Former G’town coach leaves college job

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: March 26, 2016

Former G’town coach leaves college job

Departure sets up possible reunion

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

Steve Showalter, Germantown’s former boys basketball coach, has left Lindenwood University, the school’s sports information director said Friday.

Daniel Newton, the sports information director at Lindenwood, said, “Steve is no longer an assistant coach at Lindenwood.”

When reached by telephone, Showalter said he wasn’t available to comment because he was in Philadelphia for the Wisconsin Badgers’ Sweet 16 game against Notre Dame. His oldest son, Zak, is a member of the Badgers’ basketball team.

Steve Showalter coached at Lindenwood for one season after a successful, potential Hall of Fame run, at Germantown.

The Warhawks were 286-81 in 15 seasons under Showalter. He led Germantown to six state tournaments, reaching the final four times. Germantown won three straight state titles from 2012-14.

After Germantown lost to Stevens Point in the 2015 state final, Showalter told the Daily News in November, “I was 100 percent ready to go” and continue coaching the Warhawks.

But then he got a call from longtime friend, Lance Randall — the men’s basketball coach at Lindenwood. Randall was in his first season at Lindenwood.

“Leaving the basketball world at Germantown that blew up in the last few years, it was really special,” Steve said in November. “To leave that situation to come down to (Lindenwood), it was a big step, a leap of faith.”

This season, Lindenwood, which is in Saint Charles, Missouri — set a school record for victories in a season since becoming an NCAA Division II program in the 2012-13 season. The Lions went 16-14 overall and 11-11 in conference play.

Showalter leaving Lindenwood sets up a potential reunion with Germantown after, as expected, Mark Adams retired after last season.

The Warhawks were 20-5 under Adams — their sixth straight 20-win season.

NOT GETTING THROUGH

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: March 25, 2016

NOT GETTING THROUGH

West Bend Bombers’ goalies are GLHL’s best

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

It’s easier to work through any frustration or doubt if you’re winning.

Bill Sias and Peter Wisnieff have helped the West Bend Bombers do a lot of that this season.

Sias and Wisnieff finished 1-2 in the Great Lakes Hockey League’s goaltending leaders in goals-against-average, save percentage and shutouts.

“Our goaltending has been great,” Bombers player/coach Scott Holtz said.

Sias and Wisnieff put up those numbers during a continuing rededication shift within the franchise. And when you talk about Sias and Wisnieff, you could make the case they’re the most dedicated players on the team.

After all, they commute at least twice a week for practices and games from the Chicago suburbs.

“There’s really not a word I can put in other than it’s what drives everybody else,” Holtz said. “We have a lot of people that travel. Myself and really only two other guys are from West Bend. We have guys coming from Milwaukee, Cedarburg, Chicago. It’s amazing how much guys are dedicated.”

This season, Sias allowed the fewest goals in the league (36) among goaltenders to appear in at least 10 games. Wisnieff was second in that category with 41.

The team’s third goaltender, Steve Bremer, isn’t a slouch, either. He played in five games this season and had a 2-0 record with a 3.92 GAA.

Sias and Wisnieff have been good since Day 1.

The Bombers are 39-6 with Sias or Wisnieff between the pipes since Wisnieff joined the team before the 2013-14 season after the Vernon Hills Capitals out of Illinois folded. Sias joined a season later. They also have all five of the Bombers’ shutouts in franchise history. Sias has four of them — three last year.

“These guys come from Illinois,” Holtz said. “Knowing we’re not going to have Billy every night or Peter every night ... it is really a blessing to have either one of them to step in and give us a chance to win the game.”

Sias lives in Palos Heights, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago near Tinley Park, while Wisnieff grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois.

Sias, along with his fiancee Andrea, moved to the Chicago area before the season because she’s from that area. They met in college at Concordia University in Mequon.

It’s about a two-hour drive ... in good traffic and/or good weather.

“I knew I wanted to try to make it work in some capacity,” Sias said, adding it was a challenge early on dealing with a new job in a new area. “Having Pete down there made it a ton easier.”

Sias helps run a hockey equipment store and Wisnieff is an executive recruiter for manufacturing companies.

