Greetings from Madison Square Garden!
I'm here for the Big Ten's Super Saturday where the Gophers (5-4 winners Thursday in the opening game) will face Michigan State (technically the home team) later tonight in the second game of a hockey-hoops doubleheader. Minnesota basketball already played, losing 67-49 to Ohio State.
That's right. On Hockey Day Minnesota, I was in New York covering my first college basketball game.
Records: #13/14 Minnesota (14-12-1, 5-9-1-1 Big Ten), Michigan State (9-15-1, 3-11-1-1 Big Ten)
Date: Saturday January 20th
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Location: Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: 1130 KTLK AM in Twin Cities
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/TSN Go
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage/The Athletic
Tyler Sheehy hits 100 points
Hear from #Gophers captain Tyler Sheehy, who eclipsed 100 career points in his 100th career game tonight with two goals and an assist. pic.twitter.com/yPNe9DyWAk— Minnesota M Hockey (@GopherHockey) January 19, 2018
In his 100th career game, Minnesota's captain became the 84th Gopher to reach 100 career points.
You can be forgiven if thinking #101 was more important. Sheehy entered Thursday needing two points to reach the milestone. Reunited with center Tommy Novak, who returned from missing four games, he finished with three, including the game-winning third period goal.
In three games in the state of Michigan this season he has 9 points (4G-5A).
The Hockey Gods have a sense of humor
Gophers Jack Ramsey scores on a dump in from center ice that took a funny hop pic.twitter.com/OiV9eLIEnV— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) January 18, 2018
While linemate Darian Romanko has been rewarded with 2 goals in his last 4 games, it hasn't been easy going for Jack Ramsey. The junior forward continues to come close to his second goal with 2-3 chances a night. He's hit multiple posts, had goalies make remarkable saves and even earned a penalty shot.
So of course Ramsey's second goal comes from an 80 foot dump-in that bounces past John Lethemon.
It wasn't the only #weirdhockey goal as Michigan State scored twice off of board bounces. (Sadly, Eric Schierhorn was given the start because he had experience with the boards.)
Pairwise Implications
The Gophers are back up to 13th in the Pairwise following Friday's college hockey games. If the season ended today the team would be in the NCAA Tournament.
As mentioned on this week's podcast, the simple 99.9% of the time thing to follow for Minnesota's NCAA Tournament chances is whether the Gophers can stay above .500. If they do so - and Minnesota is currently two games above - it means the Gophers defeated enough high quality teams to keep Minnesota in the top 13. After this weekend everyone the Gophers will face will be a top-25 team.
Line Combinations:
Minnesota is going with the same lines as it did Thursday. Clayton Phillips is back in the lineup after being given a game misconduct.
University of Minnesota Golden Gophers
Forwards
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Tommy Novak (#17) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Brent Gates Jr. (#10) - Casey Mittelstadt (#21) - Brannon McManus (#7)
Leon Bristedt (#18) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Scott Reedy (#19)
Tyler Nanne (#29) - Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)
Defense
Ryan Lindgren (#5) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Ryan Zuhlsdorf (#20)
Clayton Phillips (#6) - Jack Glover (#3)
Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Mat Robson (#40)
Brock Kautz (#1)
Michigan State University Spartans
Forwards
Taro Hirose (#17) - Patrick Khodorenko (#55) - Mitchell Lewandowski (#55)
Logan Lambdin (#71) - Sam Saliba (#10) - Cody Milan (#23)
Brennan Sanford (#13) - Tommy Apap (#11) - David Keefer (#19)
Jake Smith (#21) - Gianluca Esteves (#28) - Austin Kamer (#24)
Defense
Carson Gatt (#18) - Tommy Miller (#12)
Jerad Rosburg (#57) - Mitch Eliot (#52)
Butrus Ghafari (#44) - Zach Osburn (#2)
Goaltenders
John Lethemon (#31)
Ed Minney (#45)
Spencer Wright (#41)
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