University of Minnesota Athletics
Huskies Rally to Beat Gophers in Overtime
12/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, but couldn’t hang on as Michigan Tech’s Alex Gagne scored with 3:46 left in overtime to lead the Huskies to a 3-2 victory on Friday at Mariucci Arena.
The Gophers are now 7-7-1 overall and 3-6 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association as their winless streak reached four games. Michigan Tech has won four of its last five games on Minnesota’s home ice, improving to 6-6-1 overall and 5-5-1 in league play.
Gagne’s game-winner came in a four-on-four situation as he sent in a long shot from near the boards and above the face-off circle to the right of Minnesota goaltender Alex Kangas. The fluttering shot changed direction on the Gophers’ netminder and snuck in between his skate and the pipe to the near side. It was the first goal of the season for Gagne as all three of Michigan Tech’s goals came from players scoring for the first time this season.
Minnesota’s two first period goals were the result of terrific passing. The first came at the 5:33 mark when Blake Wheeler finished off a play for his sixth goal of the season. Ben Gordon made a cross-ice pass to Jay Barriball, who dug the puck out of his skates and found Wheeler wide open in the crease.
Ryan Flynn scored the Gophers’ second goal on the power play at 9:14 of the period, taking a pass from Tony Lucia on the far side of the net and scoring at a tough angle for his third of the year. Derek Peltier started the play for Minnesota, which has now scored first in 11 of its 15 games this year, including seven of the last eight.
Michigan Tech controlled much of the second period and scored the only goal of the stanza as John Schwarz scored at the 7:17 mark. Peter Rouleau dug a puck out behind the net and backhanded it to Schwarz, who drilled a shot past Kangas from the slot. Malcom Gwilliam also assisted the goal. The Huskies owned a 15-6 shots advantage for the period, putting all 15 of their shots on goal in the first 14 minutes of the frame, including nine on their two power play attempts.
Minnesota had a huge flurry on the only power play of the third period. After a Huskies’ penalty with 8:26 left in the period, the Gophers put six shots on Michigan Tech goaltender Michael-Lee Teslak, who stopped them all. Shortly afterwards, Michigan Tech tied the game at the 14:41 mark when freshman defenseman Deron Cousens scored unassisted on a long shot from the blueline for his first career goal. It was only the Huskies’ fourth shot of the period, but they ended up being outshot by the Gophers 12-10 for the period.
Minnesota had a great scoring chance with 2:44 left in the third period when Evan Kaufmann broke free from the defense for a wide-open breakaway, but Teslak again made a big save to keep the game tied. Kaufmann had another opportunity with the puck in front of the net with 12.3 seconds left, but he was checked hard by Jordan Baker, drawing a checking from behind penalty that put the Gophers on the power play for the closing seconds of regulation and the start of overtime. The power play was short-lived, however, as Minnesota’s Ben Gordon was whistled for interference 44 seconds into overtime.
Michigan Tech outshot the Gophers 38-28 for the game as Teslak stopped 26 shots and Kangas made 35 saves for Minnesota. The teams meet again on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. at Mariucci Arena.
