Gopher Hockey Notes vs Boston College Eagles – 10-25-2013

Posted on October 28, 2013 by

Gopher Hockey is ranked #1 four games into the season and have to face the #5 ranked Boston College Eagles, a team that beat Wisconsin 9-2  in their first 3 games. Also, the Gophers ran over a Boston College team last season beating them 8 to 1. You can bank on Jerry York having his players ready for this game.

There’s a couple Minnesota boys on the BC roster and one with ties to Minnesota. Ian McCoshen, a freshman defenseman from Faribault, played with Shattuck St. Mary’s in his hometown before spending 3 seasons in the USHL with the Waterloo Blackhawks. In 2010-2011, as a 15-year-old, he went to the highest tier of Junior Hockey. In those three seasons, he went from 6 points (all assists) and a minus 9 in 42 games his first year to 20 points (8 goals, 12 assists) and a plus 4 in 55 games his second year to putting up 44 points (11 goals, 33 assists) and a whopping plus 35 in 53 games his third season. I’d say he’s ready to take his game to division I as an 18-year-old and probably why he’s on the top pair and chosen early in the 2nd round of the 2013 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers.

Boston College also has Michael Sit, an Edina native and a junior playing as a forward, centering the 4th line. Being a 4th liner, he hasn’t lit up the stat sheet so far but you don’t just look at stats with those 3rd & 4th lines because a lot of what they do is just plain hard work and getting in on the forecheck and shutting down the other team’s top lines. As a junior though, Michael Sit scored his first collegiate in the most recent game against Wisconsin. Both Sit and McCoshen played with current freshman Gopher Hockey players Justin Kloos and Taylor Cammarata with Waterloo the last two seasons, Kloos sparingly for all 3 and Cammarata for basically all of the last two seasons.

The final player with ties to Minnesota would be 2012 4th round pick (98th overall) of the Minnesota Wild, freshman Adam Gilmour. He’s a big kid at 6’3” and 194 pounds and was picked out the Massachusetts high school ranks and last season, he played for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL and had 47 points (19 goals, 28 assists) and was a plus 17 in 64 games. He’s playing on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Bill Arnold so he should put up some points playing with those two! Always nice to be able to see the future of the Minnesota Wild and see what they have coming down the line.

Here’s your line charts:

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
F-Sam Warning-11 – Kyle Rau-7 – Hudson Fasching-24
Nate Condon-16 – Justin Kloos-25 – Taylor Cammarata – 13
Connor Reilly-21 – Travis Boyd-22 – Vinni Lettieri-19
Tom Serratore-14 – AJ Michaelson-15 – Seth Ambroz-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Justin Holl-12
Mike Reilly-5 – Jake Parenteau-6
Ben Marshall-10 – Michael Brodzinski-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Ryan Coyne-31, D-Jake Bischoff-28, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Christian Isackson-26, F-Gabe Guertler-27
Injured:

Line Chart – Boston College Eagles

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Ryan Fitzgerald-19 – Kevin Hayes-12 – Austin Cangelosi-26
Johnny Gaudreau-13 – Bill Arnold-24 – Adam Gilmour-14
Quinn Smith-27 – Patrick Brown-23 – Chris Calnan-11
Destry Straight-17 – Michael Sit-18 – Brendan Silk-9
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Ian McCoshen-3 – Michael Matheson-5
Isaac MacLeod-7 – Danny Linell-10
Scott Savage-28 – Steve Santini-6
Goalie
Thatcher Demko-30

Scratches/Injured: G-Brian Billett-1, G-Brad Barone-29, D-Teddy Doherty-4, D-Travis Jeke-8, F-Cam Spiro-15, F-Peter McMullen-20, F-Matthew Gaudreau-21, F-Evan Richardson-22

This is one of those match-ups you kind of drool over with two top-5 ranked schools known for being Division I contenders every season. It should be a classic.

Alright, it’s time to DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

  • GOAL – Hudson Fasching from Kyle Rau at the :30 of the 1st period – All it takes is 30 seconds for the Gophers to get on the board! WOW!!! A turnover (but not a bad one) let’s Brady Skjei pass to Hudson Fasching get the puck coming out of his own zone at the middle of the blue line and pass it up to Kyle Rau, who’s curling back from the forecheck, and Rau takes it in of BC defenseman, Ian McCoshen. Rau gets past the blue line and rips a snap shot in on Thatcher Demko, then gets to the rebound before McCoshen and, even though he misses it, the BC defenseman had to account for him and try to body him up, leaving the rebound for the oncoming Hudson Fasching to easily shoot the puck into the empty net and the GOPHERS LEAD 1-0!!!
    • On the replay you see that Boston College actually had two defenseman and a back checking forward to cover both Rau & Fasching so they should’ve been able to prevent that goal.
    • This is why you love a player like Kyle Rau. He has that off the charts compete level to get to the net and make something happen.
    • The problem that allowed the goal was JohnnyGaudreau coasting and watching while Hudson Fasching gets to the loose puck and scores the first goal!
      • As a back checking forward, you can’t just be within reach of the offensive player. You have to be even with him and have a stick on his stick preventing him from getting to the puck.
      • You also can’t assume it’s a harmless play. Get back EVERY TIME!!!
      • That is the beauty of video today, folks.
        • They talk of Johnny Gaudreau being the best player in college hockey and it’s all right there on video showing him making a big mistake.
      • Preventing a goal counts the same as scoring a goal! It’s now 1-0 and if the goal is prevented, that would be the same as making it 1-1!!! PLAY SOME DEFENSE!!!
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Travis Boyd from Kyle Rau and Sam Warning at 4:30 of the 1st period – Sam Warning, on the right half-wall, passes the puck down to Kyle Rau at the right of the net on the goal line below the face-off dot and Rau quickly makes a move towards the net, sees the defenseman go down trying to poke check the puck away, moves the puck away from the poke check, sees Travis Boyd moving in for the backdoor pass and gets it to him for a one-timer into the upper part of the net for a 2-0 GOPHER Lead!!!
    • That’s just a great play by Kyle Rau to avoid the poke check and see Boyd moving in for the backdoor pass. He’s putting his stamp on this game early and often so far!!!
      • Maybe that’s why he is wearing The C!!! Captain, My Captain!!!
    • Do you fault the defenseman for being aggressive there? I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to fault him on that play because the aggressive PK was working for BC . Sure, he could’ve played it a little differently but I wouldn’t blame him for that goal.
      • Rau has a bad angle so I say just leave him there and take away the backdoor pass but I can see where you’d think he has a bad angle so force him, thinking his choices are limited.
      • That’s why it’s such a great play by Rau.
  • PENALTY – Patrick Brown for Interference with Jake Parenteau at 4:55 of the 1st period – Boston College gets a scoring chance and Patrick Brown coming in to the net, pushes Parenteau, knocking him down and he runs into his own net hitting his head on the post.
    • It doesn’t look like he hit the net that hard but he’s going off the ice to get looked at by the trainers.
  • PENALTY – Ben Marshall for Cross-Checking Michael Sit at 7:31 of the 1st period – Ben Marshall is his own zone in the corner and he hits Michael Sit a little from behind and the official calls him for cross-checking. It wasn’t cross-checking as Marshall only had one hand on his stick. It’s a questionable call but I can see it going either way.
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Johnny Gaudreau from Michael Matheson at 8:31 of the 1st period – Johnny Gaudreau is skating the puck up the left side of the ice on the power play and sees Michael Matheson trailing the play at the right point. He passes him the puck and Matheson one-times it but misses the net wide to the right. The puck hits the boards behind the net and bounces right to Johnny Gaudreau, who kept skating in from the left side, and is now below the goal line on the left side of the net. He gets the puck off the back boards and shoots for the not and the puck ends up going off of Adam Wilcox’ skate into the net for a 1-2 Gopher Lead!!!
      • Great awareness byGaudreau to get the puck and immediately aim for the net or for someone near the net to deflect it in.
        • I’m not sure if he tried to aim for Wilcox’ skate or just threw it in front of the net looking for a good bounce.
        • Was that a planned play? I’m not sure. It may have just been a shot that went wide and happened to bounce right to Gaudreau. We’ll probably never know.
  • GOAL – Michael Sit from Destry Straight and Scott Savage at 9:42 of the 1st period – WOW!!! THREE GOALS in a span of 71 seconds! – The ensuing face-off is won by Boston College back to the left D. A pass goes D-to-D and Seth Ambroz is standing at the red line. He lets Destry Straight go and focuses on Scott Savage coming at him but with no speed Savage easily passes it through him up to Straight. AJ Michaelson is covering Michael Sit but is trailing him as he enters the offensive zone. Straight passes the puck up to Sit giving him a mini-breakaway on Adam Wilcox and he shoots it 5-hole for a 3-2 EAGLES LEAD!!!
    • I’m not a goalie coach but one thing that drives me crazy is how goalies lift their stick opening up the 5-hole. If Adam Wilcox has his stick on the ice, he makes a save. He probably creates a rebound but he has defense to clear that rebound or so it appears.
    • AJ Michaelson does the familiar reaching instead of skating to defend the pass. SKATE!!! MOVE YOUR FEET!!!
    • Michael Brodzinski played too far inside and not enough gap giving Destry Straight a step on him and a lane to get the pass behind him to Michael Sit!
    • It’d be interesting to hear what the bench was yelling on these goals.
      • Were they trying to get Brodzinski to back up? Were they telling Ambroz to go to the puck? Were they telling Michaelson to stay with his man?
      • In the last Boston College game, and Michael Sit’s 80th collegiate game, he scored his first collegiate goal. He didn’t wait that long to tickle the twine again and NOW, he has scored two goals in 11 seconds! Have a game, Michael Sit! WOW!!! SIT UP!!!
      • Five goals in the first 10 minutes of the game! This could get crazy!!!
  • PENALTY – Sam Warning for Interference on Adam Gilmour at 13:18 of the 1st period – Off a face-off in the BC zone, Sam Warning gets in the way of Adam Gilmour, keeping him from getting to the puck and the official calls him for interference.
  • Nate Condon knows how to use his speed! Off a turnover near the Gopher blue line, Condon picks up the puck and only has one defenseman between him and the goalie so he chips the puck by the defenseman and uses his speed to skate past him and get a shot on goal!
  • As the penalty expires, Travis Boyd gets the puck to Sam Warning just behind the defense. He can’t catch the pass on his backhand and his shotis deflected wide left by Steve Santini. Warning picks up the puck again as he goes around the back of the net. As he gets to the right half-wall, he sees Ben Marshall coming up the center of the zone and gets him the puck for a bigslapper that hits the post hard for a loud PING and a big reaction from the crowd! Metallurgy!!! So close!!!
    • Man, I hope Sam Warning can stay healthy all season! He makes things happen out there! Great Vision with and without the puck!
  • Adam Wilcox makes a great save moving to his left to stop a one-timer at the 18:00 mark of the 1st period!
  • GOAL – Michael Sit from Scott Savage and Isaac MacLeod at 9:31 of the 1st period – On a rush up ice, Taylor Cammarata has the puck and enters the Eagles zone on the right side. Justin Holl joins the rush trailing Cammarata, who makes a drop pass to him. Holl catches the pass and takes a look for a shot but that just gives the back checking forward time to get to him and get his stick on the puck and deflect it to the right corner where Scott Savage picks it up and goes up the boards. Savage sees Michael Sit open going up center ice and passes to him. Brendan Silk skates hard to make it a 2-on-1 forcing Ben Marshall to try to take away the pass and leaving Sit to shoot on Adam Wilcox. Sit shoots high blocker and the shot hits Adam Wilcox’ blocker or his stick and goes into the net and the game is TIED AT 2!!!
    • There’s a few things that make this play bad for the Gophers:
      • The Drop Pass!!!
        • I’ve never been a big fan of the drop pass!
        • Most of the time it’s a blind pass because  you don’t see it reach it’s intended target or, at least, the player who passed it doesn’t see the pass completed because they are going to the net or being hit or something.
        • It gives the goalie and the rest of the defense time to locate the puck and prepare for the shot. Consider it like a fastball a hitter can’t catch up to and the pitcher throwing a change-up giving the hitter a chance to hit the ball. Don’t help out the opponent by slowing down the play.
        • It rarely works.
      • Taylor Cammarata has speed so use that speed to get to the net and make a play, take a shot to score or a shot to create a rebound or just to create space to can see your options.
      • Justin Kloos should be driving the net forcing the weak side defenseman to account for him.
      • Hard to use the trailer if you don’t have an odd-man rush in your favor.
      • It was a 3-on-3 rush so really nobody was open meaning you have to take the play to the net and make something happen.
      • Since Justin Holl joined the rush, someone has to cover his defensive position.
      • I believe Nate Condon made the pass across the ice to Cammarata then changed and TomSerratore came on the ice.
        • Serratore makes a hit on Scott Savage but doesn’t get his stick down to effect the breakout pass and his hit gives up the 2-on-1 and changesthe whole play.
          • If he focuses on the play instead of making a hit, it may not end up in a 2-on-1 and then Michael Sit doesn’t get a free shot on net.
      • Ben Marshall played it ok but he should’ve forced Sit to do something earlier because it was an uneven 2-on-1 meaning Silk was behind Sit instead of even with him and he had to skate hard to create the 2-on-1.
        • He could’ve closed the gap between himself and Michael Sit more.
      • Of course, this is all easy to say after the play but that’s what coaching is, learning from mistakes and getting better from them or adjusting how you play a certain situation.

