A Flashback Friday Edition:
Minnesota vs Wisconsin: Williams Arena, 1979
Photo courtesy of Golden Gopher Hockey
Monthly Archives: January 2016
On the Sioux Trail: Schwandt Family
U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, Part VII
The Schwandt State Monument
On the 18 August 1862, the Schwandt family farm was one of many attacked by roving Dakota warriors. Six members of the Schwandt family were killed, along with one family friend. Young August Schwandt escaped by crawling away through the tall grass, and daughter Mary was away from the farm at the time. Mary was soon taken captive, however.
The victims were buried in scattered, unmarked graves about the farm where their bodies were found. The Schwandt Monument was erected in 1915 by the state of Minnesota. It is located off of Renville County Road 15 south of Sacred Heart.
” ‘Till the war drum throbs no longer,
And the battle flags are furled
In the parliament of men
And the federation of the World.’ ”
— Spoken at the monument dedication in 1915
Last Man Standing
The last Happy Chef
The original Happy Chef restaurant opened in Mankato, MN in 1963, and it is still open, even though the original owner is trying to find a new buyer.
When I was a kid, we would stop here for breakfast every time we made the drive to see the relatives in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Traveling down US Hwy 169 once again, I had to swing in, for old times sake. Good times, and very good memories.
At The Happy Chef’s peak, there were 80 of these restaurants throughout the midwest, most of them with the giant, smiling Chef outside to greet diners. Today, the original in Mankato is the last one.
On the Sioux Trail: The Battle of Wood Lake
U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, Part VI
The Wood Lake Battle Field
Colonel Sibley attempted to negotiate a surrender from Chief Little Crow at the beginning of September, 1862. Little Crow was interested in ending hostilities, but was unwilling to surrender. The stage was set for one final battle.
After a delay, which caused great consternation among the settlers and newspapermen of the time, Sibley finally left Fort Ridgely with 1500 men on 19 September. Sibley’s troops camped near Lone Tree Lake, although at the time they thought they were camped next to Wood Lake, which is 3-1/2 miles further west. So, in effect, the battle is misnamed. Sibley was unaware that the Dakota warriors were assembling near his encampment.
With less than half the numbers of Sibley, Little Crow meant to attack the soldiers in the early morning hours of 23 September, after the soldiers broke camp and were filing along in a long, thin line. Sibley did not break camp as early as the Dakotas expected. In fact, it was well past sun-up when several soldiers left the camp without their superiors’ knowledge, in order to look for more food. It was reported that the group of soldiers had planned on going to the Upper Sioux Agency to dig for potatoes. When the small group of soldiers left in their wagons, they ran straight into a party of Dakota. When the shooting started, the main body of Dakota warriors were not ready for the attack, and Sibley’s force was alerted to the possible ambush.
Battle of Wood Lake obelisk
The battle lasted only two hours, and the Dakota suffered major losses, including the death of Chief Mankato by cannonball. Sibley’s force suffered 7 dead and 34 severely wounded.
According to the caretakers of the historic battle site, there are still 14 Dakota warriors buried in the battlefield. It should be noted, as tempting as it is, one should not drive through the gate and onto the grass.
On the Sioux Trail: Battle of Birch Coulee
U.S. – Dakota War of 1862, Part V
“The Battle of Birch Coulee”, by Dorothea Paul, circa 1975
Colonel Henry Sibley sent out a burial party of 170 men from Fort Ridgely on 31 August 1862 in search of dead settlers. Captain Hiram Grant led the party, which buried 54 bodies by the end of the day of 1 September. At that time, Chief Little Crow was leading 110 warriors from New Ulm, and Gray Bird was coming down the south side of the Minnesota River with 350 warriors. The burial party was unaware of the Dakota warriors, but the Dakota were well aware of the soldiers.
The Birch Coulee Battle site today: Prairie
During the night, Gray Bird’s force crossed the Minnesota River and surrounded the soldiers’ camp. On the morning of 2 September, the Dakota attacked, wounding over 30 soldiers and killing almost all of the horses within minutes. Colonel Sibley could hear sounds of the battle from Fort Ridgely, which is 16 miles away. He sent a relief party of over 240 men and an artillery brigade immediately. The shelling from the artillery ended the attack, although the siege had lasted 31 hours.
