Beaver Recap and a Chance to Shut Boston Up

Kyle Rau scores against BC last season at Mariucci

Welcome back to week three of your recap on everything Gopher Hockey, and a look ahead to this weekend.  The Gophers did not find much resistance in sliding past the Beavers of Bemidji State last weekend.  This weekend the Gopher will have their toughest test of the season as they will host the fifth ranked Eagles of Boston College.

The Gophers continued their successful start to their season with a series sweep of the Beavers in Bemidji.  The Gophers had to deal with a physical Beaver squad to pull away late in the third period to win 6-3 Friday night, and then had a bit easier of a time in winning 5-1 Saturday.

Bemidji jumped out in front less than four minutes into the game Friday night as Danny Mattson scored on the power play. However, the Gophers did not waste any time as Travis Boyd scored 61 seconds later to knot the game at 1.  Ben Marshall added a power play goal for the Gophers later in the first and they took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.  The two teams traded goals in the second period with Sam Warning tallying for the Gophers as they took a 3-2 lead into the third period.  After freshman Hudson Fasching banged home a rebound for his second goal of the season to put Minnesota up 4-2 less than a minute into the third, it appeared like the Gophers were going to ease into a victory.  However, Bemidji had other thoughts, as all-name team member Radoslav Illo ripped a power play shot from the point to once again bring the Beavers within one goal.  Once again, the Gophers immediately responded, as Senior captain Nate Condon scored his first goal of the season 52 seconds later to put Minnesota up 5-3.  Connor Reilly would add an empty netter late and Minnesota took a hard fought 6-3 victory.


In Saturday night's rematch once again the Beavers struck first.  Jeff Jubinville struck just 2:37 into the game staking Bemidji to a 1-0 lead.  The Gophers took almost a period to respond to a much more physical Beaver squad in the second game of the weekend.  Warning scored his second of the weekend late in the first to send the game to the first intermission knotted at 1.  The Gophers would add two more in the second period as Taylor Cammarata scored his first collegiate goal on a rebound of a wide shot off the back boards and right onto his stick midway through the period.  Three minutes later Warning added his third of the weekend to make the score 3-1.  Mike Reilly and Justin Kloos would add goals in the third, and the Gophers cruised to a 5-1 victory and the sweep.

Sam Warning whose three goals and two assists on the weekend led the way was named the Big Ten's #1 Star of the Week.  He is tied for the NCAA lead in points so far this season with 9.  In two career games against Boston College Warning is tied for the team lead with Kyle Rau with 3 points each, and both will have to play very well this weekend in what will be by far the toughest task for the Gophers so far this season. Kloos was also rewarded by the Big Ten for his five point weekend with the #3 Star of the Week.  

In non game related news this week, Christian Horn, a Junior forward from Benilde St Margaret's,  who had yet to play for the Gophers in his first two seasons left the program to go play in the USHL.  There is a possibility Horn could rejoin the team next year, but it is more likely he will go to a different team similar to what Max Gardner did when he left the Gopher program four years ago to go back to the USHL for the season.  Gardner will see his former teammates later this season as he is now the Senior captain for Penn State.

On to this weeks series: Take Boston Down a Peg!

The national poll voters once again were impressed with the Gophers performance (and coupled with previous #1 Miami of Ohio splitting with the evil Whioux, and #2 Wisconsin getting absolutely slaughtered in Boston by BC Friday night 9-2 and BU Saturday night 7-3)  Minnesota moved from #3 to #1 in both national polls this week.  They welcome in the #5 ranked Boston College Eagles to Mariucci Arena for a two game series this weekend Friday night, and Sunday afternoon after taking Saturday off for the MN/Nebraska football game.

The Gophers played Boston College once last season in the Championship Game of the Mariucci Classic.  The Gophers came into that game ranked #4 in the nation and BC was #1.  The Gophers jumped all over the Eagles scoring three goals in the first period and cruising to a 8-1 victory.  Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad both had two goals for the Gophers. The Gophers were enacting a bit of revenge on BC who ended Minnesota's season in 2012 with a 6-1 thrashing of the Gophers in the NCAA Frozen Four Semifinals.  BC would go on to win the National Championship that season. 

