The Minnesota Daily articles from today and yesterday have info about the
signees from the first day of the early signing period, Greg Zwakman's first
goal, the injury situation, and the Men's Club Team. There's also an "Around
the WCHA" section at the end.
Headline: Gopher hockey team inks two top recruits
Publish Date: 11/11/1993
The Gopher hockey team has signed two of the nation's top high school
defensemen to letters of intent.
Hill-Murray's Brent Godbout and Bloomington Jefferson's Mike Crowley
both signed tenders Wednesday. National scouting services rate
Godbout and Crowley as two of the top three defensemen available.
Both have played varsity level high school hockey since the ninth
grade, and were named to last year's All-State team.
Crowley has played in 69 games going into his senior season, tallying
18 goals and 70 points. Those numbers were enough to break
Jefferson's school scoring mark for defensemen, previously held by
former Gopher and current NHL San Jose Shark Tom Pederson.
Godbout has played in 85 career high school games with 37 goals and
104 points. He has helped lead his team to three consecutive state
tournament appearances. Godbout will join his brother Brent,
currently a forward for this year's Gopher team.
Means will play
X-rays on the ankle of Gopher defenseman Eric Means were negative and
he has been cleared to play in this weekend's series at UMD.
Means was hit in the ankle by a Dave Larson shot Tuesday and had to
leave practice. The ankle was too swollen to examine Tuesday, but
X-rays showed the injury to be just a bad bruise.
The Gopher defense can ill afford any more injuries. It is already
hurting with the loss of Mike McAlpine to a knee injury.
Men's club hockey
Although the Gopher varsity hockey team has struggled to its worst
start since 1959, the men's rec hockey team is enjoying its best
start in the team's four-year history.
After sweeping Marquette this past weekend, their record now stands
at 4-2.
Chad Holte led the way in Saturday's 9-2 victory with three goals,
while Jesse Carlson and Jaime Loehr each had three-point nights. Matt
Hennen got the victory in the nets.
Goalie Ron Kuriscak shut out Marquette 9-0 Friday night, stopping 16
shots. Holte added two more goals to finish with five on the weekend.
The weekend sweep came on the heels of the team's only two losses, to
UW-Whitewater on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30. Players and coaches are looking
forward to a rematch with Whitewater on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13.
The team's two other victories came against Purdue on the weekend of
Oct. 22 and Oct. 23. In the season- opening series, Minnesota downed
the Boilermakers 6-1 and 12-3. That weekend, Kuriscak allowed only
four goals on almost 70 shots, according to team coach Nicholas
Meyer.
The team's next home game is Nov. 20 against the University of
Michigan-Dearborn. The 1:30 game will be played at Mariucci Arena.
-- David Unze
Headline: Gopher hockey used to road life
Publish Date: 11/10/1993
By David Jackson
<W0I>Staff Reporter
Without a doubt, Mariucci Arena is the finest practice rink in
college hockey. The Gophers have played five of their first six games
on the road and lost all five. And they face another road test this
weekend when they travel to Minnesota-Duluth.
Though the team longs for a stretch of home games, co-captain Chris
McAlpine says the road trips are no excuse for an 0-5-1 start.
``That has something to do with (the poor start). Home is where we
can get our confidence back,'' he said. ``But either way we have to
pick it up as a team.''
Injury report
Add defenseman Eric Means to the growing list of injuries. Means
injured his ankle in practice Wednesday when he was hit by Dave
Larson's shot.
The ankle was too swollen to determine the extent of the injury, but
X-rays will be taken today. If a fracture is found, Andy Brink will
be moved back to fill his spot on defense.
Definitely out for this weekend's Minnesota-Duluth series are goalie
Jeff Moen (whiplash), defenseman Mike McAlpine (knee) and forwards
Joe Dziedzic (forearm), Brandon Steege (concussion) and Larson
(shoulder).
Another milestone
For the third week in a row, a Gopher hockey player is celebrating
his first career goal.
Sophomore defenseman Greg Zwakman scored on a 45-foot slapshot in the
second period of Saturday night's game, his 42nd game as a collegian.
``I was shocked,'' Zwakman said. ``I thought it was tipped in until I
heard it on the loudspeaker.''
But he said he wasn't frustrated by the wait. ``If my role on this
team was to score goals I'd never play,'' he said.
Freshmen forwards Dan Hendrickson and Nick Checco scored their first
goals against Colorado College and St. Cloud State, respectively.
Around the WCHA
The showdown for first place between Colorado College and Michigan
Tech produced a pair of ties, 3-3 on Friday and 1-1 on Saturday. The
Tigers remained in first place with 10 points to the second-place
Huskies' eight.
Wisconsin's 7-3 win over North Dakota on Friday night was Jeff
Sauer's 300th win as the Badgers' head coach.
Sauer, who previously coached at Colorado College, has a career
record of 467-383-34, ranking him seventh on the all-time win list.
Pam Sweeney Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask] 1993 WCHA Playoff Champions!!!
[log in to unmask] Ski-U-Mah!!!
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