Sophomore goalie Alex Kangas of the Gophers said getting his first shutout on Sunday – Minnesota beat Michigan Tech 3-0 – gives him more confidence going into the next game.

“It should give our defense some confidence as well,” Kangas said. “Hopefully we can carry it into the next weekend because we are playing a good team in Denver.”

Kangas had 38 saves against Michigan Tech to earn his first shutout after 11 one-goal games in just one and one-quarter seasons.

“He always shows up,” junior captain Ryan Stoa said of Kangas, “and night in and night out he is probably our best player out here. He keeps us in all the games.”

TWO DIFFERENT TEAMS

The last month, the Gophers have often looked a lot different from the first game of the series to the second.

In first games, they are 0-0-4, in second games, they are 4-0-0.

Take the Michigan Tech series. The first game was a 2-2 tie, the second game a 3-0 victory.

“[Saturday] in the first period we came out, we were flying,” Stoa said. “We were doing all the things right and it kind of disappeared.

“We thought it was going to be an easy weekend and we got in trouble. We let up. They outworked us and they deserved the win [Saturday. Actually it was a tie that must have felt like a loss]. Today [Sunday] we kind of stayed on an even keel, through the first, through the second and tried to stay out of the box. And it worked out for us.”

Asked why the Gophers have had so much success in second games, Stoa said, “We don’t like tying.

“Obviously, tying is better than losing. For some reason, we don’t seem to have it on some Friday nights. And then Saturday night, coach gets all over us, and sparks us a little bit. That definitely is something we need to work on.”

HUSKIES HURTING

Michigan Tech coach Jamie Russell said he has never seen a team suffer as many injuries as his had.

“We haven’t had a full roster, we played with 11 forwards tonight,” he said after the Huskies’ 3-0 loss to the Gophers on Sunday. “We travel with 22, but we have two guys on the trip that can’t play.

“Our captain [John Schwartz] hasn’t played a game in the WCHA yet. He will be out another couple weeks.

“We played six of our first eight on the road. It’s been challenging. We have nine freshmen on the roster.

“But I thought we did some very good things tonight.”

The latest blow to Tech is the loss of first line senior wing Malcolm Gwilliam. He was hospitalized before Sunday’s game with an undisclosed medical condition not related to hockey.

Russell called it serious but said he could not say anymore. The team’s sports information director said it was not life-threatening but Gwilliam remained behind in a hospital while his teammates returned to Hougton, Mich.

TIDBITS

* Kangas on playing Denver this weekend: “We owe them a little bit. They swept us last year. That wasn’t too pretty. We know they got a good team. They have a high offensive power team and coming off a sweep [St. Cloud State beat DU twice 4-2, 2-1 last weekend] we know the coaches are going to be on them all week. And they are going to be pretty ornery. We know we will get their best effort and we will bring ours.

“They are one of the best teams in the country and they can beat anybody.” 

* Stoa on linemate Jordan Schroeder, a freshman center who scored his third goal Sunday: “Schroeder, he’s a character. He always has a smile on his face. He makes other guys happy. He makes the game fun.”

* Lucia gave the Gophers the day off on Monday because they played on Sunday.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 17th, 2008 at 10:05 pm 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.