Gophers open season 2-0

The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers opened their 2007-08 season last weekend in the IceBreaker Invitational at the Xcel Energy Center against RPI. The Gophers got a quick wake-up call falling behind in the first period 1-0 and then in the 2nd period 3-0. The 1st and 2nd periods are probably the ones the Gophers would like to forget about but ing the 3rd period the Gophers came and rallied to win 4-3 with Kyle Okposo scoring with a minute left in the game. Jeff Frazee led the Gophers to victory with 25 saves. The Gophers looked sluggish all game with just bearly breezing past RPI. The Gophers knew they would have to play better against Michigan the following night. The Gophers came out in the 1st period and put up goals by R.J. Anderson, his first as a Gopher, and Blake Wheeler, his second of the season. Michigan refused to give up coming back and scoring once in the 2nd and twice in the 3rd. The Gophers held on with a stop by Jeff Frazee late in the game. Allong with that stop Frazee stopped 44 shots. I would like to say that the Gophers played better on Saturday against Michigan but they really didn’t. They looked great in the 1st period but something fell out of place with the Gophers looking sluggish the rest of the game. The Gophers took a blow when Ryan Stoa left the game with a knee injury. The Gophers found out on Monday that Stoa would not be back this season as hes having surgery on his knee. Stoa is expected to return next year for his senior year.


RPI VS #6 Minnesota

First Period Scoring:
RPI: Matt Angers-Goulet Tyler Helfrich/ Andrei Uryadov

First Period Penalties:
RPI: Dan Peace- Slashing
Andrei Uryadov- Tripping
Bryan Brutlag- Cross-Checking
Andrei Uryadov- Charging

Minnesota: Ryan Stoa- Interference
R.J. Anderson- Interference

Second Period Scoring:
RPI: Chase Polacek Bryan Brutlag/ Andrew Lord
Andrew Lord -
Minnesota: Ryan Stoa Kyle Okposo/ Jay Barriball

Second Period Penalties:
RPI: Peter Merth- Tripping
MINN: Jay Barriball- Hooking
Mike Hoeffel- Interferenece

Third Period:
Minnesota: Blake Wheeler Derek Peltier
Evan Kaufmann Kyle Okposo/ Derek Peltier
Kyle Okposo Jay Barriball/ Ryan Stoa


Third Period Penalties

RPI: Erik Burgdoerfer- Hooking

Andrew Lord- Hooking

Andrei Uryadov- Too Many Men
Matt Anders-Goulet- High Sticking
Andrew Lord- Checking from Behind
Andrew Lord- 10 Game Miscounduct

Goalie Saves
Jeff Frazee Minnesota: 25
Mathias Lange RPI: 24

Three Stars
1. Kyle Okposo
2. Jay Barriball
3. Derek Peltier

#6 MINNESOTA VS MICHIGAN
First Period Scoring:
MINN: R.J. Anderson Cade Fairchild/ Jay Barriball
Blake Wheeler Mike Hoeffel/ Ryan Flynn

First Period Penalties:
MICH: Chad Langlais- Tripping
Mark Mitera-Interference

Second Period Scoring
MICH: Matt Rust Tim Miller/ Ben Winnett

Second Period Penalties:
MINN: Justin Bostrom- Interference
Justin Bostrom- Obstruction Hooking
Stu Bickel- Holding
MICH: Chris Summers- Holding

Third Period Scoring:
MINN: Ryna Flynn -
Patrick White Tony Lucia/ Justin Bostrom
MICH: Steve Kampfer Kevin Porter
Matt Rust Tim Miller

Third Period Penalties:
MINN: Tony Lucia- Holding
MICH: Matt Rust- Holding

Goalie Saves:
Jeff Frazee Minnesota: 44
Billy Sauer: 18
WE WERE REALLY REALLY OUTSHOT SATURDAY NIGHT!

Three Stars
1. Jeff Frazee
2. Patrick White
3. Matt Rust (Michigan)

Over all we need to play better against C.C. this weekend… until then… GO GOPHERS!