Today's (1/24/94) Minnesota Daily had two articles about Gopher hockey, one on
the series, and another on Dave Larson, who has scored overtime goals in the
victories over Denver and Wisconsin:
 
Headline: Comeback kids: U sweeps Denver
Publish Date: 01/24/1994
 
.RM138PT/David Jackson
 
Staff Reporter
 
Denver, Colo. -- Gopher hockey coach Doug Woog might not have been
the best-dressed person in the Denver University Arena on Saturday
night, but his birthday shirt brought his team the luck it needed.
 
With Woog donning a birthday gift from his staff -- a multicolored
shirt that could be described politely as an eyesore -- his team
scored four unanswered goals in the third period to beat Denver 5-3
before a sellout crowd of 4,700. After a dramatic 6-5 overtime win
Friday night, the victory completed the Gophers' first series sweep
on the road since March 1992. Minnesota has won six straight games
and has lost only one of its last 14 conference games. It is tied for
second place in the WCHA, three points behind conference leader
Northern Michigan, which travels to Mariucci Arena this weekend.
 
Brian Bonin scored the last three goals Saturday, the game-winner
coming at 17:08 of the period, when he tipped in a pass from Justin
McHugh at the left post. Bonin leads the team with 16 goals.
 
``This was our first road sweep since I've been here,'' Bonin said.
``It's tough to win on the road when you get behind like this. You
won't win more than you lose.''
 
Having blown a three-goal, first-period lead the night before, the
Pioneers broke out to a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes on Saturday night.
John McLean's slapshot from the left circle at 11:14 of the period
beat Jeff Moen to the stick side, as Denver forward Brian Konowalchuk
executed a textbook screen in front of the goalie. Then Sean Ortiz
broke out of the right corner with a loose puck and stuffed it
between Moen's pads at 14:03.
 
Minnesota pulled within one when Eric Means scored off a Jed
Fiebelkorn centering pass just 10 seconds into the second period. But
at 11:05, Jason Elders found himself in the perfect spot to pick up a
loose puck after teammate Brent Cary fanned on a shot. Elders caught
the puck in the slot and shot it in one motion, lifting it over
Moen's glove.
 
Once again the Gophers rallied, as Joe Dziedzic scored on a
wraparound 18 seconds into the third period. Then Bonin went to work.
He one-timed McHugh's centering pass over Mullin's glove at 12:45 of
the period to tie the game. McHugh set the play up by picking up a
misplayed puck in the Denver zon<%-5>e and finding Bonin alone in the
slot.<%0>
 
The winning goal came on a pretty passing play, with Dave Larson
carrying the puck into the zone and passing to a breaking McHugh.
Without breaking stride, McHugh hit Bonin cutting to the net for an
easy tip-in.
 
Bonin added an empty-net goal from center ice with 49 seconds left to
seal the game.
 
``I think we wore them down,'' Bonin said. ``Every time we had good
momentum in the first two pe<%-2>riods, we'd get a penalty. So we
tried<%0> to correct that in the third period.''
 
The Gophers also came from behind Friday, rallying from a three-goal,
first-period deficit and winning when Larson converted McHugh's pass
at the right post with only 17 seconds remaining in overtime.
 
Early on, it looked as if the Gophers would have been better off
staying on the golf course in the 60-degree weather. Denver skated to
a 4-1 lead just 7:11 into the game, and its top line of Angelo Ricci,
Cary and Elders had produced three of those goals with
lightning-quick moves and fancy passing.
 
``They were a little quicker than we expected,'' Woog said. ``They
were quicker than the other teams we had faced, and we weren't
reacting fast enough.''
 
But Bonin and Bobby Dustin scored early in the second period to
<%-2>pull Minnesota within one, and Tony<%0> Bianchi and Dustin got
early third-period goals to give them the lead.
 
``When they got the early goals, they picked it up right away,''
goalie Jeff Callinan said. ``But it stayed at 4-1 through the rest of
the first period, and that gave us the confidence to come back.''
 
After the early flurry, Callinan, who made 20 saves, held Denver
scoreless until Ricci stuffed home a rebound <%-2>of Elders' shot on
the power<%0> play with 1:17 left in regulation.
 
``If we can't win games with a 4-1 lead in the first period, we've
got big problems,'' Denver coach Frank Serratore said.
 
Headline: Gophers' overtime hero Larson strikes game-winning gold again
Publish Date: 01/24/1994
 
David Jackson
 
Staff Reporter
 
Denver, Colo. -- Can lightning strike twice in the same place? It
sure did for Gopher forward Dave Larson.
 
In what looked like a rerun of its dramatic overtime victory over
Wisconsin two weeks ago, Minnesota outlasted Denver 6-5 in overtime
Friday night. And again it was Larson who scored the game-winner when
it looked like the Gophers would have to settle for a tie. The
sophomore converted Justin McHugh's centering pass with just 17
seconds left on the clock.
 
When asked about his late-game heroics, Larson shrugged and smiled.
 
``McHugh made a great pass,'' he said. ``And it squirted through
right on my stick. I had basically an open net.''
 
The similarities between the two games were striking. Like the
Badgers, Denver had rallied late in regulation to tie the score.
Junior Angelo Ricci scored his second goal of the game, on the power
play, with just 1:17 remaining to tie the game 5-5.
 
And again coach Doug Woog strategically called a time out in the
extra period, though this time it was not because of the team's play.
 
``I was down to a two-line rotation in overtime,'' Woog said. ``And
Bonin's line (with McHugh and Larson) was tired. I needed to give
them a rest, because I thought we had two lines that had a chance to
score and they only had one line.''
 
The strategy worked, as the second line produced the game-winning
goal, and once again Larson was a hero in the waning seconds.
 
<%-2>McHugh carried the puck into the offensive zone from the
right-hand side, and Pioneer defenseman John McLean went with him,
forcing McHugh behind the net. McHugh then tried a wraparound shot,
and the puck trickled through McLean right to Larson at the right
post, and he easily beat goalie Sinuhe Wallinheimo.<%0>
 
``I didn't know how much time was left when I brought it in,'' McHugh
said. ``I tried to shoot it and get it out front. Larson was in
perfect position.''
 
Denver coach Frank Serratore said: ``The game-winning goal was a bad
back-checking play. We didn't pick the man up. If we pick the man up,
we go back the other way.''
 
Unlike the Wisconsin win, this time the Gophers needed to rally from
an early 4-1 deficit, and they had to do it on the road, where they
had not played a game in over a month.
 
``We said after the first period that we had to pull together,''
McHugh said. ``If we're going to win the championship, we've got to
win on the road.''
 
Larson added: ``This keeps us going right up the ladder. Denver
played great tonight. But we just had to keep our composure. We had
to play our game and just keep climbing back.''
 
 
 
Pam Sweeney                            Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask]         1993 WCHA Playoff Champions!!!
[log in to unmask]              Ski-U-Mah!!!