University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Continue Road Swing at Minnesota Duluth
1/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota plays the second and third games of its five-game road swing at Minnesota Duluth as the two in-state rivals meet in a two-game series. The Gophers and Bulldogs are both among a tightly-packed group of teams in the middle of the WCHA standings. Both games will be televised live on Fox Sports Net North. Friday’s game can be heard on KTNF 950 AM and KUOM 100.7 FM and 106.5 FM. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on WCCO 830 AM.
Series History
Minnesota leads the all-time series 124-66-11 in a rivaly that dates to 1952. The Gophers swept the Bulldogs with a pair of 3-2 victories last year in Duluth, including an overtime victory in the second game for their first sweep in Duluth since 2000. Minnesota has beaten the Bulldogs four straight times and is 6-3-1 in the past 10 meetings. Minnesota’s four visits to Duluth during the past two seasons have resulted in three one-goal games and a tie.
About Minnesota Duluth
The Bulldogs beat and tied Minnesota State last weekend to hold down fourth place in the WCHA standings. Minnesota Duluth trailed 3-1 entering the third period on Friday, but tied the game on an extra-attacker goal by Jordan Fulton with 1:11 left and won 4-3 on Cody Danberg’s overtime goal. Minnesota State turned the tables on Saturday, scoring with 2:04 left in the third period to force a 2-2 tie after the Bulldogs had led 2-0 following the first period. Minnesota Duluth is 6-1-4 at home and 2-6-1 on the road this season. The Bulldogs’ only home setback was a 5-3 loss to Alaska Anchorage. Minnesota Duluth features a balanced lineup as three players lead the team in scoring with 13 points in 20 games. Nick Kemp has a team-high seven goals with six assists. Jason Garrison has four goals and a team-best nine assists, while Josh Meyers has five goals and eight assists. Alex Stalock has played all but eight minutes in goal and has a 2.43 goals against average and .909 save percentage.
Last Time Out
The Gophers lost to St. Cloud State 3-1 at home on Friday and then surrendered a three-goal lead in a 4-4 tie at St. Cloud on Saturday. Minnesota dominated the third period on Friday, but saw the Huskies get the only goals of the stanza with two scores in the final two minutes to break a 1-1 tie. Minnesota had 17 consecutive shots on goal before the Huskies’ Garrett Roe broke free for the game-winner with 1:41 left. Roe later added an empty net goal as the Gophers outshot the Huskies 17-5 in the third period. Mike Howe had the lone goal for Minnesota, coming 2:37 into the first period. The Gophers built a 4-1 lead in the second period on Saturday as Tony Lucia and Blake Wheeler each scored in the first period and Mike Hoeffel scored two second period goals. However, St. Cloud State rallied with a goal by Roe in the final minute of the second period and two more scores in the third period.
Getting Out Front
Minnesota has scored first in 18 of its 24 games this season, including 14 of the past 17 games. Tony Lucia’s goal at 1:27 of the first period on Saturday was the earliest goal scored by the Gophers or their opponents all season. In fact, the earliest goal allowed by Minnesota came when Air Force scored 4:19 into the opening period. Only twice all year has an opponent scored two goals in the first period. It happened in a 4-1 loss to Denver and a 5-3 win over Minnesota State. The Gophers have trailed after one period just six times this year.
Tale of Two Periods
Minnesota’s first and third periods have been remarkably different this season. The Gophers have outscored opponents 23-13 in the opening period, but have been outscored 32-17 in the third period. Minnesota has held opponents to an average of just 7.5 shots on goal in the first period. In league games, the Gophers have outscored foes 14-10 in the first period, but have been outscored 22-6 in the third period and 2-0 in overtime. Oddly, Minnesota has outshot its opponents 158-128 in the third period of WCHA games despite the scoring disparity. The Gophers have also been outscored 14-3 in the third period of their eight road games.
At the Last Minute
Goals in the final minute of any period often prove important and it was the case again Saturday when St. Cloud State scored with 55 seconds left in the second period to begin its rally from a 4-1 deficit. It was the first time the Gophers had allowed a non-empty net goal in the final minute of any period all season. St. Cloud State recorded the first last-minute goal of any kind against the Gophers on Friday when it scored an empty net goal with six seconds left in the 3-1 win.
Penalty Killing Prowess
Minnesota’s penalty kill has been solid over the past 14 games, holding teams to just four-for-53 (7.5 percent) with the man advantage. Opponents were nine-of-41 (22.0 percent) on the man-advantage in the first 10 games this season. Minnesota is currently ranked 18th nationally on the penalty kill at 86.2 percent for the season. Minnesota Duluth ranks sixth in the country at 89.2 percent.
Shorthanded Success
Minnesota has notched shorthanded goals in three of its last four games as Mike Hoeffel scored on a St. Cloud State power play and Blake Wheeler and Derek Peltier each had shorthanders against Wayne State. Prior to the outburst, the Gophers had scored two shorthanded goals in their previous 49 games. Minnesota now has four shorthanders this season.
Seeking Six
Neither Minnesota nor its opponents have scored six goals in any game this season. The only seasons in Minnesota’s 86-year history of varsity hockey that the Gophers failed to score six goals in any game was during the 1926-27 and 1924-25 seasons. They played 15 games in 1926-27 and 10 games during 1924-25. Both of those defensive-orientied teams won conference championships. The last season Minnesota didn’t surrender six goals in a game was in 1941-42 when the Gophers only played 12 games.
Hoeffel Heats Up
Minnesota freshman Mike Hoeffel has two multiple-goal games this season and they’ve come in two of the league’s toughest road environments at North Dakota and St. Cloud State. Hoeffel has scored five of his six goals this year on the road and now has seven points over the past seven games. Hoeffel recorded four points in the team’s first 17 games of the season.
Fischer Flourishing
Sophomore defenseman David Fischer has scored points in a career-high three straight games. He had two points in the Saturday night win over Wayne State and recorded assists in each game against St. Cloud State last weekend. Fischer has one goal and nine assists this season after totaling no goals and five assists all of last year.
Anderson Afire
Junior defenseman R.J. Anderson continued his hot play with two assists on Saturday at St. Cloud State. He now has eight points over the last seven games after totaling two points in the first 17 games of the year. Anderson had scored a total of 12 points in his first 86 career games prior to his recent offensive output.
