ClutterPuck

The Gopher Hockey team plays its 1st game coming off a defeat this season after losing to the Michigan Tech Huskies last night. Back-to-back games against the same opponent is what makes college hockey fun. Let’s see how they respond. The Huskies know the Gophers are going to come out attacking off the drop of The ‘Puck. I’m sure they’ll be ready for it. Who will win the rematch? The rodents or the dogs?

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Pronunciation: Skjei = Shay
Scratches/Did Not Play: MIN: G-Ryan Coyne-31, G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Michael Shibrowski-1, D-Justin Holl-12, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23, F-Ryan Reilly-9
Injured: MIN: F-Connor Reilly-21

Line Chart – Michigan Tech Huskies

The Don switches up the Gopher Hockey defensive pairings to get a new look for this season but it goes back to some of the pairings they had at the end of last season. Brady Skjei gets a chance up at forward tonight or he’s the extra man for the 4th line and defense.! There were quite a few defensive mistakes so with every player having a new partner, that might make them be more aware of what they’re doing on defense. Michigan Tech has the same line-up as last night.

ClutterPuck Happens….NOW!

1st Period

• PENALTY – Carl Nielson for Slashing at 3:10 of the 1st period –A good body check in the neutral zone by none other than Tom Serratore causes a turnover and a quick transition to offense for the Gophers. Erik Haula picks up the loose puck and passes it to Zach Budish at the right of the zone, then drives the net, gets a step on Carl Nielson and gets a pass back from Budish for a scoring chance and Nielson has to slash him to disrupt his shot so…..TWOOOO MINUTES!!!
  • Drive the net! Use your speed and good things happen!
• PENALTY – Zach Budish for Interference at 4:41 of the 1st period –Zach Budish gets in the way of Riley Sweeney as he tries to get over to a loose puck and he gets called for interference. Sweeney went down pretty easy there but the call probably had to be made.
  • Kevin GORG from FSN Broadcast – “Zach was in good position but, again, you can make a pick if it’s not intentional. Once he reached his arm out here, it’s a no-brainer for the official. Watch the puck go. You can shield but you can’t reach and he reaches right there and that’s NOT a smart penalty. Budish right there did not keep moving his feet. He was in good position to shield that player and buy his teammate some time but if you reach your arm out, now you’re making that call pretty easy for the officials…”
    • You can make a pick if it’s not intentional? If it’s not intentional, it’s not a pick!
    • Why isn’t that a battle for position to get to a loose puck? They are both trying to get a better position to get to a loose puck. Budish won the battle because Sweeney fell down and drew the penalty.
    • If it’s not a power play, that call might not be made. Although, I don’t want to try to get in the mind of an official. Who knows what goes on in there?
• GREAT SAVE – Adam Wilcox blocker save on CJ Eick at 7:40 of the 2nd period – CJ Eick gets a breakaway and tries to go high blocker but Wilcox stones him with a good save.
• PENALTY – Zach Budish for Checking from Behind on Jacob Johnstone at 8:48 of the 1st period –Zach Budish tries to make a body check in the neutral zone and Jacob Johnstone turns his back at the last minute. You can clearly see Zach let up on the hit but he still hits him from behind but he was in no man’s land there. Not much he can do.
  • Note to everybody working at Fox Sports North – can someone do something with Kevin Gorg’s microphone? Just put a kink in the cable or unplug it? Put him in a soundproof booth? Teach him the ways of the mime? SOMETHING! Kevin Gorg: Unplugged would be sweet! That is all!
  • Gorg says nothing about the opponent turning their backs at the last second. He puts it all on Budish and questions where his head is at.
• PENALTY – Malcolm Gould for Checking from Behind at 10:10 of the 1st period –Tom Serratore gets a loose puck at the right point of the Gophers defensive zone and looks to dump it down the ice since they are killing a penalty and he gets hit from behind by Malcolm Gould.
  • You can see Gould let up as he comes in for the check and he actually turned to try to hit him more from the side than from behind.
  • Seeing the players let up on these checking from behind checks shows they are learning to adapt to the rules and that should mean less injuries. That’s a good thing!
  • Again, Kevin Gorg doesn’t mention that Gould lets up on the hit at the last second but applauds the officials for trying to take these checking from behind checks out of the game.
    • The officials are just doing what they are told. They aren’t making the rules, they are just enforcing them. Quit applauding the officials for doing their job and DO YOUR JOB the right way or the write way!
  • This is one of the reasons I’m a fan of Cal Clutterbuck. Cal uses more of his arms when throwing body checks. He usually tries to get the player off balance with the check rather than just put him into the boards. He’ll come in from one side and push the player in an attempt to get them off balance and knock them down instead of just going in with his shoulder and following through with the chicken wing action that brings the arm through the hit making a lot of hits look like an elbow when they really aren’t.
• PENALTY – Milos Gordic for Checking from Behind Interference at 14:29 of the 1st period – Called interference but could’ve been boarding or checking from behind. A dump goes around the left corner behind the net where Ben Marshall plays it back around the corner to Mark Alt, he gets hit from behind that he never saw coming from Milos Gordic.
• Phoenix Copley’s coming up with some great saves on the Penalty Kill!
  • He got some help from the metallurgy on a Nick Bjugstad backhand move (Backhand Shelf!) and he was able to get across to stop a Nick Bjugstad one-timer on the backdoor!
• GOAL – Seth Ambroz from Kyle Rau & Ben Marshall at 17:45 of the 1st period – The Gophers get some momentum from the power play. Travis Boyd takes it into the left of the Husky zone, turns and dangles to give him some time to find Kyle Rau trailing the play for a one-timer that hits Ben Marshall in front of the net rebounding to Mark Alt who takes a shot that goes wide and bounces back to the left half-wall. Alt retrieves it, attempts a pass across that’s blocked, but Alt gets it back and now makes the pass, this time on his backhand, across to Ben Marshall, now at the right point, for the one-timer. Kyle Rau tries to tip it and it rebounds to Seth Ambroz and he moves it to his backhand into the open net. 1-0 GOPHERS!
  • One of the best parts of the play was that once Travis Boyd made the initial break into the zone and the pass to Kyle Rau, he went for a change so it was 4-on-5 for a good 10 seconds!
    • That means there shouldn’t be anyone open in front of the net!

