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Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow him on Twitter @RomanStrib.
Gophers at their best are pretty good, Lucia says
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers, Men's hockey Updated: February 22, 2012 - 4:36 PM
Gophers coach Don Lucia said Wednesday that he liked the way his team rebounded last weekend.
Afetr being swept by Denver on the road, the Gophers swept Bemidji State at Mariucci Arena 3-0, 4-1 with "good starts, good goaltending, strong specialty teams play. ... When we are blocking shots, and when we taking care of the puck without turning it over, we can be a pretty good team."
The Gophers are 17-7-0 in the WCHA, leading the confererence with 34 points, two more than Minnesota Duluth.
But Lucia said the Mavericks will be a tough opponent. "They have a great year last year and were picked to finish fourth this year," he said.
Lucia said UNO beat Colorado College last Saturday and probably should have won on Friday instead of getting a split.
"Everybody is playing for something at this time of the year," Lucia said.
In UNO's case, it's home ice. The Mavericks are one of three teams tied for fourth place, three points ahead of Michigan Tech.
He said the Mavericks have speed, a good transition team, and the conference's top penalty kill in all games at 83.9 percent.
Lucia said he expects a high-speed, high-tempo series with the Mavericks. "UNO is a deeper team offensively than what Bemidji State was," he said. "We will have to defend all five players."
Bjugstad, Patterson involved in playful battle of words
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers, Men's hockey Updated: February 22, 2012 - 3:09 PMNick Bjugstad and Kent Patterson are feuding, although it is all in good fun, said Paul Rovnak, the Gophers assistant director of athletic communications for men's hockey.
It started when Bjugstad was asked to do 60-second, get-to-know-him video for Gophers hockey recently.
The first question for him was, who has the best nickname on the team?
He said probably Kent Pattererson, the team's goalie. "We call him Kent the Cement. He can be quite the cement at times. He is not the most intelligent guy. But he is a funny guy, great guy."
The clip has almost 1,600 hits as of mid-afternoon Wednesday on YouTube. Bjugstad also answers serious and silly questions on it, like the music he listens to (rap) and which teammate he would most like to be stranded with on a desert island (Joey Miller).
For the Bjugstad clip, click here.
After viewing it, Patterson went to Rovnak and asked if he could do his own short video.
It is all about Bjugstad. Patterson says he has heard that Bjugstad goes a week or two without brushing his teeth. He says that No. 27 needs a babysitter, a maid and a cook and has a trashy room.
Asked about the Kent the Cement nickname, Patterson said, "[Bjugstad] is the only one who calls me that because he has nothing else to say."
Patterson's clip is here. It had 579 views on YouTube by mid-afternoon Wednesday.
Maybe a little fake in-house bickering will help relieve some of tension as the Gophers prepare to leave Thursday for a big series at Nebraska Omaha.
Patterson, Rau named WCHA players of week
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers awards and honors Updated: February 21, 2012 - 5:01 PMFor the third time this season, senior Kent Patterson of the Gophers is the WCHA defensive player of the week. He also earned that honor on Oct. 11 and Nov. 1.
Patterson was in the nets as the Gophers beat Bemidji State 3-0 on Friday -- he got his seventh shutout this season in that game -- and 4-1 on Saturday. He stopped 13 shots the first night, 20 the second. The only goal he gave up came on a Beavers' power play. His save percentage was .971 last weekend.
The 6-1, 195 Patterson is from Plymouth and is a Colorado Avalanche draft pick. He leads the nation in victories with 21 and shutouts, too. He is first WCHA games with a 2.00 goals-against average and second with a .922 save percentage.
Among the other nominees for this award were Bemidji State defenseman Brad Hunt, who had the lone Beavers goal last weekend; Colorado College defenseman Gabe Guentzel, the son of Gophers associate head coach Mike Guentzel, and Nebraska Omaha defenseman Andrej Sustr, who the Gophers will see this weekend.
Patterson's teammate, freshman forward Kyle Rau, is the conference's rookie of the week for the second time. He received that honor the first time on Oct. 18.
Rau, a left winger from Eden Prairie, had two assists on Friday and one on Saturday. He had six shots in the series and was a plus-2.
Rau, a 2011 third-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers, is the WCHA's second highest scoring freshman with 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points. Nationally, he is tied for third in goals, and tied for second in points.
UND FORWARD ALSO RECOGNIZED
Junior Corban Knight of North Dakota is the WCHA's offensive player of the week. He had three goals and an assist as UND beat Michigan Tech 4-2 the first night and tied the Huskies 1-1 in overtime the second night.
Knight has 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points this season.
Forwards Erik Haula of the Gophers and Jason Zucker of Denver were others considered for this award.
