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:

• December 7th, 2012 – at Colorado College - Gophers 4, Tigers 2
• December 8th, 2012 – at Colorado Collage - Gophers 4, Tigers 4

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.

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

Gopher Hockey Final Five Recap vs Colorado College Tigers – 3-22-2013 is a post from:

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

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!

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Gopher Hockey Playoff Notes vs Bemidji State Beavers – 3-16-2013 is a post from:

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!
  • Even though Doug McLeod says, “…Don Lucia has now called time out for Minnesota…”, it was actually Bemidji State that took its timeout!
• 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
  • 2012 Minnesota Wild 3rd-round pick John Draeger had the 2nd assist on Michigan State’s 2nd goal
• 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!!!

Gopher Hockey Playoff Notes vs Bemidji State Beavers – 3-15-2013 is a post from:

Gopher Hockey has reached the end of an era! Tonight will be the last regular season game for the Minnesota Gophers as part of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. How will they end the season with another game against the Bemidji State Beavers after the Beavers gave the Gophers everything they could handle last night.

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 – Nate Condon-16
Sam Warning-11 – Erik Haula-19 – Zach Budish-24
AJ Michaelson-15 – Travis Boyd-22 – Seth Ambroz-17
Tom Serratore-14 – Christian Isackson-26 – Justin Holl-12
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Seth Helgeson-4 – Ben Marshall-10
Jake Parenteau-6 – Mark Alt-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, D-Mike Reilly-5, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21, G-Ryan Coyne-31

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 – Tyler Tosunian-19
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Jake Areshenko-8 – Brady Wacker-25
Matt Prapavessis-22 – Graeme McCormack-11
Sam Rendle-20 – Sam Windle-15
Goalie
Mathieu Dugas-35
Andrew Walsh-30

Scratches/Injured: G-Reid Mimmack-1, D-James Hansen-3, D-Matt Carlson-5, D-Kyle Brodie-26, F-David Boehm-4, F-Brad Robbins-17, F-Matt Hartmann-21

Only one change for team as Jake Parenteau comes in for Mike Reilly on defense for the Gophers and Tyler Tosunian replaces Brad Robbins as the 4th line right wing for the Beavers.

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

* I like those Bemidji State jerseys! The alternates always go over big with the fan base! A nice shield on the front like the New York Rangers have with a beige/off-white primary color with white, green, white stripe on the bottom and on the sleeves.
* The Gophers need to come out fast and keep the Beavers from believing they can stay in the game.
* GOAL! – Erik Haula from Kyle Rau & Ben Marshall at 4:03 of the 1st period - A Zach Budish shot/dump goes wide left around the left corner from the right point to the left half-wall where Seth Helgeson dumps it back into the left corner. Sam Warning peels off for a change while Erik Haula keeps possession of the puck as he skates around the left corner to the left half-wall and passes it down to Zach Budish along the boards in the left corner. Budish sees Kyle Rau coming into the zone off a line change and passes it to him at the top of the left face-off circle for a wide open shot that hits hard off the inside of the left goal post and rebounds to the right below the right face-off dot. Ben Marshall had moved in from the right point to be an option on offense so he quickly gets to the puck for a quick shot on goal that Mathieu Dugas saves off his left shoulder. The puck goes behind the goal line to Kyle Rau and he sees Erik Haula open in the slot for a one-time shot that goes low left past the outstretched pad of Dugas! GOPHERS 1-0!!!
* Mathieu Dugas didn’t have much chance on that and he almost made the save.
* The Beavers were watching and reacting instead of reading and reacting.
* Read the play! Don’t watch it!
* You will not be able to react quick enough to what happens. You have to read the play and anticipate where the puck will go.
* When Haula & Budish had the puck on the left boards, there were 4 Bemidji State players at the wall within like 20 feet of each other. 4 players covering 3 players! That can’t happen on defense!
* GREAT SAVE! – Adam Wilcox on Radoslav Illo at 11:40 of the 1st period - Kyle Rau gets stripped of the puck as he tries to go around Radoslav Illo at the red line. A nifty poke check creates a loose puck that Ben Marshall comes up to get at the blue line but Illo pokes it past him as well and he gets a breakaway coming in the left of the zone. He shoots low glove side just above the leg pad of Adam Wilcox but he still stops it with his glove than freezes it quickly to keep the game 1-0!
* Ben Marshall thinks he’s going to get to the puck quicker than Illo but he probably should be taking the body there.
* Illo had nobody else with him so take the body and one of your teammates will get the puck.
* GOAL! – Nick Bjugstad from Christian Isackson & Kyle Rau at 14:42 of the 1st period - Aaron McLeod dumps the puck around the right boards and Adam Wilcox goes behind the net to stop the puck for his defense. A miscommunication between Wilcox and Nate Schmidt creates a loose puck and Jordan George sees an opportunity but Brady Skjei quickly picks up the loose puck and throws it around the corner to Nick Bjugstad. Aaron McLeod goes in to make a play on the puck on Bjugstad at the boards but Bjugstad passes it to Kyle Rau breaking out through the middle of the Gopher zone. Rau almost runs into Christian Isackson, loses control of the puck. Jake Areshenko tries to poke check the puck away and takes Rau out of the play but the puck gets past him leaving a 2-on-1 with Isackson coming up the right side with Bjugstad on his left coming in on Brady Wacker. Wacker tries to take away the pass but Christian gets the puck over his stick to Bjugstad. Bjugstad sets up for a one-timer but has to catch the pass and then shoot it upper left over Mathieu Dugas glove. GOPHERS 2-0!!!
* If Aaron McLeod takes the body on Bjugstad, a 3-on-2 doesn’t happen.
* If Jake Areshenko doesn’t take the body on Kyle Rau, a 2-on-1 doesn’t happen.
* You have to know when to take the body!
* Brady Wacker tried to take the shot and the pass away from Christian Isackson but he took the shot away more by forcing a bad angle.
* I think you’d rather Christian Isackson shoot then Nick Bjugstad but maybe that’s just me!
* The back checkers stop skating and watch as Bjugstad takes the shot! Why?
* If you want to watch the game, you can sit in the stands!
* That’s Nick Bjugstad’s 20th goal of the season!

2nd Period
* GOAL! – Matt Prapavessi from Jordan George & Matt Carlson/Ben Kinne at 1:55 of the 2nd period - A breakaway by Nick Bjugstad is saved by Mathieu Dugas and turns into a 3-on-3 after Matt Carlson & Ben Kinne get the puck away from Bjugstad on the left boards (the goalie’s right). Jordan George comes up the right side, Ben Kinne drives the middle & Aaron McLeod in on the left. Matt Prapavessis is trailing the play and receives a pass from Jordan George for a one-timer that he blasts past Adam Wilcox. BEAVERS 1-2!!!
* Adam Wilcox was screened on the play by Aaron McLeod and Seth Ambroz.
* Not much the defense or the goalie can do about that.
* Forwards need to back check and pick up the trailer on the play!
* PENALTY – Tom Serratore for High-Sticking on Brady Wacker at 6:37 of the 2nd period - Tom Serratore on the forecheck reacts to gets poke checked by Brady Wacker and tries to clear the stick but swings a little high and hits Wacker in the head! TWOOOOO MINUTES!!!
* His name is Wacker so….
* Sam Windle has a twin brother who plays baseball for the Minnesota Gophers. Tom Windle threw a 9-inning no-hitter last night. It was the first 9-inning no-hitter in Minnesota Gopher history!
* GOAL! – Zach Budish from Erik Haula & Jake Parenteau at 14:26 of the 2nd period - A face-off to Mathieu Dugas’ right is won by Erik Haula back to Jake Parenteau at the left point. Parenteau skates walks the blue line a little before he goes D-to-D to the Mark Alt. Alt has trouble controlling the pass but he quickly corrals the puck and passes it back to Parenteau. Parenteau moves to his left to get some space and shoots a high shot that hits Dugas high in the chest and drops down to the ice. Sam Rendle attempts to clear the puck but it hits Erik Haula and comes down in his feet. He’s able to get it to his stick so he moves it to his backhand going towards the right corner (Dugas’ left) and takes a shot on the net. The puck goes off Mathieu Dugas’ right pad and rebounds behind Budish but he’s able to get to it quickly on his backhand and put it in the open net. GOPHERS 3-1!!!
* Great job by Jake Parenteau to get the puck on net and great job by Zach Budish, Erik Haula and Sam Warning by creating havoc in front of the net.
* That cause Mathieu Dugas to not see the puck as well as he would’ve liked so he wasn’t able to catch Parenteau’s shot giving up a juicy rebound in front of the net.
* Unfortunately for Sam Rendle, he misses on his attempt to clear the rebound.
* Maybe not the best way to clear it by just trying to take a wicked swing at the puck though.
* First, he didn’t know where anyone was and he tried the turnaround swing at the puck so he only gets a piece of it and it hits Haula.
* A turnaround swing is an element of panic. Slow down and try to make the right play.
* He had a little more time than he thought and a teammate near him so they should’ve been able to control the puck and get it out of the zone.
* Gotta know where everyone is!
* You have to make sure you defend the man and more importantly, make sure you defend his stick so he can’t get to the puck with it.
* This can be tricky because you can get a penalty for holding or interference if you’re not paying attention (or at least facing) to the play and the location of the puck.
* PENALTIES – Seth Helgeson for Interference on Aaron McLeod & Ben Kinne for Tripping on Justin Holl at 16:01 of the 2nd period - Seth Helgeson gets a little too rough trying to keep Aaron McLeod from getting to the front of the net and knocks him down. Then as the puck is going to be touched (and the play whistled down) by Justin Holl, Ben Kinne goes for the poke check and ends up hitting Holl’s skate, tripping him and evening up the call! 4-on-4 hockey!!!
* Very rare to see two penalties called on the same play, especially involving 4 different players. That was a crazy play!

