I'll help provide some of the gruesome details.  First, obviously I am a
Gopher fan, but I'll be the first to admit that the way the Gophers
played the 1st and 2nd periods they didn't deserve to win.  I have noticed
that the have a habit of playing to the level of the opposing team, and
this was very apparent last night.
 
I stepped out of the room when Jed Fiebelkorn got his game DQ, so I really
don't know what happened.  BUT, the call that was made against Casey
Hankinson for checking from behind on Scott Kirton was one of the most
bogus calls I've seen in a few years.  There was no way that Hankinson
intended to injure Kirton, he was simply following through on the play.
It was a clean check, his feet never left the ice, and what happened was
that Kirton's head hit the glass in a weird angle.  He was obviously not
injured seriously as he stayed in the game and played the rest of it.
Hankinson, however, is lost for the first game of next week's series
against Michigan Tech.  I could understand if they perhaps gave him a 2
minute roughing penalty - that would still upset me, but I could accept it,
but no, he got 5 minutes and a DQ.  The reffing remained inconsistent throughout
the rest of the game; in the 3rd ND goalie Kvalevog (sp?) slashed Scott Bell
across the facemask and received only a 2 minute penalty.  Of course, I am
not saying that Minnesota was always innocent, I just believe in some of
these situations they were very unfairly assessed.  I am also not saying that
some of these penalties caused the game to go one way or the other, but
by reading the box score (I'm sure Pam will post) you will see which team
had *way* more penalties.
 
Finally, I cannot believe the manner in which the UND fans acted towards the
Gophers.  You won, isn't that enough?  You don't need to pelt the Gophers
with your bottles and cans of pop or beer.  That is about as rude as I have
seen it.  Obviously the Gophers have won their share of games this season
but have you ever seen our fans throwing objects at Wisconsin, UMD, or
St. Cloud?  That is very poor sportsmanship, and doesn't say much for
your team.  I suppose I should praise you for not throwing dead gophers
on the ice, that showed a bit of maturity.  But listen, I will take
Wisconsin fans anyday because of the fact that they at least respect
the teams on the ice - maybe they don't like them, but at least they
refrain from activities like throwing stuff on the ice.  I know I am
opening myself up to flames, but honestly, is this proper etiquette?  Be
proud of your team for winning, don't make them look bad by insulting the
losing team like this.  Not only is it rude, it's dangerous for both
teams.
 
Katie
Go Gophers!   6 - 1 - 1
 
*I will leave it to Pam to talk about the goal that went in off the back
of the pipe withh 35 seconds to go that wasn't counted.  It would have tied
up the game.