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St. Cloud State University
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Gophers sweep Huskies
By Ben Birnell
Published:
Thursday, December 9, 2004
Media Credit: Matthew Kaster
Freshman right forward "puckster" Nate Dey gets tripped up near the crease Friday evening at the National Hockey Center. The Huskies played at the U of M Saturday night but lost both games against their ranked opponent this weekend.
On paper, the Huskies weekend series against the No. 1 ranked University of Minnesota Golden Gophers had all the makings of a natural catastrophe.
But, that's why the game is played on a sheet of ice and not through statistics and scouting reports.
Much to the surprise of many, the Huskies (8-9-1, 4-8-0 WCHA) were able to hang with the Gophers (13-4-0, 9-4-0 WCHA) last weekend. However, SCSU came up short, losing 2-1 in an overtime thriller Friday night in front of a ruckus crowd at the National Hockey Center (NHC) and dropped a tough 4-2 decision in front of 10,067 at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis.
"When we got in their zone and started cycling on them, we were all over them," first-year forward Andrew Gordon said. "Even though we got swept, we had a great weekend in the sense that we went stride-for-stride with supposedly the best team in the country."
With both goalies playing solid in Friday's game, the way the game was going you got the idea that something strange would happen.
And it did.
With sophomore goalie Tim Boron pretty much standing on his head during the course of the game, and Minnesota's Kellen Briggs stepping up to also meet the challenge, frustration mounted and the game-winning goal came on a funny bounce that happened to land in front of the U of M's Jake Fleming 2:21 into the overtime period.
That goal would put a sour note on a wild party inside NHC - plenty energetic during Minnesota's first game at SCSU in more than a year.
"I had a feeling it one of those nights where nothing was going in," Fleming said. "I knew we just had to keep grinding away and we'd get one to go. Fortunately, it was me."
The winning goal came from the unlikeliest source: Fleming, a senior fourth-liner who had one goal this season. Fleming took a long pass from freshman defenseman Nate Hagemo, skated in on Boron and slapped the puck past him after his initial shot deflected off Husky defenseman Justin Fletcher.
Boron had made five saves in overtime, which might not have happened had he not victimized an otherwise subdued Ryan Potulny with a kick save in the waning seconds of regulation.
"When I came to the rink (Friday) I had my mind set on getting a 'W.' It sucks to lose it on a funny bounce like that," Boron said, who stopped 32 shots in the loss. "We played two pretty solid periods with the No. 1 team in the country. We battled hard and didn't have too many lulls. We have to take those positives and build on them."
SCSU head coach Craig Dahl said both teams knew they were going to be in a for a fight during the game.
"Minnesota's a team that spanked Michigan and Michigan State and they're
supposed to be two of the better teams in the CCHA. They knew they were in a hockey game tonight," Dahl said.
The Huskies are winless in their last eight games against the U of M.
"I think both goaltenders played very well," Dahl said. "You've got to give Briggs credit. We look at our own goaltender all the time and say, 'He played great.' But you know what? Goaltenders have to play well in this league or you don't win."
The Gophers set the tempo of the first period but only had Gino Guyer's goal to show for it. That's when Boron was on top of his game. He stopped Tyler Hirsch, Nate Hagemo and Derek Peltier on a power-play shift midway through the first period.
The Huskies didn't stay quiet for long when former St. Cloud Apollo standout Matt Hartman stole the puck from Minnesota's Jerrid Reinholz in the corner and went high to beat Briggs 5:07 into the second period.
"That was by far my most exciting goal I've ever scored," Hartman said. "It happened so fast. I was fortunate to get to the net before anyone else did. I think we played well enough to win, but this game could've gone either way."
Credit both team's special teams. The I-94 rivals went a combined 0-14 during the power play on the night.
That's not to say either team didn't have its chances.
Most of those opportunities came from the Gophers second and third shifts. The Gophers powerful line of Kris Chucko, Potulny and Danny Irmen had only five shots against the Huskies' line of Nate Dey, Brook Hooton and area native Nate Raduns.
"The real key was we shut down that line," Dahl said. "Our guys are big and strong and that's what you've got to play against them."
Saturday's story would be the resurgence of the Gopher power play as they pumped in three goals on the man advantage to pick up their 18th straight home win and remained in control of the rivalry with the Huskies. The win was Minnesota's seventh in their last eight games against the Huskies.
However, anyone watching this weekends games that can remember previous series against the Gophers will tell you the Huskies put up good competition.
"We knew we had to battle every period to win the game and fortunately that happened," said Gopher forward Danny Irmen, who tallied somehow on all three of the Minnesota goals. "They're a tough team to play, but we knew this was a big weekend for us."
The strong goaltending of both teams picked up Saturday where it left off the previous night. "Both goaltenders played outstanding this weekend," said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. "We knew we had to get good goaltending to win, but we expect that out of Kellen."
Briggs came up big for most of the night. He was tested first, getting a glove on a Mike Doyle chance from the slot to sniff out SCSU's first chance.
The game opened up in the second, with the Huskies building momentum on the power play. They outshot Minnesota 8-0 in the first 9:26 of the period, but couldn't get on the board until 14:55, and it took a fortunate bounce to get it done.
As Andrew Gordon and Nate Dey raced into the Gopher zone on a 2-on-1, Gordon fed a pass to Dey, but Briggs came flying over to make a save with his stick. The puck ended up in the corner, where Joe Jensen collected it and fired it out front. It hit Gordon on the shaft of his stick and ricocheted off a Minnesota defender's helmet before fluttering in over Briggs' right shoulder. The goal gave the Huskies their first lead of the weekend.
"It was a typical 'Andrew Gordon goal' as the boys say," said the Porters Lake, Nova Scotia native. "We'll take it though, we needed to score first."
That lead however, would remain short-lived.
Irmen squeezed a power-play goal through Boron's legs about three minutes later.
"That was an important part of the game," Lucia said. "They went up 1-0 and it makes you feel a lot better going into the third tied 1-1. I think it helped us get some momentum back."
The U of M would add another power play goal by Potulny in the third to go up 2-1. Andy Sertich pounded another goal in midway through the final period on another rebound that sat in Boron's crease to up the score 3-1.
However, the Huskies didn't head home quietly. Hooton made it a close game again with 2:27 to play on a great backhand that trickled over Briggs' glove.
But, Boron would be pulled with :19 remaining and the Gophers would tack on the empty net goal to end the game 4-2.
As for now, the Huskies will remain idle until after Christmas when they face Maine in the first round of the Everblades Classic in Naples, Fla.
What is your New Year's Resolution?
Quit smoking.
Get in shape.
Study and/or work harder.
Become more organized.
One kind deed a day.
I don't need a resolution�I'm perfect!
