In a great effort to assist the UMD Bulldogs clinch the MacNaughton cup the Minnesota Gophers went to Madison and came back with 3 out of 4 points for the weekend! Both games were on the TV here and a group of us watched the game on Friday night at the home of fellow Hockey-l'er Erik and Paula Biever. Pam Sweeney and I did our best to shatter any crystal they might have had in their house. ;-) In the first period, Brian Bonin had one of the prettiest goals the Gophers have gotten this season. He brought the puck in alone after a Badger turnover and then had time to hesitate right in front of Carey. After Carey had committed himself Bonin put his wrist shot in. WOW. This tied it up until the Badgers scored twice more in the first to go up on the Gophers 3-1. Doug Woog pulled senior goalie Tom Newman after the first period and inserted sophomore Jeff Callinan. This turned out to be a brilliant move as Callinan was excellent. Minnesota closed the gap in the second period to 4-3 with two goals by captain Travis Richards and freshman sensation Andy Brink. Brink has turned out to be our "secret weapon" and I bet that coach Woog is kicking himself that he didn't bring him in sooner. (Brink was supposed to be red-shirted, but due to the depletion of the defense he was put into the line-up in January.) Brink played his second weekend as a center and his goal in the second period was the second unassisted goal for the Gophers on Friday night. At 16:20 of the third period the Gophers tied the score up with a great goal by "Big" Jed Fiebelkorn, who also walked right in on Carey to score after spinning around in front of the net, then Callinan slammed the door shut. The Badgers were getting frustrated but seemed to be holding it in check. The Badgers played Friday night without Blaine Moore and Mark Strobel who were both sitting out DQ's from the previous weekend. On Saturday night the Gophers got their defense in order and made Wisconsin play catch-up all evening. The Gophers got off to a fabulous start scoring at 0:38 and 1:06 both by defensemen!!! Travis Richards was the best I have ever seen him - he rushed the Badger net twice for two goals on Saturday night. Richards was quoted in the Star Tribune on Sunday saying: "I was in alone. In fact, I was kind of nervous, because I've never been in alone like that." Callinan was again outstanding in goal for the Gophers. John Michelizzi started in net for the Badgers, but was replaced at the beginning of the third by Carey. Carey was very good and made many excellent stops, but Wisconsin justcouldn't catch the Gophers. It was a tense third period as I knew that we had to beat the Badgers by TWO goals in order to get the tie-breaker for second-place. When coach Sauer pulled Carey for an extra skater in the last minute of play I KNEW that we would get one in the open net!! (Really!) It wasn't easy, but if anyone could pull it off it would be Craig Johnson who is brilliant with the puck. The Badgers lost possession of the puck at their blue line and Johnson got to it. Johnson first overskated the puck, but spun around and hit a 45-foot backhand towards the net (which he couldn't see) and it went in the empty net. Jubilation!!! The turning point in the game is puported to be the killing off of a 5-on-3 the Badgers had on the Gophers. Talk about TENSE!!! I turned the sound off on my TV ;-). Doug Woog was quoted in the Star Tribune saying: " Our guys were so pumped up to kill that 5-on-3, I don't think I've seen them more fired up this season. We battled tons of penalties and our goaltender didn't sieve out." Credit the excellent play of the defense this weekend who FINALLY seem to be coming into their own. (Hallelujah!!) Now we take on St Cloud for two games this weekend and Michigan Tech goes to Badger-land to see who will finish in second and third place in the WCHA. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE UMD BULLDOGS -- 1993 WCHA CHAMPIONS!!!! -Carol