Gopher Hockey
The first game was actually a one-goal loss as well, because Wisconsin scored an empty-netter with 26 seconds left in the game. Freshman goalie Erik Young did a pretty solid job in place of Adam Hauser (out for ~3 weeks with Mono). Young stopped 27 of 30 Badger shots. The Gophers struck first when Erik Westrum scored on the power play less than 3 minutes into the game. He was assisted by Nate Miller and Dylan Mills. Wisconsin scored the next two, but Westrum struck again with his 22nd goal of the year (assisted by Matt DeMarchi and Dave Spehar) to even score. The 2-2 score held through the 2nd-period, but Wisconsin scored the game-winner 5 minutes into the 3rd.
Minnesota got off to a horrible start in the second game. They got down 3-0 in the first period, which is not what you want to do against the #1 team in the country. They battled back with two goals in the second period (with a Badger goal in the middle) to creep within 2 goals heading into the final period. Freshman Jeff Taffe (assisted by Rico Pagel) scored the first goal on a great individual effort. The second goal was scored by Stuart Senden and was assisted by Nick Anthony and Erik Wendell. Wisconsin scored early in the third to regain a 3-goal lead, but the Gophers answered back with goals by Senden (assisted by Dan Welch) and Nate Miller (assisted by Westrum and John Pohl) just 2 1/2-minutes apart. That made the score 5-4 with about 7 minutes to play. The Gophers had a couple of good chances, but they just couldn’t find the net to force overtime.
While the Gophers are now in 6th place in the conference, they’re just one point behind Colorado College and just three points behind Mankato and St. Cloud State. With a little help they could still finish in third place, but the important part will be sweeping the Huskies to guarantee home-ice advantage.
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