It's St. Louis Park in Battle of Orioles

 There was plenty of orange and black in The Rec Center's West Rink bleachers Tuesday night in The Battle of the Orioles as they saw Ryan Moran score two goals to lead St. Louis Park to a 5-3 win over Osseo.  

St. Louis Park would score three straight goals in the first period.  The first came when Griffin Krone passed to Owen Anklam near the right corner boards and he fired the puck into the net.  Then it was Moran who scored on a rebound goal to give St. Louis Park a two goal lead.  The lead would increase to three on a power play goal from Trey Janssen.  There would be no shutout for St. Louis Park when Bennett Prokop would tally with 2:03 left in the period.  

Moran would account for St. Louis Park's only second period goal when he scored from the center slot.  

If you were in line at the concession stand and missed the start of the third period, you missed two goals in the first minute.  The first cam from Osseo's Jake Sawicky :34 into the period.  St. Louis Park responded :24 later on Marty Hirte's goal that went top shelf.  Osseo would wrap up the scoring on a power play goal from Ty Prokop.  Osseo goalie Charlie Bergstrom was pulled heading into the game's final minute for a sixth attacker but St. Louis Park didn't find the empty net.  

St. Louis Park won their sixth straight game and improved their record to 11-9.  They will begin a three game road trip on Thursday, February 1 against the Chanhassen Storm at 7 PM at the Victoria Community Center.  Osseo fell to 4-15-1 and will head down Highway 169 to Mankato to face the Mankato West Scarlets at 2 PM at All Seasons Arena.  

Krone Leads SLP Orioles to Shutout of Chaska Hawks

 Tuesday night was a big night for Griffin Krone as he scored a hat trick and entered the 100 Career Point Club to lead the St. Louis Park Orioles to a 7-0 shutout of the Chaska Hawks at The Rec Center.  

The Orioles would score two first period goals, starting with Brennan Hogan receiving a pass from Ryan Moran and he scored a right side goal.  Drew Hoenie would put St. Louis Park ahead by two as he scored on a shot from the left side.  

It was Krone's turn to shine in the second period as he would score both goals.  His first came while Tony Kruse was serving a delay of game penalty.  He drove down the ice like traffic down Excelsior Blvd., cut to the right slot and scored the short handed goal.  His second put him in the record book when he scored on the power play to achieve the 100 career point plateau.  

The Orioles were not done in the third period as they added three goals to their ledger.  The first would come on a shot from the left corner from Krone to give him the hat trick.  Then Ryan Moran would send the game into running time and Oli Culp, who came up from the junior varsity team would tally :23 later.  

St. Louis Park improved their record to 9-9 and will return to action on Thursday, January 25 as they face the Bloomington Jefferson Jaguars at 7 PM at the Bloomington Ice Garden.  Chaska fell to 2-14 and will also be back in action on the 25th, hosting the Delano Tiges at 7 PM at the Chaska Community Center.  

SLP Orioles Wallop Waconia Wildcats

 Coming off an upset of the Class A ranked Orono Spartans Saturday, the St. Louis Park Orioles didn't miss a beat as Ryan Moran scored two goals to lead them to a 5-0 shutout of the Waconia Wildcats Thursday night at The Rec Center.  

Moran would score two of the Orioles three first period goals.  The first would come from the right side and the second would come on the power play after he received a pass from Brennan Hogan.  The middle goal for St. Louis Park would come on Jack Betzer's shot from the left corner boards.  

Hogan would score the lone second period goal for the Orioles as he got a pass from Marty Hirte and he cut into the left slot and sent the puck over the goal line.  

St. Louis Park wasn't finished in the third period when Max Rider's goal put the Orioles up by five.  There would be no running time on this chilly Thursday night as the scoring came to a close.  

The Orioles improved their record to 7-9 and will travel to New Prague on Saturday, January 20 for a 3 PM game with the Trojans at the New Prague Community Center.  The Wildcats fell to 5-11-1 and will return to the Rec Center on Thursday, January 25 to face the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights at 7 PM.  

A Night of Deuces for Minneapolis and Hopkins/Park

 Hopkins/Park was one second away from winning their final Rec Center home game Thursday night until Brielle Anderson scored the tying goal to help Minneapolis skate to a 2-2 tie Thursday night.  

Neither team would score in the first period.  Both teams would tally in the second period when Minneapolis took the lead on Caitlyn DeYoung's goal that barely entered the net.  H/P would tie the game :22 later on Adrienne DeGiulio's rebound goal as she followed up Avery Shaw's shot.  

The third period would be identical to the second since both teams sent the puck past the goal line.  H/P would regain the lead on a short-handed goal from Lucy Johnson.  It would almost be the game winner but after Minneapolis head coach Claire Goldsmith pulled goalie Ali Fider with :15 left, Anderson headed down the ice and fired a shot past H/P goalie Evelyn Oslund to tie the game with :01 to go.  Overtime would commence but the score did not change.  

