Gophers - Sioux: Playoff Edition

One of the nation’s most contentious rivalries gets kicked into overdrive this weekend as the 7th seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers head to Grand Forks to take on the 4th seeded North Dakota Fighting Sioux. Emotions always run high when these WCHA powers meet, but with a trip to St. Paul and the Final Five at stake, things should get downright prickly by the time this series is over. Adding to the friction is the notion that the Sioux are a bunch of cheap, dirty thugs while the Gophers are a band of soft, pampered prima donnas. The truth lies somewhere in the middle for both teams, but there’s no point in letting sanity get in the way of such a bitter rivalry.

The teams split the season series, with both programs taking three points on their home ice. Ralph Engelstad Arena has been a house of horrors for Minnesota the past two seasons, as they’ve managed to corral only a single point in four contests, with all three losses coming by four or more goals. This weekend won’t feature such lopsided affairs, but even the most optimistic Gopher fan has to be weary of their chances as they head to North Dakota.

Minnesota has been on somewhat of a hot streak, winning four of their final six games; but they’ve still been unable to combat their season-long bouts with inconsistency. The Gophers have struggled to score goals all season-long and have had defensive breakdowns at the worst possible times. It will take a complete effort in Grand Forks if they hope to advance to St. Paul, and the onus will fall on the Gophers’ big guns (Jordan Schroeder, Jacob Cepis, Alex Kangas) to have a big weekend.

North Dakota has notoriously been a second-half team under Dave Hakstol, and although they get started a little bit later this year, they’ve won their past seven games and are becoming the type of team that nobody wants to face come playoff time. They have a balanced offense, paced by Chris VandeVelde, Danny Kristo, and Jason Gregoire and play the type of physical, in-your-face hockey that has given Minnesota problems in recent years.

The weekend should feature the type of up-tempo, frenzied hockey you’d expect to see from a matchup between two very talented teams. North Dakota has had Minnesota’s number as of late, especially in Grand Forks, but that’s going to matter little as Don Lucia has always found a way to get his team to the Final Five. Coming off their third straight disappointing regular season, Lucia could desperately use a first round win over the Sioux to stay off the hot seat and assuage the fanbase’s concern regarding the direction of the program. If the Gophers simply go through the motions during the two-game set, the calls for Lucia’s head will reach a fevered-pitch.

The series starts Friday at 7:30 PM, with Game 3 (if necessary) taking place on Sunday.

- Rob Leath

Gophers Earn Split Under Tough Conditions:

In their first series since losing senior forward Jay Barriball to a season-ending knee injury and freshman defensemen Nick Leddy for six weeks due to a broken jaw, the Gophers remained poised on the road in Madison, Wisconsin.

The weekend got off to a rough start when Alex Kangas let a pedestrian Blake Geoffrion slap shot squirt through his legs only twenty-four seconds into the first period of the Friday night contest. The Gophers, however, persevered and did not get dejected by the early deficit or the recent injury casualties. The team showed resolve as they skated with, physically outplayed and equally matched the intensity level of their heated conference rival.

A minute-and-a-half into the second period Jordan Schroeder and Mike Hoeffel stormed through the neutral zone in a two-on-one rush. Schroeder fed a pinpoint pass across the slot which Hoeffel calmly deposited into the back of the net. Nico Sacchetti, who was filling in on the top line for the injured Barriball, was awarded the secondary assist as he adroitly started the breakout.

In less than a minute the Badgers reclaimed the lead when Cody Goloubef, assisted by Derek Lee and John Mitchell, found the back of the net. The score remained 2–1 until the halfway point of the second period when Alex Kangas let another savable Geoffrion slap shot; again, find its way through the goaltender’s five hole.

At 8:47 of the third period the Gophers clawed their way back into the contest with a rare power play goal. A loose puck scramble in front of Wisconsin goaltender Brett Bennett led to a Patrick White tally, assisted by Tony Lucia and Mike Carmen.

With the score 3–2 in favor of the Badgers, the Gophers stepped up their intensity and continued to play the body and assert themselves as the more physically aggressive team. Notable hustle from Sacchetti and Taylor Madsen down the stretch applied good pressure; however, just when it appeared that the Badgers would be content to play their style of “not flashy but effective” shutdown defense, Ben Street jumped the offensive zone and tapped home a perfect pass from Michael Davies. The backbreaking goal came at the 18:08 minute mark and extinguished any hope the Gophers had of equalizing the score.

The Gophers were severely outshot in the otherwise evenly-contested battle. Alex Kangas stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced while Wisconsin goaltender, Brett Bennett saved 16 of 18. Early in the season Coach Don Lucia has shown tendencies to use a goalie rotation, which begged the question, Kangas or Patterson for Saturday?

After the disappointing loss on Friday night, Coach Lucia told sophomore goalie, Kent Patterson to be ready for Saturday. When push came to shove, Lucia decided to again give the nod to his veteran goalie, Kangas. Shortly after his goaltending decision was made, Coach Lucia was faced with a more formidable challenge.

A last minute allergic reaction would keep Mike Hoeffel, the team’s greatest scoring threat, out of the Saturday night lineup. Coach Lucia subsequently juggled the lines, and then sent his boys out to avoid the sweep.

The Gophers wasted little time atoning for the Friday night loss. Tony Lucia continued his senior season dominance, a week after being named WCHA Offensive Player of the Week, when he received a cross-ice pass from emerging freshman Zach Budish. Lucia took the pass in-stride, made a weak-side rush, drove towards the net and shelved Brett Bennett who was making his second start of the weekend series.

Roughly six minutes later Lucia made another strong rush along the side boards and threaded a pass to Budish who was crashing the net. Budish finished off the perfect pass by tapping home his second career goal.

