The Gophers (13-3-3, 6-3-3 WCHA) beat Boston College (12-3-1, 9-2-1 Hockey East) 8-1 tonight at Mariucci Arena in front of 10,393. The victory was sweet for Gopher fans, who were left with a bitter taste in their mouth after being embarrassed by the Eagles in last years frozen four. This time it was the Gophers who did the embarrassing, defeating BC in the championship game of the Mariucci Classic hockey tournament.
Here is what I saw.
* First things first. Congratulations to Head Coach Jerry York of Boston College on his NCAA record 925th win yesterday versus Alabama-Birmingham. 926 will have to wait, though, because the Gophers just dominated his #1 ranked and defending National Champion Eagles!
* First couple of minutes of the game were pretty scary, and you kind of felt like it had the potential of being a blowout in the wrong direction. BC came out storming and had some good chances as they trapped the Gophers deep in their own end. The Eagles killed their own momentum when they took an ill advised cross checking penalty, which led to the first goal of the game by Nick Bjugstad. From there, Minnesota took advantage of their opportunities and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first.
* Adam Wilcox was sharp in the nets, giving up just one goal on 33 shots, and even chipped in with an assist. He let in one goal in two games, and was named tournament MVP.
* Erik Haula left the ice with an apparent injury to his hand. Talk was that he took a slash to the hand, although the Gophers would neither confirm or deny that.
* Don Lucia said earlier this week that, for the Gophers to be successful in the second half of the season, "our best players have to be our best players". He specifically pointed to Nate Condon, Zach Budish, Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad as having to contribute more on offense. He got that this weekend, and tonight in particular.
Nate Condon - 1 Goal
Zach Budish - 3 Assists
Kyle Rau - 2 Goals / 1 Assist
Nick Bjugstad - 2 Goals / 2 Assists
The All-Tournament team was a clean sweep by the Gophers:
F - Kyle Rau
F - Nick Bjugstad
F - Erik Haula
D - Jake Parenteau
D - Nate Schmidt
G - Adam Wilcox
Here are the post game comments:
Boston College Head Coach Jerry York:
Opening statement…. "First of all I'd like to thank all the Minnesota's that gave our team and myself a tremendous applause prior to the Saturday game. That was unexpected and a classy gesture I thought"
Regarding the game…. "They (Minnesota) were clearly a better team than we were tonight. I thought they were stronger and smarter with the puck and certainly deserved to win. Five power play goals, one short handed, it's certainly something we have to rectify. They moved the puck extremely well, and made some good plays, but that's a lot of power play goals to give up"
Adam Wilcox:
Regarding his teams play tonight…. "I know the whole hockey world was watching tonight. It puts our name on the board for down the road when they're doing the pairwise rankings
Our penalty kill was big for us. We worked on it all week. The guys were good at blocking shots and digging it out in the corners and getting it out. Kudos to them."
Regarding his play tonight…. "Yeah, I feel good. It's nice to have the D and forwards pumping in goals. It definitely gives me confidence. It's nice to be in a little groove"
Nick Bjugstad:
Regarding his play tonight…. "I had a slow start to the first half of the season, so it's good to get a new fresh start. I took advantage of the break, shot a few pucks and refocused. Personally, I thought I did well, and the whole team did well. It was there early, and we really wanted to crash the net"
Regarding the team's play tonight against #1 BC…. "Frozen four last year they kind of it took it to us. I think it was a pretty big stage tonight. It was a joy to play, and a good outcome for us. We didn't expect a blowout at all. We had some bounces, and they were going in for us tonight. Can't look past them, and we'll probably see them later in the season. I'm sure they'll regroup and get a lot better. After tonight we realized we have the scoring ability, and good goaltending. Our defense was blocking a lot of shots. I think that was the key to the game. We've got a good goalie, so I think if we can score some goals we've got a good year ahead of us"
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game tonight…. "It's just one of those nights that it went our way. We've all been in games like that where it all starts to break down, and pucks start to go on the net. Then the avalanche comes. It took a few minutes to adjust to their speed, their tenacity around the net, and their strength with their sticks. It's an outstanding team we beat. It's an outstanding program. To our credit, we're a better team when Bjugstad scores, when Rau scores, when Condon scores. I was anxious to watch how our team would play, and how Adam (Wilcox) would play. He obviously played very well. That has to be our foundation. I thought our D did a real good job tonight. This was an important win for us. We've only lost two games with Adam and only three all year long. This was important to end the year. We're 7-0 non-conference, which is great. I liked our team this weekend."
Regarding Haula…. "Yeah, he got dinged a little bit. We'll get evaluated tomorrow and see what the doctors say"
Regarding the first line…. "It's nice to see Bjugstad with a smile on his face after the game. I thought that they set the tone. Obviously Rau was very good tonight and tenacious around the net. I thought Condon had a strong weekend. Those are a few of the guys that had to elevate their play for us to go to another level as a team"
Regarding Nick Bjugstad…. "Well, he hit four or five pipes in the first half, and a few have gone in. Even when he's hitting those pipes, he's still going to get twenty plus goals this year when it's all said and done"
The Gophers will take on the Notre Dame FIghting Irish on Tuesday January 8th at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central), and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North PLUS.
