Ryan Collins signs with Columbus Blue Jackets

Ryan Collins (6) at the 2017 North Star College Cup (Photo: Daniel Mick)

Minnesota defenseman Ryan Collins has signed a three year, entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He will forego his senior season with the Gophers and report to Columbus' AHL affiliate in Cleveland to play this weekend.

Puck Dynasty Podcast: The Autopsy of the 2016-17 Gopher Men's Hockey Team (Episode 20)

Puck Dynasty is a weekly in-season podcast covering the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team and college hockey. Nathan Wells (SB Nation College Hockey/various outlets), Declan Goff (1500 ESPN/GoMN Sports) and Drew Cove (Minnesota Daily) discuss the latest news, analysis and give their opinions about the Gophers and sport as a whole.

This week Declan, Drew and Nate open the show dissecting the Gophers’ loss to Notre Dame at the opening round of the NCAA Tournament; the first wave of players signing NHL contracts; the impact of next year’s incoming freshman class, plus a ton of Twitter questions!

The guys close the show previewing the Frozen Four and their most-improved Gopher players. Thank you to everyone who listen/subscribed to the Puck Dynasty podcast this season.

Those trying to explain Megabus to Lou Nanne can directly download at 1500 ESPN, Podcast One or subscribe on iTunes.


Follow Nate (@gopherstate), Declan (@dexstweets) and Drew (@drewcove48) on Twitter. If you like what you hear, be sure to give it a five star review on whatever platform you consume podcasts.

Game Story: Gophers blank Spartans, win Big Ten championship (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

3/10/2017 Game Story

Michigan State 0
Minnesota 4
FINAL

MINNEAPOLIS- Jack Sadek skated off the ice at the end of the first period having scored more goals in 20 minutes than he had in two years with the Gophers.

In 45 games prior, the sophomore defenseman from Lakeville and Minnesota Wild draft pick had one goal as a Gopher. Making up for lost time and getting a chance to finally show off some goal celebration moves, Sadek finished with two as Minnesota defeated Michigan State 4-0 Friday night at Mariucci Arena.

“I said earlier that I don’t think I’ve scored twice in a game,” Sadek said between laughs. “It feels good to help out the team in a big game.”

With two celebrations in hand, Sadek and his teammates added another after the game. Minnesota’s victory clinched at least a share of its fourth Big Ten Conference championship in four years, and the Gophers became outright champions 45 minutes later when Ohio State beat Wisconsin 5-1.

The Gophers (23-10-2, 14-5-0-0 Big Ten) have put together sixth straight conference championship seasons, including the last two as a member of the WCHA before that league realigned.

“You’re happy for the guys. You feel like it was going to happen this weekend, but you still have to go out and earn it,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said following the win.

Click here to read the rest!

Story: Gophers hockey on a roll with PK (St. Paul Pioneer Press)

University of Minnesota sophomore forwards Jack Ramsey and Darian Romanko share a line that goes by several nicknames.

“Blue,” for both the jersey color worn in practice and collar style of play. And “trench line,” a name preferred by Ramsey, carried over from his time in junior hockey; it represents digging in and shutting down the top offensive line.

On special teams the 6-foot-1, 204-pound Romanko and the 6-3, 196-pound Ramsey have plenty of help — from scoring forward Justin Kloos to shot-blocking defenseman Jake Bischoff and stingy goalie Eric Schierhorn, among others — to dig in on a penalty kill that has played a major role in the Gophers’ No. 5 national ranking.

“It’s that consistency factor. We work on it a lot in practice,” said Ramsey. “I think a huge thing is we usually have six forwards killing. We have our pairs, so you know who your partner is all the time.”

After sweeping Penn State last weekend, the Gophers (17-7-2, 8-2-0 Big Ten) are a nation-best 10-2-0 since they last faced this weekend’s opponent, Ohio State (13-7-6, 4-5-1). That was at Mariucci Arena on Dec. 2-3 when the teams split a pair of games.

Click here to read the rest!

Leftovers From The Michigan Series

No, this wasn't the same Michigan team.

That much was apparent early and often during Minnesota's 5-2 and 4-2 wins over the Wolverines to extend its winning streak to six games.

(You can read both of my game stories in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Friday here. Saturday here.)

Michigan's goals Friday came off of two turnovers in the defensive zone (the second being about as easy of a giveaway that Leon Bristedt could have given up to Brendan Warren). The offensive juggernaut from last season had barely any offense this time around.

By the time head coach Red Berenson spoke Friday he said what we all knew.

