Gophers Steamroll Nittany Lions

Minneapolis - There are two ways a team can come out of a weekend off: sloppy, or rested.

The Gophers were a bit of both Friday night, struggling in the very early minutes of the first period before finding their legs and flattening the Penn State Nittany Lions 5-1 at Mariucci Arena.

Minnesota (22-4-5 Overall, 10-2-2-0 B1G) came into the game nursing a slender one point lead in the B1G standings with two games in hand over the Wisconsin Badgers, who are idle this weekend.  The Gophers could definitely use the points to regain their comfortable cushion in the league standings, and a dominating win tonight went a long way towards restoring that.

Penn State (6-21-2, 2-12-1-0) got an early powerplay in the first and capitalized, taking a 1-0 lead on a bungled Minnesota line change just 3:12 into the game.  Another bad change led to a 2-on-0 chance for PSU, but Adam Wilcox made a big save to keep Minnesota within striking distance at 1-0 down.

Early on in the period, head coach Don Lucia was shuffling the lines due to the absence of Tom Serratore.  Serratore, who dressed for the game, left sometime in the first period.  Official ‘U’ sources say that Serratore left the game with an “upper body injury”, but that it was precautionary and he shouldn’t be out for too long.

The Gophers would tighten up and quickly turn the tables on the Nittany Lions, knotting the score at 1-1 just 7:55 into the period.  Mike Reilly intercepted a pass at the blueline before finding a streaking Sam Warning at the top of the right circle, who ripped a snapshot past PSU goalie Matthew Skoff and into the back of the net.

Minnesota would continue the scoring barrage minutes later, when Hudson Fasching popped the puck in after a few frenzied seconds in front of the Penn State net to put the Gophers ahead for good.  Minnesota would tack on another goal at 16:10 when Fasching, on a breakaway, somehow found Kyle Rau trailing just behind the play and passed it to him for an easy goal.  Nate Condon would get another puck across the line late in the first, but after review the goal was disallowed due to an early whistle by the referee.

Up 3-1 after one period, the Gophers would continue to press their advantage in the second.  Taylor Cammarata scored just 30 seconds into the period on the powerplay.  The next few minutes featured a bevy of penalties, with the Gophers taking four penalties and drawing two in just over a five minute stretch.  Minnesota would add to its lead on the penalty kill, with Nate Condon scoring the Gophers’ first shorthanded goal of the season unassisted at 12:30 of the frame to make the game 5-1.

Although the Gophers would have many chances throughout the rest of the second and the third, the Condon shorthanded goal would end the scoring, and Minnesota skated away with a 5-1 win and a 4 point lead in the B1G standings over Wisconsin.

The Gophers will look to complete the sweep of the Nittany Lions on Saturday night.  Minnesota will also honor its seniors before the last home game of the season.  The puck drops at 6PM, so get there early if you want to pay tribute to Gopher seniors Justin Holl, Jake Parenteau, Michael Shibrowski, Tom Serratore and Nate Condon.

Notes & Quotes

3 Stars of the Game: 3) Adam Wilcox (30 Saves), 2) Mike Reilly (2 assists), 1) Hudson Fasching (1 goal, 1 assist)

Final Shots on Goal: Minnesota 36, Penn State 31.  Attempted shots were 68-46 in favor of the Gophers.

Other Gopher Point-Getters: Travis Boyd (2a), Kyle Rau (1g), Sam Warning (1g), Nate Condon (1g), Taylor Cammarata (1g), Ben Marshall (1a)

Specialty Teams: Gophers 1-3 on the powerplay, Penn State 1-5

The win moves the Gophers to 35 points in the B1G standings, 4 ahead of Wisconsin’s 31 and 10 ahead of Michigan’s 25.  Wisconsin can max out at 43 points if they win out, so the Gophers can clinch at least a share of the B1G title with eight more points.  Nine points (three non-shootout wins) will clinch the league title outright.

Gopher head coach Don Lucia, on the success of the first line: “The Rau line was good tonight, it’s good to see them get going.”  On tonight’s goal scorers: “The guys we need to score scored goals tonight.  At the end of the year you need your best players to score.” On Tom Serratore’s injury: “He was dinged up tonight. We’ll see how he’s feeling tomorrow and go from there.”  On whether senior goalie Michael Shibrowski will play on Senior Night tomorrow night: "There's a good chance of it."

Hudson Fasching, on the Rau breakaway goal: “Yeah, I actually saw him out of the corner of my eye. I was on my off hand so I didn’t really have a shot, so I passed it to him and I guess it worked out pretty well.”

