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Even a grizzled veteran coach like Bob Motzko — the Gophers bench boss who has seen and done it all in college hockey — can admit that 3-on-3 overtime periods are great fun to watch. He would just rather not watch it from the bench.
Four of the past five Gophers games have gone longer than 60 minutes, and have included that end-to-end track meet that 3-on-3 overtime can become. The fans and plenty of the players love them. The coach, not so much.
“I’d like that to stop, but the other teams have something to say about it,” Motzko said of the recent spate of extra sessions. “It’s 3-on-3. If you win the draw, you have a good chance to win the game. … It’s gimmicky hockey. The players love it, the fans love it, and I don’t mind watching it on TV.”
In their quest to end a game with a win in 60 minutes this weekend, the Gophers host a familiar foe in Michigan State for a pair of games at 3M Arena at Mariucci. In an early December visit to East Lansing, where Motzko matched wits and lines with first-year Spartans coach Adam Nightingale , the Gophers prevailed 5-0 and 6-3. Nightingale came to his alma mater in the spring after coaching players such as Logan Cooley, Ryan Chesley and Jimmy Snuggerud last season with the USA Hockey National U18 Team, so he knows what awaits in Minneapolis.
“I think they’re a really good team. There’s not a lot of easy offense against them,” Nightingale said this week, tipping his cap to the Gophers big blue line trio of Ryan Johnson, Jackson LaCombe and Brock Faber. “We’ve got to get to the inside more, and when you’re playing against a team that’s got that good of a back end, it’s hard. You’ve got three guys that could probably play in the National Hockey League right now.”
A Motzko-coached team has not lost to the Spartans since before the COVID-19 pandemic, but even with a bye week looming, the coach is not looking past Michigan State.
“Their elevator is going up,” Motzko said, nothing that the Spartans are among five Big Ten teams currently ranked in the top 20 nationally. “They’re playing with confidence, renewed energy right now … Look at our whole conference right now. It’s crazy. What’s going to happen down the stretch? Every night is a battle.”
The Gophers certainly feel they have the roster they need to win that battle. Wen they run into trouble — like they did in falling behind Michigan last Saturday on the way to a 5-4 overtime loss — they were often their own worst enemies.
“I would’ve liked a little better puck management. … We got burned on our turnovers all weekend,” Motzko said, noting that the Gophers helped generate too much of the Wolverines’ offense. “I think of their seven goals, five came off our sticks.”
The Gophers played without freshman defenseman Luke Mittelstadt last weekend after he was injured in the series finale at Notre Dame. Mittelstadt skated in practice on Wednesday and may be able to return to the line chart by Friday. Although Motzko hinted that with the first weekend of February off, they may allow him extra rest to have a healthier defensive corps for the regular season’s final six games.
Friday’s game is set to start at 7 p.m. Puck drop on Saturday is set for 4 p.m.
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