They switch off driving, which has been easier since gas prices dropped to a reasonable rate. “It’s a lot of fun playing with the guys,” Sias said. “It makes it easy when you show up and you get to play with this group of guys.

“The wins make it a little easier driving to and from, for sure.”

Sias knew last season Wisnieff commuted from Chicago.

“You have to have respect for that, knowing he’s driving two hours each way,” Sias said. “That’s four hours of his day driving to just to come here to skate.”

During the season, they each work their full-time jobs, and the designated driver for the trip picks up the other and comes to West Bend. Practice is typically one night a week and usually after 9 p.m. After practice, they get back in the car, drive two or three hours home, go to bed and get up the next morning and work a full eight-hour shift, most of the time starting at 8 a.m.

On game nights, especially Fridays, they’re often leaving straight from the job for West Bend. And if there is a weekend doubleheader, they stay with teammates.

It’s a grueling schedule, which makes their performance more impressive because they also play a position that’s a challenge, especially mentally. If the focus is off a smidgen, it’s a long night between the pipes.

They each admit there are times the constant travel gets boring.

“It’s usually on the way back when it’s midnight, 1 a.m. when you’re kind of like, ‘Is it really worth it?’” Sias said. “It always is.”

What about if the wins weren’t there?

“It’s tough to say,” Sias said. “The wins make it a little more worth it. But this group of guys make it a lot easier.”

How these netminders stay fresh and sharp differ. Sias will go to a local rink. Wisnieff chooses to relax and lay down at home.

Wisnieff is one of the leaders of the Bombers who helped transition the franchise from cellar-dweller to title contender.

“It’s a blast coming up here,” Wisnieff said. “It’s why I still do it.”

Before the 2012-13 season and coming off a 2-17-1 record the previous season, dedication was a problem, almost to the point where the Bombers were ready to fold.

“We didn’t have enough guys committed,” Holtz said.

Some of the reasons were justified with most players having full-time jobs on top of playing hockey.

The lack of victories piled on, adding more frustration.

“I’d be calling guys on Fridays before the game, asking if they were coming,” Holtz said. “I didn’t know if guys were going to show up.

“These guys, they just show up. I don’t have to make a phone call.”

Wisnieff arrived with the Bombers in 2013 after the Capitals folded. In the 2013-14 season, Wisnieff set the franchise record for victories in a season (10) and the Bombers won a thenfranchise record 21 games.

After Sias arrived the next season, he went 4-2 in 10 appearances with a 1.98 GAA, three shutouts and a 0.974 save percentage — all franchise records.

“Consistent goaltending is what Billy brings,” Holtz said. “You put him in the net, you know what you’re going to get. You put a little defense in front of him and it’s pretty much lights out. He’s our go-to guy.”

Wisnieff and Bremer aren’t far behind.

“All three of them have been playing well all year,” Holtz said.

Fair or unfair?

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: March 23, 2016

Fair or unfair?

Area AD says private schools have bad rap

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

A perceived advantage for nonpublic schools in the WIAA membership is misleading, unfair and not true, according to an area athletic director.

“It’s not just private schools that have success,” Kettle Moraine Lutheran Athletic Director Len Collyard said.

On April 20, the WIAA will have its annual meeting and it recently posted its meeting agenda. On the agenda is a proposed success factor to help determine postseason tournament placement in soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball and baseball, among other amendment proposals. But the one on tournament placement will be the heart of the meeting.

It’s the backbone of a debate that’s gone on for more than a decade.

Ever since the defunct-WISAA joined the WIAA in 2000, there has been debate of whether nonpublic schools have an unfair advantage when it comes to attracting students to their schools.

The debate has picked up steam in the last several years with the dominance of Whitefish Bay Dominican’s boys basketball team, which won their fifth straight state title Saturday — a record.

Collyard believes it is unfair for a large population to criticize and make assumptions about schools only based on the success of a select few.

Collyard, an athletic director at KML for 40 years, was a member of the WISAA’s Board of Control when the decision was made for the WISAA and the WIAA to combine.

So why did it happen?

“Some people wanted to say it was economics,” Collyard said. “Financially, the WISAA was in a strong position. It wasn’t a financial issue.”

There were several factors that led to the WISAA’s folding. One of which was competitiveness.

