Thanks, Bob G for beating me to the punch, filling in for Erik while he's off
"Bambi-Blasting".
 
I wasn't able to see much of the Saturday night game, not that I'd have wanted
to, apparently!  Hope the Gophers can get things on track.  Anyway, here's the
article from today's Minnesota Daily:
 
Headline: Skid continues: hockey Gophers swep
Publish Date: 11/08/1993
 
By David Jackson
 
<W0I>Staff Reporter
 
Marquette, Mich. -- For Gopher hockey coach Doug Woog, it was not a
scenario conducive to earning his team's first win -- a 10-hour drive
through snow and ice to an arena where the opponent had lost just one
game in its last 18 and just nine games in five years.
 
The Gophers survived the bus ride to snowy Marquette, but they could
not survive Lakeview Arena, losing twice to Northern Michigan, 3-1 on
Friday night and 7-3 on Saturday night.
 
``That's the way it's been going,'' Woog said. ``Every time we take a
big deep breath, we get hit in the stomach from someplace else.''
 
The Gophers are now 0-5-1, their worst start since 1959's 0-7-1.
 
The sun finally broke out on Saturday afternoon after almost three
days of snow. And the Wildcats also broke out quickly Saturday night,
scoring three times in the game's first seven minutes.
 
Scott Green scored at 1:38 on a screen shot from the slot, a play set
up when the Gophers repeatedly failed to clear the zone. Then Mike
Harding scored twice, once at 3:23 on another screen shot which
skipped past goalie Jeff Callinan on the glove side, and again at
6:59 on an attempted wraparound that hit Callinan's arm from behind
and careened into the net.
 
Jeff Nielsen's power-play goal and Greg Zwakman's first career goal
narrowed the lead to 3-2 in the second period.
 
Nielsen fired a slap shot off a drop pass from Brian Bonin, which
Wildcat goalie Paul Taylor saved. But Nielsen flipped the rebound
over the fallen goalie into an open net. Zwakman's goal came on a
slap shot from the left point off the face-off, won by Steve
Magnusson.
 
But Northern's Dean Seymour was given two very good looks at the net
late in the period, and the result was a pair of power-play goals and
an insurmountable lead for the Wildcats.
 
Seymour converted on the first himself, with a slap shot from the
right circle that careened in off Callinan's chest and under his arm.
On the second, Callinan made a stick save on Seymour's shot, which
also came from the right circle, but the puck came right to Harding,
who deked right and stuffed in the puck for his first career hat
trick.
 
``It's always nice when you account for three like that,'' Harding
said. ``But it's just an extension of the team effort.''
 
Harding added an assist on Don McCusker's third-period goal, before
Greg Hadden converted on a breakaway to finish the Huskies' scoring.
Chris McAlpine scored a power-play goal with 7:57 remaining.
 
Friday's win belonged to Taylor, who shut out the Gophers 7-0 last
year. The sophomore from Richmond, B.C., made 30 saves, 14 in a
second period in which he thwarted three Gopher breakaways.
 
``At least we skated tonight,'' Woog said. ``If you generate the
offense and (the goalie) has to make a save, at least you feel better
than if they hit the sucker over the net.''
 
Twice Brian Bonin carried the puck to within 10 feet of Taylor, only
to be stopped, first on a pad save, then on a sensational glove save.
Later, Magnusson picked off an errant pass and shot from 25 feet.
Taylor shoved it aside with his pad.
 
Only Eric Means was able to solve Taylor, and he probably wasn't even
trying to do so. Means stepped over the red line and flipped the puck
into the offensive zone, and the puck took several bounces before it
hit Taylor, skittered through his legs, and crossed the goal line.
 
The crowd of 3,937 responded to the goalie's effort, giving him a
long standing ovation after the goal.
 
``I tried not to think about last year's shutout tonight,'' Taylor
said. ``I knew Minnesota was winless, and they would come out hard.
Just when I started thinking about the shutout, I lost my
concentration, and they scored.''
 
Hadden, Steve Carpenter and Kory Karlander tallied for the Huskies.
 
Gopher notes: Senior goalie Steve Green dressed for only the third
time in his career in Saturday night's game, playing the last 8:44
and making two saves. Friday's starting goalie Jeff Moen was injured
in a second-period pileup in front of the net. Moen's helmet was
knocked off, and he hit his head on the crossbar, suffering a minor
concussion and minor whiplash.
 
Both Dan and Steve Woog spent parts of the weekend in the dressing
room. Dan was given a game misconduct in Friday night's game, forcing
him to sit out Saturday's game. His brother received a 10-minute
misconduct in the third period Saturday that left him off the ice for
the final handshake.
 
 
 
Pam Sweeney                            Go Gophers!!!
[log in to unmask]         1993 WCHA Playoff Champions!!!
[log in to unmask]              Ski-U-Mah!!!