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.

Adam Wilcox shuts out RPI as Gophers win second straight Ice Breaker title.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Minnesota looked like an entirely different team in its shutout of Rensselaer Sunday afternoon than on Friday against Minnesota-Duluth. Playing nearly flawless hockey, the Gophers blanked the Engineers 3-0 in the Ice Breaker Championship at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

The Minnesota offense fired 34 shots while holding the Engineers to 22 in winning its second consecutive Ice Breaker title and third overall.

“I thought we were much better today in how we played and I thought we played the game the right way today,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “We held the puck better, got some pucks down low in the offensive zone and we spread the rink a little better, too.”

The Gophers came out strong Friday against the Bulldogs, but tapered off late in the game to let Minnesota-Duluth almost make a comeback. Sunday was a different story that saw the Minnesota defense limit second-chance rebound shots to almost zero.

“Their D-core just skates so well that when we’d get a push, they’d limit it to one chance and then they’d get the puck,” Rensselaer coach Seth Appert said. “It’s usually the second or third chances that get it in the net, not the first ones – especially when you have a goalie of Wilcox’s caliber.”

The few times the Gopher defense lapsed in judgment Adam Wilcox came up big. RPI started laying down thick pressure several times late in the second period and early in the third, but Wilcox kept the door shut to keep the Engineers off of the score sheet.

“We did a good job of boxing out and when I was able to get the puck and cover it there wasn’t anyone in my face, especially after the whistle with not letting them get close to me,” Wilcox said. “Sometimes that can cause a little discomfort for a goalie but our structure in front of the goalie was second to none tonight.”

Minnesota scored one goal per period with Seth Ambroz starting the scoring off with just over five minutes left in the first period. Tournament Most Valuable Player Hudson Fasching then scored just over 90 seconds into the second period to extend the Gophers’ lead to 2-0. Connor Reilly netted Minnesota’s third and final goal just three seconds into a power-play near the midway point of the third period.

“We’ve got a lot of guys with speed on our team and we knew that was going to be an advantage for us today,” Fasching said. “I think the speed on our defensive end was big because they got a lot of chip-outs and they were racing to get back.”

After playing just two games last season, RPI goalie Jason Kasdorf played great over the course of the Ice Breaker weekend. It took a lot of grit and getting bodies in front of the net to get anything past him in either game.

“I think to come out here against two top-tier programs and to perform the way the he did solidifies in the back of his mind that he’s back,” Appert said of Karsdorf. “It was a good mental hurtle to get over.”

The Gophers (2-0) will have some time off before their next series when they host the Bemidji State Beavers, Oct. 24^_25.

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Featured Image:
Minnesota’s Justin Kloos celebrates after watching Nate Condon’s game-winning goal elude St. Cloud State goalie Ryan Faragher in the Gophers’ 4-1 win on Jan. 24 in St. Paul.
(Photo/Jeff Wegge)

Much of the focus leading into this weekend’s inaugural North Star College Cup tournament was on St. Cloud State’s No. 22 Jonny Brodzinski’s first time facing his younger brother, Minnesota freshman defenseman Michael Brodzinski, as an opponent.

While the elder Brodzinski did not disappoint, scoring his team-leading 12th goal of the year, it was the Gophers’ No. 22, junior Travis Boyd, who shined in scoring the game’s first goal and assisting on another in No. 1 Minnesota’s 4-1 win over No. 5 St. Cloud State before 14,388 in attendance at Xcel Energy Center on Friday night.

With the win the Gophers advance into the tournament’s championship game against Minnesota-Duluth which had to work overtime to beat Minnesota State earlier in the day.

The game marked the first-ever official meeting between the two schools as non-conference foes. The only other time the schools squared off outside of the WCHA came in the Hall of Fame exhibition game on Oct. 3, 1987 in Eveleth.

“Our game was efficient,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said after his team extended its winning streak to six games. “I think we can play better in certain areas than we did tonight but anytime you can beat good quality team like St. Cloud State you have to feel good about that.

The Huskies outshot the Gophers 39 to 29 for the game but Minnesota sophomore goaltender Adam Wilcox turned aside 38 shots to earn his 17th win of the season. Captain Nate Condon’s second-period goal held up as the game winner while freshman Hudson Fasching scored his seventh of the year and, in turn, set up Boyd’s seventh at 8:58 into the contest.

