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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.
U.S. power play too much for Czechs to handle
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Men's hockey Updated: January 2, 2013 - 8:41 AM
There's Johnny Football for Texas A&M in college football.
And early Wednesday morning there was Johnny Hockey for the U.S. team in the World Junior Championships. Johnny Gaudreau of Boston College scored three goals -- one in the first period, two in the second -- all on power plays as the U.S. beat the Czech Republic 7-0 in the quarterfinals.
Last season Jerry York, the BC coach, called Gaudreau the best freshman in college hockey. Now he might be the best sophomore.
Gaudreau's first goal came on a 5-on-3 at 11 minutes, 23 seconds of the opening period which ended 1-0.
His second was at 28 seconds of the second period on a rebound. When the U.S. scored again at 1:08, Ryan Hartman on a rebound, the Czechs switched goalies, pulling Patrik Bartosak (13 shots, 10 saves in 21:08) and putting in Matej Machovsky (24-20, 38:52).
Riley Barber got the next two U.S. goals at 8:44 and 12:13. And it was 5-0. His second goal came one second after a U.S. penalty kill expired.
Gaudreau completed his hat trick with 13 seconds left in the middle period. Nobody threw out any hats. Hey, it's cold in Ufa, Russia, and the sun is not out that much.
The final U.S. goal came i the third period on another 5-on-3 power play. Defenseman Jacob Trouba's shot deflected in off forward J.T. Miller.
Trouba and Seth Jones, another defenseman, both had four assists. Miller had a goal and two assists. Goalie John Gibson made 31 saves for the U.S.
The U.S. outshot the Czechs only 37-31; the real difference was in penalty minutes, 17 penalties for 44 minutes for the Czechs,. 10 for 20 minutes for the Americans. The U.S. was 5-for-13 on the power play, the Czechs 0-for-6.
ETC.
* Gophers freshman defenseman played on a defensive pair with Connor Murphy and was out on the power play and penalty kill but did not get a point or a shot on goal. ... Notre Dame freshman forward Mario Lucia was the 13th forward. He too was zeros across -- no points, no shots.
* Next for the U.S. is Canada, a team that beat the Americans 2-1 in the preliminary round. That game is 3 a.m. Thursday.
Four state players lead U18 U.S. women's team to easy win
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Women's hockey Updated: January 2, 2013 - 1:13 AMKatherine Schipper of Brooklyn Park had two goals and an assist as the U.S. team crushed Sweden 8-0 in the under-18 IIHF women's world championships in Heinola, Finland.
Danielle Cameranesi of Plymouth had a goal and an assist for the U.S. while Megan Wolfe of Eagan had a goal and Amy Menke of Shakopee two assists.
The U.S. team outshot the Swedes 57-10 to finish the preliminary round 3-0. They outscored Russia the Czech Republic and Sweden 25-0.
They play in the semifinals on Friday.
Gophers setting the national pace in nonconference games
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers, Men's hockey Updated: January 2, 2013 - 12:17 AMThe Gophers are tied for fifth in the WCHA, but ranked No. 1 in the country. What gives?
Easy. The U of M has the best nonconference record of any team, 7-0-0. The only other unbeaten team in nonconference play is Minnesota State Mankato at 4-0-2.
Here are the teams with the best nonconference marks:
Seven wins
Gophers 7-0-0, WCHA ... one nonconference game left with No. 2 Notre Dame on Tuesday
Six wins (4 teams)
Union, 6-2-1, ECAC
Colgate, 6-3-1, ECAC
Quinnipiac, 6-3-2, ECAC
St. Lawrence, 6-4-0, ECAC
Five wins (2 teams)
Robert Morris, 5-1-1, Atlantic
RPI, 5-2-2, ECAC
Four wins (10 teams)
Minnesota State Mankato, 4-0-2, WCHA
Holy Cross, 4-1-0, Atlantic
Northern Michigan, 4-1-0
UMass-Lowell, 4-1-0, Hockey East
Miami, 4-1-1, CCHA
Yale, 4-1-1, ECAC
New Hampshire, 4-1-1, Hockey East
Notre Dame, 4-3-0, CCHA
Brown, 4-3-0, ECAC
Nebraska Omaha, 4-3-0, WCHA
ETC.
