Bounce Back Night Earns WCHA Split For Gophers

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The Gophers (17-4-4, 9-4-4 WCHA) traveled to Mankato on Saturday after losing a tight one to MSU-Mankato (16-8-3, 10-8-1 WCHA) on Friday night at Mariucci Arena. Saturday night in front of 5,134 at Verizon Wireless Center, Minnesota got the job done, bouncing back with a 4-1 win over the Mavericks.

Here is what I saw.

* You have to visit smaller programs like MSU-Mankato and St Cloud State to really appreciate what we have at the U of M. Mariucci Arena, Goldy, the Cheerleaders, THE INTERNET CONNECTION, The Ice Box, the scoreboard & ribbon board, the band…everything. We're very fortunate to have what we have at Mariucci. Despite my occasional complaints about second hand Goldy, replacement Public Address Announcers, and fill in bands during winter break, we have the best all around program in College Hockey.

* Gophers capitalized on the opportunities they were given. Justin Holl converted on the turnover and subsequent breakaway it created early, we got power play goals from Nate Schmidt & Zach Budish, and an empty netter by Erik Haula to seal the victory.

* Speaking of Justin Holl, it was nice to see him get a goal, even though it was initially waived off. When I saw the play live, I thought it went in after the net had been knocked off. But when I saw a replay (peeking over the FSN guys shoulder at their monitor in the TV booth below) from overhead, I thought there was no question it was a good goal. Then when I saw the replay a second time, it looked like it went in off Holl's skate or shin pad, and I thought they might call it no goal for that reason, even though there was no attempt at directing it in intentionally. But in the end, justice prevailed, and it was called a good goal. Perhaps the Officials were informed that Holl hadn't had a goal in 42 games, and that was the deciding factor??

* Minnesota got back to using the same recipe for success, unselfish team first play. They blocked a ton of shots, communicated better, and protected their net. Kyle Rau, the epitome of unselfish play, gave away another empty net opportunity in the third period when he slid the puck up to Erik Haula, who put it in. But it took an accurate pass from Rau, and Haula fighting off the MSU defender with a bad hand, to get it in. It wasn't as easy as it looked. That's the second time in the last few games that Rau has given up a likely empty net goal to a teammate. And communication was one thing that Coach Lucia stressed as being a problem in Friday nights loss. Saturday night the communication was there, both verbally and in there gesturing to each other.

* It seems like Jake Paranteau's sole purpose as a forward is to play the wrecking ball, throwing himself into the opposing team. I'm sure he doesn't mind the contact, and actually invites it. He did throw a couple of big hits, which do benefit the team overall. He also mis-hit a shot at an open net, a shot that the MSU goalkeeper Stephon Williams dove and stopped with his glove. A play that no doubt Paranteau would like to have another stab at, but a goal that maybe, just maybe, someone with a scorers touch may have converted. I think he's a real good Defenseman, and would like to see him back on the blue line on a permanent basis. I know it's crowded back there though.

* Being a homer, I usually have a problem with the Officiating at Gopher games, but I thought they did a pretty good job this weekend. They let the players play for the most part, but still managed to keep order (that's order, not odor) on the ice. When things got chippy in the first period, they threw a bunch of guys in the box. After that, they called a couple of border line penalties on hard hits just to show the players and coaches that they were going to be calling a tight game. They also got the plays that they reviewed right. Holl's goal was a good goal, and the goal that MSU's Johnny McInnis punched in with his hand while standing in the crease was a good no goal. If they'd have counted that goal, they would have changed the momentum of the game to MSU-Mankato, since they had just scored about a minute before that on a legitimate goal. There is nothing worse than a bad call turning the momentum of the game, and/or costing a team a game. That didn't happen this weekend.

Here are the post game comments:


Zach Budish:

Regarding the game… "We knew we had to get the win here tonight, especially going into a bye weekend. We came out and got those first two goals, and I think we really started to play our game then"

Regarding the success of the power play… "I think the biggest thing is last night we didn't get it into the zone. Just getting in the zone, we work it around well. Puck bounced out to Schmidty (Nate Schmidt) and he was able to put it in the back of the net, then Erik (Haula) gave me a good pass in the slot and I was able to put it in the back of the net as well. I think we moved the puck around a little better. We were crisp with our passes and we were able to get in the zone a lot quicker, which gave us more in-zone time. I think we were clicking tonight"

Regarding the bye week… "It'll be nice to probably get a couple of days off and then have a good week of practice. We'll get back to the basics, work on our systems, get back to details of our game that we need to improve on, and then get ready for St. Cloud the following week"

Regarding their place in the standings… "I think we're in a good position. The WCHA is pretty tight right now. I think there's four points between the top six teams, or something like that. It's big for us to get a win tonight, and you know it will be huge up in St. Cloud because they're neck and neck with us right now"

Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:

Regarding the game… "I thought our willingness to sacrifice our body a little bit was much better tonight, shot blocking. We didn't want to go down and take a knee last night and when you're not doing those things, you're not boxing out and doing those areas of your game, and that was much better tonight. The willingness to block shots, the willingness to box out in front of Adam (Wilcox), get sticks up, and scrums in front of our net, we were much sharper, much better. It was extremely important. You gotta get points every weekend. We got five straight on the road against good quality opponents, so it's great to start the first one on the road with a win"

Regarding the success of the power play… "Our entry was so poor last night. In the third period last night it was 'it's your turn to go turn it over at the blue line'. I think it was four straight times, and that just kind of summed up our night. We scored a couple of key goals on the power play tonight"

Regarding the bye week… "It will give us an opportunity to work on some things that we don't spend much time on like a pulled goalie situation, or more five on three power plays, things like that. We want to get a good week of work in. We have an important series when we come back against St. Cloud, so we want to make sure our guys are rested and fresh. I think it was a good time (for a bye week), from a mental standpoint. I think it gives us ten games when we come back, as we march into the playoffs. I do think it comes at a good time. Erik (Haula) should be one hundred percent with the two weeks. I give him a lot of credit for playing the last couple of weeks because he certainly wasn't at one hundred percent. But that's Erik, he's done that more than once here"

Regarding where the team can make improvements… "The consistency. I think there are four or five guys that can play a little bit better than what they've played. I think some guys dug in better tonight than they have in a while. But we just have to get better, we have to continue to grow as a team. I think that's the most important thing. Hopefully we can stay healthy, and we have to make sure that we're ready to go on a Friday-Saturday, but also give them the proper rest so we make sure we're mentally fresh too"

Regarding Justin Holl… "Justin (Holl) has been a great team guy this year moving up to forward. WIth the depth on our back end, we felt he'd be more valuable there this year, and he's starting to come on. We started (Travis) Boyd's line on purpose tonight because I thought they were our best line last night and created the most opportunities. We wanted to reward them. It was nice to see Justin finally get rewarded, because he's had a lot of close calls in his attempt to score"

The Gophers will take on the St. Cloud State Huskies the weekend after next in St. Cloud at the National Hockey Center. Game time is 7:30 PM (Central) on Friday, and 7:00 PM (Central) on Saturday. Both games will be broadcast on Fox Sports North PLUS.
 




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