In a fast paced and action packed affair, 9,941 saw the #1 ranked Gophers (0-0-0 B1G, 4-0-1 Overall) and the #5 Boston College Eagles (0-0-0 Hockey East, 2-1-1 Overall) skate to a 3-3 tie tonight at Mariucci Arena.
Here is what I saw:
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game…. “Pretty boring, huh? (smiling). That was a heck of a game. It was a treat for our fans to see a game like that. The pace, and the plays that were made on both teams… If you made a mistake, you were going to pay. For us, it was an adjustment with the transition game that they have. We obviously haven’t played anybody like that this year. Their D (defense) are involved offensively. It was one of those games that you had to be not only physically engaged, but mentally engaged, on your assignments from start to finish. They’re a team that can do that. They’ve got some high end skills, and Sit made a couple of good plays to score those two goals. When it’s 3-2 about twelve minutes into the game, you wonder if this is going to be one of those 8-7 type games. But I think the Goaltenders really settled down, and the teams settled in. Early on it really got racehorse, and we lost some structure to our game, and you can’t have that. It was a heck of a game. I can’t remember the last time I was involved in that good of a game, this early in the season. I was hoping that Sam could have ended it there with seven seconds to go, with an unbelievable move. I think the roof would have caved in on that one. The fans were into the game, and the tempo and the pace, and the quality of play was outstanding. I mean, there were some good players on the ice tonight. I think what it exposed was that when you play a team with that quality and speed, when you turn pucks over, you’re in trouble. That first three steps of transition are so critical. A few times our Forwards got beat up the rink, and their D (defense) jumped up so well, that they created some offense from that”
Regarding Jake Parenteau injury and situation on Defense…. ”I think he got jarred a little bit. We’re hoping he’s going to be able to play on Sunday, so it’s nothing that’s going to be long term. I think our five D (defensemen) did a heck of a job. In that situation, you can’t hide anybody from there guys. You’ve just gotta play your five. They’re pretty tired. It’s probably good that they have a day off tomorrow. Guys did a great job back there. That’s hard. I thought Justin Holl used his reach and his feet real well, and (Mike) Reilly… all the guys I thought did a good job back there“
Regarding the shootout…. “…we’re having shootouts this year (smiling). You know what, it’s a tie. But it’s good practice for us. It’s interesting, the dynamics in winning and losing a shootout. It was good for us to go through that and get a feel for what the shootout is like. In league play, there’s points involved, and in this, there’s not“
Regarding the controversial non-goal late in the third…. “…uuuuum, they just said it didn’t cross the goal line (smiling). Could have called a hand pass, or closed the hand on the puck, which should have been a penalty. You know what, I just think that it happened so quick that it was a tough call for the referee to really even see what went on. And you can’t call a penalty after you go to replay. You know what, they (Boston College) made the play”
Regarding the game between two highly ranked teams…. “First of all, I didn’t expect to be ranked where we are. I don’t think we deserve it, just because we won some games against some teams we were supposed to beat. We played a hell of a team tonight. I mean, they’re really good. Much much better than they were last year. I mean, to me there’s no comparison, there team this year versus last year. They’re speed, they’re deeper. (Johnny) Gaudreau is special. Every time he’s on the ice, and has the puck, you hold your breath. We need players like that in college hockey”
Travis Boyd:
Regarding the game…. “We got away from our game. We started off good. We got two goals early, and then I think we just relaxed. We just got comfortable, and that’s something we can’t do. Moving forward, we’ve gotta keep our foot on the pedal all the way through the full sixty minutes. We turned it around, and got some play in our favor again. We knew it was going to be a close game. It was actually a lot of fun out there. We really didn’t get a challenge in our first four games, and we were hoping we’d get a game like this. I think we really improved as a team from it.”
Regarding the shootout…. “We lost the shootout, but it was a lot of fun, actually. It’s something new. There’s been a lot of talk about it, even in the WCHA, the last couple of years. I’m one of those guys that’s for it. I think it’s an exciting thing for the fans and the players“
Regarding the Friday-Sunday schedule…. “It was a tough game, and I think maybe we can use a day to rest up after a game like that. It was fast paced. Having a day to rest the legs isn’t a bad thing”
The Gophers will take on the Eagles again this Sunday at 1:00 PM. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.
Here is what I saw:
- Gophers started out very strong, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of the game. But Boston College stormed back with three very quick goals of their own, about halfway through the period. For the most part, the Gophers started tilting the ice in their favor in the second period, and that continued into the third.