* The Gophers have played 19 games and have 17 left.
* Of the 11 opponents the Gophers have played, only three have winning records. Boston College, the team they routed 8-1on Sunday, is 12-3-1. That was the U's biggest win by far. ... The other two winning teams the U has played are Minnesota State Mankato (12-6-2) and Nebraska Omaha (11-8-1). The Gophers split with both those two teams.
*The WCHA started last weekend 1-4 in nonconference games, but picked it up and went 7-3 in its last 10. So, overall, the WCHA was 8-7.
The two big highlights were the Gophers' 8-1 win over then-No. 1 Boston College and Denver's 6-0 win over then-No. 6 Boston University. The Terriers had not been shut out in 125 games. ... Bemidji State almost beat then-No. 2 New Hampshire, too, before losing 3-2 in overtime despite Andrew Walsh's 33 saves.
Michigan Tech also had a good weekend, wining the Great Lake Invitational for the first time since 1980. The Huskies beat Michigan and Western Michigan by identical 4-0 scores. Freshman goalie Pheonix Copley had 70 saves in the two games. ... Minnesota State Mankato won the UConn Hockey Classic, beating Brown and Connecticut by the same 3-1 score. The Mavericks are 9-1 in their last 10 games.
* By the time this coming weekend is over, 10 of the 12 WCHA teams will have played 14 conference games -- or exactly half -- while North Dakota and the Gophers will have played only 12.
The two conference series are Colorado College at Nebraska Omaha and Wisconsin at Alaska Anchorage. ... If CC sweeps on the road, there will be a three-way tie for fifth place between the Gophers, CC and UNO. If the red Mavericks get at least one point, they will drop the Gophers from a fifth place tie in the standings to sixth place.
* Five conference teams have nonconference series -- all at home:
Holy Cross at North Dakota ... Holy Cross is part of a three-way tie for second in Atlantic Hockey
Northern Michigan at St. Cloud State
Providence at Minnesota State Mankato ... can the purple Mavs stay hot?
Western Michigan at Bemidji State ... the Broncos are third in the CCHA
Cornell at Denver ... the visitors are fourth in the ECAC
Haula's loss for any length of time would hurt
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers, Men's hockey Updated: January 1, 2013 - 2:22 PMErik Haula had another good weekend -- until the end.
The junior second-line center from Finland was named the No. 1 star of the game on Saturday when the Gophers beat Air Force 4-0. He had a goal and an assists and seven shots on net.
(The No. 2 and 3 stars were two freshmen teammates Ryan Reilly, a little used forward, and Adam Wilxox, the workhorse goalie.)
In Sunday's game, the Gophers thrashed Boston College 8-1 and Haula had assists on the first two goals, his 16th and 17th of the season.
He also had six shots on net to tie for the team lead with Kyle Rau and Zach Budish.
Colleague Michael Russo talks about Haula's injury here. He believes Haula was slashed across the hands on Rau's third-period goal at 6 minutes, 22 seconds. No penalty was called on the play.
If Haula is out for a long period of time, that will be a major blow.
He is leading the team in points with 26, seven more than Nick Bjugstad and Kyle Rau, tied for second at 19.
He has nine goals, one fewer than Bjugstad. He has 17 assists, the most on the team.
And he keeps goalie's busy. He has 78 shots on net -- 10 more than the next Gopher, which is Bjugstad.
He is a plus-7, tied for fifth on the team, but only two off the team lead.
Haula also had a 14-game streak with at least one point.
The Gophers have been relatively injury-free. The only players who have missed much time are backup goalie Mike Shibrowski, and much of that time the U was on break for finals, and forward Sam Warning. Both had undisclosed injuries.
