I'm going to leave the authentic recap to Goon as, due to professional obligations (that turned out were awful), I was unable to catch the first period. Upon reflection, I'm glad I didn't.
We lost this game. We made it close thanks to some stupid plays by the Gophers, but the Gophers won this one clean. I'm going to break down a few points as we go so it is going to be a bit choppy, but that's how it rolls tonight.
Team Defense
I rail on the Gophers for having abysmal Team D and maybe I've been only partially wrong on this one. They may not have bad Team D, they just have subpar coaching (Hill sucks, I don't care what happens this series or the rest of the season. There's nothing that can change this opinion) and are unbelievably inconsistent. Tonight, they showed a Team D scheme that, if they put this kind of effort on from day one, they'd be competing with UND and UMD for first place in the WCHA and would be ranked in the top 10 nationally. They blocked something like a million shots on goal (+ or - 999,950 shots) and really clogged up the front of their net. They gave UND very little. Mostly the center of the offensive zone just inside the blue line. I don't think many goals will be given up if you can't control the puck inside the faceoff circles.
Passing
I maintain that the Gophers are one, if not the best passing team in the WCHA. Their passes tonight always seemed to be crisp, tape to tape passes. If we didn't get a stick on it, it made it to its target. That is usually bad.
Penalties
As Goon stated, Hextall took incredibly stupid penalties. This might have been one if not the worst game Hextall has played in a Sioux jersey. Yeah, UND played with some fire in the second and third, but we always seemed to piss it away with penalties. Now, there were some good penalties in this game, such as two Minnesota took (Condon and Schmidt I think were the two) that basically prevented UND goals and the one Simpson took that prevented a sure Gopher breakaway. However, you cannot commit penalties on a good passing team that is playing desperation hockey and expect Dell to bail you out.
The Rivalry
Folks, I've said this so many times on message boards I've frequented and to various Sioux fan buddies: It doesn't matter what the records say. It doesn't matter what streaks are relevant when the puck drops. It doesn't matter what venue or when in the season it occurs. The Gophers always play their best hockey when facing North Dakota. Sometimes, it doesn't look like it because North Dakota comes ready to play and their will overpowers Minnesota. But 9 times out of 10, both teams bring their top games to the arena. Tonight, Minnesota played a great game AND they added desperation into the equation. Lucia said they absolutely needed points in Grand Forks and they earned it tonight hands down.
UND didn't exactly play poorly in the second and third, but they didn't play dominant consistently. When they did dominate, Patterson had things covered. Sachetti's game winner was just a great shot. I didn't see their first two goals.
The Scrum
There were good points and bad points. First off, that was a legal hit. I loved the look on Wehr's face though. He looked pissed. It was a shoulder to sternum shot that sent Wehrs flying back first into the boards. The dasher knocked Wehr's lid off and he sat there looking. The Gophers immediately started a scrum and went after everyone, including Chay Genoway.
This is where it got shady. Forget the Genoway business. I look at Malone's actions and then what happened to Forbort. First, Malone. He headlocked a Gopher player to the ice. Instead of letting go and facing off against those who are still in the scrum, he kept the headlock on. I don't know, maybe this is what you should do once initiating the headlock, but it didn't look clean to me. Speaking of dirty, scrum or not, you never double team guys. Genoway and Forbort were doubled teamed by Gopher players. If you want to fight or scrum, then go one on one. If you're going to scrum out, take on someone your own size. Apparently even the Gopher announcers were critical of the Gophers players scruming with Genoway. However, Captain or not, I think Genoway should've been more careful.
The smartest Sioux in the scrum? Corbin Knight. He was in the penalty box and the period was over when the scrum happened. He could have skated over but he didn't. He stayed in the penalty box and waited for the scrum to conclude before skating to the bench.
The officiating
Mediocre. And that's a compliment. Yes, UND did get something like 4 or 5 straight PKs, but UND earned every penalty they got called on. The Rodwell penalty was moronic (on Rodwell) and we already talked about Hextall. They did miss a horrendous penalty on a Gopher player for checking Hextall into the net well after the puck left the zone, but to my knowledge, that was really the only missed call I caught.
UND players of the Game
I don't know. I know who wasn't. It's not Hextall or Rodwell. I liked the play of Kristo and Trupp. I think Gregoire had a good game despite seeming a bit sluggish. I think I'd give Gregs the Sioux Player of the Game.
Player of the Game overall
....is probably Kent Patterson.
Tomorrow is an important game for UND. They need to win. This is a Minnesota team that lost to Union and Couldn't dominate a mediocre Ferris State. They're not going to let off the gas. UND has to bring it Saturday.
