Should things go according to plan, navigating the streets of downtown River Falls, Wis., on Friday will a bit of a challenge.

The locals wouldn’t have it any other way.

They will be out in force for the parade honoring the University of Wisconsin-River Falls women’s hockey team that won the NCAA Division III national championship on St. Patrick’s
Day, just as they were — 1,800 strong — at sold-out Hunt Arena as the Falcons put a cap on a 31-0 season with the first national title in program history.

Led by Fergus Falls native Joe Cranston, the only coach the program has had in its 25-year existence, the Falcons broke through in spectacular fashion after 12 trips to the NCAA Tournament in the past 13 years and four trips to the Frozen Four, including a runner-up finish in 2016.

“It’s one of those things where all the stars aligned,” the 59-year-old Cranston said. “You always think about winning a national championship, but you don’t think about winning it at home, with your family and all your friends. And your entire community.

“Now, it has happened, and it’s really hard to get our head around it.”

Things began to get very real for Cranston last Sunday night when the home crowd began counting down the final seconds of the 4-1 victory over Elmira, a three-time Division III national champion.

After celebrating at a downtown establishment after the game, the team scattered for spring break, leaving Cranston to plow his way through hundreds of emails and texts — and to reflect on a weekend that was a true whirlwind.

“What was really special was that 25 years of alums came back,” UW-River Falls athletics director Crystal Lanning said. “And every generation was represented. Some of them had T-shirts with (Cranston’s) face printed on them. It really shows the culture the program has.”

Cranston, who has a record of 492-157-41, said that he felt he had teams in each of the past five seasons that could win a national championship. He began this season unsure if this team had what it would take to get it done.

“It’s all about chemistry,” he said in retrospect. “It’s the hardest-working team I’ve ever coached.”

And now, the most accomplished.

“It’s nice to get the monkey off my back,” Cranston said. “We’ve been close so many times. I thought about it quite a bit. I don’t have to think about it anymore.”

The Falcons were led by Maddie McCollins, a fifth-year senior from Maple Grove, with 33 goals and 30 assists this season. But what helped make this team special, Cranston said, was that everyone on the roster contributed.

“I had a kid, Kenzie Dunn, who scored the game-winning goal in overtime against (Wisconsin-)Eau Claire (in the WIAC tournament championship game), and then scored the game-winning goal in the national championship. She was our seventh defenseman.

“I moved her up to forward the last (regular-season) game of the year. Here, she’s never played the position, and she had two game-winning goals in the last five games.”

Sophomore Madison Lavergne, a third-line forward, scored a goal in all three NCAA Tournament games.

To explain how such things can happen, Cranston points out that character matters.

“We don’t look for a certain type of hockey player,” he said, “but it’s gotta be a good kid. And they have to be highly competitive. Everything else from there is doable. At that point they come in, and you begin to teach them to respect everything around you and appreciate everything around you.”

Cranston has returned to his roots time and again to find those who fit the mold. There are 22 Minnesotans on the championship roster.

“Traditionally, we get a lot of northern Minnesota kids — the ‘218ers’,” he said. “I like those kind of hockey players, those kind of kids. A lot of blue-collar kids, lunch-bucket kids. We’re from all over — Hutchinson, Avon, Delano, Buffalo — all these little towns around the state.

“You’re not going to see a lot of Edina, Eden Prairie or Minnetonka kids here. It’s kind of a neat niche we have here.”

And, of course, the kids can play.

“Pretty much all of our recruits could play Division I,” Cranston said. “It’s the difference of wanting to go play Division I out east somewhere and not have your family see you play, and maybe win five games. Or, take Maddie McCollins, who has been here five years, and her record is 121-12-2.

“There’s so many places where you can’t do that. We put a lot of emphasis on the things they can accomplish by coming here.”

The chance to play for Cranston also plays a role in the decision-making process.

