MINNEAPOLIS — In its first home game of the season, Minnesota unveiled its 2013-14 Big Ten regular-season champion banner, and then put on the performance of a team that wants to win another one.
Travis Boyd scored two of Minnesota’s three second-period goals as the Gophers dropped in-state rival Bemidji State 5-2 on Friday night at Mariucci Arena.
The Gophers dominated the early portion of the game, holding the Beavers without a shot for a good portion of the game’s opening stanza. Minnesota was rewarded about halfway through the first when Sam Warning hit Taylor Cammarata near the crease with a slick pass from the blue line. Cammarata out-maneuvered BSU goaltender Michael Bitzer and gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead.
“We’ve got some guys that can make nice plays,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “The first goal from Warning and Cammarata tucked it in, it was a nice goal.”
Minnesota seemed to take advantage of its large rink and frequently used its speed to skate around the larger Bemidji State players.
“They can throw the puck around, they’re skilled,” Bemidji State coach Tom Serratore said. “They’re fast and they know how to utilize this big sheet, there’s no question, but I thought we responded pretty well, for a team that doesn’t play on big ice. Our physicality was pretty good and a lot of times, you’re not going to see a lot of physicality on a big ice sheet.”
Bemidji was outshot 13-8 in the first. The Gophers blocked six shots. Both Lucia and Boyd said that Friday felt like a restart of the season for Minnesota, due to the fact that the Gophers had a week off between the game against Bemidji State and the two they played at the Ice Breaker Tournament.
“We haven’t played back-to-back games yet, last time we had the day off in between,” Lucia said. “Now it’s get rested, get the routine down and come back and play, hopefully, a little tighter than we did tonight.”
Kyle Rau started off an eventful second period when he rushed the Beavers’ zone and danced around multiple defenders, and Bitzer, and scored a backhanded shot.
Boyd’s two goals, one shorthanded and one on the power play, came after BSU’s lone goal of the game, a breakaway goal by Mitch Cain, and gave the Gophers a 4-1 lead heading into the final period.
“The shorthander was a killer,” Serratore said. “That was a tough one, it was a tough pill to swallow. I still thought the guys responded well, I thought we had a lot of quality scoring chances, but at the end of the day the out-special teamed us three to one.”
The two goals made up Boyd’s first multi-goal game of his career.
“For us coming into this year, I feel a whole lot more comfortable than last year,” Boyd said of the team’s chemistry early in the season. “Obviously, because we had that same power-play unit pretty much the whole year last year.”
Minnesota was 2-for-6 with the extra man in the contest and had Boyd’s shorthanded goal. Bemidji State went 1-for-6 on the power play.
Though his team provided him with plenty of offense and some solid defensive work at times, Adam Wilcox looked sharp on Friday night and was called upon frequently in a game that was closer than the scoreboard showed. He had 29 saves, including a ridiculous stick save in the second period.
“I’d say it was about 90 percent skill and 10 percent luck,” Wilcox said after the game with a chuckle. “I saw him shoot, just tap it quick, and I threw my stick back there and luckily it got the heel of it. Instead of tipping it in, which usually it my luck, it came right back to my glove.”
Boyd started to say that he’s never seen Wilcox make a better save, before stopping himself and saying that he probably had.
“That guy’s unbelievable,” he said. “If you really look at it, he made a lot of big-time saves for us tonight. If he doesn’t make those saves, they could have easily put in five goals and we could have had a serious game.”
Hudson Fasching put the Gophers up 5-1 in the third before Cory Ward cut the lead back to three five minutes later. The goal was Ward’s fifth against Minnesota in seven games. Both goals were on the power play.
Minnesota and Bemidji State will play the second game of the series at Mariucci tomorrow at 7 p.m. CDT. The game will be broadcast locally on FSN+.
