Former Gopher, Lakeville South star makes his NHL debut

A lackluster 1-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks wasn’t exactly Just Kloos’ dream scenario for his NHL debut but the experience was a memorable one nonetheless. Kloos, who registered a goal in two assists in six games for the Iowa Wild, skated 8:39 on a line with Matt Cullen and Daniel Winnick.

“I thought our line had some good shifts,” Kloos said. “I was kind of fortunate, I think, that there wasn’t a ton of special teams for the first couple of periods so I was getting a regular shift which as good. They’re obviously both vets in this league so I just had to adjust to their game and try to play smart.”

Justin Kloos carries the puck in his Minnesota Wild debut on Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center. (Photo courtesy of Russ Hons /Russell Hons Photography)

When he climbed over the boards for his first shift, Kloos became the fourth Minnesota native to make his NHL debut with the Wild and 23rd Minnesota native to play in a regular-season game with the Wild.

Although Kloos did not register a point, he did find his way to the score sheet when he was assessed a holding penalty early in the third period trying to recover from a turnover deep in the Wild’s defensive zone.

“He didn’t look out of place,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “He took a penalty but, I mean, it was a penalty of effort, it wasn’t a give away at the blue line. System-wise he was fine, he did a good job.”

The former Golden Gopher adds his name to the carrousel of players rotating between Des Moines and St. Paul as injuries continue to take its toll on the big club.

Although Mikael Granlund played his first game since suffering a hamstring injury on opening night, the team is still without top-six forwards Nino Niederreiter (ankle sprain) and Charlie Coyle (broken leg) while Zach Parise underwent back surgery earlier in the day.

Kloos said Minnesota’s injury issues has had a huge impact in Iowa but he has also benefited from them.

“It’s been scrambling with calling guys up from different leagues, scrambling lines, just trying to put a team on the ice kind of thing,” Kloos said. “I’ve been able to get a lot of ice and build some confidence.”

Just hours before skating his first NHL shift, Kloos said he was mostly excited while admitting to being a bit nervous.

“It’s something you think about when you’re young and, throughout your whole career, this is where you want to be to get this opportunity,” Kloos said. “I think going through all levels of hockey you’re a little nervous every next step you take so this is nothing different.

“I kind of always believed that maybe one day this would happen.”

Justin Kloos turns up the Xcel Energy Center ice as a Gopher captain. (MHM Photo / Jonny Watkins)

The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Lakeville native earned Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey Award in 2012 after leading the state in scoring with 103 points in 31 games during his senior season at Lakeville South High School. Kloos declined an offer to leave high school after his junior year to play for the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks, opting instead to return for his senior season and ultimately led the Cougars to a third-place finish at the Class 2A state tournament.

Kloos went on become a two-time captain at the University of Minnesota where he racked up 150 points in 155 games in four seasons as a Gopher, never missing a game in his four-year collegiate career. As a senior, Kloos led the Gophers in game-winning goals (6), ranked second in power-play tallies (6) and was third in both goals (18) and assists (25) in 38 games.

Days after his collegiate career ended, Kloos inked a two-year, entry-level contract with the Wild starting with the 2017-18 season. He finished last season on an amateur tryout agreement (ATO) with Iowa, scoring a goal in nine games.

It was a dream come true for the kid from the south suburbs.

“I wouldn’t really know it any other way because it’s the way it worked out for me.” Kloos said Tuesday morning. “Certainly I feel fortunate and special and privileged to be able to make an NHL debut in my hometown.”

Not only in his hometown but in a rink where, historically, Kloos has had some success over the years. Prior to Tuesday’s game, in 16 career high school, North Star Cup, Big Ten and NCAA tournament games since 2012, Kloos had amassed 16 points (9-7–16) at Xcel Energy Center.

Kloos, who was sent back down to Iowa on Wednesday morning, said getting a couple of preseason games under his belt last month helped him quickly adjust to the atmosphere.

“Obviously, it’s a notch higher once the regular season starts but I think I was pretty well prepared and hopefully I get another opportunity in the future.”

The post Kloos Takes the Stage appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Rivalry games raise excitement, expectations, and when it comes to Minnesota college hockey, bragging rights for best program in the state of hockey. The University of Minnesota is riding a streak of five regular season conference titles, but after getting swept by St. Cloud State in October, the Gophers also are riding a streak of losses to in-state schools.

The Gophers led both nights against the Huskies during the latest rivalry series, but St. Cloud State rallied for a series sweep, handing Minnesota their 14th loss in their last 15 games against in-state rivals. The only Gopher victory in that span was a 4-0 win over Minnesota State on Nov. 13, 2015.

