Gophers Move into First Place with 3-2 Win over Pioneers
Friday, February 17, 2006
“We drew energy from the kill,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia following the Gophers’s 3-2 win over the two-time defending champion Denver Pioneers at Mariucci Arena, putting Minnesota into first place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, one point ahead of Denver.
Lucia was referring to a major penalty against Minnesota’s Alex Goligoski five-and-a-half minutes into the third period with the game tied, 2-2. Goligoski was called for checking from behind, drawing a game misconduct in addition to leaving his team shorthanded on the ice for five minutes. He was the second Minnesota defenseman to be banished, P. J. Atherton having received a major and game misconduct for a similar offense in the first period.
The Gophers were helped following Atherton’s penalty as the Pioneers got a minor penalty of their own, leaving Minnesota shorthanded for only three of those five minutes. In the third period, however, the penalty killers had to skate shorthanded the entire five minutes. Concerned about the fatigue of his players, Lucia made freqent line changes. “Those things are double-edged swords,” he said. "Your top-end power-play guys are playing so much there, and I don't know how much they have left at the end of the game. We were able to run a lot of guys through on the kill. We used eight forwards. We were fortunate we were able to use Serty [fourth-line forward] back on defense. I thought that was the real key for us after we lost Alex in the third period.”
Lucia added, “It seems like when you get into majors, when you get halfway through them, it makes it more difficult for the team on the power play, and the penalty killing team gets a little energized.” The kill also energized the fans, wh0 rose to give the Gophers a thunderous ovation after they had returned to full strength. “The crowd was crazy,” said Denver forward Ryan Dingle, who had scored the Pioneers’ first goal. "That was the loudest I ever heard a building, including the Frozen Four last year.”
After thwarting Denver’s power play, the Gophers got a one-man advantage soon after when Adrian Veideman went off for holding. Danny Irmen, back after missing three games with an injury, missed a chance at a wide-open net when he couldn’t handle a pass from the slot from Ryan Stoa. On the next shift, Phil Kessel passed to Ryan Potulny, whose shot was blocked by Denver goaltender Glenn Fisher. Ben Gordon was able to knock the rebound back to Potulny, who this time was able to lift the puck over Fisher’s right shoulder into the top left corner of the net. The goal was the game-winner and also Potulny’s second of the game.
Despite being ranked number-one in the country, the Gophers trailed seventh-ranked Denver by a point in the WCHA standings. Both teams have been hot, the Gophers having won 12 of their last 14 games (with one tie) and Denver on a seven-game winning streak.
Minnesota opened the scoring midway through the first period when Ben Gordon tipped in R. J. Anderson’s shot from the right point. Denver tied the game in the second period as Dingle, camped on the goal mouth, scored his 20th goal of the season after taking a pass from Paul Stastny. However, the Gophers retook the lead fewer than 30 seconds later on a wrist shot by Potulny for his 23rd goal of the year.
The Pioneers tied the game again as a rebound of a shot off the glass behind Minnesota goaltender Kellen Briggs came out in front of the net. Denver’s Patrick Mullen swooped in and shot the puck into the open right side of the net before Briggs could react. The score remained at 2-2 through the remainder of the second period and into the third period until Poltuny’s second goal of the game, which came at 12:24 of the period.
“Kellen was solid tonight,” said Lucia of his goalie. “We’ll take giving up two [per game] the rest of the year, and we’ll take our chances.”
Of the win over a team that has won the national championship the last two years, Lucia said, “If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.”