Looking at the calendar, the game Thursday between the Minnesota Wild and visiting Washington Capitals at Xcel Energy Center could have been the night Alex Ovechkin made NHL history. But he came into the game still needing six goals to pass Wayne Gretzky (894 goals) for the most goals scored by a player in NHL history. So, at the very least he could have scored a goal to get a little bit closer to the milestone.

That didn’t happen either. Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet in his 1,482nd NHL game as the Wild captured a comeback 4-2 victory over the Capitals, snapping their two-game losing streak.

So, about that memorable ending?

After Freddy Gaudreau scored an empty-netter for his second goal of the night to put the game away, and the final horn sounded, the Wild congratulated their starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson on his seventh victory of March. Some of the Capitals players made their way toward the tunnel leading to the locker room. Ovechkin called them back to the ice, and the Capitals lined up near center ice to form a handshake line.

They were led by Ovechkin and waiting for one Wild player: Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Wild goaltender has been backing up Gustavsson more often these days, which is more about the hot-hand of Gustavsson and that the Wild are playing for their playoff lives. So, the Flower didn’t start and didn’t play in Thursday’s game.

“It was a little surprise there at the end. Then Bogo (Zach Bogosian) told me to look back,” Fleury said the next day after practice. “Everybody gets on and we fist bump everybody and went to go see Gus after the game. They were all lined up.

“A little surprise. Little bit… weird, I would say. I didn’t play the game, and then the whole team’s lined up. Very classy.”

Ovechkin mentioned Thursday morning that this game would mark the last time going up against Fleury, regardless of if the legendary goaltender played a minute in between the pipes. It’s been one of many memorable moments this season for Fleury, who is on a one-year contract and will likely retire from the NHL after this season.

The handshake tribute after the game was something the Capitals wanted to do, said Washington coach Spencer Carbery.

“Just paying the respects he deserves and the impressive career,” Carbery said. “He’s done so much. They’ve had so many battles. He’s had so many battles with the Caps, with ‘O’ (Ovechkin). So, pretty classy to be able to send him off and just say how impressive a career he had.”

Fleury was one of Charlie Lindgren’s favorite goalies growing up. Lindgren, the 31-year-old Lakeville North grad who made 17 saves for the Capitals in the loss Thursday, said he loved watching him play.

“The way he competed, the way he battled, just his personality,” Lindgren said. “I never had the chance to talk to him. Heck of a career.”

Wild winger Marcus Foligno also mentioned watching a bit of the Ovi-vs.-Fleury rivalry over the years before the he came into the NHL.

“That relationship is a little bit of a hate-love, but it’s one of those where you just tip your cap to the other guys and the battles that you saw in Pittsburgh and Capitals,” Foligno said.

Ovechkin thought the handshake line was a classy gesture, said Washington first-line center Dylan Strome, especially with their history as opponents.

“They played I don’t even know how many games against each other – I think I saw 47 today, not including playoffs,” Strome said. “It’s one of those things where you’ve got to respect greatness, and Fleury’s been great his whole career.

“I got the chance to play with him in Chicago, and everyone knows he’s one of the best people of all time in the game, so the little respect we can show him at the end of the game I think goes a long way and is well deserved for him.”

Yes, it’s been 47 games between the two. Ovechkin has scored 28 goals against Fleury in that time.

“We had so many battles,” Fleury said. “The Penguins, a few playoff series, even throughout the season, too, with him and Sid (Sidney Crosby). It was always a big deal. It was always a big game.

“I felt very lucky and fortunate I got to play so many games against him, compete against him. Obviously, a tough opponent.”

Fleury added that he was glad for the moment so he could tell Ovechkin it was fun playing against him, because “he’s had such a tremendous career also.”

Wild keeps giving Flower his flowers, too
The moment was special for Fleury’s Wild teammates, too. They stayed on the ice watching the handshake line unfold like the rest of the fans who stayed. Hearing players describe Fleury as “one of the best” they’ve ever played with is a common refrain this season.

“It’s special to have that when you quit hockey someday, that you played with that guy, for sure,” said Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin.

Wild coach John Hynes noted what a great teammate Fleury has been everywhere he’s played. Fleury was a Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He also played with Vegas and Chicago before landing with the Wild at the 2022 trade deadline.

Fleury deserves all the accolades he’s gotten, Hynes said Thursday, adding that he’s said that same thing a couple of times in the past.

“He’s been a tremendous competitor to compete against. And obviously the quality of a human being that he is, all those things combined, I think we’re witnessing in part of a hall-of-fame player, a hall-of-fame person. That’s earned the respect not only as a player but I think as a competitor. Which is probably the best compliment you can get.”