Gopher Hockey Injury Update: Alex Kangas Undergoes Hip Surgery; Out for the Season

The Gophers learned of another tough loss this week, as senior netminder Alex Kangas underwent hip surgery for a torn labrum today and will miss the remainder of the season.

Although Kangas had been having a tough year this season, he will leave the Maroon and Gold as the career Save Percentage leader at .912%. Kangas will be most remembered for his stellar freshman season, when he took the goaltending reins from Jeff Frazee mid-season and led the team to their most recent NCAA birth. Perhaps the biggest games of that season were the Gophers' first round WCHA playoff series in Mankato against the Mavericks. The three games went into a total of five overtimes, and Alex Kangas was the only reason the team had a chance. His stellar goaltending led the Gophers all the way to the Final Five championship game.

Thanks for wearing the 'M' with pride, Alex. We'll miss you!

Gopher Hockey Injury Update: Mono-Stricken Bjugstad, Parenteau Return to Health, Lineup

Don't look now, but there's actually good news hovering around the University of Minnesota Men's Hockey team this week.

After a string of unfortunate illnesses and injuries, Gopher coach Don Lucia stated in his weekly radio show Monday night that four players that had been out due to injury or illness would return to the lineup this weekend.

Most importantly, this weekend's slate of games against the Michigan Tech Huskies should be the first games back for Nick Bjugstad, who was forced out of the last five games with Mononucleosis. Bjugstad left as the center of the second line, but his return to that spot could be complicated with the emergence of Nate Condon, who has blossomed centering the number two line. Bjugstad struggled playing center on the second line in his five games, posting just one assist and playing fairly ineffectually on both sides of the ice. I would like to see him moved to the wing and have the second line feature Condon, Bjugstad and Jacob Cepis, but I have a feeling Coach Lucia will keep Bjugstad at center, forcing Condon down to the third line and Taylor Matson down to the fourth line.

Lucia also confirmed that Gophers Nick Larson, Patrick White and Jake Parenteau are all healthy and available to play this weekend. Larson was nursing an ankle injury suffered several weeks ago in practice. Expect him to play extended minutes this weekend, as Larson's penalty killing abilities were missed with him out. White had been suffering from the flu, but Coach Lucia stated that he should be back and healthy come the weekend. Parenteau is the real surprise here. He came down with mono just a week or two ago, but Lucia speculated that he may have had the disease before because his body was able to fight it off much more quickly than normal. So quickly that Parenteau is available to play this weekend.

Of course, Zach Budish is still out for the season with a torn ACL, but he will be able to apply for a medical redshirt so he should enter next season as a sophomore. Still, that is a big blow to a team that could have used the skills Budish brought to the table.

There is no television broadcast of the games this weekend, but an online stream can be found on Michigan Tech's website. The cost of the service is $12 for both of the games this weekend.

Gopher Hockey Injury Update: Budish, Nick Larson Hurt; Bjugstad and Parenteau Out with Mono

The Gophers cannot avoid the big injury over the last several years. Over the last three seasons, the Gophers have sustained season-ending injuries to key players on their rosters. In 2007-2008, Ryan Stoa went down with a knee injury after just two games. Taylor Matson tore up his knee in 2008-2009, and Matson went down again along with Jay Barriball in 2009-2010. In 2010-2011, Zach Budish has gone down for the season.

Budish was involved in a moped accident on campus this week. Preliminary reports indicate that Budish has torn his ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season.

This is a gigantic blow to the Gophers' chances this season. Budish was a player that was coming into his own. He was just learning to use his talent and his body to become a force out on the ice. The Gophers will likely replace Budish in the lineup with some combination of Patrick White, Tom Serratore, Jared Larson and Max Gardiner, but Budish's presence will be missed in the Gopher lineup.

Also on the Gopher injury report is forward Nick Larson. Larson took a puck to the ankle in practice several weeks ago and has been out of the lineup since. Larson is a solid third/fourth line forward who logs a lot of ice time on the penalty kill. Larson may be back for the Wisconsin series, but if not he'll definitely be back after the bye week the team as following their weekend set against the Badgers.

The Gophers have two other players out due to mono. Nick Bjugstad and Jake Parenteau both came down with the debilitating sickness and are likely to miss another 3-6 weeks. Bjugstad could be back as early as 3 weekends from now, but mono is an illness that takes its toll differently with different people. In any case, look to see both of these players out of the lineup for a substantial period of time.

The Gophers' supposed depth is going to be tested with three regulars and one important backup out of the lineup. The freshmen and the role players need to step it up if the Gophers can continue their winning streak.