The Gopher Hockey team will finish up the 1st half of the season tonight with a rematch with the Tigers of Colorado College after winning last night 4-2! There will surely be some adjustments on both sides with line-ups, lines and schemes. The 2nd game is usually a tougher match-up especially after a win as the Tigers will probably come out with a ton of energy. Should be interesting as most WCHA conference games are!
Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers
Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 – Christian Isackson-26
F-Sam Warning-11 – Erik Haula-19 – Zach Budish-24
Tom Serratore-14 – Nate Condon-16 – Seth Ambroz-17
Mike Reilly-5 – Travis Boyd-22 – Justin Holl-12
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Jake Parenteau-6 – Nate Schmidt-29
Ben Marshall-10 – Mark Alt-20
Seth Helgeson-4 – Brady Skjei-2
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Ryan Coyne-31
Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-AJ Michaelson-15, 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
Scott Wamsganz-18 – 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
Joe Marciano-4 – Eamonn McDermott-7
Ian Young-20 – Micheal King-3
Goalie
Josh Thorimbert-39
Joe Howe-31
Scratches/Injured: G-Courtney Lockwood-29, D-Russell Finch-2, D-Aaron Harstad-5, F-Jordan Digiando, F-Hunter Fejes-11, F-Peter Maric-22
One line-up change but more changes to lines and defensive pairings. Brady Skjei is back in the line-up after being scratched last night and he will be paired with Seth Helgeson. Travis Boyd gets the unenviable spot as the 4th line center between two (yes…TWO) defenseman although I will say Justin Holl has played well at forward when he’s been asked to do so. Mike Reilly at forward is somewhat of a surprise but maybe AJ Michaelson got hurt and The Don isn’t comfortable putting someone in the line-up that hasn’t played in awhile. Other than that, Christian Isackson moves back up to the 1st line with Kyle Rau & Nick Bjugstad and Nate Condon goes back to the 3rd line centering the Serratore and Seth Ambroz!
For the Tigers, they are making the switch to Josh Thorimbert in goal and also are inserting #18 Scott Wamsganz into the lineup as the Left Wing on line #3 in place of #11 Hunter Fejes and defenseman #3 Michael King onto the last defensive pairing with Ian Young. That moves Joe Marciano up to the 2nd pairing with Eamonn McDermott so a couple of changes for the Tigers to see if they can improve on last night’s effort.
Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!
1st Period
* GOAL! – Tom Serratore from Nate Condon & Seth Ambroz at 4:39 of the 1st period – A face-off in the Tigers zone is actually won to the right corner by the Tigers. Joe Marciano gets to the puck first, closely followed by a forechecking Tom Serratore, so he turns up the right boards and tries to play it up to Rylan Schwartz. Nate Condon intercepts the pass or loose puck and plays it back into the right corner to Serratore. The Gophers get a cycle going below the Tigers goal line, losing the puck a few times but keeping the forecheck active to get the puck right back. Ian Young tries to wrap the puck around the right boards from behind the net but Nate Condon gets there before Schwartz, takes the puck back below the goal line in the right corner, makes a move around Marciano, is stick checked by Schwartz but gets the puck past Alexander Krushelnyski and makes a backhand pass to Tom Serratore just inside the right face-off circle for a one-time snap shot that goes to Josh Thorimbert’s right side off his blocker, up & over his head and slowly trickles into the right side of the net for the goal! GOPHERS 1-0!!!
* Crazy play but it all happened because of the aggressive forecheck and the cycling of the puck.
* After looking at the replay, Serratore had the shot go off the toe of his stick blade and the puck hits Ian Young in front of the goal then goes up and over Thorimbert, lands in the blue paint and slowly goes across the goal line.
* Yet again, the defense is puck-watching and not finding a man to cover so they don’t get a good shot.
* There has to be a way to practice that! Can you practice not panicking and having the calmness to realize who you’re supposed to cover during a broken play?
* When Nate Condon gets past Krushelnyski, they both swiped at the puck and missed allowing Condon to get the puck and make the pass to Serratore, who nobody was watching.
