Gopher Hockey Notes vs Boston College Eagles – 10-25-2013

Gopher Hockey is ranked #1 four games into the season and have to face the #5 ranked Boston College Eagles, a team that beat Wisconsin 9-2  in their first 3 games. Also, the Gophers ran over a Boston College team last season beating them 8 to 1. You can bank on Jerry York having his players ready for this game.

There’s a couple Minnesota boys on the BC roster and one with ties to Minnesota. Ian McCoshen, a freshman defenseman from Faribault, played with Shattuck St. Mary’s in his hometown before spending 3 seasons in the USHL with the Waterloo Blackhawks. In 2010-2011, as a 15-year-old, he went to the highest tier of Junior Hockey. In those three seasons, he went from 6 points (all assists) and a minus 9 in 42 games his first year to 20 points (8 goals, 12 assists) and a plus 4 in 55 games his second year to putting up 44 points (11 goals, 33 assists) and a whopping plus 35 in 53 games his third season. I’d say he’s ready to take his game to division I as an 18-year-old and probably why he’s on the top pair and chosen early in the 2nd round of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers.

Boston College also has Michael Sit, an Edina native and a junior playing as a forward, centering the 4th line. Being a 4th liner, he hasn’t lit up the stat sheet so far but you don’t just look at stats with those 3rd & 4th lines because a lot of what they do is just plain hard work and getting in on the forecheck and shutting down the other team’s top lines. As a junior though, Michael Sit scored his first collegiate in the most recent game against Wisconsin. Both Sit and McCoshen played with current freshman Gopher Hockey players Justin Kloos and Taylor Cammarata with Waterloo the last two seasons, Kloos sparingly for all 3 and Cammarata for basically all of the last two seasons.

The final player with ties to Minnesota would be 2012 4th round pick (98th overall) of the Minnesota Wild, freshman Adam Gilmour. He’s a big kid at 6’3” and 194 pounds and was picked out the Massachusetts high school ranks and last season, he played for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL and had 47 points (19 goals, 28 assists) and was a plus 17 in 64 games. He’s playing on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold so he should put up some points playing with those two! Always nice to be able to see the future of the Minnesota Wild and see what they have coming down the line.

Here’s your line charts:

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
F-Sam Warning-11 – Kyle Rau-7 – Hudson Fasching-24
Nate Condon-16 – Justin Kloos-25 – Taylor Cammarata – 13
Connor Reilly-21 – Travis Boyd-22 – Vinni Lettieri-19
Tom Serratore-14 – AJ Michaelson-15 – Seth Ambroz-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Justin Holl-12
Mike Reilly-5 – Jake Parenteau-6
Ben Marshall-10 – Michael Brodzinski-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Ryan Coyne-31, D-Jake Bischoff-28, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Christian Isackson-26, F-Gabe Guertler-27
Injured:

Line Chart – Boston College Eagles

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Ryan Fitzgerald-19 – Kevin Hayes-12 – Austin Cangelosi-26
Johnny Gaudreau-13 – Bill Arnold-24 – Adam Gilmour-14
Quinn Smith-27 – Patrick Brown-23 – Chris Calnan-11
Destry Straight-17 – Michael Sit-18 – Brendan Silk-9
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Ian McCoshen-3 – Michael Matheson-5
Isaac MacLeod-7 – Danny Linell-10
Scott Savage-28 – Steve Santini-6
Goalie
Thatcher Demko-30

Scratches/Injured: G-Brian Billett-1, G-Brad Barone-29, D-Teddy Doherty-4, D-Travis Jeke-8, F-Cam Spiro-15, F-Peter McMullen-20, F-Matthew Gaudreau-21, F-Evan Richardson-22

This is one of those match-ups you kind of drool over with two top-5 ranked schools known for being Division I contenders every season. It should be a classic.

