Gopher Hockey Recap vs Minnesota State Mavericks – 11-2-2012

The Gopher Hockey team faces their first in-state rival this season in the Minnesota State Mavericks. Mike Hastings, former Assistant Coach with the Gophers (2008-2009), was named Head Coach of the Minnesota State Mavericks in April after serving as Associate Head Coach in Nebraska-Omaha for three seasons.

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

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, Ryan Reilly-9
Injured: MIN: F-Connor Reilly-21, Sam Warning-11

Line Chart – Minnesota State Mavericks

A few changes for the Gopher Hockey team, last year’s #1 line is reunited as Zach Budish moves from the 2nd line to the 1st line, switching places with Christian Isackson, Nate Condon moves up the 2nd line from the 3rd line which puts Ben Marshall at forward on the 3rd line and Justin Holl gets to play forward again with Brady Skjei getting back into the lineup playing alongside Seth Helgeson. Adam Wilcox gets his first Friday start after getting the shutout against Canisius last Sunday.

Let’s drop the ‘Puck!!!

1st Period
•    They put a helmet camera on Don Adam, one of the referees! What is the world coming to?
⁃    Let’s see how many calls he screws up! or if he’s even looking at the puck!
⁃    It looks ridiculous, a relatively big camera sticking off his helmet some 3-5 inches above his head. WOW!
⁃    So it’s the view of a referee that is a little taller than the current referee!
•    BIG HIT!!! Jake Parenteau on Eriah Hayes at 16:19 of the 1st period – A dump into the right corner of the Gopher zone is pursued by Eriah Hayes coming down the right side. Hayes gets to it first, right at the goal line, but Jake Parenteau had him measured up as soon as he crossed the blue line. He waited for Hayes to touch the puck and pushed him from about 3 feet away from the boards. Hayes hit the boards than hit the ice. GREAT HIT!
⁃    Parenteau had his mind made up early that he was taking the man on that play.
⁃    I’m not sure that’s the time to just let the player play the puck though. I hope he knew there was nobody open in front of the net. Big hits are nice but you have to make them at the right time. That one worked out but he could’ve easily got to the puck before Hayes and might’ve been able to make a quick transition up the right side.
⁃    The Gophers did end up with a quick transition that turned into a 3-on-2 but it was called offsides.
⁃    The offsides looked like a bad call and FSN shows a replay but uses a bad angle that doesn’t show Erik Haula going in early on the left side of the zone.
⁃    While showing the bad angle replay, they miss the ensuing face-off! Gotta love FSN! The face-off they missed turned into a….
•    PENALTY – Zach Budish for Tripping at 4:00 of the 1st period – A face-off at the left dot just outside blue line of the MSU zone (to the left of Mavericks goalie Phil Cook) is won by the Mavericks back to Brett Stern. He quickly goes D-to-D to his partner Tyler Elbrecht. Elbrecht, a left-handed shot, skates the puck out of the zone and makes a nice backhand sauce (or floating) pass up the middle of the neutral zone to a breaking Dylan Margonari, who splits Seth Helgeson and Zach Budish to get a mini-breakaway and Budish must’ve hit his skate with a sweeping stick check or at least that’s what the ref saw.
⁃    Seth Helgeson did push Margonari down which may have made it look like a trip to the ref but it doesn’t appear that Budish tripped Margonari at all.
⁃    Where’s the ref camera view on that one? Let me guess! We have to go find in on the inter-webs! What’s the point of a ref camera if you’re not going to show that replay on the air?
•    GOAL – Zach Palmquist from Jean-Paul LaFontaine & Matt Leitner at 4:50 of the 1st period on the POWER PLAY – The Mavericks set up on the power play and after an attempted back door play that’s broken up by Brady Skjei. Skjei tried to clear the zone by wrapping it around the right boards but Matt Leitner stops it on the boards and passes it back to Zach Lehrke at the right point. Lehrke skates it to the center than passes it back to Leitner at the right half-wall. Leitner makes a quick pass down to Jean-Paul LaFontaine at the right of the net and LaFontaine makes a quick pass backdoor to Zach Palmquist for the one-timer into the net off Adam Wilcox’s right pad. MAVERICKS LEAD 1-0!
⁃    Brady Skjei was in no man’s land not covering anyone and not stopping the pass from going across for the backdoor opportunity. He had just stopped a pass from going through but this time he didn’t get down and actually was going to defend the man in the slot.
⁃    Up to Mike Guentzel and the other Gopher defenseman to get that fixed for the future.
⁃    The freshman D-men are getting early lessons on what it takes to play defense in the WCHA and division I college hockey!
⁃    Not sure Wilcox knew about the backdoor guy either from the way he tried to get over there.

