The Minnesota Daily's hockey update from Wednesday has items about the goalies,
the upcoming series at Denver, injuries, and a "WCHA Update" about Northern and
CC.
 
Headline: Callinan, Moen shut the door as Gophers climb in WCHA
Publish Date: 01/19/1994
 
.RM138PT/David Jackson
 
<W0I>Staff Reporter
 
The arctic cold doesn't seem to have bothered the Gopher hockey team,
which continued its climb toward the top of the WCHA with the weekend
sweep of Michigan Tech.
 
Perhaps the hottest Gopher is junior goalie Jeff Callinan. With a 3-1
win over the Huskies on Friday, Callinan improved to 5-0-2 in his
last seven conference games.
 
Friday night marked a reunion of sorts for Callinan and Tech forward
Pat Mikesch, who played together on the U.S. Junior Team last winter.
Mikesch scored the Huskies' only goal Friday, and he had several
other good chances that were thwarted by Callinan, including one that
hit the goalpost.
 
And the Gophers don't lose anything when sophomore Jeff Moen enters
the rotation. The 2-1 win Saturday was Moen's fourth in six games,
and he is ranked third in the WCHA, with a goals-against average of
3.19, trailing only St. Cloud State's Grant Sjerven and Northern
Michigan's Dieter Kochan.
 
Two Gopher forwards have also jumped to the fore in the goal-scoring
department. While 16 Gophers have scored goals this year, forwards
Jeff Nielsen and Brian Bonin have 13 and 12, respectively. After
Nielsen scored a second-period goal Saturday, Bonin followed with one
in the third period.
 
Nielsen has scored goals in six of the last eight games, while Bonin
has scored in five of those games.
 
This weekend
 
It's off to balmy Denver for this weekend's series with the
sixth-place Pioneers. This is the Gophers' only road trip in a
six-week span. Minnesota is 1-0-1 against Denver this season, with a
3-3 tie and a 4-3 win at Mariucci Arena in November.
 
The Pioneers are led by two of the WCHA's top forwards, Jason Elders
and Angelo Ricci. Elders' 17 goals are third in the conference, while
Ricci has seven goals to go along with 17 assists.
 
Denver is an impressive 7-3-1 at home, while Minnesota is 3-7-1 away
from home.
 
Injury update
 
The Gopher defense continues to suffer injuries, following Mike
McAlpine's third-degree shoulder separation in Saturday's game.
McAlpine's injury comes on the heels of Charlie Wasley's arthroscopic
knee surgery Thursday.
 
With McAlpine out for at least two weeks and Wasley listed as
doubtful for this weekend's series with Denver, the Gophers have only
five healthy defensemen. Andy Brink will move from forward to defense
to fill the slot.
 
``(The injuries) hurt us at forward as well,'' Coach Doug Woog said.
``Andy can be a top-three line forward for us, so it would help us to
have one more forward.''
 
WCHA update
 
Northern Michigan's sweep of Denver sets up a big series in Colorado
Springs this weekend. The Wildcats travel to Colorado College, which
is tied for second in the conference. And it won't be easy for the
conference leaders. The host Tigers are 8-0-2 at home, while
Northern, a perfect 11-0 at home, is just 4-6-1 on the road.
 
<end quoted stuff>
 
Weather update:  There IS hope.  We hit 1 degree here yesterday, getting above
zero for the first time in 6 days.  (The scary thing is that that actually felt
WARM...)  Since most of you are east of here, you'll be getting warmer in a day
or two.
 
We now return to your regularly scheduled hockey content.
 
 
 
Pam Sweeney                            Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask]         1993 WCHA Playoff Champions!!!
[log in to unmask]              Ski-U-Mah!!!