Boston College last weekend only played one game, hosting Wisconsin Friday night.  The Eagles absolutely destroyed the Badgers.  BC scored four goals in the first period in a span of four an a half minutes enroute to a 9-2 victory.  Junior Johnny Gaudreau added three points to go over the 100 career point milestone.  He is the biggest threat for the Eagles.  Fast, small, and able to score at will Gaudreau will be a tough task for a Gopher defense that has looked penetrable at times to keep contained this weekend.  Boston College will play two goalies this weekend, as it appears Freshman Thatcher Demko will play Friday night, and Junior Brian Billett will play on Sunday.  Demko is 1-0 after getting the win over RPI during the first weekend of the season. Billett is 1-1 after the victory over Wisconsin and was in goal for BC's lone loss of the season in their season opener at Michigan.  The Wolverines won 3-1 beginning a string of games in the Inaugural Big Ten/ Hockey East Challenge.  Eleven different teams are playing in thirteen games to determine the conference winner.  Unfortunately for the Big Ten with only the MN/BC series remaining, Hockey East is winning 9-4. 

The Gophers will look to build off of last season's thrashing of the Eagles this weekend.  While Minnesota leads the all-time series 15-12-2, Boston College is 6-1 in their last seven games against the Gophers. However, the Gophers have an all-time record of 9-1 against BC in Mariucci Arena, so something will have to give this weekend.  It is going to be a true test for a young Gopher squad.  Adam Wilcox will have to have a great weekend for the Gophers in goal to get a sweep.  Unfortunately, I don't see it all coming together ads BC is a very good team, and the Gophers are due for a not so good performance. I see the Gophers winning 5-4 Friday night and losing 5-2 on Sunday. Friday night's game will begin at 7:00 and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.  Sunday afternoon's game will start at 1:10 and be on FSN.

Boston College Notable Names:

#9 Brendon Silk (Son of 1980 Olympian Dave Silk) So-F
#14 Adam Gilmour (Son of NHL player Doug Gilmour) FR-F
#17 Destry Straight Jr-F
#30 Thatcher Demko FR-G

Here's What They Are Saying on Twitter:

Pretty slow week with everyone in Boston watching the Red Sox and not the Eagles...

My grandma just said "why don't you just go play hockey at Boston College" #WhyDidntIThinkOfThat
— Matt Robinson (@MattRob19) October 22, 2013

Yes...why didn't you think of that??

Hockey Banter, Week II: On To The Next Rodent #wearebc http://t.co/usJRxcgpSf
— BC Interruption (@bcinterruption) October 22, 2013

 

Something tells me these rodents will put up more of a fight...

 

  The Girls of BC:

 

Icebreaker recap + We're about to go on a Beaver Hunt!

Welcome back to your weekly recap on everything Gopher Hockey.  Hopefully some of you are return customers and not random people trolling for shaved ladybits.

The Gophers began their season last weekend on a high note by winning the Icebreaker Classic at Mariucci Arena.  The Gophers kicked off their season with a 6-0 plastering of Mercyhurst on Friday, and followed that up with a 3-2 come from behind win over New Hampshire on Saturday night.

The Gophers got on the board first Friday night as junior captain Kyle Rau put away a rebound on the power play.  They added three additional tallies in the second as Seth Ambroz scored what may go down as the goal of the season in the first game of the year.  Ambroz ripped a shot off the right goalpost, and caught the carom in midair, dropped the puck and swatted it between his legs in midair off the back of the Mercyhurst goalie and into the net.  Trust me, it looked a hell of a lot cooler then I described it...in fact take a look:

 

With thanks from @GoAUpher on twitter

Junior wing Sam Warning added his first of the weekend as did freshman Justin Kloos to make it 4-0 after two periods.  In the third, Mike Reilly and Micheal Brodzinski added goals to round out the 6-0 final.  Adam Wilcox picked up the fourth shutout of his career.