Haula, a sophomore center, had two goals and an assist in the Gophers' second game against BSU. Zucker, a Wild prospect, had a goal for Denver in each game at Wisconsin last weekend.
Zucker, of course, was injured on a big hit from Rau in Denver two weekends ago. He missed Saturday's game that weekend. But he came back quickly.
Lucia expects more wide-open series with UNO; Marshall injured
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers, Men's hockey, Nebraska Omaha Updated: February 22, 2012 - 7:30 PMGophers coach Don Lucia said Monday on his weekly radio show that Nebraska Omaha will be a tough challenge. The Gophers, after sweeping Bemidji State 3-0 and 4-1, play UNO in their last WCHA road series on Friday and Saturday.
"It is going to be a completely different weekend for our guys," Lucia said. "Whereas the Bemidji weekend for our guys was somewhat controlled and deliberate, UNO wants to get up and down the rink. They want to play a little more racehorse hockey.
"They want to pressure the puck. They have good team speed. Their top two lines can really score, especially their top line is very good and a threat every time they are on the ice. Their specialty teams -- we were just talking today as a staff -- we are plus-10 in the league, they are a plus-7. So they are right behind us in specialty teams."
Special teams Net
Gophers +13 ... lead league with 34 pp goals
UNO +10 .... have given up fewest pp goals, 19
North Dakota +8
Michigan Tech +6
CC, DU, Mn. St. +3
Wisconsin +1
Bem. St., UMD -2 .... Bulldogs have given up 33 pp goals, MSU 34
St. Cloud State -5
Alaska Anchorage -6
MAVS HAVE GO-TO GOALIES
"They have settled on a freshman goaltender now," Lucia said, referring to UNO netminder Ryan Massa. "They have rotated goaltending at different points of the year. They have a big, strong defensive corps."
D-man Andrej Sustr, 6-8, 200, is the tallest player in Division I hockey.
The last time -- and only time -- the Gophers played in Omaha was in 2003 in their Mavericks' season-opening tournament.
Lucia was asked about UNO's arena. "The Qwest Center [renamed the CenturyLink Center in July 2011] is a great facility for our fans," he said. "It is a big facility with 15,000 [seats], so if any of our fans want to go spend a weekend and drive down, you will be able to get tickets.
"Omaha is a nice city. It is actually a pretty easy drive down, a 6-hour drive down. It's about 400 miles."
Mapquest says 378 miles and a 6 hr., 15 min. drive from the Star Tribune building in downtown Minneapolis.
"That is where Creighton plays there basketball," Lucia said. "At the same time, I know UNO is trying to build their own rink, own facility. Something that holds 7,000 or 8,000. [The CenturyLink Center] is probable a little bit too big. It is one of those facilities where you can always get tickets so there is not -- you don't have to buy season tickets."
The CenturtyLink Center seats 16,680 for hockey.
"It will be a great test to see if we can go down there and get some points this weekend, which we need to do," Lucia said.
MARSHALL INJURED
Freshman defenseman Ben Marshall was injured in Saturday's game against Bemidji State.
"He was evaluated [Monday]," Lucia said. "I would list him more week-to-week than anything else right now."
Lucia said if Marshall is out, either sophomore Chris Student or freshman Blake Thompson will play. "They have both played a few games," he said.
Marshall has not missed a game this season; he has been paired with sophomore Mark Alt.
The only other injured Gophers is senior forward Nick Larson [broken wrist vs. North Dakota]. He started to skate on Monday. "I doubt he will be ready to play this weekend," Lucia said.
But Lucia hopes Larson will be able to play the next weekend when the Gophers face Wisconsin at home to close the regular season.
THE DON SAYS
* On goalie Kent Patterson's seventh shutout this past Friday: "The guys did a great job in front of him. How many blocked shots did we have this weekend? They were selling out, which is great to see. Kent was outstanding when he had to be this weekend. He didn't have a lot of shots, but there were no leakers this weekend, which is what we need from him here on out."
BEAVERS UPDATE
* Bemidji State was shut out this past Friday for only the second time this season. UMD beat the Beavers 1-0 on Oct. 29.
* The Beavers' 13 shots were the lowest since they had 13 against North Dakota in a 1-0 loss on Feb. 24, 2008.
* Brad Hunt's power-play goal for BSU in a 4-1 loss to the Gophers gave him 108 career points (24 goals, 84 assists), which is a team record for a defenseman in the 56-year history of the program. Saturday's game was Hunt's 144th consecutive, a BSU record in the Division I era.
“It’s a pretty cool accomplishment,” Hunt said. “Obviously it would have been a lot more meaningful if we would have got the win, but I am proud of myself. I know my mom and dad are really proud too and those guys in that room are proud.”
Hunt is from Ridge Meadows, B.C.
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