2nd Period

  • GREAT SAVE – Adam Wilcox on Bill Arnold 3o seconds into the 2nd period! – A turnover just over the Gophers blue line by Hudson Fasching results in an odd-man rush for BC with Johnny Gaudreau skating the puck up the left side with Bill Arnold skating up the middle. Gaudreau gets Arnold the puck for a 1-on-1 with Wilcox. He makes a move to his forehand but Wilcox gets over and makes a save with his outstretched right pad to keep the game within a goal for the Gophers.
  • PENALTY – Mike Reilly for Boarding on Quinn Smith at 11:27 of the 2nd period – Tough call for Mike Reilly asit appears he hit Quinn Smith more from the side than behind but it caused Smith to go into the boards hard and awkwardly and it “looked and sounded” like a penalty. I put that in quotes not because anyone said that but to show that it may have influenced a callrather than a no-call.
    • The official in the zone didn’t call it though which always intrigues me. The official in the neutral zone made the call.
    • I would say the only way to avoid making this hit is to skate and get even or ahead of the offensive player so you can change the angle of the hit and not hit him straight into the boards.
    • There’s not really a need to make that hit because Smith really has no place to go with the puck and now the Gophers are on the PK!
  • GOAL – Taylor Cammarata from Justin Kloos at 15:33 – Justin Kloos gets a loose puck in the Gopher zone at the right half-wall and uses his speed to pick it up and break out of the zone up the middle of the ice and create a 2-on-2 with Taylor Cammarata. BC defensman Steve Santini goes to Kloos but Kloos smartly keeps the puck away from him going to his right towards Cammarata. He ends up giving Cammarata the puck and goes to the net. Cammarata uses Ian McCoshen as a screen keeping Thatcher Demko from seeing the puck until it’s too late and he only gets a piece of it with his blocker and we are TIED AT 3!!!
    • That’s Taylor Cammarata’s first collegiate goal and, hopefully, the first of many!!! We want to see #ALottaCammarata!!!
    • So many times you see players try to go through a defenseman when on a rush. Keep the puck away from the defense.
    • Taylor Cammarata shoots a wrist shot not a snap shot. Usually a wrist shot will be more accurate than a snap shot. Snap shots are better for the quick release shot.
    • Steve Santini goes to Justin Kloos on the play but Ian McCoshen wasn’t on the same page as he didn’t close the gap on Cammarata allowing him to get the puck with time and space to shoot.
    • IanMcCoshen needs to get down and block that shot instead of blocking the view of his goaltender!
      • If you’re going to screen your goaltender, at least help him out by getting down to take away the low shot.
      • Another reason why he needs to gap up or shorten the gap between himself and the shooter Cammarata.

3rd Period

  • We miss 40 seconds at the beginning of the 3rd period for some reason. Maybe BTN is getting tips from FSN?Geez!
    • “Hey, is this supposed to be plugged in?”
    • “How long should we keep playing commercials?”
  • FSN and/or BTN (or anyone broadcasting college hockey really) should really have a camera on Mike Reilly at all times when he’s on the ice. It’d be pretty sweet to watch his shifts isolated and see what he does on a given shift. Obviously when he scores but to see when he joins an offensive rush or how he uses his speed and vision to effect the game and how he plays with and without the puck!!!
    • They could select a player from each team for each game to watch OR someone should create an app that does that for every player on the ice at all times, be it by position or jersey number or whatever!
    • The technology hasto be there to do this! Right?
      • Think of how this could teach the game to the players from the teams playing and the aspiring players watching the game!
      • What a teaching tool that could be!!!
  • With 20 seconds left in the 3rd period, Justin Holl sends a long pass from the left half-wall of his own zone to Sam Warning going up the middle of the BC blue line and Warning makes a move around Danny Linell to get a shot off while falling down. No goal but what a pass and what a move by Warning! #Warning #SamIsOnTheIce

OVERTIME

  • What’s the #1 rule in Overtime? SHOOT THE PUCK!!! From Anywhere! At Anytime!!! Anything can happen in OT!!!
  • With 2:06 left in Overtime, Johnny Gaudreau has the puck on a BC rush but it’s 3-on-4 and he makes a bad decision to pass the puck to the middle to Bill Arnold. The play is broken up and Kyle Rau picks up the loose puck and sees Taylor Cammarata behind the BC Defense hitting him for a breakaway. Cammarata makes a move to his backhand and tries to softly send it through Thatcher Demko’s 5-hole. Demko makes the save with his goalie stick but the puck bounces up into the air going over Demko and heading into the net but Ian McCoshen saves the day and the game by catching and throwing the puck back out at the same time.
    This causes a 2-on-1 the other way as play goes on. Thatis broken up by Brady Skjei.

    • WOW!!! What a crazy, awesome sequence that was!!!
    • Watching the replay, you wonder why the officials didn’t whistle down the play because of a hand pass but it doesn’t matter since the play was blown dead later.
    • It gave up a 2-on-1 and if Boston College scores on that, would it have been reviewed and reversed? THAT would’ve been interesting!
    • We get overtime with the Gophers having some momentum late in the 3rd period getting several scoring chances in the final couple minutes!
    • Would McCoshen have been able to stop that goal if he had his stick in his hands?
    • Possibly the craziest part of that play is Ian McCoshen trying to catch Cammarata, hitting him with his stick and losing his stick just before the puck bounces up in the air.

SHOOTOUT (Just for fun!)

  • The game officially ends in a tie as the shootout doesn’t count as part if the B1G -Hockey East Challenge!
  • Johnny Gaudreau on Adam Wilcox – NO GOAL!
  • Taylor Cammarata on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!
  • Bill Arnold on Adam Wilcox – GOAL! Nice move barely getting it past Wilcox! He actually lost control of the puck on the last move but the puck hit his stick then hits Wilcox’ skate and goes in.
  • Sam Warning on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!
  • Kevin Hayes on Adam Wilcox – NO GOAL! Keep the game alive for the Gophers!
  • Kyle Rau on Thatcher Demko – GOAL! Going 5-hole and giving the Gophers another chance to win!
  • Adam Gilmour on Adam Wilcox – NO GOAL!
  • Nate Condon on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!
  • Patrick Brown on Adam Wilcox – GOAL!!! Nice Move to quick snap shot to the upper right corner!
  • Hudson Fasching on Thatcher Demko – NO GOAL!!! BC Wins!

Final Score
Minnesota Gophers 3, Boston College Eagles 3

A game that had 5 goals in the first 10 minutes ends up in a 3-3 tie! You wouldn’t have guessed that but there were still plenty of chances. The Gophers almost won it in overtime save for a glove save from Faribault, Minnesota native Ian McCoshen! We’ll see what happens on Sunday afternoon as we get the rematch in this great match-up!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – No. 1 Gophers, No. 5 Eagles Play to 3-3 Tie
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota – Boston College Stats (Downloadable PDF)
Gopher Hockey Recap from BCEagles.com – No. 5 BC skates to 3-3 draw at No. 1 Minnesota

In other B1G TEN College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”

Bring The CLUTTER in the comments, on Google+ on Twitter and on Facebook.

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

Posted in College Hockey, Gopher Hockey, Hockey In Minnesota, News/Transactions, Wild Prospects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gopher Hockey Notes – vs Mercyhurst Lakers – 10/11/2013

Posted on October 12, 2013 by

Gopher Hockey starts a brand new season in a brand new league with a lot of brand new players and a lot of familiar expectations. Though losing 41% of their scoring with Nick Bjugstad, Erik Haula, Zach Budish, and Nate Schmidt, the Minnesota Gophers always recruit well. They should be able to replace a lot of that scoring with the likes of incoming recruits Taylor Cammarata, Justin Kloos and Hudson Fasching. Redshirt freshman Connor Reilly and 2nd year progress from Brady Skjei, Mike Reilly, AJ Michaelson and Ryan Reilly should improve. They still have some good leadership in new captains Kyle Rau and Nate Condon and expect a big year from Sam Warning especially if he’s on the top line!

On the back end, they lost Seth Helgeson and it was a bit of a shock when Mark Alt went pro but there’s still a lot of experience on the blue line for the Gophs. Jake Parenteau will be able to fill a physicality role and bring solid defense with a touch of offense. Ben Marshall is steady and should get more opportunities on the power play and Justin Holl brings a solid game back to the blue line after playing forward all season last year. What will the Gophers get from incoming freshman Michael Brodzinski and Jake Bischoff who both produced in high school but didn’t show that same production in the USHL.

