Gopher Hockey Recap – at Michigan Tech Huskies – 10-20-2012

The Gopher Hockey team plays its 1st game coming off a defeat this season after losing to the Michigan Tech Huskies last night. Back-to-back games against the same opponent is what makes college hockey fun. Let’s see how they respond. The Huskies know the Gophers are going to come out attacking off the drop of The ‘Puck. I’m sure they’ll be ready for it. Who will win the rematch? The rodents or the dogs?

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Pronunciation: Skjei = Shay
Scratches/Did Not Play: MIN: G-Ryan Coyne-31, G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Michael Shibrowski-1, D-Justin Holl-12, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23, F-Ryan Reilly-9
Injured: MIN: F-Connor Reilly-21

Line Chart – Michigan Tech Huskies

The Don switches up the Gopher Hockey defensive pairings to get a new look for this season but it goes back to some of the pairings they had at the end of last season. Brady Skjei gets a chance up at forward tonight or he’s the extra man for the 4th line and defense.! There were quite a few defensive mistakes so with every player having a new partner, that might make them be more aware of what they’re doing on defense. Michigan Tech has the same line-up as last night.

ClutterPuck Happens….NOW!

1st Period

• PENALTY – Carl Nielson for Slashing at 3:10 of the 1st period –A good body check in the neutral zone by none other than Tom Serratore causes a turnover and a quick transition to offense for the Gophers. Erik Haula picks up the loose puck and passes it to Zach Budish at the right of the zone, then drives the net, gets a step on Carl Nielson and gets a pass back from Budish for a scoring chance and Nielson has to slash him to disrupt his shot so…..TWOOOO MINUTES!!!
  • Drive the net! Use your speed and good things happen!
• PENALTY – Zach Budish for Interference at 4:41 of the 1st period –Zach Budish gets in the way of Riley Sweeney as he tries to get over to a loose puck and he gets called for interference. Sweeney went down pretty easy there but the call probably had to be made.
  • Kevin GORG from FSN Broadcast – “Zach was in good position but, again, you can make a pick if it’s not intentional. Once he reached his arm out here, it’s a no-brainer for the official. Watch the puck go. You can shield but you can’t reach and he reaches right there and that’s NOT a smart penalty. Budish right there did not keep moving his feet. He was in good position to shield that player and buy his teammate some time but if you reach your arm out, now you’re making that call pretty easy for the officials…”
    • You can make a pick if it’s not intentional? If it’s not intentional, it’s not a pick!
    • Why isn’t that a battle for position to get to a loose puck? They are both trying to get a better position to get to a loose puck. Budish won the battle because Sweeney fell down and drew the penalty.
    • If it’s not a power play, that call might not be made. Although, I don’t want to try to get in the mind of an official. Who knows what goes on in there?
• GREAT SAVE – Adam Wilcox blocker save on CJ Eick at 7:40 of the 2nd period – CJ Eick gets a breakaway and tries to go high blocker but Wilcox stones him with a good save.
• PENALTY – Zach Budish for Checking from Behind on Jacob Johnstone at 8:48 of the 1st period –Zach Budish tries to make a body check in the neutral zone and Jacob Johnstone turns his back at the last minute. You can clearly see Zach let up on the hit but he still hits him from behind but he was in no man’s land there. Not much he can do.
  • Note to everybody working at Fox Sports North – can someone do something with Kevin Gorg’s microphone? Just put a kink in the cable or unplug it? Put him in a soundproof booth? Teach him the ways of the mime? SOMETHING! Kevin Gorg: Unplugged would be sweet! That is all!
  • Gorg says nothing about the opponent turning their backs at the last second. He puts it all on Budish and questions where his head is at.
• PENALTY – Malcolm Gould for Checking from Behind at 10:10 of the 1st period –Tom Serratore gets a loose puck at the right point of the Gophers defensive zone and looks to dump it down the ice since they are killing a penalty and he gets hit from behind by Malcolm Gould.
  • You can see Gould let up as he comes in for the check and he actually turned to try to hit him more from the side than from behind.
  • Seeing the players let up on these checking from behind checks shows they are learning to adapt to the rules and that should mean less injuries. That’s a good thing!
  • Again, Kevin Gorg doesn’t mention that Gould lets up on the hit at the last second but applauds the officials for trying to take these checking from behind checks out of the game.
    • The officials are just doing what they are told. They aren’t making the rules, they are just enforcing them. Quit applauding the officials for doing their job and DO YOUR JOB the right way or the write way!
  • This is one of the reasons I’m a fan of Cal Clutterbuck. Cal uses more of his arms when throwing body checks. He usually tries to get the player off balance with the check rather than just put him into the boards. He’ll come in from one side and push the player in an attempt to get them off balance and knock them down instead of just going in with his shoulder and following through with the chicken wing action that brings the arm through the hit making a lot of hits look like an elbow when they really aren’t.
• PENALTY – Milos Gordic for Checking from Behind Interference at 14:29 of the 1st period – Called interference but could’ve been boarding or checking from behind. A dump goes around the left corner behind the net where Ben Marshall plays it back around the corner to Mark Alt, he gets hit from behind that he never saw coming from Milos Gordic.
• Phoenix Copley’s coming up with some great saves on the Penalty Kill!
  • He got some help from the metallurgy on a Nick Bjugstad backhand move (Backhand Shelf!) and he was able to get across to stop a Nick Bjugstad one-timer on the backdoor!
• GOAL – Seth Ambroz from Kyle Rau & Ben Marshall at 17:45 of the 1st period – The Gophers get some momentum from the power play. Travis Boyd takes it into the left of the Husky zone, turns and dangles to give him some time to find Kyle Rau trailing the play for a one-timer that hits Ben Marshall in front of the net rebounding to Mark Alt who takes a shot that goes wide and bounces back to the left half-wall. Alt retrieves it, attempts a pass across that’s blocked, but Alt gets it back and now makes the pass, this time on his backhand, across to Ben Marshall, now at the right point, for the one-timer. Kyle Rau tries to tip it and it rebounds to Seth Ambroz and he moves it to his backhand into the open net. 1-0 GOPHERS!
  • One of the best parts of the play was that once Travis Boyd made the initial break into the zone and the pass to Kyle Rau, he went for a change so it was 4-on-5 for a good 10 seconds!
    • That means there shouldn’t be anyone open in front of the net!