3rd Period
* A misguided pass from Christian Isackson from the corner of his own zone right in front of his own net quickly turns into a scoring chance for the Beavers but Adam Wilcox makes the save and keeps the game at 3-1!
* GOAL! – Jake Parenteau from Erik Haula & Sam Warning at 14:03 of the 3rd period – Jake Parenteau is comes out to the right of his own net (to Wilcox’ right) and makes a backhand pass back against the boards behind the net to Mark Alt but Alt either wasn’t ready for it or had yet to get in position for it and it was a bad pass. So Alt doesn’t get to it right away and the loose puck goes around the left corner to the half-wall. Alt tries to push it along the boards and falls down. Radoslav Illo comes into the play trying to play the puck towards the net but instead the puck hits Erik Haula and he tries to quickly play it up to Sam Warning up the left boards but it hits another Beaver player and bounces towards the center of the blue line. Zach Budish gets to the puck and passes it to Sam Warning who is now heading up the left boards and with his speed he gets alongside Sam Rendle and tries to make a pass to Erik Haula who’s driving the net. The pass hits Rendle in the skates and goes back towards the boards and Warning had turned to avoid the hit by Rendle and gets the puck on his backhand and tries to make the pass to the front of the net. Haula had seen the puck hit Rendle’s skates so he took a sharp left turn towards the boards and still catches the pass from Warning. Now Haula is skating back towards the left point and he sees Jake Parenteau at the right point so he hits him with a backhand sauce pass. Parenteau has the time and space to take the puck to just outside the face-off dot and, with Zach Budish planted in front of the net screening Mathieu Dugas, has the chance to pick a spot where to shoot the puck. He choose the upper right corner and hits it, popping the water bottle up off the top of the net and its GOPHERS 4-1!!!
* Loose pucks are what you want when you’re on the forecheck but the Beavers just aren’t getting the bounces tonight!
* The puck hits Haula, then Haula’s pass hits a Cory Ward and bounces to where two Gopher players are basically waiting for the puck.
* That being said, you still have to play good transition hockey and that all starts with picking up a man when you are back checking.
*  * So many goals happen off of bad coverage off a turnover and the team that lost the puck panics and doesn’t find a man and just end up watching the puck while the offense roams free getting open for a play.
*  * That’s a lot for a goalie to deal with! HELP HIM OUT!!!
* All five Beaver players are watching the puck while Jake Parenteau gets open and is able to skate in and take a shot.
* Nobody picks up Budish so he can plant himself in front of Mathieu Dugas keeping him from seeing the puck and the shot. Extremely difficult to make a save when you can’t see the shot!
*  * Move Budish out of your goalies line of sight! Move him towards the corners of the net so he blocks that shot from hitting the near corners!
* When Haula turns back towards the blue line, there’s four Beaver players on the right side of the Beaver zone and there’s only Haula and Warning there so two Gopher players have the puck with four Beaver players defending them or at least in the area since they weren’t really doing a lot of defending.
*  * That’s a dream for any offense! “Hey, leave our guys open, will ya? Thanks!”
* Your defenseman made the offense turn back to the blue line and they still got a scoring chance and a goal out of it because nobody picked up the trailer on the play.
* * Get your head on a swivel! Find a player and cover them!
* That’s infuriating! WOW!
* GOAL! – Christian Isackson from Nick Bjugstad & Mark Alt at 19:59 of the 3rd period - Mark Alt plays the puck off the left boards from behind his own goal line to Christian Isackson (or near him) at the left boards just inside the blue line. Isackson is facing his own zone so he just tries to play it to the boards and maybe get it out of the zone. Alt kept skating, picks up the loose puck and sees Nick Bjugstad at the center of the neutral zone (or hears him as he slapped his stick on the ice (Beaver Tail?)) and gets him the puck. Bjugstad has the speed to get past Matt Carlson but Carlson gets enough of the puck to make it roll up on edge and mess up Bjugstad a little bit. He tried to go backhand but Mathieu Dugas was there to make the save. Dugas slid out to the right of the crease to make the save but he doesn’t know where the puck is so it trickles out of his equipment right to Bjugstad, who turned after he went past the net. He quickly threw the puck in front of the net. Dugas got a piece of the centering pass and slowed it down so the puck is just laying in the slot. Isackson was trailing the play and he picks up the puck moving to the right, waits to get clear of Jeff Jubinville, who’s trying to block the net, and shoots the puck into the empty as time expires! GOPHERS 5-1!!!
* WOW! What a crazy way to finish the game!
* More of the same for the Beavers in transition!
* Three guys watching the puck so when it comes through Dugas’ pads on the centering pass and they miss it, they turn not knowing where to be to stop the goal!
* Christian Isackson will now be the answer to the question, “Who scored the last regular season goal for the Gophers when they were in the WCHA?”
* You can add, “What was special or strange about the goal?” and talk about the time the goal was scored – 19:59 of the 3rd period!
* How many people told Christian not to wait to the last second to score a goal?
* That’s it! This Gopher hockey regular season is over! On to the Playoffs!!!

FINAL SCORE
Minnesota Gophers 5, Bemidji State Beavers 1
That’s a little more of what you expect from a top-rated Gopher hockey team taking on a struggling Beaver hockey team. It took the Gophers a while to take the game over but they eventually did take over the game and head into the playoffs with some momentum and hopefully realize they can’t take any team lightly from here on out playing their game and taking it to their opponents! We’ll see you next weekend at the Same Gopher Time, Same Gopher Channel! That’s FSN at 7pm on Friday night if you didn’t know! Bring the Clutter!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Gophers Earn Share of MacNaughton Cup with 5-1 Win
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com – Minnesota-BSU Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from .com – BSUBeavers.com – Minnesota outlasts Bemidji State in 2012-13 season finale

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight and Sunday,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Minnesota State won vs North Dakota 2-1 in OT,
Colorado College won @ Michigan Tech 4-3,
Minnesota-Duluth won vs Nebraska-Omaha 6-0
Wisconsin won vs St. Cloud State 3-2
and
Denver won vs Alaska-Anchorage 6-1

With St. Cloud State losing and the Gophers winning, that means there’s a tie for the MacNaughton Cup! CONGRATS to the Huskies & the Gophers on great seasons! St. Cloud does have the tiebreakers to have the #1 seed in the playoffs though.

Here’s the WCHA playoff match ups for next weekend:

#1 St. Cloud State vs #12 Alaska-Anchorage
#2 Minnesota vs #11 Bemidji State
#3 North Dakota vs #10 Michigan Tech
#4 Wisconsin vs #9 Minnesota-Duluth
#5 Denver vs #8 Colorado College
#6 Minnesota-State vs #7 Nebraska-Omaha

Note: Teams are reseeded after the first round.

Good luck to all the teams in the playoffs!

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

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

Gopher Hockey Notes at Bemidji State Beavers – 3-9-2013 is a post from:

Gopher hockey enters the last weekend of the regular season with a chance to win the McNaughton Cup and finish the season on top of their last season in the WCHA Conference. Bemidji State has had a rough season with only 6 victories (5 in the WCHA.) Going into overtime in 11 games, losing 3 and tying 8, its probably safe to say they are sick of free hockey! With only 67 goals scored (49 in WCHA play) through 32 games and their top scorer only having 21 points, obviously they are having trouble on offense. They can’t change the past so I’m sure they will come out tonight with a ton of energy and try to play spoiler!

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 - Christian Isackson-26
F-Sam Warning-11 - Erik Haula-19 – Zach Budish-24
Nate Condon-16 - Travis Boyd-22 – Seth Ambroz-17
Tom Serratore-14 - 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
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

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

Christian Isackson on the top line again! That moves Nate Condon to wing on the 3rd line and AJ Michaelson back to center on the 4th line.

