Update: Dan Dunn replaced Weslosky in goal for SCSU at the beginning of the third. Lucia also made a change to the roster and moved Shack up to wing to take Tony Lucia’s spot, presumably. Schack’ has played up on offense before. It looked like SCSU might creep back into this one with a pair of goals in the first half of the third. Ryan Lasch picked up two goals to make a hat trick on the night including a wrap around that beat an unprepared Alex Kangas through the five hole to complete the trifecta. Mike Hoeffel picked up his second goal of the night and third of the weekend 10:33 into the period to reclaim a three-goal lead. But Jared Festler tallied up a goal later in the period to make it interesting. With the game still close, I’m thinking back to last year when Minnesota was a 1,2, or 3 goal team. Now tonight the Gophers have seven goals, and they’re in danger of losing the lead? Oh boy, Garrett Raboin just scored to make it 7-6 Minny and with over a minute and half left , Motzko pulled Dunn for the extra attacker. The momentum is all SCSU right now. But Ryan Stoa tapped in an empty netter to seal the win with 7.6 seconds left. Second: Minnesota scored three unansered goals in the second period to take a comfortable four-goal lead into the third period. Here’s the scoring summary: 11:18 MN goal, Barriball (7) from Ness (10) and Schroeder (17). Just moments after Barriball came out of the box for a hooking call, Ness found the junior forward wide open outside the crease for the easy tap in. 13:20 MN PP Goal, Fairchild (5) from Barriball (13) and Stoa (14). Fairchild picked up a goal when he threw a shot to the net from the slot. 16:34 MN Goal Schroeder (10) from Fairchild (15) and Stoa (15). Funny things I’ve witnessed tonight at the NHC: 1. Best Kiss Cam Ever: the guy got up and walked away when he was on the big screen leaving the girl all alone. 2. Watching David Fischer and some of the Gophers staff celebrating with Minnesota fans, who are literally right in front of us, after each goal. 3. There’s a fan close to the press box who is spot on for Alex Ovechkin complete with the chewing tobacco. Now if only he wasn’t 5-8, 160. First: In 20 minutes of hockey, we just saw five goals, 19 penalty minutes called and Tony Lucia get the gate for running Ryan Lasch from behind. Here’s the scoring summary first: 6:16 MN PP Goal, Carman (7) from Hansen (4) and Lucia (5). Hansen controlled the puck down low and slipped the puck through the crease to Carman, who scored a similar goal last night. 10:33 SCSU goal, Novak (4) from Swanson (13). Swanson slipped a no-look backhanded pass right out in front, where Novak beat Kangas with a high backhand on the blocker side. 16:19 – SCSU PP Goal, Lasch (8) from Marvin (12) and Roe (20). Same as before Kangas on the blocker side. 17:48 MN goal, Hoeffel (6) from Hansen (5) Carman (7) reviewed but upheld. 18:10 MN Goal, Stoa from Ness and Barriball. Reviewed also, thought it went off his skate, upheld. Couple of thoughts on the first period…I had noticed it before but Tony Lucia is really taking on the role of Minnesota’s enforcer or the extent to which college hockey can have an enforcer. Talking in the pressbox, we didn’t really think Lucia deserved the game misconduct. It looked like he hit Lasch from the side, but even then, Lasch was already going down so it wasn’t exactly a clean hit. Jake Hansen, who is serving the five minute major for Lucia, has been playing great all weekend. He’s picked up three assists so far this series after having only two coming into the weekend. Jordan Schroeder took a puck to the lower-body (couldn’t see it b/c I’m sitting behind the student section) early in the first but seems to be okay. He came off the ice, but I didn’t see him miss a shift. Minnesota leads 10-9 in shots.
Pre-game:Spent the day in St. Cloud, which was,well, different. After about two hours checking out the town, I decided to go watch the high school games on FSN. How cool is outdoor hockey? It’d be really nice to see a Winter Classic at TCF Bank Stadium next year. Just got to the NHC a little bit ago so the pre-game is going to be brief.
Like I said last night, St. Cloud State is bringing out the retro jerseys tonight. They’re looking pretty good; a kick back to the 50s and 60s I’m told.
The game hasn’t even started yet and you can bet Don Lucia is a bit pissed. The SCSU student section brought glow sticks to the game, which initially looked cool. But when the lights went out the fans began throwing the sticks at the Gophers. It was actually a beautiful sight to see if not for the danger. I believe it was two years ago when the Gophers had a similar problem with batteries being thrown at the NHC. I remember Lucia being less than pleased on that occasion as well.
Minnesota lines are similar to last night with one exception. Joe Miller has replaced Nick Larson at right wing on the fourth line along with Justin Bostrom and Patrick White.
