Gophers take three of four points vs. UMD

By foxsports
Published

MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota-Duluth left Saturday's game at No. 2 Minnesota generally pleased with a tie.

The Gophers were lamenting the missed chance at even more points in the standings.

The response to Saturday's 2-2 tie demonstrates just where the two teams are in the WCHA race with two weekends remaining. The Bulldogs are winless in February, taking only two points (on two ties) in eight games. Minnesota (21-6-4, 13-6-4 WCHA) is fighting to end its last season in the conference with a regular-season title and ended the weekend two points behind St. Cloud (33 points) in the conference.

"It's definitely disappointing, especially because we had the lead in the third period," Gophers sophomore forward Travis Boyd said after taking three of the four possible points against Minnesota Duluth this weekend. "To go ahead and then make a couple of mistakes that lead to their goal and tie it up, it's is very disappointing."

Freshman defenseman Mike Reilly scored his third goal of the year in the first period for the Gophers and Tom Serratore added his seventh of the season, but it wasn't enough after the Bulldogs capitalized on a quick play that led to a Jake Hendrickson goal with 7:06 remaining in the third to tie the game 2-all.

Hendrickson received a quick pass from the end boards and slipped the puck under Minnesota goaltender Adam Wilcox for the tying goal. Austin Farley also scored for Minnesota Duluth, his 13th of the year.

Wilcox finished with 35 saves as the Gophers outshot Minnesota Duluth 40-37. The Bulldogs clamped down on Minnesota's potent offense and blocked 23 shots a night after the Gophers took a 5-3 win.

"That's a team competing," Minnesota coach Don Lucia said of the Bulldogs' shot-blocking effort Saturday. "You could tell that they were dialed in. It's too good a team to have lost that many in a row or gone that long without a win, but they found a little of their recipe, I think, this weekend."

The Gophers know their recipe for repeating as WCHA regular-season champions will need a dash of four-point weekends. Minnesota hasn't been able to secure a weekend sweep since Jan. 11-12 against Alaska Anchorage.

Fighting for the WCHA crown, the Gophers had split the previous three weekends. Minnesota missed a chance this weekend as well, with St. Cloud State splitting its series at Colorado College with a win Saturday night.

"Just how tight the standings are, I don't think we're satisfied with three of four points this weekend," Reilly said. "I definitely think we can improve that in the last two weekends here and I think we're going to have to get a four-point weekend one of these weekends if we want to win it all."

Making Saturday's tie more frustrating was Serratore's goal 6:25 into the third period that gave the Gophers a 2-1 lead.

Minnesota knows the importance of being able to close out weekends with wins, especially in March.

"We've got to get better consistency," said Boyd, who assisted on Serratore's goal. "Once you get into the playoffs, you've got to win two games in a weekend. If you don't do that then you're not going to keep moving." 

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