John’s Journal: They Cheer, They Skate, They Inspire

 

High school hockey in the Minneapolis Public Schools system is unique. There is one boys program and one girls program, with players from all seven city high schools eligible to participate for the teams known simply as Minneapolis Hockey. Home games are played at Parade Ice Garden, and the atmosphere there also is quite unique since the district isn’t allowing spectators for any activities this winter due to Covid-19 concerns.

And yet, loud cheers are heard during games at Parade. There are no fans, but there are cheerleaders who are more than cheerleaders. Like the hockey players, cheerleaders can be students at any of the seven Minneapolis high schools: Edison, North, Patrick Henry, Roosevelt, South, Southwest and Washburn. The program was founded three years ago and last year it became a varsity activity.

The Minneapolis Hockey cheerleaders are also competitive figure skaters. Prior to this season they skated during intermissions but because of Covid they are confined to the stands, wearing masks, but that doesn’t diminish their energy or excitement.

“It’s been interesting to see them transition from being the star of the show to being confined to the bleachers,” said Anne Cross, a hockey and cheerleading parent who came to the school district with the idea of hockey cheerleaders and coaches the group. “They’ve really taken to it, they see the value of being involved in someone else’s sport, being an advocate. And getting out of the house is a major draw.”

The cheerleaders, all of whom are competitive figure skaters with USA Figure Skating, were busy Thursday evening at Parade as the Minneapolis boys team defeated Bloomington Kennedy 9-1. They are well-versed at this point in the season, yelling in unison “G-O-A-L! Goal! Goal! Goal” after the team scored, along with “M-P-L-S! Go Minneapolis!” and the lengthier “M-I-N-N-E-A-P-O-L-I-S! Minneapolis!”

Roosevelt ninth-grader Lydia Martin said her love of skating first drew her to the team, along with family tradition. Her mother was cheerleader at Southwest and her father was the Husky mascot for St. Cloud State hockey games. Lydia said she also enjoys being part of a district-wide activity.

“It’s a sense of community. We are all from different parts of this big city, different schools, different friends, yet we come together to make one team.”

The cheerleaders do more than cheer at games. They also have built a social media following with YouTube “Hockey Talk” videos focusing on game results, their own skating prowess and lots of entertainment (videos can found by searching Minneapolis Hockey Cheerleading on YouTube, and information on other social media platforms can be found at @612RINK).

“I’m impressed by all of the social media wizardry that the hockey cheerleaders have done this season,” said boys hockey player Zander Zoia, a junior at Southwest. “It’s been nice hearing them cheer at our home games in the empty arena. I appreciate all the time they’ve spent at our games and creating their posts when I know they could be doing other things.”

The cheerleading team is self-funded, said Dave Wicker, assistant director of athletics for Minneapolis Public Schools. 

“This is totally the brainchild of Anne,” he said. “She approached us and got it going. She’s a real special person.”

When Cross approached the district two years ago, her son Robert was playing hockey (he’s now in college at UCLA) and her daughter Shannon was involved in figure skating. Robert is a Southwest graduate and Shannon is a junior at Washburn.

“We really believe in the schools and wanted to give back,” Cross said. “I thought for an exhibition it might be fun to have cheerleaders, let them learn a little more about hockey, perform, root for their siblings and friends. I asked around and everybody was really supportive. We had two quick practices, came up with some fun little things, skated to Crazy Train, and it was a huge hit.”

The 14 current cheerleaders don’t seem to mind being confined to the bleachers during games. Instead of focusing on preparation for skating between periods and then winding down afterwards, they now have more time to interact with their friends from other schools.

“There are a tremendous amount of positives in performing in the bleachers compared to performing on the ice,” said Leah Smith, a senior at Washburn and a team captain. “This season, with Covid, has allowed our team to grow in ways we didn’t think was possible. There is a renewed sense of teamwork and a new meaning of what a team is. In the bleachers we now interact and talk with each other so much more than when we were solely an on-ice performing group. We’ve all grown closer to each other, and there are so many more opportunities to build up future leaders.