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• Gophers vs Beavers! Maybe they should use a wooden puck for this game!!!
• Holy Crap! FSN actually put up the line charts for both teams before the opening face-off!
• The Battle of Serratore – Part II – Uncle Tom vs Gopher Tom!!! This time…IT’S PERSONAL!!!
• Bemidji State with a lot of jump to start the game! Not surprising playing the #2 team in the nation and an in-state rival AND in front of their fans!
• • They’re going to need to keep that energy going all game long to get the W!
• GOAL! Ben Marshall from Nate Condon & Seth Helgeson at 5:08 of the 1st period - Ben Marshall pinches on a loose puck at the right half-wall taking a shot that gets deflected into and around the left corner. Seth Helgeson gets to it first and dumps it back around the left corner to Nate Condon who skates to the left half-wall and makes a backhand pass to Ben Marshall at the top of the left face-off dot and he quickly catches and shoots a low shot that appears to hit Andrew Walsh’s goalie stick and gets through the five-hole and its GOPHERS 1-0!!!
• • Forward Markus Gerbrandt & Defenseman Brady Wacker were alone in front of the net while the players they should be covering were able to get free.
  • • Wacker’s man is probably Nate Condon and Gerbrandt is covering Ben Marshall but Gerbrandt is way too low to make a play on Marshall  especially if Wacker is already in front of the net.
    • You have to read the play! Reacting to what you see if usually too late!
  • I’m sure the mobility and offensive skill of the Gopher defense was covered in the Bemidji State game plan but it wasn’t there on that play.
• GOAL! – Matt Prapavessis from Ben Kinne & Jake Areshenko at 9:22 of the 1st period - A soft pass by Mark Alt from behind the net forces Mike Reilly to wait for the puck in the right corner with his back turned to the play and allows the forecheck to create a turnover below the goal line. Reilly’s pass attempt is deflected back towards the net and he has to haul down Jordan George (Delayed Penalty). Ben Kinne gets the loose puck in the left corner, turns toward the left boards and wraps the puck back around the left corner to George. He skates towards the left corner and passes to Kinne, who has cut to the net, then makes a pass back to Jake Areshenko for a slap shot that hits Mike Reilly in the leg and bounces to Matt Prapavessis for a backhand shot into the net! Adam Wilcox never had a chance to save that and we are TIED AT 1!!!
• • Sometimes you need the Prapavessis to score a goal!
  • • Proper Vessis! What is the proper vessis? Maybe that’s why its been so hard for the Beavers to score goals this season!
• PENALTY! – Mike Reilly for Hooking on Jordan George at 9:22 of the 1st period - Gotta love the rule where a team still gets a power play on a delayed penalty! Doesn’t that seem to defeat the purpose of a delayed penalty! You gain the advantage on a delayed penalty by being able to get the “extra guy” on the ice and the whistle being blown if the opponent touches the puck.
• • I’d love to hear the explanation of this rule now and when it was being discussed about becoming a rule.
• PENALTY! – Sam Rendle for Tripping on Travis Boyd at 12:16 of the 1st period - Sam Rendle is defending Travis Boyd in the right corner and gets his stick between Boyd’s legs tripping him up and getting a reservation for a 2-minute stay in the Sin Bin!
• • “Welcome to the Sin Bin! Is there anything you’d like to confess? What are you GUILTY OF?”
  • Be careful where you put your stick! Between the legs is not a good place for it! Careful with those phrase, boys and girls!
• WTF Thought! – FSN shows across the top of the screen that they are showing the Minnesota Twins Spring Training game on their sister station FSN+!
• • I’m always amazed when a program I’m watching will tell me about another program on another channel. What kind of sense does that make?
  • • “Hey, thanks for coming! If you didn’t know, you could go here and you might have more fun! Just saying’!”
  • I realize they are promoting their baseball coverage but why would you want a viewer to go to a different channel if they are watching the one YOU ARE BROADCASTING ALREADY?
  • • That’s like going out on a date and having your date point out other people to you.
    • • “Hey, did you see her? She’s good-looking!”
• PENALTY! Danny Mattson for Hooking on Travis Boyd at 20:00 of the 1st period - At the end of the period, the Gophers softly dump the puck around the left corner and goalie Andrew Walsh goes behind his net to get it and sends it around the right corner. Seth Ambroz gets to it and takes a quick shot trying to score on the open net. Walsh gets back to make the save and the rebound goes out of the zone. Travis Boyd was going to the net as Ambroz shot the puck and he was hooked by Danny Mattson so the official punched his ticket to the Bin of Sin! There will be a Gopher power play to start the 2nd period!

2nd Period

• Always nice to start a period on the power play as you get the fresh ice to work with!
• PENALTY – Aaron McLeod for High-Sticking on Erik Haula at 0:28 of the 2nd period - Jake Areshenko attempts to clear the zone around the right boards from the left corner and the puck is deflected up and towards the right half-wall. Erik Haula is coming in from the point to get it and Aaron McLeod, trying to play the puck with his stick, ends up hitting Haula instead.
• • 5-on-3 for a minute and 32 seconds!
• GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Nick Bjugstad from Erik Haula & Christian Isackson at 2:21 of the 2nd period - With not much working on the 5-on-3 except the penalty kill, Christian Isackson, at the right half-wall, passes the puck to Erik Haula at the right point. Haula skates to the middle of the blue line and passes it to Nick Bjugstad at the left face-off dot. Bjugstad catches the pass, takes a stride towards the middle and shoots all in one motion and beats Andrew Walsh with a shot that goes upper right! GOPHERS 2-1!!!
• • I’m not sure Nick Bjugstad even looked before he shot the puck he shot it so quick.
  • • He had a defender in front of him that might’ve hindered Andrew Walsh from seeing the shot.
• Bemidji State is doing a great job of keeping this game close giving them a chance to steal a victory!
• Nate Schmidt just made great play in his defensive zone by looking for a player to cover instead of watching the puck.
• • He quickly took a look and went to cover the man while staying aware of where the puck was. Scouts will notice that!
• GREAT SAVE! – Andrew Walsh on Nick Bjugstad at 15:51 of the 2nd period - Mike Reilly brings the puck up on a 2-on-2 with Kyle Rau to his left and as he gets across the blue line, he sees Nick Bjugstad joining the rush on the left side and makes a pass to him that Bjugstad one-times and Andrew Walsh saves it with his blocker!
• • That shot was low but high enough to get over the goalie’s leg pad so Walsh had the presence of mind to get his blocker in the right spot to make the save keeping the game at a 1-goal deficit!
• GOAL! Cory Ward from Brady Wacker & Danny Mattson at 18:17 of the 2nd period - A low slap shot from Brady Wacker is saved by Adam Wilcox but he has to stretch out his right leg to make the save leaving a rebound available for Cory Ward. Ben Marshall is trying to keep Ward from getting to the puck by hooking him but he’s able to battle through it and get the puck to go in the net. TIED AT 2!!!
• • It ends up going off his shin pad so the goal is under review to see if the puck was kicked in.
• Nate Schmidt takes a slap shot from Radislav Illo right to the midsection and he goes down right away! He gets up but he’s in some pain! WOW!
• • Justin Holl gets a shift on D because of Marshall being in the Bin of Sin and Schmidt being in pain!
• PENALTY – Ben Marshall for Hooking on at 18:17 of the 2nd period - 
• • Twice in one game a team gets a penalty at the same time as a goal is scored! Hard to believe that’s happened before.
  • So if they score on the delayed penalty and the penalty was taken on the player who scored the goal, should that be a penalty? NO! DUMB!

3rd Period

• GOAL! – Cory Ward from Radoslav Illo at 2:30 of the 3rd period - A 3-on-2 develops with Radoslav Illo coming up the left side with Cory Ward in the middle and ? on the right. Zach Budish had Ward covered in the neutral zone but lets him go for some reason. Nate Schmidt played Illo and Brady Skjei was playing the player on the right so he was late getting to Ward when he got the puck allowing Ward a pretty clear shot on Adam Wilcox and he beat him just over his glove going upper right and its BEAVERS 3-2!!!
• • Brady Skjei played that pretty good because Zach Budish should’ve kept back checking instead of letting Ward go.
  • • Make it a 3-on-3 instead of a 3-on-2!
• GREAT SAVE! – Adam Wilcox on Jordan George at 4:30 of the 3rd period - After  a Kyle Rau dump on goal, Andrew Walsh throws the puck behind his net to Matt Prapavessis and he makes a pass to the far blue line to a breaking Jordan George for a breakaway. He makes a couple moves and finally goes to his backhand but Adam Wilcox gives him nothing to shoot at and makes the save and keeps the deficit at one goal!
• GOAL! – Justin Holl from AJ Michaelson at 7:27 of the 3rd period - A Brady Skjei dump in around the left corner lets AJ Michaelson get on his horse on the forecheck. He gets to the defenseman, lifts his stick, takes the puck around the right corner and sees Justin Holl coming down the center of the zone. The right-handed shooting Holl gets the pass on his forehand but its somewhat behind him so he has to turn to skate backwards and ends up just turning around and shooting it from his backhand and puts it through the five-hole of Andrew Walsh so the game is TIED AT 3!!!
• • Michaelson made the pass where he had to but Justin Holl getting the pass and kind of turning/spinning to receive it and get the shot made the play!
  • I see so many players turning from their backhand to their forehands to shoot but you don’t see many players turn from their forehand to their backhand.
  • • That probably surprised Andrew Walsh a little bit.
    • UNLEASH THE BACKHAND!!!
• Travis Boyd falls or is taken down in the right corner and you over hear someone in the crowd say, “He Tackled Him!”
• An Icing is called and Kyle Rau clearly would’ve gotten to the puck first! Silly Linesman! You’ll never get your Orange Bars!
• PENALTY – Sam Rendle for Tripping on at 14:23 of the 3rd period - Sam Warning is heading into the right side of the Beaver Zone with speed and Sam Rendle takes a couple whacks at him. One of the whack attempts hits the right toe of Warning’s skate and he goes down!
• • Big opportunity for the Gopher Power Play here!
• GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Nick Bjugstad from Nate Schmidt & Kyle Rau at 14:54 of the 3rd period - Nick Bjugstad, Nate Schmidt and Erik Haula pass between each other and move around with Schmidt at the middle of the point, Haula at the right circle and Bjugstad at the left circle. Haula and Schmidt switch and Haula sends a pass to Schmidt for a one-timer from the right circle that is saved and rebounds to the back wall. Kyle Rau is there and quickly passes it to Schmidt and he passes across the zone to Bjugstad at the left face-off dot. Bjugstad catches the pass, corrals the puck and takes a slap shot that goes upper right over the glove of Andrew Walsh. GOPHERS 4-3!!!
• • Nick Bjugstad went with a half backswing on the slapper to get the shot off quicker! The kid can just bring it with every shot!
  • • It helps that his uncle played in the NHL and has a shooting school I’m sure!
    • Another 2-goal game for Nick Bjugstad!

