University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Earn First WCHA Win, Beat SCSU 2-1
10/24/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota recovered from an early deficit to earn its first WCHA victory of the season on Sunday, defeating No. 14/15 St. Cloud State 2-1 at Mariucci Arena. Jacob Cepis and Jay Barriball scored first period goals and Kent Patterson stopped 25 shots to help the No. 20 Gophers secure the close win.
"I don't know that we could have scripted the game much better tonight," said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. "They scored that first goal but then we responded right away and scored that very next shift."
For the fourth consecutive game, the Gophers fell behind early. Just 6:12 into the first period, defenseman Brett Barta took a slapshot that made its way through a Jared Festler screen in front that beat Patterson to the blockerside, giving the Huskies a 1-0 advantage.
The Gophers would respond quickly, however, when Cepis converted on a feed from Zach Budish 33 seconds later. After receiving Budish's pass, Cepis skated along the goal line in front of SCSU goaltender Dan Dunn and lost control of the puck, but quickly recovered and beat Dunn five-hole to even the score.
Cepis' tally was Minnesota's first opening-frame goal in WCHA play this year and was the team's first goal in the first period of any game that wasn't scored by captain Jay Barriball.
Just under 12 minutes later, the Gophers would take their first lead of the season against a WCHA opponent. With Drew LeBlanc in the penalty box for holding, Erik Haula made a no-look pass to Mike Hoeffel. Hoeffel then slid a cross-crease feed to Jay Barriball, who completed the tic-tac-toe play to notch his sixth goal of the season.
Patterson and the Gopher defense would take it from there.
St. Cloud was held to 13 shots through the first two periods despite having four power-play opportunities and Patterson was there when the team needed him.
Shortly after gaining the lead, Patterson was faced with a breakaway by SCSU's Tony Mosey. With defenseman Seth Helgeson hot in pursuit, Patterson took charge and made a diving poke check to deny Mosey of a prime scoring opportunity.
Later in the game, Patterson stuffed Husky forward Travis Novak on a back-door one-timer attempt on St. Cloud State's fifth and final power play.
SCSU coach Bob Motzko pulled Dunn with 53 seconds remaining, but the Huskies couldn't muster the tying goal to force overtime. Their best look came in the waning seconds of play and was blocked by Barriball and then quickly clearly cleared by Hoeffel.
"It was a huge win for us today, especially to get the first two points after losing two games last weekend," said Patterson. "It was a good stepping stone."
Freshman forward Nick Bjugstad missed the game after being diagnosed with mononucleosis on Saturday. He is expected to miss the next few weeks.
The Gophers will continue WCHA play next weekend, heading on the road for the first time this season. They will face Colorado College at Colorado Springs World Arena on Friday and Saturday.
