Bulldogs play better, threaten more, still fall 3-1 to stay winless
Nothing seemed to bother Denver Saturday night, not a much better effort by UMD, not giving up the first goal, not being outshot 15-3 in the third period and 31-24 in the game, not even “Lineup-gate,” a weird circumstance where somehow two different Denver depth charts surfaced, leading to a penalty when it was discovered in the press box.
The Pioneers overcame all of that, and calmly skated to a 3-1 victory over UMD before 3,596 fans at the DECC and a regional television audience. The series sweep boosts Denver to an 8-0-0 record as the only unbeaten and untied team in the WCHA, an overall record of 11-1, and the certainty of moving up to No. 1 or No. 2 in the nation from its current No. 4 slot, because No. 1 Minnesota lost and tied against No. 3 St. Cloud State, while No. 2 Michigan State was upset by Alaska-Fairbanks.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs slid to 0-9-1 at the bottom of the WCHA as the league’s only winless team, and their 4-11-1 record includes the current nine-game losing streak and a winless stretch of 10 games. For the second straight night, the Pioneers used a hot goaltender to stop UMD, but this time it was sophomore goalie Adam Berkhoel, from Woodbury, who has been alternating with Wade Dubielewicz all season. That’s a tall order, but he came through with 30 saves.
“I know they had a good goaltender, but we’ve still got to bury our chances — other teams do,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “All I’m worried about is having a good week of practice and trying to beat Bemidji next weekend, just so we can get some positive feelings for the holidays.”
For the second time in as many nights, UMD jumped ahead of Denver with the first goal of the game. On Friday, Jon Francisco scored four minutes into the first period, but Denver roared back to shell the Bulldogs 8-2. On Saturday night, after only 1:18 elapsed, Drew Otten — who hadn’t dressed Friday — charged after the puck behind the Pioneer net and fed in front. Tommy Nelson tried to shoot but the partially blocked puck skipped across from the right slot to the left, and freshman Tyler Brosz smacked it into the open net.
On Friday, UMD’s lead lasted only 49 seconds; on Saturday the 1-0 edge disappeared after 53 seconds. Notice a pattern here?
Denver’s Ryan Caldwell rushed up the left side for a shot that Rob Anderson blocked, but Luke Fulghum scored with the rebound.
“We come out and get a goal, and it’s like a relief,” said Sandelin. “So we forget what we’ve got to do the next shift. You’d think we might get some momentum from scoring a goal, but we didn’t capitalize.”
The Bulldogs played with much more force after it was 1-1, but again it was the Pioneers who took the lead. Midway through the first period, Connor James — undoubtedly the fastest skater in the rink, if not the league — sped up the left side when each team was short a man, and fed Ryan Caldwell for a goal at 9:32.
The 2-1 deficit remained through intermission, but thoughts of a blowout again recurred in the fans’ minds when Denver made it 3-1 at 1:11 of the second. Chris Paradise, who grew up in the Mounds View district and has become one of the league’s premier players as a senior center on Denver’s first line, carried up the left side 2-on-1 and feathered a perfect pass to the goal-mouth where James was closing for a one-touch deflection past Anderson.
UMD seemed to spiral into a bit of a funk from that goal, and went through two full power plays without a single shot on goal, making life easy for but when the Bulldogs waited until 11 minutes had passed before getting their first shot in the second period, his task was simplified.
The game was held up for 10 minutes in the final minute of the second period when it was detected in the press box that Max Bull, No. 14, was playing center on the second line, instead of J.J. Hartmann, No. 7. Bull played Friday, but coach George Gwozdecky decided to wait until after warmups to decide which center would play. Two sets of line charts were made up, and both of them wound up being distributed in the press box.
The one with Hartmann was deemed the official sheet, so the fact that Bull played meant Denver had used an illegal lineup. There was no explanation for why officials were unable to detect the irregularity until late in the second period, when Bull had been playing regularly all game. But Denver was assessed a bench penalty at 19:22 of the period for the transgression.
“The procedures are different everywhere,” said Denver coach George Gwozdecky. “Last weekend at New Hampshire, I was given a list of all our players in numerical order, and asked to check if all the right ones had been scratched, then I had to sign it. Last night here, I was given a depth chart to check. Tonight, all I’m asked for is our starting lineup, so I checked them off on the depth chart.”