FINAL SCORE
Minnesota Gophers 4, Bemidji State Beavers 3

The Gopher hockey team battled through another tough fight from an in-state opponent to get the W! They need to be ready for another battle tomorrow night as they play their last regular season game in the WCHA! That game will air on FSN+ at 7pm! We’ll see you then!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com - Minnesota Clinches Home Ice with 4-3 Win Over Bemidji State
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com - Minnesota-BSU Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from .com - BSUBeavers.com - Bjugstad scores twice on the power play to lift Minnesota over BSU, 4-3

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Denver won vs Alaska-Anchorage 7-1,
North Dakota won @ Minnesota State 4-3,
Michigan Tech won vs Colorado College 2-0,
Minnesota-Duluth won vs Nebraska-Omaha 5-4
and
St. Cloud State won @ Wisconsin 4-2

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Michigan State won @ Alaska 2-1 - 2012 Minnesota Wild round 3rd-round pick John Draeger had the 2nd assist on Michigan State’s 1st goal – He now has 1 goal & 8 assists in 37 games played as a freshman for the Spartans

Gopher Hockey Notes at Bemidji State Beavers – 3-8-2013 is a post from:

The Minnesota Gopher hockey team has another big weekend of hockey ahead of them. It seems like in the last month or two, it’s been another weekend, another big rivalry for the Minnesota Gophers. This weekend they get the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs!

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 - Zach Budish-24
F-Sam Warning-11 - Erik Haula-19 - Nate Condon-16
AJ Michaelson-15 - Christian Isackson-26 - Justin Holl-12
Tom Serratore-14 - Travis Boyd-22 -
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Seth Helgeson-4 - Ben Marshall-10
Mike Reilly-5 - Mark Alt-20
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Jake Parenteau-6
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Ryan Coyne-31, D-Blake Thompson-3, F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-Christian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21, F-Seth Ambroz

Line Chart – UMD Bulldogs

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Mike Seidel-17 – Caleb Herbert-21 – Justin Crandall-25
Austin Farley-11 – Tony Cameranesi-13 – Joe Baseraba-18
Cody Danberg-20 – Jake Hendrickson-15 – Keegan Flaherty-14
Dan DeLisle-10 – Cal Decowski-27 – Adam Krause-26
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Drew Olson-8 – Andy Welinski-7
Tim Smith-16 – Chris Casto-5
Derik Johnson-6 – Wade Bergman-28
Goalie
Matt McNeeley-36
Alex Fons-30

Scratches/Injured: G-Aaron Crandall-31, D-Willie Corrin-4, D-Luke McManus-22, F-Max Tardy-19, F-Austyn Young-23, F-Charlie Sampair-24

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• I met UMD starting goalie Matt McNeeley at a hockey camp I worked at a couple summers ago. He stopped by to get some work in with the coaches there and then all the kids wanted him to sign anything and everything they could get signed!
• • They were having him sign their sticks, skates, shoes, golf balls, baseball gloves, etc…
  • I kept telling him sorry but he didn’t mind & I would think it left him with a pretty good story to tell too.
• GOAL – Nate Condon from Ben Marshall & Sam Warning at 4:04 of the 1st period - a good UMD scoring chance is saved by Adam Wilcox off his left pad and the rebound comes out right in front of the net. Jake Parenteau & Erik Haula have their guys covered so Sam Warning gets to the puck first but over-skates it. Ben Marshall is right there to pick it up and pass the puck to his right to Nate Condon, who skates down the right side. Condon cuts to his left after crossing the blue line with Sam Warning crossing behind him. Condon’s speed allows him to get enough space to get off a snap shot that Matt McNeeley gets most of but the puck sneaks under the catcher glove and trickles across the goal line.
• • The play is under review!!!
  • • Looking at the replay, it doesn’t look like the puck went completely past the goal line but the official called it a goal on the ice. I’m not sure that matters. This isn’t the NFL and this isn’t a challenge!
    • If it crossed the line, it didn’t cross it by much!
    • FSN finally gets a different angle that shows the puck going across the line and it stays a goal!
  • GOPHERS 1-0!!!
  • • Good job of the Gophers to have their guys covered for that rebound.
    • • The scramble for that rebound allowed the Gophers to get out in transition.
• PENALTY – Chris Casto for Interference on Travis Boyd at 10:24 of the 1st period - Travis Boyd was going to the net and ended up getting knocked to the ice by Chris Casto.
• PENALTY – Travis Boyd for Hooking on Mike Seidel at 13:09 of the 1st period - A 3-on-2 develops and Travis Boyd had to use his stick to slow down Mike Seidel and he gets called for hooking by the official.
• NO GOAL! – Travis Boyd scores at 18:18 of the 1st period - The goal is called off because the official blew his whistle when he saw Tom Serratore in the crease and running into the goalie.
• • Probably a good call there.
  • Not sure why its not a penalty for goalie interference.
  • • I’ve never understood why a goal can be called off because of goalie interference but a penalty isn’t then given for it.

2nd Period

3rd Period

Gopher Hockey Notes vs Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs – 2-22-2013 is a post from:

Can the Gopher hockey team and its players defeat the Huskies on back-to-back nights and get their 2nd series sweep of the season and move to within a point of the WCHA lead?

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 - Nate Condon-16
Erik Haula-19 - Sam Warning-11 - Zach Budish-24
Tom Serratore-14 - Travis Boyd-22 - Justin Holl-12
Jake Parenteau-6 - Christian Isackson-26 - Seth Ambroz-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Ben Marshall-10 - Seth Helgeson-4
Mike Reilly-5 – Mark Alt-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Ryan Coyne-31, D-Blake Thompson-3 (Transferred), F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-AJ Michaelson-15, F-Chirstian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21

Line Chart – St. Cloud State Huskies

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Ben Hanowksi-10 (C) – Drew LeBlanc-19 (C) – Kalle Kossila-11
Jimmy Murray-16 – Nic Dowd-26 – Jonny Brodzinski-22
Garrett Milan-18 - Joey Holka-17 - Joe Rehkamp-37
Joey Benik-9 - Brooks Bertsch-21 - Cory Thorson-8
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Andrew Prochno-28 – Nick Jensen-14 (A)
Kevin Gravel-7 - Tim Daly-40
Ethan Prow-12 - Taylor Johnson-4
Goalie
Ryan Faragher-29
Joseph Phillippi-33

Scratches/Injured: G-Rasmus Reijola-35, D-Jarrod Rabey-2, D-Brendon Burrell-20, F-David Morley-13, F-T.J. Belisle-23, F-Nick Oliver-27

It’s Friday night and we have another WCHA in-state rivalry! Two great teams with two great goalies and two great offenses. This should be fun! Are you in a State of Hockey, physically and mentally?

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

All comments are from an offensive point of view unless otherwise noted.

1st Period

• I checked and Nic Dowd is not related to former Minnesota Wild player Jim Dowd!
• • That might be why we haven’t seen him circle the offensive zone!
• You are almost guaranteed to miss the face-off when FSN goes to some highlight after a whistle!
• • Like the one they just missed!
  • and another!
  • and another! UGHH!!!
• PENALTIES – Ben Marshall for Roughing on Jimmy Murray & Jimmy Murray for Goaltender Interference on Adam Wilcox at 13:55 of the 1st period - Coincidental minors on Jimmy Murray’s mini-breakaway when Ben Marshall body checks Murray at the last second sending him into Adam Wilcox.
• • It’s easy to see that both coaches are not happy with either of these calls!
  • • FSN shows Bob Motzko as he screams to the official, “That’s Bull#*&%!!!”
    • then they show Don Lucia as he is told the calls and he snaps, “That’s F#&$ING Bull#*&%!!!”
    • Ahhh….to be an official in the game of hockey!
    • • “Hmm…nobody seems to like what I’m doing! Have I chosen the right career?”
      • • HEY!!! Somebody has to do it!
        • Don’t be THAT GUY!!!
        • Mothers, DON’T let your babies grow up to be referees!!!
  • Hey, we do get some 4-on-4 hockey though!
  • • That seemed to favor the Gophers last night as they scored the game-winning goal and an insurance goal while 4-on-4!
  • Apparently, if you body check a player and that player ends up running into your goalie, that’s roughing!
  • AND if you go to the net with the puck trying to score and you get “roughed” with a body check and that sends you into the goalie, that is goalie interference!
• PENALTY – St. Cloud State for Too Many Men On The Ice at 16:42 of the 1st period - Oops!
• and another missed face-off! Maybe FSN stands for Face-offs Suck Network!
• • That’s at least 4 of them!

