New Scoreboard & Sound System for Mariucci

A brand new scoreboard and sound system will be added to both Mariucci and Williams Arena's this summer. On Thursday (5/10), the UofM Board of Regents approved a $6 million dollar loan to pay for the improvements to both arena's.

Mariucci's new HD video screen will be roughly 11.5 feet tall and 14.7 feet wide. The old video board at Mariucci was 6 X 8 in size... In addition to the new scoreboards and sound, Mariucci and Williams will also get ribbon boards to go around the arena. For Mariucci the new ribbon board will be in front of the suites, club room and press box. It should be a spectacular addition... The last thing approved is production studio that will be built at TCF Bank Stadium to produce the video board content for Mariucci, Williams, and TCF Bank Stadium.

For the fans, I think the new sound system will be greatly appreciated. For years people have complained about how bad the sound has been at Mariucci. Hopefully now you'll be able to hear what rink announcer Jamie Verbrugge actually says in his little responses after announcing "1 minute remaining in the period".

Below is a concept of what the scoreboard at Mariucci will look like. Obviously this is not final, but it at least gives you a good idea of what it will look like.... Welcome to the 21st century Mariucci!!! Is it October yet?!?!


This is a concept image of what the new scoreboard at Mariucci will look like.

Gophers' Season Ends With A Thud In 6-1 Loss To BC


Not much help for Kent Patterson against Boston College
Photo by: Craig CotnerMuch like the Air Force Academy and Minnesota Duluth two weeks ago, the Golden Gophers found out that Boston College, and particularly goalie Parker Milner, are quite good at hockey. After not allowing a goal in the Northeast Regional, the Gophers were at least able to get one puck past him but Eagles ended Minnesota’s season by a 6-1 score in the second of two Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday in Tampa, Fla.

The Eagles will move on to take on Ferris State, who upended Union by a 3-1 score in the other semifinal, in the National Championship game on Saturday night.

For much of the first two periods, the Golden Gophers outplayed the Eagles but were stifled each and every time by Milner, who extended BC’s winning streak to 18 games. Senior captain Taylor Matson had the Gophers best chance in the first period, but a cross-crease one-timer was stopped by Milner’s left pad.

Unlike the Gophers, BC was able to take advantage of its scoring chances, which started early in the first as a odd-man rush by Minnesota was disrupted and the Eagles transitioned the puck up the ice for a three-on-two rush which was finished by Steve Whitney at 6:03 of the first period.

BC would double its lead at 6:35 of the second period thanks to a power play goal by Kevin Hayes that came after a soft call on Nate Schmidt for hooking. The Gophers nearly got the puck out by the Eagles held the zone, made a great cross-ice pass and Hayes went top-shelf on Kent Patterson to make it 2-0.

Shortly after Minnesota’s best scoring chance – Jake Hansen was all alone in front but couldn’t bury it – the wheels came off for the Gophers as the Eagles scored twice in the final two minutes of the second period to put the game away. Junior Chris Kreider and senior Paul Carey scored for the Eagles, who put the game out of reach heading into what would be the final period of Minnesota’s season.

Hansen was able to score Minnesota’s lone goal early in the third period, but the Eagles would quickly answer to keep the game firmly in-hand for the duration.


Don Lucia talking about the loss.
Photo by: Craig CotnerDespite this thumping by the Eagles, who have been the best team in the nation the last three months, the Gophers have no reason to hang their heads. After missing out on the NCAA Tournament the last three seasons, they returned to being an upper-echelon program this season by going wire-to-wire in the WCHA to win the MacNaughton Cup, and returned to the Frozen Four for the first time since 2007.

And the future of this program is certainly bright, though losing the likes of Patterson and Matson won’t be easy. Hopefully the early departures are minimal (anyone who watched Nick Bjugstad play over the final two months would concur that he’s nowhere close to being ready for the NHL) and if that’s the case, this team should be one of the favorites in the WCHA next season, which of course is the last in the conference’s current form before the college hockey world is turned upside down in 2013-14 with the Big Ten Hockey Conference and National College Hockey Conference taking shape.