2nd Period

• GOAL – Chad Pietila from Carl Nielsen & Bradley Stebner at 6:18 of the 2nd period – After the Gophers clear their zone, Bradley Stebner retrieves the puck on the right boards and passes it D-to-D to Carl Nielsen just inside the Husky zone. Nielsen passes it to Chad Pietila, who’s breaking to the center of the blue line. Mike Reilly reads the play but only gets a piece of the puck causing the puck to bounce up in the air where Pietila gloves it down to the ice and gets a mini-breakaway in on Adam Wilcox. The puck is bouncing and rolling and Pietila shoots it upper left over Wilcox’ right pad and blocker. TIED at 1!
  • Mike Reilly made the correct read to step up but he didn’t get enough of the puck to stop the play and because he went for the puck, that allowed Chad Pietila the space to get around him and get in alone on the goaltender.
    • Should he take the man instead of the puck there? Not necessarily. He just didn’t get enough of the puck to make the play. In that situation, it looks like it would be easier to get the man instead of the puck. The man is a bigger target than is the puck!
• PENALTY – Tanner Kero for Boarding at 6:29 of the 2nd period – Ben Marshall is on the left boards in the Gopher zone and he makes a move then a pass to Kyle Rau at the boards in the neutral zone and Tanner Kero was going to cover Rau and he threw a body check from behind that was called a boarding penalty. Bad penalty in the neutral zone.
• GOAL – Erik Haula from Mike Reilly at 11:34 of the 2nd period – A breakout out of the Gopher zone has Erik Haula going up the left side with Sam Warning coming up just left of the middle of the ice. Mike Reilly made a pass off the boards is hard to handle for Sam Warning and it goes off the skate of Riley Sweeney but Warning stops and takes the puck from Sweeney knocking it back in the Gopher zone where Mike Reilly picks it up and passes it across the ice to Haula. Haula had turned at the blue line and went all the way to the right side of the blue line and Mike Reilly hit him in stride on the tape giving Haula a chance up the right side of the Husky zone. Haula skated in, then turned towards the center of the ice and shot it through the defenseman over Phoenix Copley’s right pad for a 2-1 Gopher lead!
  • Copley may have been screened a little by his defenseman but probably feels he should make that save the majority of the time.
  • Good low shot by Haula! Harder for the goalie to reach those low shots than the higher shots. Love the shot that’s just above the goalie’s stretched out leg pads!
• PENALTY – Daniel Sova for Interference at 12:38 of the 2nd period – Daniel Sova basically hits Seth Ambroz with the puck not very close to the play. I’m not sure what the defenseman was thinking there.
• GOAL – Ryan Furne from Alex Petan at 19:03 of the 2nd period – A simple dump and chase (or chip and charge) with an aggressive forecheck turns into a scoring chance and a goal that rebounds off of Christian Isackson into the net. Riley Sweeney retrieves the puck in the right of the Husky zone and he sees Jujhar Khaira open for a tip-in to the Gopher zone. Mike Reilly goes back to get the puck near the left corner, feels the pressure from Khaira and quickly tries to clear it off the corner boards. Alex Petan ready the play and got the puck at the left half-wall and took a quick shot on goal where Ryan Furne had already planted himself in front of the net. Furne tips it and it goes off of Adam Wilcox, up in the air and off Christian Isackson’s shoulder into the net. TIED AT 2!
  • Mike Reilly didn’t read that play right but he’s also not facing the play so he has to count on talk from his teammates on where to play the puck. He had two other options on the play. He could’ve wrapped the puck the other way, behind the net and around the right boards or he could’ve carried the puck behind the net and given himself some time to make a better decision.
    • Hard to know what his teammates are telling him in that situation.
  • Seth Helgeson was basically in no man’s land on that play. He didn’t cover anyone and when he went to the player in the corner, that left Furne open in front of the net.
    • If he covers the play in the corner, he needs to take a better angle to take away the shot on goal.
    • or he needs to stay with the guy in front of the net or make sure someone else is going to cover him.
  • Too much puck-watching for the Gophers on that play!
  • Christian Isackson doesn’t have anyone during the whole play.
    • Part of that is because he’s playing for the breakout wrap around the right corner but he doesn’t react quickly enough when the puck is wrapped the other way.