Gwozdecky had a copy of his team’s depth chart, with Bull in place, so he assumed that was the same chart from which he checked off his starting six. “The bottom line is, it didn’t hurt us,” said Gwozdecky.
Nothing hurt the Pioneers, even when the Bulldogs put some real pressure on Berkhoel in the third period. Brett Hammond had one good chance, Otten had a quick shot off a Nelson pass, both of which were stopped. And when Caldwell got his third penalty of the night with 3:02 to go, Sandelin called timeout, pulled Anderson for a 6-on-4 power play, and still nothing would go.
“They got two power-play goals last night, and none tonight,” said Gwozdecky, who never flinched about alternating Dubielewicz. “With Wade winning the WCHA goaltending award last year, it tells you something when they’ve been splitting every series this year. Every coach would like to have two great goalies.”
Powerful Pioneers stay undefeated with 8-2 rout of faltering UMD
Denver University batted UMD around the DECC rink for two periods Friday night, and when it looked like the Bulldogs still had some fire left for the third period, the powerful Pioneers pumped in four unanswered goals to race into the night with an 8-2 victory.
Connor James had two of the third-period goals, otherwise nobody scored more than one for Denver, which was a testimony to both the Pioneers depth and to their skill level.
“We had our moments,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “We started the third period pretty good, then they got a goal to make it 5-2, and from then on it was like the clock couldn’t go fast enough. It was like men against boys out there. Denver is the best team I’ve seen this year — they have a great power play, they have four lines, and they’ve got great goaltending.
“But I don’t care, you still have to go right to the buzzer. We didn’t and we got our butts kicked.”
Outside in the dark and chilly Duluth harbor, a ship passed under the Aerial Bridge on its way up Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, while inside the DECC, you could make the case of two ships passing in the night. Denver lost to New Hampshire last weekend, but it was the only loss after nine victories for the Pioneers, who are the only unbeaten and untied team in the WCHA (7-0-0), and now stand 10-0-1 overall. UMD, on the other hand, has lost eight straight and is winless in the last nine, and the ‘Dogs hold up the bottom of the WCHA at 0-8-1.
One of Denver coach George Gwozdecky’s assets is that he sets high standards for his teams, and then finds a way to make them live up to them. “The way we have played so far this season is the way I expected and hoped we would play,” Gwozdecky said. “It’s taken a while to get everybody untracked, and we didn’t play that well last weekend. But we have good depth and we are quick.”
The Bulldogs, however, jumped ahead early in the game, when Jon Francisco pumped Andy Reierson’s rebound past Wade Dubielewicz, and the sparse gathering of 3,674 at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center had reason to hope for an upset. The hope lasted 49 seconds, which was the time after Francisco’s goal at 4:04 of the first period that it took for Jesse Cook to convert a picture-perfect 2-on-1 rush with a high-speed, one-touch deflection of Chris Paradise’s pass to the slot. It was Cook’s first goal of the season, which started something of a trend for Denver scorers in the game.
UMD’s starting goaltender, Adam Coole, had a thankless task, and it got worse when the Pioneers went on the power play and scored at 14:16. Coole had made a spectacular sprawling save on a shot by Kevin Ulanski, but couldn’t get up before Jon Foster put away the rebound. Another UMD penalty, another power-play goal, when Ulanski caught a pass in the right circle and spun around to snap his first goal of the year past Coole at 16:22, and the Pioneers had a 3-1 lead at intermission.
Bryan Vines got his first goal of his senior season at 7:24 of the second period, when he cruised in from the left point as if unseen, caught a pass from Greg Barber and had time to pick a spot while closing in, then plinked the upper left corner of the net for a 4-1 bulge. Sandelin pulled Coole at that point for Rob Anderson in the continuing musical-chairs rotation in the UMD nets.
“I had to get Coolie out of there just for a reprieve,” said Sandelin. “We didn’t give him any support.”
UMD got a goal back when Beau Geisler found the way to sneak a power-play shot from the left circle through Dubliewicz at 14:35, and the Bulldogs were still in striking distance in the third period. But Dubliewicz kicked back all 14 UMD shots, James scored at 7:51, and Jason Grahame followed with his first goal at 11:31 for a 6-2 cushion, with James and Max Bull completing the scoring.