* You can’t just be watching your man either! Get your stick under his stick so he can’t get the shot off.
* This also means cross-checking them isn’t a good idea because the man can still get his stick on the puck to put it in the net.
* There’s really never a good time to cross-check a guy. That’s probably why it’s a penalty!
* PENALTY – Michael King for Tripping on Justin Holl at of the 1st period – Justin Holl was going to the net from the left corner and was hauled down (or is that Holled down?) by Michael King drawing the penalty call from the official.
* GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Kyle Rau from Nate Schmidt & Zach Budish Erik Haula from Kyle Rau & Nate Schmidt at 5:14 of the 1st period – Six seconds into the power play and Kyle Rau scores! A face-off to Josh Thorimbert’s right is won by Erik Haula over to Zach Budish at the left half-wall. Budish fights off a stick check and passes the puck to Nate Schmidt at the center of the blue line. Schmidt fakes a slap shot getting Jeff Collett to go down for the block and then he passes to Kyle Rau, who’s skating back towards the right face-off dot. Rau waits for Mike Boivin to get in front of him and for Erik Haula to get close to Thorimbert and shoots the puck to the low left corner that Thorimbert might not have seen. GOPHERS 2-0!!!
* UPDATE – The ‘Puck (ClutterPUCK?) must’ve tipped off of Erik Haula as they announced a change to the goal at the beginning of the 3rd period!
* Schmidt having a great slap shot and faking that shot gets Collett to go down for the block which opens up Rau and takes Collett out of the play.
* Rau waited for Haula to get to the net probably more for a tip than for the screen because, since the shot went in front of Haula and to the left of the goalie, there’s no way Haula had a screen on the goalie, even if Kevin Gorg says he waited for the screen!
* Mike Boivin may have screened his goaltender when he comes out to defend Rau but doesn’t block the shot from going through.
* Rau waited for an opportunity to shoot the puck and surprise the goalie early in the power play!
* Mike Reilly fakes a shot at the blue line then attempts a move around the oncoming forward that doesn’t work giving Michael Morin a partial breakaway that Reilly gets back on to disrupt Morin’s chance.
* You have to be Mr. NoDangles at the offensive blue line or you’ll give up a lot of breakaways and start to see less ice time!
* PENALTIES – Seth Helgeson & ? for Roughing at 12:21 of the 1st period – Some after the whistle pushing gets the gate for one on each side and some 4-on-4 hockey!
* GOAL! – Seth Ambroz from Nate Schmidt & Travis Boyd at 14:33 of the 1st period – The Gophers set up a play off the face-off and it worked to perfection! The face-off is at the right face-off dot (Josh Thorimbert’s left) with Travis Boyd at center, Tom Serratore at right wing, Seth Ambroz at left wing, Nate Schmidt at right defense and Jake Parenteau at left defense. Travis Boyd wins the face-off clean back to Nate Schmidt. He immediately skates the puck to the right half-wall, Seth Ambroz moves from his left wing position back to right defense. Tom Serratore and Travis Boyd drive to the net, taking the guys covering them with them causing a screen of Josh Thorimbert with about 5 players between Seth Ambroz and the goaltender! Michael Morin followed Ambroz but had to skate to Schmidt on the half-wall since Joe Marciano stayed with Tom Serratore as he went to the net. As soon as Nate Schmidt gets to the right half-wall, he passes the puck back to a now wide open Seth Ambroz for a one-timed low snap shot that goes to the right of the outstretched right pad of Thorimbert! GOPHERS 3-0!!!
* Amazing how the puck finds its way through all of those bodies and sticks and skates but that’s why you shoot it low from the point.
* Its incredibly hard to save the puck if you can’t see it!
* PENALTY – William Rapuzzi for Roughing on Seth Ambroz at 19:23 of the 1st period – Rapuzzi was taken down by Seth Ambroz and retaliated with a shove to the face and the official gets him for roughing!
2nd Period
* BIG SAVE! – Adam Wilcox on Jeff Collett at :14 of the 2nd period – Nate Schmidt tries to make a move around Jeff Collett at his own blue line and Jeff Collett steals the puck from him, goes in all alone on Adam Wilcox but Wilcox waits him out and makes the save on the move to the forehand.
