I am not sure how this will turn out since I am only listening on the
radio this time.  It is a bit different than commenting on what I can
see.  I have to "see" through the broadcasters eyes.  I am celebrating
Grant Ptolney's return,  but mourning the fact the Matt Koalska is out
now and will be till our round with CC.

 From the sounds of it, the two teams seemed to come at each other
pretty hard.  I was glad to hear the early rushes the Gophers made on
the Mavericks.  Shots are 8-1 for the Gophers in the middle of the
period.   Sounds like Joey Martin almost got something in early.  I
don't want a goal scored, but Travis needs to see a bit more action, or
the first junky blue line shot will go in.

Yes!  We are glad Grant is back!  He helped out on the first goal from
Riddle.  Gophers 1 - Mavericks 0.

Jon Waibel had decided not to be overshadowed by Grant.  He charged the
net not long after the first goal.  Not out of it by any means, at the
end of the first, the Mavericks made a rush at Weber, and a lost puck
by Ballard almost gave them a goal.  At the end of the first it is
still 1-0 for the Gophers.  Shots are 12-4 for the Gophers.

Another odd-man rush almost got the Mavs a goal early in the second.
Then the Mavs decided to kick it up a notch and we spent a little too
much time in the Gopher end.  Slowly the Gophs decided they wanted to
play in the Mavs end.  From the way it sounded, the ref took a lot of
time to call some penalties in the game.  Only one in the first and
then finally penalties are called when the players started to take
matters into their own hands!  Which I guess they continued further
into the period.

Mid-way through the 2nd we had an NHL brew-hah-hah.  Seems the guys had
enough and squared off in lots of different fights.  I am not sure who
was officiating.  I don't remember if Wally Shaver mentioned it.  As
Wally said, "I wonder if his pea is missing!"  Now I will admit that
Wally and Glenn Sonmor are homers, so I can only say that it became
quite the rough game the last half of the period.  I will have to defer
to my friends who were there to tell us if the officiating was as bad
as Glenn thought.  The Mavs finally got a power play, were moving the
puck around and then got called again.  My, my!  I wish I could watch
it.  (My friend Carol has written me and said that Robin Anderson is
the ref)  Gee, I hope everyone gets out of this alive.

The Mavs scored on a 5-3 powerplay, and then still had a 5-3 again!
Gophers 1 - Mavs 1.  Then the Mavs scored again and when the Gophers
complained, they got a misconduct penalty.  Gophers 1 - Mavs 2.  Only
30 seconds left in the period.   The Mavs out shot the Gophers 11-4
that time around.  Coach Lucia had something to say to Anderson as the
players leave the ice - guess he looked pretty livid.  And we wait for
the third....

Not being able to see it, so, who ISN'T in the penalty box?

After some up and down play...guess what!?  A penalty.  The Gophers are
out shooting the Mavs through the first seven minutes, but just can't
seem to get past the goalie's equipment.  I would say a good reason the
Mavs have not lost any of their last 9 games is due to their goalie.
He is doing quite the job.  Most of the action was down in the Mavs
end.  The Gophers are still out shooting the Mavs by quite a bit.  Not
being there I can't say how many good shots they are taking.  But it
seems that Friday ghost is following them around (sorry Gophers fans,
the 18 and unders don't count) and nothing wants to go in.   2-2!
Reinholz scores for the Gophers!  Thanks to the hard work of Jon
Waibel.   With 2:30 left in the period.   There was a pause with just
over a minute left as the Mavs trainer had to go in and tend to the
goalie.  He was okay.

Oh, no!  OVERTIME!

The overtime starts with a flurry by the Gophers, and then one by the
Mavs.  It seems that Anderson has really lost the pea in his whistle.
A lot of action in the Mavs end, and some pushing at the end of
overtime, but we finish 2-2.

 From what I heard, it would seem that tonight the Gophers put together
more quality minutes of play than they have been recently.  That is the
hard work that is going to be necessary to get them higher in the
standings in the conference.   I would have rather had 2 points, but 1
is better than none.

Kathy M.
Go Gophers!