University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Earn Shutout of Alaska Anchorage
11/17/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
The Golden Gopher men’s hockey team put together one of its best performances of the 2007-08 season Friday night, blanking the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves 3-0 at Mariucci Arena. David Fischer, Kyle Okposo and Blake Wheeler all scored goals as Minnesota notched its first shutout since Jan. 13 of last season, a span of 29 games. It was the Gophers’ third straight WCHA win, improving their overall record to 7-4-0 (3-4-0 in the WCHA).
The Gophers out-shot Alaska-Anchorage 34-24 on the night, including a whopping 15-3 in the first period. Seawolves’ goalie Jon Olthuis was able to turn away Minnesota’s first 13 shots of the night before the Gophers broke through with the game’s first score. Fischer, an Apple Valley native, launched a line drive shot from just inside the blue line at the 16:50 mark, giving Minnesota the early 1-0 lead. Fischer, a sophomore, scored his first goal in a Minnesota uniform, with Wheeler and Ben Gordon earning assists on the play.
Minnesota has now out-shot its opponents 120-77 in the first period this season and has yet to allow a goal in the first nine minutes of any game.
After a scoreless second period, one that saw Jeff Frazee make 13 saves, the Gophers put the game out of reach with two textbook third period scores. Okposo and Jay Barriball converted a two-on-one opportunity nine and a half minutes into the period, with Okposo beating Olthuis from point-blank range to put Minnesota up 2-0. With the goal, Opkoso tied Wheeler for the team lead with four goals on the season. It was also Barriball’s team-leading seventh assist.
Wheeler added another score just over four minutes later, finding the back left corner of the net and bringing the announced crowd of 9,988 to its feet. Patrick White (his second of the season) and Gordon (his sixth) earned assists on the goal. It was Gordon’s first multi-point effort of the season.
The shutout was the fourth of Frazee’s career and marked the Gophers’ first of Alaska-Anchorage since Nov. 11, 2005 (a game in which Frazee collected 30 saves). The 12th-ranked Gophers are now 12-1-1 in their last 14 meetings with Alaska-Anchorage, taking a 45-14-3 lead in the all-time series.
The two teams will conclude their two-game set Saturday night at Mariucci Arena, with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:07 p.m. That game will be televised by FSN.
