The #2 Gophers (21-7-5, 13-7-5 WCHA) and #10 Denver Pioneers (17-10-5, 12-8-5 WCHA) went at it tonight at Mariucci Arena in front of 10,094. In a frustrating game, Minnesota lost to Denver 1-0, giving up the game winning goal eighteen seconds into the third period, when a rebound went off a Denver players skate, and into the net.
Here is what I saw.
* Gophers got better as the game went on offensively, but ran into a hot goaltender in Denver's Juho Olkinuora. The defense was sleepwalking in the third period, giving up a couple of breakaways through sheer laziness and lack of communication. Players were just looking at each other as the Denver players swooped in and took the puck in on goal. Minnesota has made a habit the last few weekends of starting slow, and getting better as the game goes on. It has not been a recipe for success. They have gutted some of those games out, but most have been fortunate ties or losses.
* Denver just played a better game than the Gophers. Period. DU took advantage of their opportunities, blocked a ton of shots, out-hustled Minnesota, and Olkinuora was remarkable in net. He made everything look effortless.
* Despite the fact that Don Lucia said earlier in the week that it seemed like the Gophers averaged about forty or fifty shots against DU every time they played them, Minnesota had only four shots on net in the first period. Gophers just couldn't get a shot through. Of the twelve shots they attempted, seven were blocked, and only one shot missed the net. That included two power play opportunities. Gophers need to figure out how to get more shots through to the net.
* I know I've been pretty critical of the play of Mike Reilly and Brady Skjei this year, but they've actually leveled out nicely. Reilly has had quite a few good looking offensive rushes, and Skjei has gotten more productive physically, meaning he's throwing the body around effectively.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game… "When you get outshot 8-2 on your own power play on the night, it's not going to be your night. I thought we had a good week of practice. We had low energy right from the get go. We only had two or three shots fifteen minutes into the game. Denver's a good team, but we didn't give ourselves a chance to win with the way we played tonight. Give Denver credit, they played a good game plan. There wasn't much flow to the game. It was kind of a boring game. And when you're on the road, that's the kind of game you like. They made the play to start the third period. They threw it at the goaltender, and it went off a guys foot and in. We gave up one, and that should be enough. But when you can't do anything offensively, and you turn pucks over all night long, this is what you get"
Regarding the top line not being on the same page… "They weren't in the same area code. For our top couple of lines, I thought our three's and four's had better energy, and more effort tonight than our top. I've said it all year, that we haven't really had a game where we weren't very good. Tonight we did. If you don't play hard, and win your one on one battles, you don't get in, and you just get frustrated. And you don't get anything going. Lesson"
Regarding how he handled the team after the game… "They got an earful. They may not feel better, but I do. I'm agitated. I'm really disappointed. I don't get on them very often. Playing hard is a given. That has to be a foundation every night. Hopefully when you're playing hard you're executing. And there's some nights where you play hard and you don't execute. That's gonna happen. But when you get outshot 8-2 on your own power play, that sums it up. We've done a lot of good things, and had a good year in many ways. Your identity is forged in what you do in March. Certainly as a team, this is the critical month. The calendar turned. We talked about it all week long. I made the comment "who's known as Mr. October?", and everyone knew the answer. It's Reggie Jackson. You gotta have big players step up this time of the year"
Regarding tomorrow night… "We've just gotta play with a lot more desperation than we did tonight. We have to be better. We've gotta coach better, we've gotta play better. It's on all of us. It's on our players, it's on all of us. It was one of those games when there wasn't much going on. I'm just very very surprised"
Zach Budish:
Regarding the power play… "Our power play is horrible. Our first unit, we didn't even get set up for the most part, other than that last one. We got it set up for a little bit, but just no quality chances"
Regarding the game… "We're embarrassed. We deserved to get boo'd tonight. Top to bottom, we just weren't good. We've gotta come back tomorrow, bounce back, and try to get a split. I thought we had a good week of practice leading up to today. We weren't getting pucks to the net, and forwards weren't getting to the net to create second chances. I felt there were a couple of rebounds out there to be had, and our guys just weren't there to capitalize on them"
Regarding the importance of this game… "Going into tonight we had four regular season games left. It's the month of March. Games get tighter in the month of March. It's pretty much playoff hockey from here on out. We've gotta figure it out pretty quick here, come back tomorrow and regroup. We'll watch some film in the morning. It's up to us as players to make sure we're ready to go, play the full sixty minutes, and create more offense. I think we'll respond. It's up to us as captains and leaders of this team. It's our last regular season home game, so we want to send out Helgie (Seth Helgeson) on a good note for Senior Night. We've just gotta find a way to respond and beat a good Denver team"
The Gophers will take on the Pioneers at Mariucci Arena again tomorrow night. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.
