Gophers persevere, then rumble vs. Pioneers

David Zalubowski, Associated Press

Minnesota goalie Alex Kangas covers a shot off the stick of Denver right winger Dustin Jackson.

Jordan Schroeder opened the scoring and goalie Alex Kangas withstood a furious Denver attack.

By THERESA SMITH, Special to The Star Tribune

Last update: November 22, 2008 - 12:39 PM

DENVER — With several hundred Gophers fans voicing their approval among the Magness Arena crowd of 5,849, freshman Jordan Schroeder led No. 1-ranked Minnesota past Denver 5-2 on Friday night.

Schroeder scored the Gophers' first goal and the game-turning third goal after goalie Alex Kangas kept Denver at bay against an array of rapid-fire shots.

"Sometimes, that's how it works; you have to weather a storm and then you get a break,'' Minnesota coach Don Lucia said.

Kangas, coming off his first career shutout, started the save sequence with 48 seconds left in a Denver power play, by deflecting a shot off his shoulder. Then, as the penalty was expiring, he turned away a wicked wrist shot from Tyler Ruegsegger, followed by a hard shot and its immediate rebound. Kangas made two more saves after faceoffs, including a glove catch of J.P. Testwuide's slapshot.

Moments later, the Gophers regained possession with Schroeder carrying the puck into the offensive zone and passing to winger Ryan Stoa. Stoa threaded the puck in front of the net and Schroeder tipped it in as he skated by, giving Denver goalie Marc Cheverie no time to react.

"It's just a timing thing,'' Stoa said. "It's more of a shot-pass than anything. So you're kind of shooting for the far pipe or off to the side of the net, hoping their defenseman knocks it in or your forward does. Jordan is a talented enough player, so he can get a stick on that.''

The Gophers (7-0-4 overall, 6-0-3 WCHA) improved their unbeaten streak to 11 games. It marks their best start since 11-0-2 in 2001-02, a national championship season.

"We're clicking, getting a lot of bounces, and capitalizing,'' Stoa said. "The biggest thing is we're having so much fun. Things are going good in practice and in school; that helps.''

Schroeder burst up the right wing and unleashed a slapshot to the far side of Cheverie for a 1-0 lead at 12:46 of the first period.

The U went ahead 2-0 at 5:46 of the second period. When the puck popped out in front of the blue line, Jay Barriball pounced on it and backhanded it to the far side of Cheverie.

At 8:32, Denver's John Ryder left a screened pass for Tyler Bozak whose shot on the short side eluded Kangas.

After Schroeder made it 3-1, Mike Carman scored his fourth goal of the season at 7:42 of the final period. Aaron Ness, a freshman defenseman from Roseau, Minn., ripped a slapshot that deflected off Tony Lucia and was redirected into the net by Carman.

The Gophers increased the lead to 5-1 on Stoa's slapshot after a faceoff. A few seconds later, Denver (6-5-1, 4-4-1) answered for the final outcome.