The Gophers (11-2-2-0 B1G, 22-4-5 Overall) and Penn State Nittany Lions (2-12-1-0 B1G, 6-21-2 Overall) battled tonight at Mariucci Arena.
Here is what I saw.
- The Pride On Ice slogan that the University of Minnesota has used for years and years was heavily displayed at Mariucci in response to Penn State’s ripping off the slogan. A giant banner was created, and displayed behind the visitors end of the ice, probably so the cameras could pick it up during the game.
- It’s a little late in the season, but maybe next year we can come up with our own alternate pronunciation guide for watching Gopher hockey on the Big Ten Network. Kind of like teams have on their lineup sheets for difficult to pronounce names like Skjei and Lettieri. We can have a little helper sheet that explains “Row” is actually “Rau”, and so on.
- Gophers out-physicalled a much bigger Penn State team. And a lot of the smaller guys were the one’s getting the best of the Nittany Lions. Gabe Guertler. Vinni Lettieri & Taylor Cammarata played very physical, and it was affective.
- Minnesota’s Freshman class now has 45 goals on the season, which is tops in the nation. BC is second with 44.
- It appeared that the time off really was beneficial to the Gophers. They were playing very smart hockey tonight, made crisp passes, and had a lot of energy.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding Hudson Fasching’s goal…. “He made a great play. He was able to knock it down and get a piece of it before it crossed the goal line. He got his stick on it first. That’s Hudson, making plays under contact like that”
Regarding the first line…. “I thought Kyle’s line was really good tonight. They had great energy, and Sam (Warning) was on his game tonight. I was kidding Sam during the week that he had a good weekend out at Penn State, and we needed him to continue to score. That was a nice play on that first goal. Hudson played well, and Kyle played well too”
Regarding the game…. “The bottom line is, the guys that we needed to score, scored goals tonight. When you look at the guys on our top two lines, and they were our goal scorers tonight. As you get down to the end, you have to be able to count on your key guys, night in and night out. Tonight they came through. It was great to see our first shorthanded goal of the season. Nate (Condon) made a nice play on that. The only thing I didn’t like was all the penalties that we took tonight. We had to play too much of the game shorthanded, and it just took us out of our rhythm. But, as the game went on, we had the lead, so we were able to play a lot of the guys tonight a good amount of minutes”
Regarding the second half of the season…. “It’s always nice to win. This is our last home weekend. It’s hard to believe we won’t be playing any more after tomorrow here. Tomorrow’s a special day, it’s Senior day. Hopefully we can get around the circle at the end of the weekend and finish it right. But, I know how Penn State’s going to come back and play. You start over zero-zero, and we’ve gotta come back and play hard tomorrow”
Regarding Tom Serratore’s injury…. “He got dinged a little bit. We took him off as much for precautionary as anything else. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow”
Regarding the possibility that Mike Shibrowski will play tomorrow night…. “There’s a good chance”
Regarding the Senior class…. “This was a very important class for us. This is the group that really turned things back the way we wanted it to be. They’ve won a couple of league titles, and went to a Frozen Four. Even though we lost some key guys to this class that moved on to the professional ranks, these are the one’s that gave the foundation to the type of program that we want to have. They’re all going to graduate, their good kids, and they represent the program the way we want it to be represented. They’ve really set the bar for the rest of the guys”
Hudson Fasching:
Regarding his goal…. “I think we were buzzing around the net. There were a lot of rebounds, a lot of plays. Just kind of bouncing around, pucks bouncing. I don’t know who got it in the corner, but they got a hold of it, and Ben Marshall got a great shot on net, and I was just fighting in front of the net and buried it”
Regarding his line…. “We had a nice week off, got a little bit of rest. We’re back together after a little bit of a break, and we’re just happy to be together. We’re firing on all cylinders right now, and very happy with our play”
Regarding his drop pass on Kyle Rau’s goal…. “Actually, I did see him a little bit. I was on the off side, and I really didn’t have a shot. I saw him breaking on my left side, and I just slid it back to him. It worked out, I guess”
Regarding Sam Warning…. “When he gets going, he’s hard to slow down. He’s got such speed, he can just go everywhere on the ice. He’s pressuring on everybody. Yeah, he boosts the team for sure”
Sam Warning:
Regarding his line…. “It feels good. Rau and Fasching played unbelievable games today, especially Fasching. I think that’s his fifth or sixth breakaway in the last two or three games. So, it’s good to see him playing good, along with Rau. I think we’re all clicking. It was a good three points overall“
Regarding the game…. “You want to win every game. I think our mentality right now going into the games is just working hard that first ten minutes, is key to our success. We started a little slow, but then I think we kicked it into gear. Penn State’s a great team. I think they’re 2-2-1 in their last five games, so they’re playing good hockey right now”
Regarding his chemistry with Mike Reilly…. “Me and Mikey have a class together right now. I don’t know if it’s because I’m seeing him more this semester or what. Mikey’s a great player, and always makes great passes to me. It’s Environmental Science. It’s not in Carlson, but…”
The Gophers will take on the Nittany Lions again tomorrow night, in the finale of their season series. It’s also Senior night for the Gophers, and the last game at Mariucci Arena this year. Game time is 6:00 PM (Central), and the game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.