2nd Period

• The Don is really switching up the lines quite a bit.
• • Christian Isackson has gotten a shift on the top line. Seth Ambroz has played a shift on the second line. Is The Don trying to take advantage of a matchup or just switching it up for a different look every now and then?
• GOAL! – Joey Holka from Garrett Milan & Ryan Faragher at 2:39 of the 2nd period - Garrett Milan receives a pass off the left boards from goalie Ryan Faragher and takes it all the way up the left side and takes a shot with Ben Marshall going down to block it. The puck hits Marshall’s left leg and pops up into the air. Joey Holka catches the puck, drops it to the ice and takes a swing at it and gets enough of it to have it go just over Adam Wilcox and into the net! HUSKIES 1-0!!!
• • Not much Wilcox can do about that. Hard to read a shot off a bouncing puck!
  • Jake Parenteau attempts to hit the puck in the air with his stick but never stops skating taking himself out of the play after he misses it.
  • • STOP! IN THE NAME OF PUCK!!! BEFORE IT’S MINUS ONE!!!
    • In front of your own net, don’t just allow the opponent to have the better position on the ice. Body him up especially if the puck is in the air!
    • When the puck is in the air, that’s the perfect time to line up someone for a body check! Watch puck…as player touches it….BOOM! CLUTTER BROUGHT!!!
  • Not sure if Parenteau knew where the puck went until the last second. He may have thought the puck was blocked into the left corner so there’s that.
• The Gophers appear to have been lulled to sleep by the Huskies taking the lead!
• • Move your feet! Where’s the sense of urgency? Let’s GO!!! Geez!
• GOAL! – Nic Dowd from Jimmy Murray at 17:48 of the 2nd period - Kevin Gravel makes a pass to Nic Dowd through the neutral zone that Nate Schmidt tries to intercept but misses and gives up a 2-on-1. Dowd tips the pass to his left to Jimmy Murray and Murray makes a couple moves then passes to Dowd for a one-timer that Adam Wilcox gets a piece of but not enough to keep the puck out of the net. HUSKIES 2-0!!!
• • Brady Skjei has to take the pass away and let Adam Wilcox have the shooter. He lets the pass get under his stick and basically gives his goalie no chance to make a save!
  • Wilcox knew he got a piece of it and was surprised it went in the net by his reaction!
• PENALTY – Drew LeBlanc for Checking From Behind on Nick Bjugstad & Nick Jensen for Checking From Behind on Kyle Rau at 18:06 of the 2nd period - Nick Bjugstad is in the left corner battling for the puck and Drew LeBlanc checks him from behind. Bjugstad loses the puck and Kyle Rau gets in there to battle for it and he’s checked from behind by Nick Jensen.
• • Is it 2 or 5? They are discussing it!
  • It’s both penalties at the same time so the Gophers will get a full two minutes of 5-on-3!
  • • Unless of course they score!
  • Not very often you see two penalties called on the same play against the same team!
  • and two Checking From Behind penalties too! WOW!
• GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Nate Schmidt from Erik Haula & Zach Budish at 19:09 of the 2nd period - Erik Haula has the puck at the right-half wall and skates to the top of the slot then passes it to Zach Budish at the left face-off circle. Budish one-times a pass right back to Haula. Haula then passes it to Nate Schmidt at the right face-off dot for a one-time slap shot that beats Ryan Faragher low on the short side. GOPHERS 1-2!!!
• • That shows you how hard Nate Schmidt can shoot the puck if he can beat the goalie low on a one-timer.
  • • You usually have to go high since the goalie’s leg pad is the first thing to get over when they move side to side.
    • • Not sure Faragher saw the puck until it was too late because he didn’t get over there right away and he didn’t get his pads down until after the puck went by him!
• PENALTY – Nate Condon for Interference on Andrew Prochno at 19:27 of the 2nd period - This is a brutal call!!! or should I say make-up call after the Gophers got the 5-on-3? Mike Reilly is coming up the center of the neutral zone and drops the puck to Nate Condon. Condon misses the puck and Andrew Prochno goes toward the loose puck. Condon gets in his way to get to the puck first and the official calls him for interference.
• • The main reason I don’t like this call is because the loose puck is within the reach of Nate Condon so a puck/position battle is initiated by both players and Nate Condon won and got the puck.
  • • Nate Condon has a right to that ice just as much as Andrew Prochno does!
  • Is it a make-up call? Do the officials look for a penalty from Gophers to try to even up the call of two checking from behind penalties on the same play?
  • • If they do, that’s wrong! The checking from behind calls were legit calls so there’s no reason to “even it up.”

3rd Period

• Gophers kill off the Huskie power play to begin the period.
• Gophers haven’t won when trailing after 2 and the Huskies haven’t lost when leading after 2 so I guess I should just stop watching the game then!
• • Stupid stats! Records were meant to be BROKEN…with a PUCK!!!
• GOAL – Jonny Brodzinski from Nick Jensen at 3:50 of the 3rd period - After a Nick Bjugstad face-off win in the Huskie zone, Nick Jensen gets to the puck first and passes cross ice to Jonny Brodzinski coming up the right side and he takes a slap shot at the blue line that Adam Wilcox doesn’t see and its HUSKIES 3-1!!!
• • Jake Parenteau put his feet together to try to block the shot and the puck must’ve deflected off Parenteau’s skates or stick because Wilcox isn’t going to get beat from that far out very often.
  • Tough goal to give up when you’re only down one goal!
• They say a 2-goal lead is the worst lead in hockey!
• • I disagree!
  • The worst lead in hockey is an opponent’s lead! BOOM!
• GOAL! – Drew LeBlanc from Kalle Kosilla & Kevin Gravel at 6:40 of the 3rd period - Brady Skjei skates the puck into the offensive zone and then makes a change but he never looks to see who has or where the puck is so when Kevin Gravel has the puck behind his own net and passes to Kalle Kosilla at the right half-wall of the Huskie zone, Andrew LeBlanc has nothing but ice in front of him as that would be where Brady Skjei (or whoever’s covering for him) should be. LeBlanc skates in all alone on Adam Wilcox and beats him with a shot to the blocker side and its now HUSKIES 4-1!!!
• • Bad line change by Brady Skjei!
  • Not sure if anyone covered for Skjei when he took the puck on an offensive rush.
• The Gophers are throwing away the win from last night with a bad stretch in the 3rd period!
• A big hit by Tom Serratore gives the Gophers a little energy.
• PENALTY – Taylor Johnson for Unsportsmanlike Conduct at 10:09 of the 3rd period - No idea what he did. I thought the penalty was going to be for enclosing the hand on the puck.
• GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Nick Bjugstad from Erik Haula & Kyle Rau at 10:53 of the 3rd period - A shot from the point leaves a rebound in front of the net and Kyle Rau battles for the puck and it squeaks out to Erik Haula at the right face-off dot. Haula waits and makes a pass through the slot to Nick Bjugstad  just above the left face-off dot and he corrals the puck and finally takes a slap shot that goes Bar Down over Faragher’s right shoulder. GOPHERS 2-4!!!
• • Someone should probably get to Bjugstad when he has the puck and isn’t moving!
  • or at least get in front of him. Even on the PK!
• Will this get the Gophers back in the game?
• GOAL! – Nate Condon from Mark Alt & Mike Reilly at 14:26 of the 3rd period - Mike Reilly takes the puck up the right boards into the Huskie zone, turns towards the net then makes a turnaround move on his backhand to get around Andrew Prochno. Prochno forces him to go behind the net but Reilly makes a centering pass that goes through everyone in front of the net and back to the point where Mark Alt gets it and takes a slap shot. Ryan Faragher makes the save but leaves a juicy rebound that comes right to Nate Condon at the right of the net (Faragher’s left) and Condon puts it into the open net and its GOPHERS 3-4!!!
• • Mark Alt didn’t take a full wind-up on his slap shot. He only went waist high to get the shot off quicker to get it to the net.
  • • He shot it low to get a rebound or a tip.
    • He didn’t shoot high to try to score. He shot low to get an assist!
  • I’m not sure how long we’ll get to see Mike Reilly play for the Gophers but man, it’s going to be fun to watch him grow and progress into a great defenseman!
  • • The kid can skate, handle the puck and make plays and we saw it all on that play! WOW!
• We have ourselves a hockey game now!
• Over 5 minutes to go! Can the Gophers tie the game?
• • Some Mo for the Gophers!
• PENALTY – Zach Budish for Tripping on Drew LeBlanc at 19:25 of the 3rd period - Zach Budish loses a puck battle in the right corner of the Huskie zone and gets his stick between the legs of Drew LeBlanc tripping him up and getting a call from the official.
• • Probably the right call but that might kill most of the possibility for the Gophers to tie this game up.

This one ends with the Huskies winning 4-3 but having to stave off a comeback from the Gophers in the last 5 minutes.

The Gophers started the game out good but after the Huskies took the lead, they seemed to let up and it wasn’t until the got a 5-on-3 power play late in the 2nd period when they got some energy back. Then two quick goals from St. Cloud State looked to end any hope of a Gopher sweep until another power play goal gave them some more energy for a comeback that fell just short in the end.

The Huskies keep their 5-point lead in the WCHA over the Gophers with a series split making it tough for the Gophers to get back-to-back WCHA titles. Gopher hockey still has two games in hand on the Huskies with 8 games left to play to the Huskies 6 games left to play so they can still close the gap but needed a better overall effort tonight to get it done.

Next weekend the Gophers head to Wisconsin on Friday night and then head to Chicago for Sunday’s 1st annual Hockey City Classic at Soldier Field. Friday night’s game is at 7pm on FSN and Sunday afternoon’s game is at 3:30pm on the Big Ten Network!!!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com - Gophers Settle for Split with No. 8/10 St. Cloud State
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com - Minnesota-St. Cloud State Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from .com - SCSUHuskies.com - #8/10 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Upends #1 Gophers, 4-3

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Colorado College won vs Denver 6-5 in OT,
Michigan Tech won vs Alaska-Anchorage 6-1,
Minnesota State won @ Minnesota-Duluth 5-1,
North Dakota won @ Nebraska-Omaha 5-2 – Played outdoors at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska as part of the Battles On Ice event - Recap,
and
Wisconsin won vs Bemidji State 3-2

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Notre Dame won vs Michigan 6-4 – Minnesota Wild Draft Pick Mario Lucia (or is it Thedonson (The Don’s Son! Get it? Nevermind!)) assisted on the 2nd Notre Dame goal
and
Penn State won vs Alabama-Huntsville 4-3 – Former Gopher Max Gardiner assisted on the 2nd Penn State goal

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

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

Gopher Hockey Notes at St. Cloud State Huskies – 2-9-2013 is a post from:

Gopher hockey gets back on the ice after a weekend off where they split a home and home series with Minnesota State. This weekend they take on the the St. Cloud State Huskies who are leading the WCHA conference and are ranked #10 in the country. Add that the series takes place in St. Cloud at the National Hockey Center and that’s makes even tougher for the Gophers to get back in the race for the top spot in the WCHA. This is also the last regular season series for another big rivalry for the Gopher hockey team. Fortunately, this rivalry won’t end as there is a plan for an annual tournament* featuring the Minnesota, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and Minnesota-Duluth starting next season. That’s the future so let’s get back to the now! GOPHERS vs HUSKIES!!!

