LetsGoDU

Damn, We Split With The Gophers

Hockey Day In Minnesota Turns Into Fight Night

Box Score

After obtaining a crutial win on Friday, the Pioneers decided to crack the whip to gain a little "street cred" with the Gophers. Who better than the Cookie Monster Line to show the "Pretty Boys from Dinkytown," how hockey is played in the western outreaches of the conference. DU might have spent a little time in the penalty box, but how much fun was it watch J.P. Testwuide gave Ben Gordon a refresher course on "Running-Into-Fish-May-Be-Hazardous-To-Your-Health."

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Some might say "Why Gordon?" when it was Jim O'Brian who ran into Fisher. The answer of course is, "Thats the way we roll."

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Gordon deserved to get his ass kicked by Testwuide for all the big goals he's scored against the Pioneers in the past three years. He was actually the Gopher player I was most worried about this weekend. Glad to see Gwoz shared my concern, and took him out early tonight. Solid coaching.

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Now onto the game recap...

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Minnesota senior defenseman Mike Vannelli recorded his first career hat trick as the #1 Minnesota Golden Gophers held off the #4 Denver Pioneers 5-4 in a wild, penalty-filled WCHA contest before 10,189 fans tonight at Mariucci Arena. Freshmen Brock Trotter and Keith Seabrook led DU with one goal and one assist each and senior Glenn Fisher stopped 31 shots in the loss. DU also received goals from Chris Butler and Geoff Paukovich, but it wasn't enough as the Golden Gophers improve to 21-3-2 with the win, while the Pioneers fall to 18-8-2.

The Pioneers fell behind 3-0 and 5-2, but their comeback fell short as Minnesota earned the series split. Kyle Okposo and Justin Bostrom added goals for the Golden Gophers and Jeff Frazee got the win with 41 saves. The Pioneers outshot Minnesota 45-36 and converted 3-of-9 power plays, while the Golden Gophers finished 2-for-7 with the man-advantage. A total of 34 penalties were whistled for 115 minutes in the physical contest.

"I am proud of the way our team battled back several different times," DU head coach George Gwozdecky said. "Minnesota has a great hockey team, but our team showed a lot tonight. We should be proud of effort this weekend, getting two points in a hostile environment."

Minnesota held a 1-0 lead after the first period on a goal from freshman Okposo. A total of 23 penalties were called for 89 minutes between the teams in the period. DU's J.P. Testwuide and Minnesota's Ben Gordon were ejected for fighting and assessed game disqualifications as the Golden Gophers outshot the Pioneers 13-6 in the opening frame.

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The Golden Gophers took a 5-3 lead in the second period. Bostrom scored at 6:58 and Vannelli scored at 7:39 to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead. The Pioneers battled back when Trotter scored less than a minute later and Seabrook netted his first career goal on the power play at 13:09 to cut the lead to 3-2. Vannelli scored his second on the night on a 5-on-3 advantage at 17:46 and earned the hat trick moments later on the same power play at 18:22. Butler made it a 5-3 game with a power-play tally at 19:56. The Pioneers outshot Minnesota 23-8 in the period.

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Paukovich cut the deficit to 5-4 with a power-play goal at 10:03 of the third period, but DU couldn't find the equalizer after pulling Fisher two times near the end of the game.

DU's Lineup vs. Minnsesota
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Cook - Handza - Testwuide
Trotter - Ruegsegger - Gifford
Helgason - Dingle - Rakhshani
Mullen - Paukovich - May

Butler - Brookwell
Thomas - Marcuzzi
Veideman - Seabrook

Fisher