University of Minnesota Athletics
Early Deficit Dooms Gophers Again in 4-1 Loss
1/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota faced an early deficit to St. Cloud State for the second straight night and was unable to recover in a 4-1 loss to the Huskies on Saturday at Mariucci Arena.
The Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in back-to-back games in sweeping the weekend series from the Gophers and improving to 16-7-3 overall and 11-5-2 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The 12th-ranked Huskies stayed red hot in moving to 11-1-1 over the past 13 games.
Minnesota had won seven of its last nine entering the weekend, but fell to 12-12-2 overall and 7-9-2 in the league. The Gophers had also beaten St. Cloud State in all six meetings last season. Minnesota is now 12-0-0 when holding its opponents to fewer than three goals and 0-12-2 when its opponent scores three goals or more.
For the second straight night, Minnesota also controlled much of the action in defeat. The Gophers owned a 43-21 advantage in shots, including a 15-5 margin in the first period, despite their 2-0 deficit. Huskies' goaltender Mike Lee finished with 42 saves in the win. It was the second straight night the Gophers put at least 40 shots on goal in defeat.
Defenseman Taylor Johnson scored the Huskies' first goal on a power play just 2:07 into the game. Johnson took a feed from Sam Zabkowicz and wristed a high shot from the left faceoff circle for his first career goal. The Gophers had allowed just one power play goal on their last 29 opponent power plays prior to the goal.
St. Cloud State went ahead 2-0 on just its third shot of the game as David Eddy took a shot from the slot that deflected off Gophers' goaltender Alex Kangas and trickled over the goal line. The goal came at 13:09 of the first period.
Jared Festler made it 3-0 at 4:21 of the second period, firing a one-timer in the upper corner of the net. Ryan Lasch set up the play with a pass from behind the net to Festler cutting down the slot. Fester's hard shot bounced off the top of the net inside the cage and immediately bounced back out, but video replay confirmed the goal.
St. Cloud State had an opportunity to extend its lead in the closing minutes of the second period when Minnesota's Kevin Wehrs was called for a five-minute major penalty with 3:41 left in the period. The first minute of the power play was a four-on-three advantage and the Huskies failed to add to their lead. Their best chance came when Johnson launched a shot that bounced off the post in two different spots, but never crossed the goal line. It was ruled no goal at the time and confirmed by replay at the next whistle.
Moments later, Cade Fairchild got Minnesota on the board at the 3:35 mark of the third period, ripping a one-timer off a perfect feed from defensive partner Aaron Ness. Jacob Cepis also assisted the play to extend his scoring streak to seven straight games.
Ness later fed Tony Lucia for a great scoring chance with just under eight minutes left in the third period as Lucia broke free in the slot, but Lee made a terrific glove save. With about five minutes left in the period, Jake Hansen gloved a puck in the Gophers' zone and sprinted down the ice before ripping a shot off the crossbar.
The Gophers pulled Kangas for an extra attacker with 2:25 left and kept the puck in the Huskies' end for over a minute, but Festler broke free and scored an empty net goal with 1:03 left to finish the scoring.
Kangas made 17 saves for the Gophers, who had their streak snapped of scoring a power play goal in nine straight games. Minnesota was 0-for-2 on the man-advantage, while St. Cloud State finished 1-for-2.
The Gophers play their next four games on the road, beginning with a two-game series at Alaska Anchorage next weekend.
