In the NORTH's win over the WEST Minnesota-Duluth's goalie Chad Erickson was
 injured. A player from the WEST squad ran into him behind his net towards the
 end of the second period. The verdict on the injury was a sprained
 medial-collateral ligament of his left knee. He is out of the rest of the
 tournament. The good news is that he should be able to play in about three
 weeks.
 
 Each team has two goaltenders who must see equal amounts of playing time. Mike
 Gilmore played Sunday night and so Erickson was set to play Tuesday. Gilmore
 had to step in and finish Tuesday's game when Erickson was injured. Erickson
 was having a great game up until his injury. He was acrobatic in stealing
 chances from the WEST as Mike Lappin and Matt Martin gave the NORTH a 2-0 lead
 in the first period.
 
 The WEST tied the score when Chris Gotziaman knocked in Ben Hankinson's set-up
 early in the second period, and Erickson had scarcely more chance when Ed
 Ronan deflected John Gruden's power-play shot in at 5:45. But Lappin scored
 two more for a hat trick midway through the second period for a 4-2 NORTH
 lead, and Erickson was cruising with 21 saves on 23 shots.
 
 Gilmore played well the rest of the game only giving up a goal to Hankinson in
 the third period as the NORTH won.
 
 Of his timely hat trick, Lappin said: "The puck bounced for me tonight." But
 he added that the players were frustrated by the strict penalty-calling. The
 plan is to acquaint the players with what they will see in international
 hockey. "We've had success five-on-five but it's tough to get any flow with so
 many penalties," Lappin said. "The games are off-center, with no flow." The
 NORTH was called for 19 penalties and the WEST 13, and tempers flared more
 from frustration, than from rugged play. "We warned our guys that they were
 going to call everything," said WEST coach Dean Blais. "But we still went out
 and took some stupid penalties."
 
 NORTH coach Walt Kyle said: "Usually you win by grinding it out, but you can't
 grind it out this way. They should wind up with the best penalty-killing and
 power-play units in the Olympics." The NORTH was 2-for-9 on the power play and
 the WEST was 1-for-10, so that wasn't a pivotal factor in the outcome, but
 power plays were a factor in the first game when the EAST rallied from a 5-3
 deficit to beat the SOUTH 6-5 with three third period goals.
 
 Boston College defenseman Ted Crowley scored a rare hat trick from the point,
 getting two of the third period goals, including the winner with 2:56
 remaining. All three of Crowley's goals were on power plays, and five of the
 EAST goals were during man-advantage opportunities.
 
 Carol
 U of M
 GO Gophers!!!