University of Minnesota Athletics
Patterson Shines Again But Gophers Fall
12/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Kent Patterson had a career-high in saves for the second straight game, but it wasn't enough to get Minnesota a victory as the Gophers fell to Minnesota State 3-1 on Friday at Mariucci Arena.
Patterson finished with 39 saves after totaling 37 saves in his previous start, a 2-1 win at Michigan State last Saturday. It was the sophomore's fifth career start and his 12th game played.
Minnesota dropped to 5-9-1 overall and 3-7-1 in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The Gophers' tough Friday woes continued as well as they fell to 1-6 on Fridays this season. Minnesota State won its fourth straight game to even its record at 7-7-1 overall and improve to 5-7-1 in the WCHA.
Minnesota State held a 42-26 advantage in shots as the Mavericks had five power play chances, compared to one for the Gophers. Mavericks' goaltender Austin Lee allowed an early first period goal, but stopped all the rest to finish with 25 saves. Minnesota State was 1-for-5 on the power play, while Minnesota didn't score on its chance that came just 2:52 into the game. It marked the second straight game the Gophers had only one power play opportunity.
The first period saw most of the action in the Minnesota end as the Mavericks held an 18-4 advantage in shots, though the game was tied 1-1 at the first intermission.
Jake Hansen scored Minnesota's goal following a Mavericks' turnover. Cade Fairchild intercepted a pass along the boards and hit Hansen cutting down the slot for his third goal of the year and third in the past five games. The goal came at the 8:37 mark of the period, however, the Gophers had just one shot the remainder of the period.
Minnesota State tied the game at the 13:20 mark on a power play goal by Jerad Stewart, who tipped in a shot by Zach Harrison. The Mavericks had seven shots on their power play and converted when Harrison took a shot from the blueline that Stewart deflected past Patterson.
Neither team scored in a second period that saw each team put 11 shots on goal. Minnesota ended the period strong with the final seven shots after being shorthanded twice in the first half of the period. The Gophers had the period's best scoring chance, getting a two-on-one breakout shorthanded, but Lee stopped Taylor Matson's shot, which came off a perfect feed from Tony Lucia.
Josh Birkholz had a strong night for the Gophers with five shots on goal, however, two of his best scoring chances didn't result in a shot. He burst through two defenders early in the period, but had his backhanded shot hit the side of the cage and then, midway through the period, he ripped a shot that bounced off the crossbar.
Minnesota State had a five-on-three power play for 45 seconds with 12:51 left in the third period, but Patterson came up with several outstanding saves during the two-man advantage and the consecutive Mavericks' power plays.
The Mavericks got the game-winner at 12:21 of the third period on a goal by Rylan Galiardi, who squeezed the puck through the post and the right shoulder of Patterson. Mike Louwerse set up the play, taking the puck in the slot and spinning a backhanded pass to Louwerse cutting up the left side of the ice for the goal.
Minnesota pulled Patterson with 1:12 remaining, but Minnesota State converted an empty net goal when Harrison blocked a shot and scored unassisted on a shot from center ice with 30.8 seconds remaining.
The teams meet for the final time this season on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Alltel Center in Mankato.
