University of Minnesota Athletics
Shorthanded Goal Lifts Tigers Past Gophers 1-0
12/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
A shorthanded first-period goal was all Colorado College needed in a 1-0 victory over Minnesota, salvaging a split in the weekend series on Sunday at Mariucci Arena.
The Tigers’ Addison DeBoer scored at the 15:02 mark of the opening period and the goal stood as Colorado College posted its first shutout at Minnesota since a 2-0 win on Dec. 17, 1955. It was only the Tigers’ fifth shutout of the Gophers in 244 all-time meetings.
The shorthanded goal was just the second allowed by Minnesota this season and came against a power play unit that entered the night red hot with five goals in its last seven chances. The Gophers’ power play ranked third nationally entering the game and was three-for-four against the Tigers in Saturday’s 4-1 win.
On Minnesota’s third power play of the first period, DeBoer stole the puck and passed ahead to Andres Vlassopoulos, who passed under two Gopher defenders across the crease back to DeBoer for the goal. The goal came in a period dominated by the Gophers, who outshot the Tigers 9-5 in the opening period and held them without a shot for the first 10 minutes of the game.
Colorado College had four power plays in the second period, including a pair of five-on-three advantages lasting one minute, 24 seconds and 33 seconds, respectively, but the Gophers limited the Tigers to a total of three shots during those opportunities.
Minnesota put seven shots on goal in the final period, but was unable to get a puck past defending Western Collegiate Hockey Association Player of the Year Richard Bachman, who made 21 saves. The Gophers did not have any power play chances in the final two periods and pulled the goalie in the final minute of the game and were unable to get any shots on goal.
Alex Kangas had 22 saves for Minnesota. It was the 12th time in the past two seasons that Kangas has held an opponent to two goals or less and failed to earn a victory.
Minnesota, ranked second in the country is now 8-3-5 overall and 7-2-3 in the WCHA, while ninth-ranked Colorado College is 10-6-4 overall and 7-5-2 in the league. The Gophers enter the holiday break two points behind Denver for first place in the conference, but have played two fewer games than the Pioneers. It is the first time Minnesota has lost its final game before Christmas in seven years as the Gophers are off until hosting Brown in the Dodge Holiday Classic on Jan. 2.
