From Today's (10/30/95) Minnesota Daily: http://www.daily.umn.edu/~online/daily/10301995/sports/puck30/ > > SPORTS > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > Gophers get back on winning track by beating up on Alaska > > Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter > Only 15 minutes after its game ended, much of the > Gophers hockey team was already showered, dressed and ready for the > rest of the night. > > After all, the players had some celebrating to do. It was Saturday > night, midterms were over and they had just swept Alaska-Anchorage > in their first home series of the year. > > But one of the Gophers was not in such a hurry. Alone in the corner > of Minnesota's locker room sat goaltender Steve DeBus, still wearing > some of his game gear and a sly grin. > > After being the lesser half of Minnesota's two-headed goaltending > combination early in the season, DeBus felt pressure to perform. The > redshirt sophomore had lost his first two games, and he needed a big > night -- for himself, for the team and for the fans . > > And finally, he got it. The Gophers' 5-1 victory on [Image] > Saturday was his win. > > "Number one, you want to do well for yourself," DeBus said. "Because > that helps along everything else. I wanted to show my team and my > coaches that I'm dependable and I'm worth my weight. And I wanted to > show the fans that Colorado was just a bad game and I can do the > job." > > Just as DeBus was able to show what he can do against the Seawolves, > the entire Gophers team was able to open up its skating and play > well during the weekend. > > Minnesota did it with strong individual and team efforts. Goaltender > Jeff Moen improved his record to 2-0-1 after Friday's 8-2 win, and > Reggie Berg, Brian Bonin and Ryan Kraft each had multiple-goal > games, including Kraft's hat trick Saturday. All four li nes scored > on Friday. > > Gophers coach Doug Woog had a simple explanation for Minnesota's > success this weekend. > > "I think our overall skill level was higher than theirs, so we could > make more plays and do more things," Woog said. > > The sweep came at a good time for Minnesota, coming into the weekend > below .500 and leaving with a 3-2-1 record. The Gophers are still > three points behind Colorado College, a team that continued its > dominating play by sweeping Northern Michigan. > > "We needed to win some games," Woog said. "Whether you're playing > Boston or you're playing whoever, it's good to see. The guys needed > to pick up some emotion and some confidence. When you make some good > things happen, you start to learn from those, too, n ot just from > your mistakes." > > The weekend also featured special ceremonies, solid defense and a > pre-game light and sound show that made Mariucci Arena feel more > like the site of an NBA game than a WCHA series. > > Minnesota won with such ease that its scariest moment of the weekend > came during the glitzy introduction prior to Friday's game. When the > Gophers took the ice, the house lights were out, the band was > playing the rouser and spotlights were flying all over the arena. > > "We went out there, and it was all dark and the lights were > flashing," said Berg, who scored twice in Minnesota's 8-2 win > Friday. "I was just worried I wouldn't run into anybody. It was > unbelievable." > > After the players were introduced and the lights were turned on, a > ceremony honored the Gophers' former All-Americans. Then came the > unveiling of Bonin's addition to Minnesota's mural of modern-day > All-Americans. > > The Gophers were able to turn the ceremony's emotion into goals. > Coming into the weekend, Minnesota had scored an average of 3.5 > goals per game. They scored 13 this weekend and upped their average > to 4.5 goals per game. > > "If we can pull together as a team and get some balanced scoring > from every one of the lines, that's going to be the key throughout > the year," Jesse Bertogliat said. "That's going to take us where we > want to go." > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > FRIDAY'S SUMMARY > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Alaska-Anchorage 1 1 0 -- 2 > Gophers 3 3 2 -- 8 > > First period -- Min, Berg 2 (Wasley, Kraft), SHG 1:00. UAA, Tuott 1 (Mylymok), 7:11. Min, Crowley 1 (Rasmussen, Woog), 8:59. Min, = Bertogliat 2 (Wasley, Brink) > Second period -- Min, Smith 2 (Woog, Zwakman) 3:15. UAA, Grabinsky 4 (Bradley, Bethard) PPG 5:29. Min, Berg 3 (Kraft, Larson) 9:24= . Min, Bonin 4 (Kraft, Trebil > Third period -- Min, Bonin 5 (Crowley) 3:06. Min, Brink 1 (Bertogliat, Mike Anderson) 6:40. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > SATURDAY'S SUMMARY > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Alaska-Anchorage 0 0 1 -- 1 > Gophers 1 2 2 -- 5 > > First period -- Min, Kraft 1 (Brink, Kohn) PPG 15:33. > Second period -- Min, Anderson 1 (Brink, Trebil) 2:41. Min, Crowley 2 (Trebil, Bonin) PPG 6:20. > Third period -- Min, Kraft 2 (Larson, Berg) 6:27. UAA, Grabinsky 5 (White, Prevost) PPG 10:36. Min, Kraft 3 (Berg) 17:38. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > [Image] > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > )The Minnesota Daily HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.