   •    Nice hit by Ben Marshall on Dylan Margonari at 7:22 of the 1st period – Margonari gets the puck at the right half-wall in his own zone, skates it off the wall and makes a pass. Ben Marshall gets him in the shoulder sending him to the ice!
•    Jake Parenteau is Bringing the CLUTTER so far in this game! He unleashed another big hit on Eriah Hayes at the 8:13 mark of the 1st period!
⁃    Either Jake doesn’t like that guy or he’s played with/against him in the past or it might be pure coincidence and he just likes playing the physical game!
•    PENALTY – Nick Buchanon for Tripping at 9:57 of the 1st period – The Gophers get some puck time in the Maverick zone off good forechecking and Nick Buchanon ends up tripping Christian Isackson. Buchanon was just trying to get the puck away from Isackson and got his stick between his legs tripping him and giving the Gophers a power play!
⁃    Still no view from Ref Cam!
⁃    Maverick goalie Phil Cook had to come up huge on a Kyle Rau chance coming around the back of the net. Cook stacked the pads and got the save off his catching glove.
•    GOAL – Travis Boyd from Mike Reilly at 10:31 of the 1st period on the POWER PLAY – Travis Boyd gets the puck off a battle behind the net and skates around the left corner and passes it back to Mike Reilly at the center of the blue line. Reilly passes it back to Boyd at the left half-wall. Boyd skates in and shoots through the legs of Tyler Elbrecht, who went down to try to block the shot but ended up screening his goaltender and the puck went through the five-hole into the net. TIED AT 1!
⁃    Probably better to come out to the shooter in that situation or at least make sure he can’t get the shot through especially if you’re preventing your goalie from seeing the shot!
⁃    AND get your stick in front of the puck!

•    PENALTY – Christian Isackson for Tripping at 17:02 of the 1st period – Christian Isackson comes in on the forecheck and has to go around the net to chase Josh Nelson and just trying to bother him with a stick check, Isackson makes the mistake of getting his stick in the skates and he trips up Nelson for an obvious penalty with or without a helmet camera stuck to your helmet!
⁃    Control your stick and don’t put it in places it shouldn’t be!
⁃    Don’t take that the wrong way although that’s probably good advice as well! Haha!
⁃    If he doesn’t put his stick there, he doesn’t trip the player and no penalty happens!

