Headline: Three points against U a first for Sioux
Publish Date: 11/14/1994
Matthew Cross
<W0I>Staff Reporter
 
Grand Forks, N.D. -- Call it a dose of the unexpected.
 
The North Dakota hockey team entered last weekend's series against
the Gophers at Ralph Engelstad Arena with a 1-5 record.
 
Yet the Sioux came away three points richer after a 4-4 tie Friday
and a 4-3 win Saturday against the nation's top-ranked team.
 
That marked the first time since 1987 that the Sioux won more than
two points in a series against the Gophers.
 
Before this weekend, North Dakota coach Dean Blais said he wasn't
sure whether taking a head coaching position at the college level was
a smart move.
 
Now he thinks his team can compete with the best in the nation.
 
``If we continue to improve,'' Blais said, ``we can be in the same
league as the Gophers, but our season won't change a whole lot (by
beating them).
 
Blais said his team would ``keep attacking every day the same.'' He
added that if Minnesota would have come back to tie it up in the
third and win it in overtime Saturday, it wouldn't have been as easy.
 
Blais said the team's work on defensive coverage all week led to the
victory.
 
``It takes a while to get together on defense -- to not get trapped
or take chances when you don't need to,'' he said.
 
The Sioux didn't let the Gophers mount an attack until the third
period in both games.
 
Conversely, the Sioux applied constant pressure in the Gophers' zone
and highlighted their aggressiveness with near-perfect forechecking.
 
They surprised Minnesota's defense -- a unit whose benchmark is
control -- and beat it time after time.
 
Terrible defensive angles and atrocious passing in its own zone led
to numerous Minnesota turnovers.
 
``They played pretty physical and we didn't come out ready to play,''
Gophers first-line defenseman Dan Trebil said. ``As a team, we didn't
play smart, we didn't have it together and we gave up too many
turnovers in our own end.''
 
The general consensus in the Gophers locker room after Saturday's
game was that Minnesota lacked intensity in the first two periods of
both games.
 
Trebil said the team played poorly in the first two periods of both
games. ``We didn't even show up to play until the third period either
night,'' he said. ``We've got to play 60 minutes if we want to win.''
 
Not only were Gophers defensemen on their heels, but for the first
two periods of both games the offense was nonexistent.
 
``There are two things that are important on the road,'' Gophers
coach Doug Woog said. ``The first draw and the first goal. You've got
to have those to keep the crowd out of the game, and we didn't. Some
guys were here and you didn't know it until they made a mistake.''
 
Entering the series, North Dakota had been outscored 19-4 in the
first period, and they hadn't scored first in a game all season.
 
The Sioux not only scored first in both games, but they outscored the
Gophers 5-1 in the first period.
 
A North Dakota goal 14 seconds into Saturday's contest served as an
emotional trough that fed the team all evening.
 
They followed with two more goals in the first period to stifle
Minnesota's emotion and put their fans in a frenzy.
 
Woog said the ineffectiveness of his go-to players on the first two
lines contributed to Minnesota's demise.
 
He said the third line -- consisting of Casey Hankinson, Dan Woog and
Dan Hendrickson -- was the most productive of the series.
 
However, the one time Brian Bonin and Justin McHugh hooked up was
when Minnesota needed it most.
 
Trailing 4-2 entering the third period of Friday's game, the Gophers
big guns showed their first signs of life.
 
McHugh took advantage of a power play midway through the period to
pull the Gophers within a goal. Then Bonin scored the tying goal with
one second left on the game clock.
 
Neither Minnesota nor North Dakota believe this series changes
anything for the season.
 
The Gophers response against Michigan Tech this weekend at Mariucci
Arena will gauge whether or not they have the makings of a
championship team.
 
``It gives us a better perspective of where we are and where we've
got to be,'' co-captain Scott Bell said.
 
Carol S. White                            BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota        internet:[log in to unmask]
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