Alright, it’s time to DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• GOAL – Hudson Fasching from Kyle Rau at the :30 of the 1st period – All it takes is 30 seconds for the Gophers to get on the board! WOW!!! A turnover (but not a bad one) let’s Brady Skjei pass to Hudson Fasching get the puck coming out of his own zone at the middle of the blue line and pass it up to Kyle Rau, who’s curling back from the forecheck, and Rau takes it in of BC defenseman, Ian McCoshen. Rau gets past the blue line and rips a snap shot in on Thatcher Demko, then gets to the rebound before McCoshen and, even though he misses it, the BC defenseman had to account for him and try to body him up, leaving the rebound for the oncoming Hudson Fasching to easily shoot the puck into the empty net and the GOPHERS LEAD 1-0!!!
  • On the replay you see that Boston College actually had two defenseman and a back checking forward to cover both Rau & Fasching so they should’ve been able to prevent that goal.
  • This is why you love a player like Kyle Rau. He has that off the charts compete level to get to the net and make something happen.
  • The problem that allowed the goal was JohnnyGaudreau coasting and watching while Hudson Fasching gets to the loose puck and scores the first goal!
    • As a back checking forward, you can’t just be within reach of the offensive player. You have to be even with him and have a stick on his stick preventing him from getting to the puck.
    • You also can’t assume it’s a harmless play. Get back EVERY TIME!!!
    • That is the beauty of video today, folks.
      • They talk of Johnny Gaudreau being the best player in college hockey and it’s all right there on video showing him making a big mistake.
    • Preventing a goal counts the same as scoring a goal! It’s now 1-0 and if the goal is prevented, that would be the same as making it 1-1!!! PLAY SOME DEFENSE!!!

• GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Travis Boyd from Kyle Rau and Sam Warning at 4:30 of the 1st period – Sam Warning, on the right half-wall, passes the puck down to Kyle Rau at the right of the net on the goal line below the face-off dot and Rau quickly makes a move towards the net, sees the defenseman go down trying to poke check the puck away, moves the puck away from the poke check, sees Travis Boyd moving in for the backdoor pass and gets it to him for a one-timer into the upper part of the net for a 2-0 GOPHER Lead!!!
  • That’s just a great play by Kyle Rau to avoid the poke check and see Boyd moving in for the backdoor pass. He’s putting his stamp on this game early and often so far!!!
    • Maybe that’s why he is wearing The C!!! Captain, My Captain!!!
  • Do you fault the defenseman for being aggressive there? I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to fault him on that play because the aggressive PK was working for BC . Sure, he could’ve played it a little differently but I wouldn’t blame him for that goal.
    • Rau has a bad angle so I say just leave him there and take away the backdoor pass but I can see where you’d think he has a bad angle so force him, thinking his choices are limited.
    • That’s why it’s such a great play by Rau.
• PENALTY – Patrick Brown for Interference with Jake Parenteau at 4:55 of the 1st period – Boston College gets a scoring chance and Patrick Brown coming in to the net, pushes Parenteau, knocking him down and he runs into his own net hitting his head on the post.
  • It doesn’t look like he hit the net that hard but he’s going off the ice to get looked at by the trainers.
• PENALTY – Ben Marshall for Cross-Checking Michael Sit at 7:31 of the 1st period – Ben Marshall is his own zone in the corner and he hits Michael Sit a little from behind and the official calls him for cross-checking. It wasn’t cross-checking as Marshall only had one hand on his stick. It’s a questionable call but I can see it going either way.
• GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Johnny Gaudreau from Michael Matheson at 8:31 of the 1st period – Johnny Gaudreau is skating the puck up the left side of the ice on the power play and sees Michael Matheson trailing the play at the right point. He passes him the puck and Matheson one-times it but misses the net wide to the right. The puck hits the boards behind the net and bounces right to Johnny Gaudreau, who kept skating in from the left side, and is now below the goal line on the left side of the net. He gets the puck off the back boards and shoots for the not and the puck ends up going off of Adam Wilcox’ skate into the net for a 1-2 Gopher Lead!!!
  • Great awareness byGaudreau to get the puck and immediately aim for the net or for someone near the net to deflect it in.
    • I’m not sure if he tried to aim for Wilcox’ skate or just threw it in front of the net looking for a good bounce.
    • Was that a planned play? I’m not sure. It may have just been a shot that went wide and happened to bounce right to Gaudreau. We’ll probably never know.
• GOAL – Michael Sit from Destry Straight and Scott Savage at 9:42 of the 1st period – WOW!!! THREE GOALS in a span of 71 seconds! – The ensuing face-off is won by Boston College back to the left D. A pass goes D-to-D and Seth Ambroz is standing at the red line. He lets Destry Straight go and focuses on Scott Savage coming at him but with no speed Savage easily passes it through him up to Straight. AJ Michaelson is covering Michael Sit but is trailing him as he enters the offensive zone. Straight passes the puck up to Sit giving him a mini-breakaway on Adam Wilcox and he shoots it 5-hole for a 3-2 EAGLES LEAD!!!
  • I’m not a goalie coach but one thing that drives me crazy is how goalies lift their stick opening up the 5-hole. If Adam Wilcox has his stick on the ice, he makes a save. He probably creates a rebound but he has defense to clear that rebound or so it appears.
  • AJ Michaelson does the familiar reaching instead of skating to defend the pass. SKATE!!! MOVE YOUR FEET!!!
  • Michael Brodzinski played too far inside and not enough gap giving Destry Straight a step on him and a lane to get the pass behind him to Michael Sit!
  • It’d be interesting to hear what the bench was yelling on these goals.
    • Were they trying to get Brodzinski to back up? Were they telling Ambroz to go to the puck? Were they telling Michaelson to stay with his man?
    • In the last Boston College game, and Michael Sit’s 80th collegiate game, he scored his first collegiate goal. He didn’t wait that long to tickle the twine again and NOW, he has scored two goals in 11 seconds! Have a game, Michael Sit! WOW!!! SIT UP!!!
    • Five goals in the first 10 minutes of the game! This could get crazy!!!
• PENALTY – Sam Warning for Interference on Adam Gilmour at 13:18 of the 1st period – Off a face-off in the BC zone, Sam Warning gets in the way of Adam Gilmour, keeping him from getting to the puck and the official calls him for interference.
• Nate Condon knows how to use his speed! Off a turnover near the Gopher blue line, Condon picks up the puck and only has one defenseman between him and the goalie so he chips the puck by the defenseman and uses his speed to skate past him and get a shot on goal!
• As the penalty expires, Travis Boyd gets the puck to Sam Warning just behind the defense. He can’t catch the pass on his backhand and his shotis deflected wide left by Steve Santini. Warning picks up the puck again as he goes around the back of the net. As he gets to the right half-wall, he sees Ben Marshall coming up the center of the zone and gets him the puck for a bigslapper that hits the post hard for a loud PING and a big reaction from the crowd! Metallurgy!!! So close!!!
  • Man, I hope Sam Warning can stay healthy all season! He makes things happen out there! Great Vision with and without the puck!
• Adam Wilcox makes a great save moving to his left to stop a one-timer at the 18:00 mark of the 1st period!
• GOAL – Michael Sit from Scott Savage and Isaac MacLeod at 9:31 of the 1st period – On a rush up ice, Taylor Cammarata has the puck and enters the Eagles zone on the right side. Justin Holl joins the rush trailing Cammarata, who makes a drop pass to him. Holl catches the pass and takes a look for a shot but that just gives the back checking forward time to get to him and get his stick on the puck and deflect it to the right corner where Scott Savage picks it up and goes up the boards. Savage sees Michael Sit open going up center ice and passes to him. Brendan Silk skates hard to make it a 2-on-1 forcing Ben Marshall to try to take away the pass and leaving Sit to shoot on Adam Wilcox. Sit shoots high blocker and the shot hits Adam Wilcox’ blocker or his stick and goes into the net and the game is TIED AT 2!!!
  • There’s a few things that make this play bad for the Gophers:
    • The Drop Pass!!!
      • I’ve never been a big fan of the drop pass!
      • Most of the time it’s a blind pass because  you don’t see it reach it’s intended target or, at least, the player who passed it doesn’t see the pass completed because they are going to the net or being hit or something.
      • It gives the goalie and the rest of the defense time to locate the puck and prepare for the shot. Consider it like a fastball a hitter can’t catch up to and the pitcher throwing a change-up giving the hitter a chance to hit the ball. Don’t help out the opponent by slowing down the play.
      • It rarely works.
    • Taylor Cammarata has speed so use that speed to get to the net and make a play, take a shot to score or a shot to create a rebound or just to create space to can see your options.
    • Justin Kloos should be driving the net forcing the weak side defenseman to account for him.
    • Hard to use the trailer if you don’t have an odd-man rush in your favor.
    • It was a 3-on-3 rush so really nobody was open meaning you have to take the play to the net and make something happen.
    • Since Justin Holl joined the rush, someone has to cover his defensive position.
    • I believe Nate Condon made the pass across the ice to Cammarata then changed and TomSerratore came on the ice.
      • Serratore makes a hit on Scott Savage but doesn’t get his stick down to effect the breakout pass and his hit gives up the 2-on-1 and changesthe whole play.
        • If he focuses on the play instead of making a hit, it may not end up in a 2-on-1 and then Michael Sit doesn’t get a free shot on net.
    • Ben Marshall played it ok but he should’ve forced Sit to do something earlier because it was an uneven 2-on-1 meaning Silk was behind Sit instead of even with him and he had to skate hard to create the 2-on-1.
      • He could’ve closed the gap between himself and Michael Sit more.
    • Of course, this is all easy to say after the play but that’s what coaching is, learning from mistakes and getting better from them or adjusting how you play a certain situation.

