yesterday's preview from the Minnesota Daily:
-Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!!!
 
Headline: Healthy Sertich leads UMD into playoff matchup with Gophers
Publish Date: 03/09/1995
 
Matthew Cross
 
Staff Reporter
 
Minnesota-Duluth coach Mike Sertich does not have good memories of
Mariucci Arena this season.
 
Besides his team scoring only one goal in a series and getting swept
there in mid-February, Sertich was hospitalized in the third period
after complaining of chest pains.
 
``I started to feel sick and hot, and then that's all I remember,''
Sertich said. ``I was head-over-heels, literally. When I woke up in
the training room everybody said I was fine, but I don't remember any
of that.''
 
Sertich passed out behind the bench and was eventually admitted to
the University Hospital for three days. He underwent a series of
tests including an angiogram and an echo-cardiogram.
 
``(The University doctors) think they have it pegged to a vaso-vega
syncope, which basically means I have to eat,'' Sertich said. ``A lot
of times I don't eat on game days because of nerves, and that's part
of the problem.''
 
Other parts of the problem have to do with getting proper sleep and
drinking less coffee.
 
This illness is nothing new to Sertich, who suffered the same
consequences last year during a game against North Dakota, but he
admitted that this time it took him by surprise.
 
``I was pretty scared because I didn't know what was going on,''
Sertich said.
 
``There was a little confusion, but in a way I knew why it happened.
It's kind of like Bob Dylan; you don't need to be a weatherman to
know which way the wind blows.''
 
Sertich, who is feeling better now, came back to direct the Bulldogs
to four straight wins in the past two weekends over Northern Michigan
and Alaska-Anchorage.
 
Despite the wins, Sertich said he would like to keep a level attitude
about the winning streak.
 
``You can look at it two ways,'' Sertich said. ``You can say we
scored a lot of goals and gained confidence, or it can be deceiving.
 
``I don't think Northern (Michigan) played like they did at
Christmas. They have 10 seniors, and you would have thought they
would play with more dignity.''
 
Minnesota-Duluth routed the Wildcats by a combined score of 14-4 and
found much-needed scoring punch. But Sertich is hesitant to say his
squad is confident.
 
``It's very difficult to say with this team,'' Sertich said. ``When
they are focused, they are a really good team, but like at Minnesota,
we weren't in sync.
 
``Our power play was dead. Our transition game was dead. Our
everything was dead,'' Sertich said. ``We had no intensity at all.''
 
Sertich said his team's play on the man advantage and their ability
to move their feet on the Olympic ice sheet at Mariucci Arena will be
big factors in the series.
 
While Sertich is most concerned with his team's ability to create
offense, he said it was imperative that they maintain a consistent
defense and solid goaltending.
 
For that, the Bulldogs will rely on goalie Taras Lendzyk, who ranks
seventh in the WCHA with a 3.76 goals against average, and senior
defensemen Rod Aldoff and Brett Larson.
 
But Sertich said the bottom line is that something has to change from
the last time the Bulldogs visited the Gophers' home arena.
 
``We can't go down there and play like we did last time because we'll
get smoked,'' Sertich reasoned.
 
Gopher notes: The last time the Gophers played Minnesota-Duluth in
the postseason was on March 6, 1988. The Gophers won the WCHA Final
Four battle 6-0 at the St. Paul Civic Center.