“We have become a lot more spontaneous, and we’ve definitely learned how to live in the moment. I think we now have a better understanding for the game itself. And there’s definitely more emphasis on making each performance count and noticeable because we’re not the center of attention compared to taking the ice for a few minutes at a time.”

Holding cheerleading practices can be an obstacle because they attend different schools in different parts of the city, but the group sometimes gathers via Zoom. Most of the cheerleaders train as figure skaters five or six days a week.

“The figure skating community has been really responsive to and happy about these girls being involved in hockey,” Cross said. “It’s fun to connect two worlds that probably should have been connected.”

Aislyn Brogdon, a junior at Patrick Henry, said being a hockey cheerleader is a fun way to be involved in school and the community.

“I would never have talked to half the girls on the team because I don’t go to the same school as them,” she said. 

Leah Smith, a senior at Washburn and another team captain, called the cheerleading team “a leading example for unifying our city and our school communities.”

“I think our diverse representation of the seven schools will help to inspire other city-wide sports and movements to strive for inclusion,” she added. “To me this symbol of representing all seven schools is very powerful, and it inspires and pushes me to grow and expand not only my social circle but also my understanding of what a team can be.”

--Pictured at the top of this story are team members, schools and grades:  

Back row (L to R)

Kumi Mizuno (Southwest, 11)

Shannon Cross (Washburn, 11)

Maggie Altmann (Edison, 11)

Jane Olney (Washburn, 11)

Leah Smith (Washburn, 12)

Middle row

Coco Bina (Southwest, 12)

Avery Lash (Henry, 12)

Keira O’Day (Washburn, 7)

Aislyn Brodgon (Henry, 11)

Front row

Eleanor Tracy (South, 8).

Dana Smith (Washburn, 9), 

Simone Schaan (Henry, 10)

Olivia Hols (Southwest, 9)

Lydia Martin (Roosevelt, grade 9)

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org

John’s Journal: A Circle Of Gold Is Complete

 

Phill Drobnick of Eveleth was the coach of the 2018 U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning men’s curling team. His late grandfather, Ron Drobnick, was the goalie on the Eveleth High School hockey team that won the first MSHSL state tournament in 1945.

Phill owns a large gold medal for his Olympic accomplishment. His grandpa won a small gold medal as a 1945 state champion, but somewhere over the years Ron’s medal went missing. But as of today, a mystery gold medal that was awarded to one of the members of the 1945 Eveleth Golden Bears and was found by a Minnesota native in 2018 in a Goodwill store in Texas, is in the hands of the Drobnick family, completing the circle of gold.

We don’t know if the medal once belonged to Ron Drobnick, who died in 2007. When his widow, Margaret, died in 2013, the family went through their belongings. They located Ron’s third-place medal from the 1946 state tournament but the gold medal from 1945 was nowhere to be found.

How it came to be in my hands since October 2018 is quite a tale. I wrote about it during the 2019 boys state hockey tournament. Here’s an excerpt…

After the championship game, the Eveleth Eleven were awarded gold medals. The medals were small, about the size of an Iron Range thumbnail, hanging from small blue ribbons with pins to attach them to a shirt or a coat.

From there, one of those gold medals traveled a circuitous path to end up in my possession all these years later, and back at the state tournament in St. Paul. In October I received an email from retired MSHSL associate director Dorothy McIntyre. Dorothy said a friend of hers, Janet Carpenter, was in possession of a medal that Janet's son, Guy Griffiths, had found in Texas.

Janet is famous in her own right. She was a 1952 Olympian (then Janet Gerhauser), competing in pairs figure skating with John Nightingale. Janet is only the second female Winter Olympian from Minnesota, and she also was an Olympic team leader and Olympic judge. She was inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2008.

Dorothy wondered if the MSHSL would be interested in the medal (and a couple others that don't hold quite as much historical significance). She put me in touch with Janet and before long a package arrived in the mail.

I also was able to trade emails with Guy, a graduate of Sibley High School who now lives in Austin, Texas. That's where he found the 1945 medal. Here are email excerpts from him:

"I bought a collection from a man who passed away. They were part of a silent auction at Goodwill. He must have lived here. The man was also military. I believe he played basketball, too. Glad they are in good hands. Pretty special. I recognized the value and had to bring those back to my home state."