The game was best described by a 10-second exchange midway through the third period. UMD roared in on a promising rush, but Dubielewicz was ready, and the Bulldogs’ threat was snuffed. In a flash, the puck was at center ice, with Paradise feeding right-to-left. James picked the pass out of the air with his stick and was gone on a breakaway, deking Anderson before tucking his shot in at the left edge.
“We’ve had contributions from a lot of guys,” said Gwozdecky, noting that four of his Pioneers got their first goals in the game. Along with high standards, Gwoz also has mastered the application of understatement as a means to prevent his players from getting overconfident. That may be as big a challenge as the potent Pioneers will have this season.
Denver 3 1 4–8
Minnesota-Duluth 1 1 0–2
First Period: 1. UMD–Jon Francisco 9 (Andy Reierson, Judd Medak) 4:04, power play. 2. DU–Jesse Cook 1 (Chris Paradise, Connor James) 4:53. 3. DU–Jon Foster 6 (Kevin Ulanski, Paradise) 14:16, PP. 4. DU–Ulanski 1 (James, Lukas Dora) 16:22, PP. Penalties–Cook, DU (interference) 3:33; Max Bull, DU (hooking) 8:27; Mark Carlson, UMD (interference) 12:59; Tom Nelson, UMD (interference) 14:35.
Second Period: 5. DU–Bryan Vines 1 (Greg Barber, Kevin Doell) 7:24. 6. UMD–Beau Geisler 2 (Mark Carlson, Nelson) 14:35, PP. Penalties–Reierson, UMD (hooking) 7:39; James Armstrong, DU (double minor, roughing) and Tyler Brosz, UMD (roughing) 12:46.
Third Period: 7. DU–James 5 (Ulanski, Armstrong) 7:51. 8. DU–Jason Grahame 1 (Jon Foster, Eric Adams) 11:31. 9. DU–James 6 (Paradise) 13:36. 10. DU–Max Bull 2 (Grahame, Foster) 17:40. Penalties–Armstrong, DU (holding) 11:51; Francisco, UMD (interference) 12:52; Neil Petruic, UMD (cross-checking) 15:31; Greg Barber, DU (high-sticking) and Brett Hammond, UMD (roughing) 19:49.
Shots on goal: Denver 15 14 14–43; UMD 8 11 14–31. Goalies: Wade Dubielewicz, DU (33 shots-31 saves); Adam Coole, UMD (19-15); Rob Anderson, UMD (24-20). Power plays: Denver 2-5; UMD 2-4.
Russell’s late goal lifts Bulldogs to 3-3 tie with feisty Buckeyes
Navada Russell knew that time was running out and knew that the UMD women’s hockey team 11-game undefeated string was stretched to the breaking point Saturday night. All of that may have given her slapshot a little net-seeking guidance when she wound up and fired from the left point with 1:44 remaining in the third period, and her goal gave the Bulldogs a hard-earned 3-3 tie with Ohio State.
The Bulldogs, now 4-0-2 in the WCHA and 7-0-2 overall, have had several ties in their two-plus years of history, and most of them came when they may have taken an opponent too lightly, or had a little lapse of carelessness after beating a team too badly the night before. Not this time. This time, in UMD’s only home series at the DECC in a two-month span, the Ohio State Buckeyes (2-5-3 WCHA, 5-6-3 overall) came at the Bulldogs hard,all night.
As a reward, the Buckeyes erased a 2-1 deficit to tie the game on a goal by Jeni Creary in the second period. At 3:05 of the third, relief goaltender Patricia Sautter caught a shot in her glove. The Buckeyes swatted at it, jarred it loose, and Creary knocked it in for a 3-2 Ohio State lead.
The goals were Creary’s 13th and 14th of the season, and coach Jackie Barto sent her Buckeyes headlong after the victory. Teams tend to back off when they get the lead, at any level of hockey, but the Buckeyes came on strong, forechecking two skaters aggressively throughout the third period.
At 16:36, OSU defenseman Emma Laaksonen, who had scored the first goal, upended Hanne Sikio on a rush and went off for tripping. Buckeye goaltender Melissa Glaser made some outstanding pressure saves, on Laurie Alexander, on Maria Rooth, and on Alexander’s follow-up after Rooth’s shot. But she never saw Russell’s equalizer.
