Well, I know Carol had some conference to attend this week, but I was
kind of hoping she'd have a chance to write a weekend Gopher summary...
I know I can't fill her shoes, but I'm willing to step into the breach
and give it a try.
 
The Gophs split with the hated North Dakota Fighting Sioux this weekend.
The score was 8-4 both nights but in different directions.
 
Friday night was pretty scary for us Gopher fans.  Perhaps we should have
expected it, with only two experienced defensemen.  The two experienced
defensemen were paired together, as were two true freshmen, in a move that
had many after-game second guessers.  The two freshmen were on the ice for
4 of the 8 North Dakota goals.  Woog however, defended the performance of
his young defensemen, saying that the forwards had been playing poor
defense.  I don't claim to be a good judge of defensive play, but it was
clear to even me that no one on the Gophers seemed to be hitting anyone,
while the Sioux were not afraid to knock the Gophers off the puck.  In
addition, senior Tom Newman did not look good at all in goal, giving up
8 goals on 32 shots.  A bright spot for the Gophers was the play of
freshman Brian Bonin, who had a goal and an assist, in addition to several
other good opportunities.  Jeff Nielsen, Craig Johnson, and Justin McHugh
had the other Gopher goals.
 
Saturday night's game started out just as bad.  10 minutes into the game
the Gophers had not yet had a shot on goal, while giving up two goals on
8 shots (that still had us commenting favorably on Callinan's play).
Part of that 10 minutes was spent killing off *most* of a double minor.
It looked like it might be another long night when the Gophers got a
power play and the first unit still failed to get a shot on net.  Then
a second power play unit of freshmen Bonin and Dustin and sophomore Justin
McHugh took the ice and took the Gophers' first shot of the game, playing
with an intensity that fired up the Mariucci crowd even before Dustin
scored on their second shot.  The next two shifts after that goal were
played by the fourth and third lines;  they kept up the intensity and the
whole team seemed to be sparked.  The Gophers scored 6 unanswered goals
(Bobby Dustin and John Brill in the first; Chris McAlpine, Brill again, and
Darby Hendrickson in the second, and Joe Dziedzic in the third) before North
Dakota scored on a fluky clearing pass that bounced over Callinan's stick
to make it 6-3.  Craig Johnson made it 7-3, and the teams traded goals in
the last two minutes, with Dave Larson getting a well-deserved first
collegiate goal on the fourth line.  The Gophers again had strong play
from their freshmen, in particular the fourth line, who played together
on a line last year with the St. Paul Vulcans (before and after HS hockey
season when Dustin was with the team).
 
Play was physical on the part of BOTH teams Saturday night, and resulted in
119 minutes in penalties (there was a nice TV shot of 5 Sioux in the box
at once in the first period, although three of them were about to leave
after the expiration of coincidental penalties).
 
Lines:
Magnusson(So) - Nielsen(Jr) - Brill(Sr)
Hendrickson(So) - Johnson(Jr) - Bell(Jr)
Bonin(Fr) - McHugh(So) - Dziedzic(Jr)
Friday:  Bertogliat(Fr) - Fiebelkorn(So) - Bianchi(Jr)
Saturday:  Larson(Fr) - Woog(Fr) - Dustin(Fr)
 
Defensive Pairs:
Richards(Sr) - C.McApline(Jr)
Steege(So) - {M.McAlpine(Fr) Friday; Zwakman(Fr) Saturday}
Wasley(Fr) - Trebil(Fr)
 
note:  Steege was a forward who saw some action last year.
 
Goalies:
Friday:  Newman(Sr)
Saturday:  Callinan(So)
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!!