Gophers trip Badgers twice, grip No. 1 in WCHA, nation

MINNEAPOLIS, MN. — The University of Minnesota hockey teamÂ’s strong start through the first two months of the season has reached 6-0-2 atop the WCHA, and 10-1-2 atop the national ratings – so impressive that the only remaining person predict the likelihood that the Golden Gophers might falter isÂ…Golden Gophers coach Don Lucia.

Lucia is not a pessimist, but he realizes the unlikelihood of avoiding a slump all season. And heÂ’s painfully aware of what can happen if that flat spot comes too close to the end of the season.

It seemed unfair when the WCHA coaches picked Minnesota as preseason favorite, since it was clear the Golden Gophers would have to count on freshmen to fill the very large skates of players like Ryan Potulny, Phil Kessel, Gino Guyer and others. But so far, MinnesotaÂ’s freshmen have played a pivotal role, outplaying the best freshmen on every other WCHA team and helping Minnesota roar off to first place in the WCHA and the No. 1 rank in the nation.

Tyler Hirsch, returning from a redshirt year off, leads the team, and the WCHA, with 17 points in all games, and tied for second with 16 points are Gopher freshmen Kyle Okposo and Jay Barriball, both with 9-7—16, ahead of sophomore Blake Wheeler (7-7—14), junior Ben Gordon (5-9—14) and senior defenseman Alex Goligoski (4-9—13). The play of Okposo has been little short of spectacular, while Barriball has been an unexpected sparkplug.

“We’re not going to play nine freshmen and not have our ups and downs,” said Lucia. “We’ll go though a couple of weekends with some injuries or something, and my thought is that if we can just find a way to get points every weekend, we should be OK. We’ve been fortunate to catch teams when we have. We played Colorado College when they had a couple defensemen out, and Duluth was a little banged up when we played them, and Wisconsin was missing Jack Skille, and then got a couple more guys banged up against us in the first game.

“I think you’ll see our league have more compression, instead of separation,” Lucia added. “We haven’t seen Denver or North Dakota yet, and we know they’re both tough. Michigan Tech and Alaska-Anchorage are much better, and CC will be fine, and St. Cloud is in good shape right now. But while we’ve been fortunate when we’ve played teams, we’ve taken advantage, too, and put some points in the bank.”

So far, the Golden Gophers have faced good teams, bad teams, inexperienced teams, traditional rivals, and the defending NCAA champions, and theyÂ’ve done more than just take a point or two every weekend — they havenÂ’t lost a WCHA game. Their only loss this season was 3-1 against Maine in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame game at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. Since then, the Gophers have put together the nationÂ’s longest undefeated streak (10-0-2).

Now, at 6-0-2 atop the WCHA, Lucia says he focuses on the “lost” column of the standings. That shows Denver is second at 5-2-1, North Dakota 4-3-1, and Colorado College 4-2, but while all of them are certainly within striking distance, that zero in Minnesota’s loss column looks larger and larger. The toughest games in that 12-game undefeated streak were a pair of ties, 5-5 and 3-3, against St. Cloud State, but the Golden Gophers came back from that to topple defending national champ and archrival Wisconsin 2-1 and 3-1. That sweep was a role reversal from a year ago, when Wisconsin came to Minnesota, swept the Gophers, and it seemed the Badgers were going to run away with the WCHA title.

“But look what happened last year,” said Lucia.

True, last season the Badgers lost All-America goaltender Brian Elliott, dropped into a slump for a few weeks, and Minnesota stormed past to win the league title and gain the No. 1 rank. However, at the end of the season, Wisconsin beat the Gophers 4-0 in the WCHA playoffs, and the Gophers never recovered, losing to Holy Cross in the NCAA regional, while Wisconsin got things back in order and went all the way to the NCAA title.

The Gophers are going so well right now that Lucia pulled star winger Tyler Hirsch out of the lineup against Wisconsin. Lucia said Hirsch had fallen behind in a couple of classes, and he not only has decided to tighten up his discipline this season, he wants to make sure he has Hirsch’s skills for the whole season. “When Tyler came back this year, I said I wanted two things,” said Lucia. “I want him to have a big year, and to graduate.”

Without Hirsch, the Gophers had to work harder to score, but, as usual, they scored just enough to sweep Wiscoonsin. They won 2-1 when Goligoski scored on a first-period power play, then Barriball made it 2-0 in the third period with a goal that looked more like a veteran than a freshman. Wheeler had skated up the right side and passed across the slot. As Elliott, WisconsinÂ’s ace goaltender, slid anticipating the shot, Barriball already had anticipated that move and had quickly rapped a backhand for the far side of the net to score.

“I’m not surprised by Kyle’s play, but Barriball is definitely a surprise,” said Lucia. “He was going to play at Sioux Falls in the USHL, and when Phil Kessel signed a pro contract, he came in. He’s tenacious around the net, and he’s got great hockey sense – the instincts about where to go, and the puck finds him. He also has a good shot, and he has that habit of scoring goals.”

