Phew! UMN wins game 2

In another nail biter of a hockey game, the Golden Gophers managed to squeak out a 2-1 overtime win over Minnesota State to tie the series at 1-1, and stay alive for another day.



Once again, it was a goaltender's battle, with Minnesota pounding 37 shots at Mike Zacharias over the 67:33 minutes of hockey. Gopher goalie Alex Kangas made 27 saves of his own, allowing a power-play goal at 11:09 of the 3rd.



UMN was 0-3 on the power play, while State went 1-4 on the night, in a game attended by 4744 fans. The officials, once again, were Derek Sheperd as referee, and Brad Sheperd & C.J. Beaurline working the lines. I'm not sure how there are only 3 officials in all of Minnesota, but you'd think they'd at least switch it up and put one of the linesmen working the whistle. We'll have to see if game 3 has the same guys working it.



Game 3 is tomorrow, and I'm afeared that it's going to be another close game. I'd love for UMN to win this cleanly, but honestly, as the #7 seed (facing #4 Minn. State) it's probably not going to happen. It was good to see solid shooting tonight, as they out shot their opponent in every period except overtime. One could say that overtime was when they should be shooting the most ... but they scored, so I'm happy. Winner of this series meets #5 St. Cloud State, who knocked out Kyle Turris and the Badgers in 2 straight games, next Thursday in St. Paul. The winner of that games faces #1 Colorado College next Friday in the semi-final.



The other quarter-final has #3 Denver facing either #2 UND or #9 Michigan Tech. I think. It's honestly the weirdest tournament layout I've ever seen, with teams being re-seeded after round 1, and then the 2 lowest remaining seeds playing in the quarters, with the winner facing the highest seed (Colorado) in the semis. Whoah.



In other hockey news, the Canucks beat Dallas tonight after giving up a 3-0 advantage, and trying their hardest to lose. Unfortunately, they didn't succeed.