2nd Period

• GREAT SAVE – Adam Wilcox on Bill Arnold 3o seconds into the 2nd period! – A turnover just over the Gophers blue line by Hudson Fasching results in an odd-man rush for BC with Johnny Gaudreau skating the puck up the left side with Bill Arnold skating up the middle. Gaudreau gets Arnold the puck for a 1-on-1 with Wilcox. He makes a move to his forehand but Wilcox gets over and makes a save with his outstretched right pad to keep the game within a goal for the Gophers.
• PENALTY – Mike Reilly for Boarding on Quinn Smith at 11:27 of the 2nd period – Tough call for Mike Reilly asit appears he hit Quinn Smith more from the side than behind but it caused Smith to go into the boards hard and awkwardly and it “looked and sounded” like a penalty. I put that in quotes not because anyone said that but to show that it may have influenced a callrather than a no-call.
  • The official in the zone didn’t call it though which always intrigues me. The official in the neutral zone made the call.
  • I would say the only way to avoid making this hit is to skate and get even or ahead of the offensive player so you can change the angle of the hit and not hit him straight into the boards.
  • There’s not really a need to make that hit because Smith really has no place to go with the puck and now the Gophers are on the PK!
• GOAL – Taylor Cammarata from Justin Kloos at 15:33 – Justin Kloos gets a loose puck in the Gopher zone at the right half-wall and uses his speed to pick it up and break out of the zone up the middle of the ice and create a 2-on-2 with Taylor Cammarata. BC defensman Steve Santini goes to Kloos but Kloos smartly keeps the puck away from him going to his right towards Cammarata. He ends up giving Cammarata the puck and goes to the net. Cammarata uses Ian McCoshen as a screen keeping Thatcher Demko from seeing the puck until it’s too late and he only gets a piece of it with his blocker and we are TIED AT 3!!!
  • That’s Taylor Cammarata’s first collegiate goal and, hopefully, the first of many!!! We want to see #ALottaCammarata!!!
  • So many times you see players try to go through a defenseman when on a rush. Keep the puck away from the defense.
  • Taylor Cammarata shoots a wrist shot not a snap shot. Usually a wrist shot will be more accurate than a snap shot. Snap shots are better for the quick release shot.
  • Steve Santini goes to Justin Kloos on the play but Ian McCoshen wasn’t on the same page as he didn’t close the gap on Cammarata allowing him to get the puck with time and space to shoot.
  • IanMcCoshen needs to get down and block that shot instead of blocking the view of his goaltender!
    • If you’re going to screen your goaltender, at least help him out by getting down to take away the low shot.
    • Another reason why he needs to gap up or shorten the gap between himself and the shooter Cammarata.

