The Jackrabbits had studied well. Being good students, they welcomed the St. Cloud State hockey club to the Larson Ice Center to prove that this time they were ready for the test.

Not forgetting the embarrassment of the second weekend of the season, the Jacks brought out their A game and gave the hard- skating SCSU a much improved weekend series.

The Jacks were able to split the series, getting a much needed win out over the weekend. Friday night the Jacks took SCSU to overtime winning 5-4 but were not quite able to compete for a win on Saturday due to penalty troubles losing 6-1.

Starting off the weekend, St. Cloud started fast by out shooting the Jacks 15-6 and getting two past Heath Isaacson to take a 2-0 score into the first intermission.

Down 2-0 it took the Jacks until the 13:50 mark before they were able to light up the lamps with a power-play goal by Ben Bofenkamp with assists going to Nate Bofenkamp and Mike Schaub.

With the energy back on their bench, the Jacks didn’t relent and Billy Schneider scored the first in his eventual hat trick with an unassissted goal 37 seconds after the Jacks celebrated their first. Schneider would add the Jacks 3rd goal of the period with another unasissted goal with 4:07 left in the period.

After St. Cloud finally answered the Jacks streak to end the 2nd period. With 15:13 left to go in the period, Schneider burned the St. Cloud goalie for the hattrick assisted by Adam Nelson.

St. Cloud was quick to answer with a goal by Dan Score assited by Lyle Honsey and Derek Gessel at the 14:41 left in the 3rd. Score’s goal tied it up at 4-4 where the score would stay until overtime.

Not being satisfied to get one point for a tie, the Jacks outplayed St. Cloud and won the game with 3:21 left in the extra period on a shot from the point by Pat Deniger, assisted by Schaub and Jon Samuelson to end it at 5-4.

The Jacks finished the game with only 4 penalties for 14 minutes and 35 shots on goal, compared to St. Cloud’s 7 penalties for 18 minutes and 29 shots on goal.

Saturday would prove not to be as exciting as penalty trouble handcuffed the Jacks against the talented St. Cloud squad. After playing disicplined hockey all night Firday and only racking up 14 penalty minutes, the Jacks were tagged with 12 on Saturday for 34 minutes. Hampered by penalties, the Jacks couldn’t muster more than one goal Saturday despite a few stretches of impressive skating.

St. Cloud took advantage and scored four power play goals play goals and were able to score five unanswered goals. St. Cloud was the first to get on the scoreboard with a goal by Nick Belford at the 12:40 mark. The Jacks held tight throughout the 1st period with play that won them the game got them to overtime on Friday.

Ending out the period, the Jacks started colagulating in the penalty box and let the game get away. With 17:57 left in the second St. Cloud started taking advantage of Jackrabbit penalties with a goal by Dan Score. Within a three minute stretch St. Cloud would add two more goals to end the period up 4-0. The only high point for the Jacks beyond the 1st period was a goal by Ryan Taylor assisted by John Cramer with 6:23 left to play in the 3rd.

With the weekend split, the Jacks now stand at 14-5-2 for the season heading into their final two weekends of GPCHA conference play and ranked 3rd in their region.

“If we have aspirations for the national tournament, we need to win all four games, each of the four one at a time. We have at least gotten to the point where we are in our own tournament (GPCHA),” said head coach Marty Schipull.

#1.887473:537582177.jpg:hockey.jpg:Tom Wilson, of St. Cloud State, trys to pin a Jackrabbit to the boards in Saturday?s game. St. Cloud won the game which saw 19 penalties called. SDSU did split the weekend showing their ability to play with one of the better teams in the conference.:

With two wins last weekend over the University of Nebraska Hockey Club, the Jackrabbit Hockey Club advanced their winning streak to seven games.

Led by Billy Schneider’s 7 points and Andy Schuster’s 7 goals, the Jacks finished the weekend series with 108 shots on goal. 58 came in Friday’s 7-2 win and 50 in Saturday’s 12-4 victory.

Getting the weekend off to a good start, the Jacks opened the series with 22 shots in the 1st period of Friday’s game. Schuster and Schneider each started their scoring touches in the 1st when Schneider assisted a goal by Luke Tegels and Schuster followed that with a goal assisted by Trevor Selch and Ryan Taylor. The next Jacks goal came from Schneider and started a streak of five unanswered goals for the Jacks.

Going into Saturday, the U of N club ran with the Jacks for most of the 1st period, keeping the score 3-2 going into the 2nd.

Schuster got the Jacks back into the pace ending the 1st with a goal at the end and a goal to start off the 2nd. With the pace of the game back in their control, the Jacks ran the U of N club out of gas and won the 2nd and 3rd period 9-2. Schuster finished the game with a hattrick plus two.