“What I appreciate about him is the consistency he brings to the program,” Lanning said. “He sets clear expectations; the players know it from Day 1, and he never wavers from that. They know they are going to work hard and he’s going to be firm, but in the end they see results from it.”

Cranston, a 1990 UW-River Falls graduate, played in the United States Hockey League for the North Iowa Huskies, where he was coached by Bob Motzko, the current men’s coach for the Gophers.

A broken leg put an end to Cranston’s playing career, and he immediately turned to coaching.

“I was a head high school coach while I was still student-teaching in college,” Cranston said. “So I’ve been coaching about 41 years. My dad was a 30-year hockey coach, and I was always helping him with teams growing up.”

Cranston coached boys high school hockey in Somerset, Wis., for 10 years before returning to his alma mater to help start the women’s program.

While he said he has received overtures from other schools over the years, Cranston, who spends his summers traveling to state fairs in the Midwest with his concession business (look for Cranston’s Famous Scotch Eggs On A Stick at the Minnesota State Fair), has settled into a life that suits him just fine.

He said he assured inquiring parents of current high school juniors being recruited that he will be around to see them graduate. That would be six more years behind the bench, which would take him to the traditional retirement age of 65.

He’s planning to blow right through that stop sign.

“People ask me all the time, ‘When are you going to be done?’ ” Cranston said. “I always say that as long as we’re winning and we’re still having fun, we’ll keep at ’er.”

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A group of Central High School softball players invited to the Vice President’s Residence in Washington, D.C., next week far exceeded their fundraising goal just a day after asking their community for help.

As of Friday, the Central High School Parent Advisory Council had raised nearly $18,000 for the trip, after accepting the invite from Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week. It’s more than the initial goal of $15,000 and enough to cover travel for four team co-captains, two coaches and the athletic director.

Central Principal Cherise Ayers said she was overwhelmed by the community’s generosity.

“I’ve told a few people like there’s a tear in my right eye that it’s just been there. All day long,” she said. “It’s … a testament to how much people feel connected to Central and how much people love Central.”

Now the question remains whether more members of the team will be able to travel to the nation’s capital. Ayers said trip organizers are looking into whether they can bring along additional members of the team, but so far they haven’t determined who else might come or the exact cost.

It isn’t just a matter of paying. There’s also the challenge of logistics presented by getting a large group ready to travel by next Tuesday.

“It’s all a very quick turnaround, but that being said, we are hoping to take a few more girls,” said Ayers, who noted they don’t plan to take the entire team.

After exceeding its initial goal, the advisory council’s GoFundMe set a new goal of $20,000. The nonprofit is seeking donations from alumni and local businesses. The fundraiser is called “GIRL POWER! Central Softball goes to D.C.,” and can be found at gofund.me/dbefa8c3.

St. Paul Firefighters Local 21 donated $5,000 and $2,500 came from an anonymous donor. As of Friday afternoon, there were more than 257 donations.

The money will pay for airfare, hotels meals and transportation. The initial plan called for the softball team’s four co-captains, athletic director Alicia Ekegren, head coach Haley McFarlane and assistant coach Shakia Wilkerson.

They’ll meet with Harris next Wednesday at the Vice President’s Residence on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Harris invited the Central softball team to Washington after she paid them a surprise visit on March 14 during their practice at Jimmy Lee Recreation Center.

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By MATTHEW LEE and JOSEF FEDERMAN (Associated Press)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday once again left the Middle East empty-handed as Israel’s prime minister rejected American appeals to call off a promised ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is overflowing with displaced civilians.

The tough message from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sets the stage for potentially difficult talks next week in Washington between top U.S. officials and a high-level Israeli delegation. Netanyahu said Israel is ready to “do it alone” in Rafah if necessary. Despite their differences, the Biden administration has continued to provide crucial military aid and diplomatic support, even as Israel’s war against Hamas has killed more than 32,000 people in Gaza and led to a worsening humanitarian crisis.