The Gophers shouldn’t have a problem manning the crease with the return of the same goalies from last season in Adam Wilcox and Mike “The Big” Shibrowski. Adam Wilcox had a legendary freshman season so we know he can handle to workload but it’ll be hard to repeat that kind of season.

 Line Chart – Minnesota Golden GophersLeft Wing – Center – Right Wing
F-Sam Warning-11 – Kyle Rau-7 – Hudson Fasching-24
Nate Condon-16 – Justin Kloos-25 – Taylor Cammarata – 13
Christian Isackson-26 – Travis Boyd-22 – Vinni Lettieri-19
Tom Serratore-14 – AJ Michaelson-15 – Seth Ambroz-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Justin Holl-12
Mike Reilly-5 – Jake Parenteau-6
Ben Marshall-10 – Michael Brodzinski-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Ryan Coyne-31, D-Jake Bischoff-28, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Connor Reilly-21, F-Gabe Guertler-27
Injured:

Line Chart – Mercyhurst Lakers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Daniel O’Donoghue-18 – Daniel Bahntge-27 – Kyle Just-15
Zach Frischmon-12 – Kyle Cook-6 – Trent Frey-11
Ryan Misiak-26 – Matthew Zay-19 Chris Bodo-22
Jack Riley-3 – Stephen Hrehoriak-20 – Kyle Dutra-23
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Grant Gettinger-21 – Nick Jones-2
Randy Cure-7 – Mychal Montieth-5
Tyler Shiplo-4 – Anthony Mastrodicasa-14
Goalie
Jordan Tibbett-1

Scratches/Injured: G-Spencer Bacon-29, G-Jimmy Sarjeant-35, D-Justin Stevens-24, D-Philippe Drouin-25, F-John Mousso-8, F-Alec Shields-9, F-Nardo Nagtzaam-10, Edward DeWald-16, F-Kyle Johnson-28

It’s almost time to “Break The Ice” on another Gopher Hockey season with the IceBreaker Tourney so are you ready for another exciting season of Gopher Hockey?

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

  • PENALTY – #20 Michael Brodzinski for Hooking #11 Trent Frey at 2:19 of the 1st period – Off a face-off in the Gopher zone, Michael Brodzinski, playing the wing on the face-off, gets his stick in the midsection of Mercyhurst’s Trent Frey, holding him up and getting 2 minutes for his handiwork.
    • I’m not sure why Brodzinski felt the need to hold him up as he was turning towards the wall and back to the right point.
    • FSN is already in mid-season form, not showing who received the penalty or showing a replay of why he’s getting the penalty! Good start!!!
      • I’m sorry. They finally announced it after the ensuing face-off!
  • PENALTY – #22 Chris Bodo for Interference of #5 Mike Reilly at 2:47 of the 1st period – Chris Bodo basically set a pick of Mike Reilly and Reilly pushed him knocking him down but the official had the Interference call and Bodo sits for 2!
  • PENALTY – #7 Randy Cure for Tripping #14 Tom Serratore at 6:03 of the 1st period – Seth Ambroz had the puck behind the net and was pinned to the boards by Randy Cure* but was able to get the puck loose as Tom Serratore was coming around the net. Cure tried to make a poke check and missed the puck but got the feet of Serratore for an easy tripping call for the official.
      • *Randy Cure? Sounds like something you’d get for being a little too excited all the time. “Are you excited a lot? Does it get out of control sometimes? Maybe you need Randy Cure? for those times when you feel out of control!” Haha
      • Do I Make You Randy?

     

  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Kyle Rau from Ben Marshall & Sam Warning at 6:25 of the 1st period – Kyle Rau plants himself at the right side of the net and waits for a rebound and gets one when Sam Warning feeds Ben Marshall at the middle of the blue line for a one-time blast that gets deflected on the way to the net then hits Jordan Tibbett and lands at Kyle Rau’s stick for an easy shot into the empty net! GOPHERS LEAD 1-0!!!
      • That goal took nothing but knowing whereto be on the ice to score a goal. It had nothing to do with how good a shot he has, how physical he is or how well he can handle the puck. It was plain knowledge of the game of hockey and playing without the puck.
        • He just plants himself near the goal and waits but he knows to move around when the defense is watching the puck instead of him.
          • Knowing how to play without the puck and get open will get you the puck more and give you more chances to score because your teammates will look for you more.
  • PENALTY – Tom Serratore for High-Sticking Tyler Shiplo at 8:17 of the 1st period – TomSerratore went in on theforecheck and got his stick up high on TylerShiplo and actually getting his stick underneath the cage a little.
    • The interesting thing about this penalty call is the official 8 feet from the play didn’t make the call, it was the ref in the neutral zone that made the call. I’m not sure how the official right there didn’t see that better but he did have kind of a bad angle on it so…

     

  • At the 14:05 mark of the 1st period – A rebound in the Mercyhurst zone goes to the right half-wall and SethAmbroz gets to the puck first and carries it back towards the right point and tries to make a backhand pass to Brady Skjei at the other point but it hitsMercyhurst’s StephenHrehoriak, giving him a breakaway thatis broken up by Skjei.
      • TomChorske tells it like it is saying, “Ambroz just makes a poor decision trying to backhand that through the zone.”
        • As a Junior, he should know that! Heck, as a hockey player who’s probably played hockey for a really long time, he should know that!
          • Backhand cross-ice pass = Bad things!
            • Turn and dump the puck back in and get back to work on theforecheck!
              • Give it to the right D who’s right next to you.
              • He can see the zone and make a play!
              • Fake that pass to get the defender to move, opening up other options:
                • Shoot the puck!
                • Take the puck to the net!
                • Now the pass to the left point should be open! Pass it and get in front of the net for a rebound opportunity!
              • Skate it out of the zone and dump it back in and start over.

     

  • PENALTY – Brady Skjei for holding Matthew Zay at 17:33 of the 1st period – Brady Skjei tries to make a pass up the middle from the left boards of the Gopher zone that’s deflected/intercepted by Chris Bodo. MatthewZay ends up with the puck at the half-wall and heads to the net. Skjei is behind him and puts his stick in front of him and then tries to grab him and ends up pushing him down getting a holding penalty.
      • I don’t like how a holding call is up to the official’s discretion. They might be told to call them this way but, if a player puts his hand/glove on a player, thatshouldn’t be holding. I feel like it penalizes players who are stronger than another player.
        • The rule reads:
          • 54.1 Holding – Any action by a player that retards the progress of an opposing playerwhether or not he isin possession of the puck.
            • Definition of retards:
              • delay or hold back in terms of progress, development, or accomplishment. – “his progress was retarded by his limp”
        • In this case, the live view of the play looks like Skjei just pushes him down but he actually does grab him and then pushes him down for the holding call.

2nd Period

  • GOAL – Seth Ambroz Unassisted at 3:37 of the 2nd period – Off a face-off in the Gopher zone, it appears Mercyhurst wins the draw but its pulled back towards defenseman Nick Jones but as he skates in to get the puck, the center, who won the face-off, was falling and lunged to poke the puck back to his d-man quicker and ended up poking it out of his reach, creating a 2-on-1 with Seth Ambroz and Tom Serratore with Ambroz coming up the right side and Serratore on the left. Ambroz picks up the puck and heads in on defenseman Grant Gettinger. Gettinger takes away the pass leaving the goalie to stop the shot by Ambroz. Seth fires a snapper that beats the goalie but hits the left post and bounces right back to Ambroz, who gloves it, throws it down and backhands it through his legs sending the puck back in front of the goal. The puck ends up hitting Nick Jones in the right skate and deflects into the net for a 2-0 GOPHER LEAD!!!
      • Grant Gettinger played the 2-on-1 OK for the most part taking away the pass but, at some point, you need to get to the shooter and attempt to get your stick in front of the puck or, at the very least, make the shooter hesitate or you’re basically allowing a breakaway on your goalie while having the best view of it. Might as well just buy a ticket then!
        • So, instead of taking away the pass the whole way and falling down, you can go to the shooter while trying to stay in the passing lane and make the offensive player move, think about his options longer or rush his shot.
        • Gap up! Close the gap between you and the man with the puck. Seth Ambroz was never worried about what he was going to do with the puck. He knew he was going to shoot right away.
        • Obviously this was a strange play with the shot hitting the post and rebounding back to Ambroz but it does show that if you don’t know where the puck is, you need to find someone to cover and not just look around for the puck.
        • Your teammates should be telling you where the puck is to help you out.
        • The rule is if you don’t know where you’re supposed to be or who you’re supposed to cover, you retreat back to the front of the net but if there’s nobody there, find someone to cover.
        • Yes this is a freak/fluke-ish play but you can still learn from it and play it better the next time it happens and have a plan the next time a shot hits the post.
  • A scrum in front of the Gopher net results in some coincidental penalties and we get some 4-on-4 hockey! More space for more speed and more chances to score!
  • GOAL (4-on-4) – Sam Warning from Kyle Rau at 11:48 of the 2nd period – All it takes is 18 seconds of 4-on-4 for the Gophers to take advantage and go up 3-0 on the Lakers.
    • Off a face-off in the Gopher zone, I assume the Gophers won the face-off. I assume because FSN is great at NOT showing the face-offs. Anyways, the puck is cleared and loose in the neutral zone. Nick Jones picks it up for the Lakers at the red line and, for reason, tries to get around Kyle Rau instead of just dumping it into the Gopher zone. Rau causes him to mishandle the puck and Sam Warning swoops in to take it from him and head up the left side but Warning can’t control the puck either so it gets to Matthew Zay covering for the D-man. Zay tries to chip it back up the boards to Jones and he tries to play it up the boards too but Rau is there to take the puck from him and head to the net creating a short 2-on-1 with Warning. After Warning had the puck shot past him on the left boards, he curled to the right, in towards the goal to come back, then curled back to the left to get open for a pass once he saw Rau win the battle for the puck on the boards. Grant Gettinger was the only Laker defenseman back now and he moved towards Rau and went down to try to take away the pass but Warning was further back so the passing lane was open. Rau passed it to Warning, who looked like he was setting up for a one-timer, but the pass was too far forward so he deflected it forward with his right skate then took the puck to his backhand, forcing the goalie Jordan Tibbettt to keep moving, and then Sam Warning snuck it past Tibbett’s outstretched glove into an empty net. Gettinger was there to knock it out of the net but replay clearly shows the puck crossed the goal line! GOPHERS lead 3-0!!!
      • It’s amazing what you can see when you slow down the video.
        • First you see Nick Jones fail to get the puck deep, then he loses not one, but two puck battles.
          • He doesn’t try to protect the puck with his body either.
            • If you can’t corral the puck, get your body in front of it to keep the opposing player from getting to it or at least to slow them down.
          • Then you see Grant Gettinger make a poor decision to go towards the shooter Rau on the 2-on-1, then compound that bad decision by going down taking himself out of the play completely.
          • Last, you see the Laker forwards coasting and reaching as they try to back check to catch Sam Warning who’s alone in front of their net.
        • There’s usually a reason for every goal, a bad decision, bad read, bad position and/or losing a puck battle. It could be one of those or all of those on the same play. This one appears to have every one of those reasons. Learn from it and don’t let it happen again.
          • Talent doesn’t win puck battles! Compete level and determination do! You can have all the talent in the world but if you aren’t willing to get in there and battle for the puck, it doesn’t matter how much talent you have!
            • “Gentleman! You don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone!”
            • “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!”
            • Ahhh….Herb Brooks! The Legend will never die!!!
        • So, on the ice the official waved the goal off but after a stoppage of play, they looked at the replay and called it a good goal BUT they never put the time back on the clock. It was only 4 seconds and it doesn’t look like it’s going to matter in this game but I’m curious as to if the official forgot about that or what happened there?
  • Penalty – Mercyhurst – Tyler Shiplo for Delay of Game at 13:41 of the 2nd period – Mercyhurst is just trying to hang on during a scramble in front of their net and Tyler Shiplo covers it up and gets to sit for a couple minutes while his team is shorthanded.
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Justin Kloos from Nate Condon & Mike Reilly at 15:20 of the 2nd period – Off an attempted cross-ice pass, the puck goes into the right corner (to Jordan Tibbett’s left) and eventually Taylor Cammarata comes out with it just in front of the right half wall and sends a pass back to Mike Reilly at the right point. Reilly skates in, fakes a shot, moves to the middle and takes a shot aiming for the upper right corner and misses the net. The puck bounces off the back boards back to Nate Condon, who’s at the right of the net. Condon curls around the bottom of the circle looking for a pass and sees Justin Kloos on the back door and sauces him a pass. Justin Kloos catches the pass and has time to control the puck and rip a wrist shot to the upper left corner for a 4-0 GOPHER Lead!!!
      • The Gophers are usually good on the power play and that’s the case here.
        • Can you complain about letting a cross-ice pass through to a guy sitting on the backdoor? Maybe, but it was right after a shot went wide so were they able to regroup into good position. Condon fired the pass pretty quick after getting the rebound off the wall.
        • The rebound happens to bounce right to Condon instead of staying behind the net or bouncing to one of the Laker players.
  • PENALTY – Mercyhurst – Kyle Dutra for Hooking at 17:52 of the 2nd period – Reaching instead of moving your feet will get you time in the box and a minus on the ice.

