Zach Attack, Stellar Team Defense Bury Badgers

Badgers live in groups of 10-14 called Setts and exhibit a unique pattern of sociality; they live together in groups, but do not display cooperative behavior.

In the human world, we call this "Congress".

Gophers, on the other hand, are herbivores and live mostly solitary lives, except for on the ice in Hastings Civic Arena, where they seem to come together brilliantly.

Our own Hastings Gophers definitely did not play as individuals during Sunday's game against the Badgers. Their stifling team defense kept the Badgers from putting even a single puck on goal in the first period, and only 3 shots made it through to Jake before the 2nd intermission, with none finding its way past him. On the other end of the ice, the Badgers' goaltender faced 27 shots in the first 2 periods alone, and remarkably was able to turn away all but 3.

Woody started the scoring Sunday, putting in a 45 ft wrister from near the top of the right face-off circle after just over 4 minutes of play. Blake earned the helper on the goal, and although he didn't put a puck into the mesh himself during the game, he did have several hard shots on net. The first period ended with a 1-0 Gophers lead.

Zach had 8 shots on goal, and scored twice, including the eventual game winner which came with less than 3 minutes remaining in the 2nd period on assists from Kannon and this week's team captain Payton, who won 4 of 9 faceoffs playing as center and showed great hustle and determination Sunday.

Sunny will show up only once on the scoresheet for his 2nd period unassisted goal but was all over the ice, playing a brilliant 2-way game from his defensive position and showing fantastic individual effort in both the offensive and defensive zones. Anders and Brett didn't get their names in the scorebook Sunday, but each player exemplified hustle and intensity, and their efforts were crucial in securing the victory. Anders seemed to be everywhere on defense and contributed big, especially in transition. Brett played solid at center as well and was always around the puck.

Kannon's speedy skating and aggressiveness once again was on display during Sunday's game, as he chased down Badgers skaters from behind time after time, stealing the puck and clearing the zone before a shot could even be attempted. If I made a blog entry every time he foiled an opponent's scoring chance this season by running them down from behind and poking the puck away, I'd spend little time blogging about much else!

The 3rd period began with the Gophers leading by 3, and if it weren't for solid goaltending by the Badgers' netminder, it could have been much more. And although the final frame of the game accounted for 17 shots on goal between the two teams, it was a stretch of 5 and a half minutes that buried the Badgers' hopes of a late rally, as Jonathon, Zach and Joe were the beneficiaries of great passing and cohesive teamwork, despite their goals coming unassisted. It was 6-1 until there was 3:27 left in the game.

It was a physical game, with 3 players earning a total of 6 PIM on 4 minor penalties; two of them for illegal bodychecking, one for tripping, and a crosschecking penalty that Garrett took by falling on the back of a Badgers player while holding his stick with both hands. Neither team was able to capitalize on the man advantage however, as all goals were scored in 5 on 5 play.

Jonathon played well again, earning his 2nd goal in 3 games and Joe finished off a great performance on Sunday by scoring 34 seconds after Zach's second marker of the game, to put it out of reach at 6-1.

Between the pipes, Jake only had to stop 10 of 12 shots to earn his 7th victory and lower his GAA to 2.50 on the season.


Scoring went as follows (times listed are amount of time on the clock at the time of the goal, due to varying period lengths):

1st period 10:21 - Woody from Blake, 1-0
2nd period 10:59 - Sunny unassisted, 2-0
2nd period 2:58 - Zach from Kannon and Payton, 3-0
3rd period 11:09 - Jonathon unassisted, 4-0
3rd period 9:34 - Badgers Goal, 4-1
3rd period 6:12 - Zach unassisted, 5-1
3rd period 5:38 - Joe unassisted, 6-1
3rd period 3:27 - Badgers Goal, 6-2

Shots on Goal:
Gophers - 16, 11, 8, Total - 35
Badgers - 0, 3, 9, Total - 12

Total Saves:
Jake - 10/12
Badgers G - 29/35


One of the most overused cliches in sports is that defense wins championships and offense sells tickets. If that's the case, the Gophers won't be in the stands wearing street clothes during the last game of this season.


In other conference action Sunday, the Sioux were defeated 3-1 by the surging Pioneers in a VERY fast-paced and aggressive contest, and in an odd side note to this game, the Sioux coaches curiously seemed about to forfeit their game after the 2nd period, and for a time seemed to refuse to retake the ice, possibly citing biased officiating. The bewildered Pioneers stood in their positions at center ice, and eventually the Sioux did exit the bench and they played on, but were unable to mount a comeback despite a valiant effort.

The Wolverines continued their domination of nonconference opponents by dispatching the Rosemount squad 4-2 to maintain the top position in the conference.

Next week, the Gophers look to stay hot as they square off against Hudson White in their first evening game of the season.

Go Gophers!!!