Gopher Hockey Notes vs Minnesota State Mavericks – 1-25-2013

Gopher hockey stayed on a roll last weekend with a win and a tie against rival North Dakota but it doesn’t get any easier this weekend as the Gophers play a home and home series with the Minnesota State Mavericks with tonight’s game at Mariucci Arena and Saturday night’s game in Mankato at the Verizon Wireless Center. The Mavericks have been very competitive with the Gophers for awhile now and it’s a shame this series will go away after this season with Gopher hockey moving to the new Big Ten Conference for the 2013-14 season.

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• PENALTIES – Nick Bjugstad & Matt Leitner for Roughing at :30 of the 1st period – On the first whistle of the game we get some pushing and shoving in front of the Mavericks net between 1st-line centers and we’ll get some 4-on-4 hockey for a couple minutes.
• • I don’t mind that as both teams are showing they aren’t going to back down.
• The Big Ten Network announcer says Brady Skjei has been impressive when he pinches on one possession. That’s all he says. He doesn’t explain why he’s been impressive and I don’t know what he’s done to make him think that.
• • Brady has improved from the beginning of the season on the defensive end and hasn’t really had the chances to show much offensively but he’s had some time on the power play so The Don must think he can bring something to the offense.
• Nate Schmidt gets tripped right in front of the official and there’s no call.
• • The announcer says he tripped on an “errant stick on the ice” because the stick came loose after Eli Zuck had stuck it in Nate Scmidt’s feet.
  • I’m dumbfounded as to why that isn’t called. I do not and will probably never understand why some calls aren’t made.
  • • Does the official not want to be a part of the game or the reason a game goes one way or another? A penalty is a penalty so call it! That’s why you’re out there!

2nd Period

• PENALTY – Nick Bjugstad for Interference on Chase Grant at :39 seconds of the  2nd period – Nick Bjugstad and Chase Grant run into each other and Bjugstad is bigger so Grant falls down and the official calls Bjugstad for interference.
• • You could see Bjugstad look the other way and when he looks back, Chase Grant is right there, runs into him and falls down because Bjugstad in a bigger player.
  • That call is made but a trip right in front of the official isn’t.
  • Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Whistle Boys?
  • • Or Officials? Or Refs? Or Umps? Or Judges? At least for sports! 
    • What a miserable life that must be!
• GOAL! – Nate Schmidt from Nate Condon & Tom Serratore at 7:48 of the 2nd period – Travis Boyd gets the puck at the right blue line of the Maverick zone and makes a centering pass to Tom Serratore but he can’t handle it and the puck goes into the left corner and wraps around towards the left half-wall where Justin Holl picks it up and sends it back into the left corner. Tom Serratore had gone around the right of the net and curled to the left corner. He sends it around the back of the net to the right half-wall to Nate Condon. Condon makes a move towards the right corner but then comes back towards the blue line. Nate Schmidt see all the Minnesota State players watching the puck so he heads to the net from the left point, receives a pass in his feet (because it was deflected), kicks it to his stick with his right skate, fakes a move to his backhand then roofs it over Stephon Williams. GOPHERS 1-0!!!
• • Nate Schmidt will have most of the NHL making offers to sign him as a free agent after the season ends.
• PENALTY – Eriah Hayes for Elbowing on Ben Marshall at 9:13 of the 2nd period – Ben Marshall gets the puck on his backhand in the neutral by the benches and Eriah Hayes hits him with his shoulder but follows through with the elbow and gets a visit to the penalty box for it!
• • Keep your arms down through the whole check and that won’t be called or at least shouldn’t be called.
• PENALTIES – Mark Alt & Chase Grant for Roughing at 12:11 of the 2nd period – Chase Grant delivers a pretty good hit on Mark Alt knocking him down and then jumps on top of him for what I assume was to try to get the puck that went underneath Alt and Alt takes exception to it and gets up and knocks Grant to the ice. They both get to cool off in the penalty box and we get two minutes of 4-on-4 hockey!
• PENALTY – Seth Ambroz for Checking From Behind on Josh Nelson at 15:02 of the 2nd period – Josh Nelson gets the puck to the right of his own net and Seth Ambroz hits him from behind in the open ice and will sit for couple minutes for his efforts.
• GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Johnny McInnis from Matt Leitner & Chase Grant at 16:42 of the 2nd period – Johnny McInnis brings the puck up the right side of the ice into the Gopher zone. His line mates Matt Leitner & Chase Grant enter the zone at the same time with Chase Grant coming in the center of the zone and Leitner coming in the left of the zone. Grant went to the right corner & Leitner skated behind the net to the back wall to Adam Wilcox’ left. McInnis brings the puck into the right of the zone stops at the right half-wall, turns around the passes it around the right corner to Chase Grant. Grant has time to skate towards the net then make a pass off the wall to Leitner. He takes the puck behind the net. Mark Alt is there to defend Leitner and tries to take the body but Leitner turns back like he’s going to go back around the other side of the net but sees McInnis open at the left of the net and makes a pass back to him for a quick shot into the net. TIED AT 1!!!
• • Adam Wilcox, Brady Skjei and Nate Condon all thought Leitner was going to the other side of the net.
  • Zach Budish & Nate Condon were within reach of Johnny McInnis in front of the net but neither of them had him covered or at least had his stick covered. They both were defending the area he was in but not covering the player.
  • Budish made a move towards the corner because it looked like Mark Alt might gain possession of the puck so that took him far enough away to give McInnis the opening he needed to get the quick shot off.
  • • Tough play because you want to gain possession to get the puck out of the zone but if Alt had gained possession, he would’ve had time to ice the puck anyways.
    • Keep good position on the penalty kill.
• PENALTY – Matt Leitner for Tripping on Kyle Rau at 19:52 of the 2nd period – Kyle Rau gets the puck at the top of the right circle of the Maverick zone and Matt Leitner turns to play the puck sweeping his stick in an attempt to get the puck and catches Rau in his skates tripping him to the ice and the official makes the call!

