The #1 ranked Golden Gophers (14-3-3, 6-3-3 WCHA) hosted the #2/3 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-5-0, 10-1-0 CCHA) tonight at Mariucci Arena in front of 10,021, in an out of the ordinary Tuesday night matchup of the top two teams in college hockey.
Here is what I saw.
*The game saw the second father-son matchup in less than two weeks, when Mario Lucia led Notre Dame into Mariucci to take on his dad's Gophers. Just over a week ago it was Tom Serratore taking on his father Frank, who is head coach of the Air Force Falcons, and the Gophers beat in the first game of the Mariucci Classic by a final score of 4-0. The Gopher sides of both families will have bragging rights after Don's team beat Mario's team.
*This was the first game back for Notre Dame's Mario Lucia and Gopher Mike Reilly after returning from Russia with gold in the World Juniors. Reilly took his first shift at Left Wing and then dropped back to Defense on the power play. Mario took a beating from 3 different Gophers on his first shift and then coughed one up right in front of his own net on his second. Fortunately for him, it didn't hurt his team. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't much of a factor in the game.
*Adam Wilcox was a difference maker again. Didn't get a ton of shots, but had some challenging one's, including a breakaway, which he of course stopped. In a tight game like this one, a couple of big stops can mean the difference between a win and a loss. If he let's in that breakaway, suddenly the score is 3-2 and Notre Dame has momentum.
*Kyle Rau could have shot the puck at the empty net, but instead he passed it over to teammate Zach Budish sliding up the middle, and Budish put it in. Unselfish play by a total team player.
*The Gophers power play struggled without Erik Haula quarterbacking at the point. Mike Reilly took the place of Haula on the blue line during the man advantage, but it just wasn't clicking. Minnesota was 0-6 on the power play for the game.
*Tonight's Goldy was junk. How can we have a Goldy for Gopher Hockey that can't skate, has no rhythm, and kept smacking a disintegrating stick on the ice in between the 2nd and 3rd periods. The start of the 3rd had to be delayed while the Officials cleaned up shards of stick from center ice all the way down to the corner of the ice. Was first string Goldy not available??
Here are the post game comments:
Nate Condon
Regarding his thoughts on the game… "It was real defensive. Notre Dame didn't give us a lot of opportunities, so we needed to execute when we could. They shut us down, and we shut them down. We had a good defensive game too"
Regarding beating two top teams in a row… "I think it proves that everyone came back from the break ready to play. That little off stretch seemed to help us a lot. Everyone's coming back and playing their A-game right now. The big talk for us has been that we lost to Notre Dame last year, and we lost to BC. The main thing is redeeming all of the games last year that we gave up"
Regarding what this game meant to Don Lucia… "I'm sure it meant a lot to him. Last year my Brother played on Notre Dame. I didn't want to have to listen to it, and I ended up having to for a year"
Regarding his early goal… "Before the game the Coach showed us a stat, that we haven't lost a game where we've scored first. So it was good for us to come out and score that early goal"
Regarding scoring from 2nd & 3rd line guys… "It's big. Anytime you get scoring out of multiple lines it's going to be a lot easier on us. Bjuger's (Nick Bjugstad) line struggled a bit tonight. They didn't get the bounces they needed. Luckily our line had a good night and put some in the net"
Regarding playing Center tonight… "I grew up playing Center, so it's kind of natural for me to play it. I can use a lot more speed at Center because you can swing and get your speed going"
Zach Budish
Regarding his thoughts on the game… "We knew Notre Dame was a quality opponent. It was important that we limit our turnovers and didn't beat ourselves. We managed the puck and had some guys step up and score goals. It was nice getting Mike Reilly back, coming back from Russia. I think our team came out and put up a solid sixty minutes"
Regarding the upcoming WCHA schedule… "It's huge. Starting with Alaska this weekend coming into our rink. We've got a couple of games in hand, but we're in sixth place in the standings in a twelve team league, so we've gotta start winning games. We'll enjoy this one tonight, but start getting ready for Alaska tomorrow"
Regarding playing on a line with Nate Condon… "I've played with him in the past. It was nice for (Sam) Warning and I practicing with him all week last week. We got six or seven practices together, and we've got some chemistry from the past. You know, they're both great players, and fast guys, so it was tough for me to keep up. I'm just trying to get them the puck"
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding his thoughts on the game… "It was a good win for us. We knew going in they hadn't played before Christmas, that was our advantage. The first ten minutes, that was an important part of the game when we scored a couple of goals and played with a lead. I think Nate Condon did a good job in replacing Erik (Haula) between (Zach) Budish and (Sam) Warning. We knew we had to play a patient game, and having that early lead, it allowed us to play more patient. We didn't give up a whole lot defensively tonight. There was no easy ice tonight. It was just that type of game. Having a lead let us not worry so much about offense. We didn't want to play a racehorse game against them. You look at both teams defensively, neither gives up much. Before tonight I don't think they had given up more than two goals in a game more than twice. When we got to three, I figured that was going to be critical. I think some of our guys looked sluggish tonight, like they didn't have great legs. So I think we'll give our guys tomorrow off. Maybe all that extra practicing could be counterproductive a little bit too"