BarriballÂ’s goal proved to be the first-game winner against Wisconsin, after Ross CarlsonÂ’s goal broke the shutout bid of senior goalie Kellen Briggs.
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The next night, Minnesota fell behind 1-0 on Ben StreetÂ’s deflected goal in the second period. In the third, Ryan Stoa tried to pass out front to Okposo, but the pass hit the back of ElliottÂ’s blocker and caromed into the net for the equalizer.

With 5:43 remaining, the winning goal was an all-freshman happening. Tony Lucia – the coach’s kid – played an outsnding shift, hustling and forechecking and circling to attack again. Amid the flurry, freshman defenseman Brian Schack got a shot away from inside the left point. Elliott blocked it, and it popped up. Minnesota’s Mike Carman went hard to the net, and it was impossible to tell whether Badger freshman John Mitchell shoved him into the crease or chased him there, but they both bumped into Elliott, who fell facing south, while the puck landed in the north end of the crease. Lucia, about 20 feet out from the cage, saw the congestion of bodies and zipped around to the right and made a headlong dive, poking the free puck as he slid to the end boards. It was his first goal, and it was a reward for an outstanding shift.

At the end of the game, Okposo fed Wheeler for an open-net goal, and the Gophers had a 3-1 victory for the sweep.

Sophomore Jeff Frazee tended goal in the second game, as Lucia – the dad – continued to alternate him with Briggs. In league play, both have 3-0-1 records, and Frazee has a 1.71 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage, while Briggs is 1.96, and .924.

Goaltending has been easier because of strong defensive play. Goligoski, a junior, pairs with senior Mike Vannelli, the captain, while junior Derek Peltier pairs with freshman Erik Johnson, the NHL’s No. 1 overall draft pick last summer. The third unit has a pair of freshmen, Brian Schack and David Fischer, but the rookie blueliners have been solid, rather than inconsistent, and their size – all three are over 6-foot-2 – lets them make up for any uncertainty with a dose of aggressiveness.

So far, everything has fallen into place so well, itÂ’s understandable that coach Lucia might be looking for a possible flat spot, and heÂ’d prefer it to come early enough for the Gophers to be able to rebound. Of course, thereÂ’s always a chance there wonÂ’t be any slump, but if there isnÂ’t, it will take coach Lucia until about a week into April to realize it.

Gophers trip UMD in OT, face Wisconsin for title

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. — The University of Minnesota proved thereÂ’s no place like home Saturday, rising up to defeat favored Minnesota-Duluth 3-2 on sophomore Gigi MarvinÂ’s power-play goal in sudden-death overtime in the WomenÂ’s WCHA semifinals at Ridder Arena – the only facility of its kind built specifically for a womenÂ’s college hockey team.

The victory earned a spot in Sunday’s championship game against No.1 ranked Wisconsin, which blanked Ohio State 4-0 in the first semifinal at Ridder, and it also proved the Gophers were true to their insistence that they had been able to put out of their minds two thrashings – 7-1 and 5-1 – at the hands of UMD in Duluth two weeks ago. The victory also rekindles Minnesota’s hopes to reach the eight-team NCAA women’s hockey tournament field. The Gophers were No. 9, and UMD No. 7 going into the WCHA semifinals, and while the result may not drop the Bulldogs out of the top eight, it could lift the Gophers just enough to squeeze into the select field, which will be announced Sunday.

Of course, a victory for Minnesota (23-11-1) in today’s league playoff final would secure a spot, and that was what Gopher coach Laura Halldorson was focusing on. “We can only worry about playing Wisconsin,” said Halldorson. “We’re just really excited and proud, because we gave everything we had to win a tight game against Duluth. We’ve had great games in the past, a lot of them with much at stake, as there was in this one.

“Kim Hanlon was fantastic in goal, and getting on the board first was huge – a huge momentum boost. We’re going to have to do that against Wisconsin, too.”

UMD coach Shannon Miller said she was uncertain of her team’s security in the NCAA selection process. “You never know,” she said. “We were fairly solid in seventh coming in, and Boston College and Harvard both lost. We do have the strongest league in the country, so it would seem logical that we should have three teams in the field.”

Unlike the pivotal series which boosted UMD (22-10-4) into second place and dropped Minnesota to third, in which the Bulldogs jumped off to 5-0 leads through two periods both nights, Minnesota battled through the first period by outshooting UMD 9-6, and taking a 1-0 lead on the first goal, scored by senior Andrea Nichols on a power play in the last minute of the period. Anya Miller shot from center point, and when UMD freshman goaltender Kim Martin blocked it, Nichols smacked in the rebound from wide to the left of the goal.

