University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Shut Down Huskies in 3-2 Win
10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
A stifling defensive effort that included a perfect 11-for-11 penalty kill led Minnesota to a season-opening 3-2 men's hockey victory at St. Cloud State on Friday.
The Gophers limited one of the nation’s top offenses to 24 shots despite the 11 power play chances. Minnesota never trailed in the game and held off a furious rally in the closing seconds with Alex Kangas coming up with several big saves as the clock expired.
The Huskies were seven-for-16 on the power play in a sweep of Mercyhurst last weekend, but managed only 15 shots on the power play on Friday. Six of their shots came on a power play over the final 1:32 of the game.
Seven of Minnesota’s nine offensive points came from its junior class, including captain Ryan Stoa, who had a goal and an assist after missing the last 43 games of the 2007-08 season with a knee injury. The Gophers fired 35 shots on goal and held a commanding 18-5 lead after one period.
Despite the heavy advantage in shots, the first period ended with a 1-1 draw and the Gophers nearly found themselves behind, but benefitted from a close call after an apparent Huskies’ goal. Tony Lucia scored Minnesota’s goal on the Gophers’ first power play chance of the season with assists from Mike Carman and Ryan Flynn at the 8:58 mark. St. Cloud State answered less than three minutes later as John Swanson, who scored four goals in last week’s series sweep, notched his fifth of the year on a hard-working play to fight off a defender and whistle a shot past Kangas.
The Huskies nearly went ahead a short time later when a pass in front of the net deflected into the goal. The official ruled it went in off the hand of a Huskies’ forward and then bounced off a Gopher defender. A lengthy replay review proved inconclusive and kept the game tied.
St. Cloud State had three power play chances in the second period, but Minnesota scored the only goal when Stoa took a pass from Jordan Schroeder and went nearly the length of the ice for a shorthanded goal at the 14:15 mark. David Fischer, who was a key part of the penalty killing units all night, also had an assist on the play.
Another replay went the Gophers’ way with 2:30 left in the second period when the Huskies’ Garrett Roe blasted a shot that went off the crossbar and the far post, but never went in. Officials spent over five minutes reviewing the play, but confirmed that the puck didn’t cross the line and kept the Gophers in front 2-1.
The Huskies even had a five-on-three power play that lasted 1:24 over the end of the second and start of the third periods. After three successive Huskies’ power plays midway through the final period, Mike Carman gave the Gophers a seemingly comfortable 3-1 advantage with a nifty goal just seconds after leaving the penalty box. Carman took a pass from Schroeder on a two-on-one and scored on the backhand with 8:04 remaining.
St. Cloud State, however, responded with a goal from Garrett Raboin with 2:37 left in the game and then got a power play with 1:32 remaining for its sixth man-advantage of the period. The Huskies pulled the goalie for the final 42 seconds, but were still unable to score.
Kangas finished with 22 saves for the Gophers and Jase Wesolosky had 32 saves for St. Cloud State, which will visit Mariucci Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m. It marked the first time since 1996 that Minnesota opened the regular season with a conference game.