In Saturday night's game against #12 New Hampshire, the Gophers fell behind for the first time on the season when the Wildcat's Eric Knodel scored on the power play less than 30 seconds into the second period.  The Gophers responded back quickly as Hudson Fasching, a freshman from Apple Valley scored his first goal in the maroon and gold.  New Hampshire responded, scoring their second goal with about 9 minutes left in the second period, and once again the Gophers had to strike from behind.   Warning scored his second goal on the weekend after a Gopher flurry of activity in front of the Wildcat net a minute later to tie the game at two.    With just over two minutes left in the second, the Gophers got another freshman, Vinni Letttieri on the score sheet as he came from behind the net to the left faceoff circle, spun around and pushed his shot past New Hampshire goalie Casey DeSmith.  Wilcox and the Gopher defense held, and the Gophers collected the hardware with a 3-2 victory.  Warning was named the MVP of the tournament, and was joined on the all tournament team by Rau, Fasching, and Wilcox. The Big Ten also named Warning their second star of the week, and Rau their third star.
Of some concern is the Gopher power play which after going 2-6 in the Friday night game went 0-6 against the Wildcats.  This is something that will need to change as the Gopher's opponents continue to improve.   Both of New Hampshire's goals also came on the power play Saturday night, so Minnesota cannot be happy with its non 5 on 5 play Saturday.

On to this weeks series: Shave the Beavers!

The national poll voters were impressed with the Gophers performance (and aghast at preseason #1 UMass-Lowell losing to the worst team in the NCAA in 2012-13, Sacred Heart) as Minnesota moved from #5 to #3 in both national polls this week.  They will make their first road trip of the season this week as they hop onto the busses for a ride up to the Sanford Center and a series with the Bemidji State Beavers.

The Gophers played the Beavers four times last season.  The first two games ended the WCHA regular season in Bemidji as Minnesota swept the series by 4-3 and 5-1 scores.  The Gopher win on Saturday, coupled with St Cloud State's 3-2 loss to Wisconsin clinched the Gophers tie of the top spot in the WCHA.   The teams met the next weekend in Minneapolis in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs as once again the Gophers swept the Beavers by scores of 2-1 and 4-3.

Bemidji State and St Cloud State played a series in St Cloud last weekend, with the Huskies winning 3-2 on Friday and the teams skating to a 2-2 tie on Saturday.  The Beavers are still in what is left of the WCHA this season, and the coaches in the league predicted them to finish in seventh place.  Junior goalie Andrew Walsh played both games last weekend, and is expected to play both games in goal this weekend as well. Bemidji does not have any notable offensive players to watch out for, however they are a well coached team with Tom Serratore, the uncle of Gopher forward (and also named) Tom Serratore behind the bench.

The Gopher's young roster will be tested on their first games away from Mariucci.  However, one would expect a good contingent of Gopher fans to make the trip up north as it is one of the favorite road trips of the season, and outside of Wisconsin is the only true drivable road trip this season with the switch to the Big Ten. The Gophers have won eight of the last ten against the Beavers, and are 14-1-1 all-time.  Their only loss to Bemidji took place in November of 2009. I see it being close, but I predict that the Gophers will sweep with scores of 4-2 Friday night and 5-1 Saturday night. Friday night's game will begin at 7:30 and will be broadcast on FSN.  Saturday night will start at 7:00 and be on FSN+.

Bemidji Notable Names:

#5 Carter Struthers Fr-D
#7 Matt Prapavessis Jr-D
#18 Radoslav Illo Sr-F
#25 Ruslan Pedan  Fr-D
#33 Reid Mimmack Fr-G

Here's What They Are Saying on Twitter:

Green and white tutu is complete. Bring on the hockey. #bemidjistate #BeaverNation #beaverpride
— Emily Malterud (@emilyTHEaverage) October 16, 2013

I'm sure its perfectly pretty....

I call for the suspension of any @BemidjiState student found to be wearing #Gopher apparel this or any other week.
— John Andringa (@beaverbandit) October 15, 2013

 Beaver bandit eh......I bet you're a real pelt stealer

Press credentials have arrived. Ready for hockey season. #BemidjiState #WCHA http://t.co/IKGoOit1lH
— Jack Hittinger (@jackhitts) October 15, 2013

Only at #BemidjiState would I be ending my night eating a #Porcupine pic.twitter.com/5P7cPr4Ftb
— kevin ness (@kev1nness) October 6, 2013

Ummm...ok?