* PENALTY – Seth Ambroz for Holding on Eamonn McDermott at 1:33 of the 2nd period – Right after the Gopher power play ends Seth Ambroz is forechecking and grabs a hold of Eamonn McDermott and takes him down and gets 2 minutes for it!
* Not a good penalty in the offensive zone!
* PENALTY – Rylan Schwartz for Slashing on Adam Wilcox/Nate Schmidt at 5:59 of the 2nd period – Some after the whistle activity results in a power play for the Gophers!
* PENALTY – Erik Haula for Tripping on Archie Skalbeck at 8:09 of the 2nd period – Erik Haula is defending Archie Skalbeck in the right corner and keeps chopping at the puck even though Skalbeck’s feet are between his stick and the puck so he ends up tripping him and getting some time in the penalty box to think about it.
* Don’t slash at the puck and the player’s feet! Keep skating and get better position! Especially when the player is in the corner beneath the goal line!
* GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Rylan Schwartz from Eamonn McDermott & Scott Winkler at 8:30 of the 2nd period – It took all of 21 seconds for the Tigers to score on the power play. William Rapuzzi wins a battle for the puck over Nate Schmidt in the left corner, passes it to Scott Winkler on the left boards and heads to the front of the net. Winkler passes the puck to Rylan Schwartz as he’s skating back towards the right of the zone. Schwartz makes a short pass to Eamonn McDermott at the center of the blue line and gets over to the right slot. McDermott fakes a slap shot getting Tom Serratore to go down for the block allowing Schwartz to skate to the right face-off dot with nobody on him. McDermott gets him the puck and Rylan Schwartz has the time to pick his spot with a snap shot that goes upper right corner over the glove of Adam Wilcox. TIGERS 1-3!!!
* I know Tom Serratore doesn’t want to let the shot from the point get off but I’m sure Adam Wilcox would rather try to stop a shot from the point than a shot from a goal-scorer like Rylan Schwartz.
* You have to know the personnel on the ice and make sure the opponent’s best player isn’t allowed to get that shot off!
* PENALTY – Jeff Collett for Tripping on Sam Warning at 10:59 of the 2nd period – Jeff Collett is forechecking hard and tries lifting the stick of Sam Warning and ends up taking his feet out from underneath him. TWOOO MINUTES!
* Brady Skjei, going back to get the puck in his own zone, goes behind his own net and tries to skate it up the right side but lost track of the forechecking forward who didn’t follow him behind the net but instead cut in front of Adam Wilcox and caused a turnover that gave the Tigers a good scoring chance.
* Brady looks like he’s trying to do too much every time he gets the puck.
* Just make the simple pass and the simple play! THAT will get you on the ice more!
* GOAL! – Mike Reilly from Travis Boyd at 15:41 of the 2nd period – Michael King tries to make something out of nothing by skating the puck into the Gopher zone but he turns the puck over when Travis Boyd catches him from behind and backhands the puck back up the left side of the ice giving Mike Reilly and Justin Holl a 2-on-1 break. Justin Holl drives the net like he should and Mike Reilly keeps skating the puck in until he has no choice but to shoot and he snaps a shot to the upper right corner over Josh Thorimbert’s glove. GOPHERS 4-1!!!
* Mike Boivin actually played the 2-on-1 pretty well by taking away the pass and at the last second coming over to try to block the shot.
* Thorimbert appears to go down early and the Gophers may have had a scouting report on him for that because Mike Reilly went upper right over his glove.
* Two defenseman playing forward end up getting a 2-on-1 and make it work! You won’t see that very often…unless, of course, they happen to be playing forward a lot!
* Reilly knows how to shoot! There’s no doubt about that!
* Michael King needs to send that puck in deep instead of trying to make something happen there!
* Not sure if he’s trying to prove something to his teammates and his coaches by trying to make a play but he did prove something by making the wrong play and he might be sitting for the next game!
* After he turned the puck over he makes a line change which is another bad decision.
* Not good to change on the back check!
