Gopher Hockey Recap – vs Wisconsin Badgers – 11-16-2012

The Gopher Hockey team renews their rivalry with the Wisconsin Badgers tonight as the Battle of the Border sees its first matchup of the season! The Gophers are still learning what it takes to win in this young season as shown by road losses to Michigan Tech and tie games to Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage. Will they take another step to becoming the team they can be tonight? It will be a physical game like all rivalry games. Wisconsin hasn’t played as many games having a couple bye weeks to start the season.

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 – Christian Isackson-26
Nate Condon-16 – Erik Haula-19 – Zach Budish-24
Ryan Reilly-9 – Travis Boyd-22 – Seth Ambroz-17
Tom Serratore-14 – A.J. Michaelson-15 – Justin Holl-12

Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Seth Helgeson-4 – Ben Marshall-10
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Mike Reilly-5 – Mark Alt-20

Goalie
Adam Wilcon-32
Ryan Coyne-31

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, D-Blake Thompson-3, D-Jake Parenteau-6, F-Chirstian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21, G-Mike Shibrowski-1, F-Sam Warning-11

Line Chart – Wisconsin Badgers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Joseph Labate-16 – Jefferson Dahl-14 – Tyler Barnes-7
Morgan Zulinick-15 – Derek Lee-23 – Michael Mersch-25
Ryan Little-20 – Brendan Woods-21 – Keegan Meuer-12
Brad Navin-26 – Matt Paape-8 – Sean Little-18

Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Kevin Schulze-28 – John Ramage-55
Chase Drake-5 – Joe Faust-24
Jake McCabe-19 – Frankie Simonelli-27

Goalie
Landon Peterson-30
Joel Rumpel-

Injured: Mark Zengerle-

Christian Isackson moves back up to the first line and Zach Budish goes back to the second line. Ben Marshall moves back to his more natural defense position and Justin Holl moves up to the forward on the 4th line. Mike Shibrowski is hurt for the Gophers so Adam Wilcox is in the net for awhile now. He’s done well and was taking the lead for the #1 role anyways. Sam Warning is still out and Don Lucia said he’s “week to week” so we might not see him for awhile either. Wisconsin leading scorer Mark Zengerle is also out. He has  points ( G,  A) in  games for the season.

All descriptions are from an offensive point of view or they will be noted otherwise.