2nd Period

• GOAL – Chad Pietila from Carl Nielsen & Bradley Stebner at 6:18 of the 2nd period – After the Gophers clear their zone, Bradley Stebner retrieves the puck on the right boards and passes it D-to-D to Carl Nielsen just inside the Husky zone. Nielsen passes it to Chad Pietila, who’s breaking to the center of the blue line. Mike Reilly reads the play but only gets a piece of the puck causing the puck to bounce up in the air where Pietila gloves it down to the ice and gets a mini-breakaway in on Adam Wilcox. The puck is bouncing and rolling and Pietila shoots it upper left over Wilcox’ right pad and blocker. TIED at 1!
  • Mike Reilly made the correct read to step up but he didn’t get enough of the puck to stop the play and because he went for the puck, that allowed Chad Pietila the space to get around him and get in alone on the goaltender.
    • Should he take the man instead of the puck there? Not necessarily. He just didn’t get enough of the puck to make the play. In that situation, it looks like it would be easier to get the man instead of the puck. The man is a bigger target than is the puck!
• PENALTY – Tanner Kero for Boarding at 6:29 of the 2nd period – Ben Marshall is on the left boards in the Gopher zone and he makes a move then a pass to Kyle Rau at the boards in the neutral zone and Tanner Kero was going to cover Rau and he threw a body check from behind that was called a boarding penalty. Bad penalty in the neutral zone.
• GOAL – Erik Haula from Mike Reilly at 11:34 of the 2nd period – A breakout out of the Gopher zone has Erik Haula going up the left side with Sam Warning coming up just left of the middle of the ice. Mike Reilly made a pass off the boards is hard to handle for Sam Warning and it goes off the skate of Riley Sweeney but Warning stops and takes the puck from Sweeney knocking it back in the Gopher zone where Mike Reilly picks it up and passes it across the ice to Haula. Haula had turned at the blue line and went all the way to the right side of the blue line and Mike Reilly hit him in stride on the tape giving Haula a chance up the right side of the Husky zone. Haula skated in, then turned towards the center of the ice and shot it through the defenseman over Phoenix Copley’s right pad for a 2-1 Gopher lead!
  • Copley may have been screened a little by his defenseman but probably feels he should make that save the majority of the time.
  • Good low shot by Haula! Harder for the goalie to reach those low shots than the higher shots. Love the shot that’s just above the goalie’s stretched out leg pads!
• PENALTY – Daniel Sova for Interference at 12:38 of the 2nd period – Daniel Sova basically hits Seth Ambroz with the puck not very close to the play. I’m not sure what the defenseman was thinking there.
• GOAL – Ryan Furne from Alex Petan at 19:03 of the 2nd period – A simple dump and chase (or chip and charge) with an aggressive forecheck turns into a scoring chance and a goal that rebounds off of Christian Isackson into the net. Riley Sweeney retrieves the puck in the right of the Husky zone and he sees Jujhar Khaira open for a tip-in to the Gopher zone. Mike Reilly goes back to get the puck near the left corner, feels the pressure from Khaira and quickly tries to clear it off the corner boards. Alex Petan ready the play and got the puck at the left half-wall and took a quick shot on goal where Ryan Furne had already planted himself in front of the net. Furne tips it and it goes off of Adam Wilcox, up in the air and off Christian Isackson’s shoulder into the net. TIED AT 2!
  • Mike Reilly didn’t read that play right but he’s also not facing the play so he has to count on talk from his teammates on where to play the puck. He had two other options on the play. He could’ve wrapped the puck the other way, behind the net and around the right boards or he could’ve carried the puck behind the net and given himself some time to make a better decision.
    • Hard to know what his teammates are telling him in that situation.
  • Seth Helgeson was basically in no man’s land on that play. He didn’t cover anyone and when he went to the player in the corner, that left Furne open in front of the net.
    • If he covers the play in the corner, he needs to take a better angle to take away the shot on goal.
    • or he needs to stay with the guy in front of the net or make sure someone else is going to cover him.
  • Too much puck-watching for the Gophers on that play!
  • Christian Isackson doesn’t have anyone during the whole play.
    • Part of that is because he’s playing for the breakout wrap around the right corner but he doesn’t react quickly enough when the puck is wrapped the other way.

