Game Story: Minnesota loses game, series & home ice to Penn State (Zone Coverage)

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA- Losing a shootout last Saturday turned out to be the difference for Minnesota.

Or it could possibly be a blown 3-0 lead to Michigan in November that resulted in a loss in overtime.

The 4-0 lead the next night which resulted in two points rather than three comes to mind. Maybe Wisconsin or Ohio State finding a way to win tied games in the third period did it. Maybe being shut out at Notre Dame despite 44 shots on Cale Morris.

Then there’s this weekend. After 24 Big Ten league games, Minnesota fell one point short of home ice.

“It’s tough. It’s not the weekend that we wanted,” Gopher junior forward Brent Gates Jr. said.

Needing a single point on the road in either of the two games against Penn State, the Gophers got swept at Pegula Arena for the first time in program history. Despite a better start Saturday a night after handily losing 5-1, Minnesota could not find a way early past Peyton Jones.

The Nittany Lions scored twice in the opening 10:48 to go on and win the regular season finale 5-2. Celebrating with streamers from the student section, PSU finishes with 34 points compared to 33 for the Gophers.

“We didn’t play as we needed to yesterday, as the shots and score showed. You can’t leave the second game to chance,” said Mike Szmatula.

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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.”

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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.

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Game Story: Brent Gates Jr. makes it in New York, leading Gophers to Madison Square Garden win (Zone Coverage)

NEW YORK CITY- Start spreading the news. Minnesota is leaving New York, New York Saturday with a season sweep over Michigan State.

The Gophers went to Madison Square Garden as part of the third annual Big Ten “Super Saturday” hockey-hoops doubleheader. While the men’s basketball team fell 67-49 to Ohio State earlier in the day, the men’s hockey team bounced back to skate away with a 2-1 win over the Spartans.

“It was a great experience for our players and our staff to come out here and play at such a historic venue, but as we told our players it’s only fun when you win,” Minnesota head coach Don Lucia said. “We had to grind out a win tonight. It wasn’t easy. I kept talking to our players that sometimes when you don’t have your legs or your hands that you need to find a backup game and find a way to win.”

Minnesota (15-12-1, 6-9-1-1 Big Ten) junior forward Brent Gates Jr. proved he can make it both here in New York and anywhere, scoring the game-winning goal with 3:29 remaining in regulation. The Grand Rapids, Michigan native, who grew up going to Spartans games, continued a hot weekend that began with two assists in East Lansing Thursday.

His goal came off of a bouncing pass by teammate Jack Ramsey that was able to be batted past Michigan State (9-16-1, 3-12-1-1 Big Ten) goaltender John Lethemon, who made 20 saves.

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Game Story: Minnesota's road woes continue against St. Cloud State (Zone Coverage)

ST. CLOUD, Minn.- Missing equipment, missing players and missing opportunities against St. Cloud State, the road continues to plague Minnesota.

The Gophers fell to 1-8-1 in true road games this season, losing 5-2 to the top-ranked Huskies in St. Cloud and matching the number of games the team lost away from Mariucci Arena in 2016-17.

“Playing on the road you have to come out and really dominate the first ten minutes,” said Minnesota junior Brent Gates Jr., who finished with a goal and an assist. “If you come out and let the fans in the game — especially in an environment like this — the first 10 minutes, it’s going to be tough to battle back. You’re going to be chasing the game.”

Mikey Eyssimont twice scored Saturday for St. Cloud State (13-2-3, 7-2-1-0 NCHC) in the first two minutes of a period to help keep the Gophers at bay at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

“That was as good as our team has played,” Huskies head coach Bob Motzko said. “We were on top of pucks and our defenseman were real solid.”

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Feature: Gopher hockey loses its finishing touch in disappointing weekend at Michigan (The Athletic)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — If Minnesota needed a reminder of the cliché “you’re only as good as your last game,” the team got one this past weekend.

Entering a two-game series against Michigan and new head coach Mel Pearson, the Gophers were 7-1-0 on the season when leading after two periods, with seven consecutive wins. Consistently finishing close games had been a point of pride for head coach Don Lucia.

