Minneapolis – A sensational, jaw-dropping goaltending battle summed up Friday’s two-game series opener between top-ranked Minnesota and No. 5 Denver.
In Saturday’s Game 2, with DU in position to sweep, dropping the gloves highlighted an extraordinarily exciting and high-scoring conclusion of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association set at Mariucci Arena.
DU played well enough to win both games, but in Saturday’s chippy and fight-marred affair, one of its 18 penalties proved to be the difference in Minnesota’s 5-4 victory before a sellout crowd of 10,189.
Goalie Glenn Fisher, the hero in the Pioneers’ 1-0 win Friday that snapped Minnesota’s 21-game home unbeaten streak, took a slashing minor at 17:26 of the second period to give the Gophers a two-man advantage. Minnesota captain Mike Vannelli scored twice during Fisher’s penalty, first on a 5-on-3, to give the defending WCHA champions a 5-2 lead.
Fisher said a Gophers forward “was skating by and I gave him a little tap on the shins, barely touched the guy. No ref has ever called me on it, and he puts us down 5-on-3 at that point in the game. I thought it was a horrible call.”
But DU wasn’t done. The Pioneers, who trailed 3-0 early, got power-play goals from Chris Butler and Geoff Paukovich to battle back from its second three-goal deficit, and it remained 5-4 for the final 9:57 of a series from which both teams came away proudly bruised.
“It was two teams that went after each other toe-to-toe and really battled for points,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said. “The split was a pretty just outcome. Both one-goal games, both right down to the wire with chances to send it in overtime.”
DU’s J.P. Testwuide and Minnesota’s Ben Gordon were ejected for fighting long before it was over. Testwuide, from Vail, pummeled Gordon in a wild first-period fracas that developed after Fisher was bowled over for the second time. Referee Todd Anderson called a combined 37 penalties for 115 minutes.
Vannelli, who had three goals, could have been ejected before his second and third goals for checking-from-behind. His dangerous, against-the-boards hit on Tom May is typically whistled as a five-minute major and game misconduct, but Anderson deemed it a minor.
DU coach George Gwozdecky blamed most of the penalties on player pride between programs that have combined to win four of the past five NCAA titles.
“When we’re battling like this, there is no love lost,” Gwozdecky said. “Both teams felt an urgency and need to establish their game and presence on the ice. It wasn’t easy, but I think both teams will probably take positive things out of this series.”
The loss was only DU’s second in its past 11 games (9-2).
DENVER POST THREE STARS
1. Mike Vannelli – The Gophers captain took three penalties but scored three goals in the second period.
2. Steven Cook – The unsung DU senior and Denver native was perhaps the toughest player in the physical series.
3. Jeff Frazee – Stopped 41 shots for the Gophers.
WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED
Saturday’s early start was necessary in order for the local Fox affiliate to televise a prep-college-pro tripleheader. The finale, an NHL game between the Dallas Stars and the Wild in St. Paul, capped 11 straight hours of coverage from Fox Sports North in celebrating the inaugural “Hockey Day in Minnesota.”
NEXT
St. Cloud State, Friday and Saturday, at Magness Arena.
Gophers 5, Pioneers 4
Denver 0 3 1 – 4
Minnesota 1 4 0 – 5
First period – 1, Minnesota, Okposo 16 (Peltier, Johnson), 5:42. Penalties – Seabrook, DU (hooking), 1:48; Thomas, DU (unsportsmanlike conduct), 3:22; Wheeler, UM (unsportsmanlike conduct), 3:22; Trotter, DU (cross checking), 4:22; Carman, UM (slashing), 5:23; Carman, UM (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:23; Butler, DU (unsportsmanlike conduct), 5:23; Vannelli, UM (slashing), 10:14; Anderson, UM (slashing), 12:48; Cook, DU (unsportsmanlike conduct, 10-misconduct), 13:45; Veideman, DU (roughing), 13:45; Fisher, DU (slashing), 13:45; Testwuide, DU (5-fighting, game DQ), 13:45; Goligoski, UM (unsportsmanlike conduct, 10-misconduct), 13:45; Wheeler, UM (roughing), 13:45; O’Brien, UM (5-charging), 13:45; O’Brien, UM (roughing), 13:45; Gordon, UM (5-fighting, game DQ), 13:45; Seabrook, DU (hooking), 17:02.
Second period – 2, Minnesota, Bostrom 2 (Fischer), 6:58. 3, Minnesota, Vannelli 5 (Howe, Flynn), 7:29. 4, Denver, Trotter 12 (Ruegsegger, Veideman), 7:50. 5, Denver, Seabrook 1 (Gifford), 13:09 (pp). 6, Minnesota, Vannelli 6 (Goligoski, Carman), 17:46 (5×3 pp). 7, Minnesota, Vannelli 7 (Lucia, Carman), 18:22 (pp). 8, Denver, Butler 8 (Trotter, Dingle), 19:56 (5×3 pp). Penalties – Vannelli, UM (checking from behind), 1:19; Paukovich, DU (interference), 8:53; Goligoski, UM (high-sticking), 11:23; May, DU (high-sticking), 15:19; Howe, UM (interference), 15:19; Dingle, DU (high- sticking), 15:51; Fisher, DU (slashing), 17:26; Howe, UM (interference), 19:03; Carman, UM (high-sticking), 19:19.
Third period – 9, Denver, Paukovich 5 (Mullen, Seabrook), 10:03 (pp). Penalties – Veideman, DU (unsportsmanlike), 3:38; Stoa, UM (unsportsmanlike), 3:38; Paukovich, DU (cross checking), 7:49; Vannelli, UM (elbowing), 9:28.
Shots – DU 6-23-16-45. UM 13-8-15-36. Power plays – DU 3 of 9. UM 2 of 7. Goalies – DU, Fisher (12-5-1) 36 shots-31 saves. UM, Frazee (10-1-1) 45-41. A – 10,189.
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
