Minnesota and Michigan Technological University skated to a 3 - 3 tie
Friday night in a game that featured lots of penalties, a big fight and
goaltending.
 
Unfortunately for the Gophers, it was the goaltending of MTU's freshman
Matt Cuckway that was the best performance of the night. The Gophers made
Cuckway look like a master in his second collegiate start. Kucway faced
42 shots and made 39 saves.
 
The Gophers were apparently unable to get to the net and bang at rebounds.
Gopher coach Doug Woog complained after the game on a radio interview that
the Gopher players couldn't get in front of the net to get second shots at
the rebounds Kucway gave up.
 
The Huskies on the other hand made the most of their scoring
opportunities, scoring 3 times on 21 shots. In the second period Gopher
goalie Jeff Callinan faced just 3 shots but was beaten twice. Woog said
he was tempted to yank Callie after the second, but was glad he didn't
because Callie made some good saves in the 3rd and OT. Callies lack
luster play however has earned him a spot on the bench in today's
afternoon rematch.
 
analysis: (if you're not really interested in the Gophs, now would be a good
time to go on to the next message)
 
Gopher fans can take two observations away from last night's game. One is
that the super-offensive streak the Gophs were on in the past 3 games
*might* have been just that -- a streak. Why is it that the Gophers can't
score on breakaways? Why is it that they generally average 10+ shots on
goal per score? Why is it that they make green rookie goalies like Kucway
look like seasoned veterans? Well, to the Huskies credit, they played
their rough style of play and were able to prevent Minn. from getting
rebounds. *And* it was Carnaval weekend, and apparently the Huskies
play better because of it (?).
 
The second observation is that Gopher goaltending is mediocre. When you
look at Callinan's stats you think, 'hmmm... good stats! He must be a good
goalie.' Then you look at the Gopher's record, 11-9-4 in the WCHA. That's
perilously close to .500. Not good enough to be a contender in this
division. Now, I shouldn't blame everything on Callinan. The players who
are supposed to be covering the opposing players who streak in on Callie
and beat him are responsible too..... but the puck is either stopped by
the goalie or the twine. Too many game deciding goals have eluded Callinan.
 
For this I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Wooger. He
has two perfectly good (not great) goalies. Instead of playing them in
tandem and letting the inter-competition between Moen and Callinan spur
each of them to play to a higher standard, Woog has gone with Callinan, the
poorer of the two, and allowed him to sink into his own complacency. Up
until this point Callie has known that he doesn't need to worry about
losing the starting job even if he plays luke-warmly.
 
NOW at the final crucial point of the season, Woog decides to start
playing his two goalies against each other. Moen has little playing time
this season and iffy confidence. Although I feel he is the better goalie,
he is at a disadvantage because he has to come into the final stretch
with less playing time. Hopefully Moen can play well against the Huskies
this afternoon and win and alternating spot with Callie.
 
Callie is good, no doubt about it, but he gives up so many game deciding
goals! He can make big saves but it seems he gets beat on the easy stuff.
 
This season would have been a lot different if Woog would have alternated
his two 'good' goalies and taken advantage of their combined skills,
instead of relying primarily on one 'ok' goalie.
 
Although I don't criticize Woog for this decision, I believe that his
decision to start Moen today, and possibly start alternating his goalies,
marks the point where Woog is basically throwing this 'experimental' season
and tinkering with the last, untouched portion of his team -- his
goaltending. If this last experiment fails and the Gopher scoring falls
back to its old 10+ shots per score, then the Gopher season is going to
come to a quick finish.
 
I hope this won't be the result!
Reed