Let’s get this game going and Drop the CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• GOAL – Zach Budish from Nate Condon at 3:49 of the 1st period – Zach Budish takes a breakout pass from Nate Condon at the right half-wall in his own zone, skates to the neutral zone and dumps the puck in before the red line over defenseman Kevin Schulze. Budish flipped the puck so Nate Condon would have a chance to use his speed to get there before an icing was called. Condon got around Schulze and sees John Ramage going to the corner to try to throw a body check.  Nate Condon makes a quick stop to avoid the hit and tips the puck around Ramage, around the right corner and makes a backhand pass to Zach Budish for a one-timer that goes upper left over Landon Peterson’s right shoulder. GOPHERS 1-0!!!
  • John Ramage has to make sure he gets the man or the puck. He went for the body check and missed so now he’s out of the play.
  • In that situation, it’s better to take the puck because he can’t keep track of Nate Condon and the puck and the puck is a lot easier to control because the puck won’t change speeds or stop on a dime and go around him AND he had inside position on the puck so why go for the hit.
  • Bad coverage by the Badgers didn’t help either. Two guys go to defend the player in front of the net and nobody goes to Condon or picks up Budish trailing the play.
    • Morgan Zulinick went to the half-wall to be available for a pass from Ramage.
    • Budish just trails the play and nobody pays any attention to him so it’s easy for him to get open for a one-timer.
  • Whatever defensive scheme the Badgers are playing, I’m sure that wasn’t good execution of it.
• GOAL – Michael Mersch from Derek Lee & Morgan Zulinick at 4:15 of the 1st period – A wraparound play gets Michael Mersch the puck coming up the right side of the ice through the neutral zone with Morgan Zulinick speeding up the center ahead of Mersch and Derek Lee going up the left center into the zone. Mersch dumps the puck past Brady Skjei, and before Travis Boyd gets to him on the back check, down the boards around the right corner. Morgan Zulinick gets to the puck first as it goes around the right corner. Nate Schmidt is there to defend him but not before Zulinick backhand tips the puck along the boards behind the net to Derek Lee, who had skated behind the net. When the puck was dumped in, Brady Skjei had turned and went to cover Derek Lee but instead of skating to the right of the net to cover Lee behind the net, he skated to the left and couldn’t get to him before he tipped the puck to the front of the net. Adam Wilcox gets his stick on the pass but Michael Mersch, who had curled in from the right boards towards the net, picks up the puck, makes a shot that Wilcox saves off his right pad but the rebound goes right back to Mersch for a 2nd try and he puts it over Wilcox’s right pad for a tie game only 26 seconds after the Gophers had taken the lead! GAME TIED AT 1!!!
  • Brady Skjei going the long way around the net gave Derek Lee the time and space to make the pass to the front of the net. If he goes to the right of the net or just stays in front of the net, that changes the whole play.
  • Why is everyone concerned about a player going behind the net? Let him go back there and leave him back there and cover the front of the net! There should always be someone covering the front of the net!
  • Travis Boyd kept going to the puck instead of staying on Michael Mersch. Cover your man!
  • Nate Schmidt does the right thing by going to Zulinick but he coasts instead of getting there as quickly as possible to get to the puck.
  • Miscommunication causes mistakes and all a team needs is a split second to take advantage of them.
  • Designed play to take advantage of how the Gophers play that dump-in? That’s what it looked like to me.
• SAVE – Adam Wilcox on Derek Lee at 9:49 of the 1st period –Nate Condon takes the puck into the Badger zone but he loses it and Jake McCabe gets and quickly makes a pass off the left boards that gets past Mark Alt moving forward up the right side of the neutral zone to Michael Mersch at the Gopher blue line. Mike Reilly has to move over to cover Mersch which leaves Derek Lee open driving towards the net with Zach Budish back checking. Adam Wilcox is able to get over in time to make the save.
  • Condon has to get the puck in deep there. There’s no point in trying to dangle the D when it’s a 3-on-3! Dump it in and go to work!
  • It looks like Mark Alt is out of position there but he’s just going with the offensive rush. If the puck isn’t turned over he could be there for a chance at a rebound or the guy trailing the play.
• PENALTY – Tom Serratore for Roughing on Derek Lee at 12:14 of the 1st period –Tom Serratore gets his hands up high for a hit on Derek Lee and is called for Roughing.
  • Keep your hands low when throwing a body check. Whenever you follow through with your hands high, it looks bad.
  • Same thing with following through with a hit your shoulder by lifting your elbow like a chicken wing. It makes the hit look like an elbowing penalty.
• PENALTIES – Seth Helgeson for Roughing, Keegan Meuer for Roughing & Slashing at 14:12 of the 1st period –The puck gets tipped in front of the Gopher net from the left and Adam Wilcox quickly covers it but Keegan Meuer must see a loose puck and goes in jamming at the puck late which incites Seth Helgeson to tackle him and we have some after the whistle wrestling.
  • The official gives an extra two minutes to Meuer for a slash.
    • Was that for the attempt at the puck on Adam Wilcox? Peculiar.
• PENALTY – Kyle Rau for Tripping on Jake McCabe at 16:13 of the 1st period – Kyle Rau is fore-checking and he gets his stick under Jake McCabe’s feet while McCabe tries to turn and he falls down. Unfortunate play that results in a Power Play for the Badgers.
• PENALTIES – Coincidental Minors – Seth Helgeson & Sean Little for Roughing at 19:28 of the 1st period – Some more rough stuff after the whistle results in coincidental minors.