“I didn’t see any opening, I just tried to get it on net,” said Russell, a tireless junior defenseman. It was only her second goal of the season, despite getting a lot of shots. “But not on net,” she cautioned.
This one was, and it was a big one for the Bulldogs, who had some more serious chances before the third period ended, most notably on a shot by Tricia Guest from the slot and Jenny Hempel’s rebound try from the crease.
In case the Bulldogs were unaware of the impact of allowing the final goal in Friday’s 4-2 victory, they quickly learned tht the Buckeyes came back for the rematch full of fire.
That fact was underscored after only 3:04 elapsed, when Laaksonen — an outstanding blueliner from Finland, who will be joining Bulldogs Tuula Puputti and Sikio on the Finnish women’s Olympic hockey team in February — got the puck on the right point and moved in abruptly. Once in motion, she found a clear channel, and skated to within 25 feet before firing a shot past Puputti for a 1-0 Ohio State lead.
It would have been the tying goal at 1-1, but for the second night in a row, referee Jay Mendel’s quick whistle nullified a UMD goal, this time right at the start, when Hempel converted a rebound at the crease, only to have it waved off. It took until 15:44 of the first period for UMD to tie it 1-1. Satu Kiipeli fired a shot from right point that Glaser blocked, but in the instant when the puck landed in the crease, Sikio zipped through and plunked it into the net.
Two minutes later, Sikio fired from the top of the circle and scored again, and the ‘Dogs took a 2-1 lead into the intermission.
“It was a good game,” said Sikio, who now leads the Bulldogs with five goals this season. “On my first one, Laurie Alexander won a faceoff and Satu Kiipeli got a shot. I went to the net, and the rebound came right to me. On the second one, Laurie passed it to me and I saw everybody going to the net, so I shot, and it just went in.”
The Buckeyes, however, were undeterred, and came back to gain extra inspiration when Tricia Guest went off for a penalty. The OSU power play connected for a flurry of pressure. When Puputti blocked Heather Farrell’s shot, the puck popped up high and over her shoulder in the crease, but Creary smacked it in for the 2-2 equalizer.
UMD coach Shannon Miller intended to put Patricia Sautter into the nets midway through the game, but with all the pressure on Puputti at that point, she stayed with her starter another four minutes. It might have been a good move, because Puputti was in rhythm to make big saves on Creary and a follow-up on Jennie Chapple’s rebound try, and a couple other key saves before going to the bench for Sautter.
“I thought both teams were good, and the officiating was bad, both nights,” said Miller. “They’re a good team, but it was sad that in a good, evenly played game, we get four penalties in a row. They came out and moved the puck well and came at us, but actually we scored the first goal, but for the second night in a row, we get a goal disallowed. They scored their third goal tonight when the net was off, but he didn’t have any trouble giving them that one.”
Bulldogs fight off threat from Ohio State 4-2, stay undefeated
The UMD women’s hockey team battled past Ohio State 4-2 Friday night in the first game of their WCHA series, which represents the only home games at the DECC in a two-month span for the Bulldogs.
UMD got a goal and an assist from Erika Holst and Tricia Guest, built a 3-1 first-period lead, and got a lot of penalty-killing practice before outshooting the Buckeyes 39-13 and improving to 4-0-1 in the WCHA and 7-0-1 overall. The Buckeyes are 2-5-2 in league play and 5-6-2 overall.
Overall, it was a strong effort by the Bulldogs, who won and tied at Wisconsin, beat Harvard and tied Brown since last playing at the DECC Oct. 27-28. After this weekend, UMD plays at St. Cloud State, at St. Lawrence and then at Bemidji State before Christmas break, returning to the DECC Jan. 6-7 against Wisconsin.
“Overall, I thought we had a lot of players play well, and we had a strong game,” said UMD coach Shannon Miller. “I was happy we outshot them 39-18 despite being shorthanded for so much of the game. I would bet that 14 of their 18 shots came on power plays.”
Holst, Maria Rooth and Guest scored first-period goals, and Laurie Alexander finished UMD’s scoring with a brilliant solo dash in the third period. But the rest of the UMD cast played well, too, led by the usual cast of stars but also including Kristina Petroskaia, Jenny Hempel and others up front and Jessica Smith back on defense.