The Bulldogs didnÂ’t exactly get the upper hand in the second period, being outshot 5-3 in the tight, defensive struggle, but they did tie the game at 4:12 on a power play of their own. Freshman Emmanuelle Blais carried deep on the right side, circled behind the net, and came all the way out to complete the circle at the top of the slot before firing toward the net. Saara Tuominen, another freshman, knocked it in.

Minnesota regained the lead at 2-1 at 12:39 of the middle period when sophomore defenseman Melanie Gagnon sent a harmless-looking shot on goal with Marvin screening in front. Martin appeared to have the shot under control, but it eluded her and trickled in, putting the Gophers up until the third period.

UMD senior Jessica Koizumi tied the game, sprawling to poke in the puck at 4:50 on another power play, and UMD rose up to take control of the game, outshooting the Gophers 14-3 in the third period, but unable to put anything else past Hanlon.

“There was a scramble, and I was falling,” said Koizumi, who is playing with a brace on an injured knee. “We want another chance. Our team has just gotten everybody back from injuries, and we’re just coming together. I’ve been in this position many times, and I’m crossing my fingers that we get into the NCAA tournament, because this is my last year, and I really think we’ve got a team that could win it.”

In the overtime, UMD senior defenseman Ashly Waggoner and a Gopher were scrapping for the puck and when the Gopher went down, referee Jay Mendel called Waggoner for tripping, at 0:52. The Gophers kept the pressure on after a corner faceoff, and Marvin scored at 1:08.

“I looked up, and saw an opening, and put it in,” said Marvin, who scored her 18th goal to tie Bobbi Ross for the team lead. “We’re high right now, we just won a big game against a great team, and we’re excited to play Wisconsin. We were very calm before the overtime, focused, and very confident.”

UMD coach Miller waited afterward to talk to Mendel. When asked about it, she said: “All I did was ask him whether it was proper to talk on the ice, or if we should go down in the corridor. We went off the ice. I asked him how he could make a call like that and not let the teams decide a game like that.”

Asked about the difference in the teams in the semifinal, compared with the two games two weeks ago in Duluth, Miller said: “They obviously played a lot better. You can’t come to Duluth and get spanked 7-1 and 5-1 and not come back and play with some fury. I was proud of our team, because we competed hard, and I thought we played our best when we outshot them 14-3 in the third period.”

Halldorson, meanwhile, said she decided to not mention that shot differential when the teams went off for resurfacing before the overtime. “I didn’t mention the shots, because the score was 2-2,” she said.

The third period gave UMD a 23-19 shot advantage for the tight contest. “After we played at Duluth, we just wanted to forget about it and finish strong,” said Hanlon. “We knew we were going to win.”
Hanlon was asked if she was as confident when a shot by Michaela Lanzl in the third period hit the left post and the ricochet went out through the crease behind her. “I guess I had my angle right,” she cracked.

Minnesota winger Erica McKenzie said: “Warming up, there was a weird vibe. We were calm, and people weren’t talking, but you could see it in everybody’s eyes – we were ready. I knew right when we got that power play, we were going to score and win the game. And then coach came down the bench and had some choice words for us.”
Halldorson clarified. “Wait a minute,” she said. “All I said was, ‘Would you guys please end this?’ And I’m glad Gigi took me up on it.”

BAUER, BADGERS WHIP OSU 4-0

ItÂ’s been a fantastic year for Ohio StateÂ’s womenÂ’s hockey program, and coach Jackie Barto credited a special crop of seniors for raising the Buckeyes to previously unattained heights. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes ran smack into the No. 1 rated Wisconsin Badgers, who stifled Ohio StateÂ’s offense and skated to a 4-0 victory that returns Wisconsin to the championship game. It wasnÂ’t like the Badgers overran the Buckeyes. They got a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal by Jasmine Giles late in a very evenly played first period. But much as the Buckeyes tried after that, they were never able to sustain enough offensive pressure to puncture Jessie VetterÂ’s 22-save shutout at Ridder Arena.

When the media requested players to interview after the game, the Badger staff declined to call on captain Sara Bauer, their captain, the defending Patty Kazmaier Award winner, and the just-named repeat winner of the Women’s WCHA player of the year award. After all, she gets interviewed all the time, and she undoubtedly will be called upon after the championship game. Besides, other players starred in the 4-0 victory – Meghan Duggan, who scored shorthanded in the second period to make it 2-0, and Angie Keseley and Jinelle Zaugg, who padded the margin in the third period with timely goals against Buckeye goaltender Erika Vanderveer. And also, of course, there was Vetter.
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However, Bauer made her presence felt with her usual near-flawless performance, and brilliant plays by the tiny but tenacious 5-foot-3 senior center from St. Catherines, Ontario, orchestrated easy goals by both Duggan and Zaugg.

“We’re thrilled to get another opportunity to play in the championship game,” said Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson, who had guided the Badgers to an even more outstanding season than a year ago, when they won the WCHA, the WCHA playoff, and the NCAA title. This year’s Badgers are 32-1-4, and ranked No. 1, with the WCHA league title in hand, and the playoff title within their grasp today.

