The senior forward from New Prague led the Gophers to a win and a tie at Wisconsin last weekend, scoring twice in each contest including the game-tying goal with two seconds remaining in regulation on Saturday. It’s the second career Big Ten weekly award and first of the season for Minnesota’s alternate captain who has now registered 11 of his 35 career goals and four of his six multi-goal games against the Badgers.

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Big Seth Ambroz makes big strides as a Gopher

When Gopher senior Seth Ambroz was drafted in the fifth round (No. 128 overall) of the 2011 NHL Draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, it was a bit of a surprise. Not because Ambroz didn’t belong amongst those players getting ready to realize the NHL dreams, but because a lot of people expected him to be drafted much higher.

Ambroz was ranked No. 31 overall among North American skaters by the NHL’s central scouting bureau in the final rankings and was projected by many to be picked much earlier – even has high as the second round. After waiting late to hear his name called on the draft’s second day, he admits he entered the University of Minnesota that following fall with a purpose.

“Obviously you want to go as high as possible,” Ambroz says. “And according to the projections I fell a little bit but, it’s nice to be drafted by a team and that’s only where it starts. Now I have to keep learning and keep developing.”

Ambroz has certainly done that; in fact he’s really transformed his game.

The young physical force once known more for “gooning” than goals has become a mature all-around player for the Gopher men’s hockey team and as a senior is thought to have a legitimate career in professional hockey.

Ambroz celebrates after scoring the shootout winner against Minnesota-Duluth in the North Star College Cup title game on Jan. 26, 2014 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Ambroz has not only increased his point production every year he’s been at the U of M (eight points as a freshman, 16 as a sophomore and 23 as a junior) he’s done so in both categories (assists and goals). His rise in play is no coincidence and there is certainly no secret behind it; Ambroz just knows how to work.

“You gotta work hard every day, day in and day out, even in the offseason,” Ambroz says. “The biggest thing you want to see is development and not trying to go backwards and keep rising.”

Gopher head coach Don Lucia has noticed the change in Ambroz and agrees it’s come honestly.

“Seth is a real worker,” Lucia boasts confidently. “He’s one of the first guys at the rink and one of the last guys to leave.”

Even with that effort Ambroz has started the year slow, by his standards, with just two goals in his first nine games and his coach has challenged him to stay on the pace that has gotten him to where he is this year.

“Hopefully he can have a really good senior year,” Lucia said. “He’s a guy we can hopefully get some more offense from and hopefully he can start to score some more 5-on-5 goals for us.”

Ambroz is well versed in adversity, however, so he’s not worried about his start.

“You just have to go into every day trying to get better and having the work ethic to want to get better.”

His attitude and commitment to excellence is another reason why he was selected as an assistant captain this season for the Gopher men’s hockey team. And for Seth, who grew up watching the Gophers and cheering for them as a kid in New Prague, Minn., to be one of a select group of athletes who get to wear the ‘A’, is an incredible honor.

“Growing up and watching the Gophers, it’s something that you want to be and to get that letter is special in itself,” Ambroz says with pride. “I hope to be able to do a good job and carry on the tradition that goes a long with it.

“It’s a great honor and there were plenty of seniors on this team that could have had it so it’s really special.”

Ambroz still has a long way to go to make his NHL dreams a reality. But his hard work and intense desire to win as a team and for his team has served him well and will continue to do so.

He is player of the same mold as a Ryan Stoa, Zach Budish, and Blake Wheeler all of whom went on to professional hockey careers – some more prominent that others. So there is no reason to believe that Ambroz couldn’t do the same as long as he keeps up the same hard work and determination that got his to this point.

Which for a guy like Seth Amrboz, is clearly not going to be a problem.

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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:
Gophers F Seth Ambroz, shown in action Nov. 24, 2013 against UMD, scored twice in Minnesota’s 4-1 win over Wisconsin. (MHM Photo / Jeff WeggAmbroz, linemates.

Ambroz-Boyd-Serratore line “breathtaking” in inaugural Big Ten win.

MINNEAPOLIS–Years from now when Seth Ambroz reflects back on his “welcome to Big Ten hockey moment” the story he will be able to tell will be nothing if not unique.

Just 8:15 into Friday night’s first-ever Big Ten hockey conference game at Mariuccia Arena, Ambroz felt the magnitude of its impact delivered by none other than teammate Tom Serratore. After whiffing on his intended target, Wisconsin defenseman Eddie Wittchow, Serratore collided violently with Ambroz as the two converged behind the Badgers’ net leaving Ambroz face down on the ice for a few minutes.

