The Gophers won round one Friday night in the battle for control of second place in the WCHA. The Gophers played excellent defense and goalie Jeff Callinan play really well. First period: DU came out flying. Playing rough, physical hockey and putting 13 shots on goal, the Pioneers started the game hoping to knock the Gophers off their game plan. DU had several nice scoring chances but Callinan was able to make initial saves and the Gopher defense whisked several juicy rebounds out of the slot. Although DU came out with lots of energy, they could not control the puck. DU would enter the Minn. zone and take blistering shots but they couldn't hold the zone or complete passes. Minnesota was able to stay with their game plan of fast skating and passing while enduring crushing blows from the DU players. The grind them into the boards theory back fired on the Pioneers, however when they lost their biggest hard hitter early in the period when he hurt himself applying a check to a Gopher along the boards. Early in the period on one of Minn's first rushes, Gopher freshman Jason Siels scored his first collegiate goal, lifting the puck nicely over a prone positioned Wallinheimo. DU came back to tie a couple minutes later on a nice goal off a face off. Play was fast and furious and in a couple more minutes the Gophers scored their second goal to go ahead for good. Brian Bonnin scored his first goal of his hat trick on a beautiful 2 on 0 break away getting a nice feed from McHugh. At the end of the first period Gopher Scott Bell was called for a 5 min checking from behind major. DU was only able to muster 1 shot during the power play while Minn had 2 short handed shots on goal. This pretty much summed it up for the night. The Gophers played great defense and controled the puck. It was a beautiful game. One period in last night's game had more excitement than one of last weekend's entire UMD games! The Gopher's defense right now is really strong. Callinan isn't giving up soft goals and the team's offensive go to men, Bonnin, McHugh and Bell are contributing plenty of offense. Now for more help from UND.... and to get DU cranked up for a sweep next weekend.... Reed