.

“We had numerous opportunities in overtime to put it away,” said senior Sam Klein. “It was a physical game.”

While the Bison were disappointed with the loss (it would have been Buffalo’s first ever victory over Roseau), they were also happy with the progress they had made.

“I’m hoping this is a stepping stone,” said Coach Fairman. “This was the first complete game they’ve played and we’ve been waiting all year.”

Fairman said the Roseau team was frustrated throughout the game while the Bison were very positive and were supporting each other on and off the ice.

“I felt like we were going to win that game just by the way we were responding,” Fairman said.

Whether or not the trip to UND had an impact on the outcome of the Roseau game, Fairman said the weekend was a good team building experience that he hopes the players will remember for many years to come.

Klein and Burg said they hope the strong play will continue for the remainder of the season.

Prior to the trip, the Bison had a rematch with St. Michael-Albertville, but lost to the Knights for the second time this season by a score of 4-1.

STMA scored the game’s first goal in the second period, but Buffalo tied things up in the third with a power-play goal from Klein. That’s when the Knights took over and scored three unanswered goals (two in the final minute of play) to win 4-1.

Fairman was frustrated with the way the Knights played. He said they iced the pick 20-30 times in the game.

Coming up for the Bison is a game at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, at Rogers. On Saturday, Buffalo will take on Wayzata at the Plymouth Ice Center starting at 7 p.m.

The state meet is a familiar place for the Buffalo High School Music Listening Team to be. When the squad heads to the competition at Augsburg College on Friday, it will be the 11th straight year the Bison have been to state. During that time, Buffalo has placed first once, second once, and finished third three times — including last season.

Junior Elizabeth Thompson was on the state team last year and is excited to be going back with sophomore teammates Anna Humphrey and Amy Marquette, who are in their first year on the team.

Thompson, who used to play violin but isn’t able to anymore because of a weak hand, has a passion for music and joined the Music Listening Team to learn more about it.

“I love it,” she said. “You get introduced to a different kind of music so it’s exciting.”

Marquette, who plays bassoon in the band and enjoys classical music, heard about the team from a friend and was encouraged to join.

Humphrey has been playing the violin for 13 years but said she didn’t know a lot about the music itself and was interested in learning.

“I didn’t know a whole lot about how each time period is different,” she said. “I’ve grown a lot more as a musician through this.”

Humphrey also plans to major in music in college, and said she thought being a member of the Music Listening Team would benefit her.

In Music Listening, teams are given three CDs of classical music and a book that includes information on the music. At a competition, there are five different rounds and each is worth 20 points. Students are questioned about the music. They are asked to identify a piece of music, and are asked questions about the piece including: What do the lyrics mean? When was the music written? Who is the composer?

One of the five rounds is a Mystery Round in which students listen to a piece of music that was not included on their three CDs, but is by a composer that they have studied. They must use the information they learned about the other music to answer questions about the new piece.

Buffalo was one of two teams from the regional contest to advance to state. The Bison placed third at regions with a score of 79. Two teams from Montevideo placed higher than Buffalo, but each school is only allowed to send one team to state, which gave the Bison the second spot.

Thompson said the state contest is much more difficult than the regional contest, but the team said its goal is to earn a higher score at state than it did at regions. There will be 18 teams competing at state.

Choir Director Michael Walsh is the Music Listening Coach and has been since the team was first formed.

“I think he’s a really good teacher,” said Thompson. “Obviously if Buffalo keeps going to state and he’s the only constant, he’s good.”

Walsh said this year’s team works hard, and that Buffalo’s overall state success has come from having a strong all-around music program at the school.

“The Amish Project” has been a hit in the One-Act Play competition so far this season and the Buffalo High School cast and crew have their biggest performance of the season coming up on Saturday.

Last weekend, the Bison hosted the Sub-Section contest and received first-place marks from all three judges. Andover took second place and Anoka came in third.

The top two plays from the sub-section earned a spot in the section contest, which St. Michael-Albertville will host on Saturday. There will be four teams competing in the section meet and only the first-place finisher will advance to the state meet. Last year, Buffalo qualified for state with “Pageant Play,” and the Bison are hoping to do so again.

“There are no guarantees if we will go to state,” Durant said. “It is going to be tough competition.”

The section contest will be held at STMA High School on Saturday. Coon Rapids will perform “The Rehearsal” at 10 a.m. STMA will perform “So You Want to Direct a One Act Play” at 10:50 a.m., Buffalo will perform “The Amish Project” at 11:40 a.m., and Andover will wrap-up the contest with “Antigone Now” at 12:30 p.m.

All performances will start at the times listed or later, but never before. There is an admission fee of $5 for adults and $3 for high school students and younger.