The Gophers (8-0-2 B1G, 19-2-5 Overall) and Michigan State (2-5-3-3 B1G, 8-13-4 Overall) finished their two game series tonight, and their four game season series (2-0-2) with the Spartans, with a tight 1-0 win over MSU in front of 9,942 at Mariucci Arena. The win gives Minnesota the season series, and the Honeycrisp Trophy.
Here is what I saw.
- The Gophers celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the 1974 National Championship team, honoring those players tonight between the first and second periods. Herb Brooks coached that team, of course. Unable to attend was Buzz Schneider, who was in Kansas City for a 1980 Olympic Hockey Team event. Look for our interview with Buzz Schneider coming soon to Gopherhole.com
- Gophers came out hard, with no let up. The entire team looked like they found a new gear out there. They were playing so aggressively, that they had the Spartans running around, and running into each other, the entire first period. One of the best starts I can recall. It was really fun to watch. They played how Don Lucia has asked them to play. They blocked shots, they moved the puck out of their own end, and Adam Wilcox made the big saves when he needed to.
- The Reilly boys, Connor and Ryan, don’t play every game, but when they’re in there, they work their tails off. They play physical when they need to, and never seem to slow down. They’re what you might call pesky.
- Taylor Cammaratta has got eyes in the back of his head. He made a couple of impossible passes tonight to create scoring chances. I kind of liked him on a line with Kyle Rau and Hudson Fasching.
- Good game all around. There was very little in the way of dirty play, and only a handful of penalties called the entire game. A lot of offense from the Gophers, but a lot of defense from Michigan State. Seems like a lot of games go this way for Minnesota, and you’re always on the edge of your seat, hoping they can hang on. They dominate dominate dominate, but then the other team always seems to sneak out of their defensive shell just long enough when there’s an opportunity, to get that tying or winning goal. Not tonight, though.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game…. “It was a good hockey game. I like the way we played tonight. I thought it was hard fought, whistle to whistle. We had good energy tonight. We blocked shots and we played with good tempo and pace throughout the game. Adam didn’t have to make a lot of saves. That’s something we talked about. We’ve given up a lot of shots recently. We had to play better defensively, and take away more time and space. Getting Marsh (Ben Marshall) back in there, he had a real good game getting us out of the zone. Even though we only scored one, we had a lot of good quality chances tonight, so a much better game and effort from us. You gotta stay with it, you can’t get frustrated. We had a couple of pipes tonight, and we had some good clean looks. Even if we had lost tonight, I would have been disappointed, but not upset. The process is about how you’re playing, and tonight we played well”
Regarding the Michigan State season series…. “They’ve all been tight, and that’s what we expected. That was one of my messages today, I don’t care if it’s 1-0 or 2-1, whatever it takes, we’ve gotta find a way to win. It’s all about how well you play without the puck and defensively, and we did a much better job of that tonight”
Regarding the Defensive Corp…. “Getting Ben (Marshall) back in there, he had a lot of jump tonight. We could play him a lot of minutes, and the other guys played every third shift. They didn’t have to play the amount of minutes they did last night. I thought our Forwards did a better job tonight coming back and helping out in the defensive zone”
Regarding MSU Goaltender Jake Hildebrand…. “You look at the shots after the first period, and it’s 17-4, yet it’s only 1-0. And it stayed that way. He’s a good goaltender, and they do a good job of blocking shots. That’s how all four games have been with Michigan State, so we expected that today”
