I know Carol's off today, so the only totally-biased summary you'll get on
this series is from me:
 
I guess the headline in the Minnesota Daily article says it all (and it's
not too often I agree with their headline writers) "Gophers Struggle in
Series Sweep"  The gophs pulled off their first sweep of the season, but
they sure did NOT make it look easy.
 
They pulled out to a 4-0 lead in the first period Friday, but just when we
thought the only suspense would be whether or not they got a power-play
goal to go with the penalty shot goal, short-handed goal, and two even-strength
goals in the first period, they went to sleep, eventually holding on to win the
game 5-4.
 
Saturday night we at least had Chris McAlpine back in the lineup for the
Gophers, after one of the few experienced defenders missed Friday night's
game with a hip injury.  Unfortunately, Craig Johnson hurt his shoulder during
the second period.  Not something the Gophers needed, to lose two of their
top returning players, Johnson and Hendrickson, with shoulder injuries.
Carol was informed via improvised sign language by an arena worker that
Johnson's shoulder was okay (after being checked out at the hospital).  I
haven't, however, seen anything about it in the papers yet.
 
Saturday's game was something less than an offensive showcase.  The Gophers
went up 1-0 in the first period on freshman defenseman Dan Trebil's first
collegiate goal, but then managed only two shots on goal (to Tech's 3) from
sometime in the latter half of the 1st  'til 10-15 minutes through the second.
Travis Richards put the Gophers up 2-0 and broke the power-play drought late
in the second.  Tech scored in the third to make it 2-1, but when they pulled
Ram with a minute left, sophomore forward Jed Fiebelkorn got his first
collegiate goal.  Tech did score with the extra skater with about 20 seconds
left to make Jed's goal the game-winner.
 
Oh, yes, this was the Gophers first sweep of the year and, thus the first
rendition of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" by the band and salute from the
team. The Gophers obviously needed a little practice on the unison in their
post-sweep mid-ice salute.  Hopefully they'll have plenty of opportunities!
:-)  (Had to live up to my billing as a "totally-biased" report!)
 
Here are some of the quotes and a few more details from the Daily article
for those who are interested:
 
Headline: Gophers struggle in series sweep
Publish Date: 11/30/1992
 
By Patty Hegre
 
Staff Reporter
...(stuff deleted)
 
The Huskies didn't let the Gophers run away with the series, but were
unable to take advantage of Minnesota's shallow bench.
 
"I thought we played with a lot of character this weekend," said Bob
Mancini, Tech's first-year head coach. "Minnesota played hard even
though they were a little battered, and we kept it close, but we
couldn't win."
 
Gopher goalie Jeff Callinan blocked 21 shots in Saturday's win,
including 12 in the third period to ice the victory.
 
...
 
In Friday's victory, Richards' second-period goal, which gave
Minnesota a 5-1 lead, was the eventual game-winner after Mikesch
added two goals and Jim Young another in the third period.
 
Johnson opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game on a
penalty shot, when a Tech player was whistled for covering the puck
in the crease. Jeff Nielsen, Scott Bell and Bobby Dustin each
contributed a goal to the victory.
 
Senior Tom Newman gave up three goals on 21 shots before being
replaced by Callinan at 13:13 of the third period.
 
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!!