Gopher hockey sweeps weekend series in Duluth

There was a bright spot this past weekend for Minnesota sports. The University of Minnesota Men's hockey team swept the weekend series with the defending National Champs from Minnesota Duluth and move up to 8th in the National Polls

Minnesota forward Erik Haula celebrates vs Minnesota Duluth

Well to start with the good events from the weekend, the Gopher hockey team showed what kind of potential they have after a weekend sweep of the UMD Bulldogs in Duluth. Friday night was a hard fought game with the game ending late in overtime. From the start of the game, the Gophers looked very focused. Erik Haula (from Schmidt, Bjugstad) scored his fourth goal of the season on the power-play. After multiple penalties from both sides, freshmen Kyle Rau (from J.Hansen, N.Condon) scored his second goal of the year and also scored on the power-play once again. That made it 2-0 Gophers after 1 period of play. The second period showed that the defending National champs would not go down easy. Duluth forward Caleb Herbert scored just five minutes into the period and that made the score 2-1 Gophers but a little over a minute later, Travis Oleksuk scored his third goal of the year on the power-play. The power-play was courtesy of a debatable game misconduct penalty for checking from behind on Gopher forward  Zach Budish.  The Gophers would answer with Rau again (from Haula, Schmidt) on a tap in power-play goal and made the score 3-2 Minnesota. The third period was a different story, with no scoring until late in the period. UMD scored with two minutes left in the game courtesy of Justin Crandell. As the clock winded down, the Gophers looked like they were out of luck, but after goalie Kent Patterson was pulled for a extra attacker, Erik Haula scored his second goal of the night (from N.Bjugstad, M.Alt). The game would then go to overtime. In the extra period, the Gophers and Bulldogs both put together surges but the one that would matter the most is with under a minute left, Nate Condon scored the game winner to close out a very well earned win for the upstart Gophers and give them a 1-0 series lead.

Game number two was a complete 180 from the first night. The Bulldogs scored two quick goals in the first period. Travis Oleksuk scored in the first minute of the game and Jack Connolly scored a power-play goal at 7:11 of the first period. The young Gophers however would not crumble. A charging penalty to UMD's David Grun gave Minnesota a power-play chance and would not let it go to waste as Jake Hansen scored his second goal (from E.Haula, N.Bjugstad) of the year. Towards the end of the first period, Nate Condon continued his hot series as he netted his second goal of the year (unassisted) to even the scoring up at 2-2. The Gophers were composed enough to climb back into the game. In the second period, the Gophers look to take control of the game with Nick Bjugstad scoring his third goal of the year (unassisted) a little over a minute into the new period and Nate Condon again scored to give the U of M a 4-2 lead after two periods. The third period however was one in which the game looked in question. Early on Kyle Rau scored his fourth goal of the year on the power-play which would end up being the game winning goal. Late in the period, Duluth gave the Gophers shot with Caleb Herbert scoring his second of the year and then under two minutes, J.T Brown scored his second of the season. That made the score 5-4 but the visitors from Minnesota would hang on for a series sweep and well earned series at that. Minnesota goaltender Kent Patterson stopped 92 of 100 shots faced in the two game series.