Goal Gophers

U men’s puck: Good-bye, moving to another blog site

Roman Augustoviz — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:16:58 +0000

This posting is the last one on this site. Goal Gophers will be at a new site: http://www.startribune.com/blogs/

I will keep writing about Gophers men’s hockey primarily and the WCHA. Hope you follow me there and also on twitter where I can be found at twitter.com/eyeonupuk

U men’s puck: Fairchild said D-men will score more this season

Roman Augustoviz — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:02:19 +0000

Junior defenseman Cade Fairchild had a goal and two assists in the Gophers’ 6-1 victory over British Columbia on Sunday. “It was a good game for us just to get our feet wet,” he said. “Some of the freshmen got a chance to get in there, maybe take out some of their nerves, get used to playing in Mariucci.

“It was definitely a confidence-builder for our team. It was good for us to play an opponent that we did not know anything about. It was a chance for us to try out our systems and that kind of thing.”

Fairchild scored midway through the second period on a shot from the top of the right circle. His assists came on Jay Barriball’s power-play goal in the first period and Nico Sacchetti’s goal in the third. BC had only 11 shots on goal.

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U men’s puck: Sacchetti happy to be on ice again

Roman Augustoviz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:08:41 +0000

Sophomore center Nico Sacchetti had a goal and two assists as the Gophers beat British Columbia. On his goal, he spun around and fired a shot from the top of the right circle. His goal came at 12 minutes, 20 seconds of the third period. Late last season, Gophers coach Don Lucia called Sacchetti as natural goal-scorer but he didn’t score much as a freshmen.

”It just felt good to get back out there,” Sacchetti said. “It has been a long summer of working out hard.

“We didn’t have line combinations. I played with different guys, every line. When I scored I was with Tony [Lucia] and Jay [Barriball]. And they said, ‘You guys had a good shift. You can get one more shift together.’

“[Coach Don Lucia] doesn’t know who is going to play together. It is so early. There are so many guys and there is so much competition for lines right now.

“Everybody is skating as hard as they can. He is trying to figure out who meshes well with who.”

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U men’s puck: Lot of positives from exhibition win

Roman Augustoviz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:42:45 +0000

After the Gophers-British Columbia game, coach Don Lucia and two of his players came out for postgame interviews. The U won 6-1 on Sunday.

Lucia came out first and said his players were all excited about the Twins’ playoff game versus the Detroit Tigers at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. They asked him if practice could be canceled that day.

His reply? “No,” Lucia said. “I said, ‘They [the Twins] don’t get a day off if we have a big game.’ ”

* Assessment of the game: “We had the puck a lot, which was good. It’s typical, you give up a goal when you turn one over. But I thought our seniors did a good job tonight. We talked about, they have to lead. I thought we moved the puck well. Our power play did a good job, a couple of goals. We did a good job killing [penalties.]

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U women’s bkb: Borton speaks in Chi-town

Roman Augustoviz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:38:49 +0000

Pam Borton, the Gophers’ women’s basketball coach, spoke in Chicago on Saturday at a clinic. Here is the slightly edited story from the U of M media relations staff:

Minnesota women’s basketball coach Pam Borton spoke on Saturday at the Nike Championship Basketball Clinic in Chicago. Borton’s presentation was titled, “Fundamental Drills to Improve Individual Players and Your Team.” She is the lone collegiate women’s coach presenting at the clinic, joining such top men’s collegiate coaches as West Virginia’s Bob Huggins, Gonzaga’s Mark Few and Missouri’s Mike Anderson.

Borton heads into the 2009-10 season, her eighth at Minnesota, with a record of 152-73 with the Golden Gophers. She has guided Minnesota to NCAA Tournament appearances in six of her previous seven seasons, including a year ago when the Gophers advanced to the Second Round.

U women’s puck: Gophers sweep Orange

Roman Augustoviz — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:02:10 +0000

The Gophers swept Syracuse 4-3 and 4-1 this weekend. I saw all of the first game and half the second period on Sunday. Then I left for the U of M men’s hockey game.

Here is what I missed, written by the Gophers media relations office:

The No. 3 University of Minnesota women’s hockey team earned a series sweep and a 4-1 win over Syracuse on Sunday at Ridder Arena. Anne Schleper and Chelsey Jones each netted two goals for the win. The Golden Gophers improve to 2-0-0.

Minnesota got on the board twice in the first period when Anne Schleper scored back-to-back power-play goals 50 seconds in between each other at 7:03 and 7:53. A Syracuse penalty-killer was trying to clear the puck from the left corner before Schleper’s first goal. She was camped at the blue line and fired the puck back into play. The puck slid through Syracuse goalie Lucy Schoedel’s pads. She was screened. On her second goal, Schleper fired a shot just inside the blue line. Chelsey Jones won the faceoff and was credited with the single assist.

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