The final count obscured the competitiveness of the game. The only goal in the first period came on a power play at 17:38 by Giles, giving the Badgers a key opening lead. Badger defenseman Meaghan Mikkelson, named the top defensive player in the league, got her first of two assists on the goal.

Ohio State coach Jackie Barto, whose team finished a program-best 20-13-4, said: “We had a couple real good scoring chances in the first and second periods, and if one of them had gone in, it might have been a different game, We’ve had some success on offense against Wisconsin, though; we’d been able to crash the net and get some rebounds this season.”

But not this game. In the second period, Wisconsin was killing a two-skater penalty shortage when Bauer got the puck in her own zone. She played the puck off the boards to herself, and seemed to mesmerize everybody in the rink as she raced down the left boards. Instead of merely dumping the puck in to kill time, Bauer held onto it, and carried deep into the left corner. About then, Meghan Duggan, a 22-goal-scoring freshman winger from Danvers, Mass., came out of the penalty box and skated for the net. Bauer passed it, and Duggan had her 23rd goal, a shorthanded gem.

“That second goal put a little dent in us,” said Barto. “Our team kept competing, but Vetter played solidly, and Wisconsin is very good defensively.”

Early in the third period, Angie Keseley made it 3-0, getting her stick on a loose puck while diving into a scramble at the crease at 6:05. And as the game neared its conclusion, Bauer did her thing again to seal it. With 3:06 remaining, Bauer forechecked to swipe the puck behind the Ohio State goal. She did a quick stop and go, reversing her direction on the end boards and carrying back behind the net, then passing out to the goal-mouth. Zaugg, a 6-foot-1 junior from Eagle River, Wis., was there for a one-timer. Vanderveer had no chance, and the Badgers had their 4-0 victory.

“I liked the way the last 40 minutes went,” said Mark Johnson. “The first 20 was a chess match, because nobody wanted to make a mistake. We made a couple of adjustments, and the team really responded well. We scored first on the power play, then Sara made a great play to Duggan coming out of the penalty box for the shorthanded goal.”
Vetter, who is 17-1-3 but only alternates with Christine Dufour (15-0-1), credited her defense. “Our D has been great all year, blocking shots,” Vetter said. “We had a little case of nerves in the first period, but we settled down.”

The Badgers settled down, and prepared to defend their league playoff title.

Pair of ties extends Huskies winless, unbeaten streaks

The St. Cloud State Huskies are fit to be tied. Or at least, ties fit the Huskies well, after a pair of deadlocks in a home-and-home series with Minnesota lifted them to a new measure of respect as a WCHA contender.

St. Cloud State battled from behind all night to gain a 5-5 tie Friday at Mariucci Arena, then couldnÂ’t hold a 3-1 lead on Saturday in St. Cloud, but held off a furious finishing rally to gain a 3-3 tie. The bad news is the Huskies are winless in their last five games; the good news is they simultaneously are undefeated in their last three games.

Coach Bob Motzko was far from satisfied, and star goaltender Bobby GoepfertÂ’s statistics are nowhere near where he, or other WCHA observers, expect them to be. GoepfertÂ’s frustration reached the point where heÂ’s willing to assume bad luck that he acquired from a mirror he broke a couple of months ago, but still, when the games against the Golden Gophers were on the line, Goepfert came up with huge saves to get what amounted to a series split against the unbeaten Gophers.

The two ties were the only nicks on MinnesotaÂ’s 4-0-2 WCHA record (8-1-2 overall) making the Gophers unbeaten at 8-0-2 after an opening loss to Maine. The Gophers have scored 4.55 goals per game and allowed only 2.09. St. Cloud State, at 2-3-3, has averaged 3.12 goals per game, and given up 3.12 goals per game. The Huskies split with Denver, and with traditional rival Minnesota State-Mankato, then lost and tied at North Dakota, before taking on No. 2-ranked Minnesota.

The talent-laden Golden Gophers are the consensus pick of the coaches to win the WCHA, and they made it look easy as they spotted the Huskies a 1-0 start, then stormed to leads of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 in the first game. With eight minutes remaining, the 2-goal lead looked pretty solid. But St. Cloud freshman Ryan Lasch came through with a power-play goal, and junior defenseman Matt Stephenson drilled another with 4:27 remaining to forge the 5-5 tie.

Of particular note is that Grant Clafton, Justin Fletcher and Stephenson are all defensemen, and all three of them scored in the game, which means that after eight games, Huskies defensemen now have three (count Â’em, 3) goals for the season.

The next night, before a packed, screaming crowd in St. Cloud, the teams reversed roles, with the Huskies spotting Minnesota the first goal, then rallying for a 3-1 lead in a wild second period, before Minnesota stormed back for two late goals. The Huskies had to hold on to claim the tie, but they did exactly that.