3rd Period

• GOAL – Seth Ambroz from Travis Boyd & Nate Condon at 16:25 of the 3rd period – After Michigan Tech clears their zone, Seth Helgeson retrieves the puck at the right of the Gopher blue line and quickly passes it right back up the boards. The puck appears to hit one of the Huskies (or Nate Condon) as they are changing lines and drops where Nate Condon gets it and is able to turn and avoid the Huskies changing lines, takes it into the left of the Husky zone and makes a pass to Travis Boyd coming up just left of the middle of the zone. Travis Boyd either didn’t expect the pass so quick or just misread it but the puck hits the heel of his stick and keeps going across the ice to an oncoming Seth Ambroz who quickly catches the pass and takes a snap-shot that goes up over the sprawling Daniel Sova and over Phoenix Copley’s glove in the upper right corner! 3-2 GOPHERS!
  • If Seth Helgeson’s pass (or dump?) isn’t right by the Husky bench and they aren’t changing lines, it probably doesn’t play out that way.
  • The Husky players had to avoid playing the puck to avoid getting a too many men on the ice penalty. That allowed Nate Condon to get around the traffic relatively untouched.
  • Another note that I haven’t made yet – The Huskies Home Rink, the MacInnes Student Ice Arena, has the benches on opposite sides of the ice with each team having the easy change during the 1st & 3rd periods.
    • There can’t be many arenas that have this configuration or at least I can’t think of any others.
    • How many games have been affected by this configuration, good or bad?
  • Travis Boyd not catching the pass from Condon played a big part in that goal, whether on purpose or not. He did get a piece of the puck that slowed it down.
    • It made Daniel Sova turn and slide to try to block Ambroz’ shot. I can’t tell but the angle the puck got to Sova seems to be a little different than the angle it went into the net. Did Sova get a piece of it? That would explain why Copley missed it.
• SAVE – Adam Wilcox on Chad Pietila at 17:30 of the 3rd period – Riley Sweeney only has time to dump the puck around the boards take a quick shot to keep it in the Gopher zone. His shot is tipped wide by Erik Haula and goes behind the net to Ben Marshall, is momentarily slapped away by Dennis Rix but Marshall gets it back and tries to make a backhand pass around the right corner to Zach Budish on the half-wall. The pass is intercepted by Dennis Rix and he makes a centering pass. Mark Alt is there but he the puck gets by him and gets to Chad Pietila, who had curled around the net when he saw the change of possession, all alone behind Alt for a point-blank shot that Adam Wilcox saves with his right pad! WOW! Game saver by Adam Wilcox!

The Huskies got some pressure late but once they pulled the goalie, they had a difficult time getting the puck into the Gopher zone. The Gophers hit the post on one try for the empty-net goal but didn’t need it in the end and the Gophers get the win with the 3-2 Final and Don Lucia gets his 600th NCAA victory becoming only the 10th coach to get that many wins and the 9th to do it in Division I College Hockey! CONGRATS TO THE DON!!!

So, Gopher Hockey gets a split on their first road trip of the season and rebound off their first loss to get a tough victory in the 2nd game to end the weekend on a good note.

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Lucia Earns 600th Career Win in 3-2 Victory Over Huskies
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-Michigan Tech Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from MichiganTechHuskies.com – No. 1 Minnesota Edges Tech 3-2, Splits Series
Individual Highlights from Fox Sports North at SnappyTV.com – FSN Highlights

In other WCHA hockey action tonight,
Home = “vs”, Away = “at”
Bemidji State won vs Lake Superior 5-0,
Colorado College lost vs Umass-Lowell 3-1,
Denver won vs Air Force 5-2,
Minnesota State won vs Rensselaer (RPI) in OT 4-3,
St. Cloud State won vs Alabama-Huntsville 4-0,
Nebraska-Omaha lost vs Northern Michigan 2-1,
Alaska-Anchorage won vs Merrimack 6-3 – Alaska Goal Rush Tourney
and
North Dakota lost at Alaska 2-1 – Alaska Goal Rush Tourney

In other College Hockey action tonight,
Boston College won vs Northeastern 3-0,
New Hampshire won vs Boston University 4-1,
Penn State won at RIT 3-2
and
Western Michigan won vs Canisius 2-1

Read about what happened in College Hockey this weekend at UnitedStatesOfHockey.com – College Hockey Round-Up: Early Season Sluggishness, SLU’s Dynamic Duo, Top College FAs

As always….BRING THE CLUTTER! In the comments, on Twitter, on Facebook or on Google+ or email it to your friends!

You’ve been CLUTTERPUCKED!

Gopher Hockey continues tonight with the first road game at Michigan Tech. Michigan Tech is not the slouch they used to be, especially in their house. Head Coach Mel Pearson has this team on the way up with help from Assistant Coaches Damon Whitten and former Minnesota Wild winger Bill Muckalt. The Husky Goalie Coach is former NHL goaltender Steve Shields. They have a husky goalie coach!