The post Hall-Of-Fame Handshakes appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minneapolis — All Mikey Eyssimont does is win tournament MVP trophies.

The St. Cloud State freshman forward took home the MVP hardware at the North Star College Cup in January with a five-point weekend. Eyssimont followed that up with two game winners among his three goals in this weekend to lead the Huskies to their first NCHC Frozen Faceoff title.

The Littleton, Colo. native’s highlight reel goal in the closing seconds of the second period broke a 1-1 tie with Minnesota-Duluth and SCSU goaltender made it hold up with 33 hard-earned saves for his 30th win of season as the Huskies beat the Bulldogs 3-1 Saturday night at Target Center.

Eyssimont’s torrid second half continued on Friday when his no look behind-the-back backhanded shot from along the goal line slipped past UMD netminder Kasimir Kaskisuo at the 19:24 mark of the second period to put the Huskies ahead for good.

“I saw Jimmy Schuldt, he shot for a stick, I think (Patrick) Russel’s,” Eyssimont said. “And it missed wide and popped out in kind of a perfect spot for me and as I got hit I just, it came past the goal line and I just tapped it in.”

The goal was Eyssimont’s 26th point in 22 games since New Year’s Day.

While he’s proud of his players’ accomplishment, St. Cloud State Coach Bob Motzko said he’s already in emotion-control mode with his team.

“We talked about it yesterday, we won the first round of the playoffs, we’ve got another round to go,” he said. “We’re excited but we want to park it quickly and try to stay off an emotional roller coaster.”

Motzko said that was the key to the win over UMD after the Huskies got off to a slow start which led to a 1-0 deficit after one period on Bulldogs defenseman Carson Soucy’s third goal of the season.

“I thought we had a great first period,” Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin said. “Not a lot happened but we got the lead. We were playing real well.”

“They got up 1-0 and that was a scary situation because that’s what happened to us before,” Motzko said. “We needed to hunker down and it took us awhile.”

Motzko was referring to Minnesota-Duluth’s late February sweep at St. Cloud which ignited UMD’s seven game winning streak which the Huskies extinguished on Saturday.

“They have great speed which makes it difficult because with great speed you can play great defense,” Motzko said. “And that’s what was limiting our chances early; we weren’t moving our feet.”

Minnesota-Duluth outshot SCSU 11-5 in the period but its momentum was slowed by Neal Pionk’s roughing penalty at the 20 minute mark of the first and Andy Welinski’s slash five minutes into the second.

The Bulldogs held the Huskie’s vaunted power play off the board but it came at a cost as St. Cloud State began to assert its control over the contest. That led to Eyssimont tying the game near the midway point of the second period off a cross-ice pass from Prow which he one-timed past UMD goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo from below the right circle.

“I don’t think our last 30-plus minutes was the way we’ve been playing,” Sandelin said. “They were very opportunistic and that’s what they do. They’ve scored a lot of goals this year.”

“I thought we got very consistent, very business-like, limited chances and played a very solid, strong game from that point on,”Motzko said. “So I liked the fact we didn’t start great but we found a way to be very business-like and get it done.”

Russel gave St. Cloud State some breathing room with his 2oth of the season early in the third and Lindgren kept the Bulldogs off the board.

The win boosted the Huskies past North Dakota and into the No. 2 overall spot in the all-important Pairwise Rankings which uses a formula mirroring that of the NCAA tournament selection committee. The general consensus late Saturday night, among those who speculate on such matters, had St. Cloud State as the No. 1 seed in the March 26-27 West Regional in St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, dropped to the 14th spot in the Pairwise which will likely send them to Worcester, Mass. as the No. 4 seed in the Northeast Region March 25-26.

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Peterson’s OT winner, Lindgren’s 36 saves lift Huskies over Huskies

Fargo, N.D. — Charlie Lindgren probably wouldn’t have minded stopping another puck to help his team win the game, after all, he’d done it for the prior 67 minutes.

But waiting for the opposition to commit a costly error worked just fine for Lindgren and St. Cloud State.

Lindgren was fresh off a toe save, a sprawling dive across the crease to block another shot and Michigan Tech had more pressure brewing inside the SCSU zone.

Tech defenseman Riley Sweeney slipped and fell as the puck slid past him at the blue line.

SCSU’s Joey Rehkamp grabbed the puck, got it to teammate Peterson who scored to give No. 3 SCSU the 3-2 win over second-seeded Michigan Tech in the NCAA West Region semifinals Friday evening at SCHEELS Arena.

