There are two Gopher hockey articles in today's (1/16/96) Minnesota Daily.
The first is a game story, the second, which I've added below the game
story, is "Gophers vow not to become complacent in midst of streak"
Here's a shock: U sweeps Duluth
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
[Image]
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The Gophers hockey team extended its school-record unbeaten
streak to 15 games over the weekend with a pair of wins over
Minnesota-Duluth in Mariucci Arena.
Ho hum.
Those wins, 5-3 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday, were Minnesota's ninth and
10th in a row over its intra-state rivals and boosted its overall record to
19-3-2 -- the team's best start through 24 games in 11 years under Coach
Doug Woog.
Big deal.
=46rom the Gophers' standpoint, all they did this weekend was what they were
supposed to do: they won at home against a lesser opponent. One of the
byproducts of Minnesota's recent hot streak is the team now truly expects to
win every game and has put itself in a position to win the WCHA title.
That's why the biggest news of the weekend for the Gophers wasn't their
sweep at Mariucci, it was Colorado College's 4-3 loss to Denver at DU Arena
on Friday. That defeat, which ended the Tigers' league-record 18-game
unbeaten streak, allowed Minnesota to creep within three points of the
conference lead.
The defeat also means that Minnesota no longer needs help to pass the Tigers
for the WCHA championship. Because they can make up four points on Colorado
College when the teams meet at Mariucci on Feb. 9-10, the Gophers now
control their title fate for the first time since the second week of the
season.
It's this simple: if the Gophers win their remaining 12 games, they will win
their first regular-season WCHA title since 1992.
"That gets us out of the frustration situation," Woog said Saturday. "Now
it's mathematically possible. Now we can say, 'If we take care of all our
business, we are the champions.'"
The Gophers did something this weekend that championship teams must do --
win despite not playing their best hockey. They started quickly both nights,
but UMD goalie Taras Lendzyk stifled most of Minnesota's early scoring
chances and kept each game close into the second period.
The Gophers also committed two uncharacteristic turnovers in their own zone
=46riday that resulted in goals by the Bulldogs.
But for the majority of the weekend, Minnesota was able to limit the quality
of UMD's shots and stop most of those that made it to the Gophers' net.
Senior goalie Jeff Moen picked up the victory on Friday and moved into
second place on the WCHA goalie rankings for league games. Steve DeBus' win
on Saturday was his 10th straight.
The weekend's biggest star, however, was forward Reggie Berg, who scored
three goals for the Gophers on Friday night. Berg's hat trick was the
freshman's second in his last four games.
Woog said that Berg, who was reunited with former linemates Dave Larson and
Ryan Kraft this weekend, brings out the best in his teammates.
"There's something about him," Woog said. "He's gotten better and better,
and he's good around the net. No matter what line he's been on, it has
produced."
The Gophers hope to keep producing victories this weekend when struggling
Wisconsin comes to town. And if confidence translates into victories, the
results could look familiar.
"Everyone on this team knows what's going on," Gophers co-captain Brian
Bonin said Saturday. "If we win 12 games we'll win it. It's just a matter of
going out and doing it every night. We have to win every game we're supposed
to win -- and we should win them all."
=46RIDAY'S SUMMARY
Minnesota-Duluth 1 1 1 -- 3
Gophers 1 2 2 -- 5
=46irst period: Min -- Berg 11 (LaFleur, Larson), 1:45. UMD -- Federenko 5
(unassisted), 10:08.
Second period: UMD -- Gilling (Peluso, Federenko), 2:27. Min -- Bonin 17
(Wasley, Hankinson), 6:25. Min -- Berg 12 (Kraft, Crowley), 10:03.
Third period: Min -- Berg 13 (Larson), :29. Min -- Crowley 10 (Trebil,
Hankinson), PPG 4:00. UMD -- Wikman 10 (unassisted) 14:45.
SATURDAY'S SUMMARY
Minnesota-Duluth 0 1 0 -- 1
Gophers 1 3 1 -- 5
=46irst period: Min -- Trebil 5 (Bonin), PPG 7:37.
Second period: UMD -- Peluso 18 (unassisted), PPG 4:30. Min -- Crowley 11
(Bonin, Rasmussen), 5:21. Min -- Kraft 11 (unassisted), 16:08. Min --
Hankinson 11 (Trebil, Rasmussen), PPG 18:41.
Third period: Min -- Dustin 2 (Hendrickson), 11:26.
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=A9The Minnesota Daily
Gophers vow not to become complacent in midst of streak
Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter
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In the past two months, the Gophers hockey team has loaded up with
more than just wins. Its 15-game unbeaten streak has the team swimming in
confidence.
And while it's generally good for a team to believe in itself, Minnesota
seems to know that too much confidence can be a bad thing.
After their big sweep at Denver two weekends ago and a showdown with
Colorado College looming next month, the Gophers must fight the tendency to
look past their upcoming weekends with Wisconsin and Northern Michigan.
Because both series are at home and both teams have struggled this season,
the stage could be set for a classic letdown.
"It's tough because before this weekend we knew we had the next six games at
home," Gophers defenseman Brian LaFleur said. "It should be real easy. But
that's exactly when you can't take things for granted. You've got to take it
one game at a time. If you don't, you're going to be kicking yourself at the
end of the year when you're one game out of first."
The team is also trying to take a safe approach to its unbeaten streak,
which is currently the longest in the country. Forward Brian Bonin said he
thought only about half the team knew about the record before the weekend
and ... it was "not that big of a deal." LaFleur said he didn't like to talk
about the streak because it's "kind of a superstition."
Coach Doug Woog, who doesn't believe in superstitions, hopes the streak
continues as long as possible, but said he's convinced it's going to end
sometime this season. Then again, he also expects Colorado College to lose
again to someone before the season is over.
There will be some changes," Woog said. "Both teams are going to lose
another game aside from when we play each other. That's going to happen."
The Gophers' unbeaten streak would reach 27 if they won or tied their last
12 games. Woog doesn't think such a streak is realistic, regardless of what
the players may think.
"They're always more positive than adults are," Woog said. "We're a little
more realistic. Youth is optimistic. That's good -- they're not worried
about a thing. They think they can live to be 500."
Notes: Friday night's attendance of 9,516 broke the former record of 9,510,
which was set last year against UMD. The record was short-lived, because an
additional three people showed up Saturday. The weekend attendance of 19,035
also set a Mariucci record.
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=A9The Minnesota Daily
Pam Sweeney
Go Gophers!
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