The Minnesota Golden Gophers kicked off their 2013-14 regular season with a 6-0 blanking of the Mercyhurst Lakers in game 2 of the Ice Breaker Hockey Tournament, in front of 9196 at Mariucci Arena.
Here is what I saw.
Here are the post game comments:
Mercyhurst Head Coach Rick Gotkin:
Regarding the game… "Minnesota did not disappoint me, I thought they played very very well"
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game… "We did a lot of good things tonight. I thought the real turning point was Ambrosz goal. That gave us the two goal cushion, which allowed us to play with a little more confidence. Adam (Wilcox) looked sharp, and I think our Defense did a good job of getting the puck up the ice and out of our own end. Our specialty play was good, and we had contributions throughout our lineup. We got up and down the rink pretty good tonight, but tomorrow night we'll see how are conditioning is this early in the season"
Regarding balanced scoring… "The guys who scored tonight are guys we need to score. Rau, Warning and Ambrose scored, those are three of our returning guys. Those guys have to step up. They're going to get more ice time, they're going to get more opportunity, and they have to do something with that opportunity. Then we have to blend the younger guys in. I think this team is a little deeper than last year. I think we were a little thin last year up front. I think we have more depth up front. Last year we relied on a couple of lines to score. It won't be two or three guys that carry the scoring, I think you'll see a different guy carrying it every night. That has to be our team this year. We're not going to have two guys that are going to have twenty plus goals, and then everybody else gets seven or eight. I just think we're going to have a lot of guys in that eight to fifteen goal range, and that's what you've gotta have"
Regarding the Seth Ambrosz goal… "(Smiling) Ambrosz could probably do that a hundred times and I don't think that's going to happen again…he's not exactly twinkletoes out there"
Regarding concerns… "One area that was a concern was face-offs. We've got some new guys in there, and those face-offs are critical, especially when you're starting the penalty kill, because you're starting in your own zone. That's one are we have to improve on. That's just something we have to work on"
Regarding New Hampshire… "It will be a great test for us. They've got a great program, and were an NCAA quarterfinalist a year ago. They'll expose us a little bit more tomorrow, which is good for us this early in the year. We're going to play a team (UNH) that probably has better team speed than the one we saw tonight (Mercyhurst)"
Regarding his recovery after the Twin Cities Marathon last Sunday… "(Smiling) My legs feel good again… they turned a corner yesterday"
Sam Warning:
Regarding how he felt… "This whole week we've had conditioning after practice, so I felt pretty good"
Regarding balanced scoring… "I think we all have to step up. It was good to see three veterans score first"
Regarding Hudson Fasching… "He reminds me of (Zach) Budish, but he's got a little more hands to him. It's fun playing with Fasching, he's a good player"
The Gophers will take on New Hampshire tomorrow night in the Championship game of the Ice Breakers Tournament. UNH took care of Clarkson in the first game, 4-1. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North-PLUS.
Here is what I saw.
- Hat's off to the guy in the student section who shouted "Take your hat's off" just prior to the national anthem. I get tired of seeing adults who should know better talking, walking, on the phone or not taking their hat off during the national anthem, even after the public address announcer tells everyone to stand up and remove their hats. Have a little respect!
- And speaking of the student section, The Ice Box was full up, which was nice to see, especially for a non-conference game.
- The Gophers came right after Mercyhurst from the drop of the puck, with a high tempo attack. They crashed the net hard for rebounds, something I don't think we saw enough of last year.
- The young guys really impressed. Justin Kloos and Vinni Lettieri were involved in some beautiful offensive chances. Both creating those chances, and finishing them off.
- Adam Wilcox was never really tested tonight. A lot of Mercyhursts shots came from long range.
- Jake Parenteau was a physical presence, leveling a couple of big hits, including taking down Mercyhurst's 6'5" 200 pound winger Daniel O'Donoghue on a hit that they were both ready for. He flattened another Mercyhurst player on the same shift.
- I don't want to jinx anyone, but I really appreciated these not-WCHA officials. They made a couple of mistakes, and missed a couple of calls, but for the most part, they called a great game. When a Mercyhurst player jumped on the puck just outside the crease, they actually called a penalty. I felt like WCHA officials would not have made those kinds of obvious calls. Neither coach ever got riled up, the fans never had much to complain about, and the players seemed good with the officiating. Usually when the officials suck, the players get frustrated, and they take it out on each other. The game only got chippy maybe once or twice. I think that's a reflection of a well officiated game.
- Only negatives I really saw were a couple of sloppy plays at the offensive blue line that led to breakaways for Mercyhurst. One chance was was created by a Seth Ambrosz turnover, but was turned back with a little help from a teammate. The other turnover led to a tripping penalty against Justin Holl. If either had led to a goal, it may have changed the complexion of the game.
Here are the post game comments:
Mercyhurst Head Coach Rick Gotkin:
Regarding the game… "Minnesota did not disappoint me, I thought they played very very well"
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game… "We did a lot of good things tonight. I thought the real turning point was Ambrosz goal. That gave us the two goal cushion, which allowed us to play with a little more confidence. Adam (Wilcox) looked sharp, and I think our Defense did a good job of getting the puck up the ice and out of our own end. Our specialty play was good, and we had contributions throughout our lineup. We got up and down the rink pretty good tonight, but tomorrow night we'll see how are conditioning is this early in the season"
Regarding balanced scoring… "The guys who scored tonight are guys we need to score. Rau, Warning and Ambrose scored, those are three of our returning guys. Those guys have to step up. They're going to get more ice time, they're going to get more opportunity, and they have to do something with that opportunity. Then we have to blend the younger guys in. I think this team is a little deeper than last year. I think we were a little thin last year up front. I think we have more depth up front. Last year we relied on a couple of lines to score. It won't be two or three guys that carry the scoring, I think you'll see a different guy carrying it every night. That has to be our team this year. We're not going to have two guys that are going to have twenty plus goals, and then everybody else gets seven or eight. I just think we're going to have a lot of guys in that eight to fifteen goal range, and that's what you've gotta have"
Regarding the Seth Ambrosz goal… "(Smiling) Ambrosz could probably do that a hundred times and I don't think that's going to happen again…he's not exactly twinkletoes out there"
Regarding concerns… "One area that was a concern was face-offs. We've got some new guys in there, and those face-offs are critical, especially when you're starting the penalty kill, because you're starting in your own zone. That's one are we have to improve on. That's just something we have to work on"
Regarding New Hampshire… "It will be a great test for us. They've got a great program, and were an NCAA quarterfinalist a year ago. They'll expose us a little bit more tomorrow, which is good for us this early in the year. We're going to play a team (UNH) that probably has better team speed than the one we saw tonight (Mercyhurst)"
Regarding his recovery after the Twin Cities Marathon last Sunday… "(Smiling) My legs feel good again… they turned a corner yesterday"
Sam Warning:
Regarding how he felt… "This whole week we've had conditioning after practice, so I felt pretty good"
Regarding balanced scoring… "I think we all have to step up. It was good to see three veterans score first"
Regarding Hudson Fasching… "He reminds me of (Zach) Budish, but he's got a little more hands to him. It's fun playing with Fasching, he's a good player"
The Gophers will take on New Hampshire tomorrow night in the Championship game of the Ice Breakers Tournament. UNH took care of Clarkson in the first game, 4-1. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North-PLUS.
