Gopher Hockey Recap – at Michigan Tech Huskies – 10-19-2012

Gopher Hockey continues tonight with the first road game at Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech is not the slouch they used to be, especially in their house. Head Coach Mel Pearson has this team on the way up with help from Assistant Coaches Damon Whitten and former Minnesota Wild winger Bill Muckalt. The Husky Goalie Coach is former NHL goaltender Steve Shields. They have a husky goalie coach!

There’s some bad blood in this rivalry. The Huskies battle and at times it got pretty physical with some questionable hits and we had assistant coaches up yelling across the benches. The Gophers can’t take this team lightly after breezing through Michigan State last weekend.

Gopher Hockey Head Coach Don Lucia has 599 wins and will make his first try at 600 tonight! I’m sure the players would love to get that tonight for their coach! Is that something that would be mentioned in pre-game talks to give some extra motivation for either team? Any extra bit of motivation is a good thing if you ask me.

 Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Pronunciation: Skjei = Shay
Scratches/Did Not Play: MIN: G-Ryan Coyne-31, G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Adam Wilcox-32, D-Jake Parenteau, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23, F-AJ Michaelson
Injured: MIN: F-Connor Reilly-21

Line Chart – Michigan Tech Huskies

Let’s drop this CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• I’m not a fan of FSN’s “Game Plan”
  • It’s way too generic. It could be the same for every game regardless of who’s playing.
  • There’s no mention of the opponent’s players as for who to watch or what to watch out for. Do they have a great forecheck? Great defense? Are they physical? Do they have speed? How much research are they doing at FSN? Step it up, GORG!!!
• GOAL!!! – Alex Petan from Jujhar Khaira – Sam Warning takes the puck into the Husky zone 1-on-3 and takes a shot but misses the net. The puck wraps around to the right half-wall where Budish let’s the puck go back to the point where Mark Alt tries to play it but Jujhar Khaira tips the puck past him. Now with Alt chasing, Mike Reilly moves over to defend Khaira leaving Alex Petan open. Khaira passes the puck a little too far ahead of Petan but he dives to stop the puck with the blade of the stick, gets up on his knees and he’s still able to shoot it past Shibrowski over his glove into the upper right corner! AMAZING GOAL! 1-0 Huskies!
  • Amazing? Yes…but Zach Budish probably should’ve just put the puck deep instead of letting it go back to the point and Mike Reilly made a rookie mistake by taking the man instead of taking away the pass on a 2-on-1.
  • We don’t know if Mark Alt was telling Budish to let the puck go but instead of letting it go he should’ve helped get the puck back to Alt quicker.
  • Michigan Tech’s Alex Petan Dazzles with a From-the-Knees Goal – The United States of Hockey blog – UnitedStatesOfHockey.com