U.S. forces saw their worst defeat of the US-Dakota War at Birch Coulee, 22 men were killed and 47 severely wounded. Over 90 horses were also dead.
Berry Events Center
Marquette, Michigan
Center ice
Alaska was playing Northern Michigan this weekend, so I made the short drive from Houghton to Marquette. Built in 1999, the Berry Event Center (BEC) is one of the few Olympic sized rinks in the WCHA. The Carlson Center in Fairbanks is another, so there would be no advantage there. The single bowl rink seats 3802 for hockey.
The Nanooks during pregame warmups
Alaska came out flying tonight, after winning in OT on Friday. In spite of that, NMU’s Denver Pierce opened the scoring. Fairbanks native, Alec Hajdukovich, scored a power play goal to tie it off of a deflection. Tyler Morley of the Nanooks then scored off of a Hajdukovich assist to take the 2-1 lead into intermission.
The Nanooks’ deep seeded and unnatural desire to spend time in the penalty box then took over. They had five penalties in the second period (six if you count the boarding penalty at the end of the first – which I do). Alaska did a great job on the penalty kill, but they were still lucky to give up only one goal to Dominik Shine, and went into the second intermission tied at 2.
Alaska came back out flying in the third, and really dominated play. Justin Woods sniped a shot from the point for a PPG early in the period, but that was the last opportunity the Nanooks’ capitalized on. Ryan Trenz would tie the game up for NMU, and Barrett Kaib put the Wildcats in front. Brock Maschmeyer added an empty net goal for NMU.
A missed opportunity for Alaska to get a road sweep in Marquette.
Jesse Jenks had 31 saves for Alaska, and Mathias Dahlstrom had 35 for Northern Michigan. Attendance was 2120.
The Mac
Houghton, Michigan
John MacInnes Student Ice Arena
Up in Houghton on Friday to watch the Minnesota State Mavericks take on the Michigan Tech Huskies. A lot of history with the MTU program, including some epic battles against Minnesota during the Herb Brooks era.
Action at center ice at MacInnes
Minnesota State came out flying in the first period, out shooting MTU 16-6, but Jamie Phillips was outstanding in net for the Huskies, and the game was scoreless after one.
Play was even in the second period, although MSU found the back of the net twice, with Zach Stepan and Jordan Nelson scoring. Sandwiched in-between the Maverick goals was one by Alex Petan for MTU. 2-1 Mavs after 2.
Tech came out flying in the third, Phillips remained strong in net, and Mark Auk scored half-way through the period for the Huskies.
The game went into OT, with both teams having scoring chances, and the momentum seemed to be with Michigan Tech. Still, the extra period ended without a score, and the game goes into the record book as a tie.
Phillips made 30 saves overall for MTU and Jason Pawloski made 27 for MSU. Attendance was 3060.
I have to admit, I really enjoyed the experience at “The Mac”. Home of the Huskies since 1972, and named after famed Husky coach John MacInnes (yrs:1956-1983), the arena has some of the most engaged fans in D-1 hockey. I saw some of that at The Joe in Detroit during the GLI, but it’s a completely different experience at MacInnes. The Husky Pep Band can really get the place rocking too. During the second intermission, there is a long time tradition of the Copper Country Anthem, which is a complete bastardization of the Polka song: Blue Skirt Waltz. Fans stand up and sway in unison to the rather somber rhythm.
All in all, one hell of a place to see a hockey game.
Revisiting the U.P.
This would be Rover country:
I may be testing the winter design abilities of my 300ZX, as well as the Cooper winter tires, and possibly my luck, but that’s what roads were made for.
Quite a bit of fresh snow through northern Wisconsin and Yooper Michigan. Snow machines were everywhere, in fact every corner bar and gas station in each hamlet I passed today, had at least 20 snow machines in front of it.
Freezing rain this afternoon, on top of the snow made the roads greasy… simply greasy.
Once again, I wish I had the Rover to traverse this country in, but the 300 will have to do.
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