Gopher Hockey heads to Colorado College for the 1st time since October of 2010 and hit up Don Lucia’s (“The Don”) old stomping grounds as he coached there from 1993 to 1999. The Colorado College Tigers split a home series with North Dakota last weekend, winning 5-3 on Friday and losing 3-2 in OVERTIME on Saturday! The Tigers have scored more goals (59) than any other WCHA team but they’ve also allowed more goals than any other WCHA team (54) and are 1-4-1 in their last six. They gave up 28 goals in their last six games. It’s still a battle when its two teams from the WCHA! It doesn’t matter who the teams are!
Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers
Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 – Travis Boyd-22
F-Sam Warning-11 – Erik Haula-19 – Zach Budish-24
Tom Serratore-14 – Nate Condon-16 – Seth Ambroz-17
AJ Michaelson-15 – Christian Isackson-26 – Mike Reilly-5
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Ben Marshall-10 – Mark Alt-20
Jake Parenteau-6 – Nate Schmidt-29
Seth Helgeson-4 – Justin Holl-12
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Ryan Coyne-31
Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, D-Blake Thompson-3, D-Brady Skjei-2, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21, G-Mike Shibrowski-1
Line Chart – Colorado College Tigers
Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Archie Skalbeck-12 – Rylan Schwartz-13 – William Rapuzzi-27
Alexander Krushelnyski-16 – Scott Winkler-25 – Charlie Taft-17
Hunter Fejes-11 – Cody Bradley-10 – Andrew Hamburg-15
Michael Morin-19 – Jeff Collett-21 – Jared Hanson-24
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Peter Stoykewych-6 – Mike Boivin-28
Aaron Harstad-5 – Eamonn McDermott-7
Ian Young-20 – Joe Marciano-4
Goalie
Joe Howe-31
G-Josh Thorimbert-39
Scratches/Injured: G-Courtney Lockwood-29, D-Russell Finch-2, D-Micheal King-3, F-Jordan Digiando, F-Scott Wamsganz, F-Peter Maric-22
Mark Alt gets back in the lineup after being scratched in last Saturday’s rematch with Omaha and Brady Skjei is scratched. Not a huge surprise there. Brady has struggled defensively to start the season. Surprisingly, Mike Reilly is among the players being rotated to play the 4th line wing or at least that’s how its listed on FSN. Not sure what that means other than moving a freshman off defense and letting him work as a forward.
All notes are from an offensive point of view unless otherwise noted!
Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!
1st Period
* Gophers have a little struggle in their own zone giving up some scoring chances to the Tigers.
* BIG HIT! – Travis Boyd on Mike Boivin at 3:42 of the 1st period – Mike Boivin gets a pass at the right boards in the neutral zone and Travis Boyd just timed it perfectly and threw Boivin into the boards and to the ice! TAKE A SEAT!
* A turnover just over 5 minutes into the game in the neutral zone by Christian Isackson turns into a 3-on-2 for the Tigers but Ben Marshall gets down on a knee and takes away the pass attempt by Andrew Hamburg.
* Good job by Ben Marshall to get down and make the pass as difficult as possible to get through.
* PENALTY – Andrew Hamburg for Hooking on AJ Michaelson at 5:33 of the 1st period – A breakout of the Gopher zone gets Justin Holl the puck coming up the left center into the Tiger zone. AJ Michaelson has a step on Andrew Hamburg and gets good position as he goes to the net forcing Hamburg to use his stick to slow down AJ Michaelson and he gets two minutes for it.
* GOAL! – Sam Warning from Ben Marshall & Mike Reilly at 7:35 of the 1st period – A clear of the zone at the end of the penalty kill is picked up by Mike Reilly behind his own net. He comes up the right side, has to make a move around Hunter Fejes and loses the puck right at his blue line but Ben Marshall is at the boards near the bench to get the loose puck and makes a cross ice pass to Sam Warning that Cody Bradley stepped up on but missed causing a 4-on-2. Warning skates it in and takes a snap shot at the left face-off dot that goes in the upper left corner over Joe Howe’s blocker and actually hits the water bottle as the power play ends. GOPHERS 1-0!!!
* Cody Bradley steps up in the neutral zone on a penalty kill but doesn’t get the puck or the man and takes himself out of the play.
* A loose puck probably helped make that decision for him but on a penalty kill, there’s no need to make that play. Keep playing it safe.
