Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

[state of hockey]

OSU magically became a power?

Beat me to it.

[HarleyMC]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Great start of the season for the Gophers tonight against Sparty, who seemed like a Lethbridge look alike against a fired up Gopher squad for the first 20 minutes. Lots of positives...all three lines scored. Marshall looked like the QB on the backline as he did last week, and started the scoring tonight with a nice slap shot from blueline. Isackson played like he wanted to stay on that first line w/ Bjugs and Rau notching his first regular season goal as a Gopher. Boyd looked impressive again tonight with tons of hustle and playmaking and a goal. Bjugs was the beast all over the ice, won lots of FO battles, scored, and crushed a few Sparty players to boot...awesome performance. Haula showed his stickhandling ability and made a nice stuff, skating in from the corner on the Sparty goalie for goal. I was surprised to see Parenteau on forward and although he showed his usual hustle...I like him better on D.

AND THE BIG SHIBROWSKI really came to play and stepped up when when needed with scrambles and screens in front making some excellent saves under pressure (Grade: A). SOG were 42-26. The avg. last season was 25 SA/game, #1 in WCHA and so the Gophers pick up were they left off on blocking shots and playing good D tonight keeping Sparty confused and looking for the water bottles. Gophers need to close their games stronger though and not revert to pond hockey like they did in the third...but for the first game nice job by the Gophers...Gophers 5, Sparty 1 (Gopher Grade: A-). Wilcox tomorrow night in goal, and maybe some other substitutions.

EDIT:

These are the first back to back games for Sparty at Mariucci since a series going back to 1988. But starting next season, we get to beat the crap out of them on a regular basis.

[Driftryder]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

You and Pedo State will be fighting for the bottom bunk....

No way, Penn State and OSU will occupy that spot for a while. MSU will be fine.

[burd]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Looks like Minnesota could be Bjugernaut this year.

[goldy_331]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Looks like Minnesota could be Bjugernaut this year.

Credit where due. Nice line, burd.

My impression was Sparty just was unprepared for the Gophs speed and passing game in the first. I thought they adjusted as the game went on and maybe the Gophs didn't have quite as much jump after the first. I'm also sure it'll be much closer game tomorrow. Looking forward to see Wilcox in net to see how he compares to Shibrowski.

[state of hockey]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Wilcox will give us heart attacks. He is one of those "Put a leash on that dude!" types.

[The Rube]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Credit where due. Nice line, burd.

Crap. Ditto. Where's the bleach?

[Pirateasaurus]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Well, I didn't really expect much different. A lot of MSU players just played their first real college game.

Minny is really good this year and you could see that it definitely took a period or so for us to shake the shock off. I thought MSU looked much better after the first period so i hope that carries over.

[The Rube]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

I'm ready for a battle. Dunno about the rest of the MN fans....

[state of hockey]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Now it is time for the replay!

Having Doug McLeod back brings back memories of my extreme youth. Awesome.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Having Doug McLeod back brings back memories of my extreme youth. Awesome.

While I found him entirely annoying and an extreme homer, he did a really good job calling the game. Very good (re)hire for the Gophers/FSN.

[state of hockey]

While I found him entirely annoying and an extreme homer, he did a really good job calling the game. Very good (re)hire for the Gophers/FSN.

He is a homer, which is why calling college games works better for him.

I didn't realize how much I missed his voice until I heard it again tonight. It makes me want the North Stars back, though.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

He is a homer, which is why calling college games works better for him.

I didn't realize how much I missed his voice until I heard it again tonight. It makes me want the North Stars back, though.

He certainly does have that great radio voice, and has a very smooth call of the game.

I grew up an Islanders fan (still am...assuming what the Islanders do each year qualifies as hockey), so I never really listened to the North Stars, but I remember the '91 Finals and he did a very good job there.

[The Rube]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

...and has a very smooth call of the game.

This. So much this.

[HarleyMC]

Re: Michigan State @ Minnesota: 10/12 - 10/13

Not sure what shoe size Bjugs wears, but these accolades are monster shoes for this young man to fill:

Bjugstad is also doing his best to stay grounded after Florida Panthers director of player development Brian Skrudland, the liaison between Bjugstad and the NHL team that drafted him in 2010, compared his 6-foot-6 frame to that of Mario Lemieux and his hands to Wayne Gretzky's in Thursday's Star Tribune... "He's a man amongst boys," defenseman Nate Schmidt said of Bjugstad. "You can't get the puck away from the guy. He just holds it out and says, 'If you want to go get it, you can try,' but he never lets anyone in that close."

But I have no doubt he'll just blow the media circus off and stay focused. He impresses me as a very humble guy.

Go Gophers!