University of Minnesota Athletics
Solei Triumphs in Debut as Gophers Top Wayne State
1/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
It was a long wait for Brent Solei, but the senior had a successful collegiate debut with 28 saves as Minnesota defeated Wayne State 5-1 on Friday at Mariucci Arena.
Solei, a walk-on who had never appeared in a regular season game over the past three-and-a-half seasons, stopped nine shots in the opening period and was solid throughout the night in earning the win. Solei, who also benefitted from the Warriors hitting two shots off the pipe, had played in three exhibition games prior to his debut on Friday.
The Gophers helped out Solei offensively by tying a season-high with their five goals and also firing a season-best 51 shots. Minnesota improved to 10-9-2 overall, while Wayne State, playing its first games since the holiday break, dropped its sixth straight to fall to 3-14-2.
After a scoreless first period, Minnesota scored the game’s first goal shorthanded at 2:51 of the second period on a backhanded goal by Blake Wheeler. Tom Pohl collected the puck along the boards in the defensive zone and passed ahead to a streaking Wheeler, who beat a defender and lofted a shot to the far post for the 1-0 lead and his team-leading 10th goal of the year. It was Minnesota’s second shorthanded goal in 21 games this year.
Wayne State tied the game at the 10:41 mark on a miscue by the Gophers’ defense. After a flurry from the Warriors, Minnesota appeared to have the puck cleared out of the zone and the Gophers’ defensemen took off up the ice. However, Warriors’ defenseman Ryan Bernard corralled the puck on the blue line and fired down low to Jared Katz, who was wide open in front of the net and coverted the easy goal.
Minnesota regained the lead less than three minutes later as Ben Gordon scored at 13:27 of the second period. The goal was set up by a hustling play by senior captain Derek Peltier. After Minnesota lost control of the puck in the offensive zone, Peltier chased down the loose puck at neutral ice and skated into the zone before making a cross-ice pass to Gordon, who juked one defender and launched a shot into the back of the net for his seventh goal of the season.
Evan Kaufmann gave the Gophers a 3-1 lead at 5:19 of the third period after some hard work in front of the net. His linemates Mike Hoeffel and Justin Bostrom were both in front of the net poking at the puck and it came free to Kaufmann, who finished the play for his first point in eight games.
R.J. Anderson made it 4-1 with a power play goal at 9:57 of the period. Kaufmann had the puck at the faceoff circle and passed out to Anderson at the point, who launched a long shot for his fourth goal of the year. Patrick White started the play and also picked up an assist.
White earned his third goal of the year at 16:09 of the period when he fired home a loose puck in the slot off a rebound of a backhanded shot by Mike Howe. Hoeffel started the play behind the net with a wraparound pass to Howe.
Minnesota had 16 shots in each of the first two periods and 19 more in the third to outshoot the Warriors 51-29 for the game. Wayne State goalie Kyle Funkenhauser played the first 50 minutes of the game and finished with 36 saves.
The teams will play again on Saturday at 7:07 p.m. at Mariucci Arena. It will not be televised, but will be shown with a live webcast on gophersports.com.