The score remained 2–0 until late in the second period when Patrick White corralled a pass in the slot from junior defensemen, Kevin Wehrs. White’s momentum carried him across the shooting lane and beyond the outstretched and out-of-position Bennett, thus allowing White to slide home the eventual game-winning goal.

Wisconsin managed to tally two goals in the Saturday evening contest. The first came from Jake Gardiner (assisted by Craig Smith and Geoffrion) and the second was a highlight-reel goal in which Ryan McDonagh swatted the puck out of midair past goaltender Kangas (assisted by Andy Bohmbach and Smith). Minnesota held serve for the duration by adding goals from Brian Schack (assisted by Lucia and Cade Fairchild) and an empty-net goal from Budish with the helper coming from David Fischer.

The Gopher forwards stepped up in the absence of key contributors and provided the team with a spark; however, the story of the Saturday game was not a matter of who scored, but who prevented scoring. One night after a below average performance, Alex Kangas took the ice at Kohl Center with something to prove. Kangas stifled, stunned and confused the Badgers as he recorded a career high, 45 saves. Where the Badgers saw an open net, Kangas threw a leg pad. When Wisconsin sensed a scoring chance, Kangas closed the door. In the end, Kangas stole the show by allowing only two goals on 47 shots which allowed the Gophers to escape from Madison with their 10 year streak of not being swept on Kohl Center ice intact and more importantly he helped Minnesota earn two valuable points in a weekend under adverse conditions.

Written by: Adam Howard

It's Now or Never: What Tim Brewster Must Do For a Contract Extension

It's been an interesting journey for Tim Brewster as coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. He emerged from relative obscurity when he was hired to take over for Glen Mason following the 2006 season. Not only had Brewster never been a head coach at the professional or collegiate level, he'd never even been a coordinator. Still, Athletic Director Joel Maturi saw something in Brewster and took a gamble.

Brewster had already built up a reputation as an excellent recruiter. He'd worked hand-in-hand with Mack Brown in both Chapel Hill and Austin and is given credit for bringing Vince Young to the Longhorns. He's continued that trend with the Gophers, bringing in some of the most highly-rated athletes the Gophers have ever seen.
As a result, the Gophers are more athletic than they were under Coach Mason. Brewster needs more out of his recruits this year if the Gophers are to be successful.

It all starts on the road against Syracuse. In order for the Gophers to put together a season that's impressive enough to warrant Maturi extending Brewster's contract, this is a game the Gophers not only need to win, but need to win convincingly.

For years, one of the biggest knocks on the Gophers was that they never played anyone respectable in their non-conference games. That all changes beginning this year. While Syracuse's program is a bit down, they are still a BCS school. Adding Air Force and a potential Top 10 school in California gives the program more credibility. Not to mention future schedules which already include USC and the possibility for more "big time" opponents.

A loss against Syracuse could lead to disaster for Brewster. Excitement for the program is nearing all-time highs with a new stadium opening on Sept. 12th. In order to elevate the program to the next level, the Gophers will need to utilize the home field advantage that's been given back to them by moving the team back on campus. The program doesn't want to enter its new facilities on a down note, that's why it's so crucial for the Gophers to beat Syracuse.

Assuming the Gophers take care of business their first two games and at the very least remain competitive against Cal, they'd be 2-1 heading into the Big Ten season. That's where Brewster can really establish himself as the Gophers long-term coaching solution. If Brewster's going to gain the confidence of Joel Maturi, he needs to win at least one of the school's trophy games. Minnesota plays for traveling trophies with four rivals (Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn St. and Michigan). Michigan is off the schedule this season, so Brewster has three opportunities to take possession of a trophy.

The Gophers best chance appears to be against the University of Wisconsin for Paul Bunyan's Axe. After a road game at Northwestern, the Gophers first Big Ten home game in the new stadium is against the Badgers.

The Gophers played well enough to beat the Badgers in Madison last season without Eric Decker, but stupid penalties and freshman mistakes ultimately cost the Gophers a game that they easily could have won. Beating the Badgers at home in October would go a long way towards instilling confidence in the administration that Brewster has what it takes to win rivalry games.

If Brewster can find a way to get the Gophers to at least .500 in Big Ten play, that would definitely be a step in the right direction. The fan base wants to see the Gophers back in the Rose Bowl, but you've got to take it one step at a time. The are probably a year or two away from being an upper echelon Big Ten team. The easiest way to accelerate that process would be to go out and beat one of the "big boys".

Coach Brewster needs that signature win to pad his coaching resume. It'll never be easy, but he's going to have prove that he can occasionally beat the teams at the top of the conference. This year, that means Ohio State and Penn State.
Brewster's predecessor was able to win games in Columbus and Happy Valley with teams that arguably weren't as talented as this Gophers team. This year is as good as any when it comes to beating the Buckeyes or the Nittany Lions.

Even a down year for OSU or Penn St. is probably better than your average year at most Big Ten schools, but you have to strike while the iron is hot. Both OSU and Penn State suffered pretty significant losses on both sides of the ball. If Brewster can put together a gameplan that results in a big road win against one of those teams, it certainly will help vault the Gophers from Big Ten bottom feeders to the middle of the pack.

The talent is there for the Gophers to win at least nine games this season. Everyone has to stay healthy and the team has to learn from the mistakes they made during last season's year end tailspin.

If the Gophers go at least 4-4 in the Big Ten and are able to beat Iowa or Wisconsin, I think he receives the contract extension he's been looking for. If he does those things and finds a way to add a big time road win to his resume, Maturi and Co. would be foolish not to lock Coach Brewster up.