Here is what I saw.
* Gophers got better as the game went on offensively, but ran into a hot goaltender in Denver's Juho Olkinuora. The defense was sleepwalking in the third period, giving up a couple of breakaways through sheer laziness and lack of communication. Players were just looking at each other as the Denver players swooped in and took the puck in on goal. Minnesota has made a habit the last few weekends of starting slow, and getting better as the game goes on. It has not been a recipe for success. They have gutted some of those games out, but most have been fortunate ties or losses.
* Denver just played a better game than the Gophers. Period. DU took advantage of their opportunities, blocked a ton of shots, out-hustled Minnesota, and Olkinuora was remarkable in net. He made everything look effortless.
* Despite the fact that Don Lucia said earlier in the week that it seemed like the Gophers averaged about forty or fifty shots against DU every time they played them, Minnesota had only four shots on net in the first period. Gophers just couldn't get a shot through. Of the twelve shots they attempted, seven were blocked, and only one shot missed the net. That included two power play opportunities. Gophers need to figure out how to get more shots through to the net.
* I know I've been pretty critical of the play of Mike Reilly and Brady Skjei this year, but they've actually leveled out nicely. Reilly has had quite a few good looking offensive rushes, and Skjei has gotten more productive physically, meaning he's throwing the body around effectively.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game… "When you get outshot 8-2 on your own power play on the night, it's not going to be your night. I thought we had a good week of practice. We had low energy right from the get go. We only had two or three shots fifteen minutes into the game. Denver's a good team, but we didn't give ourselves a chance to win with the way we played tonight. Give Denver credit, they played a good game plan. There wasn't much flow to the game. It was kind of a boring game. And when you're on the road, that's the kind of game you like. They made the play to start the third period. They threw it at the goaltender, and it went off a guys foot and in. We gave up one, and that should be enough. But when you can't do anything offensively, and you turn pucks over all night long, this is what you get"
Regarding the top line not being on the same page… "They weren't in the same area code. For our top couple of lines, I thought our three's and four's had better energy, and more effort tonight than our top. I've said it all year, that we haven't really had a game where we weren't very good. Tonight we did. If you don't play hard, and win your one on one battles, you don't get in, and you just get frustrated. And you don't get anything going. Lesson"
Regarding how he handled the team after the game… "They got an earful. They may not feel better, but I do. I'm agitated. I'm really disappointed. I don't get on them very often. Playing hard is a given. That has to be a foundation every night. Hopefully when you're playing hard you're executing. And there's some nights where you play hard and you don't execute. That's gonna happen. But when you get outshot 8-2 on your own power play, that sums it up. We've done a lot of good things, and had a good year in many ways. Your identity is forged in what you do in March. Certainly as a team, this is the critical month. The calendar turned. We talked about it all week long. I made the comment "who's known as Mr. October?", and everyone knew the answer. It's Reggie Jackson. You gotta have big players step up this time of the year"
Regarding tomorrow night… "We've just gotta play with a lot more desperation than we did tonight. We have to be better. We've gotta coach better, we've gotta play better. It's on all of us. It's on our players, it's on all of us. It was one of those games when there wasn't much going on. I'm just very very surprised"
Zach Budish:
Regarding the power play… "Our power play is horrible. Our first unit, we didn't even get set up for the most part, other than that last one. We got it set up for a little bit, but just no quality chances"
Regarding the game… "We're embarrassed. We deserved to get boo'd tonight. Top to bottom, we just weren't good. We've gotta come back tomorrow, bounce back, and try to get a split. I thought we had a good week of practice leading up to today. We weren't getting pucks to the net, and forwards weren't getting to the net to create second chances. I felt there were a couple of rebounds out there to be had, and our guys just weren't there to capitalize on them"
Regarding the importance of this game… "Going into tonight we had four regular season games left. It's the month of March. Games get tighter in the month of March. It's pretty much playoff hockey from here on out. We've gotta figure it out pretty quick here, come back tomorrow and regroup. We'll watch some film in the morning. It's up to us as players to make sure we're ready to go, play the full sixty minutes, and create more offense. I think we'll respond. It's up to us as captains and leaders of this team. It's our last regular season home game, so we want to send out Helgie (Seth Helgeson) on a good note for Senior Night. We've just gotta find a way to respond and beat a good Denver team"
The Gophers will take on the Pioneers at Mariucci Arena again tomorrow night. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.