Collyard pointed to Milwaukee Marquette and Milwaukee Pius as examples at that time.

“There were several key schools that felt like they couldn’t win because people expected them to win because they were the biggest school,” Collyard said. “They didn’t have anything to shoot for.”

When WISAA joined the WIAA, WISAA had 53 schools and the enrollment figures drastically varied from as few as 100 students to more than 1,000. In addition, in most cases, WISAA sports were a single division, which meant schools of about 100 students had to compete against much larger schools .

On the other side, Marquette and Pius, for example, competed against schools that were a third of their sizes.

Collyard said the WISAA reached a point where it couldn’t field a viable tournament where all programs believed they had a chance to compete, let alone have it not be one-sided. So the idea to join the WIAA was proposed.

In the fall of 2000, the multi-year transition was complete.

“The feeling was at that time, if we wanted to make the switch was to make it on a strength and not a weakness,” Collyard said. “Finances were not an issue.

“It wasn’t like they were on their last leg financially.”

When WISAA folded, remaining finances were split among those members.

At the time of the combination, the WIAA membership was in favor of it.

“The vote wasn’t all that close,” Collyard said, adding it was about a two-thirds majority.

Collyard acknowledged there was also debate about which program was the true state champion in a respective sport. Was it Milwaukee Vincent or Pius in basketball?

“There were certain segments (of WISAA) that had a strong feeling that the tournament options for them were limited,” Collyard said.

The debate on trying to put programs on a level playing field reached new heights in 2014 when members of the Six Rivers Conference introduced an enrollment multiplier for nonpublic schools to determine postseason divisional placement. The number was 1.65, meaning KML’s, Living Word Lutheran’s and other nonpublic WIAA member schools’ enrollment would be multiplied by 1.65 to determine which division they should compete in for a state tournament series.

Since then, an Ad Hoc committee was assembled and it came up with a success factor, which would put schools on a points system. If a school accumulated ‘X’ points in a three-year span, it’d move up a division.

At last spring’s meeting, a two-hour debate saw several amendments to a proposal for the enrollment multiplier, rather than the success factor. After a vote, status quo remained.

“The group did a lot of work,” West Bend East Athletic Director Shane Hansen said. “I know they did a lot of research and homework. It’s worth thinking about and talking about.”

Hansen said 1.65 was an arbitrary number.

“It wasn’t something I felt comfortable with,” Hansen said.

At last year’s meeting, Collyard was one of several nonpublic school members to express distaste for any kind of multiplier.

“You’re constantly labeled that you have these perceived advantages and it’s not true in all cases,” Collyard said.

He cited St. Lawrence Seminary as an example — a rural all-boys school. St. Lawrence has an enrollment of 398 in a town of 762 residents in Fond du Lac County. Already with WIAA rule, single-sex schools count double toward tournament placement.

“When you try to make everything equitable, it’s not possible,” Collyard said. “There’s all kinds of factors. How can you make it fair for everybody? You can’t. It’s not something that can be solved by one type of program.

“It’s not going to solve everybody’s problem.”

But then there are programs such as Dominican boys basketball or Catholic Memorial girls volleyball, for example, that create a perceived idea of unfair balance. That’s not right, Collyard said.

“I think it’s something that happens all across the country,” he said. “In some cases, you have some private schools that have a reputation of bringing in athletes to their school. As a result, they’re successful year after year.”

Collyard believes if Dominican was a rural school, the perception would be different. He said Dominican probably wouldn’t get as many headlines if it was a rural school. The rural vs. urban issue has also been at the heart of this controversy.

Even if it’s voted down April 20, Hansen said don’t expect the debate to stop.

“I don’t know what the best outcome is because I haven’t seen a perfect solution,” he said.

SCORING MACHINE

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: March 17, 2016

SCORING MACHINE

West Bend Bombers forward averaging more than 2 points per game

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

Tanner Tryggestad of the West Bend Bombers likes the idea of being compared to NHL superstar Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.

Tryggestad does admit it’s a lofty comparison.

However, Scott Holtz, the Bombers’ player/coach, believes there is some truth to it.

“He brings a grittiness (to the team),” Holtz said. “He’s not a soft guy on the ice.

