Gophers come through again

Bruce Bisping, Star Tribune

Colorado College's Tyler Johnson was checked by Minnesota's R.J. Anderson.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: March 22, 2008 - 12:05 AM

The Gophers' wondrous, magical ride in the WCHA playoff continues.

Freshman winger Mike Hoeffel's second goal of the game, at 4 minutes, 47 seconds into overtime, gave Minnesota a 2-1 victory over Colorado College on Friday in the second semifinal of the Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center.

Hoeffel, deep on the left side, centered the puck, which ricochetted into the net off defenseman Nate Prosser's stick and CC goalie Richard Bachman's shoulder.

"Especially in the overtime period, you want to put it on yourself," Hoeffel said. "I was going to the net and wanted to put it in there. Maybe it would hit the goalie or Jay's stick [linemate Jay Barriball]. I don't know how, but it deflected into the net."

The Gophers (19-15-9) have now won four games in a row, three of them in overtime. Their overtime record had been an abysmal 0-4-9 through their first playoff game.

Friday's overtime victory was their biggest yet. It assured Minnesota a spot in next week's NCAA tournament, and it came against the nation's No. 2 rated team, Colorado College (28-10-1). The Tigers also were the conference regular-season champions.

Minnesota, which finished seventh in the conference standings, will play Denver (25-13-1) for the Broadmoor Trophy at 7:07 p.m. today. The Gophers are the defending Final Five champions.

Denver beat North Dakota 3-1 in the first semifinal. CC will face the Fighting Sioux in the third-place game at 2:07 p.m.

"Everybody has been waiting for [the Gophers] to run out of gas," Tigers coach Scott Owens said. "I don't think it will be this weekend. ... They did not look tired at all. They came out right away rejuvenated in overtime."

Without question. The puck was in the CC zone most of the overtime. The Gophers outshot the Tigers 4-1 in overtime and had four faceoffs in the CC zone.

"This team never ceases to amaze me," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "A different guy seems to get the game-wining goal each night. [And] our goaltender has put the team on his back and willed us to win."

Freshman Alex Kangas stopped 37 shots for the Gophers; Bachman, the WCHA Player and Rookie of the Year, had 33 saves for CC.

Friday each team scored a goal early in the second period.

CC, which outshot the Gophers 20-9 in the first period, started the second with a minute left on a power play and converted. Sophomore center Andreas Vlassopoulos scored at 39 seconds from 10 feet out in the slot.

Hoeffel answered at 1:38, beating Bachman's glove on a high shot from 30-feet out in the slot.

"Mike's first goal was probably the biggest one," Lucia said. "They scored on a power play and he answered right away."

These Gophers were not going down easy.

"They're playing with emotion," said Vlassopoulos, whose team did not have to play a quarterfinal the night before. "They were not nearly as tired as we thought they would be."

Notes

• The Tigers came into the game 4-1 against the Gophers in the Final Five. Minnesota's only victory came in the 2003 championship game.

• This was the 10th year in a row the Gophers have played in the semifinals.

• Only three other teams who played on Thursday ever have reached the title game; all lost.

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