021019: Three Sweeps in the Big Ten, Edina take down Minnetonka again
Notes from Weekend Play
Penn State x Minnesota
Took in some Big Ten hockey this weekend.
No surprise from Penn State: offensively, a lot to like. They out-worked for pucks, they made plays, they were tenacious around the net, they kept the pressure high and were rewarded with a weekend sweep. That isn’t to say the Gophers ‘can’t skate’ with Penn State, but the stats seemed to indicate that. I mostly watched players, here are some of my notes from the game.
Clayton Phillips started the game off early with a great defensive stick, poking the puck out to Brent Gates and Rem Pitlick who scored on a pretty give-and-go through two Penn State defenders. The goal would be waved off, and Penn State would get a goal waved off not much later in the period.
In between goals being waved off, Nate Sucese jumps on Ben Brinkman who couldn’t handle a quick pass at the blue, burning him and eventually goaltender Mat Robson to open the scoring officially. It’s been a terrific college career (and weekend) for the Gunnery alum Sucese, who really has a scoring touch. After the goofy no-goal nonsense, it was a pretty good hockey game.
Penn State were just better, on the whole, Robson in net for the Gophers made some pretty saves but he shouldn’t have had to. I wasn’t particularly impressed by Penn State defensively. Brent Gates’ tying goal was a great effort around the net — but he was wide open in a scoring area and anyone who follows the Big Ten should know not to leave the Minnesota captain there. He got not one but two shots off in a prime scoring area with almost no pressure because PSU were running around off the rush.
It’s things like that which have to make the Gophers loss that much more frustrating, because I don’t think Penn State can actually contain the Gophers firing on all cylinders. The difference is, they can’t fire on all cylinders if you’re shoving pucks at them all game and transitioning with competence, and Penn State did. Finishing is important, but if you keep the Gophers on their heels then you don’t have to worry about defending as much. You can let Brent Gates post up in scoring areas two or three times a game, knowing you’ll be outshooting the other team two-to-one and win on the odds.
Anyway, it didn’t look great for the Gophers. Motzko and staff definitely have some work to do, primarily to light a fire under this team if they want to make this season a success in my eyes. The bright side? A lot, actually. Take freshman Sampo Ranta, a player most coaches would love to have (5min major tonight not-with-standing), or Scott Reedy, who seems to look better each game I see him in, or Ben Brinkman who continues to improve as a natural freshman, or Sammy Walker who is lethal as everyone knows, or recruit Ben Meyers tearing it up in the USHL… it goes on. I like the older players the Gophers have, but I’m excited to see the ‘98s and ‘99s take this team over. Speaking of older players, liked Tommy Novak and Tyler Sheehy killing a penalty together early. Sheehy is a great all-situations player, but I love how those two flip a penalty kill into a way to keep an opposing powerplay honest, you have Sheehy’s tenacity who can knock a puck loose and turn the play the other way, whereas Novak is exactly the poised, shoot-or-pass scorer you’d want on the ensuing two-on-one to set it up short-handed. The other forward pair I noticed, Ramsey and Romanko, are much more of a standard-fare set-up in my estimation.
For Penn State, there isn’t too much to note. I think the high-flying offense is the way to go, you leave the defense out to dry a bit but that isn’t the strength of the team. Play to the strengths. It was cool to see big man Nikita Pavlychev get rewarded for his hands around the net, love to see him playing with confidence. Barratt was buzzing, he made Robson look unbeatable a couple times. Of course, he wasn’t. The 5th goal for Penn State was an awesome, honest shift: chip the puck in, the Berger-Marsh-Biro line out-competed the Gophers, finally the puck crosses the line.
Last thought from this series: How uncontainable would this Penn State offense be with former recruit Logan Hutsko, now a sophomore at Boston College? They keep throwing up big numbers without a young gun like Aarne Talvitie, out since the WJC, but Hutsko would probably make those massive wins into double-digit wins. It’s just fun to think about what some of these line-ups could have looked like. They would really be a track-meet team offensively.
Other series
Two sweeps in Big Ten play, the Irish were off this weekend.
Michigan x Michigan State
Didn’t watch much of this one, though I probably will look at it this week. It was a big sweep for Michigan, who are poking their heads above .500 in a super tight conference race with a couple critical injuries. While no one should be able to touch Ohio State — they swept again this weekend — every point counts in the standings and a rivalry as real as this one is that much better to get a sweep from. I’ve already noted the Spartans are punching under their weight this season, so this is a quality sweep to me. There is no way Michigan State didn’t get up mentally for this series.
Ohio State x Wisconsin
On the other hand, Wisconsin aren’t doing well, and that seems about right. It just isn’t a great team in Madison this year, though they can skate with anyone. The Buckeyes won with ten seconds left in overtime (Matt Miller goal) on Friday. The second night was more of a slow, grinding win. Dakota Joshua scored his ninth of the year to open it up and there were plenty of penalties. Not much to say about this series, mostly watched K’Andre Miller, who I thought played fine.
High School Hockey:
Minnesota: Top-ranked Edina hosted Minnetonka after beating them earlier this season.
It was a close one, with the Hornets edging the Skippers yet again in 2019, 3-1. A potential preview of the state tournament, both teams are pretty deep and capable. Early on Minnetonka had to show their penalty kill and it was very effective, even punishing on the transition back up ice.
Loved the play of Grant Docter overall, a swift-skating Michigan Tech recruit who almost certainly will be an NHL draft look this summer. The late-2000 born defenseman catches your eye every time you watch him, he’s strong on the rush and can really freelance offensively. He plays with confidence because he knows what he is capable of. As noted there are a number of nice players on both teams but one consistently notices #2 for the Skippers streaking up the ice with the puck. He scored the lone goal for Minnetonka, a fluid catch-and-release from the left point where he angled off the Edina checker to create a shooting lane.
Edina’s Mike Vorlicky scored the game-winner, another zip from the point, in the 2nd period. Edina moves to 5-0 in Lake conference play, Minnetonka to a conference record of 3-2-1. Edina will take on rival suburb EP in a Valentine’s day contest whereas Minnetonka will look to avenge a 2-2 tie against Wayzata from late January.