University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Drops Wild Game to UMD
2/6/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
The Minnesota men’s hockey team made a valiant comeback effort after falling behind WCHA-rival Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday night, but fell short, dropping a 6-4 decision at Amsoil Arena. Mike Connolly stole the show for the fourth-ranked Bulldogs by notching five goals, the most goals for a UMD player in a single game since 1972.
Connolly started the scoring at 8:04 of the first, beating Minnesota goaltender Kent Patterson with a one-timer from just outside of the crease to put Minnesota-Duluth on the board first for the first time in four games against the Gophers this season. He added his second goal of the night just under eight minutes later to make it 2-0 after one.
UMD gained its largest lead of the night when Connolly knocked in a back-door pass from Justin Fontaine to complete the hat trick just 1:22 into the second period. The Gophers responded almost immediately, however, when Kevin Wehrs’ slapshot made it through traffic and past UMD goalie Aaron Crandall 33 seconds later.
The Gophers pulled within one when Mike Hoeffel potted his tenth goal of the season just before the midway point in the game. Nick Bjugstad poked a Mark Alt rebound loose in front and Hoeffel buried the resulting chance.
Minnesota seemed to have tied the game at 15:56 of the second period when Patrick White scored on his own rebound, but the goal was disallowed due to a goaltender interference penalty called on Nico Sacchetti.
The Bulldogs were unable to take advantage of the ensuing power play, but Connolly scored his fourth his goal of the game with 103 seconds remaining in the period to make the score 4-2 heading into the final frame.
Battling hard, Minnesota again prevented UMD from pulling away when Duluth-native Cade Fairchild scored his second goal of the weekend to make cut the deficit in half. Fairchild faked a shot from the point to throw off a Bulldog defender and fired a shot that deflected past Crandall and in with 10:16 to go in the final stanza.
Minnesota-Duluth answered with just over three minutes to go when Travis Oleksuk’s shot from the slot hit the right post and narrowly crossed the goal line as it danced across the red stripe. The goal would eventually become Oleksuk’s team-leading seventh game-winning goal of the season.
With 1:35 remaining, Nate Condon scored the Gophers’ fourth goal of the game with the extra attacker, but Connolly iced the game with his fifth tally of the night 15 seconds later.
The loss leaves Minnesota one point behind Colorado College for sixth place in the WCHA and home-ice advantage in the first round of the conference playoffs with eight games left on the schedule. The Gophers conceded a hat trick for the first time since Feb. 13, 2010 when Denver’s Joe Colburne scored three times in a 5-1 Minnesota loss.
The Gophers will return to action next weekend when they host the Pioneers at Mariucci Arena on Friday at 7 p.m. and on Saturday at 5 p.m.
