The Gophers posted their first road series sweep of the season Saturday with a physical 3-1 win at Vermont. The night before Minnesota scalded the Catamounts, 5-1. They've now swept Vermont on the road and Michigan State at home -- and split with everyone else (except for the one-off win against Canisius on Oct. 28).
Perhaps as important, the Golden Gophers have finally gone two games over .500 on the road, upping their record out of town to 4-2-1. (At Mariucci Arena, they've been unstoppable, posting a six-game unbeaten streak: 5-0-1.)
Pouring on the coal: Minnesota's quest for five-on-five scoring had been elusive until the Vermont series. Of eight goals scored over the two games, seven were notched with both teams at full strength. Two of them came 1:10 apart early in the second period Saturday, and they proved the undoing of the Catamounts.
The Gophers have pounded opponents with both shots and goals. In 13 games, they have failed to record 30 or more shots on goal only once -- and they won anyway. That was a 3-1 win over Wisconsin Nov. 17, a 28-shot effort. The season high: 43 against the Badgers the previous night. Minnesota has smacked 42 shots on two occasions.
During their current six-game unbeaten jag, the Gophers have pounded in 19 goals.
Bjugstad's breakaway: Nick Bjugstad's blazing breakaway goal at Vermont on Friday wasn't a planned play. Coach Don Lucia told me that following a save by goalie Adam Wilcox, defenseman Nate Schmidt was simply trying to ice the puck at the end of the penalty kill.
Bjugstad told me the same thing: "Schmidt was trying to get it down to their end for icing as I was coming out of the penalty box. My first thought was that I didn't want it to hit my blade. But then there was the chance, so I just grabbed it and took it in." The result was a one-on-none breakaway sprint and the Gophers' fourth goal of the game.
Negotiating for an assist: Goalie Adam Wilcox was awarded the second assist on Bjugstad's goal -- after the game. Originally, the official scorer wasn't going to give him his first collegiate point, saying that when the puck came off him it was simply a rebound. Later, Brian Deutsch (UM's Assistant Athletic Communications Director for Men's Hockey) lobbied hard for the assist, pointing out on video that Wilcox had clearly directed the puck to Schmidt with his skate.
Result: Bjugstad from Schmidt and Wilcox. A strong move by Brian Deutsch.
And another thing: Bjugstad's breakaway tally out of the bin of sin couldn't help but remind me of a similar goal I saw a few years ago while broadcasting the Pittsburgh Penguins. One night in Hartford, Jaromir Jagr was tossed in the box late in the third period of a tie game. The penalty carried over into overtime. When it expired, I don't know whether the Whalers simply forgot that Jagr -- one of the game's most lethal scorers -- was in there or what, but he exploded from the box as the penalty expired, picked up a loose puck that had providentially just arrived and zoomed in to score the game-winning goal.
I shared this incident with Bjugstad, who at least found it amusing.
Thanks for the pics: We asked viewers to send in photos showing where and with whom they were celebrating the Thanksgiving weekend while watching the Saturday night tilt at Vermont -- and, man, did we get them! Some fans, some players' families, even my daughter's boyfriend, who happened to discover the game on FOX Sports Arizona at his home in Scottsdale. We were on all over the northern U.S., New England and Canada for that game, so a huge audience got to watch the Gophers polish off their sweep of the Catamounts.
Later this week: No trip to Vermont hockey country would be complete without a flashback to the college playing days of Martin St. Louis. Now a Tampa Bay Lightning, St. Louis epitomizes how a non-too-sizeable college hockey player can battle adversity (and his size) to carve out an outstanding NHL career. Watch for that blog on Tuesday!
