The Gophers were off this weekend. But, thanks to North Dakota, the U is still within striking distance of first place in the WCHA.

The Sioux beat first place Denver 8-3 on Friday at the Ralph in a penalty-filled game. Denver had 22 infractions, ND 19. And, on Saturday, the same two teams tied  2-2 with much less whistle-blowing. Each team had only seven penalties.

Patrick Wiercioch’s goal with one minute left in the second period for Denver made it 2-2. Matt Frattin and Evan Trupp scored for the Sioux who, looking at the shots, got outplayed.

Sioux goalie Brad Eidsness made 38 saves, Marc Cheverie 23 for DU.

 

So how do the standings look:

1. Denver                11-5-2   24 points

2. North Dakota     10-5-3   23 points

3. Wisconsin            10-6-2   22

4. Minnesota           9-4-3     21

    Colorado Col.       9-8-3     21

Couple things to note: Three points separate the top five teams. … The top three teams have played 18 games, the U only 16, and CC 20.

HUSKIES REBOUND

After being swept by the Gophers, St. Cloud State went out to CC and tied the Tigers 4-4 on Friday and beat them 6-1 on Saturday. Drew LeBlanc — a hockey name if I ever heard one — had a hat trick in the second game for the Huskies. He had only two goals before Saturday.

CC sophomore goalie Richard Bachman might be struggling a bit. He was pulled after giving up all six goals. He stopped only 24 of 30 shots. Hard to know what quality they were.

MAVERICKS SWEPT

UMD scored three goals in a three-minute span of the third period to beat visiting Minnesota State Mankato 7-4. The Bulldogs were trailing 4-3 when Andrew Carroll started the flurry at 11:32 after a turnover.

Matt Greer and Mike Connolly scored next. Jordan Fulton added an empty-netter in the last minute for UMD.

MSU was 3-for-6 on the power play in this game and also scored short-handed. At even-strength, though, they were not so good.

Freshman Mike Louwerse, junior Kael Mouillierat and Ryan Galiardi had the pp goals for the Mavs. Mouillierat also scored the short-handed goal.

UMD outshot MSU 40-31. MSU is now 11-13-3 overall, 7-11-2 in the WCHA. The Gophers travel to Mankato on Friday, then play the Mavs at Mariucci on Saturday.

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