The Gophers faced off with the Bemidji State Beavers tonight at Mariucci Arena in front of 9,954 in game one of their best-of-three WCHA playoff series. It took overtime, and over 50 shots from Minnesota, but the Gophers were able to pull it out 2-1.
Here is what I saw.
* Minnesota played one of it's more physical periods of the year in the first. Zach Budish turned one for the Bemidji State players into a contortionist, and Tom Sarratore absolutely destroyed another BSU player.
* Penalties were non-existent. Both teams were among the least penalized teams in the WCHA this season, and it showed tonight. BSU took two penalties (and one was for too many men), and the Gophers had none. Both teams could have had plenty of penalties called on them, but the Officials let them play. And in this case, they let them play, and the game didn't get chippy, which seems to be a rarity.
* Mike Reilly & Brady Skjei really struggled tonight. Reilly looked sluggish, and they both looked to be in early season form. As a group, the Defense did not play their best game tonight. They took some chances and failed a few times. They've played better, and they'll be better going forward.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game… "I liked the way we played all game long. I thought we played well, we moved the puck, a lot of scoring opportunities. It was going to take a rebound goal tonight to beat em. I thought both goalies were sharp. Adam didn't have as much work, but he had to make a couple of timely saves. And then obviously it was a big draw that we won there in overtime that led to the goal. He (BSU Goalie Walsh) was really good tonight. He was on. We touched on the fact that Bemidji is a well coached team. They stuck to how they wanted to play tonight, and kept it close. They made a play at the end of the game to tie it and send it to overtime. I think the overtime was good for us. It's the first time you play over five minutes. You play until the winner, and we were able to win the game. I think that does a lot for your confidence moving forward. We're half way there. Bemidji is going to play the same way tomorrow. They're going to play hard from start to finish, and we're going to have to make sure we do the same"
Regarding what they talked about before overtime… "We just talked about how this is all part of it. This time of the year. I mean, look around. Quinnipiac got beat, Miami got beat…It's a fine line. There's not that much difference. A goaltender can be the equalizer. They (BSU) were opportunistic in the way they played. We had a lot of good looks tonight, a lot of great chances. But, the goaltender playing as well as he did, you get a lot of confidence out of that as well"
Regarding the shuffling of the lines tonight… "Well, we were eleven (forwards) and seven (defenseman) without Sam (Warning). That was part of it. So we had to move a D up a little bit because we're back to eleven and seven with Sam being out. It became much more of a three line game in overtime. We played everybody in overtime, and I think that will pay off tomorrow"
Regarding Sam Warning… "He won't be playing this weekend. He got hurt in practice this week. It's week to week right now. We're hopeful he'll be back for the NCAA tournament"
Ben Marshall:
Regarding nerves tonight… "In the playoffs, it doesn't matter who we're playing, the other team is going to be tough. I think that's why the score was 2-1 tonight, a lot of the guys had butterflies"
Regarding what they talked about before overtime… "Just, no negativity. We knew the whole game we were outplaying them. We figured let's just keep doing what we're doing, and the bounces will come our way"
Regarding the game…. "Yeah, it got frustrating. Of course it did. Their goalie played unreal tonight. Tip your hat to him. It definitely got frustrating"
Regarding the great play of Adam Wilcox… "That's nothing new. It's just 'Coxy' being 'Coxy. I've been playing with 'Cox' since high school, and he's been coming up big. I expect that from him, and I think the coaches do too'"
Kyle Rau:
Regarding getting the win… "It was great to get the win. We knew that if we kept putting the puck on net, we'd eventually get another one in. Hats off to Walsh though, he played a heck of a game for them"
Regarding his game winning goal…"We knew that was going to be the kind of goal that would decide the game one way or the other. It wasn't going to be some flashy play with the way both goalies were playing"
The Gophers will take on the Beavers again tomorrow night at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.
Here is what I saw.
* Minnesota played one of it's more physical periods of the year in the first. Zach Budish turned one for the Bemidji State players into a contortionist, and Tom Sarratore absolutely destroyed another BSU player.
* Penalties were non-existent. Both teams were among the least penalized teams in the WCHA this season, and it showed tonight. BSU took two penalties (and one was for too many men), and the Gophers had none. Both teams could have had plenty of penalties called on them, but the Officials let them play. And in this case, they let them play, and the game didn't get chippy, which seems to be a rarity.
* Mike Reilly & Brady Skjei really struggled tonight. Reilly looked sluggish, and they both looked to be in early season form. As a group, the Defense did not play their best game tonight. They took some chances and failed a few times. They've played better, and they'll be better going forward.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the game… "I liked the way we played all game long. I thought we played well, we moved the puck, a lot of scoring opportunities. It was going to take a rebound goal tonight to beat em. I thought both goalies were sharp. Adam didn't have as much work, but he had to make a couple of timely saves. And then obviously it was a big draw that we won there in overtime that led to the goal. He (BSU Goalie Walsh) was really good tonight. He was on. We touched on the fact that Bemidji is a well coached team. They stuck to how they wanted to play tonight, and kept it close. They made a play at the end of the game to tie it and send it to overtime. I think the overtime was good for us. It's the first time you play over five minutes. You play until the winner, and we were able to win the game. I think that does a lot for your confidence moving forward. We're half way there. Bemidji is going to play the same way tomorrow. They're going to play hard from start to finish, and we're going to have to make sure we do the same"
Regarding what they talked about before overtime… "We just talked about how this is all part of it. This time of the year. I mean, look around. Quinnipiac got beat, Miami got beat…It's a fine line. There's not that much difference. A goaltender can be the equalizer. They (BSU) were opportunistic in the way they played. We had a lot of good looks tonight, a lot of great chances. But, the goaltender playing as well as he did, you get a lot of confidence out of that as well"
Regarding the shuffling of the lines tonight… "Well, we were eleven (forwards) and seven (defenseman) without Sam (Warning). That was part of it. So we had to move a D up a little bit because we're back to eleven and seven with Sam being out. It became much more of a three line game in overtime. We played everybody in overtime, and I think that will pay off tomorrow"
Regarding Sam Warning… "He won't be playing this weekend. He got hurt in practice this week. It's week to week right now. We're hopeful he'll be back for the NCAA tournament"
Ben Marshall:
Regarding nerves tonight… "In the playoffs, it doesn't matter who we're playing, the other team is going to be tough. I think that's why the score was 2-1 tonight, a lot of the guys had butterflies"
Regarding what they talked about before overtime… "Just, no negativity. We knew the whole game we were outplaying them. We figured let's just keep doing what we're doing, and the bounces will come our way"
Regarding the game…. "Yeah, it got frustrating. Of course it did. Their goalie played unreal tonight. Tip your hat to him. It definitely got frustrating"
Regarding the great play of Adam Wilcox… "That's nothing new. It's just 'Coxy' being 'Coxy. I've been playing with 'Cox' since high school, and he's been coming up big. I expect that from him, and I think the coaches do too'"
Kyle Rau:
Regarding getting the win… "It was great to get the win. We knew that if we kept putting the puck on net, we'd eventually get another one in. Hats off to Walsh though, he played a heck of a game for them"
Regarding his game winning goal…"We knew that was going to be the kind of goal that would decide the game one way or the other. It wasn't going to be some flashy play with the way both goalies were playing"
The Gophers will take on the Beavers again tomorrow night at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 7:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.