The article from the 10/23/95 Minnesota Daily (at end is a game summary for
the Sunday matchup):
 
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
 
Colorado Springs, Colo. -- In the Gophers hockey team's opening
series split against Michigan Tech last weekend, Minnesota learned how
disastrous long lapses of poor play can be against an opponent on the road.
 
Going into this weekends trip to Colorado College, Minnesota knew it needed
much more from itself. A small margin of error was needed or a large margin
of defeat could be the result.
 
A full 60 minutes of hard work and concentration was needed in both games if
the Gophers were to shut down the Tigers' potent offense and leave the
foothills of the Rocky Mountains on top of the WCHA.
 
And throughout Saturday's 3-3 tie, and the first 20 minutes on Sunday, the
Gophers looked capable of heading home tied with Colorado College at the top
of the league standings. They skated hard, took advantage of enough scoring
opportunities and most importantly, got solid play from their defense and
goaltender.
 
Then it happened.
 
Colorado College took off in the second period on Sunday like one of the
jets from the Air Force Academy, where the teams were playing. After being
held to only two shots on goal in the first period, the Tigers took
advantage of Minnesota's lapses on defense and in goal to score four times
in the first half of the period, and go on to a wild 7-5 victory.
 
It didn't take long for the Tigers to turn the game around. From the onset
of the second period, the game was played almost entirely in the Gophers'
defensive end. At one point in the second period, Colorado College held a
21-3 advantage in shots. And two of those shots rang off the pipe behind
Minnesota goaltender Steve DeBus.
 
The Gophers never gave up, rebounding with three goals of their own to keep
the game close. But the damage had been done. It only took the Gophers one
lapse to negate the focused effort they had put forward over the weekend.
 
"Today we showed how inconsistent we are," Gophers coach Doug Woog said. "We
were so good one night and so bad the other night. That will be the
discussion point of the week; how we can be so lackadaisical and make so
many errors in our own end after playing so flawlessly the night before."
 
The defeat was the second in as many starts for goaltender DeBus. DeBus was
a sitting duck on many occasions but often did not make clutch saves. He
said he would accept responsibility for the defeat.
 
"They started clicking, I made too many mistakes and they capitalized on
them," DeBus said. "And it was kind of tough to get back into things after
they started scoring. I could never get back into a rhythm or get my
confidence going again.
 
"It's kind of like a pitcher in baseball -- it only takes one bad inning to
blow the whole game."
 
Overshadowed by the defeat was an outstanding performance from Gophers
All-American center Brian Bonin. Bonin scored once and assisted on the other
four goals to equal his career high for points in a game with five. He has
now scored a goal in each of the last three games.
 
Saturday's game was a tense, even match with late, controversial calls for
both teams. The Gophers entered the third period with a 2-1 lead, but
Colorado College scored twice to take a one-goal advantage less than five
minutes into the period. Both goals were scored by Colin Schmidt and came on
power plays resulting from Reggie Berg penalties. Berg's first penalty was a
questionable call. He was penalized for interference when a Tigers player
tripped over him.
 
But midway through the period Minnesota caught a break. Tigers' center Jay
McNeill's goal was disallowed when teammate Brian Swanson was called for
interfering with Gophers goaltender Jeff Moen. It appeared on replays,
however, that it was a Gophers defenseman who knocked down Moen, not
Swanson.
 
"It certainly looked like Brian never even touched Moen," Colorado College
coach Don Lucia said. "But that's a tough call for the referee. He's trying
to watch the goaltender and he made a judgment call."
 
After the tie and the loss, Minnesota (1-2-1) now trails Colorado College
(3-0-1) by four points in the WCHA standings.
 
SUNDAY'S SUMMARY
 
Gophers 2 1 2 -- 5
 
CC 1 5 1 -- 7
 
=46irst period -- CC, S. Swanson 2 (Schmidt), 1:09. Min, Hankinson 2 (Trebil=
,
Bonin), PPG 8:12. Min, Smith 1 (Bonin, Zwakman), SHG 16:07.
 
Second period -- CC, Gudmundson (S. Swanson, McNeill), PPG 1:23. CC, Schmidt
(Elfring, Sheyne), PPG 6:07. CC, Austin (unassisted), 6:24. CC, B. Swanson
(unassisted), 9:49. Min, Wasley 1 (Bonin), 15:00. CC, McNeill (Needham),
18:13.
 
Third period -- Min, Hankinson 3 (Bonin. Crowley), PPG. CC, Hartnel (B.
Swanson, McNeill). Min, Bonin 3 (Hankinson, J. Godbout), 13:39.
 
=A9The Minnesota Daily
 
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!
Nastier, Bigger, Faster in '95-'96!
 
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