Michigan Tech celebrates the stunning victory in OT.
When you can gauge which day it is by whether the Gopher Hockey team won or lost, there might be a problem. But that is the reality of the last month for Minnesota, as they can’t seem to get it together on Friday night, and can’t lose on Saturday. The Gophers lost their fourth Friday night game in five weeks, dropping a 3-2 decision to the visiting Michigan Tech Huskies in front of 9,451 at Mariucci Arena tonight.
Early on it was a Minnesota onslaught, as they pinned Michigan Tech in their own end for the first eight minutes of the game, firing what seemed like dozens of shots at the Huskie net, but only a handful of shots would actually make it through to the net. The Gophers would open the scoring on a goal from Sophomore Defenseman Mark Alt, who threw a shot at the net that initially looked like it had been tipped home by Freshman Winger Sam Warning. The replay would show that the shot actually hit the Michigan Tech Defenseman in pursuit of Warning. The puck went off the defenders leg, off the skate of Huskie Goalkeeper Josh Robinson, and into the net for a 1-0 Gopher lead at 10:22 of the first period. Michigan Tech would get a fortunate bounce of their own to tie the game up at one just over six minutes later, as the Huskies Blake Pietila picked up a loose puck behind the net and threw it in the directions of a teammate in the slot. The pass never made it through, as it hit the Gophers Travis Boyd, and trickled into the net past Goalkeeper Kent Patterson. The period would end 1-1, despite what seemed to be a dominating performance by the Gophers. Statistics would say that it was a pretty even period, however, as each team exited with a goal on ten shots, and the Huskies holding a slight advantage on face-off wins at 11-9. There was no scoring in the second period for either team.
Michigan Tech would start the third period on the power play, which carried over from the second, and they would cash in. Junior Defenseman Steven Seigo tee’d up a shot from the point that was tipped in front, changing the trajectory of the puck just enough to guide it between Patterson’s legs for a 2-1 MTU lead early on. Defenseman Seth Helgeson would tie it up again for the Gophers on a shot from the point that beat Robinson high on the stick side from the point, with Mark Alt and Nate Condon assisting on the play. The score would remained tied through regulation, and force the teams into a sudden death overtime. It would take Michigan Tech a mere :33 into overtime to end it on a goal by Captain Brett Olson, as he beat Helgeson and then swatted at the puck, which found it’s way between Patterson’s legs and into the net.
Don Lucia was brief in his post game press conference, and obviously upset with his teams play. “We have to be sharper tomorrow. Our Defense got both goals tonight. We didn’t get anything from up front. We have to get scoring from up front”. The #2 ranked Gophers (13-5-1, 10-3-0 WCHA) fell into a first place tie with Minnesota Duluth with the loss, and a UMD tie at Wisconsin. They will take on Michigan Tech (9-7-1, 6-6-1 WCHA) again Saturday night. Game time is 8:00 PM (Central). The game will be broadcast on Fox Sports North-Alternate.