University of Minnesota Athletics
Bad Bounce Costs Gophers in Tough Defeat
11/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
A bad bounce led to a heartbreaking loss for the second straight night as Minnesota Duluth scored with 2:02 left in the third period for a 3-2 win and a sweep of Minnesota at Mariucci Arena.
The Bulldogs' Mike Montgomery backhanded a pass from the side of the net that deflected off the skate of Minnesota defenseman Cade Fairchild and trickled over the goalline for the game-winner. It came one night following a game that saw Minnesota Duluth score with 12 seconds left in overtime for a 4-3 victory on Friday. Minnesota held 2-0 leads in both defeats and it marked the Bulldogs' first sweep at Mariucci Arena since Oct. 24-25, 2003.
The Gophers have now lost three straight after winning four of their previous five games and fell to 4-7-1 overall and 3-6-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. Minnesota Duluth is 9-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in the league after winning its third straight game.
Minnesota put a season-high 38 shots on goal, but was unable to add to its lead after tallying twice in the first period. Bulldogs' goalie Brady Hjelle finished with 36 saves, while Alex Kangas stopped 30 of Minnesota Duluth's 33 shots on goal.
Mike Hoeffel netted Minnesota's first goal by tipping in a shot by Kevin Wehrs. It was Hoeffel's sixth goal of the season and came at 8:24 of the opening period. Nico Sacchetti won the faceoff back to Wehrs, who let go a shot that Hoeffel was able to deflect into the net. Sacchetti nearly scored just prior to Hoeffel's goal, but he deflected the puck with a high stick. The officials immediately waived off the goal and confirmed the call through video replay.
The Gophers had a brief 20-second five-on-three power play later in the period and took advantage with a goal from Wehrs at the 14:51 mark. It was the junior's second career goal as Jake Hansen started the play in the corner, passing to Patrick White at the left point. White shot a pass across to Wehrs at the right point and his shot beat Bulldogs' goaltender Brady Hjelle through the legs.
Minnesota had pressure on the goal during the duration of the back-to-back Minnesota Duluth penalties, putting seven shots on goal in that span. The Gophers also had three shorthanded shots during a Bulldogs' power play just prior to their man-advantage.
Minnesota Duluth had one of its best scoring opportunities following the back-to-back penalties. Drew Olson came out of the penalty box as the Bulldogs were clearing the zone, but Kangas stopped him on a breakaway to preserve the Gophers' 2-0 lead at the end of the first period with an 18-11 advantage in shots.
The Bulldogs scored the only goal of the second period as Jack Connolly tallied his third goal of the weekend by putting in a rebound of a shot by Justin Fontaine, who had a hard shot that bounced off Kangas' pad. The goal came just 17 seconds into a power play at the 6:27 mark of the period.
Minnesota Duluth's Kyle Schmidt tied the game with an unassisted goal at 3:22 of the third period. The goal came following a Gophers' flurry on the other end and the puck bounced out to Schmidt, who unleashed a wrister from along the left boards over Kangas' shoulder. Less than two minutes later, the Bulldogs nearly went ahead when Fontaine had a clear shot and hit the post.
The Bulldogs also had a close call with 10:58 left in the game when Wade Bergman slid into Kangas as he was trying to cover the puck. The puck slid to the back of the net and the officials went to the video replay. After a lengthy review of about seven minutes, the goal was waived off to keep the game tied.
It remained that way until Montgomery's game-winner, which was assisted by Jordan Fulton and Dylan Olsen. It was Montgomery's second goal of the season. Each team had nine shots in the third period.
Minnesota Duluth was one-for-five on the power play and Minnesota finished one-for-three.
The Gophers play a pair of non-conference games next weekend in the College Hockey Showcase, traveling to Michigan on Friday and Michigan State on Saturday.