3rd Period

  • GOAL – Mike Reilly from Hudson Fasching & Sam Warning at 11:10 of the 3rd period – Mike Reilly starts this play by getting the puck at his own blue line, skating it back behind his own net and coming around the left side. As he gets to his own blue line again, he passes it across to the right boards to Sam Warning. The puck was a little hard to control as Warning crosses the Lakers blue line and Grant Gettinger hesitated going over to defend him so Warning had time to get control of the puck, pull a stop move bringing the puck back towards him and away from the defender letting Gettinger and his poke check go by him and giving him time to survey his options. He finally sees Hudson Fasching coming up the left side. Fasching gets the puck on his backhand, moves it away from the defender and as he gets to the bottom of the circle, he’s falling down but still gets the puck to the front of the net. Mike Reilly kept skating and actually went all the way into the right corner of the Laker zone, curling back to be a backdoor option. That didn’t work out so he was just skating back up the middle to retake his position on the defense and the puck comes to him for a one-timer that goes in off Jordan Tibbett and in the right of the net.
      • Man, it’s fun watching Mike Reilly skate and make plays. He makes it look effortless. He has speed, can handle the puck and has great vision and puck-moving ability. He may need to improve some on the defensive side and keep getting stronger but the kid’s goingto be a stud!
        • Gettinger is not having the best game tonight. He’s a junior so he I can’t really give him any slack for adjusting to the Division I game.
          • On this goal, as soon as he sees the puck bouncing and Sam Warning having a problem controlling it, he needs to jump on that chance to go get him and do it fast.
          • I also think, as a defenseman, you need to make any player go wide and not give up the middle or let him do what he did by pulling the pull-back stop move so he has time to survey the ice.
          • At the end when Mike Reilly gets the puck for the one-timer, you can clearly see every Laker player watching the puck and not covering a man.
            • You don’t have time to get to a man after you realize the puck was just passed to him. By that time, the player may have already moved while you were watching the puck.
  • GOAL – Michael Brodzinski from Sam Warning & Kyle Rau at 18:21 of the 3rd period – A face-off at the right dot (to Jordan Tibbett’s left) is won by Kyle Rau back to Brady Skjei at the middle of the blue line. It looks like the Gophers ran a play off the face-off because they were all moving to spots after the face-off was won. Fasching (RW) and Rau (C) go to the front of the net and camp themselves in front of the goalie. Sam Warning, from the LW spot on the inner hash mark, skates back around the top of the circle towards the right boards, curling around to the front of the net. Brady Skjei moves to the right point while Michael Brodzinski goes behind him moving to the top of the left circle. Skjei gets to the right point, waiting for Rau & Fasching to ge to the front of the net and shoots the puck. He shoots it kind of high and it hits Rau up high and drops to the ice in front of him. Sam Warning had curled around and was there to pick up the rebound and pass it to Brodzinski at the top of the left circle. Brodzinski catches the pass and, still moving to the left, snaps off a shot that goes through the oncoming forward’s legs and just above Tibbett’s right pad and just below his catching glove and the GOPHERS Lead 6-0!!!
      • That isthe definition of  a snipe right there and exactly where you want a shot from the point to go, low and just above an outstretched leg pad!
        • That makes it a hard shot to stop because the goalie has to go down and stretch out to get to it.
          • The defending forward coming out to block the shot has to get down to block the shot but Brodzinski moving to his left causes him to open up so the shot can get between his legs.
            • This makes it difficult for the goalie to pick up the puck coming because he’s being screened by his own player trying to block the shot.

Final Score

Minnesota Gophers 6, Mercyhurst Lakers 0

This game looked like it was never in doubt as Gopher hockey moves on to the Championship Game tomorrow night. We saw the talent of some of the new recruits and just how good Sam Warning will be this season as a Junior. Adam Wilcox was never really tested in this game. Maybe tomorrow night will be a more competitive game.

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Gophers Blank Mercyhurst 6-0 in Opener
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-Mercyhurst Stats (Downloadable PDF)
Gopher Hockey Recap from HurstAthletics.com  – Men’s Hockey Blanked by #5 Minnesota at Ice Breaker Tourney

In other B1G Ten College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Wisconsin won vs Northern Michigan 5-2
Penn State won vs Army 4-1
and
Ohio State lost vs Miami 6-2

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Denver won vs Merrimack 1-0
Notre Dame won vs Western Michigan 4-0
St. Cloud State won vs Bemidji State 3-2
UMD won vs Michigan Tech 2-1
and
North Dakota won vs Vermont 5-3

 

Bring The CLUTTER in the comments, on Google+ on Twitter and on Facebook

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

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Gopher Hockey Final Five Recap vs Colorado College Tigers – 3-22-2013

Posted on March 24, 2013 by

Gopher hockey begins their last WCHA Final Five and matches up against a Colorado College Tigers team that seems to have found the glass slipper since the playoffs started. They upset Denver in the first round taking the series to a decisive 3rd game and winning 4-3. Then they upset a North Dakota team that always plays their best hockey at this time of the season winning 4-3 in overtime! Can they keep it going tonight against a Gopher hockey team that struggled a bit to beat Bemidji State? Will the Gophers come out hard and get some Xcel Energy from the crowd? Will the Tigers be able to stay in the game like they did against UND? Tigers goalie Joe Howe will have to keep up his great play of late to steal another one to get to the championship game and keep the Tigers NCAA tournament hopes alive!

Previous Match-ups in the 2012-13 season:

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 – Christian Isackson-26
Sam Warning-11 – Erik Haula-19 – Zach Budish-24
AJ Michaelson-15 – Nate Condon-16 – Justin Holl-12
Tom Serratore-14 – Travis Boyd-22 – Seth Ambroz-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Jake Parenteau-6 – Nate Schmidt-29
Seth Helgeson-4 – Ben Marshall-10
Mike Reilly-5 – Mark Alt-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, D-Brady Skjei-2, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21, G-Ryan Coyne-31

Line Chart – Colorado College Tigers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Alexander Krushelnyski-16 – Rylan Schwartz-13 – Charlie Taft-17
Archie Skalbeck-12 – Scott Winkler-25 – William Rapuzzi-27
Hunter Fejes-11 – F-Jordan Digiando – Andrew Hamburg-15
Peter Maric-22 – Jeff Collett-21 – Jared Hanson-24
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Peter Stoykewych-6 – Mike Boivin-28
Aaron Harstad-5 – Eamonn McDermott-7
Ian Young-20 – Joe Marciano-4
Goalie
Joe Howe-31
Josh Thorimbert-39

Scratches/Injured: G-Courtney Lockwood-29, D-Russell Finch-2, D-Micheal King-3, F-Scott Wamsganz, F-Cody Bradley-10, F-Michael Morin-19

Some changes to the lineups for the Gophers and the Tigers since the last time these teams played each other. Sam Warning gets back in the lineup and Brady Skjei gets scratched as The Don goes with Jake Parenteau with Nate Schmidt in the #1 defensive pairing. That also moves Nate Condon back to centering the 3rd line between AJ Michaelson & Justin Holl making the 4th line Travis Boyd centering Tom Serratore & Seth Ambroz.

The Tigers have moved Alexander Krushelnyski and Charlie Taft up to the 1st line and Archie Skalbeck and William Rapuzzi down to the 2nd line since the Gophers played them way back in early December.