Motzko knows the Huskies are nowhere near their potential. A couple of freshmen have been leading the team – in fact, the league – in scoring, with Ryan Lasch getting a goal and two assists in the first game, and another assist in the second, to take the WCHA scoring lead at 5-6—11. Austrian Andreas Nodl scored a key goal in the first game, and is tied for second in league scoring at 4-5—9.

At the other end of the statistics, Goepfert ranks 14th among league goaltenders with a 3.18 goals-against record, and 12th with a save percentage of .892. Motzko is not worried about Goepfert, but Goepfert himself is frustrated because he hasnÂ’t yet found his usual rhythm.

“I broke a mirror in September,” Goepfert said. “Really. I really did break a mirror. I hate to say I’m having bad luck, but maybe that’s why. It’s kind of the way my season has been. I analyze every goal, and I’m a reaction goalie, and I’ve been fighting the puck, and leaving bad rebounds.”

Goepfert was talking after the first game, and used it as evidence of how his reactions have not quite been in synch. After Clafton scored for St. Cloud, Ryan Stoa, Ben Gordon and Jay Barriball scored for Minnesota. Stoa was open to backhand in a rebound at the right edge of the net – an opportunist goal to Stoa and the Gophers; a bad rebound to Goepfert. “It was like at North Dakota last week,” he said. “I got it against my arm, and it squirted through.”

Gordon got off a shot from the left circle that trickled through, 5-hole. “It hit me in the bread-basket,” Goepfert said. “And somehow it squirted through.”

Goepfert may have thought he left a bad rebound on the next one, but he did well to stop a high-speed rush by Barriball, who was closing on the left side of the net, and as Goepfert tried to smother the shot, the Gopher freshman smacked again as he passed the cage and knocked it in.
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Down 3-1, Fletcher, a senior defenseman, whistled in a power-play goal in the second period, cutting it to 3-2. But Kyle Okposo, who may be a freshman but appears to be MinnesotaÂ’s most talented player, scored on a one-timer to regain the two-goal edge at 4-2. Again the Huskies closed in, when freshman Nodl one-timed Nate DeyÂ’s pass across the slot for another power-play goal and a 4-3 count. Nodl, a left-handed shooter, was in prime position at the right circle to one-time the arriving pass and drill it high into the short side against Kellen Briggs.

Yet again, the Gophers went back up by two when Blake Wheeler scored five minutes into the third period, but the Huskies never wavered. Lasch scored from the slot when his low, screened shot clanged in at 11:28, two seconds after a power play expired, to cut it to 5-4. Then Stephenson moved in from center point to drill another screened shot with 4:27 remaining.

Motzko was grumbling about how shaky the Huskies played on defense, and Goepfert was talking about bad luck and shaky rebounds, but nonetheless, the Huskies defense shrugged off Minnesota’s hardest attempts at forechecking and calmly broke the puck out, and Goepfert came up with a couple of major league saves in overtime – including a huge glove snatch on an Okposo shot – to hold the tie.

“Early, we were poor,” said Motzko, a former Minnesota assistant. “Our speed, our backchecking, were atrocious. We can’t turn the puck over, no matter where you’re at. We were really careless with the puck. I thought it would be a low-scoring game, because we’re a pretty good defensive team, and they’re a great defensive team. We turned the puck over on one mistake in the second period, and Kyle (Okposo) came down and scored.”

Someone angling for a comparison to former Gopher Thomas Vanek, who once was coached and recruited by Motzko, asked if Okposo reminded him of anyone. “Jerome Iginla?” Motzko answered.

As for his struggling goaltender, Motzko said: “Bobby battled back in there. Let’s just say Bobby is not in a place he’s ever been, but he’ll be back.”

The positive steps are the week-to-week improvement. Motzko and defensive assistant Eric Rud spent the previouis week stressing getting the defensemen involved in the offense.

“We worked in practice about getting the puck in deep in the offensive zone,” said Fletcher. “We got in position to get some shots on goal. Grant took a chance and moved in 4-on-4, and buried it. I usually might get seven or eight goals, and I got one. And Stephenson scored the second goal in his career.”

In the second game, with a much more involved crowd scene at St. Cloud, the Huskies trailed 1-0 on a Tyler Hirsch goal, but then Gary Houseman, John Swanson and Nate Raduns connected for second-period goals and a 3-1 lead. Raduns, at the left circle, got a perfect feed from Lasch in the slot. The powerful Gophers, however, stormed back with relentless pressure in the third period, and Barriball closed the gap with his eighth goal of a superb freshman term, and captain Mike Vannelli came through for the equalizer after a power-play pass from Hirsch.

Another night, another tie, tie, tie for the Huskies. But three straight ties moved them into contention, and what better way to simultaneously build two streaks – winless and undefeated?

