Offense Sputters Again in 3-0 Loss to DU

For the second time in three games, the Golden Gophers failed to score a goal as they dropped their home-opener to the Denver Pioneers by a score of 3-0 on Friday night and dropped to 0-2-1 on the young season in the process.

The common thread in comments by both Gopher coaches and players after this game was the lack of pressure applied by Minnesota’s forwards, and in particular, they were unable to consistently put shots on net and generate chances after the initial save.

“Scoring three goals in three games is not acceptable,” said senior co-captain Tony Lucia. “We were shooting off the glass or missing wide too much.”

Fellow senior co-captain Ryan Flynn agreed.

“We need to get more second-chance opportunities,” Flynn said.

The sentiments of those two were echoed by Gophers Head Coach Don Lucia.

“It’s hart to win if you don’t score goals,” Lucia said. “We missed the net far too often.”

On the night, Minnesota attempted 65 shots, but just 30 made their way to DU net minder Marc Cheverie, who pitched his second shutout of the season and second in a row against Minnesota.

“I hate losing to that team,” Cheverie said after. “We did a great job of blocking shots and they had no traffic in front of me.”

DU took the lead early in the second period shortly after a Pioneers power play expired, as senior forward Tyler Ruegsegger tipped a shot from freshman defenseman Matt Donovan that just trickled through Gophers goalie Alex Kangas and made it's way just over the goal-line at 3:36 to put DU in front 1-0.

It appeared as though fellow senior Rhett Rakhshani put DU up by a 2-0 score via a shorthanded tally just minutes later, but after a review, it was ruled that contact was made with Kangas, which caused the puck to go into the net.

However, later in the period, Rakhshani would notch his second goal of the season, as he took a cross-ice pass from Ruegsegger and blasteda one-timer past a somewhat screened Kangas to increase the DU lead to 2-0.

"Roller hockey hands," DU Head Coach George Gwozdecky said of Rakhshani, a California native who grew up playing street hockey on the beach.

The Minnesota power play was just as bad on this night as it was in North Dakota last weekend. They were 0-3 on the night but gave up good chances to DU and never were able to apply consistent pressure or get good puck movement going. Sophomore Jordan Schroeder was very average (at best) again, and he is the key to Minnesota's power play. On the night, the Gophers had just three shots while on the man-advantage.

"Our group of forwards have to be better," said Lucia. "We have to finish good chances and need players to stet up."

One player the team was looking to score more this season was senior Jay Barriball, but he left this game with a muscle injury and is questionable for the Saturday rematch.

The Pioneers, who scored an empty-net goal with just a few seconds left after Minnesota pulled Kangas for the extra attacker but didn't put up much of a fight in the dying seconds, have yet to win the second game of a series so far this season, and Minnesota player much better on Saturday last weekend, so that would seem to give the Gophers a better chance on Saturday night.

Gwozdecky, who has rotated Cheverie and freshman Adam Murray for both series so far, said his team would review the film and it wasn't a given that the 0-2 Murray would get the nod on Saturday.

For the Gophers, it appears that sophomore Kent Patterson will get the start on Saturday after playing well in last Saturday's 3-3 tie vs. North Dakota. Unless the Minnesota offense gets clicking, Patterson is going to need to bring his "A" game and likely will have to hold the Pios under two goals to give his team a decent chance to get their first win of the season.