I'm reviving my "contribution" to the weekly reports this week. Lee does a
great job, but I have a few things to say following the big series we just had
here in Minnesota.
 
FIVE (5!) power play goals on Saturday night. WOW. After going 0-37 tries in
the last six games, something finally clicked. I tend to think that senior
captain Justin McHugh is *extremely* important to the Gophers. The problems
with the power play began after his injury that sidelined him for eight weeks.
And the Gophers also scored at even-strength (two goals). The score of 7-4 on
Saturday night is the largest margin posted this season by the Gophers.
 
On Friday night the Gophers played possessed in the first period, then eased
up a bit...and CC capitalized on that. The Tigers haven't swept the Gophers in
Minneapolis since 1977! (February 24-25, 1977) and since that sweep the Tigers
have gone 4-41-1 against the Gophers.
 
The lines for the Gophers on Friday night were:
Kraft-Bell-Bonin, Checco-Brink-McHugh, Larson-Woog-Pankratz, and Dustin-Steege-
Fiebelkorn. Defensive pairs were: LaFleur-Crowley, Trebil-J.Godbout, and
Wasley-Zwakman. Jeff Callinan was in goal.
 
Yes, Scott Bell did get a penalty with 34 seconds left on the clock at the end
of Friday's game. However, he was provoked by the player he cross-checked who
had been hacking and slashing him across the ice just prior to that. The call
was really marginal (I've seen the replay) and Bell went nuts in the refs
face. Well, what could he lose? The game was almost over. These officials need
to understand that one of these days someone is really going to get severely
injured because they didn't call "the little stuff" and were just letting
them play. I am sure that this is very frustrating for the players. I hope that
the supervisor of the officials, Greg Shepard took some notes this weekend and
has a meeting with all of his officials.
 
Joe Pankratz and Scott Bell are both having x-rays today due to possible
injuries from the game on Saturday. Pankratz was the player that Geranozzo
checked from behind and got the 5-minute major penalty for.
 
There was way too much stick work by the Tigers in both games. If the Tigers
expect to go all the way to the NC$$'s then they better clean up their act.
The Tigers are a *very* talented team. They don't need to take stupid
penalties and hurt their team by sitting in the penalty box. This was very
obvious on Saturday night, when Geranozzo got the 5-minute major and then R.J.
Enga speared Dan Woog at center ice. Not only did Enga spear him, but then
ripped Woog's breezers from hem to crotch on one leg! I understand that coach
Lucia benched Enga after that move, there was no penalty called. Coach Lucia
has had to bench players in the last two Saturday games for nasty stickwork. I
applaud his actions to bench those players, as CC doesn't need to resort to
that sort of play to win hockey games! The Tigers are probably the most
talented WCHA team the Gophers have played this season.
 
On Saturday night, Brian Bonin was player of the game, as picked by the TV
announcers Frank Mazzocco and Tom Reid. (I think Bach of the Tigers was picked
on Friday night) Several Gophers had excellent weekends. Brian Bonin got his
100th career point as a Gopher, and scored a total of two goals and two
assists for the weekend. Freshman Ryan Kraft had one goal and four assists,
co-captains Scott Bell had two goals and one assist while Justin McHugh (aka
The Goalie's Nightmare!) had three goals and three assists.
 
The lines for Saturday night were:
Kraft-Bell-Bonin, Hankinson-Pankratz-Woog, B.Godbout-Fiebelkorn-Bertogliat,
and Brink-McHugh-Checco. Defensive pairs were: J.Godbout-Trebil,
 LaFleur-Crowley and Zwakman-Moser. Callinan again in goal.
 
Dave Larson who didn't play on Saturday night :-( did not get any penalties on
Friday night! First time in a long while. And Jed Fiebelkorn didn't get a
penalty all weekend. Great job!
 
I sat next to two young gals from London, England on Saturday night, who were
attending their first Gopher hockey game. They had been to one "match" before,
(an IHL game of the Minnesota Moose) so they had a few questions that I was
able to help them with. They were especially impressed with the size and
enthusiasm of the crowd and the speed of the game. At the end of the game the
student section started to chant U-S-A! U-S-A! and that confused them a
bit...until I explained that it was because the Tigers had quite a few
Canadian players listed on their squad.
 
Best quote from coach Woog in the Star Tribune 1/22/95:
 
"I warned you guys early in the year that guy Mo (momentum) is pretty fickle,
and might leave us for a while. I didn't think he'd change his address.
Hopefully, he's changed his zip code back to the Twin Cities permanently."
 
The student section did the black hole cheer for Lambert twice on Saturday
night. They also had a ton of signs which expressed their displeasure with
one of the referees! There were too many for the security folks to collect.
 
The place to meet the Hockey-L'ers in between periods is right near the
section 17 sign, next to the Denver overhead beam. One of the lurkers on the
list, Pete came by with the brother of a former Gopher Hockey-L'er to meet
some of the crew. If you want to talk some serious Gopher hockey in-between
periods, please do stop by. We are *always* there!
 
Now it's on to Wisconsin...
 
GO Gophers!!!
-Carol
 
Carol S. White                            BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota        internet:[log in to unmask]
Office of the Registrar
(612) 625-8517                                    GO Gophers!!!