At Least For One Night: New Season, Same Result

[Ryan Cardinal]

At Least For One Night: New Season, Same Result

Stop if you’ve heard this before: a punchless Gopher team rolled into Ralph Engelstad Arena and was outworked and outplayed by a much more motivated North Dakota Fighting Sioux team en route to another Minnesota loss. That was the case yet again on this night, as the Sioux had no trouble with the Gophers in their 4-0 shutout victory in front of a capacity crowd.

This game could have been as bad or even worse than the pair of six goal performances the Sioux put on display last January. But, on this night, Gophers junior goalie Alex Kangas was the only player who stood out in a good way for the Gophers, turning away 39 of 43 UND shots. Without Kangas’ stellar play, things could have been much worse for Don Lucia’s bunch on this night.

The Sioux came out with a hard forecheck per usual, and that paid dividends early, as Gopher freshman defenseman Seth Helgeson took a hooking penalty in his own zone, and the UND power play wasted little time as sophomore Jason Gregoire took advantage of a fortunate break in front of the Gopher net to slam home a loose puck at just 2:17 of the first period.

Minnesota played a solid game for about the first five minutes or so, but after that, it was literally all Sioux for the remainder of the contest. Yes, the Sioux had the advantage of having played two regular season games last weekend, but that doesn’t account for the apparent lack of effort on Minnesota’s part. From the middle of the first period on, you could count on one hand the number of solid scoring chances the Gophers had.

The Sioux extended its lead to 2-0 after Andrew MacWilliam, a freshman defenseman, took a penalty early in the second period. The Minnesota power play, which was anemic all night, coughed up the puck in their own end, and junior Derrick LaPoint wound up with the puck on his stick heading in towards Kangas, and he scored his first goal of the season after suffering a horrific foot / ankle injury last season to make the score 2-0 Sioux.

North Dakota would put the game out of reach in the third, thanks to a power play blast by senior defenseman Chay Genoway and a hustle / effort goal by sophomore Mario Lamoureux. Both goals came in the first 8:18 of the period, and the Sioux put things in cruise control after that.

As noted in the series preview on GPL, the Sioux appeared to have the edge in the faceoff circle coming into the weekend, and did they ever flex their muscle in that department on Friday. UND won 26 of 42 draws on the night, making the Gophers, who traditionally have liked to play a puck-possession game, chase the puck all night as opposed to having it on their sticks.

Saturday is a new night, but if there’s not a substantial increase in effort and ‘want to’ by the Gophers, it will likely lead to the same result. The Sioux clearly are in the Gophers’ heads, as they have now won nine of the last 12 meetings between the teams, and many by a large margin. Conversely, the Gophers know they are going to get the Sioux’s best shot yet again on Saturday night, and whether they can match that intensity remains to be seen.

It is just one game into the season, but after having back-to-back subpar seasons and tough tests against Denver and Wisconsin on the horizon, it would be safe to say that this Gopher team is a bit fragile, and a tough start could mar this season before it really gets going.

[bad_haircut]

First real game, North Dakota, at the Ralph. Nerves are one thing but to be so flat all game long, last night was really a let down. Frank and Woog are still the best.

[Melvin]

First real game, North Dakota, at the Ralph. Nerves are one thing but to be so flat all game long, last night was really a let down. Frank and Woog are still the best.

As a Sioux fan I really like the work Wooger does, he is really good in his hockey analysis and he is entertaining. I don't have much time for the Rug though.