Gophers sweep ruins UMD’s historic weekend

The University of Minnesota hockey team had its own agenda going in a pivotal weekend at Duluthm and paying tribute to the University of Minnesota-Duluth’s hockey history was not a part of it. The Gophers used opposite approaches to win both games by identical 3-2 counts.

The sweep puts Minnesota at 4-0 in the WCHA, and 8-1 overall – with eight straight victories following the Hall of Fame game 3-1 loss to Maine. The victories also pushed Minnesota to a school-record-expanding 16-game (13-0-3) road unbeaten streak, which measures 10-0-2 in WCHA road games. So current affairs superseded historic significance for Minnesota.

The Bulldogs came out for the second game attired in the same style uniforms they wore 40 years ago, on November 19, 1966, when an upstart UMD hockey program played arguably the biggest game in its history. It was the Bulldogs second year in the WCHA, and they were opening the Duluth Arena, a shiny new complex located the width of a frontage road from the Duluth harbor. The first WCHA game to be played in the Arena brought the arch-rival Gophers in to face UMD, and the Bulldogs treated a capacity crowd to a stunning 8-1 victory, as Keith (Huffer) Christiansen played Pied Piper — leading assorted Gopher defenders off toward the corners and then passing in front to record six assists.

Forty years later, itÂ’s 2006, Christiansen’s school assist record remains, and on the anniversary of that momentous occasion, Minnesota brought a new edition of Gophers to the facility. The arena has aged well while making the transition from the newest arena in the WCHA to the oldest, even surviving one of those modernizing name changes from simply the “Duluth Arena” to the convoluted and awkward “Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center,” DECC for short.

The Duluth News-Tribune dug through its archives and reprinted a phoned-in article on that 8-1 game from the paper of Nov. 20, 1966. The story was written by yours truly, and it seems like only yesterday…

At any rate, the Bulldogs were primed and ready to make a run at letting history repeat itself. Minnesota had beaten them 3-2 the night before, jumping ahead 3-0, then withstanding a late UMD rally. A controversial disallowed UMD goal further added to the intensity of the rematch, and while the Bulldogs introduced Christiansen and WCHA commissioner Bruce McLeod among eight members of that 40th anniversary team in attendance, the current Bulldogs honored them with the retro jerseys, complete with “Bulldogs” stenciled in script across the chest.

It seemed as though all was well when Mason Raymond, a smoothly skilled UMD sophomore, scored in the first period, and Bryan McGregor, a late-blooming senior, scored in the second for a 2-1 UMD lead.
But the Gophers had bigger things on their minds. Tyler Hirsch set up Mike Vannelli for the tying goal on a power play in the third period. In overtime, Hirsch watched freshman centerman Kyle Okposo draw defenders before sliding him the puck across the goal-mouth, and Hirsch snapped a backhander up high, into the roof of the net, from the right edge at 0:49 to give the Gophers their sweep.

“I really liked the way our seniors came through,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia.

True, on a team where freshmen have been leading the way and getting the headlines, Vannelli and Hirsch – the only two senior skaters – got the goals. Sophomore Jeff Frazee tended goal, a night after Kellen Briggs, the team’s third senior, had held off the late-charging Bulldogs.

Lucia also liked the fact that after a surprisingly easy sweep of Colorado College the previous weekend, the Gophers faced all sorts of pressure from an aroused foe and won the first game by proving they could hold a lead under pressure, then won the second by coming from behind.

“We had to kill penalties through the last seven minutes in the first game, and then we won by coming from behind for the first time,” Lucia said. “It was a well-played game. Early in the game, I told the players we only had one foot in it, and that we’re not going to win on the road unless everybody gets both feet into it.

“It was important to get the tying goal at 1-1, and then when we were pressing to get that last tying goal, we didn’t turn the puck over, and we never fell behind by two.”

UMD, which went through a freshman-dominated rebuilding last season, now has a flock of impressive sophomores, led by Raymond, MacGregor Sharp and Andrew Carroll, whgo make up the first line, plus winger Michael Grgen and defensemen Matt Niskanen and Josh Meyers. With Raymond sniping a deadly shot into the upper right corner from the slot in the first period, and McGregor dashing through the Minnesota defense to make it 2-1, the Bulldogs looked to be in position to gain the split.
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McGregor had scored a goal in the first game but had it disallowed by a belated too-many-men call, which led to emotions running higher than usual for the rematch. Feelings werenÂ’t much soothed in the second game when, at 2-1, Niskanen took a slash, and when it went undetected, he returned the slash. Naturally, that one got called, and Niskanen was in the box when Vannelli converted the power-play goal for the 2-2 equalizer.

A key to the winning finish was the winning goal by Hirsch, who would rather set up teammates than score himself, a fact verified by his statistics, which measured 1 goal and 12 assists before he scored the winner.

“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the whole team,” said Hirsch, a senior from Bloomington, who played at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, and took a year off for personal reasons last season before lending his invaluable veteran leadership to the current crop of Gophers.
“You can’t win ’em all 8-1, and you also have to do well in tight games. We were jacked up. We’re used to scoring a lot of goals.”