Between periods of one of the 2019 boys state hockey tournament games, I displayed the medal and talked about it on television with Tom Hauser on KSTC-TV's in-arena set. Tom, like everyone else who has seen the medal, took some photos of it. Little kids and grandparents asked to see it, hold it and be photographed with it. That little medal, and what it represents, is magical.

It turns out that one of Ron Drobnick’s sons was watching that interview. I contacted Phill Drobnick – whom I had never met -- on Wednesday after he posted a Tweet that read, “76 years ago my Grandpa Drobnick & the @egbearshockey team won the 1st MN State High School Hockey Tournament. Every March my Grandpa spent his winter vacations in St. Paul for the annual @MSHSL Hockey Tourney! I sure miss his stories.”

Phill’s Tweet got me thinking about the medal that had been sitting in my middle desk drawer. I sent him this private message on Twitter: “Hi Phill. Saw the Tweet about your Grandpa. I have a gold medal from the 1945 state hockey tournament; I've had it for a few years and have been unable to find its original owner. In honor of your Grandpa, would your family like to have it?”

Phill’s reply was magical: “Oh my gosh John that would be amazing! When my Grandpa passed away we looked all over for it. I found his 3rd place one from 1946 and many other things from State Hockey Tourneys. However, we never found the 1945 one. It would mean so much to us to have both with the team picture in a frame. That is so nice of you to offer that. This absolutely has made my day!”

After Phill and I connected, he phoned his father, Tim Drobnick, and his uncle, Gary Drobnick.

“I told them about it and they were like, whoa,” Phill said Thursday after he took possession of the medal. “My uncle remembered that he had actually heard about it on the news or at the state hockey tournament. He said for some reason he didn't put two and two together. They both were really excited and I told them that I was going to meet up with you and they said that would be great.”

Phil told me that Milan Begich, who was also on the 1945 team, was one of Ron’s lifelong friends.

“I grew up going to the hunting shack with Milan and my grandpa, so I heard the stories from the 1945 and 1946 tournaments every deer camp. You'd hear the stories again and again, and you know as the night went on they usually got more exaggerated.”

The state hockey tournament was a big part of Ron Drobnick’s life, as is clear from the opening sentences of his obituary:

Ronald Frank Drobnick, 78, of Eveleth, died Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007, in the Virginia Regional Medical Center. He was born May 26, 1928, in Eveleth to Frank and Myrtle (Fredrickson) Drobnick. He was a 1945 state high school hockey tourney champ and still holds a state record. In the years to follow, he enjoyed going to state high school hockey tournaments, where he showed great hospitality to all Iron Rangers.

To this day, Ron still holds the state tournament record for the fewest saves in one game. He made one save (one!) when Eveleth defeated Granite Falls 16-0 in the 1945 quarterfinals. The Bears beat St. Cloud 12-0 in the semifinals and captured the first state championship with a 4-3 victory over Thief River Falls.

There are a couple of different team photos of the 1945 Golden Bears. One includes 11 players; the 11 who went to state. Phill has learned that backup goaltenders didn’t usually travel with the team, and Eveleth’s backup goalie (who is the 12^th player in another photo) was Eddie Mayasich, older brother of all-time legend John Mayasich.

Phill and I met Thursday afternoon at Training Haus in Eagan, where Phill, 40, coaches the USA Curling men’s team as it prepares for the 2021 world championships in Calgary in April. I handed Phill the small cardboard envelope in which the medal was shipped to me. It was wrapped simply: in a napkin inside a Ziplock bag. Wearing an Eveleth Golden Bears hat and a T-shirt that paid tribute to the 1945 inaugural state champions, Phill slowly unwrapped the package and held the medal in his hands.

I told the story of the medal being found in Texas, but none of us know if it once belonged to Phill’s grandpa. It seems unlikely. Ron was drafted into the Navy after graduating from Eveleth High School in 1946, but never spent time in Texas. He did like to go to Florida during winter.

The main point is that Ron Drobnick’s gold medal was missing, and now a gold medal is back in family hands.

“It’s a great honor for us to have this in the name of that ‘45 team,” Phill said.