* Travis Boyd drove to the net forcing the D to cover him and giving Sam Warning more time and space to get a good shot on goal.
* Mike Reilly made it a 4-on-2 and, even though Hunter Fejes came back to cover him, gave Warning another option and Joe Howe another guy to think about as Warning comes in with the puck.
* BIG HIT! – Tom Serratore on Peter Stoykewych at 10:14 of the 1st period – A face-off to Joe Howe’s left is won by Scott Winkler back towards the right corner. Mike Boivin is closest to the puck but Tom Serratore pushes him forcing him to make a quick play and throw the puck off the glass. It gets past Peter Stoykewych behind the net and goes to the left corner. Jared Hanson gets there first but Seth Ambroz forces him to play the puck back around the corner. Peter Stoykewych has to get the puck off the rail so he has his head down and doesn’t see Serratore coming and he ends up on his butt.
* Would you call that a De-Tuuker? Like a de-cleater in football?
* Physical players love to see guys with their heads down. That’s an invitation to throw a big hit!
* You can count on a couple of big hits from Tom Serratore every game! He BRINGS THE CLUTTER!!!
* Serratore forces a quick play by Mike Boivin because he makes a physical play on him right off the face-off!
* PENALTY – Christian Isackson for Boarding on Charlie Taft at 12:52 of the 1st period – On the forecheck, Charlie Taft is heading towards the puck in his own zone at the right half-wall and he curls around like he’s going to skate it forward but he sees Christian Isackson coming so he turns to protect the puck and Isackson body checks him and Taft goes down like he’s in a lot of pain and the official decides to call Isackson for boarding.
* If Taft doesn’t fall to the ice, there probably isn’t a penalty called. The official thought about it and once it looked like Taft may be hurt, he makes the call!
* Tough call but that’s one of those plays where the player turns right before the check but Isackson has to play that better knowing that could happen and adjust his angle or go for the puck instead of the body check.
* The Don doesn’t like that call but it probably needs to be called to keep players from making that check!
* BIG HIT! – Aaron Harstad on Erik Haula at 16:10 of the 1st period – Erik Haula is reaching for the puck near the right boards at his own blue line and Aaron Harstad steps up on him and throws a good body check sending Haula to the ice.
* One could make an argument for an elbow on that play because Harstad follows through by bringing up the chicken wing but he hit him with his shoulder first.
* Haula got right back up and into the play.
* Its hard but skate to the puck, don’t reach for it and keep your head up!
* You see players reach all the time and if they’d just take that extra stride they’d be there.
* It takes the same amount of time to take another stride as it does to reach for the puck.
* We all do it so it is a really hard habit to break.
* The Tigers have annoying jerseys that make it hard to read the numbers! It’s a design similar to what the Montreal Canadiens use. I actually like the look but why is the number the same color as the horizontal bar that goes across the numbers? If it was a different color, the numbers would be easy to read. There’s an outline on the number but unless you’re close to the play you can’t see it.
2nd Period
* It looks like the Gophers are alternating Mike Reilly and Justin Holl from defense to forward.
* How difficult is it to adjust from defense to forward from shift to shift?
* PENALTY – Mike Reilly for Interference on Cody Bradley at 3:30 of the 2nd period – Mike Reilly is just putting a body on Cody Bradley and ends up knocking him down and the official calls interference on him.
* Bradley goes down pretty easy there. Maybe he’s off balance but that’s a pretty weak call.
* Sam Warning clearing the front of his own net after Jared Hanson takes an extra whack at Adam Wilcox!
* NEVER TOUCH MY GOALIE!!!
* It results in some 4-on-4 hockey!
* PENALTIES – Sam Warning & Jared Hanson for Roughing Unsportsmanlike Conduct at 6:33 of the 2nd period – Results of some after the whistle action between Sam Warning and Jared Hanson!
* PENALTY – Tom Serratore for Charging on Peter Stoykewych at 10:13 of the 2nd period – That’s the 2nd big hit delivered by Tom Serratore on Peter Stoykewych but this time he went in with too much speed.
* Not a good penalty in the offensive zone but Stoykewych will be hearing footsteps for the rest of the game because of Tom Serratore’s physical play!
* The name Serratore doesn’t lend well to coming up with a good saying when he delivers a big hit!
* He was Serratore’d? He Serratore him up?
