With the Gophers win and Duluth’s loss, Minnesota opens a 5 point lead in the WCHA standings.
There’s no doubt that the National Ice Center in St. Cloud is a tough play for a visiting team to play. But it makes it a lot harder when you feel like the Officials are also working against you. The #3 ranked Gophers were able to overcome both a rowdy crowd, and some questionable officiating, to complete the sweep of the Huskies in St. Cloud Saturday night, 3-2.
Minnesota had not won a game at the National Hockey Center since 2009, and the way Freshman Goaltender Ryan Faragher was playing, it looked like the streak might remain intact. Faragher, who shut down the Gophers for a 4-3 win in St. Cloud back on November 18th, was starting in place of Mike Lee, who took the loss at Mariucci on Friday night after not playing since October. Faragher kept the Huskies in the game all night, despite his team being outshot 46-12 in the game.
After dominating a majority of the first period, a questionable call, or lack thereof, by the officiating crew turned the tide in SCSU’s favor. The play started with Nate Condon taking an outlet pass, and breaking in alone on the St. Cloud State net. As he skated, Condon was getting hooked by one Huskies defender, and slashed by another, but no penalty was called. St. Cloud State collected the puck from the fallen Condon, and transitioned quickly in the other direction. They would finish off the play with what can only be described as a questionable goal, as SCSU’s Ben Hanowski brought the puck in over the Minnesota blue line, and took the shot. Gopher Goaltender Kent Patterson got a piece of the puck, but it trickled behind him, as he fell onto his back, covering the puck. But Hanowski kept coming, and with his stick under Patterson, he pushed the goaltender into the net. Referee Butch Mousseaux was standing at the side of the goal, and emphatically pointed at the net to signal a good goal. But the replay never showed definitive proof that the puck actually crossed the line. Despite the protests of the Gopher bench, the score stood after review, and the Huskies led the game 1-0 with just over six minutes left in the first period.
The Gophers would finally get on the board at 8:29 of the second period on a power play goal by Ben Marshall (3), as he blew a slap shot over the glove hand of Faragher to knot it up at one apiece. Nate Condon and Mark Alt assisted on the goal. Minnesota would then take the lead at 15:48, again on the power play, on a goal from Erik Haula (11). On the play, Freshman Kyle Rau held the puck in the corner, and threaded a pass to Haula in the slot as he snuck in from the point and wristed one past Faragher on the stick side for a 2-1 lead. But the lead would be short lived, as Ben Hanowski would strike again with just over a minute left in the period. The goal by Hanowski was a bit of a fluke, as he threw a backhander towards the net from below the end line, and it hit Patterson and somehow trickled over the line between his legs for the tying goal.
The Gophers came out storming in the third period, determined to get the win on the road, in a hostile environment. They had dominated the game, and truly deserved the win. But Faragher seemed just as determined to win the game for St. Cloud State almost single handedly, turning away everything as the Gophers peppered him all night long. Minnesota’s determination finally paid off when it counted, though, as they scored the winning goal with just 1:19 left in the contest, when they turned a three-on-two into Sam Warnings fourth goal of the year. The Gophers used tic-tac-toe passing between Jake Hansen, Justin Holl and Sam Warning to set up the play, and finished it with Holl feeding Warning as he stood to the right of the goal with his stick in a cocked and ready position, blasting one past a sprawling Faragher for the dramatic win. Said Head Coach Don Lucia of Warnings goal, “It was nice to see Sam score tonight, it’s been a while for him”.
The Minnesota win, combined with a Minnesota Duluth loss in Duluth against Michigan Tech, means the Gophers are all alone in first place, five points ahead of UMD in the WCHA standings. It is important to note, however, that the Bulldogs have two games in hand. Lucia finished the night by saying “I like the way our whole team played this weekend. We had a lot more energy tonight, and I think it’s a good way to go into our break. It’s a good time for us to decompress a little bit before heading to Denver in a couple of weeks”.
The #3 Gophers (19-9-1, 15-5-0 WCHA) will not be in action next weekend, with their next game being at Denver (14-8-3, 9-5-3 WCHA) on February 10th. Game time is 8:00 PM (Central), and the game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North.