University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Conclude Regular Season With Home Series
3/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
The regular season concludes with critical WCHA points at stake as Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth meet in a two-game series at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers hold a two-point lead over the Bulldogs for seventh place in the WCHA standings and enter the weekend three points behind Minnesota State and St. Cloud State for fifth place. Fox Sports Net will televise both games with Friday’s game on tape delay and Saturday’s game live. Friday’s game can be heard on KTNF 950 AM, KUOM 1007.FM and 106.5 FM. Saturday’s game can be heard live on WCCO 830 AM.
Series History
Minnesota leads the all-time series 124-66-12 in a rivaly that dates to 1952. The Gophers took three points from the Bulldogs earlier this year in Duluth with a 1-1 tie and a 2-1 victory on Jan. 18-19. Minnesota is 5-0-1 in the past six meetings, including a pair of 3-2 victories last year in Duluth. The Bulldogs are making their first trip to Mariucci Arena in two years since the Gophers posted a pair of shutouts with 7-0 and 2-0 wins on March 3-4, 2006.
About the Bulldogs
Minnesota Duluth has lost four straight games and scored one goal over the span. The Bulldogs were shutout twice by Colorado College and then dropped a 2-0 decision and 2-1 overtime setback to North Dakota last weekend. Minnesota Duluth is a defensive-oriented team, ranking 14th in scoring defense at 2.44 goals allowed per game and ranking 53rd of 59 Division I teams in scoring offense at 2.09 goals scores per game. The Bulldogs are 56th nationally on the power play at 10.8 percent, but their penalty kill is the third-best in the country at 89.4 percent. The Bulldogs have three players with a team-high seven points, which is the lowest team-leading goal total of any squad in the country. MacGregor Sharp is the team’s leading scorer with seven goals and 10 assists for 17 points. Alex Stalock has played all but about eight minutes in goal and has a 2.26 goals against average and .918 save percentage.
Last Time Out
Minnesota extended its unbeaten streak to four games and picked up three points for the second straight weekend with a 2-2 tie and 4-1 win at Alaska Anchorage. Derek Peltier scored both goals in Friday’s tie, while Mike Hoeffel and Evan Kaufmann staked the Gophers to a 2-0 lead in Saturday’s game. Mike Howe added a third period power play goal and Ben Gordon recorded an empty net score. Alex Kangas made 26 saves in goal in each game.
Playoff Possibilities
Minnesota can finish with a seed anywhere from fourth to ninth in the WCHA standings entering the final weekend. The Gophers have two scenarios where they could earn home ice in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. In both scenarios they need to sweep Minnesota Duluth and need North Dakota to sweep St. Cloud State. If Michigan Tech sweeps Minnesota State, the Gophers tie Wisconsin for fourth and Minnesota is seeded fifth since the Badgers hold the tiebreaker because of more WCHA wins. If Minnesota State gets one point in its series with the Huskies, Minnesota wins a three-way tie with Minnesota State and Wisconsin for the fourth seed. If Minnesota Duluth takes three points this weekend, the Bulldogs and Gophers would tie in the standings, but Minnesota Duluth holds the tiebreaker because of more WCHA wins. The Gophers have played at home seven straight years and last played away in 1999-2000 at Colorado College.
PairWise Progress
Minnesota continues to climb in the PairWise rankings, which are highly-regarded in the NCAA tournament selection process. The Gophers are tied for 12th in the rankings entering this weekend’s games. 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. Minnesota Duluth enters the weekend tied with Wisconsin for 13th in the rankings.
Getting Ahead
Minnesota has scored first in 27 of its 36 games this season and has rarely played from behind. The Gophers have trailed for just 386 of a possible 2,211 minutes (17.5 percent of the time). The only teams which have trailed fewer minutes this season are the nation’s top two ranked teams - North Dakota and Michigan.
DQ Cup at Stake
Presented to the team with the highest winning percentage of games among the four Minnesota WCHA teams, the DQ Cup is coming down to the final weekend between Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth. The Gophers can win the cup with one victory, while Minnesota Duluth needs at least a win and a tie to take the trophy. The DQ Cup is in its third year. St. Cloud State won last year and Minnesota won in 2005-06.
Penalty Killing Prowess
Minnesota killed off all 10 of Alaska Anchorage’s power play chances over the weekend and has risen to seventh nationally on the penalty kill at 88.2 percent. The Gophers have killed off 40 of their 43 shorthanded situations over the past six games. In the past 26 games, the Gophers have held teams to nine-for-112 (8.0 percent) over the last 24 games after starting the year nine-for-41 (22.0 percent) in the first 10 games of the season. Only twice this season has an opponent scored more than one power play goal in a game.
Back in Gear
Minnesota’s offense has tallied 14 goals over the past four games after scoring a total of 10 goals over its previous eight games. The Gophers have also gotten their power play on track with goals in the past four games and a 6-for-18 rate on the power play during the span. Also, Evan Kaufmann scored just four seconds after a penalty expired against Alaska Anchorage. Minnesota is now 9-0-2 this season when scoring four or more goals and 12-1-3 when tallying three times or more.
Strong Starts
The Gophers continue to be an outstanding first period team and have now scored first in 27 of their 36 games. Minnesota has outscored its opponents 34-18 in the first period and has allowed two goals in the opening period only twice all season, including none of the last 26games. The Gophers have outshot opponents 373-275 in the opening period and have allowed a total of six first period goals in the last 16 games.
Working Overtime
Minnesota has played a tie game in its last seven consecutive weekend series. The Gophers now have nine ties this season, which ties a school record set in 2002-03 and 1998-99. The nine ties are also one short of the NCAA single-season record set by Minnesota State, which finished 20-11-10 during the 2002-03 season. The Gophers have played overtime in eight of their past 13 games. They are 0-3-9 in overtime games and their 12 overtime periods is one short of the school record set in 2002-03. Minnesota’s nine ties and 12 overtime games are the most of any team in college hockey this season.
Back in the Polls
Minnesota is back to No. 14 in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online and USA Hockey/USA Today national polls. The last time the Gophers were last ranked in the top 15 when they played North Dakota on Feb. 2-3. Minnesota has dropped out of the rankings three different times this year and re-entered the polls each time.
Kangas Stands Tall
Minnesota freshman goaltender Alex Kangas has started the past 12 games and has played in 15 straight games for the Gophers. He was named the WCHA Rookie of the Week for the second time this season after stopping 26 shots in each game against Alaska Anchorage last weekend. Over the past 12 games, Kangas has a 1.84 goals against average and .932 save percentage with a 3-3-6 record. For the season, Kangas ranks 12th nationally with a 2.14 goals against average and 14th with a .924 save percentage. Both of those numbers rank second among all freshman goaltenders behind Colorado College’s Richard Bachman.
Piling up Points
Minnesota senior captain Derek Peltier tied a career best with two goals in Friday’s tie at Alaska Anchorage. It was his second career two-goal game with the other also coming in Anchorage last season. The effort was Peltier’s second straight multiple-point game and the 12th of his career. Peltier has played in 163 consecutive games since missing his only career game in the second game of his freshman year.
Senior Weekend
This weekend’s series will mark the final regular season series for six Minnesota seniors. Ben Gordon, Mike Howe, Evan Kaufmann, Derek Peltier, Tom Pohl and Brent Solei will all play their final regular season contest at Mariucci Arena on Saturday night. The seniors combined for a career record of 100-47-18 over their four seasons. The group has also combined to win two McNaughton Cup WCHA regular season titles and one Broadmoor Trophy as the WCHA playoff champions. They have been a part of three NCAA tournament teams, including an NCAA Frozen Four appearance in 2004-05.
