University of Minnesota Athletics
Early Season Showdown Set for Gophers and Badgers
10/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota looks to continue its early-season momentum, while Wisconsin aims for its first victory as the two WCHA rivals square off in their earliest meeting since 1988 this weekend in Madison. This weekend’s series is the second of three straight WCHA series to open the season for the Gophers, who are coming off a sweep of St. Cloud State.
Last Time Out
Minnesota finished off a sweep of St. Cloud State with a 2-1 win over the Huskies at Mariucci Arena on Oct. 18. Alex Kangas made 27 saves and the Gophers got goals from Mike Carman and Jay Barriball in the victory. Carman scored a first-period power play goal, while Barriball put the Gophers ahead 2-0 in the third period before the Huskies trimmed the lead with 13:16 remaining.
Series History
Minnesota holds a 149-79-17 lead in the all-time series with the Badgers. The Gophers are 7-3-2 in the past 12 meetings between the two border rivals. The teams each posted a home win and tied twice in last year’s four meetings. The recent meetings have been low-scoring as neither team has scored more than four goals in any of the past 11 encounters, dating to a 5-4 Gophers’ victory on Jan. 27, 2006.
About the Badgers
Wisconsin has opened the season 0-4 for the first time in its modern era of hockey, which began in 1963-64 when the team was reinstated after being dropped 28 years earlier. This year’s squad has played one of the toughest early-season schedules any Badger team has faced with all four of its losses coming to teams in the top four of this week’s national rankings. Wisconsin opened with losses at fourth-ranked Boston College and third-ranked New Hampshire before being swept in a WCHA series last week at Denver. The brutal stretch continues after this week as Wisconsin visits North Dakota next weekend.
Wisconsin has allowed at least five goals in every game and ranks 51st of 52 teams nationally in scoring defense at 5.75 goals allowed per game. Freshman forward Jake Gardiner from Minnetonka, Minn. leads the team with five points after notching five assists in his first four games. Ryan McDonagh and Jordy Murray each have two goals and two assists for four points. Senior Shane Connelly has a 5.59 goals against average and .876 save percentage in two games in goal.
Down to the Wire
Dating to last season, nine of Minnesota’s last 10 games have been decided by one goal. The Gophers have won six of the one-goal games after dropping the first two. The only game determined by more than one goal during the span was the Gophers’ 5-2 loss to Boston College in last year’s NCAA tournament.
Junior Circuit
Minnesota had seven juniors in the lineup over the weekend and the class combined to account for 11 of the Gophers’ 14 points. Six of the seven juniors recorded points with Ryan Stoa and Mike Carman each picking up three points. Ryan Flynn had two assists, while Tony Lucia and Jay Barriball each had a goal and David Fischer notched an assist.
Welcome Back
Gophers’ junior forward Ryan Stoa had a memorable return to the lineup last weekend after missing 43 consecutive games with a knee injury suffered in the second game of the 2007-08 season. Stoa picked up a goal and an assist in the win at St. Cloud State and registered his third career shorthanded goal. He added another assist in Saturday’s win.
Carman Starts Strong
Junior center Mike Carman had goals in each game of the weekend series, marking the first time he’s scored in back-to-back games since the 2007 NCAA tournament. Carman had four goals in 23 games during the 2007-08 season after missing the first 22 games of the season. Carman also won 23 of 35 faceoffs in last week’s series.
Killing Them Off
Minnesota killed off all 11 of St. Cloud State’s power play chances in Friday’s game for its best single-game penalty killing performance since Minnesota State was 0-for-12 on Oct. 21, 2005. In fact, the most power play opportunities a Minnesota opponent had in any game last season was seven. St. Cloud State ranked fifth nationally on the power play last season at 22.5 percent and was seven-for-16 in its first two games this year before going 1-for-16 last weekend. The Huskies were on the man-advantage for 25 minutes, 11 seconds during the series before finally scoring with 20 seconds left in their last power play chance. Minnesota’s penalty kill unit is coming off its second-best season in school history as the Gophers ranked ninth in the country at 87.0 percent in 2007-08.
Timely Saves
Sophomore goaltender Alex Kangas finished with 22 saves in Friday’s win, but five of those came on a Huskies’ flurry in the final minute of the game. Kangas, who set single-season school records for goals against average and save percentage in 2007-08, picked up where he left off last year with a 1.50 goals against average and .942 save percentage on the opening weekend. He made 25 of his 49 saves in the series during St. Cloud State power plays.
Passing Grade
Freshman center Jordan Schroeder had a solid debut as a Gopher by assisting three of the team’s five goals in the series sweep. He assisted the second and third goals in Friday’s 3-2 win and the opening goal of Saturday’s 2-1 triumph. Schroeder had more assists than shot attempts with one shot on goal in the two games.
Equal Expectations
Remarkably, Minnesota and Wisconsin were picked to finish in a tie for fourth place in the WCHA in both the coaches and media preseason polls. In the coaches poll, both teams received exactly 53 points and they received an identical 156 points in the media poll.
