Pohl Talk: Why is Minnesota stuck at 8th/9th in the Pairwise?

It's hard to believe NCAA Selection Sunday is less than 4 weeks away.

When the Pairwise is set for good once the final game is played March 17th, it appears the Gophers will once again be one of the 16 teams. College Hockey News put out its first Pairwise Probablity Matrix on Monday. Minnesota makes the tournament in 99.9% of the 20,000 monte carlo simulations that CHN ran.

That's the good news if you're a Gopher fan. Minnesota's 6-1-1 run over the last 8 games, combined with a 9-3-0 non-conference record against top-tier opponents, seems to solidified a spot. Only two regular season games remain along with at least two conference tournament games. Even if the Gophers go 0-4 during this stretch the team, currently eighth in the Pairwise, would stay in position to get an at-large bid.

At the same time, there is not much room to move up. Several of you have noticed, which allows me to answer one of the questions I've most frequently been asked: Why is Minnesota stuck in the same Pairwise position?

Podcast: That Gopher Hockey Puckcast Episode 20 (With Nicole Haase)

On episode 20 of That Gopher Hockey Puckcast, our attention turns to the Olympics.

First repeat guest this season Nicole Haase joins Nate Wells and producer Tom Schreier to discuss all things women's hockey. Being in Madison, Nicole gives her take on Wisconsin sweeping Minnesota and where the Gophers go from there. She also helps explain the St. Anselm situation and Minnesota's bubbling NCAA Tournament chances before touching on some of favorites for the Patty Kazmaier and NCAA championship.

With the Olympics currently ongoing, they preview the medal round and where Team USA stands in the quest to end a 20 year Olympic gold medal drought. This was recorded prior to the Americans blowing out Finland and doing exactly what Nicole said USA needed to do.

Those who have lost sleep watching Olympic hockey can directly download here.


As a reminder, if you subscribed to our old podcast, that feed will no longer work. You need to subscribe to the 'Cast In Gold feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Here it is on iTunes.

Plugs and stuff:

Nicole is a D1 and D3 women's hockey columnist for USCHO while also doing features for The Victory Press. You can find her on Twitter sharing dog and koala photos @nicolehaase.

-Drew was on assignment, but he can be found on Twitter @covedrew and covers Minnesota men's hockey, football and softball for the Minnesota Daily. His latest story is on forwards Darian Romanko and Jack Ramsey thriving in their defensive roles.

-Nate can be found here on this website and at The Athletic (as well as every other website if the various links here don't make clear). His latest feature is on Gopher alum Kate Schipper participating in the NWHL All-Star Game and pro women's hockey in Minnesota. You can follow him on Twitter @gopherstate and like/subscribe to his Facebook page.

Game Story: Gopher Senior Day ends in tied goaltender duel (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- Neither goalie would budge, even when the game was officially over.

Minnesota goaltender Mat Robson and Ohio State goaltender Sean Romeo matched one another for 65 minutes. Each allowed one goal as the two top-10 teams finished Saturday afternoon tied 1-1.

OSU (19-8-5, 12-8-2-1 Big Ten) earned an extra point in the Big Ten standings by winning an eight-round shootout 2-1 between the two teams.

Making his seventh consecutive start in net, Robson tied his career high with 38 saves Saturday. In 11 games this season, the Minnesota (19-13-2, 10-10-2-1 Big Ten) sophomore has allowed two goals or fewer in nine and has a .945 save percentage.

“He was great. He’s been really good since he’s been able to join us,” said Brent Gates Jr. after the game. “You can’t blame him for that. He played an amazing game. He played great in overtime and did amazing in the shootout. One beat him, but he played a phenomenal game.”

Click here to read the rest!

Pregame Blog: Gophers learning from mistakes, Senior Day line combinations vs Ohio State, TV, Radio & More

Records: No. 10/9 Minnesota (19-13-1, 10-10-1-1 Big Ten), No. 6 Ohio State (19-8-4, 12-8-1-0 Big Ten)
Date: Saturday February 17, 2018
Time: 4:00 pm CT
Location: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: ESPNU (John Buccigross and Sean Ritchlin)
Radio: 1130 KTLK AM in Twin Cities (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Stream: Watch ESPN/TSN Go
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage/The Athletic
Last night's recap: Minnesota defeats #6 OSU 2-1

Winning six of seven games, Brent Gates Jr. believes some of the puzzle pieces are starting to come together on the Gopher offense.

"We've put in a lot of hard work. It's been a bit of an up and down season and I think everyone knows that," he said. "Everyone else knows we have the firepower and it's about playing good hockey at the right time. That's what we're starting to do."

Game Story: Sadek sweep, Glover goal help No. 9 Minnesota defeat No. 6 Ohio State (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- By his own admission, it wasn’t the best clear Jack Sadek had.