“It’s obviously huge right now, but we have to just enjoy it for a little bit and then park it and start preparing for tomorrow and be ready to come out at the start tomorrow,” Peterson said. “Whoever we’re playing, Quinnipiac or North Dakota, we have to be ready to jump on ‘em right away from the starting faceoff.”

The Huskies move on to face the North Dakota/Quinnipiac winner at 8 p.m. Saturday at SCHEELS Arena for a Frozen Four berth.

But for a majority of the game, it appeared the other team nicknamed Huskies might be headed to the regional final.

SCSU trailed 1-0 and its best offensive threat, Blaine native Jonny Brodzinski, needed to be helped off the ice and missed the last 15 minutes of the first period.

He returned for SCSU’s only bright spot of the second period, a Kalle Kossila power-play goal at the 1:06 mark on a man advantage that carried over from the first period.

Kossila’s goal was the only recorded shot on goal for SCSU in the second period, but perhaps more fascinating was the fact that the period ended in a 1-1 tie.

Lindgren, the Lakeville native, stopped all 14 shots he faced in the second period and many of them were the kind that can make a fan’s heart stop, and a goalie’s teammates appreciate his efforts a little more.

“We’ve been leaning on him this whole year, really,” Brodzinski said. “He’s been outstanding.”

SCSU carried the play in the third period, outshooting Tech 10-4, and didn’t put Lindgren’s heroics on hold until overtime.

But Michigan Tech broke the 1-1 tie on a goal by CJ Eick off a nice backhand feed from Joel L’Espereance for an easy tap-in by Eick.

SCSU coach Bob Motzko pulled Lindgren with two minutes left after each team took minor penalties with 2:48 left. The extra attacker gave SCSU a 5-on-4 advantage in the offensive zone.

Tech came inches from burying SCSU when one shot hit the post and another from center ice whizzed by the left pipe for an icing call.

“The hockey gods were on our side,” Lindgren said.

SCSU’s pressure had the Tech defense stretched out in the final minutes and goalie Jamie Philips sprawled out to the side of the net, trying to cover the puck.

Patrick Russell got a hold of the puck for SCSU and slid it over to Brodzinski in the left circle and he put the puck on net from the low angle.

“Their goalie didn’t really have the puck and Patrick just kicked out to me on the back door,” Brodzinski said. “The goalie didn’t have time to scramble back over and I think it went off their defenseman’s shin pad and in.”

The goal was his 21^st of the year.

In overtime, SCSU needed to lean on Lindgren just a little more. He needed to make a save with his right toes on a bouncy puck and minutes later, he sprawled across the crease to stop another chance.

“Charlie Lindgren. He was MVP of the game, for crying out loud. He was outstanding,” Motzko said. “You throw it at him for holding the fort down.”

Added Lindgren: “I have another game like that in me. Absolutely. Whichever team we play, it’s going to be tough, but absolutely.”

And all the desperation paid off at the 8:11 mark of overtime when Sweeney fell down, and SCSU’s fastest skater Rehkamp grabbed the puck and headed for the Tech goal.

Rehkamp led the 2-on-1 up the left wall and got the puck to Peterson, who finished it from there.

“I didn’t have really a lane to get it back to Rehkamp,” Peterson said. “I was going to try to get it back to him but I tried shooting it and it got blocked and it came right back to me and the five-hole was wide open.”

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SCSU finishes “Red October” with third win

ST. CLOUD – The gauntlet that has been the October portion of St. Cloud State’s schedule hasn’t seen a team ranked lower than fifth.

But the Huskies are right where they wanted to be five games into the season, with three wins.

SCSU handed No. 1 Minnesota its first loss of the season, 4-1, in nonconference action Friday in front of a capacity crowd at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

“Every series we play the Gophers here, it’s always great because it gets absolutely packed,” said SCSU forward and Blaine native Jonny Brodzinski. “So playing in front of a crowd like this, especially when everyone is in costumes, it’s awesome.

SCSU’s Kalle Kossila’s two-point night (1-1–2) helped lift the Huskies over the Gophers on Friday. (SCSU Athletics Photo / Brad Olson)

“We’ve started Fridays out just terrible this year so we wanted to put the foot down on the gas early.”

Brodzinski finished with a goal and two assists and Kalle Kossila had one of each for the Huskies.

SCSU entered last weekend’s series with No. 2 Union coming off a split at home to No. 5 Colgate, a bye week and was still in snooze mode when Union scored three in the first period.

But a 3-2 win the next night, earned the split and got SCSU back to .500.

