Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14
Everything seemed to be firing on all cylinders for the Gophers tonight as they showed up B1G time with their BEST performance of season for the 6-2 win over the Wolverines. Literally, hats off to a strong senior class performance again tonight. Kyle Rau with a severe case of a will to win, recorded a HATTY in his best performance of the season. With Boyd’s hat trick last week against OSU, they recorded their first back to back hat tricks in a season since 1999.
The Gophers exploded with energy from the gate tonight, scoring 3 goals in the first period, and continued to storm Nagelvoort all night until Red pulled him after Kyle Rau scored a shortie on a beautiful textbook 1 hole shot to put the Gophers up 5-0. Gopher PP looked hot, but they didn’t need to rely on it as much, as the shot accuracy and scoring clicked tonight for four 5x5 goals.
The Gopher D led by Mike Reilly and company were physical and tenacious flooding the transition zone, stopping odd man rushes, blocking shots, protecting Wilcox in the paint, and keeping Corn and Blue shots down and on the perimeter. Adding to Michigan’s evening nightmare, the Gopher forecheck was off the charts and Wilcox was back in true form with his quick glove hand stopping some point blank shots.
Overall, one of the best all around efforts I’ve seen from the Gophers all season. With the Quinnipiac win and BC loss, the Gophers remain at 14th in what has become an extreme PWR log jam that looks to be a battle to the finish for a slot in the 16 team NCAA tournament field. Now we have to come back tomorrow night with the same explosiveness. Go Gophers!
