Hockey Day in Minnesota: Early Huskies goals again doom Gophers in 4-1 loss in sweep by St. Cloud State

Minnesota Golden Gophers – (12-11-2)

Vs.

St. Cloud State Huskies – (15-7-3)

If you ever needed a dose of perspective in your life, the story of Hill-Murray defenseman Duke Pieper is the one you should hear.  Duke, currently a sophomore, is battling back after a very rare blood vessel tumor near his brain almost cost him his life.  It all started last year, shortly after Duke Pieper did something truly outstanding when he made the Hill-Murray Pioneers, an elite high school program as just a freshman.  Something that surprised him as well as Hill-Murray Head Coach Bill Lechner.  Just prior to their season opening game against Burnsville, Pieper did not feel right and his family took him to the hospital.  It turned out that a minor abnormality in some blood vessels in his brain had become a tumor, and he was in need of surgery where doctors gave Duke just a 5% chance at survival.  He beat the odds and survived 5 more surgeries but his life would be changed forever as he had to learn how to use his muscles all over again.  With a positive and courageous attitude Duke has battled back and continues to rehab.  His story is not necessarily the one with the perfect ending, where he returned to hockey and who knows he might someday.  The condition he suffers from has no cure, but if there is a person with the will to overcome it is Duke and he shows us all of just how precious life can be.  The State of Hockey News would like to wish Duke Pieper the best of luck in his continued recovery.

In the hockey realm of things, the Minnesota Golden Gophers took a page out of the Minnesota Wild’s playbook last night at the National Hockey Center in St. Cloud as they suffered a 4-3 loss.  The reason I make this comparison, is how the Golden Gophers spotted the Huskies a quick 3-0 lead on some bad turnovers and mental mistakes.  The Gophers attempted to answer back the way the Wild typically do in the 3rd, except in the 2nd period with 3 goals, but unfortunately another bad turnover in the middle stanza turned into a goal as David Eddy scored on a breakaway after a terrible turnover by Ryan Flynn.  Down just by one, 4-3 going into the 3rd the Gophers attempted to complete their come back but just couldn’t solve Dan Dunn who was razor sharp between the pipes and St. Cloud State earned a game one victory.

Minnesota needs to try to at least earn a series split in this home at home contest if it wishes to stay near the hunt for a top 4 spot in the WCHA.  The Gophers have been playing better as the offense seems to be closer to finding a level of consistency that has been lacking the last few seasons.  St. Cloud will be looking to wrap up an improbable series sweep and take a step closer to a top 3 spot in the WCHA.  The Golden Gophers storied program started in 1921, and have a strong and storied history.  St. Cloud State also has a storied history, but it was their jump to becoming a Division 1 program under the guidance of Herb Brooks that really started a trend of Division I hockey expansion in the state which now has 5 Division I programs to its credit.

The Golden Gophers nearly started the game the way they did Game 1 with a bad turnover near the blueline which turned into a quick breakaway for Jared Festler who raced towards Alex Kangas and he was hooked by Wild 1st round draft pick Nick Leddy.  The penalty would turn out to be very costly as the Huskies won the initial draw and moved the puck from the points over to Taylor Johnson who wound up and blasted a shot by Kangas to give the Huskies a quick 1-0 lead.  The Gophers first shot on goal was by freshman Josh Birkholz who flung a wrist shot that was kicked aside by the leg pad of Mike Lee and the rebound just missed a roving Mike Carman.  Minnesota would earn a power play as St. Cloud’s Chris Hepp was called for interference.  The Gophers power play would struggle initially as some poor passing foiled their ability to get set up as evidenced by the boo’s from the fans in Mariucci Arena.  Minnesota just could not seem to get itself set up in the offensive zone, but once they did they were able to create a quality scoring chance when Tony Lucia chipped a puck through the crease but the power play would come up short.  A few minutes later the Gophers started to get its legs going and a nice blast by Jordan Schroeder caught Mike Lee up high and Minnesota would gather up the puck and it was Schroeder firing another shot that Lee held onto.  Minnesota was starting to find some energy and Patrick White ripped a wrist shot that was knocked down and covered up by Lee as Lucia skated in looking for a rebound.  A long wrist shot by Roseau, Minnesota’s Aaron Ness was nearly deflected by fellow Roseau-native Mike Lee by Patrick White.  Some great work by Joe Miller along the boards would have the hardworking 4th liner turn and fire a shot from the boards that reached Lee with Nico Sacchetti roaming nearby.  Minutes later, a quick backhand pass by Garrett Roe would go to David Eddy who flung a wrist shot that trickled through 5-hole to give the Huskies a 2-0 lead.  Is this feeling more like a Wild game to you now?   The Gophers were not skating with much urgency let alone energy as they were struggling skating with the puck much less passing.  Minnesota would finally move the puck down low where Joe Miller set up Nico Sacchetti on a bang-bang type play that he just didn’t lift quite high enough.  The Gophers’ energy line kept moving its feet as Nick Larson, Ryan Flynn, and Josh Birkholz worked well to set up David Fischer for a blast from the point that somehow Lee was able to deflect out of harm’s way.  The Gophers found itself in familiar territory, trailing 2-0 at the end of the 1st period.

