Michigan (13-1) might be playing the best hockey of any team in the country right now. The Wolverines won their 12th game in a row by beating the Gophers 5-1 on Saturday in Yost Ice Arena.

(Unfortunately, I wasn’t there but I have the Big Ten Network and watched part of the game on TV.)

This was a game the Wolverines wanted badly. They had lost six in a row to the U, including a 4-3 game early this year.

Senior forwardsKevin Porter and Chad Kolarik of Michigan each had two goals. Porter also had two assists, Kolarik one. Porter’s 16 goals and 24 points lead the nation. Kolarik has nine goals now.

What’s troubling, or should be to Gophers fans, is that Minnesota outshot the Wolverines 27-23 but was not in the gameafter Michigan scored three times in the second period to take a 4-1 lead.

Minnesota has scored only nine third period goals all season, the only WCHA team which has scored fewer in the final period is Minnesota State Mankato which has scored seven.

The Wolverines had two power play goals, one short-handed. The Gophers? They got an even-strength goal from Ben Gordon off a Michigan player’s skate but were 0 for 5 on the power play.

Minnesota is ninth in the WCHA on power play efficiency,eight of 69 for 11.6 percent and has given up a league-high five short-handed goals.

In killing penalties, Minnesota is dead last, 48 out of 59 for an 81.4 percent success rate.

Little wonder the Gophers are 7-6-1. Looking for a ray of hope? Four of those losses were to Colorado College and Denver, the top two teams in the WCHA standings.

Saturday’s loss to Michigan broke a 13-game unbeaten streak against nonconference teams.

The Wolverines, whoweretwo forseven on PPs,had four goals on 14 shots through two periods against Jeff Frazee, whose record falls to 5-5.

Minnesota returns home next weekend to play Michigan Tech, fourth in the WCHA standings.

Returning to the lineup last night was Blake Wheeler, a junior center. He missed Friday’s 3-3 tie with Michigan State because, according to Internet reports, he had a sore leg after getting hit with a puck in practice.

How would you fix the Gophers’ power play?The U is goingto continue to struggle until it finds an answer to that problem.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 25th, 2007 at 1:05 am and is filed under Gophers men's hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.