2nd Period

• PENALTY – Frankie Simonelli for Tripping Kyle Rau at :37 of the 2nd period – Kyle Rau comes around the back of the net on his forehand with Frankie Simonelli trailing him and Simonellie gets his stick in Rau’s feet tripping him and taking away a scoring chance sending the Gophers to a 4-on-3 Power Play for 53 seconds.
• GOAL – Erik Haula from Nate Schmidt & Zach Budish at 0:48 of the 2nd period – A face-off to the right (Landon Peterson’s left) is won by Travis Boyd to Zach Budish and he passes it back to Nate Schmidt at the right point. Schmidt fakes a slapper to get a Badger defender down then takes a snap shot that goes wide off the glass into the right corner. Erik Haula picks it up and curls around to come off the right half-wall looking at the net the whole time and waiting for Zach Budish to set up the screen and Haula takes a wrist shot that gets past Landon Peterson over his glove. GOPHERS 2-1!!!
  • Waiting for the screen made that goal happen. A lot harder to make a save if you can’t see the puck!
• GOAL – Michael Mersch from John McCabe & Derek Lee at 5:06 of the 2nd period –Erik Haula doesn’t get the puck out of the zone at the right of the blue line. Morgan Zulinick picks up the puck and passes it to Michael Mersch to the right of the net. Mersch makes a one-time pass back to Derek Lee for a one-time shot that Adam Wilcox saves off his right pad. The rebound goes to John McCabe coming in from the left point. McCabe, a left-handed shot, catches the puck and makes a turnaround backhand pass to Mersch at the right of the net for a one-timer into the open net.
  • Another turnover that gets the Gophers scrambling on defense. Mark Alt knocked down Mersch right as he made the one-time pass to Derek Lee but then he doesn’t cover him enough to stop him from getting his stick on the puck when McCabe makes the pass through for the one-timer goal.
  • He also tries to stop the pass with his skate instead of his stick. COVER YOUR MAN or at the very least, COVER A MAN! Don’t just cover space!
  • If it hasn’t been done already, there should be a drill to train your team not to panic in these situations. If there’s a turnover, the first thing you should do is find your man, not just a man because if you just cover a man, one or more of your teammates could very well cover that same man.
  • Talk to your teammates on the ice. Tell them who you’re covering and/or who they should cover!
  • Chasing the puck is the worst thing you can do for the same reason as just covering the closest man, your teammates could be chasing the puck as well and then someone is open and the offense will take advantage of that.
• PENALTY – Derek Lee for Holding on Ryan Reilly at 7:19 of the 2nd period –Ben Marshall brings the puck in the left of the zone and goes around the net to the right corner and the Gophers get a cycle going with Seth Ambroz, Travis Boyd and Ryan Reilly. Reilly winds up with the puck in the right corner. He fakes going towards the right half-wall and turns to go behind the net forcing Derek Lee to grab ahold of him for the Holding penalty.
  • The Gophers get a good scoring chance on the delayed penalty keeping the puck for a good 25 seconds after the penalty was taken.
  • Travis Boyd has a deflected pass hit him in the shoulder at the left corner of the zone. He gloves it down to the ice and skates the puck back to the left point and makes a cross ice pass to Erik Haula in the right corner. Haula makes a quick pass to the center for a Ryan Reilly one-time try that is saved by Landon Peterson and then the play is whistled down.
  • Haula was the extra-man on the play.
• Adam Wilcox loves to play the puck but how many times does a goalie play the puck and he doesn’t actually make a good play on the puck?
  • He comes out of his net to play the puck in the right corner and plays it around the right boards. That’s great except the only player (or the first player) there is a Badger who, of course, takes a shot at the net.
  • Make a pass to one of your teammates or away from the other team or flip it out of the zone or STAY IN THE NET!
• METALLURGY – Kyle Rau hits the post at 11:03 of the 2nd period – A 3-on-2 develops Seth Ambroz coming up the right, Nick Bjugstad at center and Kyle Rau on the left. Kevin Schulze is at the right boards defending Ambroz so he passes it to Bjugstad at the red line. John Ramage moves to defend Bjugstad so he passes the puck to Kyle Rau and Rau takes a snapper that gets by Landon Peterson but he’s saved by the bell or the PING of the goal post!
• Gopher Analyst says, “That’s a terrible sound. I hate that sound…unless you’re a goalie or Wisconsin there.”