In the end, this Gopher team got everything they could out of this group of kids – who were predicted to finish in the middle of the WCHA – and if nothing else left the program in far better shape than it looked like they would 12 months ago.

Heavyweight Battle On Tap For Tampa Between Gophers, Eagles

For the first time in seven years, the Golden Gophers find themselves among the last four teams standing in the college hockey world as they prepare to take on another one of the nation's premier programs, the top-seeded Boston College Eagles, in the second of two semifinals at the Frozen Four in Tampa, Fla.

The Gophers, of course, bounced back in a big way from their Final Five meltdown against North Dakota by putting up 12 goals on the weekend in a pair of wins at the West Regional against Boston University and North Dakota. In Saturday’s penalty-filled victory against the Terriers, Minnesota never trailed in the game but found itself in a 2-2 battle late in the second period. They bumped the lead to 4-2 heading to the third, where BU against brought itself to within a goal, but an unassisted tally by senior Nico Sacchetti helped put the game out of reach, along with two empty-netters in the 7-3 win.

In Sunday’s West Regional Final against the Sioux, who topped Western Michigan 3-1 on Saturday, the Gophers controlled the pace of play from start to finish. Fans from both sides were obviously on edge for longer than they had to be given the way the Sioux stormed back against the Gophers the weekend before, but with a 4-1 lead late in the third period, sophomore Nate Condon’s 11th goal of the season with just over four minutes to go iced the game and punched his team’s ticket to Tampa.

Waiting for them are the Boston College Eagles, and all they have done is win 17 games in a row, and in the process took home the Hockey East regular season title and playoff title. They have shutout five of their previous ten opponents, including a 2-0 victory over Air Force in the Northeast Regional semifinal last Saturday, and then a 4-0 win over the defending NCAA Champion Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs to advance to the Frozen Four on Sunday.

Make no mistake about it, the Eagles are the prohibitive favorite to take home their fifth NCAA title in Tampa, and rightfully so. They are in the top ten nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense, and are third in penalty killing. Their 31 wins are three more than the next closest team, who happens to be Minnesota with 28.

So what makes the Eagles so good? Let’s start in net with junior Parker Milner. He has a sterling 27-5-0 record with a 1.70 goals against average and a .935 save percentage. As any hockey fan knows, those numbers are beyond ridiculous and the Gophers will likely be hard-pressed to get too many by him come Thursday.

A big reason by Milner is such a stud is BC’s defensive core, which is the strength of their club. Junior Brian Dumoulin was one of the ten finalists for the Hobey Baker award and has 26 points in 42 games so far this season, and like many of his fellow BC blueliners, has the size at 6-4, 210 lbs. Senior Tommy Cross (6-3, 215 lbs.), junior Patrick Wey (6-3, 215 lbs.) and sophomore Isaac MacLeod (6-5, 210 lbs.) make up one of the biggest and strongest backend in the nation, and they are going to make it very tough on Minnesota’s forwards to get to the net and generate a cycle-game down low.

Up front, the team is very balanced with three lines that can put the puck in the back of the net. Many feel like junior Chris Kreider, the team’s leading scorer with 22 goals and 43 points, will sign as soon as BC’s season ends and join the New York Rangers – who drafted him 19th overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft – and be a contributor. High praise considering the Rangers are currently leading the Eastern Conference. Kreider isn’t your typically BC forward in that he has good size at 6-3, 225 lbs. He’ll be a tough guy to control for the Minnesota defensive core.

To speak to BC’s depth, one could argue that Kreider plays on the Eagles’ third line. After Kreider’s 43 points, the Eagles next six highest-scoring players are all forwards that play on the top two lines. Freshman Johnny Gaudreau, a former Northeastern commit, has 41 points in his rookie season and plays alongside Pat Mullane (36 points) and Paul Carey (27 ponits). The other top line features sophomore Bill Arnold (34 points) centering senior Barry Almeida (38 points) and junior Steven Whitney (35 points).

