{"id":46893,"date":"2012-11-22T05:00:21","date_gmt":"2012-11-22T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/?p=46893"},"modified":"2012-11-22T08:57:07","modified_gmt":"2012-11-22T14:57:07","slug":"good-record-doesnt-hide-work-left-to-be-done-for-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wwwproxy.uscho.com\/2012\/11\/22\/good-record-doesnt-hide-work-left-to-be-done-for-minnesota\/","title":{"rendered":"Good record doesn’t hide work left to be done for Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"
Minnesota is 7-2-2 overall and in second place in the WCHA with just one loss since Oct. 19, yet there’s still plenty of work to be done according to junior defenseman Nate Schmidt.<\/p>\n
“I think we’re a work in progress right now,” Schmidt said. “We have some pieces in motion that could make us a very good team down the stretch but we have some pieces, right now, that we’re trying to work on.<\/p>\n
“We try to get as many points as we can every weekend but sometimes we let some points slip away.”<\/p>\n
The Gophers picked up six points in the past four games, three points at Alaska-Anchorage and three last weekend at home against Wisconsin. Both opponents are in the bottom half of the WCHA standings.<\/p>\n
With the kind of record Minnesota has, problems are typically less glaring. Many pointed out the loss at Michigan Tech to open the Oct. 19-20 weekend at Houghton, the following Sunday when the Gophers squeezed past Canisius by just a one-goal margin or the Nov. 3 loss at Minnesota State.<\/p>\n
Then there were the ties against UAA and Wisconsin. When Minnesota beat UAA, all four goals came on the power play. The Gophers didn’t lead until the third period in last Saturday’s 3-1 win against the Badgers.<\/p>\n
“Getting three points isn’t a bad weekend but we expect better from ourselves,” captain Zach Budish said. “We strive every weekend to get four points. You have to give those teams credit.”<\/p>\n
While the Gophers need to take advantage of a fairly light schedule, the underdogs will show up every night, especially against a team like Minnesota that always wears a bull’s-eye on its back.<\/p>\n
Then again, the Gophers should be held accountable. Minnesota is at a 15-12 disadvantage in even-strength goals in WCHA play.<\/p>\n
“Our five-on-five isn’t where we want it to be,” Schmidt said. “We haven’t put together a full 60 minutes yet this season. That’s our biggest issue, right now.”<\/p>\n
There’s no doubt the Gophers have ridden their WCHA-best special teams this season. Minnesota is tops in power play (25 percent) and penalty kill (88.2 percent) with the fewest penalty minutes per game (10.1) in the league.<\/p>\n
Defense has been solid, too. The Gophers have allowed 21 goals this season, tied with Wisconsin for the fewest in the league, and Adam Wilcox has a .924 save percentage.<\/p>\n
In the only league series this weekend involving a ranked team, the No. 12 St. Cloud State Huskies travel to face a Minnesota-Duluth squad that has played well in the past two weeks but doesn’t have a win to show for it.<\/p>\n
“If you look at the last two weeks, they are a couple turnovers away from a pile of points,” St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said. “They are going to be desperate to get a win, which is not a good situation to be headed into on the road. Winning on the road is hard enough in this league.”<\/p>\n
SCSU (6-4, 4-2 WCHA) is paced by senior Drew LeBlanc and junior Nic Dowd, who are tied for second in the WCHA with 14 points apiece. Dowd has a team-high six goals this season, while LeBlanc has five goals and nine assists.<\/p>\n
The Huskies rank fifth in the country and second in the WCHA with 3.60 goals scored per game. SCSU has allowed only two power-play goals in its last seven games.<\/p>\n
The host Bulldogs (2-6-2, 0-4-2) are led by senior wing Mike Seidel with 12 points (team-high seven goals, four on power play) and freshman center Tony Cameranesi’s 10 points (six assists). UMD is the most penalized team in the WCHA at 20.6 minutes but has a solid 82.4 percent penalty kill (42-for-51) to make up for it.<\/p>\n
After sweeping rival Colorado College last weekend for the No. 2 Pioneers’ fifth straight win, Denver coach George Gwozdecky, who has coached during a win streak a few dozen times before, knows to keep his eye out for any overconfidence.<\/p>\n
It is especially important with ECAC Hockey member Yale and No. 3 New Hampshire of Hockey East coming to town this weekend.<\/p>\n
“We will spend the next five days keeping on an eye on these guys about being too confident,” Gwozdecky said. “It is human nature. These games are important for the league and it will be very important for us in March and April. This is big for our strength of schedule and for the WCHA.”<\/p>\n
NHL Central Scouting announced its preliminary 2013 draft rankings<\/a> on Tuesday, with 13 of the top 25 skaters and top five goalies in the Junior A USHL committed to or signed to play for a current WCHA program, according to Chris Heisenberg’s national commits list<\/a>.<\/p>\n Denver led the way with three — No. 15 Trevor Moore, No. 20 Will Butcher and No. 21 Garrett Gamez. Minnesota, Nebraska-Omaha and North Dakota had two apiece.<\/p>\n The Gophers have No. 3 Hudson Fasching and No. 18 Taylor Cammarata while UND has No. 5 Keaton Thompson and No. 8 Luke Johnson coming in. The Mavericks have laid claim to No. 13 Jake Guentzel and No. 24 Jacob Montgomery.<\/p>\n Colorado College, Bemidji State, Minnesota-Duluth, and St. Cloud State each had one from the USHL. No. 9 Gustav Oloffson is a Tigers commit while the Beavers have a commit from No. 16 Brendan Harms. No. 11 Blake Heinrich is headed to Duluth and No. 4 goalie Charlie Lindgren to St. Cloud.<\/p>\n It all started last Friday with a monster hit by Colorado College’s Rylan Schwartz on Shawn Ostrow near the Denver bench as the game ended. The Pioneers bench reacted to the check and a brawl broke out on the ice.<\/p>\nCC investigates spectator role in melee<\/h4>\n