How bad are things for the Gophers hockey team? Look who scored the goals to beat them 3-2 in overtime on Friday. Junior defenseman John Shwarz got the first. It was his first goal in 13 games this season, and also the first in his career. He has played 75 games.

Freshman defenseon Deron Cousens got the second goal. It was the first goal of his career. He was playing in his eighth game.

Junior forward Alex Gagne got the next goal. It was his first goal in 13 games this season. He had only one assist.

What are the odds of hitting that trifecta?

Looking at the stats for the Gophers is just as horrifying. Centers Kyle Okposo, Patrick White and Drew Fisher had zero shots on goal. When is Mike Carman coming back?

Blake Wheeler, the first line center, had two shots and one goal. Ben Gordon, his left wing, was active all game and had six shots but took a costly penalty in overtime.

Maybe it’s good that Minnesota has only three more games before the long break for exams and the holidays. The Gophers, now 7-7-1,need to regroup.

When was the last time the U finished below .500? It was 1998-99, coach Doug Woog’s last season. The Gophers were 15-19-9. Don Lucia took over the next season. Minnesota was 20-19-2 his first year and has won at least 27 games every season since.

Obviously, there is still time to patch the ship but Friday’s loss was demoralizing.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 1:00 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.