University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers and Bulldogs Skate to 1-1 Tie
1/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Each team scored a third period goal as Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth skated to a 1-1 tie in a defensive struggle on Friday night in Duluth.
It was the second straight tie for the Gophers, who are undefeated in their last five games against the Bulldogs and now 11-10-4 overall and 5-8-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Minnesota Duluth is 8-7-6 overall and remained five points ahead of the Gophers in the standings at 6-6-5 in the league.
Neither team mounted many scoring chances in the first two periods with Minnesota having the best opportunity early in the second period as Jay Barriball made a perfect pass across the crease to Derek Peltier, who slid the puck wide of a vacated net. Drew Fisher had a great chance shortly after, taking a pass in the slot from Justin Bostrom, but Alex Stalock made a pad save to preserve the stalemate.
Ben Gordon put the Gophers on the board following an aggressive play by Blake Wheeler, who fought off a defender to get off a shot that bounced free to Gordon in the slot for his eighth goal of the season. Mike Howe also assisted the goal, which came at 1:16 of the third period.
Minnesota Duluth did not have a shot in the period until its goal, which came at 8:44 of the period. Matt McKnight scored the goal off a pass from Drew Akins, who took a shot from a bad angle that hit off the post. The rebound came right back to Akins in the corner and he made a quick pass in front to McKnight for the goal. Jay Cascalenda started the play with a pass from the blue line to pick up the other assist.
The Bulldogs had three power play chances in the final eight minutes of the game, including 1:22 of a five-on-three advantage. With Minnesota skating shorthanded, Peltier was whistled for cross checking in front of the Gophers' net. However, Minnesota was able to keep the Bulldogs from getting anything developed on the power play as they recorded no shots on goal and had only one shot even attempted during the stretch. Minnesota Duluth was 0-for-5 on the power play and Minnesota was 0-for-4 for the game.
The overtime featured few scoring opportunities on either side as the Gophers played consecutive ties for just the second time in the past five years. It also happened in both games of a series with St. Cloud State last season. Last Saturday, Minnesota tied St. Cloud State 4-4 after the Huskies scored two third period goals.
Minnesota owned a 27-19 advantage in shots, which matched the lowest total allowed in a game by the Gophers this season. Alex Kangas made 18 saves and Stalock had 26 stops for the Bulldogs.
The teams play again on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. in Duluth.
