Lucia had team scrimmage Saturday morning after being embarrassed Friday

Gophers coach Don Lucia started his weekly radio show on 'CCO by summing up his team's weekend.

"Obviously we did not play very well at all against Michigan," he said, referring to a 6-0 loss to the Wolverines. "That along with our first game of the year [a 4-0 loss at North Dakota] were probably our two worst performances of this season. I was very surprised. I certainly didn't see it coming on Friday night because we had practiced so well all week long. Even our Friday morning skate was very good and usually when you have a good Friday morning skate, you play well.

"But for whatever reason, we just played like we were in quicksand all night long. Obviously, we knew Michigan was going to be charged up. They had lost four in a row at home and I think last year that they had lost three games all year at home.

"They played extremely well and it showed the next day when they beat Wisconsin."

The Gophers were 0-for-7 on the power play vs. Michigan, while the Wolverines scored two power-play goals and their first short-handed goal of the season.

Three players were minus-3, defenseman Kevin Wehrs and forwards Mike Carman and Jake Hansen. Defenseman David Fischer and Cade Fairchild led the Gophers with three shots on goal.

Back to Lucia:

"I was just happy the way we responded on Saturday. We came back. We had a good meeting that morning and we had a good skate and then we came back and played probably one of our best games of the season," Lucia said, referring to the Gophers' 2-1 win over Michigan State.

"It just shows you how things work. [The Spartans] beat Michigan twice a couple weeks ago. We lose to Michigan, but beat Michigan State. All in all, if you look at it, if you say you are going to go 1-1 on a tough trip to Michigan and Michigan State, you know what, you take it and move on.

"I think it was a good lesson and that was what we needed hopefully to show the guys that when they are moving their feet and they skate hard good things are going to happen. Saturday's game we did that and we were rewarded."

Lucia said normally on a weekend when the Gophers play two different opponents, the coaches would break down the video of the Wisconsin-Michigan State game for the players to watch on Saturday morning.

Not this time. He said the coaches got up at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday -- after arriving in East Lansing near midnight -- and broke down the video from the Michigan rout "because we were so upset how we played. We wanted to show some clips.

"We went to practice. And normally we just go a sweat [sweatshirts] practice and I made them put their full gear on and we actually scrimmaged during our pregame skate: 'If you are not going to play Friday night, you can play today.,'

"We went about half an hour and it was good spirited. We had a good video session. And again we focused more on the game from Friday night than even our upcoming opponent in Michigan State.

"The guys responded in a positive fashion. It is too bad the game wasn't on TV because we played really well and I thought controlled the game from start to finish. They got a flukey goal which went off the endboards. It kind of hit a crease where the Zamboni gate is and popped in front of the net. That's how they scored their tying goal.

"But again, something I hadn't seen a lot from this team is the resilence when something bad happens. I like the term, you have to be able to take a punch. We took a punch on Saturday and came back to score on the next shift and won the game. We deserved to win the game on Saturday."

SENIOR MAKES BIG PLAY

Senior Mike Carman got the game-winner on an unassisted goal in the third period. It was only his second goal of the season.

Carman was part ot the line juggling The Don did last weekend. {I don't know what the lines were on Friday, so I am comparing Saturday's lines to those the weekend before vs. UMD.)

On Saturday, the first line stayed the same: Jordan Schroeder centering Mike Hoeffel and Nico Sacchetti, but the other lines were different.

Second line: Mike Carman, who has bounced around from left winger to center and between the top three lines, was the center. His wingers were Josh Birkholz and Ryan Flynn.

Third line: Taylor Matson centered Tony Lucia, who has been on the second line all season, and Zach Budish.

Fourth line: Patrick White centers Joey Miller and Jack Hansen. White has been on all four lines this season.

A third of the way through the season, The Don is still trying to find three lines that click besides the top line.

The defensive pairs on Saturday were the same as the previous weekend -- Aaron Ness and David Fischer first, Cade Fairchild and Brian Schack second and Kevin Wehrs and Seth Helgeson third.

The Don also switched goalies, going with sophomore Kent Patterson. He responded with a career-high 37 saves for his first career victory. He was named the No. 1 star.

MSU goalie Drew Palmisano, who had 40 saves, was named the No. 2 star and Gophers center Jordan Schroeder the No. 3 star.