That all went out one of Yost Ice Arena’s many windows this weekend. Any goodwill built up over seven wins was lost in a span of two nights.

Minnesota left Ann Arbor back at square one in closing out games. Twice Minnesota jumped out to at least a 3-0 lead. Twice the Wolverines were able to come back, winning 5-4 in overtime Friday and tying 6-6 Saturday.

“That’s not the result that we want,” Minnesota captain Tyler Sheehy told The Athletic. “Eleven goals (given up) on a weekend is not Gopher hockey. We have to get back to Gopher hockey as a whole.”

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Game Story: Ryan Lindgren, Minnesota D shines in 3-1 win over Michigan State (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- At the same end of the Mariucci Arena rink where he had to be helped off the last time Michigan State was in town, a healthy Ryan Lindgren spun, fell to the ice and got back up. The Gopher sophomore defenseman could celebrate this time around.

He had scored a goal.

Minnesota (6-3-0, 2-1-0-0 Big Ten) added two more Friday and get help from its defense in a 3-1 victory over the Spartans.

“I thought our D were active tonight,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. “They were much more assertive in their play, something we’ve really tried to get them more involved from an offensive standpoint so it was nice to see them score the goal.”

It began early Friday on No. 5 Minnesota’s first shot of the game. Lindgren and junior defenseman Jack Sadek, part of a Gopher blue line that had two total goals this season, combined for the team’s opening goal 3:22 into the game.

Lindgren, whose freshman season ended last March when he broke his leg trying to beat out an icing call against MSU’s Taro Hirose, hustled to the net.

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Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Clarkson Saturday Line Combinations, TV Schedule + More

#9 Clarkson (4-2-1, 0-0-0 ECAC) at #7 Minnesota (4-3-0, 1-1-0-0 Big Ten)

Date: October 28, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North Plus (AVAILABLE in Twin Cities)
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage

Friday night's recap: Gopher Hockey Freshmen Return; Lead Minnesota Over #9 Clarkson

One aspect of Friday's win that I didn't explore much in my game recap was Minnesota's discipline.

Game Story: Gopher Hockey Freshmen Return; Lead Minnesota Over #9 Clarkson (Zone Coverage)

MINNEAPOLIS- As a rule, Minnesota men’s hockey freshmen cannot talk to the press during the month of October.

They can, however, let their sticks do the talking.

There is no rule against freshmen contributing on the ice, which was the case Friday for the Gophers in a late October home victory over a top-10 opponent. Freshmen forwards Scott Reedy and Casey Mittelstadt played major roles in No. 7 Minnesota’s 3-1 win over No. 9 Clarkson as both returned from missing time with injuries.

Reedy broke open a scoreless game in the second period with his second career goal. Mittelstadt, meanwhile, assisted on the play. He finished with two assists for his first official multi-point game.

“They’re obviously important players. It’s important to get them back,” said sophomore Rem Pitlick, who scored a goal for Minnesota. “We have guys who stepped up and played well in their spots, but you go down two good players like that it’s always tough and to have them back was great.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Notebook: Ice Breaker, Potential Lines, TV Situation, Mittelstadt & More

Here are some Minnesota news and notes in the lead-up to the men's regular season opener tonight at Duluth and the women hosting Ohio State this weekend.

I'll be up in Duluth this weekend covering the Ice Breaker for a few different outlets. Of course, you can find links to anything Gopher-related I write on this website, as well as follow me on Twitter @gopherstate. I'm also planning on doing a Facebook Live video to discuss the games, which will be posted here as well afterwards.

My plan is to put a pregame blog a couple hours before the game. I do still hope to do a TV analysis blog before we get too far into the season for those who were wondering. Unfortunately, neither of this weekend's games are on television in the Twin Cities. The Gophers do not control TV rights to visiting non-conference games and the Bulldogs and My9 Duluth did not allow Fox Sports North to broadcast. Those in the Twin Cities can stream the game live for a fee at NCHC.TV.

