The Minnesota Gopher Hockey team is coming off a 2-2 tie in an exhibition game against the USNTDP U-18 team on Friday night to play the Canisius Golden Griffins. Canisius has struggled on offense (5 goals for) but has performed quite well on defense (11 goals against) in 5 games so far this season. The US under-18 team has played pretty well in their exhibitions against Division I college hockey teams. They lost to Wisconsin 5-0, tied Notre Dame 1-1, lost to North Dakota 6-4, lost to Bemidji State 4-3 and lost to Cornell 2-0.
An exhibition game gave chances to rest some players and to give some other players a chance to get on the ice and show what they can do. Christian Horn and Jared Larson made their debuts this season on Friday night. Christian Horn was getting his first action in a Gopher uniform while Jared Larson was making his season debut for the 2012-13 season!
Injuries to Sam Warning and Brady Skjei means changes to the Gopher hockey line-up and opportunities for someone to step up and make some plays! Tonight, it’s the debut of Ben Marshall…at forward and Left Wing!
Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Kyle Rau=7 | Nick Bjugstad-27 | Christian Isackson-26 |
| Ben Marshall-10 | Erik Haula-19 | Zach Budish-24 |
| Nate Condon-16 | Travis Boyd-22 | Seth Ambroz-17 |
| Tom Serratore-14 | AJ Michaelson-15 | Ryan Reilly-9 |
| Left Defenseman | Right Defenseman |
| Seth Helgeson-4 | Justin Holl-12 |
| Jake Parenteau-6 | Nate Schmidt-29 |
| Mike Reilly-5 | Mark Alt-20 |
| Goalie |
| Adam Wilcox-32 |
Scratches/Did Not Play: MIN: G-Ryan Coyne-31, G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Michael Shibrowski-1, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: MIN: F-Connor Reilly-21, Sam Warning-11, Brady Skjei-2
Line Chart – Canisius Golden Griffins
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
| Doug Beck-40 | Tyler Wiseman-49 | Patrick Sullivan-26 |
| Preston-Shupe-14 | Braeden Rigney-61 | Torrey Lindsay-10 |
| Taylor Law-9 | Mitch McCrank-8 | Kyle Gibbons-10 |
| Stephen Miller-13 | Carl Larsson-91 | Ryan Bohrer-12 |
| Left Defenseman | Right Defenseman |
| Logan Roe-27 | Ben Danford-16 |
| Duncan McKellar-21 | Doug Jessey-3 |
| Matthew Backhouse-25 | Ben Parker-4 |
| Goalie |
| Tony Capobianco-31 |
The Canisius Golden Griffins come into Mariucci Arena to face the Golden Gophers in an afternoon non-conference match-up to see what team is more GOLDEN!! Will the Gophers come out ready or will they underestimate the Griffins from Canisius? Don’t be facetious about Canisius! A Golden Battle on Ice…starts…NOW!!!
DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!
1st Period
- GOAL – Kyle Rau from Jake Parenteau & Nick Bjugstad at :12 of the 1st period – Nick Bjugstad wins the face-off back to Nate Schmidt, playing D on the right side. Schmidt skates it past the red line and dumps the puck in off the glass. Logan Roe tries to play it off the glass but can’t handle the puck allowing Christian Isackson to pass the puck around the right corner to Bjugstad. Bjugstad takes it on his backhand back into the right corner then makes a quick turn towards the boards to get around Ben Danford, takes a look and finds a wide open Jake Parenteau at the top of the circle. Jake has time to wait for Kyle Rau to get to the front of the net to screen the goalie and/or try to get a tip on the shot. He takes a snapper about waist high that Rau gets a piece of with the shaft of his stick redirecting the puck down under Tony Capobianco’s right arm between his blocker and his right side. 12 seconds into the game it’s GOPHERS 1-0!!!
- Every Canisius player on the ice was watching the puck making it easy for Parenteau to get open and for Kyle Rau to easily get to the front of the net. Can’t blame the goalie on that one.
- Find your man in the defensive zone! No way a guy should be able to make a pass from the right corner through the center of the zone to a wide open player at the top of the opposite circle! Get in the passing lanes! Play DEFENSE!
- BIG HIT! – Tom Serratore on Carl Larsson at 4:16 of the 1st period – WOW! That might be the Hit of the Game just a little over 4 minutes in! Carl Larsson digs the puck out behind his own goal line a little to the left of the net and wraps it around the right corner to a waiting Nate Schmidt who just dumps the puck right back around the right corner. Larsson had skated in front of his net, saw the puck coming around the corner so he curled to it and started to take it behind the net but had his head down to find the puck and as he found it….HELLO!!!….TOM SERRATORE says GOOD AFTERNOON or GOOD NIGHT!!! Welcome to Gopher Territory from Tom Serratore!
- Great hit! Not cheap just a good physical play that will get his team going!
- Keep Ya Head Up and On a Swivel in this Serratore or it might swivel on its own!
- That was beautiful! The CLUTTER was….Brought-en!You could say it was ClutterBucky! or ClutterBuck-esque!!! Hey, MO? Mo Mentum? Uhh….this way please!!!