There’s some bad blood in this rivalry. The Huskies battle and at times it got pretty physical with some questionable hits and we had assistant coaches up yelling across the benches. The Gophers can’t take this team lightly after breezing through Michigan State last weekend.

Gopher Hockey Head Coach Don Lucia has 599 wins and will make his first try at 600 tonight! I’m sure the players would love to get that tonight for their coach! Is that something that would be mentioned in pre-game talks to give some extra motivation for either team? Any extra bit of motivation is a good thing if you ask me.

 Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Pronunciation: Skjei = Shay
Scratches/Did Not Play: MIN: G-Ryan Coyne-31, G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Adam Wilcox-32, D-Jake Parenteau, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23, F-AJ Michaelson
Injured: MIN: F-Connor Reilly-21

Line Chart – Michigan Tech Huskies

Let’s drop this CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• I’m not a fan of FSN’s “Game Plan”
  • It’s way too generic. It could be the same for every game regardless of who’s playing.
  • There’s no mention of the opponent’s players as for who to watch or what to watch out for. Do they have a great forecheck? Great defense? Are they physical? Do they have speed? How much research are they doing at FSN? Step it up, GORG!!!
• GOAL!!! – Alex Petan from Jujhar Khaira – Sam Warning takes the puck into the Husky zone 1-on-3 and takes a shot but misses the net. The puck wraps around to the right half-wall where Budish let’s the puck go back to the point where Mark Alt tries to play it but Jujhar Khaira tips the puck past him. Now with Alt chasing, Mike Reilly moves over to defend Khaira leaving Alex Petan open. Khaira passes the puck a little too far ahead of Petan but he dives to stop the puck with the blade of the stick, gets up on his knees and he’s still able to shoot it past Shibrowski over his glove into the upper right corner! AMAZING GOAL! 1-0 Huskies!
  • Amazing? Yes…but Zach Budish probably should’ve just put the puck deep instead of letting it go back to the point and Mike Reilly made a rookie mistake by taking the man instead of taking away the pass on a 2-on-1.
  • We don’t know if Mark Alt was telling Budish to let the puck go but instead of letting it go he should’ve helped get the puck back to Alt quicker.
  • Michigan Tech’s Alex Petan Dazzles with a From-the-Knees Goal – The United States of Hockey blog – UnitedStatesOfHockey.com

• • Nate Condon shows his speed splitting two Huskies to get a wide open shot on goal that leaves a juicy rebound but no Gopher could find it! Speed KILLS!
    • A Gopher went in the net but he wasn’t carrying a puck let alone THE puck so…uhh…no goal! No Puckin’ The Net!
  • PENALTY – Seth Helgeson for hooking at 8:10 of the 1st period – On a chip that would fall short of icing, David Johnstone gets ahead of Seth Helgeson but has a bad angle for a shot and Helgeson was just trying to disrupt him and gets called for the hook! TWOOOO MINUTES!
  • PENALTY – Daniel Sova for Hooking at 8:33 of the 1st period –
    • Quote from Kevin Gorg– “might’ve been a little bit of a dive here but ya know what, if that stick feels like it’s on your midsection, you can keep your feet moving and you’re allowed to take that dive and Rau does that and that’s a big play right there.”
      • You’re allowed to take that dive? Really? Gorg seems to support diving to get penalties and I disagree. I hope there’s not any coaches telling their players to dive to try to get a penalty.
        • First of all it could backfire and get you a penalty
        • Second, you might be giving up a scoring chance you might get if you battle through it. You might not get as good a chance on the power play!
        • The stick was between his legs not in his midsection! Can-opener! That could make you dive!
        • Diving is done on Melted Ice…NOT FROZEN WATER!! NO DIVING ALLOWED! Do we have to start putting up signs like they have at local pools?
  • GOAL – Nate Schmidt from Nate Condon & Travis Boyd at 9:15 of the 1st period – A turnover (blocked shot) by Michigan Tech at the Gopher blue line makes for quick transition. Travis Boyd blocked a shot at the right point then gets the puck and sends it off the boards to a waiting Nate Condon, turning backwards to catch the pass and back to forwards to enter the left of the Husky zone. Condon then makes a great move around Steven Seigo to get another wide open shot on goal. Copley makes the save off his left pad but the rebound goes off Condon’s skate to a wide open Nate Schmidt at the right of the net for the quick shot into an open net! TIE GAME at 1-1!
    • Condon’s move was what made the play! It was the old stop and let the player go by you and pick up the puck again letting the puck go in front of the defender while you evade the check by stopping your momentum! Gorg called it a “Dipsy-Doo”, Doug McLeod’s call was “dances”, call it what you want….it was a GAMECHANGER!
      • How ‘bout the “Jump, Jive & Wail”? “Stop, Drop and Roll”? The “Top Gun”? (“I’ll hit the brakes, he’ll fly right by.”) The “Drop Jock/Jock Drop” or “Jock Dropper”? (“He lost his jock on that one!”)
    • There’s a saying that goes, “Separate the man from the puck or the puck from the man! Make a Choice!” Well, Seigo got neither on that play!
  • PENALTY – Brady Skjei for Holding at 14:00 of the 1st period – Brady Skjei gets caught at his own blue line pinching and Alex Petan chipped it by him. Skjei had enough time to turn and skate but when Petan tried to get around him, Brady held him up instead of skating
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Blake Pietella from Ryan Furne and David Johnstone at 14:48 of the 1st period – David Johnstone passes the puck to Ryan Furne from the right corner to the right point. Furne has some time and space so he waits for some teammates to get in front of the net and let’s a snap shot go towards the net. He keeps the shot low and it looks like Blake Pietella gets his stick on it tipping it up into the right corner of the net. 2-1 HUSKIES!
  • GOAL – Dennis Rix from CJ Eick at 15:10 of the 1st period – Almost a carbon copy of the Huskies first goal. Erik Haula takes a shot that gets deflected wide into the right corner and wraps around to Zach Budish on the half-wall. Budish plays it back to Mark Alt but it’s rolling so Alt has trouble controlling it and Dennis Rix tips it by him for a 2-on-1. Mike Reilly again goes too early to defend the man with the puck but this time he gets a piece of the puck with his glove as he slides but he basically just stopped it leaving it to Rix again to pass it to an open CJ Eick in front of the net for a tip in past Shibrowski. 3-1 HUSKIES!
    • Reilly made the mistake again but this time he looked back and thought he had back-checkers that would get to Eick.
    • I’ve never been a big fan of sliding to defend the 2-on-1 because of exactly what happened. Reilly slides by and then he’s out of the play. Get down low laying your stick on the ice, especially with the bad angle Rix had for a pass.
    • This will help Mike Reilly become a better defender in the WCHA! Count on it!
  • PENALTY – Sam Warning for Slashing at 15:10 of the 1st period –Sam Warning made a diving effort to attempt to disrupt CJ Eick on his way to the net. The effort included a slash on Eick’s skate and now, on a delayed penalty, if you score, you also get the ensuing power play.
    • Stupid rule. The whole point of a delayed penalty is to give a team the advantage of getting a chance to score so if they score, why would they get the power play anyways? That doesn’t make sense.