• • Nate Condon shows his speed splitting two Huskies to get a wide open shot on goal that leaves a juicy rebound but no Gopher could find it! Speed KILLS!
    • A Gopher went in the net but he wasn’t carrying a puck let alone THE puck so…uhh…no goal! No Puckin’ The Net!
  • PENALTY – Seth Helgeson for hooking at 8:10 of the 1st period – On a chip that would fall short of icing, David Johnstone gets ahead of Seth Helgeson but has a bad angle for a shot and Helgeson was just trying to disrupt him and gets called for the hook! TWOOOO MINUTES!
  • PENALTY – Daniel Sova for Hooking at 8:33 of the 1st period –
    • Quote from Kevin Gorg– “might’ve been a little bit of a dive here but ya know what, if that stick feels like it’s on your midsection, you can keep your feet moving and you’re allowed to take that dive and Rau does that and that’s a big play right there.”
      • You’re allowed to take that dive? Really? Gorg seems to support diving to get penalties and I disagree. I hope there’s not any coaches telling their players to dive to try to get a penalty.
        • First of all it could backfire and get you a penalty
        • Second, you might be giving up a scoring chance you might get if you battle through it. You might not get as good a chance on the power play!
        • The stick was between his legs not in his midsection! Can-opener! That could make you dive!
        • Diving is done on Melted Ice…NOT FROZEN WATER!! NO DIVING ALLOWED! Do we have to start putting up signs like they have at local pools?
  • GOAL – Nate Schmidt from Nate Condon & Travis Boyd at 9:15 of the 1st period – A turnover (blocked shot) by Michigan Tech at the Gopher blue line makes for quick transition. Travis Boyd blocked a shot at the right point then gets the puck and sends it off the boards to a waiting Nate Condon, turning backwards to catch the pass and back to forwards to enter the left of the Husky zone. Condon then makes a great move around Steven Seigo to get another wide open shot on goal. Copley makes the save off his left pad but the rebound goes off Condon’s skate to a wide open Nate Schmidt at the right of the net for the quick shot into an open net! TIE GAME at 1-1!
    • Condon’s move was what made the play! It was the old stop and let the player go by you and pick up the puck again letting the puck go in front of the defender while you evade the check by stopping your momentum! Gorg called it a “Dipsy-Doo”, Doug McLeod’s call was “dances”, call it what you want….it was a GAMECHANGER!
      • How ‘bout the “Jump, Jive & Wail”? “Stop, Drop and Roll”? The “Top Gun”? (“I’ll hit the brakes, he’ll fly right by.”) The “Drop Jock/Jock Drop” or “Jock Dropper”? (“He lost his jock on that one!”)
    • There’s a saying that goes, “Separate the man from the puck or the puck from the man! Make a Choice!” Well, Seigo got neither on that play!
  • PENALTY – Brady Skjei for Holding at 14:00 of the 1st period – Brady Skjei gets caught at his own blue line pinching and Alex Petan chipped it by him. Skjei had enough time to turn and skate but when Petan tried to get around him, Brady held him up instead of skating
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Blake Pietella from Ryan Furne and David Johnstone at 14:48 of the 1st period – David Johnstone passes the puck to Ryan Furne from the right corner to the right point. Furne has some time and space so he waits for some teammates to get in front of the net and let’s a snap shot go towards the net. He keeps the shot low and it looks like Blake Pietella gets his stick on it tipping it up into the right corner of the net. 2-1 HUSKIES!
  • GOAL – Dennis Rix from CJ Eick at 15:10 of the 1st period – Almost a carbon copy of the Huskies first goal. Erik Haula takes a shot that gets deflected wide into the right corner and wraps around to Zach Budish on the half-wall. Budish plays it back to Mark Alt but it’s rolling so Alt has trouble controlling it and Dennis Rix tips it by him for a 2-on-1. Mike Reilly again goes too early to defend the man with the puck but this time he gets a piece of the puck with his glove as he slides but he basically just stopped it leaving it to Rix again to pass it to an open CJ Eick in front of the net for a tip in past Shibrowski. 3-1 HUSKIES!
    • Reilly made the mistake again but this time he looked back and thought he had back-checkers that would get to Eick.
    • I’ve never been a big fan of sliding to defend the 2-on-1 because of exactly what happened. Reilly slides by and then he’s out of the play. Get down low laying your stick on the ice, especially with the bad angle Rix had for a pass.
    • This will help Mike Reilly become a better defender in the WCHA! Count on it!
  • PENALTY – Sam Warning for Slashing at 15:10 of the 1st period –Sam Warning made a diving effort to attempt to disrupt CJ Eick on his way to the net. The effort included a slash on Eick’s skate and now, on a delayed penalty, if you score, you also get the ensuing power play.
    • Stupid rule. The whole point of a delayed penalty is to give a team the advantage of getting a chance to score so if they score, why would they get the power play anyways? That doesn’t make sense.

  2nd Period

  • GOAL – Nick Bjugstad from Ben Marshall & Justin Holl at 2:51 of the 2nd period – A good forecheck forces a bad pass and a turnover allowing Ben Marshall to find Nick Bjugstad at the left of the net for a goal. After a good body check by Seth Helgeson, Tom Serratore just sends the puck back in deep where the Tech goalie misses it behind the net allowing it to go around the right corner. Justin Holl gets there for a check as Steven Seigo gets to the puck forcing him to make a pass up the boards that isn’t controlled and gets back to Ben Marshall at the right point. Marshall doesn’t have a shot but he sees sniper Nick Bjugstad by the net. A rolling, bouncing puck is corralled by Bjugstad in time to unleash a wrister that is partially tipped by the D-man and goes up over Copley’s blocker into the left corner! 3-2 HUSKIES!
    • Justin Holl should get an assist even if he didn’t touch the puck because he had the key check that caused the quick pass up the boards that resulted in a turnover to Ben Marshall.
    • Not sure if the ice is bad or the pucks are or both but the puck is rolling and bouncing a lot! ‘PUCK Happens!
  • GOAL – Chad Pietila from Dennis Rix & Riley Sweeney at 6:22 of the 2nd period – A bad pass from Zach Budish to the neutral zone isn’t handled by Erik Haula and goes into the left side of the Husky zone where Riley Sweeney just slaps it off the boards around Haula, and past Sam Warning, to Chad Pietila and Dennis Nix in the neutral zone. Pietila lets Nix take it into the right of the zone. Nix cuts to the center at the blue line letting Pietila go down the right side then he makes a pass that is intercepted by Nate Schmidt but the puck bounces over his stick right to Pietila giving him a wide open shot and he snaps it into the upper right corner over Shibrowski. 4-2 HUSKIES!
    • As soon as Shibrowski went down, Pietila knew where he was going with that shot!
    • Nate Schmidt needs to stay with Pietila in that situation. He moved with the puck which gave Pietila the extra step he needed to be past Schmidt when the puck bounced to him. Brady Skjei was there to defend Nix coming down the center of the zone.
      • Is that a senior reacting differently because his partner is a freshman?
      • Do YOUR job! You can’t cover for someone else by leaning away from who you’re supposed to be defending!
  • GOALIE CHANGE – Adam Wilcox in for Mike Shibrowski at 6:22 of the 2nd period –Don Lucia changing goalies to see if it sparks his team as The Big Shibrowski wasn’t at fault for most of the 4 goals – two 2-on-1s, a tip and a bad angle snipe.
    • No goalie likes to be pulled and I’m sure Shibrowski wants a couple of those back and I’m sure the coaches are letting him know why they are making the change.
    • A goalie does usually have to come up with some big saves in every game and the Gophers have needed some big saves in this one so far.
  • PENALTY – Justin Fillion for Interference at 14:59 of the 3rd period – Fillion took down Ryan Reilly in front of the net and the puck was not close to the play! Easy call? You’d think so but it was called by the ref in the neutral zone and not the ref that was literally 5 feet away from the play!
  • GREAT SAVE! – Adam Wilcox off a tip by CJ Eick of a Justin Fillion slapper from the left point – WOW! The shot is going to Wilcox’ right and is tipped to his left and he reacts in time to snatch it with the glove! GLOVE IT!
  • GOAL – Blake Pietila from Tanner Kero & Bradley Stebner at 18:27 of the 2nd period – What looks like a change of possession in the Gophers favor turns into a turnover at their own blue line. Nick Bjugstad looks like he has a handle on it but the puck rolls off his stick. Bradley Stebner sees the puck loose, grabs it and takes it to the left of the zone. As Bjugstad defends Stebner, he makes a pass to the middle to Tanner Kero on his forehand. Kero makes a behind the back pass to an open Blake Pietila who makes a quick move to his forehand and puts the puck over Wilcox’ stretched out left pad! 5-2 HUSKIES!
    • A turnover turns into panic and Nate Schmidt goes to cover Stebner when Bjugstad has him pretty much covered. That makes Brady Skjei cover Kero, which leaves Pietila open because the back checker couldn’t get there.
    • When two guys cover one guy, that leaves someone open and turns into scoring chances which turn into penalties and/or goals!