2nd Period
•    PENALTY – Eriah Hayes for Cross-Checking on Mike Reilly at 3:57 of the 2nd period – Mike Reilly is going to the puck as it wraps around the right corner to the right half-wall and he gets a cross-check in the lower back sending him to the ice.
⁃    Kevin Gorg calls it a “ticky-tack call” by the ref but that’s probably because the replay shown on FSN doesn’t show the actual penalty but it shows a little “ticky-tack” cross-check after the initial penalty.
⁃    Maybe they should check the Ref-Cam? WOW!
•    SAVE – Adam Wilcox on….Mike Reilly at 9:17 of the 2nd period – A centering pass is deflected by Mike Reilly and Adam Wilcox has to be sharp to stop that one. Not very often you’ll have to worry about the puck going in off your own team’s stick but Mike Reilly was just  trying to keep the puck from going through to Teddy Bleuger.
•    GOAL – Teddy Blueger from Zach Lehrke & Max Gaede at 9:33 of the 2nd period – A bouncing puck off a deflection of a point shot at the right point is a tough handle for Brady Skjei and Teddy Blueger gets a mini-breakaway for a quick shot on goal that Adam Wilcox saves but it rebounds to Max Gaede who takes a quick shot that is saved and goes to the right corner. Zach Lehrke gets to it first and throws the puck in front of the net. The puck goes off of Wilcox’s skate, off the right post and across the crease, behind Wilcox, to the other side where Teddy Blueger is there for the easy tap-in for a Mavericks 2-1 lead!
⁃    Panic ensued after Teddy Blueger gets the little breakaway with Seth Helgeson diving to try to block the shot, which allows Max Gaede a chance and then two guys go to cover the corner and Teddy Blueger is left alone by the net.
⁃    The officials are looking at the play. When Max Gaede gets his shot, he runs into Adam Wilcox and it played a part in Wilcox being able to make the save from the centering play in the corner.
⁃    Apparently it wasn’t enough for them to disallow the goal.

•    PENALTY – Brett Stern for Holding, Hooking, Tripping (Take Your Pick) on Nate Schmidt at 13:10 of the 2nd period – A tough pass to the feet of Tyler Elbrecht at the offensive blue line turns into a break for the Gophers. Erik Haula gets the loose puck and heads down the left side while Nate Schmidt broke for the net as soon as he saw Haula was going to get the puck. Schmidt uses his speed to get a step on Brett Stern forcing him to take him down taking away his scoring chance!
⁃    It was a 2-on-3 break and Nate Schmidt still got ahead of the Maverick defense.
⁃    Crazy things can happen when the puck is turned over.
⁃    Panic causes mistakes because players look to make the first move instead of the right move.
⁃    DO YOUR JOB! It seems like an easy thing but when your job changes because of a turnover or a deflection, two guys will cover one guy because that’s the first guy they see.
⁃    Teams have to talk to each other on the fly and tell each other who they are covering or someone will be left open and get a chance to score. STAY CALM and make the right play and tell your teammates what you’re doing.
⁃    Either that or you give up a good scoring chance or you are forced to take a penalty.
•    GOAL – Nate Schmidt from Kyle Rau & Erik Haula at 15:07 of the 2nd period on the POWER PLAY – A one-time shot at the top of the right circle from Erik Haula is blocked by Tyler Elbrecht to the right half-wall. Haula gets to it first and Kyle Rau is skating past him back to the right point. Haula makes a short pass to Rau as he passes by and Rau makes the smallest touch of the puck to get it back to Nate Schmidt as he moves from the right point. Nate Schmidt gets the puck, fakes a slapper, getting the defender to go down and then unleashing a blast that goes in the upper right corner over Phil Cook’s glove! TIED AT 2!
⁃    Phil Cook might’ve been screened by his defense again. As Nate Schmidt shoots, another Maverick player is trying to go down to block the shot. Zach Budish is already in front of the net trying to screen the goaltender as well.
•    Eriah Hayes is the recipient of another big hit! This one is courtesy of Mark Alt at the left half-wall at 15:49 mark of the 2nd period!
•    Adam Wilcox has a chance to freeze the puck and he decides to stick save it into the corner. The Mavericks get a good 30 seconds of pressure and get a point blank shot that Wilcox has to save and then Eriah Hayes pushes Seth Helgeson into Adam Wilcox and we get some after the whistle scrums because of it.
⁃    Maybe Wilcox thought the bouncing puck was too difficult to try to corral in that situation?
⁃    Better to get a face-off than give up sustained pressure and a point blank shot in front of the net!