Minneapolis improved their record to 3-13-1 and returns to action on Saturday, January 13 at 4 PM against the Waconia Wildcats at the Waconia Ice Arena. H/P improved their record to 5-14-1 and will be back in action on Thursday, January 18 against Armstrong/Cooper at 7 PM at the Minnetonka Ice Arena.  

The Battle of SLP Goes to BSM Red Knights

 It was "The Battle of St. Louis Park" Tuesday night at The Rec Center and it was Junior Podein's two goals that led the Benilde-St. Margaret's Red Knights to a 4-1 win over the St. Louis Park Orioles.  

The Orioles would get the early lead in the first period when Drew Hoenie rebounded Henry Schultz's shot and it crossed the goal line.  

Heading into the second period, it was the Red Knights, ranked fourth in Class AA boys hockey who would vault into the lead with Podein's two goals. Podein, the son of former St. Louis Park head coach Shjon Podein, got his first goal from the left side of St. Louis Park goalie Brett Middleton.  The second came as he rebounded Cameron Kirschner's shot and went top shelf with :07.9 left in the period.  

BSM was not finished in the third period.  With 1:42 left in the game, Oriole head coach Tyler Brodersen pulled Middleton for a sixth attacker and the Red Knights would cash in with a couple of empty net goals.  The first came from Caleb Koskie uncontested and the from Mason Stenger with :10 to go.  

BSM improved their record to 9-2-1 and will return to action on Thursday, January 11 at 7 PM against the Eden Prairie Eagles at the Eden Prairie Community Center.  St. Louis Park fell to 5-8, ending a three game winning streak.  They will host the Orono Spartans on Thursday, January 13 at 7 PM at The Rec Center.  

Fifty Years Ago NBC Hits Jackpot

 January 7, 1974.  After Hollywood Squares ended, game show fans would hear the voice of Don Pardo intoning "You'll never know when someone in the game will stand up and yell "JACKPOT!!!"

It would be the opening to the new NBC daytime game show Jackpot, which debuted 50 years ago on January 7.  Produced by Bob Stewart, the show featured 16 contestants who competed for an entire week as they solved riddles to earn cash.  One player was designated "The Expert" and chose one of the 15 players, all but one had a money amount.  The contestant read a riddle and if the expert answered correctly, they would continue.  If the expert was stumped, the contestants would trade places.  One player had a Jackpot Riddle.  If it was found early in the game, the expert could continue or wait until all the riddles were used.  

Another way a player could win is via the Super Jackpot.  Before the game, a target number was established, followed by a multiplier of 5 to 50.  That would constitute the amount for the Super Jackpot.  If the target number was matched in the game, a more difficult riddle would be asked and if it was solved, the Super Jackpot was won, with a maximum of $50,000.  

Jackpot was commissioned by then NBC Vice President of Daytime Programming Lin Bolen, who canceled the long running shows Concentration and Sale of the Century to air shows had more flashier sets and younger hosts.  But in order to get Jackpot on the air, she made some lineup changes.  First, she canceled The Who, What or Where game with Art James and moved Baffle into the 12:30 ET period.  Second, she relocated Jeopardy, a show she didn't like because it was too staid and attracted an older audience to Baffle's timeslot of 10:30 and put Jackpot in the noon slot.  

Second, she got a young host to preside over the show, Los Angeles disc jockey Geoff Edwards.  Edwards was also hosting the syndicated game show The New Treasure Hunt in California so he would commute to New York for each Jackpot taping.  Bolen would also dictate his look on the show, ordering him to get his hair permed and dressed him in leisure suits.  

Though Jackpot did nicely in the ratings but wasn't highly rated as the Art Fleming hosted quiz show, it held up against the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless and ABC's aging revival of Password.  

But things would begin to unravel for Jackpot in 1975 when Bolen would be one of the first daytime executives to utilize a focus group.  The results showed the group didn't like the riddles and encouraged Stewart to change to straight questions.  That would be the first of several changes that summer.  The other changes would be the elimination of the target number and at the start of the game, the amount of the Super Jackpot would be set.  Also, NBC moved Jackpot to the 12:30 slot and shortened its airtime due to a network newscast at :55 past 12.  

Those changes would result in Jackpot's cancellation in October of 1975.  CBS attempted a revival in 1984 with Nipsey Russell hosting but it was not picked up.  The show returned in 1986 on the USA Network with a new host, Mike Darrow and a new production base in Toronto to save money.  This version would run for three years.  Edwards would then host another revival in the fall of 1989 but due to the syndicator Palladium going bust, the show was canceled in March 1990.  

An interesting footnote, the theme to the original version of Jackpot was used for years as the theme for the syndicated show This Week in Baseball, hosted by former Yankee broadcaster Mel Allen.  I'll wrap this up just like each episode in the original run where everybody stood up and shouted "JACKPOT!!!"