=46rom Today's (1/19/96) Minnesota Daily:
 
Larson still feels rush of big goal
 
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
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Part of the fun of coaching the Gophers hockey team for Doug Woog
is watching his players change and develop from their freshman to senior
years.
 
He has particularly enjoyed watching the growth of two players this year.
The first is obviously his son Dan, a junior forward for the Gophers. Dave
Larson, who grew up with Dan in South St. Paul, is the other.
 
Larson, a senior forward, is having the best year of his career. Through 22
games he has already eclipsed his previous high for points in a season. At 6
feet, 227 pounds, the physical winger has been a strong presence in the
corners and in front of the opposing net.
 
But it hasn't always been this way for Larson. In fact, his size hasn't
always been his biggest ally.
 
"I can remember a few times when he played peewees and squirts," said Woog,
who roomed with Larson's father, Bruce, when they played for Minnesota.
"He'd get hit and he'd just lay there. The medical staff tended to David a
lot.
 
"A lot of people think of him as big, bad David. But as a little guy he laid
on the rink a lot waiting for somebody to come out there."
 
As years went by, Woog became the Gophers' coach and Larson got bigger -- a
little too big as it turned out. After turning down more scholarship money
from Alaska-Anchorage to play at Minnesota, Larson showed up for preseason
practices his sophomore year out of shape and overweight.
 
And unlike his experiences as a peewee, this was no laughing matter.
 
"I couldn't skate," Larson said. "I couldn't do anything. The coaches said,
'Hey, for you to be a part of this program you're going to have to do this
work.' And I said, 'Gladly. I'll do it.'"
 
The coaches put Larson on a weight-loss and fitness program that kept him
out of the season's first 10 games. He had to ride an exercise bike before
and after every practice and was on a strict diet that consisted primarily
of soup and crackers.
 
Larson also had to endure a rash of jokes and cracks about his weight. But
he silenced many of them after he got back in the lineup and made a dramatic
play against Wisconsin in the teams' first-ever game at the Target Center on
Jan. 9, 1994.
 
It was late in overtime with the score tied, 3-3, when a Badgers defenseman
tried to clear the puck from the Wisconsin zone.
 
"It hit me in the gut," Larson said.
 
Larson promptly controlled the puck and shot it under the goalie's stick for
the game-winner with only 23 seconds left on the clock. He then skated
around wildly and dove across the center line, starting one of the most
frenzied scenes in Gophers hockey history.
 
"That might have been one of the all-time great celebrations," Woog said.
 
Larson called that game the turning point of his career. Two weeks later he
added another overtime goal to beat Denver.
 
And the play almost never happened.
 
"I wasn't even supposed to be out there," Larson said of the final shift
against Wisconsin. "Just on a whim (Woog) said, 'OK Larson, you go out with
these guys.' And then I scored.
 
"From that point on I think it gave me confidence, knowing the coach had
confidence in me."
 
Woog's confidence in Larson is apparent this season. He has been on the
Gophers' first or second line in every game he's played. Larson's eight
goals and 10 assists make him Minnesota's fifth-highest scoring forward.
 
And now that his mass is concentrated in his upper body rather than his
stomach, Larson welcomes anyone who wishes to poke fun at him. But he may
have trouble finding any takers.
 
"People can sit and criticize me for this and that, but that's OK," Larson
said. "I'm still playing Division I hockey. And that's a dream a lot of
people in this state have, to play hockey for the University of Minnesota.
So they can take their jabs. I'm still here."
 
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=A9The Minnesota Daily
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!
 
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