3rd Period
•    PENALTY – Eli Zuck for Cross-Checking on Nate Condon at :27 of the 3rd period – An easy call for the Helmet Cam! Nate Condon is in the right corner and Eli Zuck cross-checked him into the boards. It probably could’ve easily been called checking from behind too.
⁃    No reason to take that penalty like most cross-checking penalties!
⁃    Where do players learn the cross-checking technique? It must just come naturally.
•    PENALTY – Brett Knowles for Interfence of Christian Isackson at 4:49 of the 3rd period – The Gopher hockey team has come out firing on all cylinders to begin the 3rd period. Some sustained pressure results in another big hit by none other than Jake Parenteau. As the puck is cleared by Jean-Paul LaFontaine, Jake Parenteau comes in and gets LaFontaine in the right shoulder. Mavericks want a penalty but to no avail. Nate Schmidt goes back to get the puck and hits Erik Haula breaking into the right of the Maverick zone and starts a 2-on-1. Haula gets a step on the D-man and makes a backhand pass to Christian Isackson but he’s taken down by Brett Knowles before the puck gets to him.
•    GOAL – Zach Budish from Kyle Rau & Nate Schmidt at of the 3rd period on the POWER PLAY – The Gophers get a ton of pressure on the power play. The Mavericks clear the zone but the Gophers get the puck back into the zone rather easily. Kyle Rau takes the puck into the right part of the zone slowly and passes it to Nick Bjugstad in the right corner. Bjugstad comes out of the corner and passes it to Erik Haula on the right half-wall. Haula passes it to Nate Schmidt at the center of the blue line and he takes a slapper that is partially tipped by Zach Budish and ends up hitting Kyle Rau at the right side of the net. Rau takes a quick backhand shot that Phil Cook saves but it rebounds to Zach Budish and he quickly pokes it into the net. GOPHERS 3-2!!!
•    PENALTY – Travis Boyd for Tripping on Johnny McInnis at 8:54 of the 3rd period – An entry into the left of the Gopher zone by Johnny McInnis gets him a chance at a shot that he takes. The shot is blocked by Nate Schmidt and the puck lands right back near McInnis, who had an open path to the net but he’s slashed on the back of the leg from behind causing him to go down and draw a penalty for tripping.
•    PENALTY – Eriah Hayes for Checking From Behind Charging on Kyle Rau at 19:51 of the 3rd period – Maybe we’re starting to see why Eriah Hayes is getting hit so much. Kyle Rau is at the right half-wall in the Gopher zone trying to get the puck out of the zone late in the game and Eriah Hayes takes a run at him from behind and gets called for it.
⁃    The hit wasn’t directly from behind. It was a little from the side and Kyle Rau didn’t even hit the boards so there’s that but it’s a pointless hit. There’s no need to do that when you’re team is trying to get the puck in the offensive zone down by one goal with little time remaining.
⁃    It was called Charging!

The Gopher hockey team pulled out another W tonight! They overcame some defensive miscues and played well offensively. Adam Wilcox made some big saves and will probably get the start tomorrow night as well. The Gophers got goals from Travis Boyd, Nate Schmidt and Zach Budish. The Mavericks got goals from Zach Palmquist and Teddy Blueger. Phil Cook gets the loss in this one although you can’t really blame him for any of the goals he gave up. That’s the life of a goalie. The rematch is tomorrow night in Mankato!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Power-Play Goals Push Gophers to 3-2 Win Over Mavericks
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-Minnesota State Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from MSUMavericks.com – #2 Minnesota Edges Mavericks 3-2 in Minneapolis Friday

In other WCHA hockey action:
Home=”vs” , Away=”at”
St. Cloud State won at Denver 3-0,
Nebraska-Omaha won at Michigan Tech 2-1,
Colorado College won at Wisconsin 5-4 (in OT),
and
North Dakota won vs Boston University 4-2

In other College Hockey action,
Western Michigan won at Notre Dame 3-2,
and
Boston College won at Maine 4-2

The Gopher hockey highlights are on the video at the top of the article including some of the hits! Enjoy!

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