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

  • The Gophers have good energy to begin the game but it will take a lot to get this confident Colorado College team to break.
  • At 4:22 of the 1st period – A shot from the point from Mark Alt is stopped in front of the net by Tigers defenseman Mike Boivin. Charlie Taft was going out to defend Alt so he breaks through the neutral zone for a breakaway pass but Mike Reilly gets a piece of it and Alexander Krushelnyski picks up the loose puck, moves to the outside around Mark Alt and heads in the left center of the Gopher zone. Alt turns and is still in position to defend Krushelnyski  but he poke checks and lunges to the outside and Krushelnyski holds the puck back to avoid the poke check then puts the puck between Alt’s legs and takes a shot. Adam Wilcox makes the save but that’s a great move by Krushelnyski!
  • At 6:22 – Scott Winkler gets a pass in the neutral zone right as he’s entering the Gopher zone and takes a shot on goal. Jake Parenteau went down to one knee to block the shot. The shot gets through, Adam Wilcox makes the save but leaves a rebound and Winkler has the step on Parenteau to get to it first but Parenteau dives and knocks the puck away with his stick. Great play to get to that second shot and deflect it away!
  • At the 8:00 mark, Ben Marshall goes back to get a dumped in puck and Alexander Krushelnyski gets to him as he’s getting to the puck and Marshall hits the boards pretty hard. Seth Helgeson picks up the puck, goes around his own net and skates up the right side of the ice through the neutral zone, moves to the right around Mike Boivin and goes to the net. He has a bad angle going to the net but he makes a nice little backhand pass to AJ Michaelson for a one-time try. Joe Howe makes the save but that was a heck of a play from Helgeson.
    • That’s the most impressive play I’ve even seen Seth Helgeson make! WOW!
      • He went coast-to-coast and made a nice pass creating a scoring chance! What the…?
  • At 10:08 – Kyle Rau dumps the puck into the left corner and skates in with speed on the forecheck to throw a body check on Aaron Harstad. Harstad is able to play the puck around the left corner but Christian Isackson is the first one there. He cycles to Nick Bjugstad who goes beneath the goal line then passes to Kyle Rau for a one-timer to Isackson in the slot but Rylan Schwartz is there to block the shot!
  • Seth Ambroz just had a shift where he couldn’t complete a pass to save his life. He tried like 4 passes and all of them were off-target or hard to handle.
  • PENALTY – Peter Stoykewych for Hooking on Christian Isackson at 16:37 of the 1st period – Christian Isackson takes the puck in the left of the Tiger zone and carries it all the way around the boards with Peter Stoykewych trailing him the whole way. He’s leaning on him and sticking his stick in front of him and hooked him a couple times and finally makes Isackson go down and will sit for a couple minutes because of it!
    • He probably hooked him twice. The 1st time the official let it go but not the 2nd.
    • He also has his arm on him the whole way.
      • I don’t think that matters but I think officials do.
  • Not sure if its bad ice or how much its been used the last couple days but the puck is bouncing all over the place! It won’t settle down, bouncing over stick and having an affect on the game!

2nd Period

  • Doug McLeod says, “If you’re not familiar Minnesota’s style…Kyle Rau has a cannon from long range and he’s not afraid to use it. He’s going to maybe tone it down a little in the playoffs, I don’t know, but he loves to unload that thing and it creates the problem that even when he gets ready and looks like he’s going slap it, will he or won’t he, you gotta be ready both ways if you’re the defending team!” What?
    • The man is losing it! I will assume he means Nate Schmidt but I don’t want to try to understand what he’s thinking! That seems dangerous!
  • GOAL! – Rylan Schwartz from Peter Stoykewych & Eamonn McDermott at 0:59 of the 2nd period – Peter Stoykewych gets a d-to-d pass from Eamonn McDermott at the right of the Tiger zone to get around Nick Bjugstad and he skates it up the right boards. Christian Isackson comes to him near the red line so he passes to his left to Rylan Schwartz coming up the right center of the neutral zone. Schwartz skates into the Gopher zone and in on Jake Parenteau. Parenteau gives a little too much gap so he’s able to pull the puck back into a good shooting position and fire a shot into the upper left corner of the net past Adam Wilcox. TIGERS 1-0!!!
    • Parenteau gave him too much space and went down to block the shot.
      • That also blocks his goalie’s view of the shot.
      • Gap control is huge for defense!
        • Forwards need time and space to be effective! Take that away from them by closing in on them.
          • You should be able to reach them with your stick at the blue line!
            • Use the blue line as another defender!
        • A lot of defenseman worry about getting beat and that’s why they give such a big gap! That doesn’t work!
          • You should still be able to get in his way or at least angle him off so his shooting/passing angle is tough
    • Schwartz doesn’t even follow through all the way with his shot and it hits the upper left corner!
      • Also, when Parenteau goes down, Schwartz pulls the puck back using him as a screen and changing the angle of the shot!
      • That was a Snipe!
  • GOAL! – Charlie Taft from Alexander Krushelnyski & Eamonn McDermott at 4:24 of the 2nd period – A forecheck in the left corner of the Gopher zone results in Alexander Krushelnyski passing the puck back near the middle of the blue line. Eamonn McDermott has to skate in to get the puck and quickly turn around to his right on his backhand to avoid Kyle Rau. Christian Isackson is right there when he turns around so McDermott just makes a backhand pass up the middle to Krushelnyski, who has to turn to catch the pass and then turn a little more to shoot the puck. The shot is blocked by Mark Alt, drops to the ice and Alt picks it up and starts to skate up ice out of the zone but the puck is bouncing the whole way and gets away from Alt so Krushelnyski taps the puck away and up to Charlie Taft at the top of the slot. Taft gets it on his forehand as he’s turning around, makes a quick little move to the backhand and back to his forehand and skates to the outside of Mike Reilly, takes a shot from just to the inside of the right face-off dot and it goes through the five-hole of Adam Wilcox! TIGERS 2-0!!!
    • A turnover in your own zone is a killer!
      • Your team is breaking out and all heading one way and then a bouncing puck gets away from you and now everyone’s going the wrong way!
    • Mike Reilly played the puck when he should’ve played the body!
      • This caused him to be in a bad position to stop the play.
        • Taft was turning around and was on his backhand so you have to figure that most players are going to favor their forehand in that situation.
        • Plus, Taft had no speed as he was in the process of turning around because he had just gotten a loose puck so Reilly could very easily have just taken the body or used his body to get between Taft and the puck, taken the puck and cleared the zone.
  • PENALTY – Seth Helgeson for Cross-Checking on Hunter Fejes at 5:00 of the 2nd period – Just Seth Helgeson being physical and going overboard by continually pushing.
    • It wasn’t a cross-check as his stick wasn’t in both hands but it was easily a roughing call!
  • GREAT SAVE! – Joe Howe on Nick Bjugstad at 5:15 of the 2nd period – Off a face-off to the right of Adam Wilcox, Nick Bjugstad wins the face-off back to Nate Schmidt coming off the half wall and Schmidt sends it around the boards. Kyle Rau is the first to the puck as it comes around the corner and he chips it up the middle as Bjugstad is breaking and with Bjugstad’s speed, he’s able to break away from Mike Boivin to come in on Joe Howe all alone. He makes a quick move and shoots low glove side buy Howe is there to make the save.
    • The never really settled down again.
      • I don’t know how much that played into Bjugstad’s shot though.
      • Boivin got back and made it so Bjugstad had to make a quick decision and shot!
  • GREAT SAVE! – Adam Wilcox on William Rapuzzi at 6:15 of the 2nd period – After a puck bounces over Mike Boivin’s stick to clear the zone, Tom Serratore forechecks him back into his own zone making him turn back then goes for a change. Problem is Jake Parenteau also went for a change and being its the 2nd period, it’s the far change so that leaves William Rapuzzi open for a blue line to blue line pass and he gets a mini-breakaway. Rapuzzi goes in and takes a shot basically into the chest of Adam Wilcox so he makes the save but leaves a rebound and Rapuzzi gets a 2nd chance but Wilcox makes that save and freezes the puck.
    • Bad change on a penalty kill but I’m sure Parenteau didn’t know Serratore would peel off and change there.
  • PENALTY – Eamonn McDermott for Interference on Sam Warning at 9:43 of the 2nd period – Sam Warning dumps the puck in and tries to get around Eamonn McDermott and McDermott gets in his way AND knocks him down and now he gets to sit in the Bin of Sin for a couple minutes and think about it!
  • GREAT SAVE! – Adam Wilcox on Archie Skalbeck at 14:18 of the 2nd period – Off a face-off to Joe Howe’s left, Scott Winkler wins it back to Aaron Harstad in front of the net and he chips ‘er deep off the glass getting past Nate Schmidt at the right point. William Rapuzzi gets on his horse and beats out an icing call. Seth Helgeson was playing left defenseman and the puck went down Schmidt’s side. Archie Skalbeck is barely trailing the play behind Nate Schmidt so Helgeson pursues Rapuzzi in the corner and he decides to take the body allowing to make a blind centering pass right in front of the net to Archie Skalbeck for a one-timer that he just redirects at the middle of the net. Adam Wilcox read the play and made the save!
    • Seth Helgeson makes the right read to go to the puck because he was going to get to Rapuzzi before Schmidt but he didn’t get his stick down towards the puck taking the body instead and the puck gets through.
      • I’m all for taking the body but if you can get your stick on the puck and at least knock it away, do it!
        • You can continue and still throw a body check after you’ve knocked the puck away!
        • Don’t have blinders on and just think about throwing a big hit!
    • Schmidt doesn’t stay with Archie Skalbeck and doesn’t get down to block the pass from coming through!
      • Get the puck or the man! One or the other! Neither doesn’t work very well!
    • Give William Rapuzzi credit for looking back to see where his teammate was and where he was going so he could throw the puck to the front of the net!
  • PENALTY – Christian Isackson for Interference on Rylan Schwartz at 19:00 of the 2nd period – The puck is chipped out to center ice and Seth Helgeson is there to catch it, drop it to the ice and dump it back in. He dumps the puck in but puts it on goal for some reason. Joe Howe saves it and it rebounds to Aaron Harstad and he chips it off the glass. The puck hits one of the stanchions holding the glass together and bounces out to center ice. Seth Helgeson stops, reacting to the deflected puck, but he’s too far away to get to it. This helps the Tigers break out and Rylan Schwartz sees the chance to go to the net on a 3-on-2. Christian Isackson follows him and as Schwartz gets to the net, he gets too much of him and knocks him down with the puck nowhere around them so he gets a 2-minute minor for Interference! Welcome to the Bin of Sin!!!
    • Why do you shoot the puck on goal from center ice if your Seth Helgeson?
      • Put it in the corner so your forwards a chance to get in on the forecheck and make something happen.
      • The idea of dumping the puck is to make the other team go get it so don’t “give” it to the goalie so he can start the break out, even if it is with a rebound.
    • Good job by Rylan Schwartz to go to the net hard!
      • Force the opponent to defend you even if you don’t have the puck!!!

3rd Period

  • GREAT SAVE – Adam Wilcox on Rylan Schwartz at 1:00 of the 3rd period – A one-timer on the power play from Rylan Schwartz at the top of the right face-off circle is tipped on the way to the net but Adam Wilcox makes a great reaction and gets the toe of his right leg on it! WOW!
  • MAJOR PENALTY! – Joe Marciano for Cross-Checking on Tom Serratore at 4:50 of the 3rd period – Tom Serratore gets the puck from Seth Ambroz behind the Tigers net and skates around the right corner (Joe Howe’s left). He’s being pursued/defended by Joe Marciano. Serratore gets around the corner and delays or starts to stop to turn around and gets pummeled and goes head first into the boards!
    • They call it a cross-check but again, he didn’t have both hands on his stick so it’s not a cross-check!
    • It’s definitely a penalty and I agree with it being a major with the force Tom Serratore was sent into the boards! WOW!
    • This could be the break* the Gophers need to get back into this game!
      • The Tigers penalty kill has been good during their winning streak though.
  • Nothing doing during the whole 5 minutes of the power play!
    • The Gopher only had one shot on goal on a major penalty! Ouch!
    • When a team doesn’t score on a 5-minute power play, they usually end up losing that game!
  • The Gophers pull the goalie with 3:12 remaining in hopes of getting something going!
    • One goal can change how a team plays so let’s see if they can get anything going here!
  • Nope! Nothing! Great game by the Tigers and they will take on the Wisconsin Badgers in tomorrow night’s WCHA Final Five Championship Game!