“When Tommy hits, he hits hard and I couldn’t breathe for a while there,” Ambroz said. “I was going northbound on a southbound freeway right there.”

The junior 6’ 3”, 215 lb. forward from New Prague soon recovered and, along with Serratore and fellow linemate Travis Boyd, led Minnesota to a come-from-behind 4-1 win over Wisconsin in the Big Ten’s inaugural contest. The trio combined for four points (2 goals, 2 assists), 11 shots and were a plus-5 on the night.

Not bad for a third line mostly known for its checking ability and playing just its third game together this season. Despite falling victim to Serratore’s miscue, Ambroz says he is having a lot of fun playing with his current linemates who each factored into one of his two goals against the Badgers.

Brothers Mike and Connor Reilly also scored for Minnesota and goaltender Adam Wilcox earned the win with 24 saves.

“I feel like we bring a lot of energy, we’re a pretty physical line, and at the same time we’re able to get pucks to the net and they’ve been going in for us,” Ambroz said of his line which has accounted for 10 points (4-6–10) in its three games as a unit. “We cause turnovers and just kind of do a lot of the little things.”

Little things indeed.

Nearly seven minutes after Minnesota native Joseph LaBate (Eagan) scored the conference’s first-ever goal at 6:31 for a 1-0 Wisconsin lead, and five minutes after his collision, Ambroz tied the game from where he and Serratore met earlier.

Serratore’s sharp-angle shot from the left circle bounced off Wisconsin goaltender Landon Peterson right to Ambroz at the scene of the previous crime. Peterson, who turned aside 42 Gophers shots overall, failed to seal off the post and Ambroz exploited the opening by banking the puck off the back of the knee of the stunned Badgers goalie for his fourth goal of the season.

“That’s a little bit of a hockey IQ shot,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “I’m sure if you ask him he did it on purpose but it was a good, smart play.”

“It kind of seemed like the goalie lost his footing and I wanted to see what happens,” Ambroz said, confirming Lucia’s assertion. “Coaches talk about throwing pucks at the net from bad angles all the time. I just tried it and was fortunate enough to get a nice bounce and put it in the back of the net.”

Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves, whose 267 career points (94-173–267) rank him at the top of the Badgers’ all-time scoring list, knows a thing or two about a scorers mentality and called Ambroz’s goal “a percentage play.”

“He was playing percentages that [Peterson] was off the post, hit him on the back of the knee and it went in,” Eaves said. “That’s a goal scorer’s goal, they play that percentage.”

Late in the game with Wisconsin surging and Peterson on the bench for an extra attacker trying to cut into Minnesota’s 3-1 lead, Ambroz, with Serratore alongside him, fired a shot into an empty Badger net for his second goal of the game. Lucia, too, was playing the percentages.

“That’s the line we wanted out there,” Lucia said. “They all three kill penalties (Wisconsin’s power play was 0-5 with eight shots on Friday), they’re good defensively and, with how young we are up front, they’re our most veteran group. It was kind of fitting for that line to get the open-net goal tonight.

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Erik Haula’s goal salvaged a tie and a three-point weekend for Minnesota at Anchorage on Saturday night. (Photo: Sam Wasson/UAA Athletics)

No. 3 Denver (7-1-0, 5-1-0 WCHA) at Minnesota State (3-5-2, 1-5-0 WCHA)

Friday: DU 4  MSU 3
Saturday: DU 3  MSU 2

The Pioneers chased MSU starting goaltender Phil Cook in building a 3-0 lead in the first 23:28 on Friday night in Mankato. But goals by Jean-Paul Lafontaine and Eriah Hayes late in the second period closed the gap to one heading into the third. The Mavericks could not bury the equalizer, however, and Daniel Doremus score the eventual game winner for Denver with 6:17 remaining in the third. Lafontaine’s second goal of the game at 18:09 with the MSU net empty restored the one-goal margin, but that is as close as the Mavericks would come

Denver’s Chris Knowlton scored twice on Saturday, including the game winner with 3:12 to play and the Pioneers left Mankato four points richer with a series sweep. For the second straight night, Minnesota State dug itself a hole and trailed 2-0 midway through the first on goals by Knowlton and Doremus. But Hayes trimmed the deficit to one at 15:07 of the opening period and Josh Nelson tied it 2:42 into the third.