Haula gives the Gophers a bit of an edge. I remember interviewing him last April, before the Frozen Four, and he seemed upset that nobody was giving the Gophers much of a chance against Boston College.
BC, of course, won 6-1 but Haula came out strong in the rematch on Sunday.
GOPHERS NO. 1 IN ANOTHER POLL
The USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll came out today and the Gophers are also No. 1 in it -- as they were in the uscho.com poll released Monday.
The Gophers received 25 of a possible 34 first-place votes and had 501 points. They moved up from No. 4 to No. 1 after beating Air Force 4-0 and previously No. 1 Boston College 8-1 in the Mariucci Classic.
Their next opponent, Notre Dame, is No. 2. The Irish moved up from No. 3. The Irish received the other nine first-place votes and had 458 points.
The Gophers and Notre Dame play in a rare Tuesday night game next week. Their records are almost identical. The Gophers are 13-3-3, the Irish 14-4-0.
After beating BC, the Gophers are 7-0-0 against nonconference opponents and have only one nonconference game left: Notre Dame.
Gophers only Big Ten hockey team above .500
Posted by: Roman Augustoviz under Gophers, Men's hockey Updated: January 1, 2013 - 4:38 AMThe Gophers are the only future Big Ten team above .500 this regular season, which is about half over.
Here is a look at the six teams that will form the Big Ten Conference in 2013-14:
Gophers, 13-3-3 overall ... 6-3-3 in WCHA with 15 points, tied for fifth place with Nebraska Omaha ... Last game: Beat No. 1 Boston College 8-1 on Sunday, which enabled U to jump up in PairWise ratings to a tie for sixth.
Ohio State, 7-8-5 overall ... 6-3-3-1 in CCHA with 22 points (conference uses a different formula for points than WCHA) fourth place ... Last game: Only other future Big Ten team in PairWise ratings, at No. 25. ... Last game: Lost to Penn State 5-4 on Sunday at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
Penn State, 8-9 overall ... Nittany Lions are an independent ... Last game: Beat Ohio State 5-4 on Sunday in the Three River Classic. Former Gopher Max Gardner had three assists for PSU. ... This was the first meeting ever between these teams. Penn State is a first-year program on the varsity level.
Michigan, 7-10-2 overall ... 4-7-2-2 in CCHA for 16 points, tied for seventh place ... Last game: Defeated Michigan State 5-2 on Sunday in consolation game of the Great Lakes Invitational in Detroit. It's first time neither team was in championship game since 1981. ... Said Wolverines coach Red Berenson, in a uscho.com story: "I know it's not the Stanley Cup, but it's a good win for Michigan."
Michigan State, 5-11-3 ... 4-8-1 in CCHA for 13 points, ninth place ... Last game: Lost to Michigan 5-2 on Sunday in consolation game of Great Lakes Invitational.
Wisconsin, 4-7-5 ... 2-5-5 in WCHA for nine points, tied for 10th .... Last game: Beat Alabama-Huntsville 4-1 on Dec. 14.
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recent posts
- U.S. power play too much for Czechs to handle
- Four state players lead U18 U.S. women's team to easy win
- Gophers setting the national pace in nonconference games
- Haula's loss for any length of time would hurt
- Gophers only Big Ten hockey team above .500
- U.S. advances to WJC quarterfinals with 9-3 rout of Slovakia
- U.S. loses another 2-1 game in World Juniors, this time to Canada
- Augustoviz: Gophers should remember Boston College well
- BC vs. Alabama-Huntsville like Goliath vs. David, but don't expect upset
- Co-captains lead St. Cloud State to win over RPI
- U.S. falls to Russia, the hometown team, in WJCs
- WCHA teams play in 15 games over next five days
- Germans not much of test for U.S.
- U's Reilly and Don's son, Mario, still on World Juniors team; Skjei cut
- Finns score four third-period goals, beat U.S. 5-1
- 13 Olympians coming to U.S. women's national camp in Blaine
- NAHL going to have team in Richfield starting in 2013-14
- Nebraska Omaha signs five, two from Twin Cities area
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