Minnesota 5 - Providence 1 Well, this game worked out differently than a lot of people had figured. Providence dictated the pace and produced a tempo that could be described as boring. What that meant more than anything else was that PC never generated any offense. The game was closer than the score, as it was 2-1 after two periods. The Gophers dominated pretty much the whole way, though. While the shots were mostly even through 2, the quality chances and the bulk of play were in front of Dan Dennis. Wyatt Smith scored each of Minnesota's first two tallies, doubling his career goal total. Bonin hit a pipe after a great move with 5 seconds to go in the first and Ryan Kraft missed an open net in the last minute of the second among numerous good chances Minnesota failed to convert. The Gopher player of the game, if not Wyatt smith, would have been Brian LaFleur. His name won't show up anywhere on the scoresheet, but he simply smothered people coming into the zone and snuffed several possible Friar scoring chances. I was very pleased with how well Minnesota played today. There was a bit of sloppiness in the first period, but they really tightened it up after that. Providence may have dictated the pace, but the Gophers used it to their advantage. As an aside, the reffing was pretty good. After two good pairs looked poor yesterday, Ammion and Noeth did a good job. Are these the same two guys that the ECAC fans keep complaining about? Tomorrow: Michigan J. Michael Jackson HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.