* How ’bout Tom?
* Tom THUMP! He got Tom THUMPED? (like Tom Thumb)
* Air Force? (because his dad is the Air Force Academy Head Coach)
* He doesn’t know where he is even though he got Tom Tommed! Doesn’t Tom Tom make GPS devices?
* Thump Serratore?
* How ’bout “He ordered the Serratore tonight and it hasn’t worked out very well!”
* I use Bring the CLUTTER when referring to Cal Clutterbuck and his physical play so how ’bout Bring the SERRATORE?
* Who’s bringing the Serratore tonight? It could be anyone. It doesn’t have to just be Tom!
* GOAL! – Sam Warning from Nate Schmidt at 13:11 of the 2nd period – A cleared puck ends up on Nate Schmidt’s stick at the middle of the Gopher zone and he has plenty of time to look for an open man and finds Sam Warning just off the bench on a line change at the red line. The pass bounces off Warning’s stick. Ian Young sees the loose puck and makes a play for it but Warning tips it by him with a little backhand tip and skates the puck in the left center of the zone with nobody between him and goalie Joe Howe and Warning snaps another shot over the blocker for his 2nd goal of the night! GOPHERS 2-0!!!
* Peter Stoykewych needs to come over and get in front of Sam Warning quickly as AJ Michaelson is covered by a back checking forward.
* I know you want to take away the pass but if someone is back checking and can cover the pass, as a defenseman, you need to get over there and deflect the shot or at least make the offensive player adjust before he shoots.
* Sam Warning has Joe Howe right where he wants him now.
* Howe won’t know what to do if he sees Warning coming in on him again. Will he cheat the short side now that he’s been beat twice or will he think Warning will try to beat him on his glove side now?
* That’s TWO WARNINGS!!! The Tigers are on ALERT now!!!
* GOAL! – Archie Skalbeck from Rylan Schwartz & William Rapuzzi at 14:57 of the 2nd period – Ben Marshall pinched and the puck bounced over his stick just in front of the left blue line allowing William Rapuzzi to send a pass down the boards so Rylan Schwartz can skate into a 2-on-1 with Archie Skalbeck coming in to his left. Mark Alt is skating back so Archie Skalbeck slows down to get some space between him and Alt, giving Schwartz a passing lane. Schwartz can shoot or pass and takes the puck in deep and lays a pass back for a quick one-timer into an open net! TIGERS 1-2!!!
* Bad pinch by Ben Marshall! I was just thinking that he doesn’t make many mistakes and has probably been the best Gophers defenseman this season. He usually makes the right play but that was a little too aggressive.
* Mark Alt played that 2-on-1 horribly! This is why he was scratched in the last game!
* He gives too much space to Skalbeck and almost backs into his goalie maybe effecting his lateral movement.
* Take away the pass! That means take away the passing lane!
* If you aren’t going to do that, then take the puck carrier but don’t just keep skating back until you’ve taken yourself out of the play!
* At some point you have to stop skating backwards and close the gap between you and the offensive player.
* Give your goalie a chance to make a save by letting him concentrate on the puck carrier and not worry about the pass!
* That was basically a 2-on-0 the way Alt played it!
* Mark Alt will be working during the break! Get him in the film room and show him what he’s doing wrong. That might take awhile but he needs to understand how to play defense or there’s no point having him out there!
* I don’t like being critical but that’s what you need to do when dealing with players as a coach! You can’t pull punches and say they’re doing ok! Now, you don’t have to be negative when delivering the message! Tell them they are better than they’ve been playing and they have the skills to figure it out and become better players as long as they work at it and work hard!
* The message of being scratched in a big game against a good opponent should be enough!
* Then to see your team win without you is another awakening to make a player work even harder to get back on the ice!
* GOAL! – WIlliam Rapuzzi from Archie Skalbeck & Rylan Schwartz at 16:38 of the 2nd period – A shot from the right boards from Ian Young/Mike Boivin (stupid jerseys) hits the right bottom of the outside of the net and goes into the right corner. Seth Helgeson goes to defend Mike Boivin, poke checks the puck off his stick but it goes off the glass and behind Boivin and he turns around and makes a backhand centering pass to a wide open Archie Skalbeck. Skalbeck attempts a pass to William Rapuzzi that is blocked by Mike Reilly. The puck goes into the right corner and Mike Reilly takes it back behind the goal line and throws it behind his net to the right corner. Helgeson tries to get to it, ends up in a puck battle and loses that battle to Rylan Schwartz (your Schwartz is bigger than mine!) Schwartz sees Skalbeck open at the top of the right circle, gets him the puck, Skalbeck handles it, sees Rapuzzi open going to the net from the right corner, gets him the puck and Rapuzzi has all the time in the world to make a move to his backhand around Adam Wilcox and his poke check attempt and backhand the puck into the open net. TIED AT 2-2!!!
