021519: MN x OSU I
Gophers outlast the Buckeyes to pull off the upset
Bob Motzko’s University of Minnesota men’s ice hockey team took game one of this weekend’s series against Steve Rohlik’s #2-ranked Ohio State. I took some notes on what I thought was the difference between the two in this very close contest. The Buckeyes were without Gustaf Westlund and Tanner Laczynski which hurts.
Game summary in two sentences: Minnesota’s freshman line (Nathan Burke - Sammy Walker - Blake McLaughlin) showed up in a big way. Ohio State couldn’t get it going offensively, short a few critical pieces and running into penalty trouble.
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To start the game Minnesota looked like they came to play, challenging the cage from the early moments. It helps to get the Gophers five-forward powerplay out there a minute in.
The two teams present an interesting contrast. Ohio State play a very aggressive, competent brand of hockey, pseudo-professional in some respects. They’re able to generate chances from some of the traditionally less-dangerous areas. A lot of their forwards are not only physical and effective but offensively serviceable as well. The Gophers on the other hand are nowhere near as proven results-wise yet possess an excess of skill that don’t always play up to their ability level. Take Tommy Novak, a 3rd-round selection by the Predators in the 2015 NHL draft, for example.
Novak has the capacity to be an elite, top-level producer and yet has 6 goals in his last two seasons. The offense has been largely handed off to the top line of Pitlick-Gates-Sheehy and the freshmen line, which showed up tonight. Novak’s had his injury problems, and I’m not trying to harp on him, but he just doesn’t play with the kind of confidence a player of his ability should as a senior. He still brings something, but instead the team seem to get what swagger they do have out of the play of freshmen like Walker and McLaughlin. Freshman Nathan Burke was hungry to make plays like a senior who knows he only has a few games left.
On the whole the Gophers got plenty out of those three on the night. I kept noticing Jack Ramsey’s efforts as well. There were plenty of solidly won battles for the Gophers, who needed this win after a rough series last weekend.
The third goal was a great effort that showed a bit of everything this team has at its best. Nathan Burke chased down a puck, beating the Ohio State player to the wall and establishing inside body position to get priority on the puck. He barely can prod the puck at the length of his stick from the wall to a surging McLaughlin who would let his skill take over cutting in on the net, buying the offense time and space to position themselves. Burke finds the puck in the slot a moment later and taps it back to Ryan Zuhlsdorf at the point who would dart it low and in near-side.
The Gophers were pretty good at creating off the rush while I thought Ohio State were better at creating ‘spontaneously’, with forwards who can basically just become a threat out of nowhere. The way they play they earn a lot of hard ice and get quality shots off throughout the game. I recorded clips of the Gopher breakout as I think it’s worth showing how much more effective they are when they re-group and enter with speed rather than basically any other way of gaining the zone. I’ll probably put them up sometime this week or on twitter. The point of it is unless Minnesota compete for pucks like they did tonight every night, I don’t think dumping it in is a great strategy. I’d value possession much more than that and especially in the case of a team like the Gophers, they should be able to manage the puck better. Maybe not against Ohio State, though, who are talented and physical. Credit after credit to Ohio State, they’ve got great forecheckers who put pressure on and even the most poised passer will feel the heat trying to break out against them.
As the game wore on it seemed like the Gophers were just hanging on. The passing accuracy fell off and the penalty they ultimately drew off of a hard hit on Tyler Nanne (the game ended the way it started — with a penalty on OSU for a hard check on a defenseman who had just got rid of the puck) only framed it more like that. Motzko kept both defensemen out there and they basically tried to kill their own powerplay (+ the game) off.
It will be interesting to see how Minnesota look tonight considering they really shifted from the 2nd to the 3rd period. Schierhorn only got tested once in the 2nd period before saving thirteen in the 3rd. The senior from Alaska got his third win of the year on the night. He definitely had to earn it, the Gophers had trouble getting out of their own end at times and there was plenty of chaos to battle through. I think they’ll feel good coming out of this weekend with a split based on how it ended.
The two teams play tomorrow at 6:00 ET.
Some other notes:
Liked the call to pull goalie at 4 minutes down 2 goals which was rewarded in about 25 seconds. The Buckeyes looked very practiced with the extra skater.
Keep liking what Quinn Preston brings to this Buckeye team.
Felt like the Gophers were throwing the puck away a lot as the game wore on.
Scott Reedy got his fourth of the year on the powerplay. He really seems like he should have more production by now, he’s a great candidate to break out and post 30+ points next year. He’s going to be coming into his game just as the rest of this elite group of young players in Dinkytown are too.
OSU really got burned tonight for the physical side. I’m not going to say those checks don’t need to be finished, but one was head contact and the other was vicious enough to be called charging at a critical point in the game. The other two penalties were for hooking, so there’s definitely some room for improvement. The difference was a PP GWG. They were tough to play against and made Minnesota earn near every inch of ice offensively, though.
I thought the Gophers respected the Buckeyes too much, it probably helped them get up for this game and play to the level they did, but at the end of the game I came away feeling like the Gophers got lucky to live another day, not that they were better.