Gophers Beat Canisius: What We Learned

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Gophers Beat Canisius: What We Learned
By Thom Wynn

Game summary: Gophers passed crisply, were strong on their skates, and communicated better on the ice than they have been. They looked much more confident, and made better choices. Having Rau back in the lineup had a big impact. He scored the only goal of the game, had a couple of partial breakaway attempts, and was hassling Canisius all night in his usual manner. He also dangerously threw himself in front of a slap shot on the penalty kill, a shot which otherwise would have likely posed a challenge to Adam Wilcox in goal. Canisius effectively packed it in in front of their own net on defense, and generally didn't take many chances on offense, until the last minute or so of the game when they pulled their goalie.

Post game commentary….

Don Lucia

Regarding the low scoring game: I'm not that surprised by the 1-0 score. When you look at what they've done this year, how well their goalie has played, and how they keep four guys back, I knew goals were not going to come easy. Sometimes you get frustrated when you look up and you've only got one goal on thirty shots. But sometimes you have to grind out a win. We had some good looks, and some rebounds, but we just couldn't get that second goal to create some separation. As a coach you start to get some anxiety, because the other team gets that one break and you have a tie game.

Regarding the Goaltending situation: I like the way Adam (Wilcox) responded. Not the easiest game to play not seeing any pucks, and then you see a pretty good chance. Obviously, he made a big save at the end of the game. I think both Goalies have done some pretty good things, and both have played well. We'll have to do some evaluating and make a decision this week. We have to decide if we want to continue to rotate, or if we want to rethink who plays Friday night versus Saturday night.

Regarding Wilcox style of play: Well, he's confident out there, and aggressive. That's just the way he plays.

In general: I think we got pretty good play out of all four lines, and our Defense was strong. But we've gotta get better. I think we played OK this weekend. Obviously, had we scored a couple more goals, we'd be looking at this weekend a little bit different. We have to get some consistency, because we're going to be getting into the conference schedule. We're going to have to see if we want to reconfigure some things for next weekend, depending on our health.

Adam Wilcox

Regarding the low shot total for Canisius: It's easy to lose focus in a game like this when you don't get a lot of shots, but once that puck gets on your side of the red line, you have to get refocused. The way the team plays in front of me makes a lot of difference in how I look in goal.

Regarding confidence as a Freshman: I've learned that you don't want to give any signs of weakness. Playing two years of Juniors helped, of course, especially with the high amounts of shots I saw. Also, I know I have a good team in front of me, which definitely helps.

On his aggressive playing style: I like to get out there and play the puck, especially in a game like this when you're not getting a lot of shots. But our defense is so good, I figure I better leave it for them so they can break it out, especially when they're breaking it out as well as they did tonight.

On getting a chance to play: I was hoping to get a lot of ice time, but anywhere you go at this level you're going to be competing for the job. I think competition is a good thing. There's always room for improvement.
 




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