- Gophers were dominated in the face-off circle in the first period, and let several plays get behind them through most of the game, giving up WAAAY too many stretch passes that turned into 2-on-1’s, and breakaways. These are things that Don Lucia has stressed they cannot do if they are going to be successful, and tonight that was very evident. As these things went, so went the Gophers.
- Boston College looked a lot more poised, whereas the Gophers seemed like they were scrambling at times, and doing a lot of running around. That changed as the game went on, and with it, the Gophers quality of play improved.
- Gophers whiffed on several good scoring chances. Nate Condon had at least two good chances where he couldn’t get the puck to settle down for him.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game…. “Pretty boring, huh? (smiling). That was a heck of a game. It was a treat for our fans to see a game like that. The pace, and the plays that were made on both teams… If you made a mistake, you were going to pay. For us, it was an adjustment with the transition game that they have. We obviously haven’t played anybody like that this year. Their D (defense) are involved offensively. It was one of those games that you had to be not only physically engaged, but mentally engaged, on your assignments from start to finish. They’re a team that can do that. They’ve got some high end skills, and Sit made a couple of good plays to score those two goals. When it’s 3-2 about twelve minutes into the game, you wonder if this is going to be one of those 8-7 type games. But I think the Goaltenders really settled down, and the teams settled in. Early on it really got racehorse, and we lost some structure to our game, and you can’t have that. It was a heck of a game. I can’t remember the last time I was involved in that good of a game, this early in the season. I was hoping that Sam could have ended it there with seven seconds to go, with an unbelievable move. I think the roof would have caved in on that one. The fans were into the game, and the tempo and the pace, and the quality of play was outstanding. I mean, there were some good players on the ice tonight. I think what it exposed was that when you play a team with that quality and speed, when you turn pucks over, you’re in trouble. That first three steps of transition are so critical. A few times our Forwards got beat up the rink, and their D (defense) jumped up so well, that they created some offense from that”
Regarding Jake Parenteau injury and situation on Defense…. ”I think he got jarred a little bit. We’re hoping he’s going to be able to play on Sunday, so it’s nothing that’s going to be long term. I think our five D (defensemen) did a heck of a job. In that situation, you can’t hide anybody from there guys. You’ve just gotta play your five. They’re pretty tired. It’s probably good that they have a day off tomorrow. Guys did a great job back there. That’s hard. I thought Justin Holl used his reach and his feet real well, and (Mike) Reilly… all the guys I thought did a good job back there“
Regarding the shootout…. “…we’re having shootouts this year (smiling). You know what, it’s a tie. But it’s good practice for us. It’s interesting, the dynamics in winning and losing a shootout. It was good for us to go through that and get a feel for what the shootout is like. In league play, there’s points involved, and in this, there’s not“
Regarding the controversial non-goal late in the third…. “…uuuuum, they just said it didn’t cross the goal line (smiling). Could have called a hand pass, or closed the hand on the puck, which should have been a penalty. You know what, I just think that it happened so quick that it was a tough call for the referee to really even see what went on. And you can’t call a penalty after you go to replay. You know what, they (Boston College) made the play”
Regarding the game between two highly ranked teams…. “First of all, I didn’t expect to be ranked where we are. I don’t think we deserve it, just because we won some games against some teams we were supposed to beat. We played a hell of a team tonight. I mean, they’re really good. Much much better than they were last year. I mean, to me there’s no comparison, there team this year versus last year. They’re speed, they’re deeper. (Johnny) Gaudreau is special. Every time he’s on the ice, and has the puck, you hold your breath. We need players like that in college hockey”
Travis Boyd:
Regarding the game…. “We got away from our game. We started off good. We got two goals early, and then I think we just relaxed. We just got comfortable, and that’s something we can’t do. Moving forward, we’ve gotta keep our foot on the pedal all the way through the full sixty minutes. We turned it around, and got some play in our favor again. We knew it was going to be a close game. It was actually a lot of fun out there. We really didn’t get a challenge in our first four games, and we were hoping we’d get a game like this. I think we really improved as a team from it.”
Regarding the shootout…. “We lost the shootout, but it was a lot of fun, actually. It’s something new. There’s been a lot of talk about it, even in the WCHA, the last couple of years. I’m one of those guys that’s for it. I think it’s an exciting thing for the fans and the players“
Regarding the Friday-Sunday schedule…. “It was a tough game, and I think maybe we can use a day to rest up after a game like that. It was fast paced. Having a day to rest the legs isn’t a bad thing”
The Gophers will take on the Eagles again this Sunday at 1:00 PM. The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.