Gophers Open Floodgates, Sweep Tigers

Offense Overcomes Repeated Defensive Breakdowns

“It was a great weekend for us” said a very happy Don Lucia, after the game.

If anything - it certainly was odd being in Mariucci Arena this afternoon. It felt like Gopher hockey for a change.

In a pretty decent sized surprise, the Gophers gain a sweep at home for only the 2nd time all season, and look good – offensively at least – in scoring seven goals in a 7 – 4 win. In fact, seven different Gophers tallied goals in one of their best efforts of the season.

As expected, CC came out with much more energy than last night. The Tigers drew two power plays in the first ten minutes of the game but could not convert as the Gopher penalty killers did a nice job of clearing the front of the net.

“I thought we actually skated harder and better today” said CC coach Scott Owens of his squad’s effort.

The Gophers began to gain their bearings and as the clock ticked down under the 13 minute mark, goals started flying.

After spending a good amount of 1:46 of 5 on 3 power play time fumbling around the CC zone, Mike Hoeffel tapped home a rebound of a Jordan Schroeder shot. Just 40 seconds later, David Fischer’s weak seeing-eye wrist shot somehow eluded Tiger goalie Joe Howe and it seemed like the Gophers may roll.

However the Gophers had a severe let down just seconds after that. Both defensemen were caught behind the net and Rylan Schwartz snuck through traffic and deposited his 6th goal of the year past a sprawling Alex Kangas.

Usually when this happens things settle down a little. But a dump in type shot by Aaron Ness found its way to the net and past Howe when Jake Cepis crashed into the CC net-minder. He argued, but it was to no avail as after a brief review the goal was awarded to Ness and the Gophers.

Josh Birkholz extended the Gopher lead to 3 goals with another laser beam of a shot from the slot, just a few minutes into the 2nd period – trying to match his #3 ranked play of the day yesterday from ESPN.

CC got back into the game for a little bit with a nice power play goal towards the end of the period. Cloquet’s Tyler Johnson fed a streaking Kris Fredheim who tapped home his 3rd goal of the season. But just as that jump returned to CC’s skates, Nick Leddy answered with a long wrist shot from the point that found its way past Howe.

“We tried to make a game of it [in the third]” said Owens, in a very understated manner.

Back to back CC goals by Gabe Guentzel and Tyler Johnson (after a really poor turnover at the Tiger blue line by Kevin Wehrs) just 3:36 in put CC back in the game with tons of momentum. They really started pouring it on but couldn’t gain the equalizer. Coach Lucia thought about 4 – 5 minutes after that “we settled down” and took back control of the game.

The Gophers shut down CC’s last power play opportunity that came with seven minutes left, and just as soon as that expired, Cade Fairchild’s 3rd goal of the year – a ripper from the point – sealed the salute at center ice.

Owens seemed worried off the bat about last weekend. “They don’t look like a team that’s been struggling, at home in particular” he said. “We knew we’d be in trouble – a bit of a tough weekend – after their deal out in Denver”.

So – the Gophers are now off to Duluth for their final road trip of the regular season. These are absolute MUST wins as according to the Pairwise geniuses there are still ways for the Gophers to make the NCAA tourney without winning the Final Five.

Notes: It was reunion weekend at Mariucci as several recent Gopher players were back in town over the NHL/Olympic break, and attending the game today, including Blake Wheeler, Alex Goligoski, Paul Martin and Kyle Okposo…the University honored the 1969 – 1970 hockey team that won the WCHA title that season, on their 40th anniversary…the Gophers probably had their best face-off night of the season, winning 41 of 64 draws today