*The Minnesota Cup? The Cup of Minnesota? Would you order a Cup of Minnesota? What would be in that? For a while the Minnesota based team from the WCHA was given the DQ Cup for having the most points against the other WCHA Minnesota based teams but that hasn’t happened for a few years and it went away without a peep. I hope they come up with a good name that looks into the history of Minnesota Hockey & the state of Minnesota. How ’bout the Herb Brooks Cup or Herb Brooks Trophy? The Herbie Cup? The Loonie? Any thoughts?

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 – Nate Condon-16
Sam Warning-11 - Erik Haula-19 – Zach Budish-24
Tom Serratore-14 - Travis Boyd-22 - Seth Ambroz-17
Jake Parenteau-6 - Christian Isackson-26 - Justin Holl-12
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Ben Marshall-10 - Seth Helgeson-4
Mike Reilly-5 – Mark Alt-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Ryan Coyne-31, D-Blake Thompson-3 (Transferred), F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-AJ Michaelson-15, F-Chirstian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21

Line Chart – St. Cloud State Huskies

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Ben Hanowksi-10 (C) – Drew LeBlanc-19 (C) – Kalle Kossila-11
Jimmy Murray-16 – Nic Dowd-26 – Jonny Brodzinski-22
Joey Holka-17 - Joe Rehkamp-37  – Brooks Bertsch-21
Joey Benik-9 – David Morley-13 - Cory Thorson-8
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Andrew Prochno-28 – Nick Jensen-14 (A)
Kevin Gravel-7 – Ethan Prow-12
Tim Daly-40 – Taylor Johnson-4
Goalie
Ryan Faragher-29
Joseph Phillippi-33

Scratches/Injured: G-Rasmus Reijola-35, D-Jarrod Rabey-2, D-Brendon Burrell-20, F-Garrett Milan-18, F-T.J. Belisle-23, F-Nick Oliver-27

It’s Friday night and we have another WCHA in-state rivalry! Two great teams with two great goalies and two great offenses. This should be fun! Are you in a State of Hockey, physically and mentally?

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

All comments are from an offensive point of view unless otherwise noted.

1st Period

• Why don’t they go over the lines for each team before the game?
• • Do they do it in the pre-game show?
  • I don’t watch that because I try to limit my exposure to FSN!
  • • I can only take so much before I snap!!!
• Lots of long hair from the Huskie players. What’s that about?
• • This is a charity thing for Locks of Love according to Casey Hankinson.
• Sam Warning collides with Jimmy Murray in the neutral zone at the red line and the Huskies get a scoring chance out of it but Adam Wilcox makes a good save to keep the game scoreless.
• • Jimmy Murray made a pass to Andrew Prochno for a quick tip right in front of the net. He tried to go five-hole but Wilcox took it away at the last second.
• The Huskies get another scoring chance off a shot from the left when Nate Schmidt stops the puck and Adam Wilcox has to know the puck away from Andrew Prochno.
• GOAL – NO GOAL – Zach Budish from Sam Warning at 4:52 of the 1st period - A turnover in the neutral zone by Cory Thorsen off a Joey Benik pass lets Nate Schmidt make a quick play off the right boards that goes to Zach Budish. Budish makes a quick pass to Sam Warning to his left and Warning is able to make a move around Ethan Prow and get to the net. He tries to make a move around Ryan Faragher, gets a shot off and then runs into Faragher, knocking his mask off. The rebound comes out to Zach Budish and he puts it into the mostly open net. The whistle was blown about the same time as the puck went into the net.
• • The goal was waved off right away but they’ll review it anyways.
  • I assume the goal was waved off for goalie interference and/or the goalie’s mask coming off.
  • • It’s usually an instant stoppage once a goalie’s mask comes off.
  • Yep…NO GOAL!
• How does a no goal affect both teams?
• • Are the Gophers able to keep up the aggressiveness? Keep up the intensity?
  • Do the Huskies start playing safe worrying about defense?
  • • How about the goalie? Is Ryan Faragher rattled from the puck going into his net even if its called off?
• Christian Isackson takes a shot that is blocked by Kevin Gravel and he gets up limping to the bench after the whistle.
• I didn’t realize that Bob Motzko coached under Herb Brooks in 1986-87.
• Zach Budish hits the post off a line rush that turns into a quick 2-on-1 with Erik Haula. PING!!!
• GOAL – Nick Bjugstad from Kyle Rau and Nate Condon at 8:45 of the 1st period - Jake Parenteau dumps the puck around the left corner behind the net. Both Nick Jensen and Andrew Prochno go back to get it. Prochno had gone around the right of the net with Kyle Rau following him to pressure the puck. Nick Jensen went to the left of the net and gets to the puck first but he sees Nick Bjugstad coming to throw a body check so he throws the puck back around the left corner again (to Ryan Faragher’s right). Nate Condon gets the puck at the left half-wall, skates toward the net at the goal line and makes a pass to Kyle Rau behind the net. Bjugstad had gone to the front of the net and is knocked down by Nick Jensen and Andrew Prochno so Rau just skates around the net (to Faragher’s left) and takes a shot that rebounds out to Bjugstad, who is now on his feet again, and he’s able to take a quick shot on the ice that goes under Ryan Faragher. GOPHERS 1-0!!!
• • A little puck-watching by the Huskies and nobody getting open for a pass when the puck was dumped in behind the net.
  • • It doesn’t help that both defenseman are within 5 feet of each other behind the net.
  • Nick Jensen should know where most of the Gopher players are and not throw the puck back to where they are.
  • • He knows two are behind the net because he saw Rau and he sees Bjugstad coming at him so even eating it behind the net and forcing a puck battle is a better option than trying to wrap it around the corner.
    • • or play it back into the other corner.
      • It’s obviously easy to second guess the game after but the players should know the options they have in every situation.
    • Are his teammates talking to him and telling him where to play the puck?
  • Then you have both defenseman defending one man in front of the net.
  • • Even if that man is Nick Bjugstad, you need to be able to defend him with one man.
• We miss the penalty because FSN decides to look at another replay of the goal by Nick Bjugstad. Oops!
• • FSN = Failed Sports Network!
• PENALTY – for Interference at 9:52 of the 1st period - I’d love to tell you about it but FSN didn’t show it and didn’t show a replay either so…
• GOAL (POWER PLAY) NO GOAL – Zach Budish from Kyle Rau and Erik Haula at 10:07 of the 1st period - Erik Haula sets up on the right half-wall, gets a pass from Nate Schmidt and skates toward the center. The Huskies are in a diamond formation in front of the net giving easy passing lanes on the outside so Haula passes it to Kyle Rau at the right side of the net. Rau takes the puck to the net with Zach Budish in front of the net. The puck is blocked by Ryan Faragher and Rau kind of runs into Faragher. The puck goes out to to the right of the net and Budish is there to shoot the puck into the empty net.
• • The officials will review the goal.
  • Casey Hankinson thinks it should be a goal but the officials say no because of goalie interference by Kyle Rau.
  • • Rau did run into Faragher but he was pushed into him by Nick Jensen so that’s a bit of a controversy.
  • My biggest question when goals are called off for goalie interference is why doesn’t that wind up in a penalty for the offender committing goalie interference?
  • • Is taking away a goal enough of a penalty?
    • If a goal isn’t scored there, is a penalty called?
    • • Not in most cases.
      • Does this mean that the rules are different when a goal is scored?
• Two goals taken away? WOW! How often does that happen?
• • Will that affect the Gophers and Huskies for the rest of the game? Faragher?
• Is Nic Dowd related to Jim Dowd, the former Minnesota Wild player who used to circle the offensive zone?
• • It’s Time to Circle the Offensive Zone with Jimmy Dowd!!!
• GOAL – Joey Benik from Cory Thorsen at 14:48 of the 1st period - Travis Boyd is skating behind the net and tries to stop and go the other way but loses the puck. Cory Thorsen was going to forecheck Boyd so he’s right there to get the loose puck and he just throws it in front of the net. The puck bounces off of Ben Marshall’s skates and goes right to Joey Benik for a quick shot that beats Adam Wilcox through the five-hole. HUSKIES TIE it at 1-1!!!
• • Puck-watching after a turnover! Three Gophers go for (gopher?) the puck leaving Benik open for the shot. FIND A MAN!!!
  • Kind of a tough goal off a turnover behind your own net but you still have to cover a man and not space.
  • • Turnovers cause panic and panic causes puck-watching.
    • • Panic is never good! Change panic to poise and instantly look for somebody to cover!
      • This is easier said than done and I’m not sure you can work on it in practice.
      • • It happens in all levels of hockey so if you can find a way to coach it or practice it and get players to adopt it in game situations, you could probably win a lot of games and not give up many goals!
  • Joey Benik holds the Minnesota high school record for goals scored in a single season with 63. He
  • • St. Francis’ Joey Benik breaks Minnesota’s scoring mark for a season - TwinCities.com – Kevin Hagstrom – 2/13/2009
    • Benik Blasts his way to scoring record - Minnesota Hockey Hub – 2/14/2009
      
    • Unexpected Sequel - ESPN RISE - Christopher Parish – 1/19/2010
• PENALTY – Jake Parenteau for Checking from Behind on David Morley at 17:43 of the 1st period - David Morley is receiving the puck at the right boards of his own blue line and he turns as Jake Parenteau goes to body check him. Parenteau lets up a little bit but not enough to avoid a penalty.
• • This is a minor penalty! No doubt about it! He let up and actually hit him at an angle not directly into the boards.
• PENALTY – Nic Dowd on Jake Parenteau for Hooking at 19:58 of the 1st period - Jake Parenteau gets a loose puck in front of the net after coming out of the penalty box and Nic Dowd takes a couple whacks at him and gets his stick under him slowing him up and the official gives him a minor penalty for it.

