Minnesota/Minnesota State Post-Game

Minnesota

Gopher coach Don Lucia was pretty disappointed with how his team played in the first period, but felt like they really picked it up after that. He said that powerplays can be streaky sometimes. Tonight, obviously it was a good night for the Gophers with the man advantage.

Jordan Schroeder said the big difference between last night and tonight was that MSU really likes to pack it in on the penalty kill. Last night, Minnesota was trying too many cross-ice passes through the box that were getting tipped and deflected. Tonight, Minnesota kept things on the perimeter and were able to get shots through to the net.

Both Lucia and Schroeder felt like it was a relief for Schroeder to get his first goal(s) of the season. Lucia said the one pairing that he's always had in his head and wanted to see was Jordan Schroeder and Ryan Stoa. That combination has been great so far this year.

With Aaron Ness, Lucia brought up that Paul Martin also got off to a very slow start as a freshman, then really took off around Christmas-time of his first year.

Minnesota State

Troy Jutting wasn't too down on his team after the lost. He said it was one of their best games all year, minus the special teams. Of course, that's a fairly big chunk of the game. Minnesota State looked much better five-on-five, but took too many penalties. He felt his team did a better job discipline-wise tonight. He gave Minnesota a lot of credit for having skilled players who made plays. He mentioned Alex Kangas' save on Kael Mouillierat that would have put MSU up by two goals as a real game-changer, which I agree with. It might have been a different game had MSU been able to play with a significant lead.

Both coaches said they liked the event, but that the final call would be made by the financial people rather than them. Don Lucia said the event was feasible in the future, but he seemed really adamant that tickets for this event should go in every team's season ticket package, so that they only need 5000 walk-up tickets to make it a sellout.

Troy Jutting thought it was a great event for Minnesota hockey fans. He said with so many players from Minnesota on the four teams, nearly everyone in the state had some sort of connection to at least player while growing up. He also mentioned it as a potential tool for helping to keep the best players in the state. He also said this is probably more important for MSU, UMD, and SCSU since those programs don't get a check from their football and basketball programs.