"We have to be better defensively as a group. We're not a gifted team. We're not last year's team. We're not going to lead the country in scoring," said Berenson, who has seen it all in a 30+ year coaching career with the Wolverines. "In fact it's hard for us to score. How many games have we scored three goals? "

Lose as many dynamic players as Berenson's team has over the past two seasons and trying to replace becomes a steeper and steeper task. (It's something Minnesota fans can relate to after the string of one-and-dones from 2004-2007.) Not every class contains a Dylan Larkin or Kyle Connor. Getting an upperclassmen resurgence from Zach Hyman or Tyler Motte takes time.

This year, however, the Wolverines - without top freshman forward Will Lockwood last weekend - have gone back to square one. Michigan led the nation in goals per game a season ago. Without the CCM line and Zach Werenski the shooting gallery is gone in Ann Arbor. Only three teams in the country have a worse Corsi close (42.5%) than the Wolverines.

Minnesota focused on shot suppression this weekend, holding Michigan to 42 shots in 2 games. Putting the pressure on the Wolverines defense and goaltending, the road team was more conservative and Minnesota controlled possession almost at will.

"Too many shots. Too many chances. We weren't good enough with the puck or without the puck," said Berenson after Friday's loss.

Berenson, for what it's worth, did have praise for the Gophers.

"They're as good of a team as any team in the country on any given night," he said.

Five more leftover thoughts after the jump:

Pregame Blog: More on Tyler Sheehy's 2 goal night + Minnesota-Michigan Line Combinations

Trying to defeat the same team twice in a row is never easy. Minnesota would know as the Gophers try to sweep the Wolverines on Saturday. Both series last season saw Minnesota get blown out by Michigan on Friday only to regroup a night later and salvage a split.

That said, Minnesota's 5-2 win over Michigan featured several impressive performances.

Several players who hadn't celebrated a goal in a while did just that. Tommy Novak scored for the first time in nearly two months. Rem Pitlick, who had 46 goals in juniors last season yet entered the weekend with only two, showed why with another highlight-reel goal. (All three could be put in that category.) Junior defenseman Ryan Collins had two assists for his first multi-point game since November 28, 2014 at Boston College.

“The guys that we need scoring had a boost tonight,” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia.

As a team, the Gophers nearly finished with both a nearly 2:1 shot and shot attempts (78-40) advantage against Michigan. Minnesota's special teams extended its penalty kill streak to 19 straight. Although this isn't the same Wolverines team as the one a year ago that could almost score at will and possessed one of the best power plays I've ever seen in college hockey, it was unable to get even strength chances against the Gopher defense in the final two periods.

However, the most impressive performance might have been one which on the surface sounds predictable. Tyler Sheehy scoring twice and assisting on Pitlick's goal. It's the fourth 2 goal game for him so far this season. He has points in 10 of his last 12 games.

Why impressive? His two goals came two days after being too sick to practice.

Sheehy, along with the rest of the Gophers, built on past performances Friday despite not being 100%. He leads Minnesota with 14 goals this season. That number already bests the sophomore forward's freshman total.

“You never want to look ahead and past an opponent, but at the same time you have to build off momentum from previous games,” said Sheehy. “It’s a little bit (difficult coming out of the break), but we were able to come out tonight fast and keep the momentum we had the last two weekends.”

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Coach Lucia mentioned post game that he would likely make a couple changes for the second game of the two-game series.

He stuck to that word.

Forwards Brent Gates Jr. and Taylor Cammarata are out tonight. Connor Reilly comes back in and moves up to the second line with Vinni Lettieri and Novak. Leon Bristedt, meanwhile, moves back to the third line he has made his own as of late.

Not sure if Gates is a coach's decision, but if so that's a message sent only a couple games removed from the Grand Rapids, MI native scoring a hat trick. (UPDATE: Gates' absence is indeed from the illness going around the team.)

Ryan Norman replaces Cammarata on the fourth line.

Defense and goaltending remain the same. UPDATE: Jack Sadek has been scratched due to illness. Jack Glover will play.

Freshman Hayden Lavigne gets the nod in net for Michigan after Zach Nagelvoort allowed five goals Friday.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers lines

Forwards
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Justin Kloos (#25) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Connor Reilly (#21) - Tommy Novak (#17) - Vinni Lettieri (#19)
Leon Bristedt (#18) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Luke Notermann (#11)
Ryan Norman (#23) - Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)

Defense
Jake Bischoff (#28) - Ryan Lindgren (#5)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Jack Glover (#3)
Ryan Zuhsldorf (#20) - Ryan Collins (#6)

Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Nick Lehr (#34)
Brock Kautz (#1)
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Tonight's game starts at 7 pm CT from Mariucci Arena. Fox Sports North Plus airs it on television. 1500 ESPN has radio coverage.

As a reminder, I am covering this weekend's series for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.