Notes from today's (3/26/96) Minnesota Daily
topics:
Bonin favored to win Hobey Baker
DeBus takes loss hard
Gophers beat the trap
Top seeds advance
Snap Shots
Bonin favored to win Hobey Baker
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
The Gophers hockey team's season may have ended with Sunday's 4-3
loss to Michigan, but Minnesota will still have an opportunity to shine at
the NCAA final four.
The Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the country's finest college hockey
player, will be presented Friday in Cincinnati, and two Gophers are still in
the running.
Minnesota senior forward Brian Bonin and sophomore defenseman Mike Crowley
are two of the 10 finalists for the award. Bonin, who led the nation in
scoring with 80 points when the final votes were cast last week, is
considered the favorite to win the award.
Six of the other finalists will be competing in the final four: Boston
University center Chris Drury and winger Jay Pandolfo, Colorado College
winger Peter Geronazzo, Michigan center Brendan Morrison, and Vermont center
Eric Perrin and winger Martin St. Louis. Perrin and St. Louis were tied for
second in the national points standings with 79.
Winning the Hobey Baker Award could serve as a nice consolation prize for
Bonin, who was very emotional when his last chance for a national title
slipped away against Michigan. Bonin said ending his career with the
Gophers' other nine seniors Sunday was one of the toughest things he'd ever
gone through.
"We were so close," Bonin said. "We've been through everything together
here. We'll never be able to play together again, put our jerseys on, put
our skates on together -- I think that's what's tough.
"We'll be life-long friends, but hockey is what brought us together. Now
it's kind of going to pull us apart just a little bit and that's real tough
to take. I'm so close to some of these guys. I'd stay here forever and play
with them if I could. I really wish we could."
DeBus takes loss hard
Minnesota's seniors were by no means the team's only players deeply affected
by Sunday's loss. One of the players who had the hardest time dealing with
the defeat was sophomore goalie Steve DeBus, who stopped 16 of the 20 shots
he faced in the game.
"I take losses real personally," DeBus said after the game. "To me, it was
my fault we didn't win. I'll take total responsibility for the loss. There
were two goals I should have stopped. You feel like you let everyone down,
especially the seniors. It's something that's always going to bother me."
Gophers beat the trap
Minnesota lived by the saying, "Take 'em one game at a time," in practice
last week by preparing heavily for Saturday's game against Providence. The
team, which didn't watch any Michigan game film during the week, spent the
majority of its time trying to solve Providence's defensive style of play --
primarily its neutral-zone trap.
The Friars' strong defense gave Boston University and Maine fits during
Providence's run to the Hockey East playoff championship. Gophers coach Doug
Woog said BU coach Jack Parker told him last week that Providence is capable
of beating any team in the nation, but Minnesota beat the Friars, 5-1.
Top seeds advance
When Colorado College knocked off UMass-Lowell, 5-3, in Sunday's finale, it
assured that all four of the major college hockey conferences and all four
of the tournament's top seeds would be represented in the final four with
the WCHA's Tigers, ECAC's Vermont, CCHA's Michigan and Hockey East's Boston
University.
UMass-Lowell coach Bruce Crowder, whose team beat Michigan State 6-2 in its
first-round game Saturday, took exception to the current NCAA tournament
format after his team's loss Sunday. Crowder doesn't agree with the system
of giving the top seeds first-round byes.
"Someone has to take a hard look at the way this thing is set up," Crowder
said. "Not to take anything away from C.C. and Minnesota, but we've done
this (losing in the second round) twice. We've had to play and come back the
next night and play a fresh team."
In 1994, Lowell beat host Michigan State in the first round before being
outlasted in overtime by Minnesota, which had received a first-round bye.
Snap Shots
Michigan will make its fourth final four appearance in the last five years
this week in Cincinnati. The Wolverines haven't won the national title since
1964.
Colorado College's final four berth is its first since 1957, when the team
won its last national championship.
The Gophers were snubbed when none of their players were named to the
All-West Regional team Sunday night. Michigan's Bill Muckalt, who scored
twice in the Wolverines' defeat of Minnesota, was named the West Region MVP.
Minnesota ended the season 26-0-2 in games in which it gave up three goals
or less.
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=A9The Minnesota Daily
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!!
Ski-U-Mah!!!
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