Monday's Pioneer Press article is at: http://www.pioneerplanet.com/sports/hockey/docs/004118.htm Woog cools things with an ice touch Monday's Minnesota Daily article also contains Woog's early thoughts on his goalie situation for next weekend: Gophers feast on Seawolves 6-4, 7-1 Jeff Sherry - Staff Reporter Three years ago when the seniors on this season's Gophers hockey team were freshmen, Minnesota lost a pair of games to Ferris State and Illinois-Chicago in the Mariucci Classic. Any time Minnesota loses at home to those two schools, it's safe to say the team is in a slump. Something had to be done. Larry Hendrickson, father of former Gopher Darby and current Gopher Dan, decided to throw a father-son steak cookout. And though the weather was as cold as the team, it seemed to work. Minnesota went on to win the WCHA playoffs. A year later the same thing happened. Only this time Joe Dziedzic's father, Walt, hosted the slump-breaking cookout. That team also won the WCHA playoffs. When the Gophers slumped last season they didn't hold a cookout, and they lost to Colorado College in the WCHA playoff semifinals. So going 2-6 in February, this year's team decided it was time to renew the tradition. Phil Bonin, father of Minnesota center Brian, hosted the father-son steak cookout Thursday night at his home in White Bear Lake. Jesse Bertogliat's father drove down from Cloquet and Wyatt Smith's father made the seven-hour trip from Warroad for the impromptu meal. Once again, it seemed to work. By weekend's end, the Gophers were showing signs at Mariucci Arena that their February slide was behind them. Second-seeded Minnesota swept past ninth-seeded Alaska-Anchorage and into next weekend's WCHA Final Five. The Gophers shook off their slump by doing two things they had problems with in the past month: pulling out a close game (6-4 on Saturday) and completely taking over the competition (7-1 on Saturday). And it couldn't have happened at a better time. "We needed tonight," Gophers goalie Jeff Moen said after shutting down the Seawolves on Saturday. "We weren't the team that we are capable of being (Friday). Tonight, give or take a few minutes, we played the way we did during the 19-game unbeaten streak. Hopefully we can consistently play like this down the stretch." The sweep gave the Gophers their first back-to-back wins since the end of January. They will face a bigger challenge Friday afternoon in Milwaukee when they go up against Wisconsin in the Final Five semifinals. The Badgers, who are 9-0-2 in their last 11 games, swept Minnesota two weeks ago. It took awhile for the Gophers to get going this weekend. The Seawolves took an early lead Friday when Stacy Prevost got the puck all alone in front of the Minnesota net and beat goalie Steve DeBus on his own rebound. Minnesota regained the lead, but UAA kept it close by capitalizing on two other Minnesota lapses. The problems were reminiscent of the sweep at Wisconsin, where the Gophers also left players unattended and were beat on opposing rushes. But Minnesota defenseman Mike Crowley said the team is working to correct the problem. "We're addressing the issue, and we've got to do something about it," Crowley said Friday. "It's just a matter of communication. It's a matter of guys getting back in the play and backchecking along with the defensemen instead of jumping up and forcing a rush. It's a combination of everything, not just one position." As the weekend went on, the Gophers played better. They broke a 3-3 tie near the end of the second period and spent the rest of the series drawing cheers from the crowd. Crowley received the biggest ovation Friday after scoring a short-handed goal early in the third period. The goal gave him 55 points on the year, which broke Bill Baker's former team record for points in a season by a defenseman. Crowley, who had three goals on the weekend, kept it going Saturday night, when he opened the Gophers' scoring 2:35 into the game. But UAA kept the game close and appeared primed to tie the score at two with a seven-minute power play at the beginning of the second period. The power play ended up working to Minnesota's advantage. The Gophers killed the penalty, which brought the crowd to its feet, and rode the momentum to a dominating performance the rest of the game. Gophers coach Doug Woog had good things to say about Moen, who made 17 saves and looked confident after sitting both games against Wisconsin. Woog said he would probably go back to starting his senior goalie on Friday and DeBus on Saturday this weekend. "He got the big saves," Woog said. "He was enthusiastic and didn't look out of sync. He looked sharp and felt good about himself. It makes sense to go back to that routine." DeBus didn't dress for Saturday night's game because of headaches and dizziness experienced after hitting his head Friday night. He said he felt better Saturday and plans to practice today. In fact, just about everyone on the team felt better Saturday. Defenseman Greg Zwakman scored his first goal in two years, the seniors took an emotional victory lap after the game and the overall team confidence was restored. Perhaps they should have had the cookout before going to Wisconsin. "Winning 7-1 was a confidence builder," Gophers sophomore Casey Hankinson said. "We're going out to the Final Five, and our goal is to win it. We feel that we're just as strong as any team in the WCHA, as well as in the country. We think we have something too good to end." =46RIDAY'S SUMMARY Alaska-Anchorage 1 2 1 - 4 Minnesota 2 3 1 - 6 SATURDAY'S SUMMARY Alaska-Anchorage 1 0 0 - 1 Minnesota 2 2 3 - 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- =A9The Minnesota Daily Pam Sweeney Go Gophers!!! Ski-U-Mah!!! HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.