Headline: Callinan stonewalls Bulldogs
Publish Date: 02/13/1995
Matthew Cross
Staff Reporter
 
A fire was extinguished when the Gophers hockey team swept a red-hot
Minnesota-Duluth squad this weekend at Mariucci Arena.
 
The sweep marked the second time this season that the Gophers
earned the right to gather in a circle at center ice in Mariucci
Arena, slap their sticks on the surface and raise them in the air.
The ceremony is restricted to home sweeps, and this one couldn't have
been more special.
 
The Bulldogs were 6-1-2 in the previous nine games before they
came to Minneapolis, but the Gophers' 4-1 win, preceded by their 3-0
shutout, stifled UMD's late-season comeback.
 
Thus Minnesota built a foundation from which it will draw momentum
going into next weekend's key series at Denver.
 
``The next series is a big one for us,'' Gophers coach Doug Woog
said. ``As far as the NCAA's, we'll be sitting really healthy if we
sweep Denver.
 
``We needed to have four points this weekend. That puts us in a
different pack. I don't even know the possibilities it would take for
us to fall out of the top five (in the WCHA), but I know they've been
reduced significantly.''
 
Indeed, the Gophers have reason to feel good about their standing
right now, and they're also happy with some key performances
this weekend.
 
Most noteworthy was goaltender Jeff Callinan, who recorded his first
career shutout Friday and nearly got his second Saturday until
Bulldogs winger Jeff Romfo scored with only 9:04 remaining in the
third period.
 
``Jeff carried us tonight until we got in a position to win
it,'' Woog said after Minnesota's 4-1 win. ``A lesser performance in
goal could have changed the outcome of this game.''
 
With his two victories this weekend, Callinan improved his career
record against UMD to 6-1-1, but a lot of the credit should go to the
Gophers' defense.
 
They held UMD to 20 shots on goal on Friday night and 26 on Saturday
by executing near-perfect backchecking and cutting off angles.
 
On the offensive side, the Gophers got production from unlikely
heroes in defenseman Charlie Wasely and forward Jed Fiebelkorn.
 
Wasely stuffed his second goal of the season on Saturday night when
Dan Woog fed Fiebelkorn low in the defensive zone and Fiebelkorn
carried the puck coast-to-coast and gave the puck to Wasley in front
of the net.
 
Coach Woog said his team has been doing a lot of work on shooting
from the point on the offensive blue line, and that has opened up
more opportunities for defensemen to score.
 
Minnesota has also benefited from the emergence of Fiebelkorn from a
nearly dormant offensive 1994-95 season.
 
Fiebelkorn scored a goal and added an assist on Friday night to bring
his season total to 10 points.
 
The highlight goal of the series was by senior co-captain Scott Bell,
who directed the puck across center ice and was forced low on the
left side.
 
He turned around and skated back toward the blue line when the center
of the zone opened up. Bell skated in and unleashed a 15-foot wrist
shot from the right side that squeaked past UMD goaltender Taras
Lendzyk.
 
The goal looked easy, and it typified the weekend for the Gophers.
Everything looked easy.
 
``It was like the Red Sea,'' Bell said. ``Everything just parted for
me.''
 
Minnesota's sweep  moved the Gophers into a tie for second place
with Denver. The Pioneers split their series with North Dakota.
 
More important, however, is the fact that the Gophers have their
first three-game winning streak since Thanksgiving.
 
``Coming down to the end of the season, that's what you're supposed
to do,'' Bell said. ``We were down, and now we're headed back up. And
that's where you want to be heading into the playoffs.''
 
Minnesota's last streak came when they took the second game of a
series with Michigan Tech and won a pair at the College Hockey
Showcase
 
Ironically, that streak ended when the Gophers were swept at home by
Denver after fall quarter finals week.
 
``They swept us here,'' Bell said. ``So we'll have to repay them for
the embarrassment that they bestowed upon us.''
 
Carol S. White                            BITNET: c-whit@uminn1
University of Minnesota        internet:[log in to unmask]
Office of the Registrar
(612) 625-8517                                    GO Gophers!!!