Regarding Adam Wilcox… "I don't think he had a lot of saves tonight, but it's that key one. I think it was 3-1 when that guy comes in all alone. It was a two goal game at that point, and all of a sudden that can change it, but he makes the save. That's what he's been able to do for us. When we do have a breakdown he's there to make the critical save at that important juncture in a game"
Regarding getting scoring from other sources… "(Christian) Isackson made a nice play, we had him centering the fourth line when he scored that goal. (Sam) Warning is starting to score. You know he missed that month with an injury, and he's a guy that has a good shot and we've seen him score a lot. We've just gotta get him shooting more. Nate (Condon) is starting to put the puck in the net. He's a key guy for us. We know we won't have Erik (Haula) this weekend, so we've gotta make some big adjustments on the power play. I thought that the power play was very disjointed tonight. Some of that was a credit to Notre Dame, they're a very good penalty killing team. We ended up getting a couple a few seconds after the power play, I guess, but that's an area we've gotta get better at this weekend"
Regarding Nate Condon… "I was not really worried about that. He skates so well, and he's been a Center his whole life before he got here. We needed him at Left Wing and I figured that would be an easy transition for him in Erik's (Haula) absence. I think (Nate) Condon did a nice job against (T.J.) Tynan"
Regarding Erik Haula… "We're hoping he'll be back next weekend. We don't know for sure. We'll see if he's back at practice around Tuesday or Wednesday"
Regarding the upcoming WCHA schedule… "The last two games with BC and Notre Dame, two high quality wins, that's gonna help us at the end. But now we've gotta get back into the league. We've got a very difficult league schedule in the second half. It's a short week of preparation for Alaska-Anchorage, and we have to make sure we come focused and ready to go on Friday"
Regarding playing on a Tuesday… "It's a little bit different, but we knew we were going to have a good turnout against a great opponent. They (Notre Dame) play the game the right way, and I think it was a good game for our fans to see"
Regarding the Gophers honoring him before the game for his 600th win… "That was nice. I didn't want to do it, but then I got grief from my wife when I got home. They had this plan, and they wanted to wait until everybody was back in town before they did the 600. It was nice, it turned out great. My whole family's back in town, which is great, it doesn't happen that much anymore. I'm looking forward to sitting down with everybody and having our late Christmas tomorrow night"
The Gophers will take on the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves this weekend at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 8:00 PM (Central) on Friday night, and 7:00 PM (Central) on Saturday. The games will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network Friday, and Fox Sports North on Saturday.
Here is what I saw.
*The game saw the second father-son matchup in less than two weeks, when Mario Lucia led Notre Dame into Mariucci to take on his dad's Gophers. Just over a week ago it was Tom Serratore taking on his father Frank, who is head coach of the Air Force Falcons, and the Gophers beat in the first game of the Mariucci Classic by a final score of 4-0. The Gopher sides of both families will have bragging rights after Don's team beat Mario's team.
*This was the first game back for Notre Dame's Mario Lucia and Gopher Mike Reilly after returning from Russia with gold in the World Juniors. Reilly took his first shift at Left Wing and then dropped back to Defense on the power play. Mario took a beating from 3 different Gophers on his first shift and then coughed one up right in front of his own net on his second. Fortunately for him, it didn't hurt his team. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't much of a factor in the game.
*Adam Wilcox was a difference maker again. Didn't get a ton of shots, but had some challenging one's, including a breakaway, which he of course stopped. In a tight game like this one, a couple of big stops can mean the difference between a win and a loss. If he let's in that breakaway, suddenly the score is 3-2 and Notre Dame has momentum.
*Kyle Rau could have shot the puck at the empty net, but instead he passed it over to teammate Zach Budish sliding up the middle, and Budish put it in. Unselfish play by a total team player.
*The Gophers power play struggled without Erik Haula quarterbacking at the point. Mike Reilly took the place of Haula on the blue line during the man advantage, but it just wasn't clicking. Minnesota was 0-6 on the power play for the game.
*Tonight's Goldy was junk. How can we have a Goldy for Gopher Hockey that can't skate, has no rhythm, and kept smacking a disintegrating stick on the ice in between the 2nd and 3rd periods. The start of the 3rd had to be delayed while the Officials cleaned up shards of stick from center ice all the way down to the corner of the ice. Was first string Goldy not available??