The Bulldogs knew coming in that Ohio State would offer a strong challenge. The Buckeyes have always risen up to play UMD, such as when they came back from a 7-1 thrashing to beat UMD 2-0 in a series last season. Last weekend the Buckeyes tuned up by beating Providence and Connecticut, while the Bulldogs were winning at Harvard and tying Brown.
UMD got off to a strong start, attacking from the opening faceoff and taking a 1-0 lead after 3:29. Holst got the goal, taking a feed out of the left corner from Hanne Sikio and stickhandling to the slot, where she froze goaltender Melissa Glaser to the short-side post, then fired a backhander inside the far, right post.
The Bulldogs kept the pressure on for most of the first period, and went up 2-0 when Rooth finished off a play with Guest for a goal at 11:12.
Ohio State cleverly manipulated the Bulldogs into a penalty at 12:30 when Shana Frost skated up the ice on a 2-on-2 rush, and skated into the defense to interfere just enough to free her linemate. As the play continued, Frost also skated into Jessi Flink, and when Flink tried to free herself to defend, she was called for holding. That started a trend of Bulldogs headed toward the penalty box, and Ohio State connected on the power play at 13:56.
Emily Hudak shot from the left point and Frost, of all people, was there to deflect it past Tuula Puputti. “I saw the pass coming in, but there were three people in front,” said Puputti. “I played the one on the left, but the puck got through to the third one and she scored.”
The Bulldogs came right back, however, with Guest scoring to restore the 2-goal lead at 3-1. The Bulldogs almost put the game away when Petrovskaia wound up for a full-speed slapshot from the top of the left circle, but instead passed hard to the right edge of the crease. Jenny Hempel, breaking hard from the far side, got to the crease just in time to one-time it in. But referee Jay Mendel — who was stationed near the left boards — ruled that Hempel was somehoe in the crease on the fast-breaking play.
That would have made it 4-1, but the Bulldogs instead had to settle for 3-1 with their 14-6 edge in shots. That loomed larger after the teams played through a scoreless second period, with the Bulldogs killing off three more Ohio State power plays, two of which overlapped to 24 seconds of 2-skater advantage.
“We were on the penalty-kill half the game,” said Miller. “I was disappointed we were in the box so much.”
She didn’t mean she was mad at her players, and she wisely wouldn’t say she was disagreeing with Mendel’s calls.
The 3-1 score held until early in the third period, when Laurie Alexander skated across the OSU blue line, then suddenly bolted between the last two defenders and was in alone, beating Glaser with a good shot to the lower right at 1:44.
That made it 4-1, and the Buckeyes got themselves back into reach at 11:52, when Frost deflected a point shot in front, then pursued the loose puck toward the right circle. As she got to it, Frost whirled and fired a quick shot, up high, and beat Puputti for the goal.
“It was a bouncing puck, and she chased it,” said Puputti. “I stayed low, because I thought she might just turn around and shoot. But she got a little room and picked the upper corner. Ohio State is tough. They have some good players, and they’ve always had a good power play.”
Bulldogs fall into familiar pattern while getting swept by Gophers
The high hopes and high expectations that always accompany the UMD men’s hockey team into a series against Minnesota were bolstered last February, when UMD ambushed the Gophers 5-4 in overtime at the DECC.
It is convenient to overlook the fact that the Bulldogs were drubbed by Minnesota 4-0 the next night, because that victory represented a high spot for first-year coach Scott Sandelin, one of only three WCHA victories UMD won during a dismal 7-28-4 season.
That victory seems like an island now, after UMD returned home from 5-1 and 5-3 losses at Minnesota, which plunged the Bulldogs into sole possession of last place in the WCHA at 0-7-1, while the Gophers soared to 5-0-1 at the top of the league.
Distasteful as it might seem, the Gopher sweep returned things to what had become a painful norm for the Bulldogs. That February victory halted a 13-game winless streak (0-12-1) against the Gophers in league play, and they since have lost three straight, meaning UMD’s record against Minnesota is a bleak 1-15-1 in the last 17 games.
History matters less than the present, and the near-future, to UMD, of course. The Bulldogs take a break from WCHA play to go to Marquette and face highly ranked Northern Michigan this weekend, and UMD is 4-0 in nonconference games — all against top 10 teams.