Here is what I saw.
* First things first. Congratulations to Head Coach Jerry York of Boston College on his NCAA record 925th win yesterday versus Alabama-Birmingham. 926 will have to wait, though, because the Gophers just dominated his #1 ranked and defending National Champion Eagles!
* First couple of minutes of the game were pretty scary, and you kind of felt like it had the potential of being a blowout in the wrong direction. BC came out storming and had some good chances as they trapped the Gophers deep in their own end. The Eagles killed their own momentum when they took an ill advised cross checking penalty, which led to the first goal of the game by Nick Bjugstad. From there, Minnesota took advantage of their opportunities and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first.
* Adam Wilcox was sharp in the nets, giving up just one goal on 33 shots, and even chipped in with an assist. He let in one goal in two games, and was named tournament MVP.
* Erik Haula left the ice with an apparent injury to his hand. Talk was that he took a slash to the hand, although the Gophers would neither confirm or deny that.
* Don Lucia said earlier this week that, for the Gophers to be successful in the second half of the season, "our best players have to be our best players". He specifically pointed to Nate Condon, Zach Budish, Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad as having to contribute more on offense. He got that this weekend, and tonight in particular.
Nate Condon - 1 Goal
Zach Budish - 3 Assists
Kyle Rau - 2 Goals / 1 Assist
Nick Bjugstad - 2 Goals / 2 Assists
The All-Tournament team was a clean sweep by the Gophers:
F - Kyle Rau
F - Nick Bjugstad
F - Erik Haula
D - Jake Parenteau
D - Nate Schmidt
G - Adam Wilcox
Here are the post game comments:
Boston College Head Coach Jerry York:
Opening statement…. "First of all I'd like to thank all the Minnesota's that gave our team and myself a tremendous applause prior to the Saturday game. That was unexpected and a classy gesture I thought"
Regarding the game…. "They (Minnesota) were clearly a better team than we were tonight. I thought they were stronger and smarter with the puck and certainly deserved to win. Five power play goals, one short handed, it's certainly something we have to rectify. They moved the puck extremely well, and made some good plays, but that's a lot of power play goals to give up"
Adam Wilcox:
Regarding his teams play tonight…. "I know the whole hockey world was watching tonight. It puts our name on the board for down the road when they're doing the pairwise rankings
Our penalty kill was big for us. We worked on it all week. The guys were good at blocking shots and digging it out in the corners and getting it out. Kudos to them."
Regarding his play tonight…. "Yeah, I feel good. It's nice to have the D and forwards pumping in goals. It definitely gives me confidence. It's nice to be in a little groove"
Nick Bjugstad:
Regarding his play tonight…. "I had a slow start to the first half of the season, so it's good to get a new fresh start. I took advantage of the break, shot a few pucks and refocused. Personally, I thought I did well, and the whole team did well. It was there early, and we really wanted to crash the net"
Regarding the team's play tonight against #1 BC…. "Frozen four last year they kind of it took it to us. I think it was a pretty big stage tonight. It was a joy to play, and a good outcome for us. We didn't expect a blowout at all. We had some bounces, and they were going in for us tonight. Can't look past them, and we'll probably see them later in the season. I'm sure they'll regroup and get a lot better. After tonight we realized we have the scoring ability, and good goaltending. Our defense was blocking a lot of shots. I think that was the key to the game. We've got a good goalie, so I think if we can score some goals we've got a good year ahead of us"
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game tonight…. "It's just one of those nights that it went our way. We've all been in games like that where it all starts to break down, and pucks start to go on the net. Then the avalanche comes. It took a few minutes to adjust to their speed, their tenacity around the net, and their strength with their sticks. It's an outstanding team we beat. It's an outstanding program. To our credit, we're a better team when Bjugstad scores, when Rau scores, when Condon scores. I was anxious to watch how our team would play, and how Adam (Wilcox) would play. He obviously played very well. That has to be our foundation. I thought our D did a real good job tonight. This was an important win for us. We've only lost two games with Adam and only three all year long. This was important to end the year. We're 7-0 non-conference, which is great. I liked our team this weekend."
Regarding Haula…. "Yeah, he got dinged a little bit. We'll get evaluated tomorrow and see what the doctors say"
Regarding the first line…. "It's nice to see Bjugstad with a smile on his face after the game. I thought that they set the tone. Obviously Rau was very good tonight and tenacious around the net. I thought Condon had a strong weekend. Those are a few of the guys that had to elevate their play for us to go to another level as a team"
Regarding Nick Bjugstad…. "Well, he hit four or five pipes in the first half, and a few have gone in. Even when he's hitting those pipes, he's still going to get twenty plus goals this year when it's all said and done"
The Gophers will take on the Notre Dame FIghting Irish on Tuesday January 8th at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central), and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North PLUS.