The Gophers dominated play for the first 40 minutes Friday night against St. Cloud, and then held on for dear life in the final period and escaped with a 4-2 victory in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.
The two teams will meet for game two of the best-of-three series Saturday evening.
Nico Sachetti, Mike Hoeffel, Jay Barriball, and Ryan Stoa (empty-netter) tallied for the Gophers, while Garrett Roe scored both goals for the Huskies. Alex Kangas turned aside 29 St. Cloud shots for the victory, while Jase Weslosky made 33 saves in a losing effort.
The Gophers held a 2-0 lead and a 30-17 shot advantage after the second period, before St. Cloud came out firing in the third period. The Huskies out-shot Minnesota 14-7 in the final period. After controlling the tempo throughout the game, Minnesota was on its heels a bit in the third before Stoa's empty-netter with just over six seconds remaining sealed the victory.
Elsewhere in the WCHA:
- Wisconsin absolutely killed MSU-Mankato, 7-1 in Madison. Blake Geoffrion scored twice, and the Badgers fired 66 shots on goal at Mike Zacharias and Dan Tormey. Wisconsin also scored three times on the power play.
- North Dakota beat Michigan Tech, 5-1 in Grand Forks. Five different Sioux scored in this one, and Brad Eidsness turned aside 20 Husky shots.
- Minnesota-Duluth upset Colorado College, 4-1 in the Springs.
- Denver squeaked past Alaska-Anchorage, 3-2 in Denver.
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