Final Score

Minnesota Gophers 0, Colorado College Tigers 2

The Gophers didn’t come out like a team that wanted to win tonight! They were outworked and just didn’t look ready for this game! Colorado College had nothing to lose knowing if they lose any game from here on out, they are done for the season! This is why the playoffs are hard! Nobody wants their season to end! or their career to end! Go out and play every game like it’s your last game because you never know what’s going to happen! The Gophers knew they were in the NCAA tournament already, being the #1 ranked team in the nation, but that means nothing if they don’t play like the #1 team in the nation! Disappointing effort from Gopher hockey!!! Hopefully they learn from it!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Minnesota Falls to Colorado College at WCHA Final Five
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-Colorado College Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from CCTigers.com – Broadmoor Trophy one win away!

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,

  • Wisconsin won vs St. Cloud State 4-1

Bring The CLUTTER in the comments, on Google+ on Twitter and on Facebook.

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Posted in College Hockey, Gopher Hockey, Hockey In Minnesota, News/Transactions, Wild Prospects | Leave a comment

Gopher Hockey Playoff Notes vs Bemidji State Beavers – 3-16-2013

Posted on March 17, 2013 by

The Minnesota Gopher Hockey team escaped with a win last night so how will they come out tonight? How will Bemidji State come out after playing a very solid game last night? Will either team make adjustments after such a close game? It’s always difficult to end a team’s season so expect a very competitive game!

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
Tom Serratore-14 – Travis Boyd-22 – Seth Ambroz-17
Jake Parenteau-6 – AJ Michaelson-15 – Justin Holl-12
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Seth Helgeson-4 – Ben Marshall-10
Mike Reilly-5 – Mark Alt-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21, G-Ryan Coyne-31, F-Sam Warning-11

Line Chart – Bemidji State Beavers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Jordan George-28 – Aaron McLeod-14 – Ben Kinne-9
Brance Orban-7 – Jeff Jubinville-12 – Phil Brewer-29
Radoslav Illo-18 – Cory Ward-13 – Danny Mattson-16
Markus Gerbrandt-23 – Mitch Cain-27 – Brad Robbins-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Jake Areshenko-8 – Brady Wacker-25
Matt Prapavessis-22 – Graeme McCormack-11
Sam Rendle-20 – Sam Windle-15
Goalie
Andrew Walsh-30
Mathieu Dugas-35

Scratches/Injured: G-Reid Mimmack-1, D-James Hansen-3, D-Matt Carlson-5, D-Kyle Brodie-26, F-David Boehm-4, F-Tyler Tosunian-19, F-Matt Hartmann-21

Looks like identical lineups for both teams. No reason for changes from a close game. Sam Warning is still out because of injury. Apparently he was injured in practice during the week and is week-to-week at this point. That’s a tough loss for the Gophers. Warning has been tremendous this season!

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

  • Nice job of putting the graphic up during the play blocking the majority of the bottom half of the screen. That’s brilliant, FSN! Brilliant!
  • Seem to be late on the graphics tonight! Did someone important show up late or something?
  • Nate Schmidt skates in and has an opportunity to shoot with Travis Boyd near and he decides to give it to Boyd for him to shoot!
    • Ummm…NO! I’ll pick the Schmidt slapper over pretty much anyone else on the Gophers. Knock the Schmidt out of it!
      • Maybe Bjugstad’s one-timer? Maybe!
  • “The Gophers, when Kyle Rau tallies at least a scoring point, are 22-1-1! He had two scoring points last night, a goal and an assist!” – FSN announcer Doug McLeod
    • What the hell is a scoring point, Doug McLeod?
    • Can you have a different kind of point in a hockey game?
      • There’s goals and assists! Ginos & Apples! What other points are there?
      • A point of +/-?
        • No! That would be a stat!
      • A hit, a takeaway, a blocked shot, a save, a win, a loss, a goal against, a goal for, a shot?
        • Let’s see…no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no and…uhhh….NO!
    • What the hell is he talking about?
  • PENALTY – Nick Bjugstad for Boarding on Phil Brewer at 16:18 of the 1st period – Phil Brewer has the puck at the left half-wall and Nick Bjugstad pushes him into the boards and the official calls him for boarding.
    • A borderline call, maybe. Not sure if it should be called in a playoff game or not? It’s debatable. I could go either way on it.
    • It was a somewhat dangerous spot to push a guy but he wasn’t facing the boards and he didn’t turn late so it appears Bjugstad is just a strong kid and able to push guys off the puck. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a penalty though.
  • GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Jordan George from Ben Kinne & Radoslav Illo at 16:49 of the 1st period – The Beavers are working the puck around on the power play at the top of the zone trying to get Adam Wilcox moving by going cross-ice and setting up a one-timer. Matt Prapavessis fakes a slap shot at the center of the blue line and passes it back to Radoslav Illo at the top of the right face-off circle for a low one-timer slap shot. Wilcox makes the save but the puck drops right next to his right leg pad. Ben Kinne tries to jam it in (or through) Wilcox but its stopped and the puck comes right back out. Kinne tries again but this time the puck goes off the toe of his stick, goes through Nate Schmidt’s legs and Jordan George is there to pick up the loose puck and put it in the open net. BEAVERS 1-0!!!
    • Adam Wilcox has to control that rebound!
    • Travis Boyd and Tom Serratore were doing fine covering the point but then Boyd goes from Prapavessis to Illo forcing Serratore to switch but then Boyd gives Illo too much space by going back to the middle. That caused both Serratore and Boyd to be in the middle at the same time when Prapavessis faked the shot.
      • Not sure if Boyd called for a switch or is just trying to do too much.
      • From the replay, it looks like Boyd was just following the puck which is usually bad for the kill.
        • Need to have all four penalty killers working together to cover the whole area.

2nd Period

  • FSN really bothers me with missing face-offs and live action by showing the bench and replays and not getting back to live quick enough.
    • A gopher shot hit the post and an icing happens somewhat soon after it but FSN shows Ben Marshall on the bench for like 15 seconds and then goes to a replay and you can here the puck being dropped while they are still showing the replay!
      • Why does it take that long to get to the replay?
  • Brady Skjei receives a pass from Nick Bjugstad at the right point. He has to catch it and then shoot so it gets blocked but he gets it back and skates in behind the goal line, around the goal and comes around the net on his backhand and just flicks it low!
    • That’s a great scoring chance but you have to try to get the puck high there.
      • Skjei didn’t come around the net with much speed so Andrew Walsh was already there blocking the low part of the net.
    • Work on those backhands so you can get it up high really quickly for those in close scoring chances!
      • Work on every part of your backhand if you ask me! UNLEASH THE BACKHAND!
        • Passing
        • Shooting
        • Handling the puck
        • Strength
        • Accuracy
  •  GOAL! – Corey Ward from Sam Rendle & Sam Windle at 9:27 of the 2nd period – Sam Windle floats the puck through the neutral trying to get it to Radoslav Illo but Christian Isackson gets his glove on it but not full possession. The puck lands near the Gopher bench. A bouncing puck eludes Isackson & Illo gets possession at the red line, turns up ice and passes to Danny Mattson at the left of the Gopher blue line. He gets by a Ben Marshall poke check, skates to the wall and turns toward the goal only to be met by Kyle Rau but he’s able to pull the puck back and pass it cross-ice to Sam Windle. Windle makes a one-time pass to Sam Rendle and he catches and takes a low snap shot. Corey Ward had driven the net as soon as the Beavers entered the zone but turned towards the left boards when Mattson was met by Rau. He got back to the net, fighting through the defense of Seth Helgeson to get his stick on the shot and deflecting it over Adam Wilcox’ left pad and it’s BEAVERS 2-0!!!
    • The Gopher defense wasn’t horrible on this play but there are a few things that could’ve helped.
      • The transition was ok but Nick Bjugstad and Christian Isackson get too low in their own zone and don’t cover the defense that are trailing the play.
        • Isackson chases Radoslav Illo when he should just hand him off to Ben Marshall and go defend the point. His guy was who shot the puck.
          • He gets out to him and goes down to block the shot which is good but it looks like he had time to get his stick in front of the puck and deflect it from ever hitting the net.
        • Bjugstad gets to his man but wasn’t close enough to him to make a play on the pass and because he wasn’t close enough to him, that allowed him to be open for a pass.
      • Seth Helgeson does an ok job of defending Corey Ward but he doesn’t get the most important part of him and that’s his stick.
        • Credit Ward for battling through the check to get his stick in the shooting lane!
  • PENALTY – Jordan George for Tripping on Mike Reilly at 15:26 of the 2nd period – Mark Alt pinched and is in the right corner and makes a centering pass but nobody is there except Jordan George. He turns and starts skating out of his zone and the Gophers only have Mike Reilly back on defense. Erik Haula quickly back checks and gets to George before he leaves the zone making him lose the puck. The puck goes far enough forward for Mike Reilly to pick it up and skate back into his own zone. He has George forechecking him now so Reilly fakes a move one way then goes the other way and George gets his stick in Reilly’s skates tripping him up and getting a visit to the penalty box for it.
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Nick Bjugstad from Kyle Rau & Erik Haula at 15:33 of the 2nd period – Nick Bjugstad wins the face-off back to Erik Haula at the right point. Haula skates down the right boards taking a look at what his options are and passes to Kyle Rau below the goal line in the right corner. Rau takes the puck to the net as soon as he gets it then makes a move around the stick of Jake Areshenko and then passes it to Nick Bjugstad, who had skated around to the left face-off dot after winning the face-off at the right face-off dot, and he has nothing but an open net to shoot at and the Gophers get on the board! GOPHERS 1-2!!!
    • Hard to say the defense played that wrong.
      • Maybe Areshenko can get down to try to block Rau from getting to the net or blocking the passing lane but it’s easy to second-guess now.
    • Just a great aggressive play by Kyle Rau!
      • He sees Nick Bjugstad open and gets him the puck when the defense thought he was just going to go to the net with it!
  • GOAL! – Jeff Jubinville from Phil Brewer & Brance Orban at 15:47 of the 2nd period – It takes the Beavers all of 14 seconds to get their 2-goal lead back! The Gophers win the ensuing face-off and Nate Schmidt takes it down the right boards and tries to pass to Travis Boyd but the puck hits Sam Rendle in the skates and deflects back towards the boards. Brance Orban is the first to get there. Tom Serratore stayed back at the blue line when Nate Schmidt pinched so he forces Orban to make a play and Orban makes a cross-ice pass to Phil Brewer coming up the right of the neutral zone. Jake Parenteau reads the play and tries to intercept the pass but doesn’t get his stick on it. That send Brewer in all alone on Adam Wilcox. He tries to five-hole but Wilcox has it covered but the puck rebounds back out in the slot and Jeff Jubinville gets to it and flips it up into the right corner over the glove of Adam Wilcox and its BEAVERS 3-1!!!
    • Jeff Jubinville was one of the furthest guys back in the zone when the puck was turned over. He was at his own goal line and got on his horse and drove the net and got there for the rebound and a big goal for the Beavers!
      • He passed every Gopher except Nate Schmidt on the way to the net!
      • Schmidt was on his horse and got there to disrupt the shot of Brewer.
      • Tom Serratore had Jubinville but Jubinville battled through it to get to the puck!
    • I think a couple Gopher players hesitated when it looked like Jake Parenteau might intercept the pass.
    • Should Jake Parenteau try to intercept the pass as the last guy back?
      • It’s easy to say no after they give up a goal because of it but if he does intercept it than the Gophers might get a scoring chance so….that’s Hockey!!!
      • He probably doesn’t try that if the Gophers aren’t down by a goal!
  • GOAL! – Nate Condon from Erik Haula & Zach Budish at 18:54 of the 2nd period – The puck is  deep in the Gopher zone. Zach Budish gets it in the right corner but loses in on the rail. Danny Mattson gets to it and tries to pass it back to Radoslav Illo near the right point but since the puck is on the rail, his pass goes in the air and Illo has to knock it down. It gets past him a little bit so Erik Haula tries to get to it and go up ice but Illo reaches back and quickly tries to dump it back in the zone. Zach Budish has now moved up the boards so he’s there to stop the puck from going deep into the zone and passes to Erik Haula at center ice. Haula, skating across the red line, catches the pass and basically leaves it for Nate Condon who’s coming up the center of the ice. Haula then turns up ice and follows Condon into the zone. Condon gets over the blue line and drops the puck to Haula and drives the net. Haula gets the puck and is looking to take a shot. Sam Windle is playing back on defense so he stops to try to keep Haula from shooting but Haula pulls the puck in to change the angle of the shot and gets it to go through Windle’s legs. Condon driving the net makes defenseman Jake Areshenko go with him clogging the view of Andrew Walsh and the shooting lane and the puck ends up hitting Condon in the right leg deflecting through Walsh’s five-hole and slowly going over the goal line & its GOPHERS 2-3!!!
    • Danny Mattson should probably try to keep the puck deep rather than throw it back towards the blue line in the air. Keep the puck deep! You have a 2-goal lead!
      • Don’t help your opponent break out of their zone by sending the puck back towards your end!
    • The Beaver defense had a pretty big gap giving Erik Haula the time and space to get a shot off.
    • Simply getting the shot off with Nate Condon driving the net turned that play into a goal!
      • Don’t make the game too difficult! Do the little things like driving to the net, shooting the puck and keeping the puck deep!
    • Huge goal late in the 2nd period to get the Gophers within one goal!
      • Late Goals Are Money!!!
  • PENALTY – Matt Prapavessis for Interference on Kyle Rau at 19:44 of the 2nd period – With the Gophers feeling some momentum, they sustain some offense in the Beaver zone and Seth Helgeson dumps the puck to the right corner. Kyle Rau was in front of the net with Matt Prapvessis and he tries to get around him to get to the puck and Prapavessis gets his stick up high and ends up knocking Rau down getting an interference call with only 16 seconds left in the period.
    • Kyle Rau appears to go down pretty easy there but looking at the replay, he was in awkward place with Prapavessis arm and stick up around his head area.
      • I’m not saying he’s innocent, I’m just saying don’t be so quick to judge until you see the whole play.
      • He’s been moving his feet and making things happen in the playoffs.