Lucia, who welcomed Hirsch back to a team with six freshman forwards and two more freshmen on defense. The scoring by freshmen Okposo and Jay Barriball, plus sophomores Blake Wheeler and Ryan Stoa, and junior Ben Gordon, had led the balanced Gophers into the Duluth weekend. But when it came to game-breaking time, Hirsch stepped forward.

“Tyler took it upon himself,” said Lucia. “He’s been one of our best players, and on the winning goal, he came around to his backhand and roofed it. No question, it was a goal-scorer’s goal.”

Raymond and McGregor were UMD’s onlyh goal-scorers 40 years later, and if the decades could be blurred, the Bulldog power play could have used Huffer and a few of his former teammates.

Dingle leads Denver rise from hot-cold start to just hot

A tradition for winning the championship in the WCHA indicates a good formula is to win at home and split on the road. If carried out to perfection, that formula assures a team of winning 75 percent of the time, which would put it in strong contention if not guarantee a title. Then there is Denver University, which has defied convention the past two seasons.

Two years ago, the Pioneers battled inconsistency before losing a first-round league playoff series, but missing the Final Five allowed some injuries to heal and a high ranking put the Pioneers into the NCAA tournament, where they won the national championship. Last season, the Pioneers had a better regular season, finishing second in the league, but a first-round league playoff upset by Minnesota-Duluth left them on the bubble, and they didnÂ’t even get invited to the 16-team NCAA party to defend their crown.

So when Denver split at Minnesota-Duluth, leaving the Pioneers exactly at .500 – at 2-2 in WCHA play and 4-4 overall – there was no cause for alarm.

“We’re still finding ourselves,” said junior center Ryan Dingle. “We’re a young team, and we’re all filling different roles this season.”

Dingle, who scored the only DU goal in the first-game 2-1 overtime loss at Duluth, scored two more on Saturday to spark the Pioneers to a 4-2 victory for the split.

“We’re playing .500 right now, and I’m not saying that’s good enough,,” said Dingle, who has two previous seasons in a Denver jersey. “And when you look back, we were about .500 the last two years – and we won an NCAA championship one of them, and didn’t even make it the other. So, playing .500 isn’t that bad, for now.”

Junior goalie Peter Mannino got his first victory of the season, after it had appeared senior Glenn Fisher might be taking over the nets with his strong early play. Naturally, coach George Gwozdecky was in a better mood after Saturday’s victory than after Friday’s overtime defeat. Much of that was because, after being outplayed for much of Friday’s game, and outshot 38-26 by the Bulldogs, Denver responded by outshooting UMD 40-25 in the 4-2 rematch – including a dominant 15-3 in the third period.

“I thought that was our best game of the season,” Gwozdecky said, after the Saturday night special. “And the third period? We’ll take it.”

Dingle can stickhandle adroitly through opposing teams on end-to-end rushes, but he has a scoring knack beyond the obvious “Dingle dangles.” Dingle doesnÂ’t discriminate about what kind of goals he scores, giving Pioneer fans a positive “Dingle Tingle” from any angle.

“When it comes to being lucky or good, I’ll play lucky every time,” said Dingle, who has six goals in eight games while nobody else on the team has more than three goals. He laughed, almost a bit sheepishly, about how he scored three of Denver’s five goals for the weekend, all of them benefits of good fortune.

The same might be said for the other two goals, both scored by Rhett Rakhshani, who is believed to be the only first line winger in college hockey to be a Persian, roller-hockey-player from California. So much for another tradition.

In DenverÂ’s first game at Duluth, it was scoreless early in the second period when UMDÂ’s flashy freshman goaltender Alex Stalock went behind the net to clear the puck. Dingle was skating in on the left side, watching Stalock live up to his penchant for wandering, and he also saw his freshman winger, Rakhshani, forechecking hard from the right side. Rakhshani blocked the puck free from Stalock, knocked it out front, and as the goalie frantically tried to slide back into the crease, DingleÂ’s one-timer had already found the twine.

“I just got to the right place at the right time,” Dingle shrugged.
That was never more true than in the rematch. Again the game was scoreless, early in the second period, when there was a faceoff in the right corner of the UMD zone. “I won the faceoff back to Chris Butler, and I held up my guy for a second so he could get time to shoot,” said Dingle. “Then I went to the net as Butler shot from the point, and the rebound came right to me.”

Right place, right time, easy conversion, 1-0 Denver lead. The Pioneers went up 2-0, but UMD came back for a 2-2 standoff that lasted until midway through the third period. Dingle saw Tyler Ruegsegger, another freshman out with him on the power play, lining up a shot 30 feet straight out in the slot. “I was trying to crash the net,” Dingle said. “Tyler shot, and it hit my skate.”

