Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Per WCH:

Good info msoh, he's a California kid listed as having played for the Los Angeles Jr. Kings U16 and with the Omaha Lancers last season. I'm guessing a college picks him up asap.

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Agreed. It really looked like USA stole the Gophers playbook tonight. IMO when they're on their game like they obviously were tonight, USA can skate with ANY D1 team. Awesome game to watch, I love this style of hockey.

x2, it was old fashioned, up and down hockey, with lots of great scoring chances for both teams, with an occasional bone-crushing hit thrown in. All the season ticket holder no-shows missed some great hockey action.

[jerryj]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

how did horn look? did he do enough to warrant a 4th line spot?

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

x2, it was old fashioned, up and down hockey, with lots of great scoring chances for both teams, with an occasional bone-crushing hit thrown in. All the season ticket holder no-shows missed some great hockey action.

Agreed. This was better hockey than watching the Gophers vs the bottom half of the WCHA, and blows away the crappy overage Canadian team they played. This USA team can skate and make plays, I'm glad we have 2 of them playing for us next year.

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

From Gophersports

MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 2 Minnesota men's hockey program rallied from a two-goal deficit on Friday night in exhibition action to tie the U.S. Under-18 team 2-2 in overtime. Tom Serratore and Nick Bjugstad tallied for the Gophers while Michael Shibrowski made 27 saves in net for Minnesota.

Minnesota (3-1-0 overall, 1-1-0 WCHA) found itself in a two-goal hole after the first period when the Under-18 team found the net twice within a span of 38 seconds in the opening stanza. Vinni Lettieri put the visitors up 1-0 at 16:47 with assists from Connor Hurley and Anthony Louis, and Tyler Motte added to the lead at 17:25 with an unassisted tally.

The second period would be a different story, however, as the Gophers held a 20-5 shot advantage and lit the lamp twice to even the game at 2-2. Serratore tallied the game's only power-play goal when he blasted a shot from inside the blue line past Thatcher Demko in goal for the U.S. Under-18 team at 11:58 of the second. Christian Horn, making his debut for the Gophers, earned an assist on the goal. Minnesota would finish the night 1-for-5 on the power play while the visitors would go 0-for-4.

The game's equalizer came off the stick of Bjugstad at 17:38 of the second when Justin Holl and Nate Condon set up the junior for the game-tying goal. Neither team managed to find the back of the net in the final 22 minutes of regulation or the five-minute overtime period as the exhibition contest ended in a 2-2 tie.

Shibrowski (1-1-0) ended the night by turning away 20-straight shots over the game's final 45 minutes including 11 in the third period - the only period of the night that saw the U.S. Under-18 outshoot the Gophers. Demko would end the night with 39 saves for the U.S. Under-18 Team.

Minnesota continues the 2012-13 season with a nonconference game on Sunday against Canisius. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Mariucci Arena.

[jerryj]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

wonder who the u18 will call up to replace fasching for tomorrows game. high likelihood it is a minnesotan

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

It was like watching an all-star type game, hitting and defense were optional (minus a couple scrums and a Helgy pop). I wouldn't read anything into it, as long as the boys are all healthy come Sunday it's all good.

I thought this game was much more aggressive than either one with MTU. There were some monster hits thrown in this game too. I'll tell ya, that hit from behind on Budish was frickin' brutal and the nutcase that delivered it was Mike McCarron, a Mich. kid and Cornell recruit whose listed at 6'5" 227 lbs. That was vicious and reckless deserving of the GM and 5 min., AND the kid should be horsewhipped to boot...seriously. Deadly hit and Budish laid there for while and then finally got up and skated off.

Did you see the sick hit Schmidty delivered on the glass in the D zone in the 2nd period? They showed a replay of it. He could have been called for an elbow had the ref saw it, but that was one of the hardest velocity hits I've ever seen him land and it literally sent the USA player (didn't get his number) slamming with such velocity into the glass, I was surprised it didn't shatter.

The Helgy open ice slam reminded me of a hit I took exactly like that playing in the old version of the ECHL...there's no way you don't get up in Lala Land after a pop like that.

I thought it was funny after Bjugs scored and fell to his knees, a USA player nearby thought he'd take advantage of the opportunity and give him a hard cheap shot cross check in the middle of his back. Probably a UND recruit. Bjugs skated over and towered over the kid and he backed off.

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Don Lucia's reaction to the 2-2 tie with USA under-18:

“You can tell they played some college games. They tied Notre Dame, they tied us. I’m sure they’re probably a little more excited to play than we are in a situation like that, but for me, the most important thing was just to continue the evaluation process with some of our guys.”

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Link

Nice play. Hey did you make it to Berner Oberland?

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

I thought this game was much more aggressive than either one with MTU. There were some monster hits thrown in this game too. I'll tell ya, that hit from behind on Budish was frickin' brutal and the nutcase that delivered it was Mike McCarron, a Mich. kid and Cornell recruit whose listed at 6'5" 227 lbs. That was vicious and reckless deserving of the GM and 5 min., AND the kid should be horsewhipped to boot...seriously. Deadly hit and Budish laid there for while and then finally got up and skated off.

Did you see the sick hit Schmidty delivered on the glass in the D zone in the 2nd period? They showed a replay of it. He could have been called for an elbow had the ref saw it, but that was one of the hardest velocity hits I've ever seen him land and it literally sent the USA player (didn't get his number) slamming with such velocity into the glass, I was surprised it didn't shatter.

The Helgy open ice slam reminded me of a hit I took exactly like that playing in the old version of the ECHL...there's no way you don't get up in Lala Land after a pop like that.

I thought it was funny after Bjugs scored and fell to his knees, a USA player nearby thought he'd take advantage of the opportunity and give him a hard cheap shot cross check in the middle of his back. Probably a UND recruit. Bjugs skated over and towered over the kid and he backed off.

Yeah there was some big hits, but by in large it just had a different feel to it than a typical NCAA game. Yeah the Bjugs hit after he scored was funny, once Bjugs got up and showed him the business. I agree, must have been a UND recruit. lol.

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Yeah there was some big hits, but by in large it just had a different feel to it than a typical NCAA game. Yeah the Bjugs hit after he scored was funny, once Bjugs got up and showed him the business. I agree, must have been a UND recruit. lol.

The only UND recruit playing last night was Thompson, and he was not on the ice for Bjugstad's (or the other Gopher) goal.

Sounds like a Gopher recruit. Nice try though.

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

The only UND recruit playing last night was Thompson, and he was not on the ice for Bjugstad's (or the other Gopher) goal.

Sounds like a Gopher recruit. Nice try though.

Maybe it was a "preppy eastern team" recruit then

The Gopher recruit (Letierri) scored one of the two goals and was assisted by a possible future Gopher (Hurley)

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Maybe it was a "preppy eastern team" recruit then

The Gopher recruit (Letierri) scored one of the two goals and was assisted by a possible future Gopher (Hurley)

Here were the players on the ice for Bjugstad's goal...

Nic Kerdiles - Wisconsin (pretty sure Gopher fans would have been up in arms had this been the case)
Tyler Kelleher - UNH (5'6, 154lbs)
Evan Allen - Michigan (5'10, 195lbs)
Connor Clifton - Quinnipiac (5'11, 171lbs)
Clint Lewis - Undecided (6'2, 206lbs)

[Fighting Sioux 23]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Yeah he played tough, wonder what school (if any) he is going to?

Demko's a stud. He stopped 3 of the 7 shots he faced when playing North Dakota. That's almost half!

[HoosierBBall_GopherHockey]

Re: Minnesota hosts U-18 and Canisius 10/26-10/28

Here were the players on the ice for Bjugstad's goal...

Nic Kerdiles - Wisconsin (pretty sure Gopher fans would have been up in arms had this been the case)
Tyler Kelleher - UNH (5'6, 154lbs)
Evan Allen - Michigan (5'10, 195lbs)
Connor Clifton - Quinnipiac (5'11, 171lbs)
Clint Lewis - Undecided (6'2, 206lbs)

I think we can all agree it was likely the Michigan recruit then.