No. 6 North Dakota (4-3-1, 2-1-1 WCHA) at No. 15 St. Cloud State (6-4-0, 4-2-0 WCHA)

Friday: UND 3  SCSU 0
Saturday: SCSU 5  UND 2

North Dakota goaltender Clarke Saunders made 32 saves to shut out St. Cloud State 3-0 on Friday night in St. Cloud. UND’s Brendan O’Donnell scored the only goal his team would need just 48 seconds into the contest while Carter Rowney and Mark MacMillan added goals in the second and third periods, respectively.

Drew LeBlanc scored twice to lead the Huskies over North Dakota on Saturday to split the series. (Photo: WCHA.com)

After falling behind North Dakota in the opening period for the second straight night, the Huskies bounced back this time for a resounding 5-2 win on Saturday night. Drew LeBlanc scored twice, including the game winner, and added an assist while SCSU goalie Ryan Faragher made 22 saves for the win. UND’s Drake Caggiula got UND on the board first at 11:18 of the first but Jonny Brodzinski answered with his second goal of the season just 1:01 later. LeBlanc scored twice in the first 12:23 of the second period, the first courtesy of one of Joe Rehkamp‘s three assists on the night, to give the Huskies the lead for good.

Bemidji State (2-3-1, 1-2-1 WCHA) at No. 19 Colorado College (7-3-0, 4-0-0 WCHA) at 

Friday: CC 3  BSU 2
Sunday: CC 6  BSU 3

Rylan Schwartz‘s goal at 16:19 of the second period, one of his two on the night, proved to be the difference in Colorado College’s one-goal win over Bemidji State on Friday night in Colorado Springs. The teams traded goals in a 2-2 first period as the Beavers erased two CC leads on goals by Jordan George and Danny Mattson, the first goals of the season for each. Archie Skalbeck assisted on both of Schwartz’s goals.

Behind two goals and two assists by William Rapuzzi, the Tigers completed a series sweep of BSU on Saturday. Both of Rapuzzi’s goals–including the game winner at 5:17–came in a third period which began with CC clinging to a 3-2 lead. Markus Gerbrandt scored to pull the Beavers within two at 18:32, but that’s as close as BSU would get. Cory Ward and Aaron McLeod also scored for Bemidji State while CC’s Skalbeck (two assists) and Schwartz (three assists) capped off big weekends on Saturday.

No. 2 Minnesota (6-2-1, 3-2-1 WCHA) at Alaska-Anchorage (2-3-3, 0-2-2 WCHA)

Friday: UM 4  UAA 0
Saturday: UM 2  UAA 2

Kyle Rau scored twice while Nick Bjugstad and Ben Marshall each scored a goal for Minnesota on Friday night in Anchorage. Minnesota continued its trend of reliance on the power play for its offense as the Gophers scored four times with the man advantage and Adam Wilcox stopped 14 Seawolves’ shots to post the shutout.

Erik Haula scored Minnesota’s only even-strength goal of the series at 13:31 of the third period on Saturday allowing the Gophers to escape Anchorage with a tie and three of four points on the weekend. The Gophers and Seawolves traded first-period goals and they remained knotted at 1-1 at the second intermission. But Alex Gellert gave UAA its only lead of the series at 5:38 of the third setting the stage for Haula’s big goal.

Minnesota-Duluth (2-5-1, 0-3-1 WCHA) at Nebraska Omaha (6-3-1, 4-1-1 WCHA)

Saturday: UNO 3  UMD 2
Sunday: UNO 6  UMD 3

Mike Seidel and Tony Cameranisi each scored late in the first period to pull the Bulldogs even with UNO at 2-2 after an early two-goal deficit. But the scoring dried up from there until Michael Young‘s goal at 12:12 of the third period lifted the Mavericks over UMD on Saturday night in Omaha. Josh Archibald and Ryan Walters also scored for UNO while Wade Bergman had two assists for the Bulldogs.

Dominic Zombo scored twice and Walters added a goal and an assist as the Mavericks completed a sweep of Minnesota-Duluth on Sunday afternoon. UNO goaltender John Faulkner made 31 saves in raising his record to 6-0-1 overall. Seidel and Joe Basaraba scored first period goals for the Bulldogs as the teams skated to a 2-2 tie after one period as they had the night before. But the Mavericks scored twice in the final 1:14 of the second period, including Zombo’s second of the game with 9.1 seconds left which would hold up as the game winner.

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