  2nd Period

  • GOAL – Nick Bjugstad from Ben Marshall & Justin Holl at 2:51 of the 2nd period – A good forecheck forces a bad pass and a turnover allowing Ben Marshall to find Nick Bjugstad at the left of the net for a goal. After a good body check by Seth Helgeson, Tom Serratore just sends the puck back in deep where the Tech goalie misses it behind the net allowing it to go around the right corner. Justin Holl gets there for a check as Steven Seigo gets to the puck forcing him to make a pass up the boards that isn’t controlled and gets back to Ben Marshall at the right point. Marshall doesn’t have a shot but he sees sniper Nick Bjugstad by the net. A rolling, bouncing puck is corralled by Bjugstad in time to unleash a wrister that is partially tipped by the D-man and goes up over Copley’s blocker into the left corner! 3-2 HUSKIES!
    • Justin Holl should get an assist even if he didn’t touch the puck because he had the key check that caused the quick pass up the boards that resulted in a turnover to Ben Marshall.
    • Not sure if the ice is bad or the pucks are or both but the puck is rolling and bouncing a lot! ‘PUCK Happens!
  • GOAL – Chad Pietila from Dennis Rix & Riley Sweeney at 6:22 of the 2nd period – A bad pass from Zach Budish to the neutral zone isn’t handled by Erik Haula and goes into the left side of the Husky zone where Riley Sweeney just slaps it off the boards around Haula, and past Sam Warning, to Chad Pietila and Dennis Nix in the neutral zone. Pietila lets Nix take it into the right of the zone. Nix cuts to the center at the blue line letting Pietila go down the right side then he makes a pass that is intercepted by Nate Schmidt but the puck bounces over his stick right to Pietila giving him a wide open shot and he snaps it into the upper right corner over Shibrowski. 4-2 HUSKIES!
    • As soon as Shibrowski went down, Pietila knew where he was going with that shot!
    • Nate Schmidt needs to stay with Pietila in that situation. He moved with the puck which gave Pietila the extra step he needed to be past Schmidt when the puck bounced to him. Brady Skjei was there to defend Nix coming down the center of the zone.
      • Is that a senior reacting differently because his partner is a freshman?
      • Do YOUR job! You can’t cover for someone else by leaning away from who you’re supposed to be defending!
  • GOALIE CHANGE – Adam Wilcox in for Mike Shibrowski at 6:22 of the 2nd period –Don Lucia changing goalies to see if it sparks his team as The Big Shibrowski wasn’t at fault for most of the 4 goals – two 2-on-1s, a tip and a bad angle snipe.
    • No goalie likes to be pulled and I’m sure Shibrowski wants a couple of those back and I’m sure the coaches are letting him know why they are making the change.
    • A goalie does usually have to come up with some big saves in every game and the Gophers have needed some big saves in this one so far.
  • PENALTY – Justin Fillion for Interference at 14:59 of the 3rd period – Fillion took down Ryan Reilly in front of the net and the puck was not close to the play! Easy call? You’d think so but it was called by the ref in the neutral zone and not the ref that was literally 5 feet away from the play!
  • GREAT SAVE! – Adam Wilcox off a tip by CJ Eick of a Justin Fillion slapper from the left point – WOW! The shot is going to Wilcox’ right and is tipped to his left and he reacts in time to snatch it with the glove! GLOVE IT!
  • GOAL – Blake Pietila from Tanner Kero & Bradley Stebner at 18:27 of the 2nd period – What looks like a change of possession in the Gophers favor turns into a turnover at their own blue line. Nick Bjugstad looks like he has a handle on it but the puck rolls off his stick. Bradley Stebner sees the puck loose, grabs it and takes it to the left of the zone. As Bjugstad defends Stebner, he makes a pass to the middle to Tanner Kero on his forehand. Kero makes a behind the back pass to an open Blake Pietila who makes a quick move to his forehand and puts the puck over Wilcox’ stretched out left pad! 5-2 HUSKIES!
    • A turnover turns into panic and Nate Schmidt goes to cover Stebner when Bjugstad has him pretty much covered. That makes Brady Skjei cover Kero, which leaves Pietila open because the back checker couldn’t get there.
    • When two guys cover one guy, that leaves someone open and turns into scoring chances which turn into penalties and/or goals!