Despite the loss which stretched St. Cloud State’s winless streak to four games (0-3-1), Huskies coach Bob Motzko was pleased with his team’s overall play.

“We came prepared to play, we played a good game,” Motzko said. “What killed us was their goaltender was outstanding tonight and special teams.”

The Huskies came out flying right off the bat, outshooting the Gophers 16-9 in the opening period. But Boyd scored the first of two Minnesota power-play goals on the night just seven seconds after the Huskies’ Kalle Kossila sat down in the penalty box.

Off a faceoff to the left of SCSU goaltender Ryan Faragher, Fasching outmuscled defenseman Andrew Prochno in the corner and fed Boyd on the doorstep.

“We didn’t come out very strong so getting the first one kind of maybe woke us up a little bit,” Boyd said. “I think we got better as the game went on but we still could improve a lot moving forward into tomorrow.”

Boyd’s goal held up past the game’s midway point until Brodzinski answered for St. Cloud State at 11:22 of the second. The former Blaine star took a trio of whacks at the puck in the crease before finally putting it behind Wilcox.

“It was a great pass by [Kalle] Kossila; [Cory] Thorson really created the whole play with that hit on the defenseman,” Brodzinski said. “It popped back to Kalle and it was just a 2-on-1 in front of the net and he made a great pass to me in front.”

Brodzinski led the Huskies with seven shots on goal on the night.

“He’s a good player, he’s physical, he’s got a heavy stick and he can shoot it a ton so he’s the wrong guy to have that many shots on goal,” Lucia said.

But Condon restored Minnesota’s lead just three minutes later and Fasching’s power-play goal, finishing off a rebound of a Boyd shot, ultimately finished off the Huskies.

“We got a puck through to the net on the power and Hudson was there to clean up the rebound, which was good for him because he hasn’t scored a goal in a while,” Lucia said. “We talked about our team kind of going through different guys going through a little bit of a drought so it was good to see Hudson get a goal.”

Fasching, who scored twice for Lucia and Team USA at the 2014 World Junior Championship in Malmo, Sweden, tallied his first on U.S. soil since scoring against Minnesota State on Nov. 16.

Charlie Lindgren replaced Faragher to start the third and St. Cloud State pelted Wilcox with another 13 shots in the final period but Wilcox, who was deservedly named the game’s No. 1 star, withstood the Huskies barrage and Seth Ambroz closed the scoring at 19:31 with yet another empty-net goal.

“They’re a good team, they put a lot of pressure on you, they’re well coached and they easily could have won the game tonight with a couple breaks,” Lucia said.

Motzko would undoubtedly concur with his counterpart.

“We made a couple critical mistakes that they capitalized on and their goalie stopped all the mistakes that they made.”

The post Gophers Win Efficiently Over Huskies appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Featured Image:
Colgate goaltender Charlie Finn watches a Minnesota shot in the third period at Mariucci Arena on Friday, January 4, 2014, in the Raiders’ 3-2 shootout win over the Gophers at the Mariucci Classic.
(COPYRIGHT: Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com)

Sluggish Gophers tie Colgate, fall in shootout in Mariucci Classic opener…

Twenty-six days can be a long time for a mid-season break. Maybe too long, as made apparent by a lifeless University of Minnesota Golden Gopher team Friday night.

The Gophers opened up 2014 as hosts of the Mariucci Classic, but didn’t retain their status as No.1 in the tournament with a 2-2 tie and eventual shootout loss to Colgate.

“We were just off, plain and simple,” said Gopher assistant coach Mike Guentzel.

Without Don Lucia, Brady Skjei and Hudson Fasching — who were on their way home after an early exit for the U.S. National Junior Team in the International Ice Hockey Federation’s World Junior Championships held in Malmo, Sweden — Guentzel took the reins and shook up the lines.

But while the lines appeared to work well together at first, something was off. Minnesota came out slow and struggled with smart plays. Maybe it was the holiday break lagging them down, but the energy was completely absent from the maroon and gold squad.