“I want to believe it has nothing to do with the in-state games or anything, we can’t finish,” Leon Bristedt said. “It’s all about executing; it’s all about finishing and winning games. Unfortunately, we haven’t found a way of really doing that with in-state rivalries, but we can only look forward to new games coming up. We can look back and learn, but what’s happened, it’s in the past.”

The past is hard to ignore with this group.

Minnesota has sustained six of their 14 losses in the third period. The 2016 North Star College Cup saw the Gophers take a 2-1 lead against Bemidji State and lose 4-2, and the next day tie Minnesota State in the third period only to lose in overtime. Minnesota played the Huskies close in their Nov. 27, 2015 series opener, but gave up two late goals to lose 3-2 and then lost a turnover filled affair 7-4 in the second game of the series. The Gophers also took a 2-0 lead on Minnesota State Nov. 14, 2015 only to give up two goals in the third period and lose in overtime 3-2.

“It’s not like we take these games easier, or lighter than other games, we have these marked on our calendar as I assume they do too,” Justin Kloos said after North Star Cup last year. “But for some reason we’ve just came up short of the last almost year and a half now.”

Photo by Brent Cizek for Minnesota Hockey Magazine

The recipe for disappointment in many of the in-state games has been turnovers and poor special teams. In-state schools have outshot the Gophers 507-425 in this stretch and only twice did Minnesota have a shots-on-goal advantage. The power play scored on 10 of 50 chances during this stretch, but their penalty kill allowed 23 goals on 68 opportunities—killing penalties at just 64 percent.

Steve Johnson admitted that the recent record against in-state team is in their heads.

“Minnesota should be the best, it’s unacceptable. We’ve got to learn to play our game, get pucks deep, go to work, and play the game the right way” Johnson said.

Gopher coach Don Lucia decided after the Huskies series that he would have to change the way they practice to change the way Minnesota performs in these rivalry games.

“That’s obviously been a focus, and we talked to guys that we just have to change the way we practice,” Lucia said. “We have to be better along the walls, we have to be better below the circles on each end of the rink. We’re not getting enough in-zone offensive time for possession.”

The emphasis was more five-on-five drills and small area drills in practice to change the mindset so players realize if they lose the puck, they’ve got to work to get it back.

“The practices here have been way harder, not as much skating, but way more battling. Some guys have been almost on the edge of fighting, and I think that’s how practices should be,” Bristedt said. “Looking back at practice before we’ve done a lot of rushes and things, and you can see that’s where we score our goals off the rush and on the power play, but I think working down low and battling more is the recipe for winning more games.”

Minnesota will get a chance against Minnesota State Nov. 18 and 19 for a home and home series, and then against Minnesota Duluth and either Bemidji State or St. Cloud State in the North Star College Cup Jan. 27 and 28 for a chance to redeem themselves.

“I don’t feel any different when it comes to pressure. I notice the attention, I notice like, ‘Hey that this is a bigger game’ but as a player this is something you love and you want to be out there in these kind of games,” Bristedt said.

“I think we’ve been passive a couple times and that’s where we get caught. If we can stay on the hunt, if we can act instead of react, I think that’s where we’re going to have success.”

Story originally published in the November, 2016 issue of our digital magazine. For more stories like this, click HERE to view the November issue and subscribe to have future issues delivered directly to your email inbox. 

The post The ‘U’ Lagging in Bragging appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Four problems facing Minnesota’s Don Lucia

High expectations are the norm at Mariucci Arena. Minnesota has raised four straight conference title banners, earned four straight bids to the NCAA tournament, and led the nation in total wins over the last four seasons. Coach Don Lucia has 674 wins over his 29-year career, but he’s still looking for his first one of 2015-16.

Growing pains have become a buzzword for the coach and players as they’ve forced 10 new players into a lineup that has fallen to Vermont (0-3) and were swept by Minnesota Duluth (1-3, 0-3). Lucia expected it might take some time to get his young players up to speed, but he didn’t expect to be winless headed into their third weekend.

The coach says his team has practiced better than they’ve played in games, but here are four things they need to solve to earn a W.

Clean Breakouts

Minnesota lost two key puck moving defensemen to professional contracts after last season. Mike Reilly signed with the Minnesota Wild and Brady Skjei signed with the New York Rangers, and those two players gave weekly instructionals on how to get the puck out of the defensive zone.

