University of Minnesota Athletics
Carman's Overtime Heroics Force Third Game
3/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
In its school record 14th overtime game of the year, Minnesota finally emerged with a victory as Mike Carman scored 7:33 into overtime for a 2-1 victory over Minnesota State on Saturday in Mankato.
Minnesota was 0-4-9 in its previous 13 overtime games, including a 1-0 double overtime setback to the Mavericks in the teams’ Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoff series opener on Friday. The Gophers are now 16-15-9 overall and forced a third game in the series for Sunday at 7:07 p.m. The winner of the game will advance to the WCHA Final Five next weekend in St. Paul.
Minnesota State, which is now 19-15-4 overall, applied most of the pressure in overtime with five quality shots, but Gophers’ goaltender Alex Kangas stopped all five shots and 27 for the game. Carman’s goal was assisted by Derek Peltier and came on a long shot from just inside the blue line. It bounced off the knee of Mavericks’ defenseman Channing Boe and nicked off the crossbar on its way into the net. The goal came on Minnesota’s third shot in overtime and their 42nd overtime shot of the season.
“It never hurts to shoot the puck,” Gophers’ coach Don Lucia said. “It hit off the guy’s knee and we caught a break. I guess we were due to win an overtime game.”
The game featured another outstanding goaltending display from Minnesota’s Alex Kangas and Minnesota State’s Mike Zacharias. After combining to hold their respective opponents’ scoreless for nearly 100 minutes on Friday, both were sharp again on Saturday. Zacharias finished with 35 saves as the Gophers outshot the Mavericks 37-28.
“This has been a goaltending series,” Lucia said. “The goaltending has just been spectacular. This could have easily been a 5-4 or 4-3 game with the chances both teams had.”
After being shutout for the first time this season, Minnesota finally broke through against Zacharias 6:07 into the game as Justin Bostrom drew the netminder out and scored on a wrap-around. Tom Pohl and Kevin Wehrs picked up assists on the play.
Minnesota controlled play for the first two periods, holding a 25-12 advantage in shots and a 14-4 margin in the second stanza. Minnesota State picked up its play in the third period and finally broke through on Kangas with a power play goal with 8:51 left. Andrew Sackrison scored the goal off passes from Geoff Irwin and Joel Hanson.
The Gophers had a power play with 7:29 left, but managed just one shot on the man advantage. Minnesota was 0-for-3 on the power play and Minnesota State was 1-for-4 for the game.
The victory avoided Minnesota’s first WCHA playoff series sweep since 1987 and their first opening round sweep since 1973. The Gophers are aiming for their 10th straight trip to the Final Five since last missing the event in 1998.