Israel says Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas and says the group’s forces there must be defeated for Israel to meet its war objectives. Israel vowed to destroy Hamas following the group’s Oct. 7 attack, which killed some 1,200 people, took 250 others hostage and triggered the fierce Israeli air and ground offensive in Gaza.

Hamas has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, and EU.

Rafah now shelters over 1 million homeless Palestinians who fled fighting elsewhere in Gaza. The U.S., along with most of the international community, fears an Israeli ground invasion will endanger civilians’ lives and impede the flow of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the territory, most of which comes through Rafah.

Netanyahu said he told Blinken that Israel is working on ways to evacuate civilians from combat zones and to address the humanitarian needs of Gaza, where international aid officials say the entire population is suffering from food insecurity and famine is imminent in the hard-hit north.

“I also said that we have no way to defeat Hamas without entering Rafah,” Netanyahu said. “I told him that I hope we would do this with U.S. support but if necessary – we will do it alone.”

Blinken, wrapping up his sixth visit to the Mideast since the war broke out, told reporters that the U.S. shares Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas.

“But a major ground operation in Rafah is not, in our judgment, the way to achieve it and we were very clear about that,” he said, adding that Israel faces growing isolation if it presses ahead.

The looming Rafah invasion has cast a shadow over ongoing efforts to forge a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. Blinken, who also met with Arab leaders during his trip this week, acknowledged “there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Blinken spoke shortly after a U.S.-sponsored cease-fire resolution in the U.N. Security Council was vetoed by Russia and China. Blinken said it was “unimaginable” that the measure had been rejected.

RAFAH TENSIONS RISING

The U.S. initially sided strongly with Israel after the Oct. 7 attack. But relations have increasingly soured as the war, drags on into its fifth month.

Palestinian health officials in Gaza said Friday that at least 32,070 people have been killed, with at least two thirds of them women and children. Israel claims at least one-third of those killed are members of Hamas, and says the group is responsible for civilian casualties by hiding and operating in residential areas.

The U.S. position on a Rafah operation has shifted in recent days. Initially, U.S. officials called for a plan to get civilians out of harm’s way. Now, they say there is no credible way to do that.

“It risks killing more civilians. It risks wreaking greater havoc with the provision of humanitarian assistance. It risks further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long term security and standing,” Blinken said.

U.S. officials say other options, including specifically targeted operations against known Hamas fighters and commanders, are the only way to avoid a civilian catastrophe.

Roughly three quarters of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled into Rafah, the farthest south they can go before the Egyptian border. Sprawling tent camps now dot the city.

The U.S. will share its ideas for alternatives at next week’s meetings, when a delegation led by Netanyahu’s national security adviser and a member of Israel’s War Cabinet heads to Washington. Israel’s defense minister, another member of the War Cabinet, will also visit.

Blinken said talks would focus on post-war plans, another area of disagreement.

The U.S. wants the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority – which Hamas ousted from Gaza in 2007 – to return to power in the territory, along with a clear path toward an independent Palestinian state beside Israel. Netanyahu rejects Palestinian independence or a role for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank, and says Israel must maintain long-term security control over Gaza.

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AN ELUSIVE CEASE-FIRE

International mediators, led by the U.S., Qatar and Egypt, have been working on a cease-fire to pause or end the war in Gaza.

Israel is seeking the release of the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas, while Hamas wants an end — not a temporary pause — to the war along with the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Hamas wants Israel to release large numbers of Palestinian prisoners.

After his talks with Israeli leaders, Blinken met with families of hostages who hold U.S. citizenship before departing. He later greeted a small group of protesters who gathered in solidarity with the families outside his hotel.

Protesters chanted “Blinken, thank you,” as he walked by the crowd. He said the U.S. was “working to bring them home” as he shook hands.

Blinken told reporters that progress has been made in recent weeks, but the final gaps “tend to be the hardest.”

“There’s still a lot of work to be done, hard work to be done,” he said.

