Gophers Start Fast, Hold On To Split With Maine
 
                                     Saturday, October 18, 1997
                                          by Scott Brown
 
Minneapolis, Minn. -- The Minnesota Golden Gophers, still smarting from
Friday night's five-goal defeat, started quickly and
held on to top the Maine Black Bears 3-2 Saturday, gaining a split in
the teams' weekend series at Mariucci Arena.
 
Both sides were pleased with the process, if not entirely the outcome.
 
"I don't know that I would take any credit for inspiring them with
words of pure motivation," joked Gopher head coach Doug
Woog. "But we had to play harder....Last night, some of the people
competed, and some of them didn't. I think tonight, we'd
say we used all 20 guys."
 
Said Maine head coach Shawn Walsh, "That was a great college game. They
played phenomenally in the first period, and
[goaltender Alfie] Michaud kept us in the game.
 
"I give Doug and the Gophers a lot of credit -- they showed heart.
That's what you've got to have. They're a proud program,
and they showed it tonight."
 
The Gophers came out with much more spirit than in the previous night's
drubbing, frequently outskating the Bears, rather than
the reverse.
 
"I think it was a better team effort. Everyone hustled to the puck;
last night, Maine beat us to the puck a lot of times," said
co-captain Casey Hankinson.
 
"I kind of want to forget about last night," he smiled. "Tonight was a
big win. We needed it."
 
Physical play was in evidence from both sides early on, but Minnesota
claimed the first lead when Bill Kohn slipped through a
crowd in front of Michaud, switched to his forehand and banked his
second goal of the season off the far pipe at 5:39.
 
The Black Bears nearly got the equalizer a minute later, but Steve
Kariya, storming up the right side, was stonewalled by Steve
DeBus on a point-blank attempt. DeBus' stop foreshadowed a much better
performance than on Friday night, when he was
victimized for six goals.
 
Instead, the Gophers extended to a two-goal lead on a pinpoint pass by
Ryan Kraft, who threaded the puck through three
Maine defenders to Dave Spehar cutting across the crease. The sophomore
winger's backhander found a space between the
legs of a spread-eagled Michaud, making the score 2-0 Minnesota.
 
After a stoppage of play, a turnover by David Cullen was picked up by
Reggie Berg at the far blue line. Berg skated in behind
the Maine net and passed back out to Kohn, whose slapshot from the blue
line Michaud gloved, then nearly dropped into his
own net.
 
A furious Gopher charge followed, including chances for Spehar, Wyatt
Smith and Hankinson. That culminated in a hold
against Maine defenseman Brian White and a Minnesota power play, but no
scoring. The Gophers would return the favor via a
slashing call against Jason Godbout, but the best scoring chance on
Maine's power play was a two-man shorthanded break by
Berg and Mike Anderson.
 
DeBus sustained a lacerated knee late in the stanza, meaning that
second-string netminder Erik Day opened the second period
between the pipes for Minnesota. Day made his presence felt with a big
kick-save on Matthias Trattnig before DeBus returned
at 5:05.
 
Moments later, the Black Bears would close the gap thanks to Kariya.
After the drop of the puck, a blocked Gopher shot
bounced to Jason Price, whose short outlet Kariya took all the way in,
beating DeBus through the legs to narrow the Gopher
lead to one.
 
The Bears then went up a man after a cross-check by Minnesota rookie
Aaron Miskovich, but the Gophers halted Maine's
momentum with a solid penalty-kill to avert further damage in the
second period. 1:53 into the third, Maine's Shawn Mansoff
went off for interference, allowing Rico Pagel to extend the Gopher
lead to 3-1 with a wide-open slapshot from the middle of
the blue line.
 
Minnesota gave the penalty -- and the goal -- right back. At 2:52,
Brett Abrahamson was called for a hook; with under a
minute left in the power play, a Gopher clear was sent immediately back
by Michaud to a waiting Kariya, parked with one foot
on the blue line. Kariya skated in from DeBus' right and beat the
Minnesota keeper low with a skimming wrist shot. The goal,
Kariya's second of the game, brought the Black Bears within one again.
 
"Kariya's a great player; he's a big-time player. We had the chances in
the third period, and really, that was our best period."
 
Abrahamson would go off again a few minutes later, followed by
coincidental minors on White and Smith -- who had been
scrapping all evening -- but no scoring resulted. The Gophers contented
themselves with clearing the zone and undertaking an
occasional offensive charge, until Michaud finally left the nets at
19:19 for a Maine six-on-five, but the Gophers were able to
wait out the final horn.
 
Minnesota (1-1-0, 0-0-0 WCHA) travels to Duluth to take on UMD next
weekend, while Maine (1-1-0, 0-0-0) returns
home to Orono for the J.C. Penney Classic.
 
 
 
Scott Brown is chief editor for U.S. College Hockey Online.
 
 
Copyright 1997 Scott Brown. All rights reserved.
 
U.S. College Hockey Online
 
 
--
Deron Treadwell - [log in to unmask]
University of Maine