I know I can't really fill Carol's shoes, but here's my completely biased report
on the Gophers' weekend series:
 
The Gophers managed a sweep of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux at Mariucci Arena
this weekend.  This brings their record to 5-6-3 overall, 4-5-3 in the WCHA,
3-0-2 in Mariucci Arena, and 5-1-2 since Nov. 10.
 
The first game of the series was Saturday night (due to University rules
prohibiting play during the final exam period, which ended at 6:00 Saturday).
After a 1-1 first period, the Gophers exploded for 5 goals to the Sioux's 1 in
the second period (2 each by Justin McHugh and Tony Bianchi, 1 by Brian Bonin),
including going 4-4 on the power play.  A crucial point in the game came when
the Gophers lost senior forward Jeff Nielsen on a "Spearing with intent to
injure" penalty (5 min + game DQ) that no one seemed to see (from the player's
reaction, he was apparently "speared" in the knee, go figure), but seemed
energized when the supposedly "injured" player, Fighting Sioux frosh phenom
Landon Wilson, returned after missing only one shift.  The Gophers killed the
entire five-minute penalty, earning a standing ovation from the Mariucci
partisans.  The Sioux's one goal in that period was a pinball shot from the
point that appeared to bounce off TWO Minnesota defensemen in front of the net,
to everyone's, including Gopher goalie Jeff Callinan's, astonishment.  The
Gophers got one nearly as strange after Kvalevog mishandled a long shot when he
was way out of the net, and the puck bounced in Tony Bianchi's direction.
 
In the third period, North Dakota replaced Toby Kvalevog with Kevin Powell in
the net and Powell managed to hold the Gophers scoreless for the rest of the
game, but he only saw a couple of real good chances by the Gophers, as they
seemed to be sitting back offensively, and it almost cost them. North Dakota
scored three goals in the last 7 minutes of the game (including two by the
"injured" Wilson, the last with 17 seconds remaining, when Powell was on the
bench) to make it 6-5, and had another flurry in front of Gopher goalie Callinan
as time expired.
 
Sunday night's game was really a rather ugly affair, even to Gopher fans
celebrating the completion of the first sweep in the new arena.  It was a game
that reminded me that both the WCHA regular season single-game penalty-minute
record and the WCHA playoff penalty-minute record were set in games between
these two teams.  The Gophers scored three goals in the first period, one each
by Brian Bonin, Bobby Dustin, and Dave Larson.  Larson's goal to make it 3-0
came at 14:12 of the first period.  After that, the only entries in the box
score are all penalties, and there were plenty of 'em.  Jed Fiebelkorn of the
Gophers and Marty Shriner of the Sioux got tossed at 14:43 for fighting.  At
18:51 North Dakota's Landon Wilson was injured (on what the refs and Minnesota
announcers agreed was a clean check.)  While he was being tended to on the ice,
North Dakota's Scott Kirton (according to the Minnesota coaches) came off the
bench to go to the Minnesota bench and challenge Charlie Wasley to a fight.  So
they both got DQed, too.  Since Wilson needed to be carried off on a stretcher,
the refs belatedly realized it'd be best if the last 1:09 of the period was
added to the start of the second period and sent the teams to the dressing
rooms.
 
Gopher goalie Jeff Moen went to the wrong net when play resumed after the
intermission, as he'd forgotten that they had to go back to their first-period
goals for the first 1:09.  The second period saw a lot of elbow room on both
teams' benches.  Both teams had already lost 2 players to DQ's, the Sioux had
lost Wilson to injury, and half-way through the period the Gophers lost their
other co-captain (Nielsen was already sitting out his DQ from the night before),
Chris McAlpine, to a knee injury.  In addition to these 3 players missing from
each team, there were 11 more penalties called in the second period.  I guess
it's not surprising, then, that there were only 7 shots on goal (4 by Minnesota,
3 by North Dakota) during this period.
 
The third period was relatively quiet, with no goals and only 3 penalties.  The
biggest happening of this period was that Gophers' sophomore goalie Jeff Moen
managed to turn back all 11 of North Dakota's shots to earn his first collegiate
shut-out.  And, of course, the band FINALLY (okay, I know it's only the second
2-game home series) got to strike up "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" to
celebrate the sweep, although the winter-break-depleted band was nearly drowned
out by the roaring standing ovation for the last minute of the game.  After the
post-game handshakes, I thought freshman defenseman Brian LaFleur nearly made
the biggest rookie mistake of the game, seeming to head off the ice before the
traditional post-sweep raised-stick salute!  The unison on the salute left a
little to be desired, with no captain left on the ice to lead it, but hopefully
there'll be plenty more opportunities for practice!  :-)
 
Injury update: Landon Wilson suffered only a concussion but remained in the Twin
Cities for observation Sunday night.  Chris McAlpine's knee injury appears to be
only a sprain.
 
Pam Sweeney                            Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask]         1993 WCHA Playoff Champions!!!
[log in to unmask]              Ski-U-Mah!!!