It feels a little strange to say this, but, the Gophers (0-0-0 B1G, 7-1-1 Overall) and Minnesota State (2-2-0 WCHA, 4-5-0 Overall) met tonight at Mariucci, in a non-conference matchup of these two former WCHA rivals. Attendance was announced at 9697, but it looked to me like a lot of those corporate stiffs didn’t show up… AGAIN!
Here is what I saw…
* Hey, corporate stiffs, give your tickets to someone who cares about the Gophers, if you’re not going to bother to show up!
* Everything seemed to be clicking tonight. Passes were tape to tape. Lot’s of good, hard, but clean hits. Gophers out-hit, out-skated, and out-worked the Mavericks. The Gophers even connected on a couple of behind the back passes. Usually, I’m not much of a fan of those, because they usually don’t work. But they were effective tonight.
* The Gophers did have a few hits tonight that I immediately turned to look for the Referee, assuming one or the other would have their hand in the air to signal a penalty, but nothing. I complain about the officiating all the time (like any good “homer” would), but thought I’d question whether they missed a couple for the Gophers this time.
* Minnesota dominated the face-off circle, which Don Lucia has stated is critical if they are going to be successful. The team had 30 face-off win’s to Minnesota State’s 14.
* Taylor Cammarata is a bit of an enigma. He has kind of an unusual skating style (at times it looks as though he’s trying to hold a handful of quarters in his butt cheeks), and seems to shy away from even the slightest hint of physical play. But he’s a scorer. He scores a lot, and he always has. He’s got 9 points (3 goals & 6 assists) in 9 games so far this year, quietly putting himself near the top of the team in points.
* Minnesota State apparently figured out late in the game how to take away Wilcox vision in front of the net, as shot after shot either whizzed past the net, hit someone in front, or hit Wilcox before he ever reacted. Hopefully that doesn’t carry over to Saturday night.
Here is what I learned…
Tweeting about my feigned concern over a girl from the ice crew shoveling the crease with only one hand on the shovel during a timeout, makes some people mad.
Here are the post game comments...
Minnesota State Head Coach Mike Hastings:
Regarding the game…. “I think they (Minnesota) carried the pace, they carried the play. They’re too good of a hockey team to give a lead to. I thought we played passive. They’re too good to give time and space. They can make you pay for it. I don’t think we did enough to eliminate that”
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game…. “We probably won the game in the first half, first couple of periods. Getting that 3-0 lead, I thought we did a good job of playing with speed. At times we got a little over selective with the puck, and the last ten minutes we showed a little of our youth tonight. That’s to be expected. Minnesota State is a very good team, they kept coming, and brought it right down to the wire”
Regarding special teams…. “We got the one goal, which is good. We can still do a better job of not turning pucks over on the power play, that gets us in trouble. We were a plus one on special teams, and that’s a step in the right direction”
Regarding Adam Wilcox…. “Yeah”, Adam played very well. I don’t know who did the three stars tonight, but how he wasn’t the first star, I don’t know”
Regarding the Reilly brothers…. “First time since the Potulny’s in ’04 that two brothers scored in the same game. Good for Connor. We put him on the power play because he’s willing to shoot. Mike made a nice play on his goal as well”
Regarding Nate Condon…. "We got some good production from some guys. I think (Nate) Condon and (Justin) Kloos had really good games tonight, and that line was very involved. I thought throughout our lineup we played pretty well, especially for fifty minutes, then our all play wasn’t real good at the end of the game. He (Condon) played with tremendous pace tonight. He and Kloos are so fast”
Adam Wilcox:
Regarding the game…. “Those are always fun (big saves). Get’s the crowd into it. Especially at the end there. You gotta throw a leg or a glove out there, and just make sure it hits ya”
Regarding special teams…. “We worked on it this week, and did some different things. We moved some new players in. I thought Connor did really well over there on the flank. He’s got a really good shot. Last year it was our bread and butter. There was only a few games where we actually lost the special teams battle. So I think if we can get that on track, it will pan out and give us a huge boost, and win some games“
Regarding fellow South St. Paul alum Palmquist scoring against him late in the game…. “It always happens. No surprise. Last weekend my best friend Sam Herr (Notre Dame) got a goal. They find the wide open puck, with the wide open net…you know, get the best chance of the game. You gotta laugh it off. As long as you get the win, you can joke about it after the game”
Mike Reilly:
Regarding his brother Connors goal…. “It was awesome. Reminds me of the old days”
Regarding his goal…. “I didn’t even see it go in. I don’t know how it went in. It was big going into the second period, carrying momentum”
Regarding special teams…. “It was good. I think our power play finally started to click. We had good zone entry, a lot better than games past. That’s something that they’ve been hounding us about. I think we got some momentum out of it”
Connor Reilly:
Regarding his goal…. “I broke about a twenty month goalless streak today, so it felt pretty good. It was huge to get a win. Coach said he was going to give me some power play time, and I tried to make the most of it. I was telling myself that if I get a one timer, I was going to shoot as hard as I can, and get it up. Luckily, (Sam) Warning gave me a great pass. If I’m going to be given a chance on the power play, I’m really going to have to produce and earn my spot there”
Regarding him and his brother scoring a goal in the same game…. “Scoring a goal in the same game in a place like this is unbelievable, especially at this high of a level. It’s just good to help the team out”
Regarding being back on the ice after last years injury…. “It was pretty miserable to be honest. It’s not easy sitting in the stands eating popcorn next to your parents when your teammates are out there competing. But, I felt like I was going to come back stronger. I’m not quite where I want to be yet. But, I’m just trying to help the team right now, and get better every day. I still have a little ways to go to get back to where I was”
The Gophers will take on the Mavericks again tomorrow night at Mariucci. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central), with the game broadcast on Fox Sports North-PLUS.
