After Minnesota scored an eye-popping seven goals in each of its first three games of the season, most doubted that the Golden Gophers would duplicate that output Friday night against Colgate.<\/p>\n
They were right: this time, Minnesota scored eight.<\/p>\n
For the fourth straight game, Minnesota showcased its offense, scoring four goals in the first period and notching three power-play tallies en route to a surprisingly easy 8-0 victory over the Raiders at Mariucci Arena.<\/p>\n
“I was [surprised at the margin],” said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. “I didn’t expect the game would get that out of hand.”<\/p>\n
Gopher keeper Adam Hauser stopped 18 shots for the win. The shutout was Hauser’s eighth all-time, making him Minnesota’s career leader in that category.<\/p>\n
“That was probably, for me, the best part of the night,” said Lucia. “Adam stayed with [the shutout], and sometimes those are the toughest games, when you take control early.”<\/p>\n
“It’s nice that we have four wins under our belt,” said Hauser, deflecting praise for his accomplishment. “That’s more important to this team.”<\/p>\n
Sloppy play early in the first kept scoring chances down, but the Gophers still managed to get on the board quickly. Defenseman Keith Ballard one-timed a Nick Angell cross-ice pass off the right post, giving the preseason WCHA Rookie of the Year his first collegiate goal at 2:06.<\/p>\n
The red-hot power play earned the next Minnesota goal. After a Matt Scanlan slash, Jeff Taffe found Paul Martin alone in the high slot, feeding the sophomore for a blast that beat Colgate netminder Jason Lefevre glove-side.<\/p>\n
Sophomore Matt Koalska made it 3-0 Gophers, outracing the defense up the left side and lifting a point-blank forehand high for his second goal of the year with under three minutes left in the period.<\/p>\n
Minnesota capped off the frame with another power-play goal, this one off the stick of Troy Riddle. Dmitry Yashin’s ill-advised elbowing infraction set up the man-advantage, and the Gophers needed only 30 seconds before Erik Wendell’s sharp cross-ice pass allowed Riddle to slip the puck home five-hole on a two-on-one.<\/p>\n
Shots after one period were 14-5 Gophers, and even that was deceptively close. The Raiders had just one legitimate scoring chance in the first 20 minutes, and spent most of the stanza backpedaling against the Minnesota forwards.<\/p>\n
“We really haven’t been in our own end much this season,” said Lucia of the Gophers’ high-octane performances.<\/p>\n
Colgate’s Steve Silverthorn made his collegiate debut in net to open the second period, and the Raiders promptly took two penalties (one a slash by Silverthorn himself) to give Minnesota a five-on-three. The Gophers could not capitalize; but neither could Colgate on a five-on-three of its own minutes later, generating only one shot on goal despite 1:37 of two-man advantage.<\/p>\n
Minnesota’s fourth line picked up the next goal on yeomanlike work by Nick Anthony, who put away a loose rebound of Angell’s shot at 12:39. Barely a minute later, the Gophers made it 6-0 on the power play, with Taffe blasting a one-timer over Silverthorn off assists from John Pohl and Paul Martin.<\/p>\n
The third period was played much more evenly until the final moments, with Colgate pressing and Minnesota apparently content to sit on its lead. But seconds after the expiration of a Raider power play, Riddle scored his fifth goal of the year, unassisted, on a blast from between the circles; and with 46 seconds to go, Anthony made it 8-0 by flipping a backhander over Silverthorn after a long lead pass from rookie Mike Erickson.<\/p>\n
“That’s somebody who I think is capable of getting a dozen [goals] for us this year,” said Lucia of Anthony, who had totaled just nine goals in his two-year collegiate career entering the evening.<\/p>\n
For the game, Minnesota was 3-for-7 with the extra skater, keeping the Gophers’ conversion rate over .500 for the season. Colgate went 0-for-5.<\/p>\n
For Colgate, Lefevre made 10 saves while giving up four goals, and Silverthorn stopped 18 while also allowing four scores.<\/p>\n
No. 2 Minnesota is now 4-0-0 on the season, while Colgate remains winless at 0-3-0. The same two teams meet again Saturday night to wrap up the weekend series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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