University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Take Down No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth
12/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota used a 37-save performance from goaltender Kent Patterson to fend off second-ranked Minnesota-Duluth's high-powered offense and hold on for a 3-2 win at Mariucci Arena on Friday night. Patterson saved his best stop of the night for last, diving across the crease to knock down UMD forward Justin Fontaine's close-range shot with his glove with 40 seconds remaining to preserve the win.
"That [save] was pretty big," said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. "He didn't even worry about [his] stick. He just dove across and made the save. You have to have those kinds of saves against a good team."
The Gophers started the scoring 3:12 into the game when Nick Larson tipped a Seth Helgeson shot from the blueline past Minnesota-Duluth goaltender Kenny Reiter for his third goal in the last four games. Helgeson picked up his second career assist on the goal.
The Gophers appeared to take a two-goal lead midway through the period when Mike Hoeffel redirected a shot from the point past Reiter, but the goal was waived off because it was knocked in with a high stick.
The Bulldogs tied the game with 13.6 seconds left in the first period when Jack Connolly beat Patterson from the left circle with Minnesota defenseman Kevin Wehrs in the penalty box for hooking.
The Gophers struck first in the second period when Nico Sacchetti entered the UMD zone and fired a shot over Reiter's shoulder to help Minnesota regain the lead.
Minnesota made it 3-1 just under seven minutes later when Jay Barriball scored an unassisted power play goal. His original shot took a few bounces before it hit Bulldog defenseman Dylan Olson's skate and went into the lower-right corner.
With 4:25 remaining in the middle frame, the Bulldogs thought they beat Patterson again with a power-play goal, but the goal was disallowed because the officials ruled that the puck was kicked in by Fontaine.
The Gophers took a two-goal lead into the third period for the sixth time this season and Patterson took over from there.
Minnesota-Duluth defenseman Justin Faulk cut the Minnesota lead to one with a top-shelf power-play goal with 4:53 left in regulation, but the Bulldogs couldn't muster the game-tying goal despite outshooting the Gophers 17-7 in the final stanza.
Before making his acrobatic final-minute save on Fontaine, Patterson stretched across the crease to deny the UMD senior's power play one-timer with 4:57 to go.
Minnesota-Duluth used its timeout and pulled Reiter with 1:28 on the clock, but Patterson, Barriball, Hoeffel, Helgeson, Aaron Ness, and Erik Haula kept the Bulldogs off the board in the final minute to ensure the victory. It was Minnesota's first win against a top-two team since March 21, 2008, against Colorado College.
The Gophers improved to 9-0-1 on the year when scoring first and 6-0-0 when taking a two-goal lead into the third period with the win.
"We asked our guys to go out and work harder and give ourselves a chance, and we did," said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. "Patterson was great for them in the third period, made some good saves. Give him credit. You can't control that."
Minnesota will look to complete the sweep of their in-state rival tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at Mariucci Arena.
