Regardless of who you talked to Saturday night - Gopher coaches or players - all agreed, a point was missed in a 2-2 tie to Wisconsin. Instead of returning home with a split, Wisconsin moved ahead of the Gophers with a three-point weekend.
The Badgers won game one Friday, 3-1.
Minnesota led 2-0 after the first period on Ben Gordon's 9th goal on a 5-on-3 power play and a Mike Carman five-holer for his second of the season.
However, Wisconsin got four power play opportunities in a row and cashed in at 11:32 of the second period on freshman Patrick Johnson's sixth goal of the year (that's Miracle on Ice's Mark Johnson's son).
Johnson took a cross-ice pass and one-timed it past goaltender Alex Kangas, who was a split second slow in sliding over.
Johnson was involved in the equalizer as well as he fired a harmless shot at Kangas, but a tip near the net by Aaron Bendickson beat the goaltender for the 2-2 tie.
It was again another blown opportunity for the Gophers, who now have been outscored in the third period 36-18.
Blake Wheeler scored the lone goal for the Gophers on Friday. Minnesota had only 23 shots on goal - their fourth lowest total of the year. They did take 71 shots, but 25 missed the net and 23 were blocked.
Notes:
* In Saturday's game, the line of Carman-Tony Lucia-Ryan Flynn was head and shoulders the best on the ice. Flynn had numerous opportunities despite being more of a defensive forward. Unfortunately, there wasn't much offense from the other three. Jay Barriball's struggles continued this weekend.
* Did you know? The past four seasons, Minnesota is unbeaten on Saturday night in Madison. They are 3-0-1. However, the Gophers are 1-3 on Friday nights.
* Minnesota currently is in sixth place with 15 points, but only is two points behind Wisconsin and Duluth for fourth place. However, Minnesota is only one point from being in ninth, currently held by St. Cloud State.
Next up is North Dakota, who has won seven straight games and has moved into second place behind Colorado College.
* Sorry about the typos in my preview - typed it up in a rush Wednesday night before leaving for the Minnesota Newspaper Convention. Sorry, I should have included the fact that I was ranking the top WCHA rivals (in my mind). We have had this discussion many times on GopherPuckLive and everybody has their favorite team to play - mine just happens to be Wisconsin.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
One Point Left On The Ice
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4 comments:
No worries on the mild typo. Bloggers usually lack editors!
On the Gophers hockey team, it's a shame they couldn't at least have come out of Madison with a split. Speaking as an non-hockey fan, is it fair to say this Gophers team is one of the most disappointing in recent memory?
Most definitely. This discussion was brought up a few weeks ago on PA and Dubay.
I'm not sure we expected a McNaughton Cup or a NCAA Championship this year, but heading into the year there was a lot of talent back.
Ryan Stoa got hurt; Kyle Okposo leaves the team; Jay Barriball struggles; and Jeff Frazee went AWOL.
Add in that many guys aren't putting up the points they could and this has been a major disappointment.
A loss to RIT?
Still, they are two points out of fourth place.
PJS has Bill Simmons doing the hockey report? That's quite a coup!
Snyde, We aim high here at PJS.
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