With No. 6 Ohio State (19-8-4, 12-8-1-0 Big Ten) pulling goaltender Sean Romeo and looking for a last-minute game-tying goal, the Minnesota junior defenseman gave a helping hand to his goaltender. Matthew Weis’ shot beat Gopher goaltender Mat Robson, going off the post.

Sadek was right there, however.

He sent the puck down the length of the ice and nearly scored on an empty net with 32 seconds remaining to stymie OSU’s best and last chance. No. 9 Minnesota held on to beat the Buckeyes 2-1 for its sixth win in the team’s last seven games.

“I was lucky enough to clear it,” he said. “Probably not the best clear up the middle, but it worked out.”

While the Gopher offense, coming off an 11-goal weekend in Madison, continued to click and create chances, the defense once again came through. Playing with the mentality that the playoffs began last week Minnesota (19-13-1, 10-10-1-1 Big Ten) limited the number of Buckeyes odd-man rushes and opportunities.

Click here to read the rest!

Pregame Blog: Minnesota vs. Ohio State Friday Line Combinations, TV, Radio & More

Records: #10/9 Minnesota (18-13-1, 9-10-1-1 Big Ten), No. 6 Ohio State (19-7-4, 12-7-1-0 Big Ten)
Date: Friday February 16, 2018
Time: 8:00 pm CT
Location: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Big Ten Network (Dan Kelly and Ben Clymer)
Radio: 1130 KTLK AM in Twin Cities (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage/The Athletic

It's mid-February, but with the new Big Ten conference tournament format this weekend marks the final two home games of the regular season. The Gophers host Ohio State in a battle of top-ten teams.

It's the latest series for Minnesota against a top-tier opponent, which has been beneficial for NCAA Tournament chances. Entering tonight the Gophers are ninth in the Pairwise, which mimics the criteria used to determine the NCAA Tournament field. A win this weekend against the Buckeyes or next weekend at Penn State would help secure a spot, however, the Gophers need eight points over the last four games to secure home ice in the first round of the Big Ten conference tournament.

A pair of Minnesota players, junior forward Jack Ramsey and senior defenseman Jack Glovers, will appear in their 100th career game Friday.

BLOG: Don Lucia on Gopher Alums Making NHL Debuts

On Tuesday, Nick Seeler became the fifth Gopher alum in 2017-18 to make his NHL debut when he skated for the Minnesota Wild. He also played in Thursday's 5-2 loss to Washington at Xcel Energy Center.

A fifth round pick drafted by the Wild out of Eden Prairie HS, he joins a growing list of Minnesota players in the NHL. Seeler is the 23rd alum to play in an NHL game this season. No NCAA team has had more.

"I thought we didn't develop anyone in our program. That's the word," head coach Don Lucia said sarcastically when a reporter brought up that fact.

Along with Seeler, alums Justin Kloos, Travis Boyd, Justin Holl and Vinni Lettieri, who was on the ice with the New York Rangers against Seeler's Wild, have all debuted.

Podcast: That Gopher Hockey Puckcast Episode 19

On Episode 19, the Gopher offense comes alive in Madison.

Nate Wells, Drew Cove and producer Tom Schreier discuss all of Minnesota's road sweep over Wisconsin. Offense gets a lot of discussion - well deserved with the Gophers winning 7-1 Saturday and seeing several scoring droughts snapped - but Mat Robson and the Minnesota blue line get their fair shake, as well. So does Nick Seeler making his NHL debut, the latest Gopher alum to do so.

They then turn their attention to this weekend's opponent, Ohio State. Plus: The Big Ten race for home ice and Minnesota's NCAA Tournament standing (spoiler: it's good) are topics of discussion before opening the mailbag.

Those trying to move around in the Joe Louis Arena press box without running into anyone can directly download here.



As a reminder, if you subscribed to our old podcast, that feed will no longer work. You need to subscribe to the 'Cast In Gold feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Here it is on iTunes. While you're at it, please leave a review and give us five stars. It helps out the podcast.

Plugs and stuff

-Drew can be found on Twitter @covedrew and covers Minnesota men's hockey and football for the Minnesota Daily. His latest story is on forwards Darian Romanko and Jack Ramsey thriving in their defensive roles.

-Nate can be found here on this website and at The Athletic (as well as every other website if the various links here don't make clear). You can follow him on Twitter @gopherstate and like/subscribe to his Facebook page.

BLOG: Tyler Sheehy named Big Ten first star & NCAA second star

Tyler Sheehy's weekend earned the Minnesota captain some national honors.

Sheehy earned the Big Ten first star of the week and NCAA second star of the week for his performance in Minnesota's road sweep over Wisconsin. The Burnsville, MN native led the conference over the weekend with five points (3G-2A) in two wins. Sheehy twice put the Gophers ahead in Friday's 4-2 win before getting a goal and two assists Saturday. His 12 goals now lead the Gophers, who entered the weekend without a player in double digits.