And it’s my great honor to see it go home, where it belongs. The golden circle is complete.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org

John’s Journal: The ESPNU Game That Got Some Big Assists

 

Two Minnesota boys basketball teams played under a national spotlight Monday night, but it didn’t happen without major assistance from two other schools.

Minnehaha Academy hosted Stewartville in a hastily-arranged game shown on ESPNU, but that wasn’t the original matchup. The Redhawks were scheduled to meet Houston High School from Germantown, Tennessee; that team’s first-year head coach is former NBA player Mike Miller, who spent time with the Timberwolves and has two sons on his high school team.

Winter storms over the weekend meant Houston’s flight to Minneapolis on Sunday was cancelled late Saturday, and at first it appeared that everything was off. No game, no TV, no national audience. No nothing.

But it didn’t take long for Minnehaha Academy athletic director Josh Thurow to find a way. He phoned Stewartville athletic director Tim Malone on Saturday night. The matchup made sense; Minnehaha 7-foot senior Chet Holmgren is the No. 1 recruit in the country and has yet to announce a college choice. The Stewartville Tigers’ star is 6-foot-9 senior Will Tschetter, who has signed with Michigan.

When Stewartville coach Adam Girtman received a text from Malone about the possibility on Saturday night, he thought the game was being scheduled for next season.

“He texted me and said, ‘Do you want to play Minnehaha?’ I thought, ‘Chet’s gone next year so that would probably be a good time.’ ”

Seeing Tschetter and Holmgren on the court together would be a dream matchup, and the schools made it happen. But the Tigers needed some help. Under MSHSL Covid guidelines, teams can play only two games per week until the late stages of the regular season; Stewartville already had two games scheduled this week. In addition, the regular-season limit in 2021 is 18 games; the Tigers already had 18 games booked.

Malone called Pine Island athletic director Lisa Myran-Schutte and asked if the Panthers could reschedule a Hiawatha Valley League game set for Tuesday night. She immediately said yes. Malone then called Waseca athletic director Joe Hedervare. Stewartville and Waseca were slated to play a non-conference game Feb. 25, and Hedervare immediately agreed to cancel that game and allow the Tigers to remain within the 18-game limit.

“I called Joe and he said, ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you’ve got to go take that,’ ” Malone said. “It wouldn’t have happened without Lisa and Joe. We’re all trying to offer opportunities for our kids and it’s important to follow all the guidelines.”

The game was played under the current state-mandated limit of 250 spectators; Stewartville was allotted 50 tickets for fans who made the 90-minute drive from their hometown of 6,000 people south of Rochester to the Minnehaha Academy campus in south Minneapolis.

Minnehaha won the game 87-63 to improve to 8-1; the Redhawks’ only loss came against IMG Academy of Florida. Stewartville is 8-2 with a previous loss to Caledonia. Minnehaha, a member of the Independent Metro Athletic Conference, is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A and the Tigers are ranked fourth in Class 2A.

Tschetter had 19 points for Stewartville, which was led by senior guard Nolan Stier’s 24. Holmgren topped the Redhawks with 18 points, along with eight rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots. Prince Aligbe, Isaiah Davis and Mercy Miller all scored 14 points and Hercy Miller had 12 for Minnehaha.

“The general feeling was, I think, being grateful and proud of how we played,” Girtman said Tuesday. “We battled. We didn’t give up, which I’m most proud of. It was worth it. It was a great experience for the kids. Besides Will, most of these kids won’t be on ESPN in the future.”

Tschetter said, “I think our team was pretty satisfied with how we played. We left it all on on the court, and ultimately that’s what it’s about. There’s nothing better you can ask for.

“A lot of people are asking me what was it like to play against the No. 1 player in nation. He’s really good. You need to give him credit where credit is due. It was a super cool opportunity.”

Both athletic directors have experience coaching at the highest levels of basketball. Malone was an assistant to head coach Bob Vaughan on the Braham boys teams that won Class 2A state titles in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He then became head coach of the Braham girls team, winning the state championship in 2011 and finishing second at state in 2010 and 2013.

