University of Minnesota Athletics
Big Third Period Leads Gophers Past Wildcats
11/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota exploded for four third period goals to post a 6-2 victory over New Hampshire in a showdown of national hockey heavyweights on Saturday at Mariucci Arena.
The fourth-ranked Gophers extended their season-opening unbeaten streak to eight games and are now 5-0-3. It marks the third straight weekend they have tied on Friday and bounced back with a solid performance on Saturday. Fifth-ranked New Hampshire is now 4-2-3 overall.
Ryan Flynn scored two goals for the Gophers and David Fischer tallied three assists with all coming in a late flurry in the third period. Minnesota was three-for-seven on the power play and has now scored nine of its 12 power play goals on Saturday nights, while posting a 4-0 record.
The game was tied 2-2 in the third period before Ryan Stoa took a pass from Aaron Ness and rifled a shorthanded shot into the upper corner just 10 seconds into a Gopher penalty. The goal came at 4:42 of the third period and was Stoa’s seventh of the season, including his second shorthanded score. He has now scored points in all of Minnesota’s eight games.
Minnesota turned in a strong effort all night and played one of its best first periods of the season, creating several scoring chances and getting two power play goals in three chances.
Cade Fairchild scored the game’s first goal when he skated into the slot and wristed a shot over the glove of Wildcats’ goaltender Brian Foster at the 5:44 mark. Jordan Schroeder assisted the goal as both players scored points for the fourth straight game.
Mike Hoeffel staked Minnesota to a 2-0 advantage when he entered the zone, skated cross ice and ripped a bullet to the far upper corner of the net. The goal was Hoeffel’s second of the season and came at the 14:51 mark.
The Gophers maintained possession of the puck for much of the first period and were called for a penalty in the offensive zone with 11 seconds remaining. The faceoff moved to the other end of the ice where Minnesota won the draw back to the boards. New Hampshire dug the puck out to Mike Sislo, who sent a backhanded wraparound shot to the far post for a goal with 2.6 seconds left. Danny Dries and James van Riemsdyk assisted the goal.
Minnesota outshot the Wildcats 13-7 in the second period, but New Hampshire recorded another late goal on an outstanding individual play by van Reimsdyk. He gathered the puck on his stick at the blue line and made a move to beat Gophers’ netminder Alex Kangas with just 1:27 left in the period. Phil DeSimone and Dries assisted the play.
Stoa’s shorthanded broke the tie and, with less than seven minutes left, Minnesota unleashed a flurry of three goals in a span of 2:24 to put the game away.
Flynn opened the floodgates by ripping a picture-perfect one-timer off a feed from Mike Carman to give the Gophers a 4-2 lead with 6:17 left in the game. David Fischer also assisted the play to score in his career-high third straight game.
Taylor Matson scored his first career goal two minutes later, tipping in a long shot from Fischer that started with a pass from Ness for a 5-2 lead. Flynn then finished the scoring with the Gophers’ third power play goal of the night off passes from Fischer and Tony Lucia just 23 seconds later.
Kangas made a huge save on a Wildcats’ three-on-one breakout and Minnesota leading 4-2 in the closing minutes. He finished the night with 26 saves, while Foster made 28 saves for New Hampshire. Minnesota owned a 34-28 advantage in shots for the game.
The Gophers host Michigan Tech next weekend on Saturday and Sunday in a pair of 1 p.m. starts.