 And On to The Lovely Beavers of BSU:

 

2013-14 Big Ten Hockey + Icebreaker Classic Preview

Howdy folks!  If you are reading this you are probably confused for two reasons.  First you are wondering who the hell this guy writing this is.  Secondly, you are probably wondering what the hell Big Ten Hockey is.  As to the first question, I'm Andy a new writer here and I will be covering Gopher Hockey this season here on the blog.  As for the second...well that's a bit of a longer story involving Jim Delaney, Terry Pegula, Barry Alvarez, Joel Maturi, and probably should not be discussed around children...but I digress.

Yes the Gophers along with the evil red menace to the east, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State have all become inaugural members of the Big Ten Hockey Conference.  The WCHA still exists, but won't have most of its past notable members as not only has Minnesota and Wisconsin headed to the Big Ten, but North Dakota, St Cloud State, UMD and others decided that they wanted to run to another conference as well, so they are now in the NCHC, otherwise known as the Nacho conference.  Mmmmmm Nachos.

So the Gophers will not be playing some of the usual teams you would have recognized in the past.  No Denver, Colorado College, or either most annoyingly or happily, North Dakota will not be seen on the schedule until at least 2015-16.  Instead Minnesota will be playing 20 games (2 each home and away) against its Big Ten Conference foes.  For those who worry about the future of Minnesota hockey, no worries as the Gophers will play each of the other four Division I schools in Minnesota for at least one game, and most for two.  The Gophers will host UMD and Minnesota State for 2 games each in November, and will play 2 games up in Bemidji next weekend.  The last game comes against St. Cloud in the Friday night game of the inaugural North Star College Cup to be played in January at the Xcel Energy Center.  The Gophers/Huskies winner will play the winner of UMD and MSU on Saturday night, and the losers will play Saturday afternoon.
The other big game on the Gophers schedule is the Hockey City Classic which will take place on January 17th against Ohio State outdoors at a rink constructed on TCF Bank Stadium's field. 

The Gophers will round out their schedule with four additional non-conference series, @Notre Dame, at home against Boston College, the Mariucci Classic and this weekend's Icebreaker Classic at Mariucci Arena.

There are plenty of additional Gopher previews that go in depth on the players who have left the program to head to the pro ranks or have graduated, and the freshmen who have come in to replace them, so I encourage you to check them out if you are so inclined.  We shall cover several of the players over the course of the season here, but there is not enough time to do it all today.  I will however quickly attempt to handicap the Big Ten Conference race:

Projected Big Ten Conference Finish

1. Minnesota

The Gophers did lose several notable players to the pros including Nick Bjugstad, Nate Schmidt, and Zach Budish, however they return arguably the best goalie in the Big Ten in Adam Wilcox, the biggest big game player in Kyle Rau, and between Taylor Cammarata, Justin Kloos, Hudson Fasching, and Lou Nanne's grandson Vinni Lettieri should have the best freshman class in the Big Ten.  All this comes together in time for the Gophers to take the inaugural crown.

2. Wisconsin

The Badgers were predicted to finish first by the coaches and many in the media this season, and they return a ton of firepower, so that was to be expected.  However, I don't think Joel Rumpel is quite as good a goalie as many think he is, and Wisconsin's slow methodical playing style will be tested by several uptempo teams like Minnesota and Michigan in the Big Ten. They also got the whole losing to bad teams thing going on as well losing at home to Penn State last February.  They still get the first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament come March.

3. Michigan

The Wolverines missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 22 years last season, but Red Berenson will have them rearing to go to get back this season.  Michigan will miss Jacob Truba who has moved on the the NHL after one season in Ann Arbor, but they bring in three freshmen who just need to move across the town from the US Under 18 Program.  Michigan will be back to the top soon, but not quite yet.

4. Michigan State

The Spartans did not have a very good year last year.  There is no way to put it.  Their two best players are also out for the first month of the season this year after off-season surgeries.  However, MSU coach Tom Anastos has the team bought into his program in his third year and the injuries early may be a blessing in disguise when the backloaded Big Ten schedule comes around after the end of the year.

5. Ohio State

The Buckeyes had a bit of a rough offseason as their former coach Mark Osiecki was fired to the surprise of many in the college hockey world.  His departure made waves as several of his high profile recruits he had coming to Columbus decided to find other schools.  His former assistant, Steve Rohlik has taken over and will have a hard time trying to keep up in a tough conference with a new goalie after Brady Hjelle graduated.