3rd Period

  • The Gophers have come out with a lot of energy in the 3rd period playing with confidence and a sense of urgency and purpose to tie this game up!
  • Travis Boyd steals a pass from Matt Prapavessis, goes to the net and gets taken down by Prapavessis but no call is made by the “WCHA Officials.”
    • Clear trip as Prapavessis chopped down at Boyd’s stick then hits his skate and Boyd goes down! That is usually called tripping but….this is the playoffs? I don’t know!
  • GOAL! – AJ Michaelson from Erik Haula & Zach Budish at 7:38 of the 3rd period – Nate Schmidt skates the puck into the center of the Beaver zone with Zach Budish on the left boards and Erik Haula on his right. All five Beaver players go to Schmidt so he dumps it into the left corner. Budish gets to the puck just before Graeme McCormack but there’s a battle for it along the back boards. Erik Haula had come in on Schmidt’s right and skated around the net, past Budish & McCormack to the left half-wall. Budish comes out with the puck and passes it to Haula. The pass was in the air and off the boards so Haula has to control the pass and just takes a shot on goal. The puck was on edge so it kind of knuckles on Andrew Walsh and he leaves a juicy rebound that AJ Michaelson picks up, moves to his backhand and puts in the open net. The game is TIED AT 3!!!
    • More puck-watching by the Beavers on defense!
      • Both Phil Brewer and Radoslav Illo are in front of the net just standing there. They both see the shot from Erik Haula and neither of them move to get to a possible rebound until they see it. That’s too late, boys!
        • AJ Michaelson had just come off the bench on a line change for Nate Condon.
        • Brewer turned his head but just kept standing there like Michaelson was another teammates player to cover.
          • Confusion on who Brewer should be covering? He’s a wing, his center was on the left point and Illo isn’t usually on his line.
            • I have to believe that Brewer thinks he’s covering one of the d but he was still just watching the puck.
        • McCormack has to win a battle! Get better position on Budish because he’s a big, strong forward!
          • He had the inside line on the puck, probably could’ve gotten his stick on it before Budish and he had his skate right next to the puck but he focused on Budish, not the puck!
            • Hard to win a battle for the puck if you don’t know where it is!
        • Matt Prapavessis was covering Haula but slowed down to take a whack at Budish when he came out with the puck. That left Haula open and with enough time to control the pass and just get a shot off.
          • If you can’t get to the player you’re defending/covering, at the very least take an angle that will block the shot or get in the shooting lane or get your stick on the shot.
          • or….get back to the front of the net! Clear rebounds! Get a body on someone!
      • More talk on the defense would’ve helped so everyone knows who they have to cover.
      • Andrew Walsh would probably like that one back since he left a juicy rebound.
  • GOAL! – Ben Marshall UNASSISTED at 19:07 of the 3rd period – Nate Condon tries to skate the puck in the left of the Beaver zone and gets by Sam Windle and the puck is cleared to the neutral zone. It’s picked up by Ben Marshall by the Gopher bench and he sees the Beavers making a line change so he sees an opportunity to make a play. He has a step on Corey Ward and the defenseman don’t have enough speed going backwards so he goes in at the center of the blue line going to the right, gets around Jake Areshenko and heads in on Andrew Walsh on his backhand and fires for the five-hole and scores with 58 seconds left in regulation!!! GOPHERS 4-3!!!
    • That’s Ben Marshall being Ben Marshall!!! That is how you GOPHER IT!!!
    • I see Ben Marshall saying to himself, “Are they really changing right now? I’m Ben Marshall!!! THIS IS MY TIME!!!”
    • DONE!!!
    • Bad change? Maybe because it was 3 players at the same time but…
    • As a defenseman, if there’s only one player coming at you on offense and he has no help, you take the body and forget about the puck!
      • Could Jake Areshenko have taken the body on Ben Marshall there and stopped the scoring chance?
        • Bottom line is the odds are better for taking the body than the puck in that situation! Even if he gets only a piece of him, he disrupts the play and with teammates coming that’s all he has to do. His teammates can pick up the loose change!
  • Bemidji State tries to dump it in off a tip to get the puck deep and it goes to Nate Schmidt and he snaps it out of the zone but it goes for an icing! Face-off in the Gopher zone to Adam Wilcox’ left with 1.6 seconds left!
    • Corey Ward tries to slap the face-off at the net but it goes wide and this one is over!

FINAL SCORE
Minnesota Gophers 5, Bemidji State Beavers 1

The Gophers may have escaped this game as well since they were trailing 2-0 halfway through the game! Yes, it’s the playoffs and the Beavers had a good game plan but should they have trouble beating the Beavers? or is that just playoff hockey? Is it better for a team to have to battle to win a couple close games early in the playoffs or to easily win a couple games? or does it matter either way just as long as you get the win? Tell us what you think in the comments!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Marshall’s Late Goal Sends Gophers to WCHA Final Five
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-BSU Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from BSUBeavers.com – Beavers fall, 4-3, to Minnesota to end season

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
* Colorado College won @ Denver 2-1
* Nebraska-Omaha won @ Minnesota State 2-1
* St. Cloud State won vs Alaska-Anchorage 5-1
* Michigan Tech won @ North Dakota 2-1
* Wisconsin won vs Minnesota-Duluth 4-1

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
* Quinnipiac won vs Cornell 10-0
* After losing 3-2 in Game 1, the Bobcats took their anger out on Cornell in Game 2! WOW!

Bring The CLUTTER in the comments, on Google+ on Twitter and on Facebook.

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

Posted in College Hockey, Gopher Hockey, Hockey In Minnesota, News/Transactions, Wild Prospects | Leave a comment

Gopher Hockey Playoff Notes vs Bemidji State Beavers – 3-15-2013

Posted on March 16, 2013 by

The Minnesota Gopher hockey team begins the playoffs tonight for the last time as a member of the WCHA and it ends with something new. The Gophers will matchup with the Bemidji State Beavers in the playoffs for the first time ever. The Gophers have the task of trying to beat a team 4 times in a row and sweeping an opponent in a season. That’s not easy to do especially in the playoffs and when it will be 4 consecutive games against that opponent.

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
Tom Serratore-14 – Travis Boyd-22 – Seth Ambroz-17
Jake Parenteau-6 – AJ Michaelson-15 – Justin Holl-12
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Seth Helgeson-4 – Ben Marshall-10
Mike Reilly-5 – Mark Alt-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, D-Jake Parenteau-6, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21, G-Ryan Coyne-31, F-Sam Warning-11

Line Chart – Bemidji State Beavers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Jordan George-28 – Aaron McLeod-14 – Ben Kinne-9
Brance Orban-7 – Jeff Jubinville-12 – Phil Brewer-29
Radoslav Illo-18 – Cory Ward-13 – Danny Mattson-16
Markus Gerbrandt-23 – Mitch Cain-27 – Brad Robbins-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Jake Areshenko-8 – Brady Wacker-25
Matt Prapavessis-22 – Graeme McCormack-11
Sam Rendle-20 – Sam Windle-15
Goalie
Andrew Walsh-30
Mathieu Dugas-35

Scratches/Injured: G-Reid Mimmack-1, D-James Hansen-3, D-Matt Carlson-5, D-Kyle Brodie-26, F-David Boehm-4, F-Tyler Tosunian-19, F-Matt Hartmann-21

Sam Warning is out of the lineup due to an injury. No word on what happened. That sets off a domino effect of line changes for the Gophers moving Christian Isackson up to the 1st line right wing, Nate Condon to the 2nd line left wing, Tom Serratore to the 3rd line left wing, AJ Michaelson to the 4th line center & Jake Parenteau to the 4th line left wing! WOW!