  3rd Period

  • PENALTY – Bradley Stebner for Cross-Checking at 17:02 of the 3rd Period – Cross-check behind the goal line right in front of the official!
  • GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Travis Boyd from Christian Isackson & Nate Condon at 17:49 of the 3rd period – A blocked Ben Marshall shot goes into the right corner where Mike Reilly ties up his man allowing Nate Condon to take the puck back to the right half-wall where he reverses and goes back towards the right corner and he makes a backhand pass to Christian Isackson in the right slot. Isackson catches it on his backhand, quickly moves it to his forehand and passes to Travis Boyd at the left side of the net. Boyd corrals the bouncing puck and still has time to shoot it into the open net before Phoenix Copley can get across the crease! 5-3 HUSKIES!
  • Down by 2 goals, the Gophers pull the goalie with 2 minutes to go and get some chances but can’t get closer and we have a 5-3 final in favor of the Michigan Tech Huskies!
    • Did the Gophers get some momentum from the way they finished the game? Was it enough? Does that even matter? New game tomorrow night! Have to move on from tonight’s game, correct the mistakes and compete at a higher level!

  No 600 tonight for The Don! The Gophers struggled defensively in this one, making little mistakes that turned into scoring chances and goals and they couldn’t recover from to make it a game. You could say there were some bad bounces but there’s bad bounces in every game for both teams. The Gophers were out battled by a good Michigan Tech team with a good game plan that they executed well.

  Now we wait for the rematch and see how this gopher hockey team responds to their first loss of the season.

  Gopher Hockey Recap from USCHO – Copley ‘the difference’ as Michigan Tech upsets No. 1 Minnesota
  Recap from MichiganTechHuskies.com – Hockey Huskies Beat No. 1 Minnesota 5-3
  Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Minnesota Falls to Michigan Tech in WCHA Opener
  Box Score from GopherSports.com – Huskies 5, Gophers 3

  Tonight’s other WCHA scores,
  Home = vs, Away = at
  Minnesota-Duluth beats Notre Dame 3-1 (From Thursday),
  Colorado College won at Air Force 6-2,
  Bemidji State lost vs Lake Superior 2-0,
  Denver won vs Umass-Lowell 5-1,
  Minnesota State tied vs Rensselaer (RPI) 3-3,
  Minnesota-Duluth lost at Notre Dame 4-1,
  St. Cloud State won vs Alabama-Huntsville 8-3,
  Nebraska-Omaha won vs Northern Michigan 5-2,
  and
  North Dakota won vs Alaska-Anchorage 5-0 at the Alaska Goal Rush Tourney hosted by the Alaska Nanooks (Alaska won vs Merrimack 3-2 in the other game)

  In other College Hockey action,
  Boston College won at UMass 5-4 in OT,
  Penn State lost at Buffalo State 3-0,
  Michigan won vs Bentley 6-3,
  and
  Western Michigan won vs Canisius 3-0

  As always….BRING THE CLUTTER! In the comments, on Twitter, on Facebook or on Google+

  GET ‘PUCKED!!!

The Gopher hockey team will try to complete a season opening sweep, keep that #1 ranking & keep Gopher hockey in a good place after a few down years. They are looking to redeem themselves after the way their season ended at the 2012 Frozen Four!

Starting Goalies: MSU: Will Yanakeff; MIN: Adam Wilcox

Adam Wilcox gets the first start of his Gopher hockey collegiate career tonight after Michael “The Big” Shibrowski got the start last night. It’s going to be those 2 guys in goal until one of them takes control of the starting spot. The Big Shibrowski wasn’t tested very much last night. Hopefully Wilcox won’t be tested too much. That would be a good sign for Gopher Hockey!

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Pronunciation: Skjei = Shay
Scratches/Did Not Play: MIN: G-Michael Shibrowski, G-Ryan Coyne-31, G-Matt LaPrade-30, D-Jake Parenteau, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23, F-Ryan Reilly-9
Injured: MIN: F-Connor Reilly-21

Basically the same lineup as last night with the only changes coming in goal and on the 4th line where freshman Ryan Reilly takes the center spot over for fellow freshman AJ Michaelson and Justin Holl gets a game at forward and right wing in place of Jake Parenteau. All other lines are the same.

