The University of Minnesota Gophers beat the University of Minnesota -
Duluth Bulldogs Saturday night 4 - 1 to complete their first series sweep
since the first weekend of November.
 
Duluth came out skating strong and put pressure on the Gopher net,
posting 9 shots on goal before the Gophs got one shot on goal. Good
goaltending by Jeff Callinan kept the Gophs in the game early.
 
The first goal of the game came early in the 2nd period when junior
defenseman Charlie Wasley chipped in his own rebound past a prostrate
Taras Lendzyk.
 
Brian Bonin scored his 21st goal of the season on a beautiful feed from
Nick Checco with one minute remaining in a 5 minute power play.
 
At the beginning of the 3rd period with his team down by only 2 goals,
Duluth's head coach Mike Sertich suffered some heart palpatations and was
taken to the University hospital.
 
The Bulldogs scored in the 3rd to spoil Callinan's chance for back to
back shutouts. But the Gophs scored 2 more goals to cement the victory
and a rare home sweep for the fans.
 
Notes:
 
The Gophers physically dominated the Bulldogs this weekend. The physical
play they needed to survive in Houghton last weekend has seemed to help
the once passive Gophers. This new-found strength will be needed next
weekend when the Gophs go to Denver.
 
Next weekend the Gophers will be out to avenge the 12/10 - 12/11 home sweep
they suffered at the hands of the Red Pioneers. Both teams are currently
tied for second in the WCHA with 31 points (thank you UND for helping the
Gophs Saturday night). Wisconsin plays the second game of their series
against SCSU today. If UW wins there will be a 3 way tie for 2nd place.
 
Third line mania: third line wing Jed Febilkorn played very well this
weekend, showing impressive bursts of speed, stick handling, laying on
firm hits and dishing off assists. As the student section's favorite
player, Jed receives loud ovations whenever he's near the puck. He seems
to have raised his level of playing a notch. Danny Hendrickson and Dan
Woog also had very good weekends. Both players play with tremendous
determination, grit and skill. As the Gophs will lose playmaker/sparkplug
Justin McHugh after this season, I believe Danny Hendrickson will fill
his skates next year and in the years to come. He has skills similar to
his brother Darby, but is grittier and not afraid to take hits.
 
Gopher net minder Jeff Callinan looked very good in goal this weekend.
Perhaps losing the start last Saturday to Jeff Moen gave him some rest
and rekindled his competitive spirit. Woog will stay with Callie as long
as he's hot, but hopefully Moen will get a start to give Callie a rest
sometime between next weekend and the end of the season.
 
Wow! A sweep!
Reed