September 2022

The Challenges of White Pine. The ancient white pines living along Baird Lake had been there a long time—no less than two centuries, and more likely closer to three.

It was a semi-good week for the USA Women's National Hockey Team at the IIHF World Championships. After a blistering performance in the prelims and in the quarter and semifinals, the Yanks appeared poised to grab another Gold Medal to bring back with them. But after losing to the USA club in a 5-2 tilt in the preliminaries, Team Canada had other ideas and came up with a hard-nosed defensive effort to beat the Americans in a 2-1 thriller on Sunday afternoon. It was a disappointment to say the least. The USA entrant had amassed a 4-0 record after beating Canada and built up a 52-5 scoring differential before the Gold Medal tilt. In the game for Gold, the USA managed only 2 SOG in the first and 9 in the second period before putting 12 on the net in the third. At least a third of them were perimeter shots that were unlikely to score without a tip in front or other offensive maneuvers. I counted only five shots that I'd consider Grade A scoring chances, and the team just never seemed to be overly aggressive in going after offense throughout this game. Both teams played well on defense, and USA netminder Nicole Hensley kept the Yanks right where they needed to be, but in the end, to no avail. The USA returns home with Silver. HILARY KNIGHT returned home with another award of sorts. While competing in the tourney, she became the all-time leading IIHF Women's scorer in World Championship tourneys. Against Team Canada in their prelim tilt, Knight surpassed Canada's Hayley Wickenheiser to become the new leader. Wickenheiser had a total of 86 points to lead the pack, and now Knight is at 51G & 36A for 87 points. (in 64 GP) As word filtered through the hockey world, speculation began to consider if Knight would be the greatest ever at the end of her playing days. If I think of at least three of the players in that debate, Wickenheiser, Cammi Granato, and Jayna Hefford, Knight has to be a part of that discussion. But has she done enough to move past Granato or Wickenheiser? That