  3rd Period

  • PENALTY – Bradley Stebner for Cross-Checking at 17:02 of the 3rd Period – Cross-check behind the goal line right in front of the official!
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Travis Boyd from Christian Isackson & Nate Condon at 17:49 of the 3rd period – A blocked Ben Marshall shot goes into the right corner where Mike Reilly ties up his man allowing Nate Condon to take the puck back to the right half-wall where he reverses and goes back towards the right corner and he makes a backhand pass to Christian Isackson in the right slot. Isackson catches it on his backhand, quickly moves it to his forehand and passes to Travis Boyd at the left side of the net. Boyd corrals the bouncing puck and still has time to shoot it into the open net before Phoenix Copley can get across the crease! 5-3 HUSKIES!
  • Down by 2 goals, the Gophers pull the goalie with 2 minutes to go and get some chances but can’t get closer and we have a 5-3 final in favor of the Michigan Tech Huskies!
    • Did the Gophers get some momentum from the way they finished the game? Was it enough? Does that even matter? New game tomorrow night! Have to move on from tonight’s game, correct the mistakes and compete at a higher level!

  No 600 tonight for The Don! The Gophers struggled defensively in this one, making little mistakes that turned into scoring chances and goals and they couldn’t recover from to make it a game. You could say there were some bad bounces but there’s bad bounces in every game for both teams. The Gophers were out battled by a good Michigan Tech team with a good game plan that they executed well.

  Now we wait for the rematch and see how this gopher hockey team responds to their first loss of the season.

  Gopher Hockey Recap from USCHO – Copley ‘the difference’ as Michigan Tech upsets No. 1 Minnesota
  Recap from MichiganTechHuskies.com – Hockey Huskies Beat No. 1 Minnesota 5-3
  Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Minnesota Falls to Michigan Tech in WCHA Opener
  Box Score from GopherSports.com – Huskies 5, Gophers 3

  Tonight’s other WCHA scores,
  Home = vs, Away = at
  Minnesota-Duluth beats Notre Dame 3-1 (From Thursday),
  Colorado College won at Air Force 6-2,
  Bemidji State lost vs Lake Superior 2-0,
  Denver won vs Umass-Lowell 5-1,
  Minnesota State tied vs Rensselaer (RPI) 3-3,
  Minnesota-Duluth lost at Notre Dame 4-1,
  St. Cloud State won vs Alabama-Huntsville 8-3,
  Nebraska-Omaha won vs Northern Michigan 5-2,
  and
  North Dakota won vs Alaska-Anchorage 5-0 at the Alaska Goal Rush Tourney hosted by the Alaska Nanooks (Alaska won vs Merrimack 3-2 in the other game)

  In other College Hockey action,
  Boston College won at UMass 5-4 in OT,
  Penn State lost at Buffalo State 3-0,
  Michigan won vs Bentley 6-3,
  and
  Western Michigan won vs Canisius 3-0

  As always….BRING THE CLUTTER! In the comments, on Twitter, on Facebook or on Google+

  GET ‘PUCKED!!!