Braham’s 2011 state title came with a 68-61 win over Minnehaha Academy, coached by Thurow. A year earlier, the Redhawks defeated Braham 64-46 in the championship game. Thurow coached 11 Minnehaha teams in the state tournament between 2005 and 2018, when he stepped away from coaching.

Malone and his wife Michelle were enjoying a pre-Valentine’s dinner at Seth’s Downunder Bar & Grill  in Stewartville on Saturday night … it’s operated by Stier’s parents. Malone had finished his prime rib when his phone began blowing up with texts and Twitter and Facebook messages from Thurow.

He called Thurow and learned Minnehaha’s opponent for a game less than 48 hours away was stranded in Tennessee. That call was at around 9 p.m. Saturday. By 10 a.m. Sunday, Malone had called his counterparts in Pine City and Waseca and everything had been ironed out. The Tigers-Redhawks matchup was set and ESPN approved.

“I like to do whatever I can to put our small town in the spotlight,” Malone said. “I was hoping this would be a shot in the arm for every third- and fourth-grader in town who got to watch their buddies on TV.

“We’re servants to our kids and our communities.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org

Parkers Prairie Coach Reaches 600 Career Victories

Congratulations to Parkers Prairie girls basketball coach John Noga, who on Thursday night became the 10th girls coach in state history to win 600 games.

No. 600 came as the Panthers defeated Brandon-Evansville 63-36. Parkers Prairie is 7-1 on the season.

Here are the top 10:

1 Mike Dreier, New London-Spicer 970 *2 Myron Glass, Rochester Lourdes 719 *3 Ron Gunderson, New Prague 684 4 Gary Lembcke, Norwood-Young America 648 6 Wendy Kohler, Alexandria 628

*5 Randy Myhre, Barnum 626

7 Pat Bowlin, Winona Cotter 625 8 Bill Gottenborg, Hawley 616 *9 Dick Simpson, Brandon/Evansville 605 10 John Noga, Parkers Prairie 600 *retired

Feb. 11: Here's What's Happening

 

Congratulations to Minnesota high school football alums who are Super Bowl champions with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

--Tyler Johnson, Minneapolis North

--Joe Haeg, Brainerd

 --Jack Cichy, Hill-Murray

--Antoine Winfield Jr., Eden Prairie (freshman season, then moved to Texas)

This week’s state tournament

Congratulations to all the schools that have qualified for this week’s one-act play state festival. It’s normally held at O’Shaughnessy Auditorium at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, but this year it will be held virtually. Class A schools will compete Thursday and Class AA Friday, with and online awards ceremony will be held Saturday.

Class A: Fillmore Central, Belle Plaine, Central Minnesota Christian, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, Milaca, Hawley, Rock Ridge, Bagley

Class AA: Rochester Mayo, Prior Lake, Irondale, St. Michael-Albertville, Holy Angels, North Branch, Alexandria

Milestones and more

--The busiest basketball coach in Minnesota reached a big milestone Friday when the Mountain Iron-Buhl boys team defeated Lakeview Christian 90-61 in Mountain Iron. The victory was the 500^th for MIB coach Buffetta; he has coached the MIB girls for 23 years and is in his second season as the head coach of the Rangers boys basketball team.

I wrote about Buffeta’s dual coaching roles in December 2019. You can read that story by clicking here https://old.mshsl.org/mshsl/johnsjournal.asp?index=77 and scrolling until you see this headline: One Coach, Two Teams: A Busy Season at Mountain Iron-Buhl.

--Parkers Prairie girls basketball coach John Noga is on the verge of 600 career victories. The Panthers lost for the first time in seven games this season against Hancock in a battle of unbeatens, 37-35 on Saturday. They will host Brandon-Evansville on Thursday. 

--Cambridge-Isanti girls basketball coach Jody Ledahl reached the 250-win mark with a win at Princeton.

--Congratulations to Wayzata boys hockey coach Pat O’Leary on his 150th career victory. The Trojans defeated St. Michael-Albertville 8-2 on Saturday, giving them a record of 5-2. Wayzata will play at Edina on Thursday and at home against Eden Prairie on Saturday.

--With a career-high 54 points Monday night in 103-77 win over Hermantown, Duluth Marshall's Gianna Kneepkens has the most 50+ point scoring games in Minnesota girls history, surpassing Carlie Wagner of New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva.