But some disturbing tendencies continue to plague the Bulldogs. In all eight of UMD’s league games, there has been a wavering in intensity that is at odds with the hardcore effort that UMD teams — however punchless — had displayed in the past three seasons. Flashes of impressive play have been overcome by stretches of ineptitude that have ranged from a lack of offensive forcefulness to critical penalties and/or mistakes, to a seeming reluctance to get involved in the combat at hand.
The coaching staff has tried various things, and seems to be as caught up in the difficulties as the players. Adam Coole gave up a first-minute goal on Friday and was replaced after two shorthanded goals in a 10-second span left UMD trailing 4-1 midway through the second period. Rob Anderson came in and played well enough — giving up one goal on 19 shots — that a cynic might have suggested the coaches guessed wrong on whch goalie should have started.
Anderson played Saturday and was brilliant most of the way, helping anchor the Bulldogs, who vaulted to a 3-2 lead with goals by Judd Medak and Jon Francisco in the first 3:36 of the second period. But then the Bulldogs seemed to withdraw from the action.
Minnesota outshot UMD 18-6 in that second period, and Jon Waibel and Matt Koalska scored to put the Gophers back ahead 4-3, and Eric Wendell’s power-play goal in the third period cemented the 5-3 loss.
Good as Anderson played, however, it became obvious that it wasn’t Coole’s fault Friday. Nor has Mark Carlson been the problem. The coaches decided to bench Carlson, a senior defenseman, for the Saturday game in a late decision. If the message was intended to shake up the troops, it did cause the Bulldogs to play better — for a while.
While it appeared that all the right buttons had been pushed when UMD went up 3-2 with a determined effort through the first 24 minutes of the Saturday game, the buttons all malfunctioned in the last 36 minuts of the game, and Rob Anderson was left to fend for himself.
But in the second half of the game, when the Bulldogs had two power plays — one of which was a full 5-minute major called on Jeff Taffe for boarding Drew Otten in the third period — the addition of Carlson might have helped. On a team that has been light-scoring, getting only three goals against 14 by the foes in three previous games, Carlson was the No. 2 scorer to Medak.
The only goal the Bulldogs got Friday was a breakaway by freshman Brett Hammond, after a long and pretty breakaway pass from freshman Tim Hambly. On Saturday, Andy Reierson scored the first UMD goal for a 1-0 lead after Francisco’s power-play draw, then Hambly, a freshman from White Bear Lake, assisted on both Medak’s and Francisco’s goals. Hambly and Geisler were among the few bright spots for the Bulldogs throughout both games.
The goaltending has been less than 100-percent consistent, but the goalies have been the victims, not the cause, of UMD’s problems.
For example, UMD was outshot 40-21 in Friday’s game, and while they at least offered more resistance Saturday, the ‘Dogs were outshot 41-19. That’s an 81-40 difference for the weekend, and the shot charts made it appear that statisticians were only logging attempts for one team.
On paper, Minnesota’s dominance shouldn’t have been a surprise. The veteran Gophers got goals from Grant Potulny, freshman Barry Tallackson, Duluth senior Nick Angell, Nick Anthony and Johnny Poll in Friday’s game. Jake Fleming, Jordan Leopold, Jon Waibel, Koalska and Wendell got the Saturday goals. The Friday crowd was 9.899, second biggest in Gopher history, and the Saturday crowd was 9,919, not only the all-time Gopher record, but making it the school’s series record of 19,818.
But the Gophers 10-0-1 overall record and 5-0-1 WCHA mark leaves room for proving, because they have played only Michigan Tech, Minnesota-Mankato and UMD in league series, and had to come from behind in three of the victories and the tie.
An interesting difference between the two was that Gopher coach Don Lucia also was concerned about his goaltending in one of the UMD games. Justin Johnson started, and when UMD gained its 3-2 lead early in the second period, Johnson had made only four saves.
It’s not like the goals were his fault. Reierson scored on a screened power-play shot, Medak got a breakaway when Matt DeMarchi fumbled the puck at the blue line, and scored with a dead-accurate backhander into the upper right extremity of the net at 0:35 of the second. Francisco’s goal, also on the power play, came when he was off to the right of the net and Beau Geisler whistled a slapshot wide to the left that caromed off the end boards, right to Francisco, at 3:36.
When Lucia sent Adam Hauser in from the bullpen, the Bulldogs offense went limp, managing only 12 shots for the final 36:24 of the game — less than one shot every three minutes — and the Gophers had the game to themselves.
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.
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