Freshmen Continue To Contribute, Get Gophers Back On Track

[Twynntown]

The #2 Gophers (9-2-2 B1G, 20-4-5 Overall) took on the #10/11 Michigan Wolverines (6-4-1-1 B1G, 14-8-3 Overall) tonight at Mariucci Arena. 10,002 saw Minnesota come out on fire, and then hold on for dear life as Michigan came storming back, grabbing a 5-3 opening night victory over the Wolverines.

Here is what I saw.

- The Gophers honored the legendary John Mayasich tonight. Mayasich never lost a high school game, is credited as the inventor of the slap shot, won an Olympic silver in 1956, and gold in 1960, is Minnesota’s all time leading scorer, and his #8 is the only Gopher number that has been retired.

- The Gophers made a good team look pretty bad in the first period, as Minnesota absolutely dominated Michigan, outshooting them 16-5, and controlling play 3/4 of the session. Michigan was scrambling to try to keep the Gophers out, taking three penalties in the process.

- Nice to see Tommy Serratore back in the lineup. He was stirring things up out there all night, did a nice job of back checking, getting his stick in the passing lanes, and just playing good sound hockey in general. His absence with the injury was very noticeable. He doesn’t score a lot of goals, but he is an important cog in the Gopher Hockey machine.

- Special teams had a big hand in this game. The penalty kill was not good for Minnesota tonight, as they gave up two power play goals on four opportunities for Michigan. The Gophers got a power play goal of their own, but that was all they had to show for eight attempts. On the bright side, Minnesota broke out of it’s scoring slump, and an even strength scoring drought.

- Taylor Cammaratta was really taking a beating out there tonight. But he added a goal, which alleviated some of the pain, I’m sure.


Here are the post game comments:

Michigan Head Coach Red Berenson:

Regarding the game…. “I thought our team was ready. We skated this morning, we said all the right things, but we just didn’t start on time. And the three penalties didn’t help. That was six minutes of D zone time that they were all over us, and getting a little more momentum. So it was a tough start. I thought (Steve) Racine played really well. He had to play well to keep the game close. We’ve just gotta minimize bad goals. Our team didn’t give the goalies much of a chance. Our team got going in the second, and got better in the third. They were just much better than us in the first period. You can’t come in here and let them take a commanding lead like that. Although, we escaped the first period with only a 1-0 deficit. We just needed to answer back”


Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:

Regarding the game…. “We let them stay in it, and they made a nice play, walking out of the corner early in the third period to make it 4-3. Then it was kind of game on. I thought they had the momentum and kind of seized control at that point and time. But (Gabe) Guertler got his first goal as a Gopher. I thought that line had some pretty good play for us tonight“

Regarding shaking up the lines…. “When you have trouble scoring sometimes, we thought we’d throw em back the way they were. I don’t know how much it has to do with the lines, but you’ve got to execute and make a play when you have a chance to make a play. It was nice to come back and score some goals. We’d been on one the previous few games”

Regarding the Freshman…. “You get to this time of year, you hope they’re not Freshman anymore. It’s mid-February, and we had six Freshman forwards in our lineup tonight. They have to play, they have to make plays, and tonight they did“


The Gophers will take on the Wolverines again tomorrow night at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Great to see us get the win.

I thought a couple of times we tried to change all 4 on the PK in situations where it wasn't wise to do so. We got away with it once, and I felt like that contributed to the second Michigan goal.

Also, that elbow on Rau was such a chickensh!t play. Not at all a hockey play that just ended up ugly, that was a guy looking to try to injure someone. Glad to see Fasching step up.

 

[Twynntown]

Great to see us get the win.

I thought a couple of times we tried to change all 4 on the PK in situations where it wasn't wise to do so. We got away with it once, and I felt like that contributed to the second Michigan goal.

Also, that elbow on Rau was such a chickensh!t play. Not at all a hockey play that just ended up ugly, that was a guy looking to try to injure someone. Glad to see Fasching step up.

Yeah, that is one thing I did notice throughout the game, was bad changes for both teams. On one play in the first period, I think it was Kloos that was standing alone at the Michigan blue line waiting for a pass, because he had no one anywhere near him. Michigan had tried to dump the puck in, but failed. Whoever had the puck at the Gophers blue line took a while to find Kloos, and then when he saw him, he missed him with the pass.

And that was a dirty hit on Rau. Rau takes a beating for the team. I don't think there is a guy on the Gophers that people want to drill more than Rau. He's pesky, and he's hard charging.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

That Downey character was at it again, hope he gets some supplemental discipline. Glad to see Fasching punish him on the PP. Ignoring any moral feelings about dirty play, I can't imagine Berenson is happy about him setting up 5 minute Gopher powerplays in back-to-back games while his team is trying to come back in the third.

