University of Minnesota Athletics
Golden Gophers Defeat St. Cloud State 5-4
3/1/2002 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The Golden Gophers struck early on the power-play. At 1:50, John Pohl centered to Grant Potulny in front of SCSU goaltender Dean Weasler and Potulny stuffed it home. Less than five minutes later, Nick Anthony and Troy Riddle broke out on a 2-on-0 and Anthony fed Riddle who found the back of the net.
Down 2-0, SCSU had three power-plays in a span of five minutes and the third time was the charm. Mark Hartigan's one-timer beat Adam Hauser and the Huskies pulled to within one. But freshman Barry Tallackson brought the momentum back to the Maroon and Gold with his outstanding individual effort just 31 seconds later. He brought the puck into the zone along the boards and circled behind the net. But instead of going for the wraparound with his backhand, he brought the puck back to his forehand and stuffed it home. Minnesota took a 3-1 lead into the break.
The Golden Gophers opened the second period with a 5-on-3 advantage. St. Cloud State opted to bring in backup goaltender Jake Moreland and he was greeted by a missle from Jeff Taffe. Taffe's one-timer from 12 feet out put Minnesota up 4-1. Still on the power-play, it was Nick Angell's slapshot from inside the blueline that gave the Golden Gophers their fifth goal.
The Huskies closed out the period with a goal from Jon Cullen at 14:18 to make it 5-2.
In the third period, two costly Minnesota turnovers directly led to pair of Huskie goals by Matt Hendricks on the breakaway and Hartigan on the rebound. With more than 13 minutes to play, Minnesota responded and held the Huskies to very few quality scoring chances. Taffe did his part winning a key faceoff with less than 30 seconds to play in the Gopher zone and Moreland on the bench for an extra attacker.
Pohl, Taffe and Matt Koalska all collected two-point games in the win, while Hauser stopped 26 of 30 shots and improved to 6-0-0 since Feb. 1.
The two teams will meet in the rematch on Saturday night at Mariucci Arena.
