Gophers Roll Toms 7-1 in Home Opener
Minneapolis, Minn. — The coaching staff for Minnesota has been biting their tongue a bit talking about how good the defensive group is on the roster this season. There have been so many great ones to come through the program and time will tell if this one ranks with the best, but Friday against St. Thomas the blue liners scored three goals and four assists during a 7-1 win over the Tommies.
Sophomore Sam Rinzel was the number one star of the game with two goals and an assist, Ryan Chesley scored a goal and an assist and Mike Koster tallied two helpers.
“We really thought in the off season that our D core was going to be much higher end offensively this year,” said Minnesota coach Bob Motzko. “Obviously Mikey is back, but then the three three juniors are upperclassmen with much more confidence. And Luke’s not even going yet.”
“Luke Middlestadt is playing as good as any defenseman I’ve seen in a long time. He’s not being rewarded offensively yet. Gruba is yet to come. So offensively, we’ve got a d corps that can push it and be led by a couple of guys right now and we felt that could happen.”
Rinzel had 26 assists last year, but just two goals. His output tonight pushed him to four goals on the season already and the first round Chicago Blackhawks pick looks ready to take a big step forward. The 6’5” 190 lbs garnered the nickname ‘Big Bird’ from assistant coach Brennan Poderzay last season and while he didn’t like it at first, it stuck and is now the name on his stick that he used to drive the offense Friday.
Rinzel said the biggest change this season is finishing his chances, showing a bit more poise and confidence on the puck, being able to get his head up to look for a spot rather than just trying to get rid of it quickly. He was able to join the rush to pick a corner on his first goal and then show the patience to pull the puck across the crease on his second.
“We want to get our D up in the play and obviously we want to make it off defense, but whenever we can get our D in the play, that’s what we want to,” said Rinzel. “When we’re able to get pucks in deep and possess them down low, and go low to high, and kind of wear on their D, that’s what we want to do. That’s when our kind of offense and our skill will come out when we create that time and space for ourselves.”
While the defensemen were the stars of the show, it was also forward depth that also allowed the Gophers to respond and then extend a lead against a St. Thomas team that dressed 16 upperclassmen on Friday and scored the first goal of the game.
“You saw our transition game at times, but our ground game has to be a bread and butter for us. [We have to be] on with our grit and how hard we’re going to play in the offensive zone,” said Motzko. “If you’re going to win big [games in college hockey], the compete in this sport has got to be number one.”
Minnesota didn’t quite pour pucks on net like we’ve seen a couple of times with only 33 shots on goal, but they did hold St. Thomas to only 21 shots and the one goal. Face-offs have been a concern for the Gophers, but they held the edge 26-23. The two teams will get back at it Saturday at 8 pm and Motzko expects a tough game.
“We had some big time goals out there, but there was a lot of the game where it was 50/50. The coach in me thinks much more of the game was tight, especially the second period was hard ice,” said Motzko. “Some of our big boys made some great plays tonight and stretched that game. I think you could see a lot tighter game tomorrow.”