Said Patterson, asked about his first victory: "It feels good. I got a big smile now."

So should coach Lucia. Remember Patterson, in his last game, came into the game at the start of the second period against Bemidji State, gave up one goal in the middle period and three quick goals early in the third period of the 6-2 loss. He was pulled and Alex Kangas, the orginal starter, replaced him.

"I put [that game] behind me the day after it was done," Patterson said.

Patterson also had a telling quote about his teammates in his postgame interview: "The guys were definitely a lot more ready to play tonight."

Where was the effort Friday?

"That's a good question with this group," coach Lucia said on his radio show. "It's something we have been trying to stress and maybe so called butt heads with the group a little bit. Some of it, quite honestly, is we have guys who just haven't had great starts this season. And when that happens, they start to focus on, 'Geez, I'm not having a good year.'

"Let's just worry about the team winning. We have had some of that. We have a number of individuals that can play better. Some guys that we have to have play better, played much better on Saturday. In some ways, their best game.

"When I look at the season as a whole, there hasn't been, other than a couple of games, where we haven't played well. This team has to play well to give itself a chance to win each and every night. We are not the team from four, five years ago, where we could throw [the puck] around and beat teams because we are more talented.

"These kids have to be physical. They have to skate. They have to do the little things to give themselves a chance to win. It is getting them to understand and to stress that, and reinforce with video that if you do those things you can become a good team. But you are going to have to win the game 2-1 or 3-2, we are not going to win games 6-2. That is not what this group is all about."

TOUGH ROAD HAUL

"Our six road games have been at North Dakota, at Wisconsin, at Michigan and Michigan State," Lucia said. "We are 2-3-1 in those road games. And you know what, that is not bad?

"We have shown what we can be. The disappointing thing up to this point is what we have done at home. We should have two or three more home wins and, if we had that, we would be sitting right where we want to be."

Coaches hate this but us media folks can put their every word spoken ad lib under a microscope and analyze it. The Don's last statement is interesting.

Right now the Gophers are 2-4-0 at home in WCHA games, 3-5-0 overall at home. They are 1-2-1 on the road in the WCHA.

Minnesota is 3-6-1 in all WCHA for seven points, which has the Gophers buried in ninth place. With two more WCHA wins, they are 5-4-1 for 11 points and tied for fourth place with three teams,

With three more wins, they are 6-3-1 for 13 points and tied for third with UMD and just two points behind co-leaders CC and Denver. That certainly would be a nice position compared to ninth.

(I know if the Gophers had more wins, UMD, North Dakota or Denver would have fewer wins and points, but I'm trying to make this example as simple as possible. OK?)

"Now we have to make up some ground," Lucia said. "We have four more games before we break for Christmas. I hope we can play like we did on Saturday night the next four nights and then we will take whatever happens."

LEDDY MAY PLAY VS. MAVS

The Don said there is a good chance freshman defenseman Nick Leddy, out since suffering a broken jaw against Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 30, might be able to play against Minnesota State Mankato.

"Right now, he is pretty much cleared to play," Lucia said. "Actually, he has been practicing a little bit through our warmups. But he is going to go through a full week of practice Monday through Thursday in preparation for Minnesota State Mankato.

"It will be nice to get him back in the lineup. And [junior forward Jacob] Cepis is counting down the days. He has four more games before he gets back in our lineup at Christmastime."

Last season Cepis transferred from Bowling Green in midseason, so he had to sit out until the Dodge Holiday Classic in early January.

"We are getting close" to full strength, The Don said. "We have to remain injury-free. That is going to be real important for us right now. It was great the way Kent played on Saturday night. It was a real boost for him. In the three games he has started, he has played very well for us so far this year."

LAST WORD

Michigan State goalie Drew Palmisano on Carman's game-winner: "We had two chances to get the puck out. We got a bad bounce and the puck was kind of fluttering. They got a good shot off. I couldn't really see it and they scored."

Carman and his teammates would probably say it's about time the Gophers got a good bounce -- or bad bounce in the Spartans' eyes. In Friday's loss at Michigan, one of the Wolverines' goals went off Cade Fairchild's skate. UMD had similar goals both nights the weekend before as the Bulldogs swept the Gophers.

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