Line Chart – Michigan State Spartans

No changes to the Michigan State lineup. FSN listed the lines in a different order but I’m not sure that means anything other than maybe the coach trying some different match-ups for Game 2!

OK…Drop The CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• An early turnover tests Adam Wilcox but he makes a nice glove save.
• GOAL!!! Erik Haula from Sam Warning? at 1:25 of the 1st Period – A pass into the skates in the neutral turns into a bad turnover for MSU and Erik Haula gets the puck on the right side and takes it in 1-on-1 with Gatt, Haula just takes the shot and follows up the rebound by battling through the MSU defenseman knocking him down so he runs into his own goalie pushing the puck in the net. Controversial goal maybe? 1-0 GOPHERS!
• PENALTY – Anthony Hayes for Hooking at 1:50 of the 1st Period – Gophers come in on a 2-on-1 and force a hook on the backcheck
• Penalty killed off but the Gophers got a lot of chances
• GOAL!!! Nick Bjugstad from Kyle Rau & Christian Isackson at 5:19 of the 1st Period –A battle for the puck off a dump between Tanner Sorenson and Kyle Rau in the Gopher defensive zone is won by Rau (the puck squirted out off an MSU poke check), Christian Isackson picks it up and heads up the ice with Nate Schmidt & Nick Bjugstad. Bjugstad comes up the right side being covered by Forfar but for some reason, Forfar lets him go and the big guy just wheels around the net to get open on the left side of the net (Yanakeff’s right). Isackson coming up the left side with the puck spins back waiting for Rau who was trailing the play coming up the center of the ice. Rau gets the pass, skates in and sees Bjugstad wide open for an easy tip-in to an open net. 2-0 GOPHERS!!!
  • Some puck-watching on defense for the Spartans turns into an easy goal for the Gophers
  • I’m amazed how Bjugstad gets open! He scored 25 goals last season so how does he get open all the time? Why isn’t someone on him constantly in the defensive zone? HOW does he get wide open 3 feet from the net?
• GOAL!!! Tom Serratore from Ryan Reilly and Ben Marshall at 7:19 of the 1st Period –Ben Marshall skates the puck to the left side of the neutral zone with one guy chasing him and one guy coming at him but he’s still allowed to make a cross-ice pass to Ryan Reilly coming up the right side. Reilly gets around Bondra, looks to take a shot but fans on it and the puck slides to the front of the net where Tom Serratore is covered but he battles through it to get his stick on the puck and it slides in the right side of the net! 3-0 GOPHERS!!!
  • Tom Serratore’s last goal was on November 11th, 2011 – 24 games ago!
  • Gotta have a stick blocking the pass through the neutral zone. I’m totally for physical play but you have to be smart. Take the puck if you can or at least take away the pass through the neutral zone.
  • You can’t just cover someone by having a body on him especially if you don’t know where the puck is. You have to make sure you have the stick checked as well.
• PENALTY – R.J. Boyd for Kneeing at 8:42 of the 1st Period – Not a tough call for the official as that was pretty obvious
• PENALTY – Nate Condon for Interference at 11:09 of the 1st Period – This looks like a bad call to me. Chris Forfar trips on Condon’s skate and falls down while Condon is standing there. I’m not sure that’s interference. That might be the official trying to even up the game with a few penalties already called on MSU.
• GOAL – Ben Marshall from Zach Budish & Erik Haula at 19:07 of the 1st Period –A little dump chip into the right side of the offensive zone by Sam Warning and Zach Budish wins the race to the puck, tries to take a shot that is blocked and goes behind the net where Erik Haula gets possession and passes it back to Budish in the left corner of the offensive zone. Budish comes out from the corner off the half-wall and makes a pass to Haula, who makes a little backhand drop pass to Marshall at the right point and Marshall takes what looks like a harmless wrist shot from the point that appears to have been deflected by MSU forward Brent Darnell into the net. 4-0 GOPHERS!
  • It wasn’t deflected but Darnell accidentally screened Yanakeff while trying to cover Warning in front of the net.

2nd Period

• GOAL – Kyle Rau from Christian Isackson and Brady Skjei at :30 of the 2nd Period –A good forecheck and winning battles will turn into good things the majority of the time. Brady Skjei keeps the puck in the zone by dumping it back in from the right side wrapping it around to the back of the net. Christian Isackson gets body position on Jake Chelios to gain the puck and keeps possession, while two MSU players defend him, until he sees an open Kyle Rau in front of the net for a one-time shot through the five-hole!
  • More puck-watching from MSU! What happens when you watch the puck? Players get open and you hang the goalie out to dry so he has no time to react to a quick play.
• PENALTIES – Matt Berry for Roughing – 5 Roughing Minors at 5:12 of the 2nd Period –Matt Berry gets a scoring chance and gets to the net and decides it’s time to rough things up a bit by running the goalie. He lowers his shoulder into Adam Wilcox when he had plenty of time to avoid him. This causes a total of 5 roughing minors (MSU: Matt Berry, Ryan Keller, Matt DeBlouw; MIN: Seth Ambroz, Seth Helgeson) and a Gopher Power Play!
  • Revenge of the Seth anyone? Both Seth Ambroz and Seth Helgeson got in on the action there to protect there goalie! “Two minutes well worth it!!!”
• PENALTY – Nickolas Gatt for Hooking at 7:30 of the 2nd Period – A hook on the penalty kill gives the Gophers 22 seconds of 5-on-3
• PENALTY – Nickolas Gatt for Hooking at 9:52 of the 2nd Period
• GOAL – Nate Condon from Seth Ambroz and Mark Alt at 14:58 of the 2nd Period –Off a tip-in dump from a Mark Alt pass from Seth Ambroz on the right side, Nate Condon uses his speed to get around Jake Chelios, makes a quick move from his backhand to his forehand and rips one past Will Yanakeff to the blocker side! 6-0 GOPHERS!
  • Ahhh….to have speed! SPEED KILLS and Nate Condon has speed and he knows how to use it!