2nd Period

• Gophers start the period on the POWER PLAY!!! A nice, clean sheet of ice to see if they can take the lead right away in the 2nd period!!!
• • and…..nothing!!!
• GOAL – Erik Haula from Mark Alt at 4:31 of the 2nd period - Zach Budish gets pressure on the puck in the Gophers defensive zone and forces a play to the point where an attempted dump in is blocked by Mark Alt at the left half-wall. He tries to get a pass to Erik Haula going up the center of the neutral zone but its stopped by Jonny Brodzinski. Alt keeps coming at Brodzinski and poke checks the puck away from him and up to Haula now at the right blue line. Alt drives the net for force a 2-on-1 and forcing Ethan Prow to hesitate in defending Haula. This gives Haula enough time to take a wrist shot that goes in low left past Ryan Faragher’s right pad. GOPHERS 2-1!!!
• • Prow decides at the last second to try to get in front of the shot but instead of getting low he looks like he’s jumping up like he’s afraid to get hit with the puck and actually looks like he gets a piece of the puck with his stick deflecting it past his goalie.
  • • Ryan Faragher looks like he’s trying to stop a shot from going to his five-hole that ends up going to his left.
    • Get down to block a shot! Don’t just let a player shoot the puck!
    • • AND put your stick in front of the puck forcing the player to change the angle or pass the puck.
      • That was on a partial 2-on-1 so that made it a little harder to defend.

3rd Period

• PENALTY – Seth Helgeson for Hooking on Jimmy Murray at 3:21 of the 3rd period - Seth Helgeson is trying to chase down Jimmy Murray while the Huskies are cycling the puck and he puts his stick in Murray’s midsection and gets called for hooking by the official.
• GOAL (POWER PLAY) – Drew LeBlanc from Kalle Kosilla and Nick Jensen at 3:59 of the 3rd period - On the power play, Nick Jensen makes a nice spin move at the left point to create some space and then skates in, fakes a slap shot then takes a wrist shot that deflects to the right off Mark Alt’s stick. Kalle Kosilla gets to the puck and passes it back to Drew LeBlanc at the right point. LeBlanc takes a low snap shot that appears to deflect off Kyle Rau’s stick and goes high off the left post and in to the net for a 2-2 TIE!!!
• • After seeing the replay, I’m not sure the shot got deflected at all! Really hard to tell with the replays FSN showed.
• PENALTIES – Seth Ambroz & Taylor Johnson for Roughing at 8:47 of the 3rd period - After the whistle roughhousing and we will get some 4-on-4 hockey!!!
• • Which team does this favor?
  • • Gophers have more speed?
• GOAL – Erik Haula from Nate Schmidt at 9:31 of the 3rd period - Drew LeBlanc makes a backhand centering pass that Ethan Prow doesn’t get all of so the puck is flat on the ice for Nate Schmidt to intercept the puck and transition to offense with Erik Haula on his right on a 2-on-1 against Kevin Gravel. LeBlanc is back checking so Gravel decides to go towards Schmidt forcing the play. Gravel gets his stick in front of the puck but Schmidt is still able to get the puck over to Erik Haula for a 1-on-1 with Ryan Faragher. Haula catches it on his backhand, moves to his forehand and puts it through Faragher’s five-hole! GOPHERS 3-2!!!
• • I guess the Gophers have the advantage in a 4-on-4 matchup.
  • Kevin Gravel forces the play and he doesn’t have to.
  • • He can deny the pass or…
    • he can go down and try to deny the pass and force Schmidt to shoot over him.
    • LeBlanc wasn’t close enough to Haula for Gravel to leave him alone.
• GOAL! – Nate Schmidt from Brady Skjei at 10:29 of the 3rd period - Nate Schmidt starts the play from behind his own net, passes to Brady Skjei going up the left side. Skjei skates the puck into the zone then turns around on his backhand at the half-wall and makes a backhand sauce pass to Nate Schmidt and he has enough time to tee up a slap shot that is blasted past Ryan Faragher for a 4-2 GOPHER LEAD!!!
• • SCHMIDT HAPPENS!!!
  • Drew LeBlanc and Andrew Prochno wasn’t really covering anyone on that play. They were both covering Nick Bjugstad until he passed the net. LeBlanc then turns and nobody ever had the trailer Nate Scmidt
  • How often does the trailer end up scoring a goal or being the most important player to cover on the ice?
  • • Too often!!! Look for the trailer!!!
• BIG SAVE! – Adam Wilcox on Jimmy Murray at 16:55 of the 3rd period - Jimmy Murray gets a pass from Jonny Brodzinski for a breakaway. He fakes to his backhand and tries to go upstairs but Adam Wilcox gets his blocker on it and deflects the puck out of play keeping the game at a 2-goal lead!
• • I love how Adam Wilcox gets low and basically forces the player to raise the puck but then takes that away by coming out and challenging them cutting down the angle.
• The Huskies pull their goalie at the 17:15 mark!!! WOW!
• • It’s been said that you want a minute per goal behind so maybe this isn’t that shocking.

The Minnesota Gopher hockey team came out with a sense of urgency and purpose in this game. That’s what they didn’t do last weekend letting Minnesota State steal the Friday night game late! The Huskies came back twice to tie it but a critical two minute 4-on-4 was the difference as Erik Haula and Nate Schmidt made it a 4-2 game and the Gophers finished it off with a couple good saves by Adam Wilcox, who was sharp all game long and had to make some big saves early to keep the Gophers even in the opening minutes!

We’ll see ya tomorrow night! Same Gopher Time! Same Gopher Channel! The Saturday night rematch is also on FSN Plus but it starts at 7pm as opposed to 7:30pm so I guess that means Different Gopher Time!!!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com – Gophers Open Weekend with 4-2 Win Over League-Leading Huskies
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com - Minnesota-St. Cloud State Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from .com - SCSUHuskies.com - #8/10 St. Cloud State Men’s Hockey Falls 4-2 to #1 Minnesota

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Colorado College tied Denver 1-1 in OT,
Alaska-Anchorage won @ Michigan Tech 5-4,
Minnesota State won @ Minnesota-Duluth 4-2,
North Dakota won @ Nebraska-Omaha 2-1, – Former Gopher Ryan Walters scored the 1st goal of this game and Minnesota Wild Draft Pick Nick Seeler was a -1
and
Bemidji State tied @ Wisconsin 2-2 in OT

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Notre Dame won vs Michigan 7-4 – It doesn’t look like Mario Lucia played in this game. I’m not sure why.
Penn State won vs Alabama-Huntsville 4-0 – Former Gopher Max Gardiner scored the 2nd goal of the game

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

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

Gopher Hockey Notes at St. Cloud State Huskies – 2-8-2013 is a post from:

The controversial goal that was reversed by the officials!

The Minnesota Golden Gopher hockey team had their 10-game unbeaten streak snapped last night by the Minnesota State Mavericks with a goal in the last minute of the game. The Gophers didn’t play particularly well or particularly as hard as we’ve seen them play during their streak. I expect that to change tonight and for last night’s game to be a wake-up call for this team that every game matters and there are no easy games in Division I college hockey and WCHA college hockey especially when being at the top of the conference is at stake! Tonight’s game is in the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato. Will the Mavericks gain some home-ice advantage with their fans cheering them on in their rink?

Line Chart – Minnesota Golden Gophers

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Kyle Rau-7 – Nick Bjugstad-27 - Erik Haula-19
Sam Warning-11 - Nate Condon-16 – Zach Budish-24
Tom Serratore-14 - Travis Boyd-22 - Justin Holl-12
Jake Parenteau-6 - Christian Isackson-26 - Seth Ambroz-17
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Brady Skjei-2 – Nate Schmidt-29
Ben Marshall-10 - Seth Helgeson-4
Mike Reilly-5 – Mark Alt-20
Goalie
Adam Wilcox-32
Mike Shibrowski-1

Scratches: G-Matt LaPrade-30, G-Ryan Coyne-31, D-Blake Thompson-3 (Transferred), F-Ryan Reilly-9, F-AJ Michaelson-15, F-Chirstian Horn-18, F-Jared Larson-23
Injured: F-Connor Reilly-21

Line Chart – Minnesota State Mavericks

Left Wing – Center – Right Wing
Chase Grant-21 – Matt Leitner-18 – Johnny McInnis-22
Jean-Paul LaFontaine-12 – Teddy Blueger-23 – Eriah Hayes-25
Brett Knowles-24 – Zach Lehrke-19 – Bryce Gervais-9
Dylan Margonari-26 – Eli Zuck-29 – Max Gaede-8
Left Defenseman – Right Defenseman
Tylor Elbrecht-16 – Josh Nelson-2
Zach Palmquist-7  - Evan Mosey-17
Brett Stern-27 – Jon Jutzi- 28
Goalie
Stephon Williams-35
Phil Cook-30

Scratches/Injured: G-Evan Karambelas-31, D-Nick Buchanon-4, D-Mat Knoll-10, F-Corey Laivermann-11, F-Taylor Herndon-14, F-J.P. Burkemper-15, F-Charlie Thauwald-20

It’s Saturday night and we have a rematch of a WCHA in-state rivalry! It’s a beautiful thing to be in a State of Hockey, physically and mentally!!!

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

• Are those new jerseys for the Mavericks? Those are Nice!
• PENALTIES – Zach Budish & Johnny McInnis for Roughing at 6:34 of the 1st period - A scrum in front of the Gopher net literally as Budish takes McInnis down!
• • That’s my Puck, Baby! DON’T YOU EVER TOUCH MY PUCK!!!
  • or GOALIE!!!

