Minnesota may have turned the corner, and they should thank
Minnesota-Duluth coach Mike Sertich for helping them out.
 
On Friday, the Gophers put together a second and third period that can
only be described as pathetic.  After building a 3-1 lead in the first
20 minutes, they stopped covering anyone in front of the net and Steve
Debus got shelled.  It'll tend to happen when the opposition gets to
fire away from a range of six feet.  The Gopher's response was to take a
succession of dumb penalties.
 
Apparently, when the clock expired, Sertich looked over to the Minnesota
bench and asked what had happened to the 75 years of pride and
tradition.  This is the point where, as I Gopher fan, I'm supposed to
get all huffy and complain about his poor sportsmanship.  The porblem
with this is that Coach Sertich was absolutely correct.  I've been
saying the same thing myself for a few weeks; I simply concede that he
found a better phrasing than I have.
 
He probably regretted it within 24 hours.  The Gophers came out a
completely different team on Saturday.  They played perhaps their best
game of the season, generating a touchdown lead before surrendering the
shutout with 1:58 to play.  They were aided by the Bulldogs completely
losing their composure.  Minnesota had nine power plays in the second
period alone, and I don't really think the officiating was unbalanced.
Bad, yes; unbalanced, no.  What most impressed me about the Gophs play
was that they took their power plays instead of getting caught up in
retaliation.  This was quite unusual and was probably helped by Erik
Rasmussen sitting out due to a DQ on Friday.
 
Ryan Kraft had a five point night and Dave Spehar continues to really
step forward.  He has developed much faster than I thought he would.
Already, I am thinking of him as the go-to guy.  (interesting side note:
it was brought up that the Gophers might land his former Duluth-East
tag-team partner, Chris Locker.  Quite a switch, since I thought he was
headed to Wisconsin if he got himself academically ready.)
 
I just can't let the officiating go unmentioned.  Without going into the
rest of the inconsistencies perpretrated by John Boche and his two
accomplices, there was one truly horrendous moment.  In the first period
of Saturday's game, UMD's Rick Mrozik drilled Brian LaFleur headfirst
into the boards during a scrum in the corner.  Apparently, there was
going to be no call until a replay was flashed on the big screen
installed for the 75th anniversary ceremonies.  At this point, the
officials huddled and handed out a 2-minute penalty for cross-checking.
 To the wrong guy. (They nabbed Curtis Doell).  I think there is a real
debate to be had about whether refs should be handing out penalties
based on replay screens, but if they're going to, they should get it
right.  It was absolutely a textbook check from behind.  The most
infuriating part was overhearing Boche's explanation to Gophs assistant
Mike Guentzel; he didn't see it.  WHAT?  There were four guys and the
puck in one corner.  Exactly what were the three of them watching?  I'll
repeat what I've said before: We keep hearing from the NCAA that they
are cracking down on checking from behind, but there is precisely zero
evidence to suggest that this is actually taking place.  Cracking down
would mean watching for it and calling it.
 
But, back to my original point.  I'm not sure that Mike Sertich wants to
think of it this way, but the Gophers owe him a favor.  The only reason
I can think of for his making that kind of bulletin board comment after
the first game of a series was that Minnesota's performance was so
wretched was painful even for the opposition.  Whatever, he hit the nail
right on the head, and the Gophers better remember it.  It inspired them
to play their first really good game in almost two months.  We'll see
where it takes them.
 
J. Michael Neal
 
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