This is a pretty entertaining article from this morning's Daily. Gives more
details for those who are interested!
-Carol
Headline: U SIX SPLIT
Publish Date: 11/22/1993
By David Jackson
<W0I>Staff Reporter
The results of this weekend's goaltending contest are now in.
Denver's Sinuhe Wallinheimo wooed the judges with his flamboyance;
Minnesota's Jeff Callinan impressed with his discourse, and his
fellow Gopher Jeff Moen scored points with the difficulty of his
stunts.
But in the end, Moen was the champion, because he got the biggest
prize of all -- a win.
Moen made 34 saves as the Gophers beat the Pioneers 4-3 Saturday
night. The teams had tied 3-3 Friday. It was the sophomore's first
collegiate win.
``It was kind of a monkey on my back for a while,'' said Moen, whose
career record is now 1-6-1 despite a 3.85 goals against average.
``It's good to get that off. I knew it would come sooner or later if
I kept playing well.''
Moen watched his team take a 3-0 lead as the Gophers built on the
offense they displayed in Friday's 53-shot outburst.
Jeff Nielsen, who scored twice on Friday, opened Saturday's scoring
3:22 into the game. Andy Brink and Bobby Dustin padded the lead with
goals later in the period.
But Denver dominated the second period, getting goals from Petri
Gunther, Jason Elders and Antti Laaksonen.
Brink's second goal came at an opportune moment, sandwiched between
the second and third Denver goals. The sophomore got the puck at his
own goal line and skated down the entire left side of the ice
untouched, as both Denver defensemen stayed on the right side. Brink
then fired a slap shot that went under Wallinheimo's arm.
Moen was brilliant in the period, making 15 saves. The Pioneers had
five power plays in that span, including a 53-second, two-man
advantage, but didn't score on any of them.
Twice, Moen dove across the crease -- once feet-first, once
hands-first -- to prevent pucks from going into an exposed net. On
both plays, Moen was safe, and, more importantly, so was the Gopher
lead.
``The five-on-three was the most fun part of the game for me,'' he
said. ``I just tried to keep the puck out of the net.''
Wallinheimo had 50 saves Friday night in a game the Gophers dominated
but could not win.
But it was the sideshow the sophomore from Vantaa, Finland, conducted
that left his mark on this night.
Wallinheimo held up the puck for the crowd to see after each save,
exhorted the fans to heckle him more loudly, and even pointed at his
counterpart Callinan when the fans riddled Wallinheimo with the chant
of ``Sieve!''
``The crowd turns me on,'' Wallinheimo said. ``In Finland we don't
have crowds like that.''
When the game ended, Callinan skated to the other end of the ice to
inform Wallinheimo that, in Mariucci Arena, goalies don't behave like
that.
``I told him I enjoyed his little sideshows,'' Callinan said. ``He
had a great game. But he came into our building, and I don't think
what he did was appropriate.''
When he wasn't evaluating Wallinheimo's decorum, Callinan was making
big saves of his own, 20 of them. He made a stick save on Angelo
Ricci's breakaway late in the second period and made three
consecutive saves on a Pioneer flurry in the third period.
For the Gophers, Dustin scored in the first period, and Nielsen got
goals in the second and third periods.
Denver got all three goals in the first period, two of which
deflected off defenseman Eric Means.
``The first one went in off my mask,'' Means said after the game.
``That's a pretty good argument why we shouldn't have masks. I'd be
willing to have stitches and a W (win).''
But thanks to Moen's performance Saturday, they got one.
Gopher notes: The team suffered two more injuries in Saturday's game.
Means suffered a minor separated shoulder and is listed as doubtful
for this weekend's games against Michigan and Michigan State. Nick
Checco suffered a hip pointer, and his status will be evaluated this
week.
Carol S. White BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota internet:[log in to unmask]
Office of the Registrar
(612) 625-8517 GO Gophers!!!
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