The NCAA started crowning a hockey champion in 1948 and Michigan was the No. 1 rival for the Gophers in the early decades. The formation of a Big Ten conference in 2013 and Wisconsin’s falloff have raised the possibility the Wolverines recently have regained that status.
That was the sound of it more than an hour before faceoff on Friday night at Mariucci. The Wolverines were gathered above the main deck at the closed end of the arena, engaged in team building that included some of the loudest shouts of profanities these callous ears have heard.
It was almost as if the Wolverines were preparing to storm the surface, break the home team’s hearts, and then skate en masse to mid-ice and desecrate the Minnesota “M” painted there.
Then, the puck was dropped. And the appeal voiced by Gophers coach Bob Motzko for his team to have a fast start was answered as if he were Herbert Paul Brooks talking to his Yanks in Lake Placid, N.Y.
Except, Motzko had no need to have goalie Nathan Airey stand on his head, as the Gophers took control in astounding fashion. The shots were 15-2 when Matthew Wood scored on a rebound at 12:31. The shots were 17-2 when Jimmy Snuggerud fired that sudden cannon of his to make it 2-0 at 13:26.
On it went, the Gophers flying and the Wolverines with no one they should be cursing except themselves. When Connor Kurth scored on the Gophers’ 29th shot at 10:55 of the second period, it was the home team’s sixth goal.
And that was the final Gophers six, foul-mouthed visitors 0. And the cheap stuff started on schedule later in the second. Eventually, Gophers captain Ryan Chesley delivered an elbow above the shoulders to a foe. Five-minute major and the veteran defenseman will not be able to play in Saturday’s 5 p.m. rematch.
As Motzko was asking for the fast start at mid-week, he also was asked about recent commitments from recruits. You do not find coaches in big-time hockey programs holding a signing day event to proclaim large recruiting success.
