University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Finish Off Sweep of Alaska Anchorage
11/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Four different players scored as Minnesota recorded its first home regular season sweep since January 2008 with a 4-1 victory over Alaska Anchorage on Sunday at Mariucci Arena.
Alex Kangas made 31 saves for the Gophers, who got a goal and an assist from Tony Lucia, Mike Hoeffel and Jay Barriball. Jordan Schroeder also collected two assists for the second straight game.
Combined with Friday's 5-1 win over the Seawolves, the Gophers earned their first regular season home sweep since beating Wayne State on Jan. 4-5, 2008. Minnesota did sweep St. Cloud State in last year's Western Collegiate Hockey Association playoffs and also won the Dodge Holiday Classic last season. Minnesota had played 10 regular season series at home since the last sweep.
The wins pushed the Gophers to 2-3-1 in overall and conference play. Alaska Anchorage was swept for the first time this season and dropped to 3-5 overall and 1-3 in the WCHA.
The Gophers opened the scoring with their first power play goal of the season as Patrick White tallied the goal at 12:31 of the first period. Minnesota had been 0-for-25 on the power play for the season and had failed to score on 30 straight power play chances, dating to last season. It originally appeared David Fischer scored the goal on a shot from the blueline that got past Seawolves' goalie Bryce Christianson, but the officials ruled the shot hit the post. It bounced free to Lucia in the crease, whose shot deflected the White on the opposite side of the net for the goal.
With 16.8 seconds left in the first period, the Gophers made it 2-0 when Hoeffel finished off a four-on-one breakout. Barriball passed across to Schroeder for a one-timer that Christianson saved, but the rebound came free to Hoeffel for his third goal of the season.
Minnesota made it 3-0 at 5:13 of the second period as Lucia recorded his third goal and fifth point of the weekend. The senior came down the slot on a three-on-two and fired a high shot over Christianson's shoulder. Taylor Matson and Kevin Wehrs picked up assists on the play.
Lucia nearly had his second straight two-goal game, but was stopped on a breakaway by Christianson with five minutes left in the second period. Alaska Anchorage had a breakaway of its own just 30 seconds later when Jade Portwood got behind the Gophers' defense, but Kangas made the save. Lucia also hit a post during a Gopher power play with about three minutes left in the game.
Kangas looked unbeatable for much of the game until the Seawolves finally got on the board with 8:46 left in the third period when Mickey Spencer lofted a shot through a screen from the faceoff dot. The officials looked at the video replay for an extended period, but confirmed the goal.
Prior to the Seawolves' goal, Kangas made two outstanding third period saves to keep his shutout alive. He stopped Tommy Grant on a rebound attempt during an Alaska Anchorage power play with 17:10 left and then later stoned a two-on-one with just under 15 minutes remaining, stopping a shot by Spencer.
It didn't take long for Minnesota to get the goal back as Barriball scored just 19 seconds later off a perfect feed from Schroeder. Barriball was streaking towards the net and Schroeder passed from along the boards, hitting Barriball perfectly in stride for his first goal of the year. Hoeffel also had an assist on the goal.
Alaska Anchorage finished with a 32-31 advantage in shots as Christianson finished with 27 saves for the Seawolves. The Gophers were one-for-four on the power play and stopped Alaska Anchorage on all four of its man-advantage opportunities, including one over the final 1:13 of the game.
Minnesota played without freshman defenseman Nick Leddy, who was injured in Friday's game and is expected to miss about six weeks with a broken jaw.
The Gophers conclude an eight-game stretch of league games to open the season next weekend with a two-game series at Wisconsin. Games are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. each night.