Regarding Hudson Fasching…. “Well, he’s been steady. And when he’s playing his big strong power hockey, which he’s done most of the year, that he’s very very affective for us. I thought all of the lines were affective. We put Cammy (Taylor Cammaratta) out there just because they play together on the power play. We wanted to get some other guys going while we’re without Tommy Serratore for another couple of weeks. All the lines did a really good job tonight. Izes (Christian Isackson) line, I thought, gave us some good energy, and some good offensive zone time too”
Kyle Rau:
Regarding his goal…. “I think it ramped up the goalies stick, and I think he batted it in. was just trying to get in front of the net and trying to score some goals here in the second half of the year. I thought we’d get more, but they’ve got a great goalie. We knew it was going to be a close game, though”
Regarding playing with Taylor Cammaratta…. “It was good. He’s a good player. You just gotta get open when he’s got the puck, because you know he’s looking to pass”
Regarding the game…. “The defense tightened up. Everyone knows their systems. We’re fortunate to have Coxy (Adam Wilcox) in net. We wanted to have a good quick start. It sucks playing from behind. So we wanted them to get behind, and see how it felt. At the end of the year, all of the games are close, so it’s good we have some resiliency. It’s good not to lose the three points, it’s good to pick up some every night”
Regarding Adam Wilcox…. “He’s a great goalie, we’re fortunate to have him on our team”
Regarding winning the Honeycrisp Trophy…. “It’s cool. It’s always fun having a trophy game on the line”
Adam Wilcox:
Regarding the game…. “Towards the end of the season, that’s how all of the games are gonna be. They’ll be low scoring. Defenses are going to tighten up. That’s gonna be everyone’s game plan, is Defense out. Michigan State has a good goalie, they have good shot blocking presence, they block over twenty shots a game, so we expected that. Last year we were a point away from winning the WCHA, and not tying St. Cloud State. We know that every point counts, especially in shootouts. One point can make a huge difference. We’ve gotta start getting those shootout points, even though it’s only one point. Towards the end of the season, it could be life or death for us. It was a huge first period. We haven’t had a first period like that in a while. I mean, you know we were rolling from the start, and we didn’t stop the entire sixty minutes. We ended up getting forty shots, and we had twenty in the first, so you could tell our game was on”
Regarding MSU Goaltender Jake Hildebrand…. “He’s the backbone of their team right now. They struggled at the beginning of the year, and he helped em out a bit. They get a lot of blocked shots, and I think that helps their team. It’s kind of their structure. That’s what everyone looks for going into a game, and they do a good job of that”
The Gophers will take on the Wisconsin Badgers next Thursday & Friday at the Kohl Center in Madison. Game time Thursday is 6:30 PM (Central), and Friday at 8:00 PM (Central). Both games will be broadcast on B1G Network.
Here is what I saw.
- The Gophers celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the 1974 National Championship team, honoring those players tonight between the first and second periods. Herb Brooks coached that team, of course. Unable to attend was Buzz Schneider, who was in Kansas City for a 1980 Olympic Hockey Team event. Look for our interview with Buzz Schneider coming soon to Gopherhole.com
- Gophers came out hard, with no let up. The entire team looked like they found a new gear out there. They were playing so aggressively, that they had the Spartans running around, and running into each other, the entire first period. One of the best starts I can recall. It was really fun to watch. They played how Don Lucia has asked them to play. They blocked shots, they moved the puck out of their own end, and Adam Wilcox made the big saves when he needed to.
- The Reilly boys, Connor and Ryan, don’t play every game, but when they’re in there, they work their tails off. They play physical when they need to, and never seem to slow down. They’re what you might call pesky.
- Taylor Cammaratta has got eyes in the back of his head. He made a couple of impossible passes tonight to create scoring chances. I kind of liked him on a line with Kyle Rau and Hudson Fasching.