Still, Sheehy's 23 points are off the pace of last season's sophomore campaign where his 53 were the most by any Gopher in over a decade.

One of the oddities this year is that the junior has found success in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin and struggled elsewhere. In five games in those two states Sheehy has 14 points (7G-7A) and five multi-point games. In every other state he has 9 points (5G-4A) in 25 games and is without a multi-point performance.

To compare, he had 19 multi-point games as a sophomore.

The Gophers do not play in Michigan or Wisconsin for the rest of the season, which means Sheehy will have to add a new state to the total. The Gophers host Ohio State this weekend, a team that in four games last season Sheehy had 10 points (5G-5A).

In addition, goaltender Mat Robson was named the Big Ten third star of the week. The sophomore stopped 61 of 64 shots on the weekend, including a career-high 38 in Saturday's 7-1 victory.

Game Story: Border Battle ends with 7-1 Minnesota win and sweep

Droughts snapped, Minnesota’s offense came out of hibernation in front of Kohl Center’s first sellout crowd since 2014.

The Border Battle ended Saturday with the visiting Gophers leaving Madison in dominating fashion with the team’s first true road sweep of the season. With 15,000 fans watching, Minnesota defeated Wisconsin 7-1 Saturday.

“It’s one of those nights where we haven’t had much puck luck all year long with guys scoring goals. Tonight they went in,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. “The guys we needed to score scored.”

All four lines scored for Minnesota (18-13-1, 9-10-1-1 Big Ten), whose seven goals were a season high. The Gopher power play, which had been an abysmal 3 for its last 54 attempts over a 13 game stretch, matched that total Saturday.

Mat Robson, making his fifth consecutive start, stopped 23 of 24 shots for the Gophers.

“Our team did a real good job keeping (Wisconsin) to the perimeter and made my job really easy and I feel they made me look really good all weekend,” he said.

Click here to read the rest!

Game Story: Tyler Sheehy leads the way for Minnesota in Border Battle win (Zone Coverage)

Minnesota’s captain led the way in the third period when the team needed him most.

In front of a hostile Kohl Center crowd, Tyler Sheehy twice put the Gophers ahead of Wisconsin to help Minnesota return from an idle weekend with a 4-2 road win.

“Coming into this weekend we knew it was going to be high emotions with a rival like Wisconsin so it felt great to play a really, really good game,” Sheehy told reporters postgame. “We competed for 60 minutes and completed it there at the end.”

The Gophers entered the game with a struggling offense having scored four goals in its last three games. The struggles continued before erupting for three goals in the third period alone.

Playing on a line with Tommy Novak and Brent Gates Jr., Sheehy scored the game-winning goal with 4:48 remaining in regulation.

“Fortunately for us, our captain came through,” head coach Don Lucia told reporters.

Click here to read the rest!

Border Battle series kicks off Minnesota's stretch run

Returning to the ice fully charged from an idle week, Minnesota junior forward Tommy Novak has a goal in mind. Three series remain in the Big Ten regular season beginning with this weekend's Border Battle in Madison Friday and Saturday against the Wisconsin Badgers.

Novak would like to be home at the end of it.

"To be at Mariucci for the Big Ten playoffs would be huge. Our seniors don't only want to play two more games here at Mariucci so that would be the biggest goal, getting home ice for the Big Ten playoffs," he said.

The top four teams host games in the new conference tournament format. First place gets a bye to the semifinals while second through fourth host a best-of-three quarterfinal series.

To get home ice in the quarterfinals would likely be enough for Minnesota (16-13-1, 7-10-1-1 Big Ten) to clinch an at-large berth in the 16 team NCAA Tournament. The Gophers are currently ninth in the Pairwise thanks in part to a 9-3-0 non-conference record and five wins over the eight teams ahead.

Podcast: That Gopher Hockey Puckcast Episode 18 (with Todd Milewski)

On episode 18, we get back to hockey.

Nate Wells and Drew Cove spent Minnesota's off weekend going to an unnamed restaurant (that is totally named in the podcast) without producer Tom Schreier.

After some college hockey talk, attention turns to this weekend's Border Battle between Minnesota and Wisconsin in Madison. Todd Milewski of the Wisconsin State Journal joins the podcast to give the inside scoop on the Wisconsin Badgers and how things are in year 2 of the Tony Granato era. The Badgers, 18th in the Paiwise (the Gophers are 9th), are third in the Big Ten, five points ahead of sixth-place Minnesota.

Plus: Super Bowl talk and awkward moments in media coverage.

Those who have gotten frozen out at a press conference can directly download here.


As a reminder, if you subscribed to our old podcast, that feed will no longer work. You need to subscribe to the 'Cast In Gold feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Here it is on iTunes. While you're at it, please leave a review and give us five stars. It helps out the podcast.