“Sometimes you get goal scorers that are pretty out there, but he’ll go dig in the corner (for a puck).”

He’s also a difference-maker.

Tryggestad leads the Bombers in scoring with 59 points, including a team-high 32 goals. He is also tied for the team lead in power-play goals (three) and shorthanded goals (two), and is fourth in assists (27).

As the Bombers get set for their regular-season finale at 8 p.m. Friday against Monroe at the Kettle Moraine Ice Center in West Bend, Tryggestad has 19 points in the Bombers’ last five games — nine goals and 10 assists.

Tryggestad, 23, joined the Bombers before the 2014-15 season and quickly made a mark. In 17 games, he scored 11 goals and had eight assists. And in last season’s playoffs, he had three goals and an assist in four games.

“Not only does he bring the scoring, but he’s also very dedicated, he’s hard-working,” Holtz said. “If he’s not scoring goals, he’s usually in the play otherwise or he’s hitting somebody.”

Since he joined the Bombers, Tryggestad has 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points in 38 games — an average of nearly 2.1 points per game.

A gritty player that can score a lot of points is something Ovechkin is known for being in the NHL.

“If I can be in the same conversation (with Ovechkin) that’d be unbelievable,” Tryggestad said with a smile. “I’d be making a little bit more money.”

Tryggestad offered another player he admires and believes is a better description of his style: Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers.

They are similar in stature. Giroux is 5-foot-11, 172 pounds, while Tryggestad is 5-8, 170 pounds.

“Tough and in the corners, but he can also score,” Tryggestad said when asked why he admires Giroux.

“I’ve always liked to be more of a physical player,” he added. “I don’t like to dump (the puck) in the corner and let other people do the work. I like the contact.”

The grittiness may also come off as a chip on Tryggestad’s shoulder.

Originally from Amery, Tryggestad attended Concordia University in Mequon to play on the Falcons’ hockey team. He had a respectable freshman season in 2011-12, scoring six goals in 23 games — including three power-play goals — under then-coach and former Milwaukee Admirals star Tony Hrkac.

In 2012-13, the Falcons got a new coach — Jasen Wise. In the next two seasons, Tryggestad played in 10 games, scoring one goal.

Unfortunately for Tryggestad, Wise brought in players that better fit the system he liked to play and slowly shuffled out players from the Hrkac regime. That left Tryggestad on the outside looking in, scrapping for playing time.

After his junior year, he followed some of his teammates who were like him — scrapping for playing time — to West Bend to play with the Bombers.

Since then, Tryggestad has been re-energized and reminded why he loves to play hockey.

“You always know the next day you’ve got a spot in the lineup,” he said. “When we were playing for Wise, you make one mistake, you were gone. You wouldn’t take any chances.

“It’s really revitalized my love for the game.”

Holtz believes players on the team feed off the energy, the enthusiasm and the grit a player like Tryggestad competes with.

The first time Holtz saw Tryggestad play, he was impressed.

It was an exhibition game about four years ago when the Bombers played a collection of then-current Concordia players.

Saying he was impressed was maybe an understatement.

“I think he had like six goals against us,” Holtz said. “The guys on the team said he was going to come out next year (for the Bombers) and I said, ‘That’s great.’ “I’m not sure what he had for assists, but I’m sure he had a few of those, too.”

At the junior and collegiate levels, the type of play is more structured than it is with the Bombers and the Great Lakes Hockey League. With the Bombers, he’s afforded the luxury of playing more to his comfort.

In his first game with the Bombers on Nov. 15, 2014, against Monroe, Tryggestad showed what he could do, scoring two goals with two assists.

“It was seamless,” Holtz said of any transition for Tryggestad.

With Tryggestad helping to lead the way, the Bombers are 38-7 in the last two seasons.

“He really brings everything,” Holtz said, adding he called Tryggestad a natural hockey player. “He plays defense, he plays offense.”

But when it comes down to it, Holtz and his teammates love what Tryggestad brings to the team the most: points.

“He’s on the score sheet every night,” Holtz said.

Tryggestad has scored in 20 of 21 games this season, including scoring goals in 18 of 21 games. His seasonbest showing was three goals and four assists Nov. 28 against Fox Cities. He has eight games where he’s scored at least four points in a game.

