From the 1/2/96 Minnesota Daily:
 
Moen and DeBus erase doubt in U's net
 
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
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At the beginning of this college hockey season, Gophers coach Doug
Woog was often asked about his team's goaltenders.
 
Who would be the player to step up and replace Jeff Callinan, who led the
WCHA in goals-against average last year as a senior? Would it be Jeff Moen,
who struggled while playing only six games last season as a junior? Or would
it be Steve DeBus, who hadn't played a game for two years?
 
There was no guarantee either player could prevent goaltending from being
the weak spot on this year's team.
 
Whenever Woog was faced with these questions, he always answered, with
complete confidence, that both players were more than capable of taking over
for Callinan.
 
But not until recently -- now that Moen and DeBus are ranked second and
third among league goaltenders -- was Woog willing to admit his decision to
alternate the goalies was made more out of necessity than luxury. Moen and
DeBus' impressive play in the net has the pair brimming with confidence and
Woog feeling more comfortable than he did three months ago.
 
"Jeff had a good year as a sophomore and DeBus had looked good in practice,"
Woog said. "But they both needed a chance to gain some confidence and get an
opportunity.
 
"I wasn't so worried, but also I didn't have the confidence that I thought
one guy could handle it all either. It seemed pretty risky to put all your
marbles on one guy. And the strategy has worked. There's no doubt that both
of them can play now. That's a real positive for us."
 
The biggest turnaround has come from DeBus, who is on an eight-game winning
streak after losing his first two starts of the season. In that span, he has
stopped 93 percent of the shots he has faced. In the process, DeBus has also
become a crowd favorite at Mariucci Arena.
 
DeBus said he isn't surprised by his hot streak, just pleased.
 
"I think it really is, honestly, the best I've ever played," DeBus said.
"I'm kind of on a roll right now. It's kind of like a pitcher in baseball,
when the strike zone looks so big that everything he throws at it hits.
Well, for me, I'm able to see the puck and it looks real big to me now. It's
like I'm in a zone. Things are going well."
 
Both DeBus and Moen attribute much of their success to the team's play on
defense. Moen also said it helps to know his role, as opposed to last year
when he often wondered where he belonged as Callinan saw most of the playing
time.
 
"So far I've known every week that I'm playing Friday," Moen said. "That
makes things easier in terms of preparing for the games. It's a lot easier
working under this kind of situation than it is finding out at the last
minute whether you'll play or not."
 
Moen and DeBus played some of their best hockey of the year in December.
Minnesota allowed more than two goals only once over winter break. And
ironically, it was the only game they didn't win (a 3-3 tie at
Alaska-Anchorage on Dec. 15), that featured the team's biggest goaltending
highlight.
 
Alaska-Anchorage had a 2-on-1 break on Minnesota in overtime with Moen in
goal. An Alaska-Anchorage forward brought the puck in from the left side and
passed it in front to his teammate, who had the entire right side of the net
to shoot at. Moen slid across the crease with his pads decked out and made a
sweeping glove save up high to preserve the tie.
 
"It was the nicest save I've seen," said Woog, now in his 11th year as the
Gophers' coach. "It was a wower. A lot of it predicated on the time of the
game, the score, its importance -- when you factor all of those things in,
it was right up there with the very best.
 
"Plays like that just get everyone charged up. The team plays better when it
knows it can count on its goalies to make plays."
 
The Gophers, who got a shutout from DeBus on Dec. 27 to beat the Swiss
national team 6-0, played four conference games over winter break:
 
Dec. 9 -- Gophers 4, North Dakota 2:
 
Minnesota started slow after getting its first week of the season off for
finals and shut down the Sioux over the second two periods for the home win.
 
GAME SUMMARY
 
North Dakota 2 0 0 - 2
 
Gophers 0 2 2 - 4
 
First period: UND -- Wynne 9 (Kallay), 13:30. UND -- Henderson 6
(unassisted), 15:16.
 
Second period: Min -- Checco 5 (Smith, Anderson), 3:43. Min -- Kraft 9
(Crowley), PPG 11:42.
 
Third period : Min -- Bonin 11 (Trebil, Checco), 11:06. Min -- Crowley 7
(Kraft, Bonin), 14:4 9.
 
Dec. 10 -- Gophers 6, North Dakota 1:
 
The addition of Ryan Kraft to Brian Bonin's line paid off early for the
Gophers, who scored twice in the first 46 seconds and went on to an easy
win. DeBus, who made 28 saves, won his seventh straight game.
 
GAME SUMMARY
 
North Dakota 0 0 1 - 1
 
Gophers 4 1 1 - 6
 
First period: Min -- Kraft 10 (Hankinson, Crowley), :15. Min -- Crowley 8
(Bonin, Kraft), :46. Min -- Berg 7 (Rasmussen), 16:45. Min -- LaFleur 2
(Checco, Smith), PPG 18:59.
 
Second period: Min -- Bonin 12 (LaFleur), 17:47.
 
Third period: Min -- Bonin 13 (DeBus), SHG 11:13. UND -- Kallay 7 (Wynne,
Mitani), 17:09.
 
Dec. 15 -- Gophers 3, Alaska-Anchorage 3:
 
A late goal by Casey Hankinson and Moen's acrobatic save in overtime helped
Minnesota come back and tie the Seawolves in Anchorage, Ala.
 
Woog said he was disappointed in Minnesota's effort: "Only about half the
team really showed up and played the game."
 
GAME SUMMARY
 
Gophers 1 1 1 0 - 3
 
Alaska-Anchorage 1 2 0 0 - 3
 
First period: Min -- Rasmussen 5 (Woog), 1:54. UAA -- Kowal 7 (Rautakallio,
Vallieres), PPG 8:39.
 
Second period: Min -- Woog 1 (Bonin, Crowley), PPG 3:25. UAA -- Mylymok 3
(Bradley, Rochleau), 8:30. UAA -- Rautakallio 5 (Kowal, Vallieres), PPG
16:00.
 
Third period: Min -- Hankinson 7 (Trebil, Bonin), PPG 17:03.
 
Overtime: No scoring.
 
Dec. 16 -- Gophers 5, Alaska-Anchorage 0:
 
Freshman forward Reggie Berg recorded the first hat trick of his career, and
Moen recorded his second shutout of the season in the Gophers' win.
 
Moen played his first Saturday game of the year for DeBus, who couldn't play
because of illness.
 
GAME SUMMARY
 
Gophers 1 1 3 - 5
 
Alaska-Anchorage 0 0 0 - 0
 
First period: Berg 8 (unassisted), 8:04.
 
Second period: Berg 9 (Rasmussen, Woog), PPG 1:35.
 
Third period: Min -- LaFleur 3 (Rasmussen, Berg), 4:10. Min -- Bertogliat 3
(Bonin, Dustin), 4:27. Min -- Berg 10 (Crowley, Woog), 14:09.
 
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!
 
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