--There was a special moment for the Proctor boys basketball team on Friday when the Rails hosted Greenway. Proctor senior Nick Jauhola suffered a broken leg during the football season and is still recovering from that injury. But in an agreement between both teams, Nick was able to be in the starting lineup and score a basket. Good job by both teams.

--There is an award called the High School Mascot of The Day -- apparently it’s a Twitter thing – and Wednesday’s winner was the Moorhead Spuds. That is no surprise to anyone who followed our Nickname Challenge contest last year, in which the Spuds topped a field of 64 Minnesota high school nicknames in Twitter voting, narrowly defeating the Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms in the championship matchup.

Thank A Ref

Great note from Darren Glynn, principal of Bertha-Hewitt:

Our student council advisor, Al Hanson, has the student council kids make a gift basket (photo above) for every official that comes to our district. The basket will include a Powerade, candy, mints, a few energy bars, sometimes a gift from our entrepreneurial class, and most importantly, a hand-written Thank You from a student for coming and officiating at our school. We've been doing this for many years. When the refs show up, they get their paycheck, gift basket, and a Thank You card. Mr. Hanson's intent is to teach students about kindness, character and respect for officials. Win/Win.

John’s Journal: The Youngest Hoops Coach In Minnesota

 

Stevin Lipp was having lunch with his father in downtown Breckenridge one day in mid-October. Stevin’s phone chirped and he stepped outside Wilkin Drink & Eatery to take the call. He stood on the sidewalk at the corner of Minnesota Avenue and 5^th Street in the heart of the town of 3,400 that rides the North Dakota border 56 miles south of Fargo.

It’s a four-way stop where almost everyone who stops recognizes the other drivers as well as pedestrians. Lipp heard folks in vehicles greet him by name. “Hey Stevin!” “How’re you doin’?”

He remembers the moment because the phone call was from Breckenridge High School activities director Chad Fredericksen. That morning, the 21-year-old Lipp had interviewed with Fredericksen and other members of a committee who were in the process of hiring a boys basketball coach for the Cowboys.

Fredericksen said, “Stevin, if I were to ask you if you wanted this job right now, what would you say?” Lipp replied, “Without hesitation, absolutely. Yes.”

At that moment, at the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and 5^th Street, Lipp became Minnesota’s youngest head coach of a high school boys basketball team and one of youngest head coaches in any sport. (The only current younger head coach I’m aware of is Aitkin dance coach Kaitlin Wake, 19.)

The Lipp family has a strong sports-related history in Breckenridge. Stevin’s late grandfather, also named Steve Lipp, was the boys basketball coach in the 1960s and 1970s, taking the Cowboys to the state tournament in 1976, 1978 and 1979. Stevin’s father, Rollie, and uncles played at Breckenridge. Rollie is a former public-address announcer for North Dakota State basketball games and is a familiar radio and streaming voice of Cowboys games.

The Cowboys boys basketball team didn’t return to the state tournament until 2015, when Stevin Lipp was a sophomore, and again when he was a senior in 2017.

The younger Lipp was a 1,000-point scorer for the Cowboys and set a school single-game record of 41 points. After graduating in 2017, Stevin crossed the Red River into Wahpeton to play basketball and earn an associate’s degree in criminal justice from North Dakota State College of Science in 2019. He coached AAU basketball for two years and took a job selling insurance in Fargo.

When the coaching job at his high school was posted, Lipp contacted Fredericksen.

“He reached out to me and asked if it would be a stretch for him to apply,” Fredericksen said. “I said, ‘No, we’ll look at it and call you back if you’re not going to be a candidate.’ He turned out to be a really great candidate.”

Lipp said, “They might have been surprised that I wanted to be in this position at a young age. I felt pretty good about it. I knew I accurately projected how passionate I was about wanting the job, what it meant to me. I laid down my expectations of where I’d like to see the program.

“They must have liked what they heard. I’m certainly glad the way the cards got deals and I’m happy to be in this community.”

The appeal of having Lipp coach was clear to everyone who knew him. He was a three-sport athlete (basketball, football, track) in high school and the current Cowboys athletes certainly knew who he was.