“Yeah, I really don’t know,”said Guentzel of his team’s struggles. “It’s tough, but you make the best of it. We have no excuses there. Whether it’s coaching or not scoring, being short-handed, there is no excuse for it. (Colgate) is a good team.”

Minnesota tested Colgate freshman netminder Charlie Finn early on, out shooting the Raiders 13-6 through the scoreless first period.. Minnesota sparked a flame in the middle of the second frame as Gopher freshman defenseman Michael Brodzinski continued to prove himself as an offensive threat. Brodzinski sailed one from just inside the blue line that skipped past Finn for a 1-0 Minnesota lead just 2:25 into the period.

Colgate responded with two of their own including Joe Wilson’s goal at 8:29 which he slipped between the pads of Adam Wilcox after the Gopher goaltender mistakenly assumed he had frozen the puck. Wilcox finished with 27 saves and appeared to be fighting the puck all night.

Just under seven minutes later the Raiders capitalized on a poorly executed Minnesota line change by turning a Nate Condon neutral-zone turnover into an easy 2-on-0 for Darcy Murphy and Daniel Gentzler with Murphy tallying for a 2-1 Colgate lead at the end of two.

“Ultimately, the bottom line tonight is that giving up the puck between the blue lines in the neutral zone, is going to cost you the hockey game,” said Guentzel.

And that go-ahead goal was a big turning point for Colgate according to Finn.

“I think just pulling in front of them for that lead against a No.1 team was a lot,” said Finn, who ended the night with 36 saves. “To do that here, obviously we’ve never played in front of a crowd like this, gave us that confidence to finish this game.”

The Gophers didn’t make it easy for the Raiders, however, as Travis Boyd slapped one in from the left side on the power play midway through the third for the tying goal. The final minutes were the most electric of the night, the announced crowd of 9,520 included. Each team had opportunities, but both goaltenders did their part to force overtime.

Colgate held an edge in the extra stanza but ultimately the teams were going to let a shootout decide.

Colgate’s Mike Borkowski scored leaving Kyle Rau with a must-score effort after two Gopher failed attempts. The Gopher captain prevailed, but Ryan Johnston potted one to end the game leaving the Gophers now 0-3 in shootouts this season.

What was supposed to be a prime match-up between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation in Minnesota and Ferris State on Saturday is no more. Colgate and Ferris State now play for the championship at 4 p.m. while the Gophers will face RPI at 7 p.m. consolation title.

Additional Game Notes:

Kyle Rau tallied his 100th career point on the assist to Boyd. He joins an elite class of 80 Gophers to have reached the century mark. Erik Haula, now in the Minnesota Wild system, was the last Gopher to achieve the honor.

“It’s pretty cool,” said Rau. “I’m disappointed in the loss but that’s a positive take away.”

The post Far From A Classic appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Featured Image:
Hudson Fasching is one of two Minnesotans on Team USA’s preliminary WJC playing roster.
(MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

USA Hockey today unveiled its 26-player preliminary roster for the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team that will participate in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championship Dec. 26, 2013-Jan. 5, 2014, in Malmo, Sweden.

In addition to Gopher coach, and Team USA head coach, Don Lucia, Minnesota is represented by a pair of Gopher players, Hudson Fasching (Burnsville) and Brady Skjei (Lakeville), and St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko who will serve as one of Lucia’s assistants. Three players remain to be cut from a roster which has been pared from the original 44 players who attended the 2013 U.S. National Junior Evaluation Camp in Lake Placid, N.Y. in August.

The 26 players, including 19 NCAA representatives, will participate in a training camp Dec. 15-18 at the University of Minnesota’s Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, with preparations continuing in Angelholm, Sweden, before the final 23-man roster is announced on Dec. 23. The Mariucci Arena practices will be open to the public.

The U.S. will play three games before the start of the IIHF World Junior Championship highlighted by a Dec. 17 matchup in Mankato against Minnesota State. Contests in Angelholm vs. Finland on Dec. 20 and Sweden on Dec. 22 will follow.

“We’re excited about the group of players we’ve invited to camp,” said Jim Johannson, general manager of the 2014 U.S. National Junior Team and assistant executive director of hockey operations for USA Hockey. “There will be some tough decisions in getting to the final roster, but that’s certainly a good problem to have.”

2014 Training Camp Roster

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