The Gophers, coming off a comeback win and sweep against Bemidji State, got a few good chances early but then couldn’t continue into an offensive rhythm despite averaging 4.25 goals per game entering the weekend.

The Huskies’ sticks were disruptive on defense, getting in passing lanes and poking pucks off Minnesota’s blades before it could take shots.

“It was just an all-around tough game. We didn’t match their tenacity. We just didn’t have it today,” Minnesota alternate captain Seth Ambroz said.

“We got off our game, taking the penalties and looking for any reason, looking to blame the refs. You could tell we lost our composure there. We were punched in the mouth and we weren’t able to punch back. Tomorrow, we’re going to have to play desperate and come out with the victory tomorrow.”

Charlie Lindgren, a Lakeville native in his first year as SCSU’s full-time starting goalie, wasn’t as flashy with the glove but caught his share of pucks in the shoulder and he didn’t give up many juicy second chances.

“He made key saves at key moments,” SCSU coach Bob Motzko said. “One early in the game where (Minnesota) could’ve gone up but we get a power play goal and it let us get our feet underneath us.

“I think Charlie is going to get a lot of credit for this win.”

The Huskies got first-period goals on Kossila’s wrist shot from the left circle and David Morley’s swipe at a floating puck into the open net with less than two seconds on the clock.

SCSU got a power play goal 1:12 into the second period by Brodzinski on a shot that beat Minnesota goaltender Adam Wilcox 5-hole and Joey Benik was able to stuff in his second goal of the season early in the third period.

The Minnesota power play still leads the nation in goals scored (6) and effective percentage (31.6) but was held without a goal in two opportunities.

The Gophers finally got one past Lindgren at the 4:18 mark of the third period when Hudson Fasching scored on a wrister, which beat Lindgren high.

“We’ve talked about it all year. We have improvement to do,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “You play a good team on the road it’s never going to be easy, but you can’t give up a couple power play goals and put yourself down 5 on 3 and some of the positions we put ourselves in.”

The Gophers had previously gone unbeaten in 16 of their last 17 games against in-state opponents. They fall to 4-1-0 overall.

And though SCSU’s month of high difficulty has closed, the weekend has not.

Motzko told his players after the game to expect a different Gophers team when they meet again at 4 p.m. Saturday at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis.

“Coach said what (Minnesota) is going to do after the game,” Kossila said. “’They’re going to get on the bus and be quiet and they’re going to be ready tomorrow.

“Our plan is to get as much rest as possible so we can be as pissed off as they’re going to be.”

The post Huskies Treat Gophers to First Loss appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The clues can often be found in its artwork.

In some respects, hockey players, especially goaltenders, are some of the most hidden figures in sports, considering the amount of equipment that prevents the world from seeing the players within.

While many things have changed in the world of hockey, with the masks eventually becoming helmets, seeing them painted and carefully designed is nothing new for the recent goaltending generations.

Since the initiation of the goalie mask by Montreal Canadian’s Jacques Plante in a 1959 game against the New York Rangers, goaltenders have utilized the opportunity to show their colorful personality on its canvas.

Doug Favell, goaltender of the 1971 Philadelphia Flyers, became a catalyst for the painted mask after transforming his protector for the Halloween night game against the LA Kings. Favell told his trainer, Frank Lewis, during the team’s morning skate that it’d be kind of cool to paint his mask orange to go along with their orange jerseys, replicating the great pumpkin for Halloween night.

Gerry Cheevers, many have argued, was the first to “design” a mask, taking teammate Favell’s painted idea and upping creativity to the next level, with what fans have voted on as the best mask of all time. Cheevers’s top tier mask was based on putting stitch marks over the white canvas every time he got hit in the mask by a puck.

The masked men have always been known for their “interesting”, personalities and with the help of Ilya Bryzgalov’s performance on NHL 24/7, we’ve seen that not much has changed.

With such bizarre or colorful personalities behind the mask, it was only a matter of time before it leaked through onto the blank canvas that prevented an abundance of stitches and missing teeth.

However, it’s not necessarily about the things you see on the helmet, but the psychological foundation on which it was selected. Throughout hockey, relatives, music, animals, and essentially anything of personal importance or that looks cool has been plastered on the goaltenders’ canvas.

“When I decided to make my move to goalie, that’s one of the first things I looked forward to,” SCSU goaltender Charlie Lindgren said. “It’s something that every kid looks forward to, designing their equipment … especially with helmets; it’s a part of you.”