- ClutterBucky/ClutterBuck-esque – (CLUT-ER-BUCK-EE/CLUT-ER-BUCK-ESK) – A hit delivered like Cal Clutterbuck, very physical, very legal, within the system (don’t go out of your way to make a big hit), the kind of hit that will force a future turnover!
- Bringing the CLUTTER will lead to FEAR OF THE CLUTTER which then leads to turnovers leading to scoring chances leading to goals then leading…to…uhhh…leads! Yeah! That’s it!
- PENALTY – Too Many Gophers On The Ice (or Men) at 16:20 of the 1st period – Miscommunication on the bench as there were 6 Gopher hockey players on the ice not including the ‘tender. Oops! TWOOOOO….MINUTES!
2nd Period
- PENALTY – Ryan Bohrer for Hooking at 2:46 of the 2nd period –Ryan Bohrer got his stick on Seth Ambroz’ stick near his midsection keeping him from handling the puck making for an easy call for the official.
- Are you the official? The official what? I don’t know. You are officially something!
3rd Period
- PENALTY – Nate Condon for Tripping at 1:44 of the 3rd period – Nate Condon gets hit from the side going into the Canisius zone knocking him down and his stick gets in the feet of a Canisius defender tripping him and Nate will go to the box and serve his time! Guilty? Maybe not but he did trip the player! TWOOOO MINUTES!
- PENALTY – Logan Roe for Hooking at 9:36 of the 3rd period –Ben Marshall chipped the puck off the glass for a dump into the Canisius zone and past Logan Roe. Roe turned and tried to slow down Marshall with his stick and ended up hooking/tripping up Ben Marshall for a the easy call for the referee.
- A barrage of Gopher shots and chances but Tony Capobianco is a wall in front of the Canisius net!
- One big slapper hits Nate Condon right in the midsection and he skates off in pain – he was ‘Pucked!
- SAVE – Adam Wilcox on Kyle Gibbons at 15:01 of the 3rd period – Canisius breaks out of their zone with Logan Roe getting possession in the right corner, passing it up to Taylor Law at the right half-wall. Law has time to pass it to Ben Danford breaking up the center of the Canisius defensive zone. Danford sees Kyle Gibbons breaking through the middle of the neutral zone and hits him in stride with a pass splitting Gopher defenseman Nate Schmidt and Jake Parenteau. The puck bounced over Gibbons stick leading to Adam Wilcox attempting the poke check but being cautious enough to know he might not get to it. Gibbons tried a little poke check of his own trying to chip the puck past Wilcox but Wilcox closed the five-hole in time to keep the puck from getting through and keeping the shutout intact and the score at 1-0!
- With the goalie pulled, the Golden Griffins of Canisius get some serious pressure in the Gopher zone and get a couple glorious chances to tie the game but they can’t make it happen as Adam Wilcox is up to every task. He wants this shutout and this non-conference victory!
- A hand pass by Canisius to try to keep the puck in the Gopher zone per a new rule this season moves the face-off back into the Canisius zone forcing them to put Tony Capobianco back in the net with 15 seconds left in regulation and the Golden Griffins can’t get the puck back into the Gopher zone and the Gophers win the game 1-0!
The Gophers score 12 seconds in and are able to hold the lead for the rest of the game as Golden Griffin goalie Tony Capobianco stopped every other shot after that first one got by him. That totaled 42 shots for the game. Canisius had 20 shots on goal but couldn’t get one of them past Adam Wilcox who gets his first career shutout as a Gopher. They weren’t all easy either. He had to come up with some big saves in the waning minutes to get the win for the Gopher Hockey team!
The Gophers next opponent will be the Minnesota State Mavericks on Friday, November 2nd & Saturday, November 3rd! It’s a home and home series with Friday night’s game at Mariucci and Saturday night’s game at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato.
Gopher Hockey Recap at GoGriffs.com – No. 2 Minnesota Holds Off Griffs Hockey, 1-0
Gopher Hockey Recap at GopherSports.com – Wilcox Earns First Career Shutout in 1-0 Win over Canisius
Gopher Hockey Box Score at GopherSports.com – Box Score
In other WCHA action this weekend:
Home = “vs”, Away = “at”
Denver swept vs Michigan Tech 5-1 on Friday & 5-2 on Saturday,
St. Cloud State swept vs Minnesota State 5-1 on Friday & 5-1 on Saturday,
Wisconsin won & tied at Minnesota-Duluth 2-0 on Friday & 2-2 on Saturday,
North Dakota won & tied vs Alaska-Anchorage 4-1 on Friday & 3-3 on Saturday,
Bemidji State tied & won at Nebraska-Omaha 3-3 on Friday & 3-2 on Saturday,
and
Colorado College was swept at Cornell 2-0 on Friday & 3-2 on Saturday
Get your College Hockey Roundup at UnitedStatesOfHockey.com – More on CHLPA, DU’s Offensive Outburst, ECAC’s Powers
As always….BRING THE CLUTTER! In the comments, on Twitter, on Facebook or on Google+ or email it to your friends! Yeah…ClutterPUCK your friends! They’ll love it!
You’ve been CLUTTERPUCKED!