With six forwards having between 34 and 43 points, it’s going to be imperative for the Gophers to get solid play out of their top three lines, which was a big reason – maybe the main reason – they were able to advance to the Frozen Four. For the most part all season, the top two lines have provided consistent scoring and been mostly reliable in their own end. But last weekend, the move of freshman Travis Boyd up to the third line alongside senior captain Taylor Matson and Condon. That trio combined for eight points in the two games last weekend, including three goals – one by each player – in the win over North Dakota. Minnesota has been at its best this season when the Matson-Condon duo is contributing at both ends of the ice, and with the addition of Boyd, hopefully that group can contribute against vs. BC and beyond.

This game may boil down to how well the Gopher defensive core can handle the speed and tenacity of BC’s forwards. Anyone who has watched the Eagles play under Jerry York knows there is no sitting back of playing tentative; they are going to come hard at the Gopher defenders and look to create chaos and turnovers. Minnesota did a great job as a team of getting the puck out of its own end in both games last weekend and that trend will need to continue. If they can’t, the Eagles will draw penalties and creative turnovers and make life tougher than it needs to be on the Gophers in their own end.

Backstopping the Gophers will of course be senior Kent Patterson, who was kind of quiet in the West Regional, but that’s not always a bad thing for a team’s goalie. He made a few saves in the third period against the Sioux to keep them off the board, but when your team scores 12 goals in two games, it shouldn’t come down to the goalie playing well. But rest assured he’s going to have to make 30-plus saves if the Gophers are to upset the Eagles as you likely won’t see his teammates putting up four or five goals on the other end of the rink.

Like the Eagles, Minnesota is in the nation’s top ten in both scoring offense and defense, and carry the country’s sixth-best power play into Thursday night. That unit was very good in the regional in scoring three goals on a total of 12 chances. Given how tight BC is defensively, scoring on the power play might be required if the Gophers are to advance to the title game on Saturday night against either Union or Ferris State.

On paper, this isn’t a super lopsided affair, but again, Boston College is the big-time favorite to take home the hardware this weekend. But as we’ve seen over the years in college hockey, the best team doesn’t often win it all. Look no further than last year’s Frozen Four in St. Paul, where the Sioux came into the Xcel Energy Center as the best team in the nation from October on, but were upset by Michigan, which opened the door for an upstart Minnesota Duluth team to take home its first-ever NCAA title.

This Gopher team has been resilient all season long, and as Don Lucia has noted in recent days, his guys has responded all year when people have not given them a chance. Thursday’s contest with the Eagles will put that theory to the ultimate test.

Minnesota Wins NCAA Title with 4-2 Win Over Wisconsin
Provided by the University of Minnesota

The Golden Gopher women’s hockey team won its third NCAA Championship, and first since 2005, defeating Wisconsin in the title game today at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn. Senior Captain Sarah Erickson tallied two goals, while senior Emily West had two points on a goal and an assist.

Minnesota got on the scoreboard first, as Amanda Kessel scored nine minutes, 45 seconds into the game with an assist from Baylee Gillanders. Less than two minutes later, the Gophers made it 2-0 with a goal by Erickson, assisted by Sarah Davis and West. Erickson went top side, getting the puck past Badger goalie Alex Rigsby.

The Gophers were on the penalty kill for nearly five minutes through the last half of the period, and Wisconsin took advantage. Stephanie McKeough found the net on a power play, bringing the score to 2-1. Hilary Knight and Brooke Ammerman had assists on the goal. Less than two minutes later, Brooke Ammerman scored at even strength to tie up the score, with a delayed penalty. Kessel went to the box, and Kelly Terry joined her one minute later, giving Wisconsin a five-on-three advantage for one minute. The Gophers were able to kill both penalties and only gave up two shots on goal while killing the penalties.

With one and a half minutes remaining in the first period, West took a shot on goal, and was tripped by Wisconsin’s Brittany Haverstock. A penalty shot was awarded, and West scored on the penalty shot to bring the score to 3-2 in favor of the Gophers. The penalty shot score was the first by a Minnesota player since January 2008 when Bobbi Ross scored on a penalty shot. It was the first ever penalty shot score in an NCAA Championship game.

The five goals in a period are the most combined goals scored in a single period in an NCAA championship game.

After five goals in the first period, both teams went scoreless in the second period. The Badgers outshot the Gophers 14-7 in the period, but Gopher goalie Noora Raty came up big, time after time. Only one penalty was called in the second period, a roughing call on Gopher Kelly Seeler with just over three minutes remaining in the period. Minnesota successfully killed the penalty, and only allowed two shots on goal during Wisconsin’s power play.