This weekend the Jacks will be welcoming the talented St. Cloud State squad. A GPCHA tournament seeding on the line for the Jacks who will be looking to improve since their last outing with SCSU. The last time the teams hooked up for a weekend series, SCSU taught the Jacks a few lessons on the importance of hockey fundamentals.

“The first time we met they were putting 100 foot passes right on the tape, where as we couldn’t catch a ten footer. But we are a lot better of team now,” said Jackrabbit coach Marty Schipull.

“We concede nothing but need to play our very best to stay with their very good team for a chance at wins.”

#1.887538:537582177.jpg:hockey.jpg:Adam Feist, a defenseman for University of Nebraska-Lincoln, trys to shut down a SDSU skater during the weekend?s games. SDSU outshot UN-L 108-51 in two wins. :

A long time ago, on a campus much, much smaller, finding a parking space took under 10 minutes. To find a spot amongst the crowd today requires a brave warrior with a trusty vehicle, a lot of time, and a lead foot.

Like gladiators in a coliseum, students circle the parking lots on campus, knowing, “strike fast, strike first.” In the arena, there is nothing left for the weak, except maybe that long walk of defeat: a long walk that leaves a student red-cheeked all day from the cold Canadian front blowing across campus.

This scenario straddles past, future – and present: trying to find a decent parking spot on campus turns the lots into an all-out battlefield with the daily main event usually starting as early as 9 a.m. around Diary Micro and Yeager Hall, then carrying over to the University Student Union lot until noon. While parking always seems to be a problem, overcrowding on campus has increased competition for spots this year.

Last fall the number of parking spots on campus was approximately equal to the number of permits sold. Now the number of permits sold outnumbers spots by 660.

For senior psychology major Josh Kuehler, it didn’t take long to notice the increased nastiness involved in parking. In the first week back on campus after the break Kuehler got struck while sitting in a parking lot trying to leave class.

“This girl just smoked me and then I hit the car in front of me. Next thing we are all out of the cars and one girl has blood on her face and a big star (shatter) on her windshield.”

Kuehler like many others has noticed the increase of students looking for spots this semester.

“It’s dangerous. Its sharks in the water, the way people have to drive around searching for any spot.”

With 6,784 active parking decals out there this semester for 6,124 total spots on campus, there is no room for pleasantries.

Now with winter descending on the larger student body, the university has sold 601 more passes than last semester, 660 more decals than spots available on the entire campus.

According to Mike Whitford, a student representative on the Parking and Traffic Committee, SDSU slways has had the policy of selling to everyone who needs one. The problem coming from overselling certain classes, that he feels is where the university may be wrong.

“The main problem really is that everyone wants to park right by the doors, and that is where the perception of the problem is.”

The Parking and Traffic Committee met this last Wednesday but Whitford said what the committee did accomplish was setting up a proposal for a mass transit system plan to take effect sometime down the road.

In the university’s 50-year plan, available parking for students will be on the exterior of campus. A mass-transit system will be put in place to get students to their classes.

One of the only immediate topics covered is the plan to remove the meter spots in front of Pierson and Brown and turn them into 20 minute parking. Doing so would allow students spots to unload their cars closer to the dorms.

“There aren’t a lot of solutions right now because there is no money to extend the number of parking spots,” Whitford said. “It would be great, but we don’t have the resources.”

To UPD Chief Tim Heaton nothing has really changed in seven years, every semester brings about the complaints.

The UPD is in charge of selling the parking passes but Heaton is quick to point out that they don’t have much to do with alloting the number of spots each class gets. Their primary duty is to enforce what the university has decided.

In doing that job is where Heaton has seen a lot of the students frustration in not being able to find a good spot.

“You may have to walk aways, it sounds unsympathetic but everybody has the same chance. I feel bad that anyone has to make that walk.”

Heaton just hopes that students understand that the UPD is paid to enforce the laws and just because they didn’t get caught once doesn’t mean they won’t eventually. During the day Heaton usually has three to four people out ticketing.

Heaton and Whitford both wish that more students were aware of how they can go about appealing a ticket. Both encourage any student that feels they were legitimately wronged to appeal their tickets.

Besides that neither had any solutions to offer to students stuck fighting in the parking lots before class.

“Getting there early is the main thing, you have to accept the fact that you aren’t always going to get a spot and you will have to walk, ” Heaton said.

The general consensus from most seems to be that with SDSU’s continued growth something will need to be done. Enrollment is projected to increase again and with another large increase of students the percentage of students being able to find a spot will decrease.

With the Jackrabbit Guarantee and the proposed move to D-I, Whitford feels that there is going to have to be a solution outside of the mass transit system in the 50-year plan.

