Men's hockey: U falls behind quickly, stays there stubbornly

Marlin Levison, Star Tribune

Michigan's Carl Hagelin celebrated after knocking the fourth goal of the game past Minnesota goalie Alex Kangas.

Michigan led 4-0 early in the second period and won easily on the first night of the College Hockey Showcase.

By ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune

Last update: November 29, 2008 - 8:59 AM

The Gophers dug a deep, deep hole and never recovered on Friday.

Visiting Michigan took a shocking 4-0 lead early in the second period and soundly beat the No. 1 team in the nation 6-3 on its home rink. There were 10,217 witnesses at Mariucci Arena to the thrashing on the first night of the College Hockey Showcase.

Minnesota (7-2-4) will try to rebound from its second loss in a row tonight against Michigan State. The Spartans lost 3-1 at Wisconsin Friday night.

"They were better in every facet of the game, and they deserved to win the game," Gophers coach Don Lucia said of Michigan. "They outhit us, they outskated us, they outchanced us and they beat us two-to-one [in goals]."

This defeat follows a 4-0 loss at Denver which ended the Gophers' 11-game unbeaten streak to start the season.

"We are not going to be beating teams if we are not battling, if we are not working hard every night," Gophers wing Justin Bostrom said. "Big picture, we are still ... in a good spot here. We got a couple games left to go 'til break, so I hope we can finish strong."

The Gophers are in first place in the WCHA and have only a mid-December series at home with Colorado College before the holiday break.

Friday night, though, Michigan seemed to be the much hungrier team. The Wolverines took a 2-0 lead in the first nine minutes.

After Michigan's fourth goal early in the second period, Lucia pulled sophomore goalie Alex Kangas and replaced him with freshman Kent Patterson. Kangas had played every minute this season, and this was his 33rd start in a row dating to mid-January. He had never been pulled in his college career.

"It wasn't Alex's finest hour," Lucia said. "Our best player was Kent Patterson. It was good to see Kent get in there and get some game time, and I thought he played well. We gave up a boatload of scoring chances. We were soft our own end. That's the first time I've seen that this year."

Perhaps this was the wrong time to play No. 15 Michigan (9-6-0). The Wolverines, a Frozen Four team last season, had been swept 2-0 and 2-1 at Miami (Ohio) last weekend.

Chad Hagelin and David Wohlberg of Michigan each had two goals in this game.

"They were way more intense than us," said Gophers captain Ryan Stoa, who scored his 11th goal. "They wanted it more than we did [Friday] and it showed."

Jordan Schroeder and Bostrom had the other goals for Minnesota, which was outshot 42-25. The game also took a toll physically on the Gophers.

Forwards Taylor Matson and Jay Barriball were both injured in the first 12 minutes; Barriball returned in the second period and played sparingly; Matson never returned.

Neither is expected to play tonight, but Lucia has replacements at forward. He also said Kangas will start in goal.

"We have to do better [tonight]," Stoa said. "It's one thing to be No. 1, but the hard part is to stay there."

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