From an article in the Star Tribune this morning by John Gilbert.
The Gophers will play at 7pm Friday, taking on Colorado College, which will be
making its first trip to the WCHA final four. Getting here was more than half
the fun for the Tigers, who had to overcome Minnesota-Duluth 5-4 in a
three-overtime deciding game on Sunday. The teams played three games that
consumed a total of seven overtime periods.
Friday's first semi-final, at 2pm matches Wisconsin, which also had to survive
overtime to get past St Cloud State on Sunday, and defending NCAA, WCHA and
WCHA Playoff champ Northern Michigan, which whipped Michigan Tech in the only
two-game opening series.
There is speculation that the Gophers, by winning the league title by a
12-point margin, are already guaranteed a spot in the NCAA field, and that is
probably true, after rebounding from a 5-3 loss in the opener to beat North
Dakota 9-2 and 3-1.
The Gophers got superb leadership from captain Larry Olimb, who had three
goals and five assists in the three games, meaning he was involved in more
than half of the Gophers' 15 goals. For the season, Olimb leads the nation
with 53 assists in his quest for possible All-America and Hobey Baker
consideration. He is fourth in overall college scoring at 24-53--77, one point
behind Northern Michigan teammates Jim Hiller and Dallas Drake. Michigan's
Denny Felsner leads with 86 points.
Being forced to a deciding game was nothing for Colorado College. The Tigers
overcame a 5-1 deficit against UMD and won the series opener 7-6 on a goal by
Jody Jarszewski at 1:11 of the third overtime. UMD came back in the second
game to get the tying goal by Doug Torrel and Derek Plante's second goal of
the night won 4-3 for the Bulldogs at 7:29 of overtime. But that was only a
SINGLE overtime.
Sunday night the teams battled into a third overtime for the second time in
three nights. It finally ended at 3:57 when Grant Block deflected Alan
Schuler's blue line shot into the UMD net for a 5-4 CC victory.
Wisconsin's victory over St Cloud State wasn't as exhausting, but was just as
close. The Badgers won 6-5 in overtime in the first game, lost 5-3 the next
night, then got a goal from Chris Nelson in the final minute to tie the
Sunday's game. Brian Rafalski gave the Badgers a 4-3 victory 21 seconds into
overtime.
Naturally, any team winning the WCHA playoffs advances, but if the Gophers are
set for the NCAA field, it would appear that Wisconsin and Northern Michigan
would have to win at least one game this weekend to qualify. For CC, which
rose to fourth by going 7-1-1 since losing twice to the Gophers, the project
is clear: The Tigers must win the playoff title to advance.
Carol
U of M
GO Gophers!!!
1992 WCHA Champions!!!
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