“With the goalie mask, you’re allowed to put your own personal touch on it; I think that’s something that started… goalies started wearing the mask,” SCSU goaltender Ryan Faragher said. “We’re different than the rest of the players on our team and we get to show it in our designs.”

“It’s something every kid looks forward to; it’s nice to look good when you’re out there,” SCSU goaltender Joseph Phillippi said with a smile.

No different than the generations preceding them is the SCSU men’s goaltenders Faragher, Lindgren, and Phillippi, all of which remember their first painted helmet like it was yesterday.

“I was 12, playing for the Minnesota Iceman,” Lindgren said. “I did a light blue helmet with a panther clawing its way out.”

“I was in ninth grade (when I got my first painted mask),” Phillippi said. “My dad told me that if I got on the honor roll three-out-of-four quarters that he’d get my helmet painted.”

“I didn’t have any say in my first helmet,” Faragher said. “My dad did it for a Christmas present when I was 13, my nickname was Rhino so we had a rhino on it… it was pretty cool, I was really excited.”

Goalies have often faced the challenge of finding a balance between glorifying and representing their team, all the while mixing in their personal passions into the design. Faragher seems to have found that balance with his current cage, keeping those things and people he loves as close to his mind as possible.

The back of Faragher’s helmet. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

“On my helmet I’ve got the school crest on the top, and mine’s covered in ice, making it look like it’s breaking through,” Faragher explained. “I’ve got a skeleton-type guy on my left side. It’s from one of my favorite bands, Gojira, off their “The Way of All Flesh” album cover.”

“On the back I put both my grandmothers’ initials,” Faragher said. ”They both passed away before I came to college and without them I wouldn’t be here.”

Along with the initials for his grandmothers, adding more to honor his family, Faragher placed a clover next to his grandma Patricia and a rose for his grandma Rose.

Lining the top of Faragher’s back palette is the team motto ‘All In’, while at the bottom is the name of a song he and his friend wrote together titled “187”.

“For my helmets here on out I’ll always have something to do with
my family and music,” Faragher said. “I still have my first helmet at home, and I’ve had everyone since then.”

The process of creating these works of art is a challenge for both the keeper and the artist, some of whom have never met the creator, and have to use photos and imagination to try and envision what the other is attempting. That’s the case for Lindgren and Gilders Design custom paint company, having never met, yet producing a design that fits the needs and abilities of both parties.

Charlie Lindgren’s mask (Gilders Design)

Lindgren’s current helmet has the phrase, “St Cloud Proud”, “All In”, which has been the team’s motto, and a big SCSU logo across the top crest, mimicking that of the Habs. Lindgren also got creative with the hidden, or special effect element of his mask, swapping the husky you often see as a player, and creating a “Husky goalie” on the right ear palette of the helmet.

“I told them the layout as much as I could, referring them to Henrik Lundqvist (goaltender for the New York Rangers) and showed them photos of where I wanted each thing,” Lindgren explained. “It’s tough when you haven’t met the guy who does it, but it turned out great.”

Gilders design seems to have taken over as the favorite of the men’s SCSU goaltenders, a company that has been familiar for their work across the OHL and NCAA college hockey world.

“I’ve seen Gilders’ work on guys in the OHL and around college guys,” Faragher said. “I liked the way he did stuff, so I’ll probably try him out again.”

Based out of London, Ontario, Gilders Design has been in the custom paint service for over 15 years and is a factory authorized painter for Bauer, Eddy Masks, Masked Marvel, and Warwick Masks.

For most, the design process is a give-and-take arrangement, bouncing ideas off one another until both the creator and keeper have an accord. For others, like Phillippi, it’s an opportunity to create a design individually and present it to the designee for approval.

Joe Phillippi’s mask (Gilders Design)

“I’m kind of an artsy guy myself, so I like to design my helmets,” Phillippi said. “I come up with the designs and colors and see what my dad and brother think about it, and I go from there.”

Phillippi’s current design has a military theme, swapping the digital/pixelated camouflage colors with SCSU’s red, black and white, that run up the center panel from brow to the top/end of the front cage. With the military theme, on the left ear panel Phillippi has the popular image of “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima”, with the soldiers hoisting the country’s colors. On the “Phlip” side the SCSU Husky engulfs the right ear panel, while on his chin the nickname “Flip” is sprayed in white, lined with SCSU black and red.

While many fans watch the games without knowing the man inside the mask, if they were to take the time to examine the works of art, chances are they may have a better idea of just who inhabits it. While being peppered with shots, the painted images on their helmets often mean just as much, if not more, than the blue paint below their blades.

Originally published in St. Cloud State’s University Chronicle. Republished with permission.

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