• NO GOAL! – Justin Holl Unassisted at 12:35 of the 1st period - Justin Holl makes a great play stealing a D-to-D pass and going in on Stephon Williams. He tries to go 5-hole and Williams makes the save, the rebound goes off of Justin Holl’s leg and into the net but the net appears to have come off the moorings before the puck crossed the goal line. The officials called it no goal on the ice and head to a video review. GOAL!!! The officials reverse the goal and the Gophers score the first goal of the game! GOPHERS 1-0!!!
• • Last night was the first game this season that the Gophers lost when scoring the first goal of the game!
  • • How will this one turn out?
• PENALTIES – Brady Skjei & Teddy Blueger for Cross-Checking at 14:37 of the 1st period - More after the whistle pushing & shoving in front of the Gopher net AND more 4-on-4 hockey!
• BIG HIT! – Tom Serratore on Jon Jutzi at 17:00 of the 1st period - A battle in the left corner of the Maverick zone is won by the Mavericks and the puck goes towards the right corner. Jon Jutzi skates to the puck and makes a pass up the right boards, watches his pass and lands on his ASS!!! Tom Serratore hits him high and watches him fly!
• PENALTY – Zach Palmquist for Interference on Nate Schmidt at 17:19 of the 1st period - Nate Schmidt starts the breakout of the Gopher zone coming up the left center of the ice. He passes the puck to Justin Holl on his left and drives to the net. As he gets close to the net, Zach Palmquist takes him down and gets called for interference.
• • Controversy! Justin Holl makes a move around Evan Mosey and gets in on Stephon Williams all alone, makes a move around him and for some reason the whistle blows. The Mavericks never touched the puck!
  • • Inadvertent whistle or what?
• GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Nate Schmidt from Zach Budish & Kyle Rau at 18:11 of the 1st period - Nate Schmidt gets the puck from a Nick Bjugstad pass at the middle of the blue line and makes move the pull the puck back but Zach Lehrke is right there with a poke check and Schmidt has to get rid of the puck quick passing it through Lehrke’s legs to Bjugstad. Bjugstad was coming towards the center of the zone from the left face-off circle and passes to Erik Haula just off the right half-wall for a one timer that Stephon Williams saves but he leaves a rebound that Kyle Rau whacks at then Zach Budish whacks at it and the puck deflects back up the middle to Nate Schmidt and he one-times it into the upper right corner of the net and its GOPHERS 2-0!!!
• • Stephon Willams complains to the ref about something but I can’t imagine what he thinks happened that gave Minnesota an advantage there.
  • • The only thing I see watching the replay is maybe Budish’s stick interfering with Williams’ glove and that’s where the puck went into the net so he might have an argument.
  • Zach Budish takes a couple two-handed chops to his hands and his stick while planting himself in front of the net showing what it takes to get a net front presence!
• PENALTIES – Seth Ambroz, Ben Marshall, Evan Mosey & Teddy Blueger for Roughing at 18:57 of the 1st period - Some more wrestling in front of the Gopher net makes a crowded penalty box for both sides and we stay at 5-on-5 hockey!
• PENALTY – Sam Warning for Elbowing on Brett Stern at 19:42 of the 1st period - Brett Stern coming out of his own zone up the left side passes the puck and gets hit by Sam Warning and Warning gets an elbowing for it.
• • Brett Stern is tall and he bent down after releasing the pass.
  • Players seem to put themselves in danger to draw a penalty.
  • • You’re seeing it in all levels of hockey. Since rules have changed regarding checking from behind and boarding, players will turn their backs at the last second knowing they could draw a major penalty that could change the whole hockey game.
    • That seems crazy to me to put yourself in a position to get a concussion or worse!

2nd Period

• PENALTY – Mike Reilly for Cross-Checking on Jean-Paul LaFontaine at 13:18 of the 2nd period - Mike Reilly is in front of his own net and trying to move Jean-Paul LaFontaine but he does so with two hands on his stick across the back of him and he gets to sit and think about what he did!
• • Do we need a penalty box in everyday life situations? On the highway? At work? For officials too?

3rd Period

• PENALTY – Eriah Hayes for Boarding on Tom Serratore at 8:44 of the 3rd period - Tom Serratore is against the boards in his own zone and Eriah Hayes hits him from behind. Serratore hits the boards hard and goes down and the officials try to figure out what to call.
• • Not sure why that’s not checking from behind. Should it be a major? Not sure but it’s close.
  • Before Eriah Hayes took the penalty, he was knocked to the ice by Seth Helgeson and that probably should’ve been called for interference.
• GOAL! (POWER PLAY) – Zach Budish from Erik Haula at 9:46 of the 3rd period - Erik Haula gets the puck at the right half-wall and has time to survey the ice to see where he wants to put the puck. Zach Budish is at the top of the slot waiting. Haula plays with the puck until Brett Knowles gets close enough for Haula to send a backhand sauce pass to Budish for a catch and shoot shot to the lower left of the net past Stephon Williams who was partially screened when Brett Stern rotates out to Budish.
• • Nice play by Haula to bait Knowles into coming to get him.
  • Knowles doesn’t need to go get him there. Just stay in the passing lanes and keep good position. By committing to Haula, he forced everyone else to change their position on the kill.
• GOAL! – Zach Lehrke from Bryce Gervais and Jean-Paul LaFontaine at 12:59 of the 3rd period - The Mavericks break out of their zone with a pass to Jean-Paul LaFontaine at the left of the blue line. LaFontaine makes a pass to Bryce Gervais going up the middle of the neutral zone that Ben Marshall misses with a poke check attempt so Gervais gets a step on him and tries to get to the net. For some reason, Seth Helgeson also turns and chases Gervais instead of covering the trailing forward Zach Lehrke so Gervais takes a shot that rebounds off of Adam Wilcox right to Lehrke who shoots it into the net and the Mavericks are on the board! MAVERICKS 1-3!!!
• • Seth Helgeson is not good in panic situations. Trust your defensive partner every now and then and most of the time. That’s better than trying to help him out and leaving someone wide open for a rebound. DO YOUR JOB!!!
  • Zach Budish didn’t help out on the back check by coasting and watching Lehrke go to the net uncovered either!
  • • He wouldn’t have anyone to cover if Helgeson covers the guy he should though!
    • I wonder what it’s like in the film room watching these kinds of plays.
• GOAL! – Johnny McInnis from Matt Leitner & Chase Grant at 13:26 of the 3rd period - Matt Leitner curls around the right corner, skates towards the blue line and decides to take a shot on net. Chase Grant gets his stick on it but might’ve been too high. The puck goes toward the net where Johnny McInnis appears to punch it into the net or at least deflect it with his glove. The goal is under review!
• • Make that NO GOAL!!! Video highlights of this play is at the top of the post!
  • Johnny McInnis punched the puck into the net. Was it done on purpose? Does it matter? Can you deflect the puck into the net off of your glove?
  • • The puck can deflect off any part of you but you can’t deflect it into the net on purpose unless its with your stick or your skate.
  • McInnis is in the crease but he’s not keeping Adam Wilcox from having an attempt to make a save on the shot.
  • • That won’t keep it from being a goal! No harm, no foul!
  • Should it be high-sticking the puck off the tip from Chase Grant?
• Mavericks take a chance and pull the goalie with 3:46 left in the 3rd period down by 2 goals!
• GOAL! (EMPTY-NETTER) – Erik Haula from Kyle Rau at 16:28 of the 3rd period - The Gophers get the puck out of the zone and it goes down the left boards into the Maverick zone and Kyle Rau gets there to block the clearing attempt, gets possession and passes it up to Erik Haula, who had skated in the zone alongside him and when he saw Rau get possession, he went to the net, and Haula shoots it into the empty net for a 3-goal lead! GOPHERS 4-1!!!
• PENALTY – Bryce Gervais for Boarding on Ben Marshall at 18:08 of the 3rd period - Bryce Gervais goes in on the forecheck and hits Ben Marshall up high and from behind and the official calls him for boarding.

That’s another win for Gopher hockey! The Gophers came out with a little more battle and wanted to make up for losing last night and are now one point behind St. Cloud State for the WCHA conference lead! If the Gophers play like they want to win, they can beat any team on any night! No letdowns the rest of the season!

Gopher Hockey Recap from GopherSports.com - Gophers Take Down No. 14 Mavericks 4-1 for WCHA Split
Gopher Hockey Box Score from GopherSports.com - Minnesota-Minnesota State Stats
Gopher Hockey Recap from MSUMavericks.com - Mavericks Drop 4-1 Decision to Gophers in Mankato Saturday

In other WCHA College Hockey action tonight,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Nebraska-Omaha won @ Bemidji State 2-1 – Minnesota Wild 2011 5th-round pick Nick Seeler apparently had a Head-Butting Major & a Game Misconduct for Nebraska-Omaha in this game!
St. Cloud State tied North Dakota 2-2 in OT
Wisconsin won vs Alaska-Anchorage 2-1
and
Minnesota-Duluth won vs the US Under-18 Team 3-1 in Exhibition

In other College Hockey action,
Home=”vs”, Away=”@”
Notre Dame won vs Ferris State 5-2 – Minnesota Wild 2011 2nd-round pick Mario Lucia had a goal & 2 assists for Notre Dame
Niagara won vs RIT 6-4 – Minnesota Wild 2009 7th-round pick Anthony Hamburg had an assist on RIT’s 3rd goal
Penn State won @ Michigan State 3-2 – Former Gopher Max Gardiner had 2 assists for Penn State

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

You’ve Been ClutterPUCKED!!!

Gopher Hockey Notes at Minnesota State Mavericks – 1-26-2013 is a post from:

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

Let’s DROP THE CLUTTERPUCK!!!

1st Period

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

2nd Period

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

3rd Period

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

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

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

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

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

Gopher Hockey Notes vs Minnesota State Mavericks – 1-25-2013 is a post from: