Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Probably every Gopher hockey fan was curious to see how the Gophers would respond after their recent "mini" meltdown of three straight losses. I don't think anyone could ask for a better response than what we saw out of the Gophers last night at BC. Other than a turnover by Jack Glover, who fumbled the puck onto Tuch's stick for a point blank shot at Wilcox for the first BC goal, and a stuffer on the left pipe by Straight that squeezed under Wilcox's pad for BC's second tally...this was a total puck possession and solid defensive effort by the Gophers from the opening period.

The Gophers kept pucks deep in the BC zone, played some shutdown D in front of Wilcox and their strong compete level up front created good scoring chances. I was honestly expecting a stronger defensive effort from BC, but a porous D and a tenacious offensive effort by the Gophers, allowed too many scoring chances in front of Demko.

I thought the newly formed 2nd line (Warning, Kloos, C Reilly) and 3rd (Bristedt, Lettieri, Ambroz) showed excellent tenacity on both ends, and accounted for 18/30 SOG. Vinni Lettieri, with intense hustle on every shift, had one of his best games as a Gopher and was my star of the game with 6 SOG, 2 Gs. Overall, an excellent effort by the Gophers to get back on track with an important 6-2 nc win on the road.

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Struggling to tickle to twine has been an understatement for the Northeastern Huskies, who have only managed 22 Gs in 12 games. The word from Northeastern coach Jim Madigan to his Huskies team is let's climb out of a losing season one game at a time. Meanwhile, the Gophers would like nothing better than to return home with another W to cap off a successful non-conference road trip.

How do you REALLY jumpstart a talented Gopher team after a mini scoring slump? Play the NE Huskies. Seriously, if the Gophers play their puck control style as they did against BC last night, some of the NE players might look like statues out there and Wilcox may not break a sweat. But if NE competes hard and leaves everything on the ice albeit in a losing cause, they have nothing to hang their heads about. Go Gophers!

[JoeGopher]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

It was nice to see the Gophers have a good game after the last three.

BC had some moments where they looked really good, but had a hard time winning the small battles and getting to the puck.

Conte is a really nice facility, one of the best I have been to. They just need some seat backs in the upper levels and a bar that is in moderate walking distance to the rink!!!

[Split-N]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

...How do you REALLY jumpstart a talented Gopher team after a mini scoring slump? Play the NE Huskies. Seriously, if the Gophers play their puck control style as they did against BC last night, some of the NE players might look like statues out there and Wilcox may not break a sweat. But if NE competes hard and leaves everything on the ice albeit in a losing cause, they have nothing to hang their heads about. Go Gophers!

Dude.....Puh-leeeze, it's NU, not NE. You need a vowel movement.

[FiveHole12]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

It was nice to see the Gophers have a good game after the last three.

BC had some moments where they looked really good, but had a hard time winning the small battles and getting to the puck.

Conte is a really nice facility, one of the best I have been to. They just need some seat backs in the upper levels and a bar that is in moderate walking distance to the rink!!!

Too bad the students weren't there. They fill up 2 sections behind each goal as well as the entire upper level behind the visiting team bench. No pep band either. Much better game atmosphere with them around.

[FiveHole12]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Here's your hilites of the BC/Minnesota game. 7 of the 8 goals.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Here's your hilites of the BC/Minnesota game. 7 of the 8 goals.

hilites? Is that a bit?

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Holy ****. Where are the fans?

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Dude.....Puh-leeeze, it's NU, not NE. You need a vowel movement.

Ok. Nice job tonight...amazing.

[wasmania]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Struggling to tickle to twine has been an understatement for the Northeastern Huskies, who have only managed 22 Gs in 12 games. The word from Northeastern coach Jim Madigan to his Huskies team is let's climb out of a losing season one game at a time. Meanwhile, the Gophers would like nothing better than to return home with another W to cap off a successful non-conference road trip.

How do you REALLY jumpstart a talented Gopher team after a mini scoring slump? Play the NE Huskies. Seriously, if the Gophers play their puck control style as they did against BC last night, some of the NE players might look like statues out there and Wilcox may not break a sweat. But if NE competes hard and leaves everything on the ice albeit in a losing cause, they have nothing to hang their heads about. Go Gophers!

It appears you missed a scenario

[willythekid]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Struggling to tickle to twine has been an understatement for the Northeastern Huskies, who have only managed 22 Gs in 12 games. The word from Northeastern coach Jim Madigan to his Huskies team is let's climb out of a losing season one game at a time. Meanwhile, the Gophers would like nothing better than to return home with another W to cap off a successful non-conference road trip.

How do you REALLY jumpstart a talented Gopher team after a mini scoring slump? Play the NE Huskies. Seriously, if the Gophers play their puck control style as they did against BC last night, some of the NE players might look like statues out there and Wilcox may not break a sweat. But if NE competes hard and leaves everything on the ice albeit in a losing cause, they have nothing to hang their heads about. Go Gophers!

Do tell more...

[NU_Husky]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Holy ****. Where are the fans?

Students are still on Thanksgiving break. As for the rest of the arena, NU has not been a good general public draw outside of local teams like bu and bc. I knowof at least 4/5 families who couldn't make it due to Thanksgiving travels, so that does play a major role.

Heckuva game. Thoroughly enjoyed it (result aside), it was nice to see another quality hockey team in the Gophers come through Matthews. There is a reason people think Minny is the top team in the country, it's evident. Y'all will go far, I have no doubt. Hope you enjoyed your time in our barn, hopefully the next time you're here the DogHouse will be full and you'll get the full Matthews effect.

[RossiRules]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Great win Huskies, with less than 1500 in actual attendance (due to Thanksgiving Break), a “Dog House” of 20 people tops, no band and about 500 or so Minnesota fans in house you beat one of the top ranked teams in the nation and out shout them 3 to 2.

I can’t say the better team won for sure, but that’s hockey. NU played gutsy D and pesky O against a bigger and in may ways vastly superior team in terms of skill. The game plan was excellent with NU only allowing goals on PP. During full strength play we rarely over committed and only gave up a handful of odd man rushes. NU delivered some fierce hits too.

However, the biggest change I noted fior Northeastern this weekend was in transition and neutral zone play where players dumped the puck for fresher legs if there was clearly nothing about to develop, and that takes discipline.

This was the best game they have played all year and I also must say it was fairly well coached, Jim Madigan made good use of time outs and set up plays behind the bench to gather the troops when needed. One game does not a season make but this was a great game to build on and I am very proud of the boys tonight. Don’t get me wrong NU played up the competition and the Gophers likely played down in a classic trap game coming off a fairly easy win at the Heights yesterday. The Huskies also benefited from a questionable hit form behind (major and game misconduct) early in the 1st and although the gophers killed it, I think it sit a bit of a tone. I looked at it in the stream later when I got home and will say it was marginal call.

If Northeastern could play like they did tonight the rest of the year they might wind up at .500 after all. Also, nice job to K. Roy (4th round draft pick ANA) who although still never played any D, did get himself time and space on many occations, and eventually scored the game winner with about 2 minutes left. He looked better tonight than he has all year with flashes of greatness he displayed as a freshman and soph in the Offensive zone particularly with his stick handling behind the net. Really happy I went with both my son’s who were home from Thanksgiving break and both of whom had local DIV 3 games, which they also won, they even each saw a couple of shifts. Great weekend for RossiRules. Great weekend for NU too. Hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving.

Sorry Gopher fans this was a "classic trap game" for you one that you would normally win. It's not easy to travel and win 2 on the road after playing BC, however that said, the Huskies have now won 2 and tied one against some ranked opponents so they might not be as bad as their record indicates. You guys are a great and very talented team and should do well in the tournament. Good luck!

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

How do you REALLY jumpstart a talented Huskies team after a major scoring slump? Play the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

FMP

Obviously, no one saw this comin', but congrats to the Northeastern Huskies for a much deserved, hard fought 3-2 win. They out hustled the Gophers, won puck battles and were clearly the more physical and determined team throughout the game. Clay Witt was very good between the pipes.

I thought the Gophers played their systems without a whole lot of rhythm and aggression. Defensively, their compete level was poor in front of the net and along the walls. If anyone looked like statues out there it was the Gopher D standing around sometimes allowing 2-3 Huskies players to set up in front of Wilcox. Nice to see Rau and Kloos back on the scoreboard, but it takes more than 2 Gs/game to put opponents away today in D1 college hockey.

This team still lacks consistent team chemistry and scoring, and a killer instinct to put teams away. Time to dig deep and get it fixed for Sparty next weekend.

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota @ Boston College\Northeastern

Heckuva game. Thoroughly enjoyed it (result aside), it was nice to see another quality hockey team in the Gophers come through Matthews. There is a reason people think Minny is the top team in the country, it's evident. Y'all will go far, I have no doubt. Hope you enjoyed your time in our barn, hopefully the next time you're here the DogHouse will be full and you'll get the full Matthews effect.

Sorry Gopher fans this was a "classic trap game" for you one that you would normally win. It's not easy to travel and win 2 on the road after playing BC, however that said, the Huskies have now won 2 and tied one against some ranked opponents so they might not be as bad as their record indicates. You guys are a great and very talented team and should do well in the tournament. Good luck!

While it's not always easy to tell when watching online from what I saw NU seemed to be a very disciplined team who followed its game plan extremely well. Best of luck the rest of the season.