Huskies try cleaning up their image
 
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
 
There's two sides to every coin," Wright said. "There were a lot of their
guys promoting it and trying to get you to do stuff. I think they like to
taunt more, and they use a lot of stickwork. And I'm not saying no other
team does this, but they use their mouth a lot more than their stick."
 
Wright said that isn't necessarily a bad tactic.
 
"When you have a guy on your team who can draw another team into
penalties, that's good," he said. "They fit the old saying, 'You don't
want to play against them but you love to play with them.'"
 
Minnesota players admit they do things to get in their opponents' heads,
but they say most of the blame for last year's slugfest should go to the
Huskies.
 
The teams' biggest brawl erupted after Michigan Tech forward Jason
Prokopetz illegally checked Gophers goaltender Jeff Moen after the
whistle. Minnesota defenseman Jay Moser, who was injured in the fight,
said the Huskies' actions were unacceptable.
 
"There's always going to be a certain level of instigating going on by all
teams, and I'm not going to say we don't follow suit because, of course,
we do," Moser said. "That's part of the game. But anyone who watched last
year's series would agree that they definitely took it one step further.
 
"Michigan Tech is the sort of team where when they get down by a number of
goals and they realize the win is out of reach, they're not afraid to turn
the game into a slugfest. And that's basically what they did."
 
If all goes according to plan for the Huskies, opposing players will have
more complimentary things to say about them by the end of this season.
Mikesch said they still want to be considered a physical team, but not a
cheap team.
 
And that's a philosophy that his coach, Bob Mancini, is trying to instill
in all the players.
 
"We're still going to go into the corners hard and try to get the puck in
front of the goal, because that's an important part of our game," Mancini
said. "But we can't let the other team get an advantage on us. This can be
a very good hockey team. We just need to keep playing our game and not let
what the other players do affect us."
 
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