Toward those efforts, he said he also discussed the need to increase humanitarian aid entering Gaza. He said “some positive steps” have been taken in recent days. “But it’s not enough.”

Israel says it places no restrictions on the amounts of humanitarian aid it allows into Gaza. But international aid groups say deliveries have been impeded by Israeli military restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the breakdown of public order.

So little food has been allowed into Gaza that up to 60% of children under 5 are now malnourished, compared with fewer than 1% before the war began, the head of the World Health Organization said Thursday.

U.N. RESOLUTION WAS ‘CYNICALLY VETOED’

At the United Nations, Russia and China vetoed a U.S.-sponsored U.N. resolution supporting “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war. The two countries called the measure ambiguous and said it was not the direct demand to end the fighting that much of the world seeks.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 11 members in favor and three against, including Algeria, the Arab representative on the council. Guyana abstained.

A key issue was the unusual language that said the Security Council “determines the imperative of an immediate and sustained cease-fire.” The phrasing was not a straightforward “demand” or “call” to halt hostilities.

It also appeared to loosen, but not drop, previous U.S. demands that Hamas release all hostages as part of a cease-fire.

Blinken said the measure had been “cynically vetoed” and should have been embraced.

“We were trying to show the international community’s sense of urgency about getting a cease-fire tied to the release of hostages,” Blinken said. He also said it had sought to condemn Hamas. “It’s unimaginable why countries wouldn’t be able to do that.”

___

Federman reported from Jerusalem.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Brooks Lee’s time at major-league camp may not have ended how anyone would have wanted — he exited Thursday’s game early with back spasms and was sent for testing on Friday — but injury aside, the top prospect took advantage of his time around the big-league club, impressing those around him.

The Twins reassigned Lee to minor-league camp on Friday after a meeting with manager Rocco Baldelli, who said he delivered “a lot of compliments” to the young infielder.

“I had nothing but positive things for him today. He had a great camp. He’s fantastic to work with,” Baldelli said. “… He’s level-headed, and he’s got a good way about him. He’s got a good baseball mind. He played well.”

The Twins drafted Lee eighth overall in 2022, and the 23-year-old infielder, who is MLB Pipeline’s No. 18 prospect, could force his way into the conversation sooner rather than later. He ended his season at Triple-A St. Paul, and will start this season there, as well, once his back is at full health.

The Twins plan to have him bounce around between shortstop (his natural position), third base and second base.

“For the people that haven’t seen him play a lot firsthand, he showed us that he can go out there and play shortstop. He showed us a lot at shortstop,” Baldelli said. “He showed us he can move around the field with ease. He did a lot in this camp. He had some good offensive days, and he handled being a young player in camp just the way you would want to see a guy do it.”

It’s a small sample size, but in the 13 games he played this spring, the switch-hitter leaves camp tied for a team-high 12 hits, with five doubles, a triple and a home run. Now, the Twins are hoping to see more of just that.

“He left everyone with an excellent feeling with his time here, and he was here almost until the end,” Baldelli said. “He couldn’t have used his time any better.”

Twins washed out

Both of the Twins’ split-squad games were rained out on Friday, called early around 9 a.m. because of a forecast that called for precipitation all day.

Pitcher Pablo López, who will start for the Twins on Opening Day next Thursday, was supposed to get his final tune-up of the spring in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays in Port Charlotte.

López had chosen to pitch in the away game in part to help simulate what he might see next weekend when the Twins open on the road. Instead, he’ll get his work in at the Twins’ facility in a minor-league game on Friday. If the field is not dry enough, he’s still expected to throw at the Lee County Sports Complex.

“We’d much prefer him to pitch with the extra day (of rest), if possible, but the weather is not cooperating,” Baldelli said. “He does want to face hitters in one form or another.”

Briefly

The Twins will return to exhibition game action on Saturday night, playing a road game against the Red Sox. It’s their last night game of the spring. Twins pitcher Chris Paddack is scheduled to start that game.

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