* WOW! Horrible defensive sequence by the Gophers that included too much puck watching, bad coverage, bad plays with the puck, bad reads and on and on!
* Use that film to show how NOT to play defense!
* At one point, all five Gopher players were in the right corner and watching the puck!
* Know where the puck is but know who your man is, where he is and COVER him!
* Defense doesn’t just mean defending the puck! It means covering passing lanes and the offensive player and reading the play.
* Icing the puck is a good play when you’re scrambling in your own zone! Mike Reilly had a chance to ice the puck or at least clear the zone but he threw it into the right corner to nobody which gives the offensive team more time to keep the forecheck alive!
* Much rather have a face-off in your own zone where you can set up your defense and have the chance to win the puck on the face-off! Every coach will tell you that!
* You are better off eating the puck in that situation than throwing it to the corner to nobody!
* It’s obviously easy to second guess a play but players need to have these concepts ingrained in their minds so they know their options in their own zone.
* Nobody likes to ice the puck but it’s sometimes the best play just like a quarterback throwing the ball away to avoid a sack or instead of forcing a bad throw that could turn into an interception.
* The Goalie loves an icing in that situation and probably should be talking to his teammates and telling them to GET IT OUT!!!
* Adam Wilcox goes for the poke check and basically takes his opportunity to make the save away because he misses.
* The poke is only a great play if you succeed on it. If you miss, it’s over! Not the best odds.
* Travis Boyd catches an edge and accidentally takes out goalie Joe Howe and that results in…
* PENALTIES – Kyle Rau & Jared Hanson for Unsportsmanlike Conduct at 17:10 of the 2nd period
* Sam Warning is hit from behind at 18:30 but there’s no call. That one looked worse than the one that was called for boarding on Christian Isackson. The Don is livid!
3rd Period
* Nate Condon gets a breakaway at 5:00 of the 3rd period off an intercepted pass of an Ian Young attempted cross ice pass but Joe Howe makes the save.
* Condon tried to go blocker side just like Nick Bjugstad a few moments earlier so the Gophers must think that’s a weakness!
* Two Warning goals might make that more obvious!
* PENALTY – Justin Holl for Tripping on Alexander Krushelnyski at 6:54 of the 3rd period – Alexander Krushelnyski is driving the net and Justin Holl is watching him. As the pass comes in from the right, Krushelnyski makes a diving effort to get to the pass and the official calls tripping on Justin Holl! An obvious bad call.
* “The Don” is shown saying “That’s an F@*#ING DIVE!” from the bench!
* The Don knows people so be careful if you make a bad call as an official! Haha!
* Don’t PISS OFF The DON!!!
* The Tigers get a chance right off the bat (or should that be off the stick?) on the power play but the pass doesn’t get to through to its desired destination!
* GOAL! – Tom Serratore from Zach Budish & Erik Haula at 13:23 of the 3rd period – The Gophers had to survive a sequence in their own zone and end up getting the puck in the Tigers zone for almost a full minute before they finally get the puck in the net! Zach Budish has the puck behind the net, skates towards the left corner and passes it to Mike Reilly at the left point, but its in his feet so he just dumps the puck back in deep around the left corner. William Rapuzzi gets the puck on the back wall, tries to make a move but Budish steals the puck from him, protects the puck, skates around the left corner and makes a pass to Erik Haula at the top of the left circle. Haula sees Mike Boivin coming so he makes a behind the back backhand pass to Nate Schmidt at the right point. Schmidt has to catch the pass on his backhand, fakes a move to his forehand, goes around oncoming Archie Skalbeck, skates to the net and attempts a centering pass that’s deflected towards the blue line. Mike Reilly, coming from the left point has to hustle to keep the puck in the zone then skates down to the right corner with speed and passes it to Haula behind the net. Haula passes it to Schmidt at the top of the left circle for a one-time blast that Joe Howe saves. The puck rebounds to the right half-wall where Reilly picks up the puck again and tries a pass to Tom Serratore, now on the ice because Sam Warning made a line change. The puck bounces over Serratore’s stick to Haula behind the net again. Serratore skates around the net and plants himself in front trying to get position. Budish moves to just in front of the left face-off dot, Haula sees him, passes the puck for the one-timer that Budish only gets a piece and the puck deflects to Serratore in the slot and he quickly takes a shot that goes off Joe Howe’s left pad and into the net for the goal! WOW! GOPHERS 3-2!!!