* PENALTY – Christian Isackson for Hooking on William Rapuzzi at 15:53 of the 2nd period – Off a face-off in the Tiger zone won by the Gophers, William Rapuzzi is getting out to the point and Christian Isackson gets his stick in to hold him up and get two minutes in the box!
* PENALTY – Mike Boivin for Roughing on Kyle Rau at 16:16 of the 2nd period – Kyle Rau got under the skin of Mike Boivin and Boivin saw a chance to hit him and took it. Unfortunately, he was a little excessive getting his gloves up high on Rau when making the hit!
* Michael King is showing why he was scratched for last night’s game. A bouncing puck is coming towards him at the Gopher blue line and he makes a lazy kicking attempt to keep it in the zone and he misses it completely sending Nick Bjugstad and Nate Condon on a 2-on-1 that probably should’ve scored but Nick Bjugstad ended up hitting METALLURGY on the quick return pass from Condon!
3rd Period
* Up 4-1, how hard is it to keep playing hard when you’re up by 3 goals?
* It shouldn’t even be a question but teams always let up a bit when they get up big and that’s what always gets the other team back in the game!
* They concentrate on getting it deep and playing the right way but isn’t it better to keep playing the way that got you the 3-goal lead to begin with?
* PENALTY – Cody Bradley for High-Sticking on Justin Holl at 2:32 of the 3rd period – Justin Holl gets the puck and Cody Bradley was just turning the way the puck went and ended up getting his stick up high on Holl and gets two minutes for it!
* Someone tell Doug McLeod that its the NATIONAL Collegiate Hockey Conference NOT the NORTHERN Collegiate Hockey Conference!!! Lord, is that really that difficult to figure out?
* Or Just MUTE HIM!!!
* GOAL! (SHORT-HANDED) – Alexander Krushelnyski from Rylan Schwartz at 4:17 of the 3rd period – A rare mistake by Gopher defenseman Ben Marshall gives the Tigers a 2-on-1 while short-handed! Ben Marshall doesn’t get all of a one-timer and instead of playing defense he aggressively pursues the puck and Alexander Krushelnyski just tips it past him to Rylan Schwartz and Schwartz tips it right back up to him and goes for a line change while Krushelnyski takes it up the left side with Mike Boivin coming up the right. Mike Reilly takes the pass away leaving Adam Wilcox to take the shooter. Krushelnyski takes a snap shot that beats Wilcox over his glove to the upper right corner! TIGERS 2-4!!!
* That’s a huge goal while killing a penalty!
* I always say take the pass away on the 2-on-1 and Mike Reilly did that but he kind of took himself out of the play making it a breakaway for Krushelnyski!
* He could go down and swing his stick at the puck to at least make the shooter adjust before he shoots.
* You could say that with a defenseman as the other man on the 2-on-1, force the puck holder to do something with it before he gets that close but its easy to second guess that.
* Rylan Schwartz wasn’t even on the ice when the goal was scored as he went for a change while on the penalty kill! he did get an assist though!
* GOAL! – Alexander Krushelnyski from Mike Boivin & William Rapuzzi at 6:05 of the 3rd period – The Gophers clear their zone but a loose puck gets them thinking offensively and out of position when the puck goes the other way at the Tigers blue line. When Zach Budish reaches for the puck instead of taking the extra stride, he allows William Rapuzzi to win the puck and turn up the right boards and give a pass to Mike Boivin coming up the center of the neutral zone. Boivin goes around a reaching Erik Haula, who went for the puck instead of the man and missed, and skates the puck into the left of the Gopher zone. Seth Helgeson was mirroring Alexander Krushelnyski but Krushelnyski turned at the blue line to stay onside putting Helgeson on defending the puck carrier and Brady Skjei on the two oncoming forwards but giving too much gap to the offense. Boivin has the time to shoot the puck low to get a rebound off Adam Wilcox that bounces back up the middle to Krushelnyski for a quick shot into the upper left corner and all of a sudden its a one-goal game! TIGERS 3-4!!!
* Both Gopher defenseman needed to gap up on that play! Gap up meaning close the gap between you and the offensive player giving them less time and space.