It's a college hockey-wide problem where every season you can almost count the number of nationally televised non-conference games on one hand. Sadly, the problem seems to be getting worse and worse as realignment creates more non-conference games and more teams get TV deals. The same situation will occur in two weeks when the Gophers travel to Grand Forks to face North Dakota.

BLOG: How to get your offseason hockey fix & watch Gophers all at once

Friday and Saturday marked the midpoint of Minnesota's offseason. Each passing day brings us closer to the start of a new year, so it should be no surprise that mid-July features players ramping up in preparation.

In addition to ongoing NHL development camps, several University of Minnesota players are spending their July and August participating in Da Beauty League. Featuring Twin Cities-based NHLers, minor leaguers and collegians playing 4x4 hockey at Braemar Arena in Edina, the league's second season begins today (July 12, 2017) and runs through August. For three games a night (5:10 pm, 6:35 pm, 8:00 pm) at $10 it's a decent value.

Big Ten suspends Joey Marooney one game for Penn State hit

Minnesota freshman Joey Marooney (Photo by Daniel Mick)

Minnesota freshman forward Joey Marooney will be suspended for Friday's home game against Wisconsin.

The supplemental punishment comes Monday from the Big Ten.

Marooney, a late decision to play Saturday in place of Mike Szmatula, was given a five minute major for boarding and a game misconduct 9:41 into the game. The freshman ended up hitting 6'7" Nikita Pavlychev near the back of the head and into the boards.

Pregame Blog: Why Joey Marooney is in tonight against Penn State + Minnesota Line Combinations

Friday's Game Info:

#6/4 Penn State at #7 Minnesota

Date: February 3, 2017
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Place: Mariucci Arena
TV: Fox Sports North Plus
Stream: BTN2Go (Free for cable subscribers)
Radio: 1500 ESPN
Nate is covering for tonight: SB Nation College Hockey

Not everything is set in Minnesota's forward lineup as the Gophers hit the stretch run of Big Ten conference play.

"There's some spots to be had right now and that's what we have to try and find out over the next month," said head coach Don Lucia.

Game Story: Gophers lose to Minnesota Duluth in North Star College Cup (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

1/28/2017 Game Story

Minnesota 2
Minnesota Duluth 3
FINAL

ST. PAUL- Friday’s game against Minnesota Duluth taught Brent Gates Jr. that the Gophers can play with any team in the nation.

As far as lessons go, there are worse ones for a team to learn in a losing effort. Facing the No. 2-ranked team in the nation in a North Star College Cup semifinal, No. 6 Minnesota found out what it needed to compete against the top tier in college hockey and realized the slim margin between success and failure at that level.

UMD (17-5-4) scored three unanswered goals to defeat the Gophers 3-2 at the Xcel Energy Center and advance to Saturday’s championship game.

“We played well. We did a lot of good things. A couple mishaps, a couple turnovers, a couple penalties and the game went their way, but we went toe-to-toe with them. We played a solid overall game so we’re going to build on it,” said Gates, who scored two power-play goals.

Minnesota (14-8-2) finds itself in the consolation game of the in-state tournament for the third consecutive year. The Gophers will face Bemidji State, which lost to St. Cloud State 2-1 in Friday’s early game.

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Leftovers From The Wisconsin Series

When your team wins in the Border Battle, it's a quality win.

“It’s always exciting to win in overtime. That’s why they call it sudden death,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia on Friday following Justin Kloos' overtime winner. “It was a good win for us.”

"Huge win for our program, our fans," was how Wisconsin redshirt senior Corbin McGuire summed up Saturday's win.

Both Minnesota and Wisconsin played similar games with two different results. The Gophers both nights dominated the first period before the Badgers came back in the second period to tie the game at 2. On Friday, Minnesota re-took the lead. On Saturday, Wisconsin needed 89 seconds to grab it back and take the game in a different direction.

You can read Friday and Saturday's recaps from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, along with an audio accompaniment from Madison.

Here are some other leftover thoughts that didn't make the newspaper.