“I think most of the kids in our program kind of idolized Stevin, because he was on some pretty good teams that made it to state,” Fredericksen said. “There are lot of angles that kids looked up to.”

Lipp kept his insurance job with the Todd Vanyo State Farm agency in Fargo, although he moved back to Breckenridge.

“He’s been great,” Lipp said of Vanyo. “I told him I planned on applying for this job. I wasn’t anticipating they’d give me an offer to stick around, but they let me work from home here in Breckenridge. It’s been great.”

His days are focused on insurance early and basketball late. The Cowboys opened the season with five victories before losing at Wahpeton 84-76 on Saturday. In their previous two games they beat Perham 59-46 and Barnesville 61-59 in overtime.

“Wahpeton shot 56 percent from the three-point line,” he said. “That one stung a little. Our kids really wanted it. But we told them if we went 2-1 vs. Perham, Barnesville and Wahpeton, we’d take it.”

The Cowboys lead the Heart O’ Lakes Conference with a 4-0 record in league play, averaging 72 points while allowing an average of 56.8. Their top scorer is Cooper Yaggie (19.7 points per game), followed by Anthony Conzemius (12.7), Jonah Christensen (12.0), Sebastian Anderson (9.2) and Adam Ohm (7.5). They will play host to Frazee on Thursday and Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta on Friday.

Lipp’s assistant coaches are Jordan Christensen, 25, Derek Grahn, 31, and 70-something Dick Cortes. (In this photo are Lipp and Christensen.)

Fredericksen said of Lipp, “He’s one of our own so we knew him really well. We knew how hard he works and how well he knows basketball. He came in and interviewed and knocked our socks off. It’s been good. He’s learning, he got a couple coaches on staff who have helped and mentored him a little bit.”

Lipp has experienced what he called “a couple weird looks, weird vibes” from officials who don’t realize he’s the head coach. “But once they chat with me a little bit and see I’m respecting the officials and the other teams’ programs, I’m sure they’ll come along and see that I’m trying to do what’s best for the basketball community. And at the end of the day that’s why we all, as officials or coaches, do what’s best for the game and the kids.”

Lipp, who will be 22 in March, said when he applied for the job he didn’t know if he stood a chance.

“I was assuming I wouldn’t this get kind of opportunity for a long time if I didn’t put my hat in the ring,” he said. “I had two years of AAU experience, which is completely different. It was kind of how I landed the job at State Farm; I never came in thinking I would get this job. But I just love getting the experience whether the interview goes well or if I get the job.

“It’s been a great experience for me. I just hope the kids and other coaches are enjoying it as much as I am.”

--Photos by Carol Colby via Breck Sports Talk.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org

Milestones And More

 

The busiest basketball coach in Minnesota reached a big milestone Friday when the Mountain Iron-Buhl boys team defeated Lakeview Christian 90-61 in Mountain Iron. The victory was the 500^th for MIB coach Buffetta; he has coached the MIB girls for 23 years and is in his second season as the head coach of the Rangers boys basketball team.

I wrote about Buffeta’s dual coaching roles in December 2019. You can read that story by clicking here https://old.mshsl.org/mshsl/johnsjournal.asp?index=77 and scrolling until you see this headline: One Coach, Two Teams: A Busy Season at Mountain Iron-Buhl.

--Parkers Prairie girls basketball coach John Noga is on the verge of 600 career victories. The Panthers lost for the first time in seven games this season against Hancock in a battle of unbeatens, 37-35 on Saturday. They will host Brandon-Evansville on Thursday. 

--Congratulations to Wayzata boys hockey coach Pat O’Leary on his 150th career victory. The Trojans defeated St. Michael-Albertville 8-2 on Saturday, giving them a record of 5-2. Wayzata will play at Edina on Thursday and at home against Eden Prairie on Saturday.

--There was a special moment for the Proctor boys basketball team on Friday when the Rails hosted Greenway. Proctor senior Nick Jauhola suffered a broken leg during the football season and is still recovering from that injury. But in an agreement between both teams, Nick was able to be in the starting lineup and score a basket. Good job by both teams.