A bit of a different look at Friday’s rivalry game between Minnesota and North Dakota.

THE BOTTOM LINE

At the University of Minnesota’s media day Wednesday, Gopher captain Taylor Matson predicted a “bloodbath.”

And while the blood wasn’t necessarily flowing, the Gophers and North Dakota combined for 69 minutes in penalties Friday (29 penalties in all) in a 2-0 Minnesota victory at Mariucci Arena, with much of the action coming in a rough second period.

Seth Ambroz got the festivities started with a five minute major for contact to the head just 30 seconds into the middle frame, although he also checked UND captain Mario Lamoureaux from behind. Minnesota killed the five minute UND power play however, and according to numerous players and coaches after the game, that was the turning point.

Tied 0-0 at the time, the major penalty seemed to stir the emotions a bit, and at 11:47, feelings boiled over as a melee ensued, sending 3 players from each team to the box. North Dakota got the extra 2 minutes though, setting up a Gopher power play. Minnesota took advantage as Nick Bjugstad scored what amounted to the game winner with the extra attacker on.

The Gophers got a separation goal with 8 minutes and change remaining in regulation when Nick Larson’s pass sent Tom Serratore in on Aaron Dell for a breakaway. The sophomore buried his second goal of the season to make it 2-0.

For the night, Minnesota outshot North Dakota 32-24. It was a historic night for Gopher goalie Kent Patterson, as the senior secured his fifth shutout of the season — tying a school record set by Robb Stauber in 1987-88. Just nine games into the year, Patterson may have a couple chances to break that record this season.

Stauber, by the way, won the Hobey Baker Award that season.

AROUND THE LOCKER ROOM

On Patterson tying the shutout record

• “Our team has been doing a great job of letting me see pucks,” Patterson said. “I’m going to have to make a few big saves every once in a while, but guys are back checking through the middle and picking up guys so they aren’t getting those opportunities.”

• “I enjoy each and every day. When I do get a shutout, great, but you have to take the good with the bad.” Patterson said. “I just have to make sure I come to the rink everyday preparing for each game individually, and take my game day by day.”

• “He’s something special, he gives us a chance to win each and every night,” Matson said. “He does all the little things right and everything is going well for him right now.”

On getting the separation goal

• “That was great to see, especially off the face off,” Patterson said. “Tom works hard. He had a huge blocked shot at the beginning of the game. He deserved that goal, he worked his butt off.”

• “We’ve been doing a great job of scoring first this season, but that second goal was huge for us,” Matson said. “Especially off the face off, we’ve been stressing intensity off the face off this season, so it was big to get that goal from our fourth line.”

• “We didn’t have a lot of breakdowns, but that was one of them,” said UND head coach Dave Hakstol. “They took advantage of it.”

On the intensity and atmosphere

• “It was the type of game we expected. It was hard hitting, it was physical, it was blocked shots, it was goaltending. The game was settling in and you knew it was going to be a low scoring game,” said Gophers head coach Don Lucia. ”

• “These games are pretty special to us, there was a lot more hitting, a lot more intensity. The atmosphere was something special to be apart of here tonight,” Matson said.

On killing the UND 5×3 power play in the second period

• “I think the pivotal moment for us was that 5-on-3,” Lucia said. “It was a 0-0 game and we were able to get a little bit of momentum from our [penalty] kill.”

• “It was a huge momentum boost, especially when the crowd gets into it like that,” Patterson said. “It gets our bench going and gave our guys a momentum boost.”

IN OTHER ACTION FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE
Michigan Tech 1, Minnesota State 0
St. Cloud State 7, Wisconsin 2
Nebraska-Omaha 7, Colorado College 5
Denver 3, Minnesota Duluth 3 (OT)
Bemidji State 3, Lake Superior State 2 (OT)

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — Merrimack’s perfect start and 11-game home winning streak came to an end Friday night, as Northeastern forced a 1-1 tie at Lawler Arena. Merrimack’s Rhett Bly opened the scoring at 14:20 of the second period when he took a Jesse Todd pass, snuck behind the Husky defense and beat Chris Rawlings (34 saves) five-hole. After killing off six penalties in the first two periods, including a five-minute major, Northeastern (1-4-2, 1-4-2 HE) tied the game 57 seconds into the third when Justin Daniels knocked home a rebound for his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Joe Cannata made 30 saves for the Warriors (6-0-1, 4-0-1 HE).