The Gophers would try to rally back in the 2nd period, but despite some good work along the boards they were unable to put shots on goal and force Mike Lee to make saves.  A few moments in the Gophers would chip a puck behind the Huskies defense and then race down the ice in a 3-on-1 and Nick Larson would feed a cross-ice pass to Jake Hansen who fired a shot that was blocked aside by Lee on what was a golden opportunity.  Yet one missed opportunity led to another for St. Cloud who moved the puck into the Gophers zone and it was Ryan Lasch finding Jared Festler open in the slot and he hammered a shot by Kangas to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead.  The goal would be reviewed, for what reason it was unclear but it didn’t matter as it was called a ‘good’ goal.  The Gophers tried to counter attack with a 2-on-1 between Jordan Schroeder and Jacob Cepis.  Schroeder would use Cepis as a decoy before unleashing a slapper that was stonewalled by Lee.  The Gophers 4th line would provide the best scoring chances of the evening as Ryan Flynn found himself set up on the doorstep but his shot would miss wide, Minnesota would gather up the loose puck and it was Jake Hanson’s chance being stopped by a sprawling Mike Lee which earned them an appreciative cheer for their effort.  A few minutes later, Aaron Marvin would be busted for tripping up Cepis giving the Gophers its 2nd power play of the game.  The Gophers would move the puck very well but perhaps tried to be too cute instead of just firing shots on goal.  The Gophers would demonstrate some great puck movement, but at the critical moments they would somehow make the crucial mistake as evidenced by Jacob Cepis’ pass to Patrick White who fanned on the shot.  A few minutes later the Gophers 4th line would have another great opportunity that it would fail on as some quick passing and shooting set up Joe Miller all a lone with an out of position goaltender confronting him and instead of sliding the puck into the open goal he slid it right to the goaltender where it missed wide.  There was a small frakas near the Huskies goal after this latest failure, probably out of frustration more than anything else but it was Aaron Marvin and Josh Birkholz for coincidental roughing minors.  With the ice opened up a bit more 4-on-4, the Gophers bad luck would continue as Kevin Wehrs failed to hold the offensive zone and as the Huskies’ Tony Mosey moved the puck behind the net Wehrs confounded his mistake by hitting Mosey from behind and earning 5:00 major and a game misconduct and the automatic one-game suspension that goes with it.  This would also give the Huskies a rare 4-on-3 power play where the Gophers would get a bit lucky as Garrett Roe fired a long range shot that beat Kangas and hitting the post and out.  Yet the Gophers poor decisions were not helping either as Tony Lucia would race up the ice shorthanded where he attempted an ill-advised drop pass which nearly turned into an odd-man rush for St. Cloud State.  The Huskies power play was very calm they very gradually closed the distance towards the crease before blasting two more shots at close range off the pipe and the Gophers had to feel a bit lucky to still be trailing by only 3 at this point.

With the Gophers trailing 3-0, they needed a goal in fairly quickly in the period if they were to have any chance at all.  They would finally light the lamp on a pretty play between Jacob Cepis to Aaron Ness who feinted at a shot and sliding a pass to Cade Fairchild who ripped a shot by Lee who had dropped early to stop what he thought was Ness’ shot reducing the Huskies’ lead to 3-1.  With the energy up it also meant tempers were likely to flare up as well as Garrett Raboin got tangled up with Jacob Cepis and foolishly the Gopher forward would give Raboin a shove earning a roughing call while the rugged St. Cloud State blueliner earned a holding penalty.  With the ice a bit more open at 4-0n-4 both teams seemed content to wait out the penalties.  David Eddy would attempt a wrap around that was shut down by Kangas.  Minnesota would answer back with a strong play by Zach Budish who showed good hands as he would quickly flick a loose puck on goal with a backhander that was held onto by Lee.  Moments later a nice little pass off the rush by Aaron Ness to a charging Tony Lucia was gloved in dramatic style by Mike Lee.  White Bear Lake’s Jake Hansen would show some tremendous speed as he blazed a heavy wrist shot that found the post behind St. Cloud State goaltender.  The Huskies were content to sit back into a 1-2-2 and force the Gophers to move through the entire St. Cloud State defense.  With just under 2:30 left in the 3rd, the Gophers would call a timeout to discuss how they were going to cut further into this St. Cloud State lead and they decided to pull Alex Kangas for an extra attacker.  The Huskies were collapsing around their goaltender as they gave the Gophers very little to look at and they were unable to find a shooting lane to exploit and St. Cloud State would get the turnover they were looking for and Jared Festler skated down the ice and slid a backhander into the open net to seal a 4-1 victory.

The St. Cloud State Huskies simply deserved the sweep, they made the most of their opportunities and like the Wild the Gophers simply got their legs going way too late to be competitive in this series.  The Gophers are going to have to regroup and really look within itself as it travels to Alaska-Anchorage next weekend in what will be a crucial series for Minnesota.  The Seawolves are not going to roll over and Minnesota better be expected to give full-game efforts if it wishes to avoid further disappointment.  It was the least competitive hockey game of the day so far.  Hopefully for the Gophers they can turn it around; and for St. Cloud State they took an important step into breaking into the Top 10 in the Pairwise rankings.