Plugs and stuff

-Todd is the Wisconsin Badgers hockey beat writer for the Wisconsin State Journal. He also is one of the bigwigs at USCHO and can be found on Twitter @toddmilewski.

-Drew can be found on Twitter @covedrew and covers Minnesota men's hockey and football for the Minnesota Daily.

-Nate can be found here on this website and at The Athletic (as well as every other website if the various links here don't make clear). You can follow him on Twitter @gopherstate and like/subscribe to his Facebook page.

Gopher commit Robbie Stucker traded to Fargo

Minnesota commit Robbie Stucker was traded Monday from Chicago (USHL) to Fargo.

The Force acquired Stucker as part of a eight player deal that also saw two picks trade hands.

Stucker, who committed to the Gophers in December, has 19 points (4G-15A) in 34 games this season with the Steel. The defenseman is a 2017 7th round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets and a St. Paul native.

In a roundabout way, Stucker heading to Fargo helps the Force replace an offensive defenseman hole opened when current Gopher Clayton Phillips was traded to Muskegon in October. Phillips spent two months in Muskegon before enrolling a semester early. The Force being able to trade a 2nd round USHL Phase 1 pick was helped by receiving an extra one in the Phillips trade.

Fargo is currently fifth place in a tight USHL Western Conference. Three points separate first and fifth place. Chicago, the defending champion, is tied for third in the USHL Eastern Conference with 40 points.

--
Stucker isn't the only Gopher commit traded in the USHL this week as teams ramp for Tuesday's trade deadline. Rhett Pitlick's affiliate rights were also traded this weekend.

Pitlick the younger's USHL rights went from Central Illinois to Omaha. He currently is a sophomore at Chaska (HS-MN) where he leads the Hawks in goals with 17. Previous Gophers to have played for Omaha include current players Brannon McManus and Steve Johnson along with Minnesota alums Ben Marshall, Seth Ambroz and Erik Haula.

Podcast: That Gopher Hockey Puckcast Episode 17

On Episode 17, Drew Cove hobnobs with celebrities while the Gophers add another resume-building win (and loss).

Two artists putting in work: Drew Cove and JB Smooth pic.twitter.com/DaVPYrdbf8

— Jack White (@JackWhiteMN) January 30, 2018

Drew comes back from covering Super Bowl Opening Night and running into JB Smoove to tell Nate Wells and producer Tom Schreier about the experience. The group also discuss the Minnesota series they covered - the Gophers splitting against then-No. 1 Notre Dame - and all the fallout. Casey Mittelstadt's OT winner, Mat Robson in goal both games, the Gophers matching Notre Dame one night before the Fighting Irish took over Saturday and another weekend with a lack of scoring all get discussed. Plus: Can a 0-0 game going into overtime be entertaining?

In addition, they answer a couple questions on the correct way for college hockey to end overtime and how many Big Ten teams will make the NCAA Tournament. Thanks Pat Micheletti!

Those too young to watch Donovan McNabb mix up NFL rules on ties can directly download here.



As a reminder, if you subscribed to our old podcast, that feed will no longer work. You need to subscribe to the 'Cast In Gold feed wherever you listen to podcasts. Here it is on iTunes. While you're at it, please leave a review and give us five stars. It helps out the podcast.

Plugs and stuff

-Drew can be found on Twitter @covedrew and covers Minnesota men's hockey and football for the Minnesota Daily. His Super Bowl story on Damarius Travis can be read here.

-Nate can be found here on this website and at The Athletic (as well as every other website if the various links here don't make clear). You can follow him on Twitter @gopherstate and like/subscribe to his Facebook page.

After another top-five win, Gopher hockey eyes a consistent formula for the season (The Athletic)

At his end of the ice, playing in a scoreless game that had gone into overtime, Mat Robson had one thing in mind.

“Make the next save,” he said.

Matching Notre Dame’s Cale Morris save for save, the Gopher goaltender did just that Friday. Robson stopped all 25 and was rewarded when Casey Mittelstadt, on a point of emphasis from the last time the two teams met, crashed the net and tapped in a Rem Pitlick rebound for a 1-0 victory over a No. 1 Fighting Irish team that swept the Gophers (and every other Big Ten team) earlier this season.

“Don’t give up the first one. You can’t think about losing or winning, you just have to make the next save and keep yourself composed,” said Robson, who for the first time this season started both games in a weekend.

When that doesn’t happen, as was the case in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to snap a three-game winning streak, it leaves Minnesota searching.

3M Arena at Mariucci has seen its share of highs and lows during the month of January. The Gophers have now twice shut out the then-No. 1 team in the nation. Sandwiched between was a 15-minute postgame players-only meeting at home, necessitated by a lifeless 3-1 defeat to Michigan.

Click here to read the rest (subscription required)!