There is finally going to be a hockey game for me to cover. It seems like ages ago since the Gophers played. It was actually Nov. 29 when they tied Michigan State 4-4 in overtime.

Colorado College invades Mariucci on Saturday and Sunday.

 

 Hope this weekend’s series is something like one of the three games the two teams played last season. Here is a recap:

Game 1/ Oct. 19, 2007 at World Arena in Colorado Springs:

CC wins 3-1. This freshman goalie for the Tigers, Richard Bachman, plays pretty well. He stops 23 of 24 shots. …. He would keep playing well and be the WCHA MVP.

Cade Fairchild, a freshman defenseman, scores his first college goal for Minnesota in the opening period. Bill  Sweat, Eric Walsky and Derek Patrosso (now gone) score for CC which breaks a six-game losing streak against the U.

Junior Jeff Frazee (also gone) had 21 saves for the Gophers.

Game 2/ Oct. 20 at World Arena:

CC wins 2-1 on Chad Rau’s goal at 2:42 of overtime. This was the first time the Gophers had been swept on the road since Feb. 27-28, 2004 at Denver. Rau also had the other CC goal, on a power play in the second period.

Blake Wheeler (gone), a junior center, had Minnesota’s only goal.

Bachman was sensational in this game, making 38 saves, 21 in the third period. Frazee had 25 stops. The Gophers were 0-for-7 on the power play this night, 0-for-11 for the weekend.

Rau, talking this week about that series: “It was nice. Minnesota was a great team [actually that proved not to be so]. It was our first real test. It got us going on the right foot.”

Game 3/ March 21 at X in Final Five semifinals:

Gophers won 2-1 in overtime on freshman wing Mike Hoeffel’s second goal of the game at 4:47 of the extra period. Minnesota dominated the OT, outshooting CC 4-1.

This was the Gophers’ 16 OT game, an NCAA record.

Alex Kangas had 37 saves for the Gophers, 20 in the opening period. Bachman had 33. The U’s power play was 0-for-5 this night; 0-for-16 for the season agains CC.

CC won the regular-season WCHA title and got the MacNaughton Cup.

QUICK SHOTS

* The Gophers are rated No. 2 in the two major national polls, CC is No. 9 and No. 10 this week. Both teams were No. 1 earlier this season.

* CC is 12-11-1 at Mariucci despite being swept there on its last two weekend visits.

* Both the Tigers and the Gophers have had trouble winning games on the first night of a series. Minnesota recently had a stretch of four ties in a row on Friday. CC is 0-4-3 in its last seven Friday night games.

ALL ABOUT RAU 

Chad Rau, the senior center from Eden Prairie, had at least one point in 14 of the Tigers’ 18 games. He has three goals and one assist in nine games in his career vs. Minnesota. …  Sophomore goalie Richard Bachman is 2-1 with a 1.28 goals-against average and a .963 save percentage in three games against the Gophers.

Rau on Bachman: “He was a major, major contributor to our success as he is this year. He’s tremendous.”

Eden Prairie coach Lee Smith on Rau, who he coached for two years: “In two years he had 102 points. There are so many things about him. He has explosive speed. He has the ability to get a shot off in open ice and traffic.

“He is unselfish and then there is his overall puck savvy. He was a special player for us and those do not come around very often. We are forturnate to have his two younger brothers on our team now. They are off to a good start.”

Smith was referring to the Rau twins, Kyle and Curt, both sophomores.

“Kyle is a forward. He is a mini CHad, except he is a lefty. He has similar skills and the ability to handle the puck and play in traffic.

“Curt is a defenseman who is smart and has an understanding of the game. he has nice skills with the puck. He’s been a nice surprise how fast he has jumped into high school hockey.”

The Gophers and Denver are among the colleges showing interest already in the twins. Curt is also an outstanding lacrosse player and he is the bigger of the two. Curt is 5-10, 165-170, Smith said, Kyle 5-8, 150.

CC coach Scott Owens on Chad Rau: “He is probably our hardest working player in practice. And when one of you best players is the hardest worker, that is very valuable. He has been essential to our success.”   

* CC is ninth on the power play in the WCHA, converting only 15 percent. But the Tigers’ penalty killing unit is the league’s second best, behind the U, at 91.6 percent.

* CC is 7-0-2 when leading after two periods.

 Â

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 8:42 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.