Here are the post game comments:
Nate Condon
Regarding his thoughts on the game… "It was real defensive. Notre Dame didn't give us a lot of opportunities, so we needed to execute when we could. They shut us down, and we shut them down. We had a good defensive game too"
Regarding beating two top teams in a row… "I think it proves that everyone came back from the break ready to play. That little off stretch seemed to help us a lot. Everyone's coming back and playing their A-game right now. The big talk for us has been that we lost to Notre Dame last year, and we lost to BC. The main thing is redeeming all of the games last year that we gave up"
Regarding what this game meant to Don Lucia… "I'm sure it meant a lot to him. Last year my Brother played on Notre Dame. I didn't want to have to listen to it, and I ended up having to for a year"
Regarding his early goal… "Before the game the Coach showed us a stat, that we haven't lost a game where we've scored first. So it was good for us to come out and score that early goal"
Regarding scoring from 2nd & 3rd line guys… "It's big. Anytime you get scoring out of multiple lines it's going to be a lot easier on us. Bjuger's (Nick Bjugstad) line struggled a bit tonight. They didn't get the bounces they needed. Luckily our line had a good night and put some in the net"
Regarding playing Center tonight… "I grew up playing Center, so it's kind of natural for me to play it. I can use a lot more speed at Center because you can swing and get your speed going"
Zach Budish
Regarding his thoughts on the game… "We knew Notre Dame was a quality opponent. It was important that we limit our turnovers and didn't beat ourselves. We managed the puck and had some guys step up and score goals. It was nice getting Mike Reilly back, coming back from Russia. I think our team came out and put up a solid sixty minutes"
Regarding the upcoming WCHA schedule… "It's huge. Starting with Alaska this weekend coming into our rink. We've got a couple of games in hand, but we're in sixth place in the standings in a twelve team league, so we've gotta start winning games. We'll enjoy this one tonight, but start getting ready for Alaska tomorrow"
Regarding playing on a line with Nate Condon… "I've played with him in the past. It was nice for (Sam) Warning and I practicing with him all week last week. We got six or seven practices together, and we've got some chemistry from the past. You know, they're both great players, and fast guys, so it was tough for me to keep up. I'm just trying to get them the puck"
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding his thoughts on the game… "It was a good win for us. We knew going in they hadn't played before Christmas, that was our advantage. The first ten minutes, that was an important part of the game when we scored a couple of goals and played with a lead. I think Nate Condon did a good job in replacing Erik (Haula) between (Zach) Budish and (Sam) Warning. We knew we had to play a patient game, and having that early lead, it allowed us to play more patient. We didn't give up a whole lot defensively tonight. There was no easy ice tonight. It was just that type of game. Having a lead let us not worry so much about offense. We didn't want to play a racehorse game against them. You look at both teams defensively, neither gives up much. Before tonight I don't think they had given up more than two goals in a game more than twice. When we got to three, I figured that was going to be critical. I think some of our guys looked sluggish tonight, like they didn't have great legs. So I think we'll give our guys tomorrow off. Maybe all that extra practicing could be counterproductive a little bit too"
Regarding Adam Wilcox… "I don't think he had a lot of saves tonight, but it's that key one. I think it was 3-1 when that guy comes in all alone. It was a two goal game at that point, and all of a sudden that can change it, but he makes the save. That's what he's been able to do for us. When we do have a breakdown he's there to make the critical save at that important juncture in a game"
Regarding getting scoring from other sources… "(Christian) Isackson made a nice play, we had him centering the fourth line when he scored that goal. (Sam) Warning is starting to score. You know he missed that month with an injury, and he's a guy that has a good shot and we've seen him score a lot. We've just gotta get him shooting more. Nate (Condon) is starting to put the puck in the net. He's a key guy for us. We know we won't have Erik (Haula) this weekend, so we've gotta make some big adjustments on the power play. I thought that the power play was very disjointed tonight. Some of that was a credit to Notre Dame, they're a very good penalty killing team. We ended up getting a couple a few seconds after the power play, I guess, but that's an area we've gotta get better at this weekend"
Regarding Nate Condon… "I was not really worried about that. He skates so well, and he's been a Center his whole life before he got here. We needed him at Left Wing and I figured that would be an easy transition for him in Erik's (Haula) absence. I think (Nate) Condon did a nice job against (T.J.) Tynan"
Regarding Erik Haula… "We're hoping he'll be back next weekend. We don't know for sure. We'll see if he's back at practice around Tuesday or Wednesday"
Regarding the upcoming WCHA schedule… "The last two games with BC and Notre Dame, two high quality wins, that's gonna help us at the end. But now we've gotta get back into the league. We've got a very difficult league schedule in the second half. It's a short week of preparation for Alaska-Anchorage, and we have to make sure we come focused and ready to go on Friday"
Regarding playing on a Tuesday… "It's a little bit different, but we knew we were going to have a good turnout against a great opponent. They (Notre Dame) play the game the right way, and I think it was a good game for our fans to see"
Regarding the Gophers honoring him before the game for his 600th win… "That was nice. I didn't want to do it, but then I got grief from my wife when I got home. They had this plan, and they wanted to wait until everybody was back in town before they did the 600. It was nice, it turned out great. My whole family's back in town, which is great, it doesn't happen that much anymore. I'm looking forward to sitting down with everybody and having our late Christmas tomorrow night"
The Gophers will take on the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves this weekend at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 8:00 PM (Central) on Friday night, and 7:00 PM (Central) on Saturday. The games will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network Friday, and Fox Sports North on Saturday.