Jake Bischoff, Michael Brodzinski, and Ryan Collins got some experience last year for the Gopher blue line, but none of them were relied on to get the job done shift after shift. Now Steve Johnson, Nick Seeler, and Jack Glover, who played forward for the majority of last season, are also playing regular shifts in the top six.

“For us the most important thing is getting up the rink efficiently and not choppy,” said Lucia. “It seems breaking out, in the neutral zone, regrouping… it’s been choppy and we’ve had little offensive zone time.”

Minnesota needs to find a way to generate speed coming up ice and that starts with a good first pass from their defensemen. The Gophers struggled against a 1-2-2 trapping forecheck against Vermont and then again when faced with an aggressive Bulldog forecheck. They’ll likely see something in-between against Northeastern, and making quick, crisp passes is a key coaching point for Minnesota.

Get Pucks to the Net

The Gophers have been outshot in each of their first three games this season, but it’s not for lack of shot attempts. For example, the Gophers had more shot attempts than Minnesota Duluth Saturday, except only 21 of their 64 attempts hit the net.

“When you miss, there is no second shot opportunity,” said Lucia. [We need to] create some chaos in offensive zone where guys have to chase down pucks and lose some of their defensive structure.”

Captain Justin Kloos thinks that maybe he and his teammates have put too much pressure on themselves, and forcing plays that aren’t there.

“It’s just moving the puck a little quicker, making a little quicker decisions, and relying on our teammates a little more,” said Kloos. “I think a few times, plays have been a little too individual and that’s slowed down the offense. Even when trying to get pucks back if everyone has to stop to watch to see what you’re doing, it kind of slows everything down.”

Expect to see Minnesota focus on generating second shot opportunities this weekend instead of missing the net. Seeler noted that the defensemen will also emphasize getting pucks on net when they can, getting pucks low, and getting pucks off the side boards when shot blockers take away shooting lanes.

(MHM Photo /Jeff Wegge)

Zone Time

The Gophers have averaged almost 23 shots a game this season, but they’ve lacked any sustained pressure. Whether it’s players missing the net or turning the puck over on zone entries, Minnesota has had too many one and done offensive opportunities.

Lucia said after the first weekend his team didn’t manage the puck well, didn’t support the puck well, and weren’t strong enough on their sticks. While he allowed it could be a strength issue for some of his freshman thrust into the lineup, the entire team’s wall play has to be better if they want to be successful.

“There’s a new formula this year and last year was obviously different–we had guys like [Kyle] Rau and [Travis] Boyd–guys to lean on and this year we just have got to get used to it and not put too much pressure on ourselves,” said Kloos. “We’ve been doing this a long time and everyday we just got to realize we’re pretty good at this game and we can rely on our skill, effort, and make some plays.”

While Rau has moved on to the Florida Panthers organization and Boyd to the Washington Capitals organization, the Gophers are looking for new players to take the lead. Lucia has noted the fourth line of A.J. Michaelson, Darian Romanko, and Tyler Sheehy do a nice job grinding in the offensive zone, but the coach will need his top nine forwards establishing a presence in the offensive zone to get more goal scoring.

Power Outage

Minnesota had one of the most prolific power plays in the country last season, but this season they’re still looking for their first power play goal through 12 opportunities. Last year Reilly quarterbacked the group to a 28% scoring clip. This year, a couple different players have gotten looks running the top unit without anyone taking the helm.

“They need reps at D, Bischoff, Johnson, Brodzinksi, get pucks through and make quick decisions,” said Lucia. “I think that’s the thing, at times we’ve been a little bit slow or you saw last weekend Connor [Reilly] is getting his timing back with his shot, he’s heeled a couple, Vinni [Lettieri] is all set up and he breaks his stick. But I think we have some guys who can make some plays on the power play, now they just need to continue to practice and get reps.”

Minnesota doesn’t appear to have a high scoring offense this season, so they will need to win a lot of 4-2, 3-2 games. Getting goals most nights on the man advantage will be crucial if they’re going to be successful. Breakouts and establishing a presence in the offensive zone hasn’t been a problem during the first two weekends, but moving around the puck quickly, decisively, and cleanly has been.

Looking Ahead

Lucia hasn’t had to worry too much about his goaltending so far this season despite the loss of three-year starter Adam Wilcox to the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. Eric Schierhorn has started three consecutive games and has made all the big saves and routine saves that the coaching staff expects of him. Lucia said earlier this season that he wanted to get one of the other goalies a chance sooner rather than later, but his team’s struggling offense and Schierhorn’s .915 save percentage might push that decision past their Friday/Saturday weekend series against Northeastern.

The post Growing pains appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.