University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open WCHA Playoffs at Minnesota State
3/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota hits the road for a first round WCHA playoff series for the first time since 1999-2000 as the seventh-seeded Gophers face fourth-seeded Minnesota State at the Alltel Center in Mankato. The teams engage in a best-of-three series Friday through Sunday with the winner advancing to the WCHA Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center the following weekend. The series will be televised by Fox Sports Net North and carried on the Gopher Radio Network.
Series History
Minnesota leads the all-time series 25-2-5, including a 17-0-3 record over the past 20 encounters. Minnesota State’s last win in the series was a 3-2 victory on Nov. 8, 2002 in Mankato. Minnesota has won all four postseason meetings between the two teams as the Gophers swept a first round series in 2004-05 and beat the Mavericks in the 2000 Final Five first round and 2003 Final Five semifinals. The teams played twice this season with Minnesota winning 4-3 in Mankato on Nov. 9 and 5-3 in Minneapolis on Nov. 10. It was the only series among 14 WCHA weekends that the Gophers swept this season.
About the Mavericks
Minnesota State was 3-6-2 overall and 1-6-2 in the WCHA at the end of November, but the Mavericks have been one of the league’s best teams since. They own a 15-8-2 overall record and 11-6-2 WCHA record over the past three months, earning their second home postseason series and first since 2002-03 when they beat Wisconsin in two games for their most recent Final Five appearance. Minnesota State’s only other Final Five berth came following its only other first round home series when it swept Alaska Anchorage in 1999-2000. The Mavericks are 10-5-2 at home, but lost their most recent game to Michigan Tech 3-2 on Saturday. Trevor Bruess has eight goals and 20 assists for 28 points, while Mick Berge has 19 goals and six assists for 25 points. Mike Zacharias has started 26 straight games and has a 2.21 goals against average and .920 save percentage.
Last Time Out
Minnesota split its final regular season series of the year, beating Minnesota Duluth 4-1 on Friday and losing 3-2 on Saturday. Blake Wheeler scored just 37 seconds into Friday’s game and the Gophers led nearly the entire way, building a 3-0 advantage. Ben Gordon and Evan Kaufmann also scored, while Wheeler added an empty-net goal to finish with two goals and one assist. Alex Kangas made 25 saves in goal. Minnesota trailed 2-0 on Saturday before Gordon scored on a five-on-three power play. The Bulldogs went ahead 3-1 and Justin Bostrom added a third-period goal, but the Gophers were unable to finish the rally.
Playoff Procedures
This weekend’s series is a best-of-three format with the winner earning a spot in the WCHA Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul March 20-22. If any of the games are tied, the teams will play 20-minute overtime periods to determine the winner. The five teams that advance to St. Paul are re-seeded with the fourth and fifth seeded teams playing a “play-in” game the opening night.
PairWise Progress
The Gophers and Mavericks are locked in a tight race in the PairWise rankings, which are highly-regarded in the NCAA tournament selection process. Minnesota is currently ranked 12th and Minnesota State is ranked 11th. The WCHA has eight of the top 14 ranked teams. The NCAA selects 16 teams to the field, though some bids are automatically awarded to conference tournament champions which are not in the top 16 of the PairWise rankings.
Penalty Killing Prowess
Power play goals have been tough to come by in the WCHA this season as the league has six of the nation’s top nine penalty-killing teams. Minnesota ranks fifth in the league, but seventh nationally. The Gophers have killed off 87.6 percent of their opponents’ power play chances, which is their highest percentage in a season since 2000-01 when they killed penalties at an 88.5 percent rate. Only twice this season has an opponent scored more than one power play goal in a game. It happened Nov. 24 at Michigan and Nov. 2 against Denver.
Poll Position
Minnesota is ranked No. 15 in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online and USA Hockey/USA Today national polls. The Gophers have been ranked in 13 of the 22 USA Hockey polls this season. Minnesota has dropped out of the rankings three different times this year and re-entered the polls each time. This week’s matchup marks the first time since March 21, 2003 that both the Gophers and Mavericks have played each other as ranked teams.
Back in Gear
Minnesota’s offense has been back on track in recent weeks with 20 goals over the past six games after totaling 10 goals in the previous eight games. The Gophers are now 10-0-2 this season when scoring four or more goals and 13-1-3 when tallying three times or more.
Power Surge
The Gophers have scored power play goals in a season-high six straight games. They are eight-for-28 (28.6 percent) over the span. Minnesota had scored power play goals in nine of its first 32 games of the season. The Gophers were 4-for-10 on the man advantage in the first two meetings with Minnesota State this season.
Strong Starts
The Gophers continue to be an outstanding first period team and have now scored first in 28 of their 38 games. Minnesota has outscored its opponents 36-19 in the first period and has allowed two goals in the opening period only twice all season, including none of the last 28 games. The Gophers have outshot opponents 386-290 in the opening period and have not allowed a goal in the first four minutes of any game. Minnesota has scored quickly in its past two Friday night games as Derek Peltier scored 27 seconds into the game at Alaska Anchorage and Blake Wheeler scored 37 seconds into the game with Minnesota Duluth.
Working Overtime
The Gophers now have nine ties this season, which ties a school record set in 2002-03 and 1998-99. Minnesota’s nine ties and 12 overtime games are the most of any team in college hockey this season. The Gophers are are 0-3-9 in overtime games and their 12 overtime periods is one short of the school record set in 2002-03. The opponent has scored the tying goal in 11 of Minnesota’s 12 overtime games this season.
Rare Road Trip
Minnesota is opening the WCHA playoffs on the road for just the third time since their most recent seventh place finish in 1976-77. The Gophers also went on the road in 1999-2000 at Colorado College and 1997-98 at Minnesota Duluth. They were seeded sixth in both of those previous road appearances. Minnesota swept the series at Colorado College and lost in three games at Minnesota Duluth, dropping the third game in overtime.
First Round Fortunes
The Gophers have qualified for the WCHA Final Five nine straight years and all but one year since the format began in 1992-93. The only time Minnesota failed to reach the Final Five was in 1997-98 when it lost in three games to Minnesota Duluth. Last season when Alaska Anchorage pushed the Gophers to three games is the only other time Minnesota has not swept its first round series since 1992-93.
Kangas Keeps Rolling
Minnesota freshman goaltender Alex Kangas has started 14 straight games and has played in 17 straight games for the Gophers. Since taking over the starting job, Kangas owns a 1.86 goals against average and .930 save percentage with a 4-4-6 record. For the season, he ranks 10th nationally with a 2.13 goals against average and 12th with a .923 save percentage. Both of those numbers rank second among all freshman goaltenders behind Colorado College’s Richard Bachman.