 

[Twynntown]

That Downey character was at it again, hope he gets some supplemental discipline. Glad to see Fasching punish him on the PP. Ignoring any moral feelings about dirty play, I can't imagine Berenson is happy about him setting up 5 minute Gopher powerplays in back-to-back games while his team is trying to come back in the third.

Yeah. That to me is a guy who can't control his emotions, and that's a problem. He cost his team big time, and could have seriously injured somebody. And for a guy that's 6'3" to go after a couple of smaller guys in Rau (5'8") and Warning (5'9"), makes me think that he's not quite as tough as he might want people to believe.

 

[Ron Johnson Super Fan]

The cheap shots that this team is taking is ridiculous. Someone needs to step up and do something about it. You can't just sit and watch when your teammates are taking hits like the Downing cheapshot and the crosscheck to the throat. You can't just let opposing players skate away after assaulting one of your teammates.

Downing better get a suspension. That was flat out dirty, filthy hit. If I was color blind I would have though we were playing UND.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Yeah. That to me is a guy who can't control his emotions, and that's a problem. He cost his team big time, and could have seriously injured somebody. And for a guy that's 6'3" to go after a couple of smaller guys in Rau (5'8") and Warning (5'9"), makes me think that he's not quite as tough as he might want people to believe.

+1 Takes a real man to throw a cheap shot at someone half his size

 

[MRJ]

I didn't get a chance to see either game this weekend due to work commitments, but it's nice to see the guys get the offense back on track. Also gained some ground in the Big Ten race, which is always a good thing. Now the guys get a week off to recharge the batteries a bit before heading into the home stretch.

Also, a shout-out to the women for sweeping Bucky! That's also always a good thing!

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

I didn't get a chance to see either game this weekend due to work commitments, but it's nice to see the guys get the offense back on track. Also gained some ground in the Big Ten race, which is always a good thing. Now the guys get a week off to recharge the batteries a bit before heading into the home stretch.

Also, a shout-out to the women for sweeping Bucky! That's also always a good thing!

This series really put us in control for the inaugural Big Ten title. At this point, if anyone but us wins it, its because we handed it away.

 

[MRJ]

This series really put us in control for the inaugural Big Ten title. At this point, if anyone but us wins it, its because we handed it away.

Agreed. The guys came through when they needed to and put themselves squarely in the driver's seat.

Adding to the fun: Tyler Sheehy committed to the Gophers earlier today. All and all, pretty good weekend for Gopher hockey.

 

[Twynntown]

The cheap shots that this team is taking is ridiculous. Someone needs to step up and do something about it. You can't just sit and watch when your teammates are taking hits like the Downing cheapshot and the crosscheck to the throat. You can't just let opposing players skate away after assaulting one of your teammates.

Downing better get a suspension. That was flat out dirty, filthy hit. If I was color blind I would have though we were playing UND.

Big Ten Conference has suspended Downing & Sinelli for a game. Glad to see they are getting punished for their dirty play. Unfortunately, it doesn't benefit the Gophers much. They'll sit out a game against Penn State.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Big Ten Conference has suspended Downing & Sinelli for a game. Glad to see they are getting punished for their dirty play. Unfortunately, it doesn't benefit the Gophers much. They'll sit out a game against Penn State.

If the suspensions contribute to a Penn State upset, that will help the Gophers out. Its always frustrating when it works out the other way. I'm trying to remember who/what team, but I feel like in recent Wild history, a key player from an opponent got a suspension for a cheap shot against Minnesota, but then had to sit out for a game that the Wild really wanted them to win, so the suspension almost hurt the Wild.

Thanks for the update on the Big Ten's rulings TT.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

If the suspensions contribute to a Penn State upset, that will help the Gophers out. Its always frustrating when it works out the other way. I'm trying to remember who/what team, but I feel like in recent Wild history, a key player from an opponent got a suspension for a cheap shot against Minnesota, but then had to sit out for a game that the Wild really wanted them to win, so the suspension almost hurt the Wild.

Thanks for the update on the Big Ten's rulings TT.

Michigan ended up losing the game to PSU. Don't know how much impact the suspended players had on the outcome, but we are 3 points closer to clinching the first round bye in the BTT and the conference title, and we didn't even have to play a game to do it.

 

[Ron Johnson Super Fan]

Big Ten Conference has suspended Downing & Sinelli for a game. Glad to see they are getting punished for their dirty play. Unfortunately, it doesn't benefit the Gophers much. They'll sit out a game against Penn State.

At this point I'm just glad we didn't end up with any serious injuries. Warning and Rau could have easily suffered significant injuries with those hits over the last couple of series.