The Gophers got an insurance goal when Erickson scored her second goal of the game, four minutes into the third period. Seeler had the assist on the goal. Wisconsin outshot the Gophers 20-9 in the final period, but Minnesota’s defense held strong. Wisconsin got a power play opportunity with just under three minutes remaining in the game when West was called for holding. The Badgers pulled goalie Rigsby from the net for a full two minutes with a six-on-four advantage. Minnesota’s net was peppered with shots during the penalty, but the Gophers were able to successfully kill the penalty. Rigsby did not return to the Badger net when Minnesota returned to full strength, and Jen Schoullis had an open net shot, but didn’t score.

Minnesota was able to hold Brianna Decker, the 2012 Patty Kazmaier Award winner, scoreless in the championship game.

Raty won her 33rd game of the season, the school record for wins in a season. She saved 42 shots in the game and allowed only one goal at even strength.

Four Minnesota players were named to the all-tournament team: Erickson, Kessel, Bozek and Raty. Raty was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2012 NCAA Frozen Four.

Minnesota Headed to NCAA Title Game with Win Over Cornell
Provided by the University of Minnesota

The Golden Gopher women’s hockey team has advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four championship game with a 3-1 victory over Cornell in the tournament semifinal. Amanda Kessel led the Gophers with three points on a goal and two assists in the game. Megan Bozek had the game-winning goal, which came in the first period.

Minnesota was dominant in the first period, logging 21 shots on goal and two goals while Cornell managed just five shots on goal. Penalties factored into the first period as the Gophers took just one penalty, while Cornell four, which resulted in two power play goals for the Gophers.

Cornell’s goalie, Amanda Mazzotta, made some incredible saves early in the game to keep her team in it, but the Gophers eventually found the back of the net. Seventeen minutes into the game, Amanda Kessel put Minnesota on the scoreboard with a power play goal, assisted by Sarah Erickson and Anne Schleper. Just 20 seconds after Kessel’s goal, Cornell took another penalty and gave the Gophers another power play opportunity, which they took advantage of. Megan Bozek gave the Gophers a 2-0 lead with a power play goal 18 minutes and 29 seconds into the game. Jen Schoullis and Kessel had assists on the goal. On Bozek’s goal, the puck was deflected off the skate of Cornell player Alyssa Gagliardi and found its way past Mazzotta.

The second period had a much different feel as the Big Red came back from intermission showing more offensive pressure. Cornell got on the board with a goal 11 minutes, 40 seconds into the period, getting a power play goal from Alyssa Gagliardi. Jillian Saulnier had an assist on the goal, which cut Minnesota’s lead to 2-1. The score would remain the same through the period. After being severely outshot in the first period, Cornell came back to lead in shots 13-9 in the second period. Cornell also managed to stay out of the penalty box in the second period.

The Gophers came back to life in the third period, allowing just three shots on goal and staying out of the penalty box. The Gophers recorded 11 shots in the final period. Cornell took two penalties in the latter half of the period, giving the Gophers nearly four consecutive minutes on the power play. Minnesota did not score with the advantage, but was able to wear down Cornell’s defense. Cornell pulled Mazzotta out of the net in favor of an extra skater with just under a minute remaining in the game, and Emily West was able to score an empty net goal on a breakaway. The goal came with just 34 seconds left in the game. Kessel and Rachel Ramsey had assists on the goal.

Minnesota goalie Noora Raty saved 21 shots in the game, and has a record of 32-5-2 on the season after starting in all but one game during the 2011-12 campaign.

The Gophers have advanced to the NCAA championship game for the first time since 2006, and are looking for their first national title since 2005.

In the earlier semifinal game, top-seed Wisconsin defeated Boston College 6-2. With Wisconsin and Minnesota playing in the title game, the WCHA’s national championship streak will remain intact. Only three teams have won NCAA women’s hockey championships in the 12-year history of the tournament, all coming from the WCHA conference in Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, and Wisconsin.

Sunday’s championship game will be held at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn., at 3 p.m.