Gophers sweep Mavs

By Shane Frederick
Free Press Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS — Chris Clark said he'd do just about anything for the seniors on the Minnesota State men's hockey team.

I just didn't want it to end for our seniors," the sophomore goaltender said after the Mavericks' season concluded with a 5-3 loss to Minnesota Saturday night. "I'd break my neck if I had to."

In Game 2 of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association first-round playoff series Clark seemed to do anything but break bones, stopping 16 of 17 shots in the first period.

His effort indeed sparked the Mavericks' seniors. Adam Gerlach, Brad Thompson and Jake Brenk scored second-period goals, but they were intertwined with three Minnesota goals.

"I guess you could say we played like we're never, ever going to play again," said Gerlach who tied the game at 1-all 57 seconds into the second period.

Thompson added two assists for a three-point game, and Brenk also assisted on a goal. All three seniors forwards had career seasons with Thompson finishing with 24 points, Gerlach with 22 and Brenk with 19.

"You come in as a freshman and you think you've got forever in college hockey," coach Troy Jutting said. "Next thing you know, you're playing in your last college game."

Minnesota State's season ended with a 13-18-6 record. Six of their losses - one-third - came against the Gophers (26-12-1), who now advance to the WCHA Final Five.

Minnesota is unbeaten in 22 first-round games at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers also have a 12-game unbeaten streak against the Mavericks.

"It hurts to lose to the Gophers, especially being a Twin Cities kid," said Thompson, a St. Louis Park native and the Mavericks' captain. "We couldn't get it done this year."

Said Gerlach: "You can't take anything away from (Minnesota). We could've beat them half of those games at least."

Before a crowd of 10,007 Saturday, Minnesota came out flying, outshooting MSU 17-5 in the first period.

Jerrid Reinholz scored the frame's lone goal, but the game would have been over if not for Clark.

"I just try to get in the way," said Clark, who finished with 31 saves.

Jutting said he thought his team was jittery early on but calmed down in the second when Gerlach scored off a faceoff.

"Then it was, 'Game on,'" Gophers coach Don Lucia said.

The second period was a wild 20 minutes, featuring six goals and 11 penalties.

Gerlach's goal and Mike Howe's goal with 5:19 remaining to maintain Minnesota's one-score lead heading into the third period, were the only even-strength goals of the period.

In between, Danny Irmen scored on a 5-on-3 power play at 8:01. Brenk made a pretty centering pass to Thompson who tied it up again at 10:14. P.J. Atherton beat Clark on a rocket from the point during a 4-on-3 at 12:56. And Thompson returned the favor to Brenk for a tap-in goal that made it 3-3 at 14:08.

"Ending somebody's season is the most difficult game," Lucia said. "To (the Mavericks') credit, they fought till the end. I wouldn't expect anything less from Troy's team."

Minnesota State outshot Minnesota 12-10 in the second and 11-10 in the third.

Gophers goalie Justin Johnson, who finished with 25 saves, shut out the Mavericks in the final 20 minutes and got an insurance goal from Barry Tallackson, who poked in the rebound of a Chris Harrington shot with 5:36 remaining in the game.

Clark was pulled for an extra attacker with about 3 minutes remaining, and the Gophers took two penalties in the final two minutes, but the Mavericks couldn't beat Johnson.

"Looking back on the year, I think for 95 percent of the games we played hard," Jutting said. "We were short a goal scorer or two. We got opportunities most nights. But with a goal scorer or two we could have had a pretty good season."

Minnesota State 0-3-0-3

Minnesota 1-3-1-5

First Period

Scoring

1. MINN-Reinholz 2 (Fleming 9) 14:54

Penalties

• Linder, MSU (interference) 4:16
• MSU bench (too many on ice) 6:30
• Reinholz, MINN (obstruction-hooking) 9:42
• Thompson, MSU (interference) 17:44

Second Period

Scoring

2. MSU-Gerlach 11 (Thompson 10) :57
3. MINN-Irmen 23 (Hirsch 33, Goligoski 15) ppg 8:01
4. MSU-Thompson 13 (Brenk 13, Backes 23) ppg
5. MINN-Atherton 2 (Stevens 8, Fleming 10)
6. MSU-Brenk 6 (Thompson 11, Morin 19) ppg 14:08
7. MINN-Howe 5 (Irmen 19, Vannelli 10) 14:41

Penalties

• Vannelli, MINN (hooking) 2:26
• Stevens, MINN (delay of game) 3:55
• Atherton, MINN (cross-checking) 5:46
• Backes, MSU (hooking) 6:52
• Rankin, MSU (tripping) 7:25
• Goligoski, MINN (obstruction-tripping) 8:36
• Rankin, MSU (hooking) 10:57
• Hirsch, MINN (interference) 12:15
• Marler, MSU (charging) 12:46
• Brenk, MSU (roughing) 17:15
• Vannelli, MINN (roughing) 17:15

Third Period

Scoring

8. MINN-Tallackson 10 (Harrington 23) 14:24

Penalties

• Rankin, MSU (unsportsmanlike conduct) 15:31
• Potulny, MINN (unsportsmanlike conduct) 15:31
• Chucko, MINN (hooking) 18:08
• Vannelli (cross-checking) 19:22

Summaries

Shots on goal

• MSU 5-12-11-28
• MINN 16-10-10-36

Penalties

• MSU 9 for 18 minutes
• MINN 10 for 20 minutes

Power-play opportunities

• MSU 2 for 7
• MINN 2 for 8

Goalie saves

• MSU-Clark 15-7-9-31
• MINN-Johnson 5-9-11-25

Attendance

• 10,007

Referee

• Jon Campion

Assistant referees

• C.J. Beaurline
• J.B. Olsen.