Arthur Berman said that there were flashes of brilliance.  That's true, but I
was more struck by two teams (particularly Minnesota) that needed to be put
back in the oven for another couple weeks before they are really ready.
 
The first ten minutes were particularly sloppy.  Both teams had good scoring
opportunities brought about by defensive lapses.  Early on, Mike Crowley had
a good chance and missed the net by several feet.  BU's first goal came on a
4-on-4, a situation on which the Gophers looked particularly clueless all
night.  Their second was short-handed, and showed that everyone needed a bit
more practice; the biggest assist ought to have been given to linesman Jon
Campion, who knocked the puck off the stick of a Minnesota defenseman at the
point.  It was tough to get upset over, since the players were out of
position all night.
 
It was very pleasing to watch the Gophers come back.  They weren't nearly as
sloppy in the second period, though they had moments.  Their second goal came
after Wyatt Smith completely missed the net on a big shot that ricocheted of
the glass right to Casey Hankinson standing at the side of the crease.  As
long as he tells everyone he intended it as a pass, he should be all right.
 
It all fell apart in the third.  The shots for the third were 15-7 in favor
of BU and the play might have been more lopsided than that.  The Terriers
seemed to have figured some of their problems out and really took it to
Minnesota.  They should have scored more than one, except for some fine
goaltending (and Jon Coleman missing another empty net), but more on that in
a minute.
 
In all, it was an exciting game.  The Gophers looked pretty much as I
expected.  They had six freshmen dressed and two other players who had almost
no previous experience (Kohn and Brent Godbout).  The idea of rating
Minnesota as high as #3 at this point strikes me as somewhat absurd.  By
January or February, I think they'll be very, very good; their time won't
really come until next year, though.
 
Some individual notes:
 
Jason Godbout needs to be straight on whether he's playing defense or wing.
 He was out of position constantly and looked like, well, a forward.  It may
be the price for using him up front so much last year.
 
Highly touted Dave Spehar was the least impressive of the six freshmen.  Part
of that stems from the decision to put him on a line with two grinders (Dans
Woog and Hedrickson).  I suspect that a message was being sent and I don't
expect that Spee will be unshuffled for too long.  It did look as if he was
working under instructions to play defense first, as he never turned his
offense loose (except on the power play, which didn't click at all).  No real
clues were available as to how effective he's going to be.
 
I really like Bill Kohn.  The goal he scored was a nice example of stepping
up into an empty alley.  He put a slap shot on net that required Noble to
make a good save.  And his defense was as good as anyone's on a sloppy night.
 
The two Miller kids (Nate and Cory) impressed me as role-players.  They
really threw their weight around and kept hustling.  I think I'm going to
enjoy watxhing them a lot.
 
The biggest surprise was Erik Day.  I thought Woog was signalling that this
really was a preseason game when he switched goalies before the third period.
 All I can say now is that Steve DeBus better watch out or he's going to find
himself in another goalie rotation.  I was at the other end of the rink, but
Day made a number of fine saves.  He never seemed to lose track of the play.
 I mentioned earlier that Jon Coleman missed an empty net on a 2-on-1, but
Day was coming across the crease at full speed and made him rush the shot.
 Back-up goalie ought to be one of minnestoa's least concerns at this point.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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