Until then no one seems to have the answers and new lots or a ramp do not appear in the immediate plans. A parking garage or ramp which has been voiced by students will never really be an option. As was discussed in a forum last semester a garage would cost $10,000 per parking space.

Having no funds or plans for next year, students may agree that after surviving this semester the off-season may not be long enough to prepare for the ensuing battle of next year.

#1.887576:3053451464.jpg:park.jpg::

The Jackrabbit Hockey Club got off to a firey start in the new year with an 11-3 win on Friday and continued dominating Carelton College Saturday night with 10-5 victory.

On Friday, goals by eight different Jack players ignited the Jackrabbit offense in the new year.

Ben Bofenkamp, Andy Schuster, and Adam Nelson netted two goals apiece for the Jacks on Carelton’s goalie Ben Parker before time finally ended the Jackrabbit onslaught.

Schuster led the team in points with four, tallying two assists to match his goals. Four players tied with two points apiece. Eight others added a point each.

After being embarrassed in Friday’s defeat Carelton arrived at the Larson Ice Complex with something to prove, and gave the Jacks a better game. Carelton outshot the Jacks throughout the first two periods and went into intermission before the third period with the score 6-4 in favor of SDSU.

Starting off the third Carelton got with in one of the Jacks with a goal at the 18:50 mark. That would be all the closer Carelton could get as right-winger Ryan Taylor burned Carelton with a goal at the 15:04 mark. Andy Schuster added a goal in the period to end the game 10-5. Taylor led the scoring with a hat trick.

Taylor had three points along with Justin Reimer. Reimer had two assists and one goal. Schuster and John Cramer pitched in with two points. Six others had one point in the game.

The Jackrabbit Hockey Club (9-4-2) heads up to Aberdeen this weekend to face Aberdeen Collegiate Hockey Club (NSU) for the last time this season. Last time the two teams met the game was cancelled due to fighting.

Playing against a thin-benched Des Moines Collegiate Hockey Club the Jacks couldn’t pull off the victory last Saturday night and exhausted DMCHC on Sunday at the Larson Ice Complex in Brooking.

With the 8-7 loss on Saturday before the packed stands and a 12-6 victory on Sunday, the Jackrabbit hockey club improved their record to 6-3-1 for the season.

Saturday DMCHC was able to keep thier legs and lungs in the game, despite having only two subs. DMCHC won the game at the 1:03 mark in the 3rd period with a goal by Jim Krueger assisted by Tony Weil warding off the Jack’s late surge.

The late Jackrabbit surge came after DMCHC built a large 5-1 lead early in the second period. After the 5th DMCHC goal the

Jacks exploited their tired opponents for three goals in a minute and 55 second stint, two of them coming from right-winger Nate Bofenkamp.

Getting back into the game quickly the Jacks traded goals throughout the third, tying it up with 3:34 left to go in the game with an un-assissted goal by Andy Schuster .

Due to the probable DMCHC exhaustion or the bitterness of falling short in Saturday’s game, the Jacks came out swinging Sunday.

The Jacks outshot DMCHC 23-8 in the first period , ending it with a 4-2 lead.

In the second period the two teams evened out when by the coach’s urging the Jacks ran DMCHC into the ground.

In the third period the Jacks lit up the lamps, scoring 5 goals in the 3rd period in pursuit of the 12-6 final.

With the impressive scoring output of the weekend the Jacks look forward to Mankato State University at home Dec. 6-7.

In another weekend series of hockey the Jacks offense exploited the Iowa State University-JV goalie to add two wins to their record. The Jacks won Friday night 7-1 and 10-4 on Saturday.

“They call winning games like that winning ‘ugly’, and these two could definitely fall in that category,” said coach Marty Schipull.

Early in Friday’s game, nine penalties were handed out. Playing most of the period 4-4, the Jacks ended the period 2-0 after two goals by Trevar Selch.

In the second period the teams added twelve more penalties to the total. The Jacks were able to take advantage of some of Iowa State’s mistakes converting on two power plays with a goal by Adam Nelson and another by Selch.

After a short-handed goal was added by Adam Murphy, the Jacks added two more to the total, one of those again by Selch totaling four for the center.

After the dust settled the Jacks took the game 7-1 but lost two players to disqualifications.

Saturday the Jacks had the game wrapped up by the end of the second period 6-2. Seven Jacks scored on the Iowa State goalie before he was ejected for fighting with 9:50 left in the game.

Sitting 8-4 at the ejection, the teams played five on six for the remainder of the game. The Jacks add two more goals to finish the game 10-4.

This weekend conference opponents Des Moines Collegiate Hockey Club will play at the Larson Ice Arena Saturday, Nov. 23, at 8 p.m. and on Sunday at noon.