Here is what I saw.
- The Pride On Ice slogan that the University of Minnesota has used for years and years was heavily displayed at Mariucci in response to Penn State’s ripping off the slogan. A giant banner was created, and displayed behind the visitors end of the ice, probably so the cameras could pick it up during the game.
- It’s a little late in the season, but maybe next year we can come up with our own alternate pronunciation guide for watching Gopher hockey on the Big Ten Network. Kind of like teams have on their lineup sheets for difficult to pronounce names like Skjei and Lettieri. We can have a little helper sheet that explains “Row” is actually “Rau”, and so on.
- Gophers out-physicalled a much bigger Penn State team. And a lot of the smaller guys were the one’s getting the best of the Nittany Lions. Gabe Guertler. Vinni Lettieri & Taylor Cammarata played very physical, and it was affective.
- Minnesota’s Freshman class now has 45 goals on the season, which is tops in the nation. BC is second with 44.
- It appeared that the time off really was beneficial to the Gophers. They were playing very smart hockey tonight, made crisp passes, and had a lot of energy.
Here are the post game comments:
Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding Hudson Fasching’s goal…. “He made a great play. He was able to knock it down and get a piece of it before it crossed the goal line. He got his stick on it first. That’s Hudson, making plays under contact like that”
Regarding the first line…. “I thought Kyle’s line was really good tonight. They had great energy, and Sam (Warning) was on his game tonight. I was kidding Sam during the week that he had a good weekend out at Penn State, and we needed him to continue to score. That was a nice play on that first goal. Hudson played well, and Kyle played well too”
Regarding the game…. “The bottom line is, the guys that we needed to score, scored goals tonight. When you look at the guys on our top two lines, and they were our goal scorers tonight. As you get down to the end, you have to be able to count on your key guys, night in and night out. Tonight they came through. It was great to see our first shorthanded goal of the season. Nate (Condon) made a nice play on that. The only thing I didn’t like was all the penalties that we took tonight. We had to play too much of the game shorthanded, and it just took us out of our rhythm. But, as the game went on, we had the lead, so we were able to play a lot of the guys tonight a good amount of minutes”
Regarding the second half of the season…. “It’s always nice to win. This is our last home weekend. It’s hard to believe we won’t be playing any more after tomorrow here. Tomorrow’s a special day, it’s Senior day. Hopefully we can get around the circle at the end of the weekend and finish it right. But, I know how Penn State’s going to come back and play. You start over zero-zero, and we’ve gotta come back and play hard tomorrow”
Regarding Tom Serratore’s injury…. “He got dinged a little bit. We took him off as much for precautionary as anything else. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow”
Regarding the possibility that Mike Shibrowski will play tomorrow night…. “There’s a good chance”
Regarding the Senior class…. “This was a very important class for us. This is the group that really turned things back the way we wanted it to be. They’ve won a couple of league titles, and went to a Frozen Four. Even though we lost some key guys to this class that moved on to the professional ranks, these are the one’s that gave the foundation to the type of program that we want to have. They’re all going to graduate, their good kids, and they represent the program the way we want it to be represented. They’ve really set the bar for the rest of the guys”
Hudson Fasching:
Regarding his goal…. “I think we were buzzing around the net. There were a lot of rebounds, a lot of plays. Just kind of bouncing around, pucks bouncing. I don’t know who got it in the corner, but they got a hold of it, and Ben Marshall got a great shot on net, and I was just fighting in front of the net and buried it”
Regarding his line…. “We had a nice week off, got a little bit of rest. We’re back together after a little bit of a break, and we’re just happy to be together. We’re firing on all cylinders right now, and very happy with our play”
Regarding his drop pass on Kyle Rau’s goal…. “Actually, I did see him a little bit. I was on the off side, and I really didn’t have a shot. I saw him breaking on my left side, and I just slid it back to him. It worked out, I guess”
Regarding Sam Warning…. “When he gets going, he’s hard to slow down. He’s got such speed, he can just go everywhere on the ice. He’s pressuring on everybody. Yeah, he boosts the team for sure”
Sam Warning:
Regarding his line…. “It feels good. Rau and Fasching played unbelievable games today, especially Fasching. I think that’s his fifth or sixth breakaway in the last two or three games. So, it’s good to see him playing good, along with Rau. I think we’re all clicking. It was a good three points overall“
Regarding the game…. “You want to win every game. I think our mentality right now going into the games is just working hard that first ten minutes, is key to our success. We started a little slow, but then I think we kicked it into gear. Penn State’s a great team. I think they’re 2-2-1 in their last five games, so they’re playing good hockey right now”
Regarding his chemistry with Mike Reilly…. “Me and Mikey have a class together right now. I don’t know if it’s because I’m seeing him more this semester or what. Mikey’s a great player, and always makes great passes to me. It’s Environmental Science. It’s not in Carlson, but…”
The Gophers will take on the Nittany Lions again tomorrow night, in the finale of their season series. It’s also Senior night for the Gophers, and the last game at Mariucci Arena this year. Game time is 6:00 PM (Central), and the game will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.