6. Penn State

And now we come to the kids who forced this whole thing in the first place.  Penn State gets a huge donation from alum Terry Pegula, and a few years later a decent club team is playing in a brand new arena at a Division I level.  The Nittany Lions did beat three Big Ten teams last season (Wisconsin Michigan State, Ohio State) so they could be better then many expect in their first year.  They will be led by Gopher transfer Max Gardiner

Icebreaker Classic Preview

Enough of this everyone else crap, lets talk about the Gophers and what they will be dealing with this weekend.  The fifth ranked Minnesota team is hosting the annual college hockey kickoff tournament this season named the Icebreaker Classic.  The Gophers are coming off of a 5-1 exhibition win last weekend over Lethbridge, a Canadian college. The game ended up being more of a wresting match then a hockey game as Kyle Rau played the AJ Pierzynski character to the Lethbridge squad drawing several penalties and causing at least two melees.  Rau will be centering the first line for the Gophers this season, most likely this weekend with Lettieri and Junior Sam Warning who did not play against Lethbridge.  The Gophers will open Friday night at 7:00 against Mercyhurst.  The Lakers are predicted to win the Atlantic Hockey Conference this season, so they most likely will not be a complete pushover, but the Gophers are definitely the better team.  The Gophers and Lakers have meet once in the past, in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament when the Gophers cruised to a 9-2 win at Mariucci en route to their second consecutive NCAA title. 

Mercyhurst Lakers All Namers:

#7 Randy Cure Sr-D
#8 John Mousso  Sr-F
#10 Nardo Nagtzaam Jr-F
#29 Spencer Bacon Fr-G

And of course the girls:

Mercyhurst Dance Team

Mercyhurst Cheerleaders

The other two teams in the Icebreaker Classic, Clarkson and New Hampshire will face off at 4:00 in Friday with the losers playing at 4:00 on Saturday and the winners playing at 7:00 Saturday night.

Since we obviously don't know who Minnesota will play on Saturday, here's some girls for both teams to tide you over under next week:

Clarkson Volleyball

Gopher Hockey Noobery

What I know about Gopher hockey could fit on the back of a postcard to Bison Dele, but I feel like we need to take notice here.  I know literally zero, so let's see what I can learn in one evening of internet study.  Obviously I'll form opinions with no real knowledge behind them like usual.

Minnesota is the #2 team in the country behind something called Quinnipiac.  A little research shows that Quinnipiac is in Connecticut and only has an 8,400 student enrollment.  They recently did the switch from the Braves to the Bobcats (way to be original) and now have a super lame logo.

Rawr!

Anyway, those losers are going to back to looking up the Gophers' tailpipe in short order which will leave Quinnipiac alum and black licorice lover Turk Wendell in tears.  The Gophers are 22-7-5 overall and in second place in the WCHA two points behind St. Cloud State.  They're coming off a weekend split against #12 Denver; losing on Friday 2-0 and winning on Saturday 5-1.  This weekend they head to Bemidji State for their last games in the WCHA as next year they move on to the Big Ten Hockey Conference next year.  There's only six teams in the conference so far, so I'm not sure what's up with that; but I can't learn everything in one night.

Leading scorer Erik Haula is a junior for the Gophers and has 42 points in 31 games.  He is a Wild seventh round draft pick from 2009.  Here he is scoring a kick-ass goal against Devil Wisconsin in November.  The Fin is second on the team in goals with 15.

Fellow junior and leading goal scorer (17) Nick Bjugstad is a 2010 first round pick (19) of the Florida Panthers.  The 6'6" center netted 25 goals last year and his uncle Scott was a North Star.  Here's a sweet goal against Bahstun Cahlledge.

Sophomore Kyle Rau is on a bit of a cold streak with just one goal in the past 12 games, but is still second on the team in points with 33. Get to know him here!

Freshman goalie Adam Wilcox is 3-3-1 in his last 7, but it appears he's done a pretty good job despite the recent record.  In 32 starts he's only allowed 4 goals on 4 occasions and 3 goals on another 4.  He also has two assists and that's pretty sweet.  Here he is doing a cool drill where he basically just slides around on his knees.

The WCHA Final Five is March 21-23 at the Excel Energy Center and is sponsored by Red Baron Pizza, which is delicious.  I'm looking for OUR Gophers to get there and kick some major ass. Shit, I don't know...I tried.