3rd Period

• PENALTIES – Kyle Rau & Josh Nelson for Holding & Unsportsmanlike Diving at 16:38 of the 3rd period – Kyle Rau sends the puck past Josh Nelson then tries to get around him. Nelson grabs him high getting the holding penalty but Rau embellishes or at least makes it look too much like he’s embellishing and the official puts both of them in the penalty box for a couple minutes. More 4-on-4 hockey!
• GOAL! – at 19:16 of the 3rd period – the Mavericks dump the puck in the left corner where Zach Lehrke gets to it first and passes it behind the net to Brett Knowles, who passes it back to the right point to Evan Mosey. Mosey then passes D-to-D to Zach Palmquist. Palmquist takes slap shot that hits Eli Zuck in front of the net. The puck falls to the ice, Eli Zuck takes a quick shot that rebounds off of Adam Wilcox out to Brett Knowles for a shot into an open net! MAVERICKS 2-1!!!
• • Late Goals are MONEY!!!
  • Just a hard-working goal getting a shot and a rebound to give you a chance late in the game!
  • A loose puck is usually bad news for the defense. Seth Helgeson goes to the puck and forgets about the man in his area and that man was the goal-scorer.
• The Gophers get a ton of chances with an empty net but just can’t get one past Stephon Williams and the Mavericks get the late upset in this one!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Mavericks Snap Gophers’ Unbeaten Streak with Late Goal
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-Minnesota State Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from .com – MSUMavericks.com – 14th-Rated Mavericks Skate Past #1 Minnesota 2-1 Friday

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Nebraska-Omaha won @ Bemidgi State 5-3,
St. Cloud State won @ North Dakota 3-1,
and
Wisconsin won vs Alaska-Anchorage 5-2

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Ferris State won @ Notre Dame 3-1,
Maine won @ Boston College 4-1
Michigan State won vs Penn State 5-3
and
Western Michigan won vs Michigan 3-2

What did you think of the Gopher hockey game? Did they play as hard as you expect them to play?