Bulldogs stop Gophers en route to Cup
One of the University of Minnesota hockey scorekeepers, a familiar face I’ve known since my years covering the Golden Gophers for the Minneapolis Tribune, couldn’t resist showing me one of the ugliest shot charts I’ve ever seen after UMD had pinned a painful 3-2 loss on Minnesota.
“Look at this,” he said, holding up the chart for the third period. “It looks like we didn’t keep shots for UMD, because the Gophers outshot them 22-2. And the total attempts were 36-2.”
“Yeah,” I responded, “but they only needed one shot.”
Smart-alecky, yes, but I couldn’t resist. The Bulldogs played a remarkable third period, looking completely poised while playing well along the boards and in 1-on-1 battles even while spending the entire period in their own end.
It was a furious rally by the Gophers, who hadn’t beaten UMD for the previous six games and who had just been totally outplayed in the second period in the semifinals of the final North Star College Cup at Xcel Center. UMD came back to win 2-1 on Kyle Osterberg’s overtime goal to beat St. Cloud State and claim the all-NCHC tournament final. That sent the Bulldogs home to face Nebraska-Omaha at AMSOIL Arena this weekend.
But the Gopher game indicated this UMD team has reached a new and higher plateau, and it was a play in three distinct acts. UMD played a very shaky first period, falling behind 1-0 on an early goal by Brent Gates Jr., before salvaging a 1-1 standoff when Riley Tufte scored at 18:51.
It was a big-time goal for the rookie who spent the first half of the season wondering when he’d ever score. This time, he picked off a careless clear near the right boards, and flattened it out with is stickblade as he cruised toward the slot. Then he rifled a shot upper right, over the glove of goaltender Eric Shierhorn for an unassisted tally and the 1-1 tie.
Then the Dogs played a dominant second period, outshooting the Gophers 15-5 and taking a 2-1 lead on Alex Iafallo’s goal on a 2-man power play. Iafallo, who is money in the bank when a goal is needed, was stationed deep on the right side when Joey Anderson got the puck across the slot. Shierhorn was down on his back in the crease, and Iafallo, a senior from Eden, N.Y., knew he didn’t have a shooting angle at the net. So he fired a shot at the fallen goalie, threw his arm up -- the better to deflect the shot into the net for a 2-1 UMD lead. That wasn’t much reward for a strong period, but it was enough.
But now it was the third period, and the Big Ten officials appeared to calculate that calling four out of five third-period penalties on the Bulldogs would be justifiable. After killing the first two of those penalties, the Dogs were coping in their own end and suddenly it was time for one of those two shots. Freshman Riley Tufte flipped the puck out of the zone, and Avery Peterson, just eligible since first semester ended after transfering from Nebraska-Omaha, split the defense as he corralled the puck and broke free.
Skating hard to get just far enough ahead to make it a breakaway, Peterson was flying in at Schierhorn, making only a slight deke before firing the puck low and past Schierhorn at 8:34, for a 3-1 lead.
That was one of the only two shots UMD registered in the third period, but it’s true, it was the only one required to win the game -- thanks to the brilliant goaltending of freshman Hunter Miska. He’s had some good games, but the third period against Minnesota might have been his best. Not only did he block 21 of the 22 Gopher shots in the session, but Miska made some enormous saves.
Midway through the period, Ryan Lindgren got a clean breakaway shorthanded for Minnesota, but Miska stopped him. With 5 minutes left, he made his best stop of the night. Scrambling and diving around in his crease to blunt the constant Gopher pressure, Miska made a big save while at the right edge, as the shooter sees it. He was down, and the puck squirted into the left edge of the crease. Right where Gopher Rem Pitlick was stationed. Puck, crease, open net, and Pitlick fired. Somehow, the puck didn’t go in. I had to wait to see the replay to figure out how, but Miska, down and out on the right, managed to throw his foot out that way and blocked the shot with his toe.
With 2:02 to go, and the score still 3-1, Gopher coach Don Lucia pulled Schierhorn for a sixth skater, and the Gophers turned up the intensity even more. The Bulldogs continued to weather the assault, preventing too many great scoring chances and clearing to the boards. With 1:10 to go, Peterson was racing after the puck up the left boards. When he got to the Gopher blueline, a defenseman tried to block his path. Interference maybe, but Peterson got by when he grabbed at his arm, and the ref blew his whistle: Holding on Peterson, for trying to get around the interference. Terrible call.
That meant the Gophers had six skaters with the goalie pulled, and the Bulldogs a man short. But they still had Miska, who was stopping everything. With 39 seconds remaining, Leon Bristedt got the puck to the slot where Brent Gates Jr. pulled the trigger and got it past Miska. That cut the score to 3-2, and Miska was obviously upset at giving up the goal. But he recovered his touch and the Bulldogs won their seventh consecutive game against the Gophers.
This is an impressive UMD team, not even counting the first-place stature in the NCHC, and the No. 1 rank in the nation, and in the Pairwise ratings. All four lines play together, all six defensemen move the puck well and the combination makes for quick-countering offense, and efficient clearing of the defensive zone. Usually. When it doesn’t happen, the Bulldogs don’t seem to mind playing in their own end. Particularly when Miska, a freshman, keeps playing like a skilled, and seasoned, veteran.
