Headline: Split leaves U hockey facing four big games
Publish Date: 02/20/1995
Matthew Cross
Staff Reporter
 
Denver -- By splitting at Denver this weekend, the Gophers hockey team
missed its chance to take a firm hold of second place in the WCHA.
And because Denver swept them earlier in the season, the
Pioneers have the tie-breaker in their favor in case the two teams
end the season in a deadlock.
 
But Minnesota is optimistic about its prospects to claim the
number two spot, given its schedule.
 
The Gophers will host North Dakota and have a home-and-home
series with St. Cloud State, while Denver hosts Wisconsin and has a
home-and-home series with Colorado College.
 
For Minnesota, the scene has been set after a 5-1 win on Friday night
and a 3-0 loss Saturday, their first loss in the DU Arena since Oct.
25, 1991. And finally, a sense of urgency has become tangible.
 
``We have to win our next six games (four regular season and two of a
best-of-three series in the first round of the WCHA playoffs) and go
to the Final Five,'' junior center Brian Bonin said. ``No excuses.''
 
Bonin scored his second hat trick of the season, including two goals
in the third period to stomp on any comeback hopes for Denver on Friday.
 
Though the Gophers were frustrated after being shut out Saturday for
the first time at DU Arena since March 14, 1986, the team remained
confident.
 
Still, it was a disturbing turn of events this weekend in the
Rockies, where Minnesota completely dominated the Pioneers on Friday,
but got a taste of its own medicine on Saturday. The Gophers never
saw it coming.
 
``(Saturday's contest) was one of those games where you never
really felt in danger (of losing),'' Gophers coach Doug Woog said.
``You can't try to piece things together logically. We just can't
score and that's the bottom line, and if you don't score, you can't
get back in it.''
 
Woog, however, did offer two areas in the game that caused his team's
downfall.
 
* Power play ineptitude: Minnesota was blanked on eight power-play
chances on Saturday, including a 42-second two-man advantage in the
third period.
 
``We were 0 for 8 on the power play and that's it right there,'' Woog
said. ``Our inability on our power play was our own kiss of death.''
 
Denver exhibited an unorthodox penalty-killing strategy in which
they gained control of the puck, skated to the boards and trapped it
in the corner with their skates.
 
That, along with poor passing and execution by the Gophers led to a
weekend mark of 1 for 11 (.091 success rate) on the power play.
 
* Sinuhe Wallinheimo: Not only did Denver goaltender Sinuhe
Wallinheimo record his second shutout of the season on Saturday with
26 saves, he managed to distract the Gophers from the game.
 
Wallinheimo, known as the most flamboyant goalie in the WCHA,
continuously taunted Minnesota's players throughout the series by
waving his arms, trash talking and somersaulting.
 
His antics eventually rubbed senior co-captain Scott Bell the wrong
way, and Bell knocked the junior from Vantaa, Finland to the ice.
<personal note here: Bell barely brushed Wally, as he skated by him. In
fact the broadcasters didn't think Bell even *touched* Wally, but of
course, Wally being who he is, made it look very good. Bad for Bell.>
 
When Woog protested a roughing penalty on Bell, he got a bench
minor and gave the Pioneers a two-man advantage for 1:03, on which
Denver scored their first goal of the game.
 
``We took some dumb penalties and the positives turned into
negatives,'' Bonin said.
 
Woog said that Wallinheimo had an excellent game and his antics
proved to be a good move.
 
``(Wallinheimo) was pretty solid and he had some good tactics,''
Woog said. ``He changed the game with his ability to create
showmanship and that put us in jail.''
 
While Wallinheimo's shutout grabbed the headlines, Gophers goalie
Jeff Callinan had another great game on Friday in which he saved 32
shots.
 
However, the weekend split left some Minnesota players wondering when
they'll start playing to their capability every game.
 
``I want to see what the team is made of,'' Bonin said. ``We've
wasted a lot of opportunities all year.''
 
And with only four regular season games left for Minnesota,
their opportunities are few.
 
Carol S. White                            BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota        internet:[log in to unmask]
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