Carol was out of town due to a death in the family, so I'll take it upon myself
to turn in my completely biased report.
 
The Gophers had a rough weekend of it, in large part due to the efforts of Taras
Lendzyk in goal for the Bulldogs.  Saturday the Gophers outshot UMD 42-15, but
had to work overtime to win 3-2.  At the end of the first period, the Gophers
had been dominating play and were outshooting the Bulldogs 18-4, but were behind
1-0.  Lendzyk stopped the Gophers' first 26 shots, standing on his ear, lips,
eyelashes and goodness knows what other unlikely parts of his anatomy before
Jeff Nielsen broke through in the second period.  Dan Trebil made it 2-1 on shot
#29.  The shots were 33-6 after the second period, but the game evened up in the
third, with each team getting 8 shots, and Duluth scoring to tie the game.  In
OT, Dan "Not Just the Coach's Son Anymore" Woog scored his first collegiate goal
to win it.  And it was some goal, too.  He "top-shelf"ed it while standing on
one leg ("like a flamingo", Dan said).
 
On Sunday, the Gophers were without 4 regulars (Forwards Tony Bianchi and Dan
Hendrickson were injured Saturday, and on defense, they were still without the
McAlpine cousins, Mike with an injury, and Chris with a DQ.) and it showed.
Lendzyk again frustrated the Gophers, who probably still outplayed the Bulldogs
through 2 periods, although they were behind 2-1 at that point. This time
around, though, the Gophers were having a lot of trouble getting their shots on
net, and when they failed to score on a 5-minute penalty (it was only 3 minutes
of power play, though, because the Gophers took a penalty during it) to start
the third period and Duluth came back and knocked one past Jeff Moen right after
the penalty expired, they just sagged.  It was only 3-1 with 15 minutes to go,
but the game (AND the 9-game winning streak, AND the home, league unbeaten
record in the new arena.) was over at that point.  I think part of it was the
cumulative frustration of not being able to get anything past Lendzyk all
weekend.  After that they gave up two more goals on some weak defensive play and
it ended 5-1.
 
So it was kind of a disappointing end to a great streak.  But it was still a
mighty impressive roll for a team that started out 0-5-1 to manage a streak of
14-1-2 in league play.  And they did it without any Canadian players!  ( :-)
Sorry, I couldn't resist, in light of all that furor after Thanksgiving.)  I
guess we have to remember that they ARE still in first place, and after where
they've been this season, the view looks mighty good from here.  (The team
members would probably say it at least smells a lot better.  They've been
referring to their rise "from the outhouse to the penthouse.")
 
 
Pam Sweeney                            Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask]         1993 WCHA Playoff Champions!!!
[log in to unmask]              Ski-U-Mah!!!