What I saw

-Northeastern lacked discipline and was playing with fire by taking so many penalties. Two of the Huskies’ penalties came in the offensive zone — a hook by Vinny Saponari as he was trying to force a turnover, and a trip by Joseph Manno after he gave the puck away. Additionally, Manno’s trip came just 20 seconds after the freshman had served an elbowing penalty. Another freshman, Adam Reid, received a five-minute major and game misconduct in the second for hitting to the head. Then in the third, Cody Ferriero negated a hitting after the whistle penalty on Kyle Bigos by retaliating with a slash.

-The Huskies looked like a totally different team from when they were here two weeks ago. In that meeting (a 4-1 loss), Merrimack dominated time of possession and wore the Huskies down, ultimately scoring three goals in the third to seal the victory. This game was much more of a back-and-forth affair — at least, it was when the Huskies weren’t in the sin bin. Instead of wearing down as the game went on, this time it was the Huskies who controlled play in the third. They outshot Merrimack 15-10 in the frame (and then 2-0 in overtime), and had more chances to capture two points than the Warriors did. (more…)

With one month in the books, here is a look at my WCHA power rankings for the first weekend of November:

1 — Colorado College (Last week: 1)

An easy sweep at a helpless RPI squad keeps this team in front. The Tigers have yet to lose this season, although they have only played a league-low four games thus far.

2 — Minnesota (Last week: 3)

Yeah, UAA has slowed down a bit. But the Seawolves hadn’t been swept at home in almost two years, so last weekend’s double play in Alaska was actually pretty impressive.

3 — Minnesota Duluth (Last week: 4)

The Bulldogs have used a soft part of their schedule to get on a four-game unbeaten run. They’ll be tested in Denver this weekend though.

4 — Denver (Last week: 2)

After embarrassing Minnesota State two weeks ago, the Pioneers were embarrassed last Friday by Michigan Tech. Getting only one point in Houghton is a disappointment, no matter how improved they actually are.

5 — Nebraska-Omaha (Last week: 5)

The Mavericks can’t make a habit of falling behind 3-0 in games. They did twice at Wisconsin last weekend and were lucky to get two points out of the weekend.

6 — North Dakota (Last week: 6)

A ho-hum split against St. Cloud State is fine, but the Huskies were without perhaps their best player in Mike Lee. UND expects to win every game at The Ralph, so when they don’t, it’s a bad weekend.

7 — Wisconsin (Last week: 8 )

The Badgers should have taken four points from UNO at the Kohl Center last weekend. Allowing a team to come back from a three goal deficit on the road is inexcusable.

8 — St. Cloud State (Last week: 9)

With Lee on the shelf, perhaps for the rest of the season, Ryan Faragher needs to play like he did last weekend. If he does, the Huskies could be OK.

9 — Michigan Tech (Last week: 11)

It’s safe to say, winning in Houghton will be no easy task this season. The Huskies are undefeated at MacInnes this season and just dismantled Denver last weekend.

10 — Bemidji State (Last week: 7)

Tom Serratore said he may have found his team in Duluth last weekend, despite the fact the Beavers were swept by the Bulldogs. A road trip to Lake Superior State this weekend will not be an easy task, however.

11 — Alaska-Anchorage (Last week: 10)

The Seawolves are trending down after a solid start to the year. A week off could be just what UAA needs to try and get back on track next weekend at Minnesota Duluth.

12 — Minnesota State (Last week: 12)

The Mavericks should have about half their injured guys back and available for this weekend’s series in Houghton. But with how Tech is playing at home, two points for MSU would be quite the accomplishment.

• Be sure to check out my feature about Minnesota as they head into this weekend’s series with North Dakota. I will be at Mariucci Arena this weekend documenting the festivities.

There’s been a lot of talk in the early going this year about upstart teams like Lake Superior (7-1-0 and first place in the league), Bowling Green, Ferris State, etc. And more on those teams in just a moment. But first, somehow — and perhaps not surprisingly, given their coach — the Michigan Wolverines haven’t seemed to miss a beat despite losing one of the all-time great Michigan senior classes last year.

Yesterday, the CCHA honored Michigan senior Shawn Hunwick as the league’s goaltender of the month and freshman Phil Di Giuseppe as rookie of the month. In October alone, Hunwick posted a 6-0-1 record with one shutout, a 1.37 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage in those contests.   (more…)

This weekend was the last weekend of nonconference play for the AHA. All teams start their conference schedules this upcoming week. After this weekend, some teams are in better shape than others. UConn and Holy Cross highlighted this past week’s game, with UConn pulling out the win.

(more…)