- Good game all around. There was very little in the way of dirty play, and only a handful of penalties called the entire game. A lot of offense from the Gophers, but a lot of defense from Michigan State. Seems like a lot of games go this way for Minnesota, and you’re always on the edge of your seat, hoping they can hang on. They dominate dominate dominate, but then the other team always seems to sneak out of their defensive shell just long enough when there’s an opportunity, to get that tying or winning goal. Not tonight, though.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game…. “It was a good hockey game. I like the way we played tonight. I thought it was hard fought, whistle to whistle. We had good energy tonight. We blocked shots and we played with good tempo and pace throughout the game. Adam didn’t have to make a lot of saves. That’s something we talked about. We’ve given up a lot of shots recently. We had to play better defensively, and take away more time and space. Getting Marsh (Ben Marshall) back in there, he had a real good game getting us out of the zone. Even though we only scored one, we had a lot of good quality chances tonight, so a much better game and effort from us. You gotta stay with it, you can’t get frustrated. We had a couple of pipes tonight, and we had some good clean looks. Even if we had lost tonight, I would have been disappointed, but not upset. The process is about how you’re playing, and tonight we played well”
Regarding the Michigan State season series…. “They’ve all been tight, and that’s what we expected. That was one of my messages today, I don’t care if it’s 1-0 or 2-1, whatever it takes, we’ve gotta find a way to win. It’s all about how well you play without the puck and defensively, and we did a much better job of that tonight”
Regarding the Defensive Corp…. “Getting Ben (Marshall) back in there, he had a lot of jump tonight. We could play him a lot of minutes, and the other guys played every third shift. They didn’t have to play the amount of minutes they did last night. I thought our Forwards did a better job tonight coming back and helping out in the defensive zone”
Regarding MSU Goaltender Jake Hildebrand…. “You look at the shots after the first period, and it’s 17-4, yet it’s only 1-0. And it stayed that way. He’s a good goaltender, and they do a good job of blocking shots. That’s how all four games have been with Michigan State, so we expected that today”
Regarding Hudson Fasching…. “Well, he’s been steady. And when he’s playing his big strong power hockey, which he’s done most of the year, that he’s very very affective for us. I thought all of the lines were affective. We put Cammy (Taylor Cammaratta) out there just because they play together on the power play. We wanted to get some other guys going while we’re without Tommy Serratore for another couple of weeks. All the lines did a really good job tonight. Izes (Christian Isackson) line, I thought, gave us some good energy, and some good offensive zone time too”
Kyle Rau:
Regarding his goal…. “I think it ramped up the goalies stick, and I think he batted it in. was just trying to get in front of the net and trying to score some goals here in the second half of the year. I thought we’d get more, but they’ve got a great goalie. We knew it was going to be a close game, though”
Regarding playing with Taylor Cammaratta…. “It was good. He’s a good player. You just gotta get open when he’s got the puck, because you know he’s looking to pass”
Regarding the game…. “The defense tightened up. Everyone knows their systems. We’re fortunate to have Coxy (Adam Wilcox) in net. We wanted to have a good quick start. It sucks playing from behind. So we wanted them to get behind, and see how it felt. At the end of the year, all of the games are close, so it’s good we have some resiliency. It’s good not to lose the three points, it’s good to pick up some every night”
Regarding Adam Wilcox…. “He’s a great goalie, we’re fortunate to have him on our team”
Regarding winning the Honeycrisp Trophy…. “It’s cool. It’s always fun having a trophy game on the line”
Adam Wilcox:
Regarding the game…. “Towards the end of the season, that’s how all of the games are gonna be. They’ll be low scoring. Defenses are going to tighten up. That’s gonna be everyone’s game plan, is Defense out. Michigan State has a good goalie, they have good shot blocking presence, they block over twenty shots a game, so we expected that. Last year we were a point away from winning the WCHA, and not tying St. Cloud State. We know that every point counts, especially in shootouts. One point can make a huge difference. We’ve gotta start getting those shootout points, even though it’s only one point. Towards the end of the season, it could be life or death for us. It was a huge first period. We haven’t had a first period like that in a while. I mean, you know we were rolling from the start, and we didn’t stop the entire sixty minutes. We ended up getting forty shots, and we had twenty in the first, so you could tell our game was on”
Regarding MSU Goaltender Jake Hildebrand…. “He’s the backbone of their team right now. They struggled at the beginning of the year, and he helped em out a bit. They get a lot of blocked shots, and I think that helps their team. It’s kind of their structure. That’s what everyone looks for going into a game, and they do a good job of that”
The Gophers will take on the Wisconsin Badgers next Thursday & Friday at the Kohl Center in Madison. Game time Thursday is 6:30 PM (Central), and Friday at 8:00 PM (Central). Both games will be broadcast on B1G Network.