• PENALTY – Joseph Labate for Checking From Behind on Erik Haula at 13:22 – MAJOR PENALTY w/Ejection –Erik Haula is trying to find the puck when he’s at the left boards by the blue line in his own zone and Joseph Labate comes in and hits him from behind.
  • Mike Eaves argues with the official that Haula was turning before Labate made the hit.
  • Kevin Gorg says the same thing.
  • Haula may have been turning but the end result was a check from behind and a bad one so Labate needs to adjust the angle he comes into Haula from or just go for the puck. If he goes for the puck there, he might end up with a scoring chance.
  • I wonder if Mike Eaves would feel the same way if it was his player that was hit with the same body check.
    • He’s probably arguing that it shouldn’t be a Major and an ejection.
• The Badgers kill off the major penalty.

3rd Period

• PENALTY – Mark Alt for Charging on Keegan Meuer at 5:36 of the 3rd period –A pass to Keegan Meuer coming up the center of the neutral zone is tipped in for a dump. Mark Alt makes a body check on Meuer and the official calls it charging.
  • I have to disagree with that call. I don’t see that as charging and it’s in the neutral zone and didn’t change anything about the game other than the crowd cheering and then booing!
  • Was it a make-up call to even up the penalty minutes? I don’t know but if that’s how the officials call games, that’s BS! Call the game fairly. If one team has five straight penalties, that shouldn’t mean the officials are looking to make a call on the other team.
  • Get out of the game REF! The idea is for the officials to not be a part of the game not to be one of the deciding factors because you give a team a power play on a make-up call or the other team is due for a penalty.
• PENALTY – Tyler Barnes for Elbowing Contact To The Head on Tom Serratore at 6:11 of the 3rd period – MAJOR PENALTY and Ejection –On the penalty kill, Nick Bjugstad gets a chance and rips a snap shot off the crossbar. The puck goes off the glass behind the net and lands at the top of the left face-off circle. Tom Serratore gets to it on his backhand and gets elbowed in the head by Tyler Barnes.
  • Serratore went right off the ice into the locker room.
  • Serratore had his head down to find the puck as it just landed near him.
  • Does that call have to be called a major? I’m not sure but it’s because its a hit to the head.
  • Mike Eaves is irate on the bench!
  • Kevin Gorg doesn’t see it as intent to injure but it was a forearm to the head and called a Major Penalty, not a Match Penalty.
  • Here’s the rule as it reads in the current NCAA Ice Hockey Rules and Interpretations:

• There’s a video explaining the rules here – http://s3.amazonaws.com/ncaa/web_video/ice_hockey/2012/2012-13PreseasonRulesVideo.html
  • Contact to the head is covered from 2:05 – 8:38 of the video
• Wisconsin kills off another Major Penalty!
• Gophers had plenty of chances but just couldn’t get one by Landon Peterson.

Overtime Period

• FREE HOCKEY!!!
• A loose puck behind the Badgers net is grabbed by Kyle Rau and sent in front to Christian Isackson for a slapper but Landon Peterson makes the save!
• BIG HIT! – Jake McCabe on Mark Alt at 3:57 of Overtime
• As the game ends, Erik Haula had a chance but was bodied off the puck by John Ramage

This game got more physical as it went on! A body check was thrown as often as possible so we’ll see how Saturday’s game goes as both teams try to make some adjustments and get a W. The Gopher hockey team is probably frustrated since they had two 5-minute power plays and didn’t score a single goal. They had the momentum at the end of regulation and Wisconsin looked really tired. This one lived up to the rivalry as a game between two tough, talented teams that came to Battle for the Border!

Who will Bring The CLUTTER on Saturday?

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You’ve been ‘PUCKED by the CLUTTER!