3rd Period

• GOAL – Seth Ambroz from Travis Boyd & Nate Condon at 16:25 of the 3rd period – After Michigan Tech clears their zone, Seth Helgeson retrieves the puck at the right of the Gopher blue line and quickly passes it right back up the boards. The puck appears to hit one of the Huskies (or Nate Condon) as they are changing lines and drops where Nate Condon gets it and is able to turn and avoid the Huskies changing lines, takes it into the left of the Husky zone and makes a pass to Travis Boyd coming up just left of the middle of the zone. Travis Boyd either didn’t expect the pass so quick or just misread it but the puck hits the heel of his stick and keeps going across the ice to an oncoming Seth Ambroz who quickly catches the pass and takes a snap-shot that goes up over the sprawling Daniel Sova and over Phoenix Copley’s glove in the upper right corner! 3-2 GOPHERS!
  • If Seth Helgeson’s pass (or dump?) isn’t right by the Husky bench and they aren’t changing lines, it probably doesn’t play out that way.
  • The Husky players had to avoid playing the puck to avoid getting a too many men on the ice penalty. That allowed Nate Condon to get around the traffic relatively untouched.
  • Another note that I haven’t made yet – The Huskies Home Rink, the MacInnes Student Ice Arena, has the benches on opposite sides of the ice with each team having the easy change during the 1st & 3rd periods.
    • There can’t be many arenas that have this configuration or at least I can’t think of any others.
    • How many games have been affected by this configuration, good or bad?
  • Travis Boyd not catching the pass from Condon played a big part in that goal, whether on purpose or not. He did get a piece of the puck that slowed it down.
    • It made Daniel Sova turn and slide to try to block Ambroz’ shot. I can’t tell but the angle the puck got to Sova seems to be a little different than the angle it went into the net. Did Sova get a piece of it? That would explain why Copley missed it.
• SAVE – Adam Wilcox on Chad Pietila at 17:30 of the 3rd period – Riley Sweeney only has time to dump the puck around the boards take a quick shot to keep it in the Gopher zone. His shot is tipped wide by Erik Haula and goes behind the net to Ben Marshall, is momentarily slapped away by Dennis Rix but Marshall gets it back and tries to make a backhand pass around the right corner to Zach Budish on the half-wall. The pass is intercepted by Dennis Rix and he makes a centering pass. Mark Alt is there but he the puck gets by him and gets to Chad Pietila, who had curled around the net when he saw the change of possession, all alone behind Alt for a point-blank shot that Adam Wilcox saves with his right pad! WOW! Game saver by Adam Wilcox!

The Huskies got some pressure late but once they pulled the goalie, they had a difficult time getting the puck into the Gopher zone. The Gophers hit the post on one try for the empty-net goal but didn’t need it in the end and the Gophers get the win with the 3-2 Final and Don Lucia gets his 600th NCAA victory becoming only the 10th coach to get that many wins and the 9th to do it in Division I College Hockey! CONGRATS TO THE DON!!!

So, Gopher Hockey gets a split on their first road trip of the season and rebound off their first loss to get a tough victory in the 2nd game to end the weekend on a good note.

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Lucia Earns 600th Career Win in 3-2 Victory Over Huskies
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-Michigan Tech Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from MichiganTechHuskies.com – No. 1 Minnesota Edges Tech 3-2, Splits Series
Individual Highlights from Fox Sports North at SnappyTV.com – FSN Highlights

In other WCHA hockey action tonight,
Home = “vs”, Away = “at”
Bemidji State won vs Lake Superior 5-0,
Colorado College lost vs Umass-Lowell 3-1,
Denver won vs Air Force 5-2,
Minnesota State won vs Rensselaer (RPI) in OT 4-3,
St. Cloud State won vs Alabama-Huntsville 4-0,
Nebraska-Omaha lost vs Northern Michigan 2-1,
Alaska-Anchorage won vs Merrimack 6-3 – Alaska Goal Rush Tourney
and
North Dakota lost at Alaska 2-1 – Alaska Goal Rush Tourney

In other College Hockey action tonight,
Boston College won vs Northeastern 3-0,
New Hampshire won vs Boston University 4-1,
Penn State won at RIT 3-2
and
Western Michigan won vs Canisius 2-1

Read about what happened in College Hockey this weekend at UnitedStatesOfHockey.com – College Hockey Round-Up: Early Season Sluggishness, SLU’s Dynamic Duo, Top College FAs

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