Another vibrant part of Minnesota’s hockey heritage is its strong college hockey tradition. With Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State and University of Minnesota-Duluth and the “Minnesota’s Pride on Ice” the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The state also has a rich tradition of Division III programs; some of whom climbed the ladder to become division I programs like Bemidji State, Minnesota State and St. Cloud State. Minnesota also boasts a plethora of division III programs like St. John’s, St. Thomas, St. Olaf, Augsburg, St. Mary’s, Hamline, Gustavus Adolphus, Bethel, Concordia (St. Paul) are the more likely destination for many of Minnesota’s high school talent than the NHL is. I remember going to the “old barn” that was the original Mariucci Arena when I was a kid.
Minnesota has had an up and down season which has become remarkably routine for the team that is normally accustomed to being amongst the top programs in the nation. No team in NCAA hockey comes close to having as many of its players drafted by NHL teams with 19 of its 28 players as do the Golden Gophers. This fact is well-known to Gopher fans and it certainly does nothing to reduce expectations of the team. Gophers Head Coach Don Lucia has felt the heat from the press and some have questioned whether a coaching change is needed. That’s partly what you expect when your coach of the most visible college program in the State of Hockey, the expectations will naturally be pretty high. Meanwhile, Denver is having another solid season despite boasting far less NHL drafted players (9 out of 27) than Minnesota. Denver Head Coach George Gwozdecky has reloaded after losing his top 3 scorers from a season ago and a big reason for the Pioneers staying strong has been the play of Wild prospect and Denver freshman Jason Zucker. Zucker put on a show last night, showing his outstanding speed in setting up a goal and scoring the game winning goal. Will Minnesota be able to use a little Hockey Day Minnesota magic to earn a win or will the Pioneers earn the sweep?
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Minnesota Golden Gophers (11-12-4) ~ Currently 8th in the WCHA
Vs.
Denver Pioneers (18-6-5) ~ Currently 1st in the WCHA
1st Period Thoughts: After having watched the two high school games on the deteriorating ice of Moorhead the increase in speed of college hockey on quality ice was pretty dramatic. I thought the Gophers were in big trouble early when Beau Bennett threaded a pass to Dustin Jackson who turned his skate to direct it by Kent Patterson. Luckily for the Gophers, WCHA officials Chris Olson and Tony Czech decided that Jackson kicked it in. I have to admit I am not sure I agree with that, but he certainly changed the orientation of the skate to redirect the puck into the goal. The Gophers would strike back, as Jacob Cepis, the Parma, Ohio-native would use his diminutive frame to protect the puck, turn and fling a shot on goal that beat Sam Brittain to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead. With the Mariucci crowd into the game the Gophers struck again as Taylor Mattson found some space and he ripped a wrist shot by Brittain to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead. The goals had the bench going and the team was really flying all over the ice, but they’d get a little carried away as Nick Bjugstad tripped up Drew Shore. The Gophers penalty kill was rock solid, forcing the Pioneers to settle for shots from the perimeter. As the penalty expired Nate Condon stole the puck and dished it to Mark Alt who delivered a perfect long range pass to Bjugstad who had left the box and the Florida 1st round pick raced in and beat Brittain with a quick wrist shot to put the Gophers up 3-0 and the crowd and bench were ecstatic. Moments later, New Jersey Devils 2nd rounder Mike Hoeffel nearly added another goal when his shot rang off the crossbar. The confidence was great to see and it was as if Minnesota managed to exercise some demons with the solid period where they managed to find the back of the net. I really liked the way the Erik Haula moved on the ice, he seemed to have flash and dash in the way a player sometimes has when they’ve had their confidence restored. I also saw the Pioneers use Jason Zucker at the point and he looked reasonable there, although I think his speed could be more useful from the halfwall.
2nd Period Thoughts: Minnesota continued where they left off as they would add to their lead early as Erik Haula flung a wrist shot that eluded Sam Brittain and no sooner did the puck find the twine, Brittain skated to his bench and the Pioneers put Adam Murray between the pipes. The Gophers continued to pour it on, and Denver started to get frustrated and take some costly penalties. Minnesota would make them pay after some good persistent cycling of the puck between Cepis and Haula before he swung a pass to Cade Fairchild who threaded a perfect pass down to Mike Hoeffel who redirected it perfectly by Murray. The Gophers had an amazing shift from its fourth line of Nate Schmidt, Joe Miller and Tom Serratore who just confounded the Pioneers with an outstanding shift where they kept Denver bottled up in its zone for over a minute. The effort drew an appreciative cheer from the home crowd. Denver senior Jon Cook defenseman maliciously checked Jake Parenteau from behind, where he was a little worse for the wear but the officials stepped in and gave him the 5-minute checking from behind penalty and a 10-minute game misconduct. Again the Gophers were very efficient on the power play, before Cade Fairchild’s slapper somehow beat Murray without the benefit of deflection or a screen and just like it was 6-0 Minnesota. Denver tried to strike back as Jerrod Mermis fired a shot off the rush that was stopped by Patterson who was still looking focused despite the game being well in hand. Zucker would have a late attempt that would start a small war of words and a few shoves as the Gophers Seth Helgeson tried to move him away from Patterson after a stop. Its refreshing to see the Gophers feeling comfortable at this point in a game against a quality opponent.
3rd Period Thoughts: Predictably the game got real chippy in the 3rd period. Denver was continuing to skate and trying to get back a few goals more for pride than anything else and Beau Bennett would beat Kent Patterson on a goal that was extremely weak. Patterson must’ve fallen a sleep because Bennett’s shot did not have a tremendous amount of velocity, there was no redirection or screen but it beat him cleanly. With the Gophers up 6-1, the game took an even uglier turn after a save by Adam Murray as Denver’s freshman defenseman David Makowski started throwing punches at Minnesota’s Nick Jensen. Jensen would attempt to go after Makowski. Both of those players would earn game disqualifications for fighting which means they will not be able to play next week Friday. It was pure stupidity and pointless. Helgeson for the Gophers and Mermis for Denver also received penalties and when it was all added up the Pioneers were on the power play. Denver would capitalize right away as Chris Knowlton banged a shot through Patterson to cut the Minnesota lead to 6-2. Minnesota would answer back about a minute later when Patrick White scored a pretty goal off the rush; just his 2nd of the year for the senior and former 1st round pick of the Vancouver Canucks. Yikes. Denver would score one more time on the power play, as Moorhead’s John Lee wired a shot from the point that beat Patterson blocker side to make it a 7-3 game. It was an ugly finish for more than just the pointless roughing penalties down the stretch. The Gophers really relaxed and their performance on the penalty kill was pathetic. They’ll need to be a lot better if they hope to make some sort of last second run in the WCHA with the hope of earning a bearth in the NCAA Tournament.
It was a Gophers win but the 3rd period sort of leaves a bad taste in your mouth. It was both irresponsible and very sloppy. Good teams can finish out blowouts like this but not lose their focus. The Gophers played as if it didn’t matter and lacked focus and the result was they gave up 3 goals. Minnesota will have its work cut out for it next week when they head to the Kohl Center to take on the Badgers. They better be VERY focused and also keep a close shadow on Jordy Murray because at this point Minnesota needs every win it can get.
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