Here is what I saw…
* Hey, corporate stiffs, give your tickets to someone who cares about the Gophers, if you’re not going to bother to show up!
* Everything seemed to be clicking tonight. Passes were tape to tape. Lot’s of good, hard, but clean hits. Gophers out-hit, out-skated, and out-worked the Mavericks. The Gophers even connected on a couple of behind the back passes. Usually, I’m not much of a fan of those, because they usually don’t work. But they were effective tonight.
* The Gophers did have a few hits tonight that I immediately turned to look for the Referee, assuming one or the other would have their hand in the air to signal a penalty, but nothing. I complain about the officiating all the time (like any good “homer” would), but thought I’d question whether they missed a couple for the Gophers this time.
* Minnesota dominated the face-off circle, which Don Lucia has stated is critical if they are going to be successful. The team had 30 face-off win’s to Minnesota State’s 14.
* Taylor Cammarata is a bit of an enigma. He has kind of an unusual skating style (at times it looks as though he’s trying to hold a handful of quarters in his butt cheeks), and seems to shy away from even the slightest hint of physical play. But he’s a scorer. He scores a lot, and he always has. He’s got 9 points (3 goals & 6 assists) in 9 games so far this year, quietly putting himself near the top of the team in points.
* Minnesota State apparently figured out late in the game how to take away Wilcox vision in front of the net, as shot after shot either whizzed past the net, hit someone in front, or hit Wilcox before he ever reacted. Hopefully that doesn’t carry over to Saturday night.
Here is what I learned…
Tweeting about my feigned concern over a girl from the ice crew shoveling the crease with only one hand on the shovel during a timeout, makes some people mad.
Here are the post game comments...
Minnesota State Head Coach Mike Hastings:
Regarding the game…. “I think they (Minnesota) carried the pace, they carried the play. They’re too good of a hockey team to give a lead to. I thought we played passive. They’re too good to give time and space. They can make you pay for it. I don’t think we did enough to eliminate that”
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game…. “We probably won the game in the first half, first couple of periods. Getting that 3-0 lead, I thought we did a good job of playing with speed. At times we got a little over selective with the puck, and the last ten minutes we showed a little of our youth tonight. That’s to be expected. Minnesota State is a very good team, they kept coming, and brought it right down to the wire”
Regarding special teams…. “We got the one goal, which is good. We can still do a better job of not turning pucks over on the power play, that gets us in trouble. We were a plus one on special teams, and that’s a step in the right direction”
Regarding Adam Wilcox…. “Yeah”, Adam played very well. I don’t know who did the three stars tonight, but how he wasn’t the first star, I don’t know”
Regarding the Reilly brothers…. “First time since the Potulny’s in ’04 that two brothers scored in the same game. Good for Connor. We put him on the power play because he’s willing to shoot. Mike made a nice play on his goal as well”
Regarding Nate Condon…. "We got some good production from some guys. I think (Nate) Condon and (Justin) Kloos had really good games tonight, and that line was very involved. I thought throughout our lineup we played pretty well, especially for fifty minutes, then our all play wasn’t real good at the end of the game. He (Condon) played with tremendous pace tonight. He and Kloos are so fast”
Adam Wilcox:
Regarding the game…. “Those are always fun (big saves). Get’s the crowd into it. Especially at the end there. You gotta throw a leg or a glove out there, and just make sure it hits ya”
Regarding special teams…. “We worked on it this week, and did some different things. We moved some new players in. I thought Connor did really well over there on the flank. He’s got a really good shot. Last year it was our bread and butter. There was only a few games where we actually lost the special teams battle. So I think if we can get that on track, it will pan out and give us a huge boost, and win some games“
Regarding fellow South St. Paul alum Palmquist scoring against him late in the game…. “It always happens. No surprise. Last weekend my best friend Sam Herr (Notre Dame) got a goal. They find the wide open puck, with the wide open net…you know, get the best chance of the game. You gotta laugh it off. As long as you get the win, you can joke about it after the game”
Mike Reilly:
Regarding his brother Connors goal…. “It was awesome. Reminds me of the old days”
Regarding his goal…. “I didn’t even see it go in. I don’t know how it went in. It was big going into the second period, carrying momentum”
Regarding special teams…. “It was good. I think our power play finally started to click. We had good zone entry, a lot better than games past. That’s something that they’ve been hounding us about. I think we got some momentum out of it”
Connor Reilly:
Regarding his goal…. “I broke about a twenty month goalless streak today, so it felt pretty good. It was huge to get a win. Coach said he was going to give me some power play time, and I tried to make the most of it. I was telling myself that if I get a one timer, I was going to shoot as hard as I can, and get it up. Luckily, (Sam) Warning gave me a great pass. If I’m going to be given a chance on the power play, I’m really going to have to produce and earn my spot there”
Regarding him and his brother scoring a goal in the same game…. “Scoring a goal in the same game in a place like this is unbelievable, especially at this high of a level. It’s just good to help the team out”
Regarding being back on the ice after last years injury…. “It was pretty miserable to be honest. It’s not easy sitting in the stands eating popcorn next to your parents when your teammates are out there competing. But, I felt like I was going to come back stronger. I’m not quite where I want to be yet. But, I’m just trying to help the team right now, and get better every day. I still have a little ways to go to get back to where I was”
The Gophers will take on the Mavericks again tomorrow night at Mariucci. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central), with the game broadcast on Fox Sports North-PLUS.