3rd Period

• We miss 40 seconds at the beginning of the 3rd period for some reason. Maybe BTN is getting tips from FSN?Geez!
  • “Hey, is this supposed to be plugged in?”
  • “How long should we keep playing commercials?”
• FSN and/or BTN (or anyone broadcasting college hockey really) should really have a camera on Mike Reilly at all times when he’s on the ice. It’d be pretty sweet to watch his shifts isolated and see what he does on a given shift. Obviously when he scores but to see when he joins an offensive rush or how he uses his speed and vision to effect the game and how he plays with and without the puck!!!
  • They could select a player from each team for each game to watch OR someone should create an app that does that for every player on the ice at all times, be it by position or jersey number or whatever!
  • The technology hasto be there to do this! Right?
    • Think of how this could teach the game to the players from the teams playing and the aspiring players watching the game!
    • What a teaching tool that could be!!!
• With 20 seconds left in the 3rd period, Justin Holl sends a long pass from the left half-wall of his own zone to Sam Warning going up the middle of the BC blue line and Warning makes a move around Danny Linell to get a shot off while falling down. No goal but what a pass and what a move by Warning! #Warning #SamIsOnTheIce

OVERTIME

• What’s the #1 rule in Overtime? SHOOT THE PUCK!!! From Anywhere! At Anytime!!! Anything can happen in OT!!!
• With 2:06 left in Overtime, Johnny Gaudreau has the puck on a BC rush but it’s 3-on-4 and he makes a bad decision to pass the puck to the middle to Bill Arnold. The play is broken up and Kyle Rau picks up the loose puck and sees Taylor Cammarata behind the BC Defense hitting him for a breakaway. Cammarata makes a move to his backhand and tries to softly send it through Thatcher Demko’s 5-hole. Demko makes the save with his goalie stick but the puck bounces up into the air going over Demko and heading into the net but Ian McCoshen saves the day and the game by catching and throwing the puck back out at the same time.
  This causes a 2-on-1 the other way as play goes on. Thatis broken up by Brady Skjei.
  • WOW!!! What a crazy, awesome sequence that was!!!
  • Watching the replay, you wonder why the officials didn’t whistle down the play because of a hand pass but it doesn’t matter since the play was blown dead later.
  • It gave up a 2-on-1 and if Boston College scores on that, would it have been reviewed and reversed? THAT would’ve been interesting!
  • We get overtime with the Gophers having some momentum late in the 3rd period getting several scoring chances in the final couple minutes!
  • Would McCoshen have been able to stop that goal if he had his stick in his hands?
  • Possibly the craziest part of that play is Ian McCoshen trying to catch Cammarata, hitting him with his stick and losing his stick just before the puck bounces up in the air.

SHOOTOUT (Just for fun!)

• The game officially ends in a tie as the shootout doesn’t count as part if the B1G -Hockey East Challenge!
• Johnny Gaudreau on Adam Wilcox – NO GOAL!
• Taylor Cammarata on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!
• Bill Arnold on Adam Wilcox – GOAL! Nice move barely getting it past Wilcox! He actually lost control of the puck on the last move but the puck hit his stick then hits Wilcox’ skate and goes in.
• Sam Warning on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!
• Kevin Hayes on Adam Wilcox – NO GOAL! Keep the game alive for the Gophers!
• Kyle Rau on Thatcher Demko – GOAL! Going 5-hole and giving the Gophers another chance to win!
• Adam Gilmour on Adam Wilcox – NO GOAL!
• Nate Condon on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!
• Patrick Brown on Adam Wilcox – GOAL!!! Nice Move to quick snap shot to the upper right corner!
• Hudson Fasching on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!!! BC Wins!

Final Score
Minnesota Gophers 3, Boston College Eagles 3

A game that had 5 goals in the first 10 minutes ends up in a 3-3 tie! You wouldn’t have guessed that but there were still plenty of chances. The Gophers almost won it in overtime save for a glove save from Faribault, Minnesota native Ian McCoshen! We’ll see what happens on Sunday afternoon as we get the rematch in this great match-up!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – No. 1 Gophers, No. 5 Eagles Play to 3-3 Tie
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota – Boston College Stats (Downloadable PDF)
Gopher Hockey Recap from BCEagles.com – No. 5 BC skates to 3-3 draw at No. 1 Minnesota

In other B1G TEN College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”

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