And went in, for the game-winner. Dingle was reluctant to accept credit for that goal until it was pointed out that he appeared to deflect it. He didnÂ’t want to take credit for a goal that might otherwise have gone to Ruegsegger. Not only is he focused on team success, but Dingle has always been able to score goals, with 39 of them in 89 games in two-plus seasons.

He fulfills one tradition by proving that goal-scorers seem to find ways to score. Other traditions are more elusive, though. Most coaches pattern their teams to have seniors set a high and poised standard of production, while juniors are free to reach their peak of performance, sophomores can step up as rookies-no-more, and freshmen have time to blend into the team concept with some bright spots amid anticipated inconsistencies.

The Pioneers have six freshmen in the lineup, with defenseman Keith Seabrook and forwards Ruegsegger, Sakhshani, Brock Trotter, Brian Gifford and Matt Glasser all playing regularly, with Rakhshani and Gifford on the first line, and Ruegsegger and Trotter on the second. Having five freshman forwards might seem like a liability, but not with the Pioneers, where freshmen have led the way in scoring with a combined 7 goals – three from Ruegsegger, two from Trotter, while Rakhshani got his first two goals in the victory at Duluth.
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“We couldn’t be happier with our freshman class,” said Dingle.
By comparison, Denver’s three senior forwards – Ryan Helgason, Mike Handza and Steven Cook – have only one goal, by Cook, so far this season. Dingle has six goals, but fellow-junior Geoff Paukovich has none. Patrick Mullen has all three goals for the two sophomore forwards, although J.P. Testwuide is a former defenseman converted to a checking wing.

Rakhshani’s play has been consistent enough to earn a first line slot. “I grew up playing roller hockey, and things just snowballed,” said Rakhshani, who grew up in Huntington Beach, Calif., and was claimed on the fourth round by the New York Islanders in last summer’s NHL draft.
His first two collegiate goals might indicate Gwozdecky did well to put him on Dingle’s wing. When the Pioneers led 1-0, Rakhshani saw Stalock block a shot, so he moved out of the congestion, to the left of the goal. “I saw Geoff Paukovich banging at the puck, and it bounced right to me,” said Rakhshani.

In the final minute, Rakhshani also scored an open-net goal, but it was not just a simple tally, as one defenseman was draped on his back and another was in front of him. “Ryan Dingle sort of took the one guy out, and my shot happened to go through the defenseman’s legs,”
If the name Rakhshani doesn’t have the traditional sound of a Lafleur, or Orr – or even a Gauthier or Magnuson, from DU’s past, it is because of his heritage. and his heritage is…”Persian,” he said.

Persian. Isn’t that what they now call Iran, or Iraq? Rakhshani laughed. “These days, I’d rather stick with Persian,” he said.

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• About the Author

  John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
  
  For those who want to keep up with John Gilbert's view of sports, mainly hockey with a Minnesota slant, click on the following:
  
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• Exhaust Notes:

  PADDLING
  More and more cars are offering steering-wheel paddles to allow drivers manual control over automatic or CVT transmissions. A good idea might be to standardize them. Most allow upshifting by pulling on the right-side paddle and downshifting with the left. But a recent road-test of the new Porsche Panamera, the paddles for the slick PDK direct-sequential gearbox were counter-intuitive -- both the right or left thumb paddles could upshift or downshift, but pushing on either one would upshift, and pulling back on either paddle downshifted. I enjoy using paddles, but I spent the full week trying not to downshift when I wanted to upshift. A little simple standardization would alleviate the problem.
  
  

  SPEAKING OF PADDLES
  The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution has the best paddle system, and Infiniti has made the best mainstream copy of that system for the new Q50, and other sporty models. And why not? It's simply the best. In both, the paddles are long, slender magnesium strips, affixed to the steering column rather than the steering wheel. Pull on the right paddle and upshift, pull on the left and downshift. The beauty is that while needing to upshift in a tight curve might cause a driver to lose the steering wheel paddle for an instant, but having the paddles long, and fixed, means no matter how hard the steering wheel is cranked, reaching anywhere on the right puts the upshift paddle on your fingertips.
  
  

  TIRES MAKE CONTACT
  Even in snow-country, a few stubborn old-school drivers want to stick with rear-wheel drive, but the vast majority realize the clear superiority of front-wheel drive. Going to all-wheel drive, naturally, is the all-out best. But the majority of drivers facing icy roadways complain about traction for going, stopping and steering with all configurations. They overlook the simple but total influence of having the right tires can make. There are several companies that make good all-season or snow tires, but there are precious few that are exceptional. The Bridgestone Blizzak continues to be the best=known and most popular, but in places like Duluth, MN., where scaling 10-12 blocks of 20-30 degree hills is a daily challenge, my favorite is the Nokian WR. Made without compromising tread compound, the Nokians maintain their flexibility no matter how cold it gets, so they stick, even on icy streets, and can turn a skittish car into a winter-beater.