University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers and North Dakota Clash in Grand Forks
12/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
The two preseason favorites for this year’s WCHA title meet in a mid-season clash in Grand Forks with both teams currently in the middle of the pack of the league standings. The series features a rematch of last year’s WCHA Final Five title game and NCAA West Region finals, which both were settled in overtime. Both games will be televised live by Fox Sports Net North and broadcast on KTNF 950 AM and KUOM 1007. FM and 106.5 FM.
The Series vs. North Dakota
Minnesota leads the all-time series 136-120- 11 in a rivalry that dates to 1930. North Dakota won three of four meetings last year, taking both of the regular season meetings with 5-3 and 7-3 wins at Mariucci Arena in January. The Gophers won a 3-2 overtime affair in the WCHA title game and North Dakota took a 3-2 overtime decision one week later in the NCAA West Region finals. Minnesota has won three straight games at Englestad Arena and is 5-3 against North Dakota since the arena opened in 2001-02.
About North Dakota
North Dakota was the consensus preseason No. 1 team in the national polls and enters this week ranked eighth in the USA Today/USA Hockey poll, having split all five of its WCHA weekend series. North Dakota is coming off a 3-1 win at Denver on Saturday after dropping a 1-0 decision to the Pioneers on Friday. It was a fairly typical defensive performance for North Dakota, which ranks fourth nationally in defense at 1.77 goals allowed per game and has given up one goal or less seven times this season. North Dakota leads the country in penalty minutes at 20.5 per game, but it also ranks fifth in penalty killing at 90.9 percent.
Returning WCHA Player of the Year and Hobey Baker Award winner Ryan Duncan leads the team in scoring with five goals and nine assists for 14 points. T.J. Oshie has seven goals and six assists for 13 points. Jean-Phillipe Lamoureux ranks fourth nationally with a 1.52 goals against average and fifth with a .940 save percentage.
Last Time Out
The Gophers split with Michigan Tech last weekend as the Huskies rallied for a 3-2 overtime win on Friday and Minnesota posted a 3-1 victory on Saturday. On Friday, the Gophers took an early 2-0 lead with goals from Blake Wheeler and Ryan Flynn in the first 10 minutes of the game. However, Huskies’ goaltender Michael-Lee Teslak shut them down the rest of the way with 26 saves. All three of Michigan Tech’s goals came from players scoring their first goal of the season. Alex Gagne tallied the game-winner on a four-on-four situation 1:14 into overtime. Minnesota held a 37-19 advantage in shots on Saturday, including a 13-2 edge in the third period. Mike Howe scored goals in each of the first two periods and Kyle Okposo added a third period goal for the Gophers.
Streak Snapper
Saturday’s win snapped a four-game winless streak which was the team’s longest since going 0-4-1 over a five-game span from Nov. 1-Nov. 15, 2003. The Gophers were 2-7-1 at that point following the streak, but rallied to win their next five games as part of a 11-1-2 string that eventually led to winning the WCHA Final Five and reaching the NCAA Frozen Four.
Three’s a Charm
Minnesota is 7-0-1 this season when scoring three goals, but just 1-7 when held to two goals or less. The trend dates to last year as well when Minnesota was 25-4-3 when scoring three times and 6-6 when tallying fewer than three goals. The Gophers have allowed their opponents to score more than three goals in a game just four times in 16 games this season.
Gold Standard
The Gophers broke out their gold jerseys for the first time this season on Friday night, but did not have the success they experienced in the color last year when they posted a 7-2 record. This year’s gold jerseys feature a throwback look with “Minnesota” in script lettering across the front.
Lending a Hand
Minnesota has been piling up assists through its 16 games this year with 34 of its 40 goals featuring two assists. The Gophers have scored 17 straight goals with two helpers and have just three unassisted goals for the season.
Czech-Mate
Minnesota had four players selected to participate in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships in Pardubice and Liberec, Czech Republic. Mike Carman, Cade Fairchild, Ryan Flynn and Kyle Okposo will all take part in the event Dec. 26-Jan. 5. They report to the team for practice on Dec. 16 and will miss Minnesota’s first four games after Christmas. Carman and Okposo are on the team for the second straight year.
Nail-Biters
Of Minnesota’s 16 games, 12 have been decided by two goals or less, including six one-goal contests and a tie. The Gophers are 4-2 this year in one-goal games with both losses coming in overtime. They are 3-2 with two-goal margins. Minnesota was successful in one-goal games last year as well with a 13-5 record.
Multiple Heroes
Minnesota has had eight different players score the team’s eight game-winning goals this season. In fact, two of the team’s top scorers, Blake Wheeler (six goals) and Ben Gordon (four goals) are not among the group. Wheeler and Gordon have gotten things started, having each scored the first goal of a game three times.
Poll Position
For the second straight week, Minnesota is listed under the “Also Receiving Votes” category in the USA Today/USA Hockey national poll. Last week marked the first time the Gophers had not been in the publication’s top 15 since Dec. 13, 2003, snapping a streak of 99 consecutive polls that Minnesota had been ranked. The last time they entered a weekend unranked, the Gophers swept games from Princeton and New Hampshire in the 2003 Dodge Holiday Classic, starting an 11-1-2 streak which propelled Minnesota to an eventual Frozen Four berth. The Gophers are still ranked 15th in this week’s U.S. College Hockey Online poll.
Fantastic Finish
Minnesota played one of its best third periods of the season on Saturday, outshooting Michigan Tech 13-2 over the final 20 minutes of the 3-1 win. The two shots matched the fewest allowed by the Gophers in a period this season, having also outshot Ohio State 16-2 in the first period. In its 10 WCHA games, Minnesota has outshot opponents 107-79 in the third period, but been outscored 12-4.
Starting Strong
Minnesota has scored first in 12 of its 16 games this season, including eight of the last nine. In fact, Michigan Tech’s goal at 8:47 of the first period on Saturday night was the earliest goal an opponent has scored against the Gophers all season. The Gophers have outshot their opponents by a 164-118 margin in the opening period, while outscoring teams 15-10.
Howe It’s Done
Gophers’ senior forward Mike Howe sparked Saturday’s win over Michigan Tech by scoring the team’s first two goals. He had scored one goal in his first 12 games of the season. It was Howe’s fourth career multiple-goal game and first since recording a hat trick against Union on Dec. 29, 2005. Howe’s performance was also just the second multiple-goal game by a Gopher player this season as Kyle Okposo had two goals in a win over Minnesota State on Nov. 10.
Gordon Going Strong
Minnesota senior forward Ben Gordon leads the team in scoring with four goals and nine assists for 13 points. He brings a four-game scoring streak into the weekend and has not gone more than two games without scoring a point over the past two seasons.
A League of Their Own
The WCHA is off to an strong start this season with a 23-8-6 record in non-conference play. The league has six teams among the top 15 in this week’s USA Today/USA Hockey poll and eight teams in the top 20 of the U.S. College Hockey Online rankings.
Fairchild Flourishing
Cade Fairchild has 10 points this season to rank second in scoring among all freshmen defensemen in Division I hockey. Fairchild trails only Michigan’s Chad Langlais, who has 11 points. Fairchild was held scoreless on Friday night, snapping a three-game scoring streak, but came back with an assist on Saturday and now has eight points in his last seven games. Fairchild totaled two points over his first eight career contests.