3rd Period

• Jake Hildebrandt in goal for the Spartans to start the 3rd Period –The freshman gets his first college action in mop-up time!
  • “Hey! Get in there and make some saves, huh?” Is there ever a good time to be the back-up ‘tender? Usually you’re coming in because your team is losing big or because of an injury! There’s always being the guy brought in when your team is up big but that might not be the greatest situation either. It could become a rough game and the other team will usually get a little more physical to try and spark their team and get some momentum going.
• GOAL – Brent Darnell from Chris Forfar at 2:05 of the 3rd Period –Darnell got the puck from Forfar in the left corner (to the right of Wilcox) and had time enough to move in towards the goal and shoot between Brady Skjei’s legs and through the five-hole of Adam Wilcox!
  • Would that make it a 10-hole shot? Two 5-holes equals at 10-hole? No? Maybe?
• BIG HIT!!! – Seth Ambroz levels John Draeger in front of his own net at 3:34 of the 3rd Period – BOOM!!! – HEY! Take it easy on Future Wild!!!
  
  • Caught him watching his pass! Good hit! Actually broke Draeger’s stick too!
• PENALTY – Travis Walsh for Charging at 6:55 of the 3rd Period – Walsh taking out some aggression attempting a big hit on Seth Ambroz
  • Gorg doesn’t know why it isn’t checking from behind!…Because he hit him from the side probably.
  • Does it matter? It still would’ve been a minor penalty! It wasn’t close to a major!
• PENALTY – Jake Chelios for Checking From Behind at 12:31 of the 3rd Period – 5-minute MAJOR and Game Misconduct –Just a dangerous hit that they are trying to get out of the game.
  • Luckily, Ryan Reilly was far enough away from the boards that he had time to adjust before he hit the boards
  • Not sure if players are getting instruction on how to avoid making that hit but they need to figure out how to adjust how they hit
• GOAL – Brady Skjei from Nate Schmidt & Justin Holl at 15:42 of the 3rd Period On the POWER PLAY –Just a simple little pass from the left half-wall from Holl to Schmidt at the middle of the blue line and Schmidt just passes it to a waiting Brady Skjei at the right point for a one-time blast that goes upper left to give the Gophers at 7-1 lead!
  • That’s Brady Skjei‘s 1st Collegiate GOAL for Gopher Hockey!!! Hopefully the first of many for him as a Gopher!

Another dominating game by the Gophers tonight! The Spartans didn’t look ready for either game. I can’t imagine starting the season on the road against the #1 ranked team in the nation is an easy assignment for any team. That being said, I’m sure they are quite disappointed with the way they played and will make the necessary changes to improve over the season.

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Gophers Complete Season-Opening Sweep with 7-1 Win
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Box Score
Recap from USCHO.com –Haula, Budish each notch two points as Minnesota crushes Michigan State
Recap from MSUSpartans.com – Gophers Blitz Spartans 7-1 in Series Finale

In other WCHA action tonight,
Colorado College beat Clarkson 5-4 completing a weekend sweep
Michigan Tech beat Lake Superior 8-4
Wisconsin lost to Northern Michigan 4-2
Minnesota State tied Alabama-Huntsville 2-2
Minnesota-Duluth lost to Ohio State 3-2
St. Cloud State lost to New Hampshire 4-2
Nebraska-Omaha lost to Notre Dame 3-2
Alaska-Anchorage tied Air Force 3-3
and
Bemidji State beat the US Under-18 Team 4-3 (Exhibition)

In other College Hockey action,
Penn State got their 1st NCAA Win needing Overtime to beat AIC – Penn State Recap
Boston College lost to Northeastern 3-1

Boston College was ranked #1 in the most recent USCHO poll and the NCAA Division I Rankings. I say “was” because since they lost, Minnesota could move into the #1 ranking alone. Now, rankings don’t really mean anything especially this early in the season but there something to look at and there’s always bragging rights…right?

Until next week….KEEP ‘PUCKIN’!!!

ClutterPUCKED AGAIN!!!

Retweet, Like, Share, Plus, Pin, Comment, Criticize, Poke Check, Body Check, etc… Whatever you do…..BRING THE CLUTTER!!!

Later ‘PUCKERS!!!