November 3rd, 2023: The Gophers cleaned up their mistakes and played a much more complete game then their three previous losses. A much more structured game results in a 5-1 win over Minnesota Duluth.
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Minneapolis – Coming into the game the Gophers had lost three straight games which was the first time since 2019. It was the first time the Gophers have lost three straight in 137 games. Tonight they snapped that streak with a convincing win over Minnesota Duluth.
What cost the Gophers during the three straight losses were costly turnovers, trying to play too cute, players worrying about getting points rather than wins, not clearing the puck, and not getting it in on the defense and creating turnovers.
Tonight, Minnesota looked like a completely different team. They looked a lot more structured and weren’t trying to force too many plays, except on the power play, they played complete and it resulted in a big 5-1 win over the rival Bulldogs.
“Our transition game was good tonight and it was set up by having a good ground game,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said after the win. “All four lines contributed, it wasn’t perfect but all four lines contributed to the attack in the zone.”
Not only did the Gophers score five goals but they fired 30 shots on net and only allowed 15 against. They didn’t worry about collecting individual points but rather focused on playing a well structured game and funny enough it led to two guys scoring their first goals of the year in Cal Thomas and Rhett Pitlick.
“It’s huge. These are young guys,” Motzko said on Thomas and Pitlick’s first goals of the year “We’ve had a tough schedule and goals are hard to come by. It gets in their head, it does and they can breathe now, they got that first goal.”
Throughout the season so far, Motzko has said he will continue to jumble the lines and find something that works. It also keeps the players on their toes and gives them more energy to play every weekend.
He also said the team has been taking way too many bad penalties, stick penalties. So he started sitting the guys who took the bad penalties. Well, Pitlick took a hooking penalty in the first period, was then benched for his next shift and later scored his first goal of the year.
Bryce Brodzinski was the other who took a dumb penalty that came in the third period. The fifth year forward finished the night with two goals after picking up the empty net goal with under two minutes left in the game.
Thomas has played 46 career games with the Gophers and in his 47th with Minnesota he notched his first collegiate goal after finishing off the rebound that was created by Jaxon Nelson.
The play started when Pitlick entered the zone on the far right side, the junior forward stopped and waited for the play to develop. Nelson came streaking in and one-timed Pitlick’s pass on the net but Zach Stejskal turned away the shot. Thomas came in from the point and fired home his first career goal.
Thomas is more of a stay at home defender but jumped into the play and was rewarded with his first. He also has played many shifts with Mike Koster before which has helped him throughout his career. Tonight marked the first game for Koster since his knee injury he suffered in practice before the season started.
“He’s a rock for us back there,” Thomas said on getting Koster back. “He’s always making smart plays and makes it really easy on whoever he’s playing on the ice with. He was awesome out there.”
Brodzinski followed up Thomas’ goal with his third of the year with just 15 seconds left in the first period. The fifth year forward who played in his 153rd career game came in on Aaron Pionk and forced a turnover before he ripped home his 49th career goal giving Minnesota a 2-0 lead.
It didn’t take Oliver Moore that long to get on the board as the speedy freshman caught a pass from Sam Rinzel in the neutral zone before darting past a Bulldogs defender and ripped a shot short side over the blocker of Stejskal for his second of the year.
Moore’s goal was the only goal of the period but was later followed up by Pitlick who got his first of the year. It came on a shift where two Gophers ripped a shot off the post before Jimmy Clark got the puck to Charlie Strobel behind the net. The sophomore forward, from the goal-line, fed Pitlick in the slot who banged home the fourth goal of the game.
After the goal, Stejskal was later helped to his feet by two Bulldog players and eventually was helped to the locker room. Matthew Thiessen replaced him and was immediately tested by Nelson and Connor Kurth’s quick shots. Thiessen stretched his right pad out to make the save and later went to the bench in some pain. He stayed in the game for the final nine minutes and made eight saves on eight shots.
Brodzinski picked up an empty net goal with under two minutes left to make it 5-1 Gophers. Motzko joked after the game that it is crazy how fast Brodzinski will skate for a loose puck if there is an empty net in front of him.
Other Notes
The Gophers will go to Duluth tomorrow for another game against the Bulldogs at Amsoil Arena, a building the Gophers have not won in since October 15th, 2011.
Also worth noting, UMD hung up Adam Johnson’s Bulldogs jersey on the boards behind the bench to honor the former Bulldog forward. Johnson tragically passed away after a skate to the neck, a freak accident, playing hockey overseas last weekend.
Koster, Ryan Chesley, and Moore played tonight with a guard around their neck for the Gophers as well as three different Bulldog players. The Gophers ordered a whole shipment of neck guards and will have them available for everyone on the team to wear.
“It was a pretty easy decision for me,” Koster said on wearing the neck guard. “I just kind of wanted to wear one. Life’s short you know, hockey isn’t everything in life and I think that’s the biggest thing. I owe it to my family and my loved ones just to wear one. It’s tragic what happened. It’s something I felt was necessary to wear [tonight]. It’s kind of a good wake up call I guess.”