He also has four hat tricks this season.

“He’s just got that ability to be a difference-maker in the game,” Holtz said. “He brings it every night, reliability.”

And Tryggestad wasn’t just a hockey player. He also played football in high school at Amery, which likely explains his love for contact.

He had offers to play football at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse and St. Thomas (Minnesota).

How Tryggestad landed on hockey is interesting. His dad and a brother played basketball. He also had another brother and he played hockey.

“He started when he was 6 and I was 3 at that point,” Tryggestad said.

Then the tale gets funny.

“My mom said it’s kind of miraculous that I stuck it out because apparently in my first year I cried every time I went to the rink,” Tryggestad said. “I didn’t want to be there. But I got hooked on it. I’m glad I never looked back on it.”

The moment he realized hockey was fun was when he saw the parents cheering after scoring a goal.

“It makes you want to come back,” Tryggestad said.

The Bombers are glad he stuck with it, too.

 

OUTDOORS: Reliving Native American history

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: March 16, 2016

Reliving Native American history

Horicon center to host artifacts collector

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

As a boy, Gary Henschel liked to wander through his family’s farm. When he did, he often came across Indian artifacts, including arrowheads.

“When you find one, you ask all these questions,” Henschel said. “How old it might be? Who shot it? It leads you to more questions than answers.”

Since then, Henschel has found thousands of artifacts, which compelled him to open a museum on the farm that has been in the family since 1849.

“I was starting to find quite a bit of artifacts, then it grew from there,” Henschel said.

He will talk about his unique collection, among other tidbits, at the Rock River Archeological Society’s monthly meeting at 7 p.m. today at the Horicon Marsh Education and Visitor Center, N7725 Highway 28 in Horicon.

“It’s probably going to be a very neat program,” said Julie Flemming, president of the Rock River Archeological Society.

In 1979, the family started Henschel’s Indian Museum and Trout Farm in Elkhart Lake. Since then, thousands of artifacts covering more than 10,000 years of history have been discovered, including chipped stone tools, projectile points, ground stone tools, and bone tools, copper implements and pottery. Bones from deer, bear, elk, fish and turtle have been found, plus other materials from animals.

“We think we’re in a site that was really heavily populated (about 2,500 years ago),” Henschel said.

Several historians have looked at the site, including representatives from the Milwaukee Public Museum.

According to Henschel’s museum website, in 1996, through an excavation by Marquette University, Henschel’s is the official location of Wisconsin’s oldest red ochre burial site — 800 to 600 BC.

The questions continue to pique the curiosity of Henschel.

“How they lived, the struggles they must’ve gone through,” he said when asked what fascinates him about the artifacts he has disc overed. “How they survived is amazing. How they used these tools is amazing.”

Flemming has been equally curious.

She lives in Fox Lake and has plenty of open land around her home, which helps aid her curiosity.

“When I stand in my backyard, I can’t help but wonder what is down below me,” Flemming said. “What’s further down? I’ve always been interested in archeology. When I realized this group was around, I started going to their program.”

Started in 1998, the Rock River Archaeolo gical Society’s purpose is to study the Native American cultural and archaeological history of the upper Rock River area, including Horicon Marsh and extending throughout southern Wisconsin. Through regularly scheduled meetings, field trips and special events, members develop a better understanding and deeper appreciation of the archaeological history and current research on Native American cultures in southern Wisconsin.

Flemming was a librarian for more than 30 years, which is where her curiosity started.

“I really was interested in Native Americans, the history in this area,” she said. “So I started going to their programs and realized that I was enjoying them, enjoying their speakers.”

On April 20, Ray Glazner will host a presentation on fur trading between 1600 and 1840.

In May, there will be an archeology tour. Other programs the group hosts include a kids tour.

All activities are free and open to the public.

The society meets September through April on the third Wednesday of each month and the meetings are at the Horicon Marsh Education and Visitor Center.

Flemming said the cost to join is less than $20, which includes a bi-monthly newsletter.

“The programs tie into the early history of Wisconsin,” Flemming said.

For more information, visit rockriverarch.blogspot.com or henschelsindianmuseumandtroutfarm.com.