* Long description (sorry!) but there was actually more to the beginning of the play and a lot of times, the reason for a goal starts well before the goal is actually scored.
* Just a crazy sequence there. The puck barely stays in the zone. Gophers keep beating the Tigers to loose pucks to keep the rally alive then the goal is scored off a deflected one-timer leaving Howe no chance as he didn’t know where the puck went.
* Like always, there was a lot of puck-watching on the defense. I keep harping on this but how many goals are scored off situations like this. If a team can stay calm in these situations, keep their cool and stay with a man, they could defend better and not give up so many goals! It’s hard to do but it can make such a huge difference in every game!
* Sam Warning brought the puck into the zone and ended up going off for a line change that brought Tom Serratore onto the ice so should he get an assist for that? How ’bout a plus one? half a plus? a pat on the back, at least?
* How often can you change a man while keeping the puck in the offensive zone?
* AND they had the long change from the offensive zone!
* A Nate Schmidt/Mike Reilly combination on defense is fun to watch!
* Might be scary too!
* Hometown boy makes good!!! Tommy’s feeling good after hosting a team dinner at the Serratore home Thursday night! Hey, who brought the SERRATORE? Tom DID!
* Adam Wilcox almost gets bit by making a bad play with the puck behind his own net blindly throwing it behind him to the left corner (to the left of the goal) where Alexander Krushelnyski was waiting for it. Krushelnyski makes a quick pass Scott Winkler for a one-time try at the open net but Wilcox is able to get there to make the save with his left pad!
* Ahhh…goalies handling the puck, a coaches nightmare! Add another gray hair to The Don’s head!
* Sorry, coach!
* BIG HIT!? – Archie Skalbeck on Justin Holl at 17:17 of the 3rd period – The glass breaking is always a big hit, right? If the plexiglass doesn’t break, it’s not that big of a hit.
* Weird for the glass to break there. Must’ve just hit it in the right spot!
* Almost a 10-minute delay to replace the glass! That goes by real quick when you’re watching a recording! BOOM!
* GOAL! (EMPTY NET) – Zach Budish from Nate Condon & Erik Haula at 19:51 of the 3rd period – A blocked shot by Erik Haula bounces out to Nate Condon, who looks to have a shot at the empty net but he makes the right play by getting past the red line and getting the puck to Zach Budish for the empty-netter to seal the win for the Gophers! GOPHERS 4-2!!!
* PENALTY – Charlie Taft for Hooking Holding & Rought on Seth Helgeson – Seth Helgeson for Roughing at 19:52 of the 3rd period – A battle in front of the Gopher net evolves into Seth Helgeson going after a loose puck with Charlie Taft hooking him, dropping his stick then trying to start something with Helgeson to try to get some momentum for the rematch tomorrow night!
FINAL SCORE
Minnesota 4, Colorado College 2
The Gopher hockey team came out with an energized effort and even though they allowed the Tigers to tie up the game and get some chances, they come out the victors on the road. Will “The Don” make some defensive adjustments for tomorrow night’s game? Will CC make any adjustments? in goal? offense? defense? Find out tomorrow night at 8pm on FSN!
Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Gophers Kick Off Weekend with 4-2 Win Over No. 19 Tigers
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-CC Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from CCTigers.com – Close But No Cigar Again for CC
In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Minnesota State won vs Alaska-Anchorage 3-1
Nebraska-Omaha won @ St. Cloud State 6-5
Minnesota-Duluth won vs Bemidji State 4-2
and
Michigan Tech tied @ Wisconsin 1-1 in OT
In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Update coming on the Michigan State/Notre Dame game!!!
Bring The CLUTTER in the comments, on Google+ on Twitter and on Facebook.
You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!