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

  • The Gophers have come out with a ton of energy shooting the puck from anywhere & everywhere and dominate the first few minutes of the period! That’s not surprising with a home playoff game!
  • PENALTY – Too Many Beavers On The Ice at 3:08 of the 1st period – In the madness of trying to keep up with the Gophers energy, the Beavers accidentally get 6 players on the ice for a good 15 seconds or so and finally get called for too many men!
    • Looking back at the play, two Beaver players come off the ice and three go on! Obvious miscommunication in the frenzy of the moment.
    • Speaking of Too Many Men On the Ice, I was often called for Too Much Man on The Ice in almost every game I played! BOOM!
  • The Gophers don’t get much going on the power play save for a mini-breakaway by Nick Bjugstad that ends in a backhander from the slot.
  • A face-off win back to Mike Reilly and a fanned pass results in a breakaway for Ben Kinne but Adam Wilcox makes the save blocking the five hole attempt.
  • Bemidji State has weathered the storm of the first 5 minutes, killed a penalty and sit comfortably in a scoreless game. Exactly how they want this game to go.
  • Give credit to Justin Holl for this whole season! It can’t be easy to be a defenseman and be told/asked to play forward for the majority of the season and to play as good as he has all season long. That speaks to the type of
    player he is. You have to be a smart player to make a switch like that
    at the division 1 level.
  • I don’t know about you but the Twitter interactive thing with Jenny doesn’t work for me. If you’re watching the game, do you really care what some person on
    Twitter has tweeted about a question they made up before the game?

    • Especially when the question has nothing to do with the game. It’s usually a question about the season or which player this or which player this?
    • You’d think they could do something better with that time.
    • I love Twitter but it is what it is. It’s not meant for interacting with the announcers. They have enough to do.
  • Gophers give up a scoring chance but Zach Budish makes a good play to take a away the shot attempt.
    • Gophers had 4 of their players below the dots guarding 1 Beaver player.

2nd Period

  • Gophers still getting chances but Bemidji is doing a great job clogging up the front of the net and clearing rebounds.
  • Mark Alt gets a chance to shoot and hesitates. SHOOT THE PUCK! Don’t wait!
    • All that does is give the defense and the goalie a chance to set up for the shot or get in front of it to block it.
      • That’s what happened! The shot was deflected by the forward defending Alt.
  • A quick whistle from the official confuses Doug McLeod and he says, “It’s a Goal!”
    • The official pointed to the net or the goalie and then to the face-off dot.
  • Tom Chorske mentions that “it’s too bad that Herb Brooks is not with us anymore.”
    • It does make you wonder if hockey would be different if he were still alive. Herb Brooks had a mind for the game like no other and just knew how to push the right buttons to get players to play the right way.
      • AGAIN!
      • PLAY YOUR GAME!
            • What would Herb Brooks think of the game today?
              • What would he do about the hits to the head?
              • Would there be a Herb Brooks helmet? or a Herb Brooks system on how to check & how to take a check?
              • Would he like the state of hockey as it is?
              • Would he be happy with the growth of hockey in Minnesota and the United States?
              • I could see him being in charge of USA Hockey or at least some part of it! That would’ve been AWESOME!
              • Herbies!
  • GOAL! – Ben Marshall from Kyle Rau at 6:56 of the 2nd period – Kyle Rau gets the puck in his own zone and takes it up the left boards. He has Aaron McLeod alongside him so as soon as he gets to the Beaver blue line, he dumps it past Sam Windle then skates around him and beats him to the puck. Rau turns to go behind the net but makes a pass back up the middle just as he gets near the net. Windle gets his stick on the pass but not enough and the puck slowly goes up the slot where Ben Marshall sees it and takes a one-timer snap shot that goes off the left post and deflects into the right part of the net! GOPHERS 1-0!!!
    • Kyle Rau made that whole play happen with his speed and because he never stopped skating and/or moving his feet!
    • Aaron McLeod did nothing good on that play.
      • He reaches in an attempt to disrupt Rau along the boards.
      • He then coasts as Rau skates hard to the puck.
      • Then he watches
        the puck and doesn’t look for someone to pick up since there’s two
        defenseman that can defend Rau if he goes behind the net or turns back
        to the left corner.
      • Then when the pass goes in front of the net, he ends up screening his goaltender on the play. NOT GOOD!
    • FSN has a great angle from behind the net that shows you everything you need to know about the play.
      • It shows every Bemidji State player watching the puck and not picking up a man!
      • That goal was basically scored by three Gophers while five Beavers watched it happen!
      • One Gopher player changed while it was happening!
        • And lost a +1! Damn!
    • You’re first thought as a back checking forward should be to find the trailer on the play.
    • TALK! Tell your teammates what’s going on, who to cover, where to go!
    • One of the defenseman should be able to tell the forward to pick up the trailer or just yell “FIND SOMEONE!”
    • I think it’s appropriate that the Gopher hockey team scores while Herb Brooks is being talked about!
  • GREAT SAVE! – Adam Wilcox on Jordan George at 14:06 of the 2nd period – After the Gophers have a solid 45 seconds of pressure in the Beaver zone where they get at least 3 good scoring chances, Ben Marshall fakes a shot & tries to go d-to-d but George gets his stick on it deflecting it back to Ben Kinne. Kinne chips the puck up to George for a breakaway and he tries to go five-hole on Adam Wilcox but he makes the save almost sliding into the net but keeping the puck out.

3rd Period

  • GREAT SAVE! – Andrew Walsh on Nick Bjugstad at 6:14 of the 3rd period – After almost having too many Gophers on the ice, Nate Schmidt gets the puck at his own left half-wall and sees Nick Bjugstad breaking through the neutral zone & hits him with a tape-to-tape pass for a breakaway in on Andrew Walsh. He tries to go under his catcher arm/glove but Walsh makes the save.
  • I don’t like these passes across the ice in the offensive zone back to the points. Just asking for a breakaway chance for Bemidji State.
    • Like That!!! Nice back check by Justin Holl breaking up a scoring chance!
  • PENALTY – Radoslav Illo for Hooking on Seth Ambroz at 14:14 of the 3rd period – After Seth Ambroz gets his shot blocked, he takes another whack at it and it bounces towards the net. A clearing attempt fails and the loose puck comes back to Ambroz and as he turns away from Radoslav Illo, he gets his stick lifted and the stick gets under Ambroz’ arm and holds him up getting a hooking call from the official.
  • GOAL! – Brance Orban from Radoslav Illo & Jeff Jubinville at 19:22 of the 3rd period – With the net empty, Sam Rendle dumps the puck down the left wall trying to wrap it around the left corner. Adam Wilcox goes to stop it behind the net but the puck hits a end boards and Ben Marshall is able to chip the puck back to the boards off the glass. Then he skates past the puck and Phil Brewer is able to get body position on the puck. Erik Haula & Jeff Jubinville join the puck battle and Jubinville knocks it loss towards the face-off dot where Radoslav Illo takes a swing at it but has the shot deflected by Nate Condon’s stick. The puck bounces up in the air and fools Seth Helgeson so he misses it and the puck goes through his legs. Brance Orban is there to get to it before Adam Wilcox and he pulls off a beautiful toe drag, moves it to his backhand and shoots it past Wilcox and the game is TIED AT 1!!!

  • At first I thought Seth Helgeson played that badly but he was fooled by the puck bouncing up in the air and it’s hard to blame him for that.
  • A lot of crazy bounces happened on that play! Or should that be dirty?
    • Weird bounce off the end boards!
    • Weird bounce off the glass!
    • Deflection of Radoslav Illo’s shot that makes the puck bounce up in the air!
    • The puck bouncing in the air fools Seth Helgeson getting through his legs.
    • That surprises
      Adam Wilcox and he goes down expecting a shot but Brance Orban knowing
      he has time makes the toe drag move than goes to his backhand for the
      game-tying goal!
  • GREAT presence of mind from Orban knowing he had the time to make that play! WOW!

Overtime

  • What do you do in overtime, folks?
    • YOU SHOOT THE PUCK!!! ANY CHANCE YOU GET!!! SHOOT IT! FROM ANYWHERE & EVERYWHERE!!!
    • The puck wants to go in the net! That’s its home! Is it too good for its HOME!!!?
  • The Gophers are chasing and watching, reacting to what they see instead of what they read! Read the play! Anticipate! Don’t watch!
  • The Beavers get a few good chances and one golden chance to score as Cory Ward was sitting back door but the puck gets past his stick and he barely misses a chance to end the game! WOW!
  • Mark Alt makes a move on the blue line, goes around the defender and takes a shot that’s deflected wide and hits off the glass behind the net and bounces back in front of the net and Seth Ambroz barely misses it! OHHHH!!!
  • After Bemidji State ices the puck, Head Coach Tom Serratore decides to take his timeout to get his players some rest!
  • GOAL! – Kyle Rau from Nate Schmidt & Christian Isackson at 13:18 of Overtime – A face-off to Andrew Walsh’s left is won by Nick Bjugstad back to Nate Schmidt at the right point. He skates down the blue line a couple strides and takes a shot with Kyle Rau in front of the net. Schmidt’s shot is blocked by Jake Areshenko and the puck falls near Kyle Rau’s feet so he tries to shoot but that shot is blocked by Areshenko again. The puck goes right back to Rau’s stick and he shoots again and this time it goes in just to the right of Andrew Walsh and over his leg pad! GOPHERS WIN 2-1!!!

FINAL SCORE
Minnesota Gophers 2, Bemidji State Beavers 1 in Overtime

The Gophers escape Game 1, winning in Overtime off the stick of Kyle Rau! He was tremendous tonight as was Adam Wilcox. Give credit to Bemidji State and Andrew Walsh for playing a great game and giving themselves a chance to win! You can’t ask for much more from your team than that! We’ll see you tomorrow night for Game 2! Same Gopher Time! Same Gopher Channel! Hopefully, Sam Gopher Outcome! That would be 7pm on FSN if you didn’t know!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Rau Gives Gophers Series Lead in 2-1 Overtime Victory
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-BSU Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from BSUBeavers.com – Walsh stops 49; Minnesota takes game 1 in overtime, 2-1

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”

  • Denver won vs Colorado College 5-3
  • Minnesota State won vs Nebraska-Omaha 4-3 in OT
  • St. Cloud State won vs Alaska-Anchorage 6-1
  • North Dakota won vs Michigan Tech 5-3
  • Wisconsin won vs Minnesota-Duluth 3-1

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”

  • Michigan State won @ Miami 3-0
  • Cornell won @ Quinnipiac 3-2
    • The #1 team in the nation lost Game 1 in their 1st round matchup in the ECAC Tournament

The playoffs are underway and we have reached March Madness for College Hockey!!! Grestest time of the year for hockey fans! College hockey playoffs followed by the NHL Playoffs!!! You want some of the ‘PUCK!!!?

Bring The CLUTTER in the comments, on Google+ on Twitter and on Facebook.

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

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