* Brady Skjei doesn’t know where the puck is and is trying to cover two guys as they come in for the rebound! He got neither!
* Is their a better way to play that?
* Know where the puck is and once you see the offensive player shoot, turn, find the puck and clear the front of the net!
* You can’t cover two guys so choose one and make sure he doesn’t get to the puck!
* Up the middle is the more dangerous spot for the rebound so that would be the better place to cover but its more difficult when you’re skating backwards!
* Adam Wilcox needs to control that shot and not give up a rebound there!
* People say how can a team play so good for two periods and then play so bad!
* A couple mistakes can turn into goals really quick! The Gophers had a chance to go up 4 goals on a shot that hits the post and got a power play so they were playing good and just made a couple bad decisions that the Tigers capitalized on.
* I’m not sure why Helgeson is skating with Krushelnyski in the neutral zone meaning he probably doesn’t need to mirror the way he’s skating. Skate with him and keep an eye on him.
* PENALTY – Christian Isackson for Boarding on Eamonn McDermott at 9:00 of the 3rd period – Christian Isackson on the forecheck makes a body check on Eamonn McDermott and he goes into the boards awkwardly looking like a boarding penalty but he hits him from the side so its a somewhat questionable call.
* Isackson was probably a little over physical and at that point, he could’ve taken the puck instead of the man.
* A penalty in the offensive zone is a bad penalty 99.9% of the time!
* BIG SAVE! – Adam Wilcox at 18:37 of the 3rd period – A crazy play where Adam Wilcox lost his stick and the puck was bouncing around in the crease ends up under Ben Marshall.
* GOAL! (EXTRA MAN) – Rylan Schwartz from Alexander Krushelnyski at 19:36 of the 3rd period – Alexander Krushelnyski is on the left half-wall and wraps the puck around the back of the net. Rylan Schwartz gets to the puck and wraps it right back around the left corner then goes to the backdoor spot at the right of the net (Adam Wilcox’ left). When Krushelnyski gets the puck on the left half-wall he makes a pass to Schwartz for the backdoor one-timer into a mostly empty net for a TIE GAME AT 4!!!
* How can the backdoor man not be covered especially when that man is RYLAN SCHWARTZ?
* Your Schwartz is bigger than mine!
* What a pass by Krushelnyski! That has to be something they’ve worked on or set up during the timeout!
Overtime
* FREE HOCKEY!!!
* So far, this overtime period is being played like neither team wants to lose rather than trying to win!
* Crazy end to the overtime as Jake Parenteau got a shot from the left point and missed the net!
FINAL SCORE
Minnesota 4, Colorado College 4
Some fans might say the Gophers didn’t play that well after they got a 3-goal lead at either 3-0 or 4-1 but Colorado College capitalized on a couple of mistakes by the Gophers including a rare mistake by Ben Marshall to get within a goal and then got a clutch goal from Rylan Schwartz to tie the game with under 30 seconds left. Not a great way to go into the holiday break as they don’t get the chance to get out and play again until December 29th when the Gopher Hockey team hosts the Air Force Academy in the first game of the Mariucci Classic!
Maybe it’s a good thing for them to go into the Holiday break knowing they let one slip away! That gives them a chance to work hard to fix some of the problems they’ve had on defense so far this season and for a couple guys to get a shot at playing for their country in the 2013 World Junior Championship that start on December 26th in Russia! All USA Hockey games will be broadcast on NHL Network including a couple pre-tournament games on Thursday, December 20th at 11:30pm against Sweden and on Saturday, December 22nd at 5am against Finland!
Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Gophers Take Three WCHA Points From Tigers, Tie 4-4 in Overtime
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-CC Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from CCTigers.com – CC battles back for a 4-4 tie
In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Minnesota State won vs Alaska-Anchorage 3-0
St. Cloud State won vs Nebraska-Omaha 2-1
Bemidji State won @ Minnesota-Duluth 2-1
North Dakota won vs Denver 6-3
and
Michigan Tech tied @ Wisconsin 3-3 in OT
In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Notre Dame won vs Michigan State 5-1 – Mario Lucia had one assist
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