Sioux second-half surge sinks Gophers 6-3
By John Gilbert
SAINT PAUL, MN. — The first semifinal set Red Baron Final Five records for length of time, and saves, but the second semifinal provided an even more remarkable turnabout, as North Dakota spotted top-seeded Minnesota a 3-0 lead, then the Fighting Sioux stormed back for six unanswered goals to stun the Golden Gophers 6-3 in front of an Xcel Energy Center crowd of 16,738.
The game was amazingly split exactly in half, as the Gophers led 3-0 at the halfway point, and the Fighting Sioux simply took the game over, gaining momentum with every goal. North Dakota (24-12-3) roars into Saturday night’s WCHA playoff final against Denver, which beat Minnesota-Duluth 4-3 in double overtime after blowing a 3-0 lead. It means that this year’s champion will have won three games in three days.
“We’ve had a lot of comebacks,” said Mario Lamoureux, the Sioux captain and third line center, who scored two goals in the third-period onslaught. “But I’ve never been part of a game where it was completely dominated one way, then the other.”
As if carrying out the exact opposite of the first game, Minnesota (26-13-1) was rested and ready with the bye, and owned all the plays and the momentum, aided by all three power plays in the first period, when the Golden Gophers outshot North Dakota 12-2. On the second of those power plays, Gopher freshman Kyle Rau scored his 17th goal of the season as he hurtled over goaltender Aaron Dell while scoring for a 1-0 lead.
In the second period, Erik Haula shot from center point and Jake Hansen deflected it in for another power-play goal, at 5:55, to make it 2-0. And at 10:01 — the midpoint of the middle period — Zach Budish deflected in Justin Holl’s pass from wide to the right of the net, and the Gophers were cruising at 3-0.
Minnesota's Nick Bjugstad found the net against North Dakota, but with his body.
“We played some of the best hockey we’ve played and jumped off to a 3-0 lead,” said Hansen. “They got one goal, and I think we were scared of losing. We were outshooting them something like 23-8, but after they scored, we played horribly. We went away from our system, and we played really sloppy and they took the momentum.
“It went from 3-0 to 3-3, but we’ve got to keep fighting. We just didn’t have it in us tonight. I think we were more shell-shocked than anything.”
With 5:31 left in the second period, North Dakota coach Dave Hakstol called a time out. It didn’t seem as though any words could make a difference, because Minnesota seemed to be in complete control. “Nothing special was said,” Hakstol said. “We had tired bodies on the ice, and we had iced the puck, so we couldn’t change. We had absolutely no gas in the tank in the first half of the game.”
But from then on, it was all North Dakota.
Derek Forbort, a sophomore defenseman for North Dakota, flung a deflected shot from the right point that eluded Gopher goaltender Kent Patterson at 14:51, giving the Sioux their first sign of life, but at 3-1, the third period started with no illusions for the Sioux, who were being outshot 23-11 at that point. Incredibly, North Dakota started rolling in the third period and not only pumped five more goals, but outshot the Gophers 17-2.
“We knew we had to regroup,” said Lamoureux. “We just got going, rolled with the momentum, and the game became fun.”
There was still some catching up to do. At 5:31 of the third, Michael Parks went to the net and had a pass deflect in off his skate to cut it to 3-2. “I went hard to the net, and the puck bounced off me somewhere,” said Parks.
Exactly 30 seconds later, Brock Nelson blocked a high bouncing puck and fired it in to tie the game 3-3. The large contingent of Fighting Sioux fans in the crowd went crazy, and the Sioux poured it on. Patterson in goal for the Gophers was like a young man caught at the base of an avalanche coming down upon him.
Lamoureux, who had exactly one goal all season but willingly played his leadership role to the hilt, scored at 9:42 to lift the Fighting Sioux to their first lead of the night at 4-3. Minnesota, which hadn’t drawn a single penalty, got one then, at 9:56, and Corban Knight scored at 10:19, on North Dakota’s only power-play chance, to make it 5-3.
Minnesota coach Don Lucia was asked if he considered taking a time out and he said: “I don’t know if it would have done any good.”
Lamoureux scored again by rushing up the right side, sending a hard backhand pass across the slot to Mark MacMillan, then going to the net and jamming in the rebound at 16:10. He now has three goals for the season.
Goaltender Aaron Dell, who looked helpless in the first half of the game, never allowed another goal, and the Fighting Sioux stormed into the championship game.
“We had great energy and a very good first period,” said Lucia. “Congratulations to North Dakota, because we couldn’t get it back going. We’ve been very good in the third period all season — we’ve only allowed 18 goals total in the third period. And we gave up five tonight. We punched, they punched back, and we wilted.”
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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.
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