Gophers men's hockey coach Don Lucia and his players could laugh again on Saturday.
"We read the offensive manual and shared it today," Lucia joked after his team decisively outclassed No. 4 Denver 7-3 at Mariucci Arena.
An announced crowd of 9,917 shared in the joy on Hockey Day Minnesota, applauding with gusto numerous times.
The Gophers (12-12-4, 9-10-3 WCHA) scored three goals in the first period and three more in the second to take a 6-0 lead.
Hard to believe, especially against the Pioneers (18-7-5, 14-5-3). Denver had won six in a row overall against the Gophers -- five in a row at Mariucci.
"Our kids have been playing hard," said Lucia, whose team moved into seventh place in the WCHA, one point behind sixth-place Colorado College. "They hadn't been scoring, but like I told them today at times we hadn't been executing and that's the mental part of the game.
"Making sure everybody is on the same page and making plays when we had the opportunity."
At least for this one game, everybody seemed to make plays. Seven Gophers scored, five of them seniors.
"We seemed to get a couple of breaks tonight," said Lucia, whose team had not scored three goals in one period at home since the second game of the season.
Denver had an early power-play goal waved off because officials ruled the puck was directed in off a Pioneer's skate.
Shortly afterward Jacob Cepis put the Gophers ahead 1-0 at 7 minutes, 22 seconds of the first period and, 56 seconds later, Taylor Matson made it 2-0.
Freshman center Nick Bjugstad joined the scoring frenzy 3 1/2 minutes later. His goal came on a breakaway after he stepped out of the penalty box.
Cepis' goal was his first in nine games. Matson's came after a 14-game drought. Bjug- stad's was only his third of the season and first in 11 games.
Lots of angst and frustration there, compounded by Friday's 2-1 loss, which made the Gophers winless in their previous four games (0-3-1).
Erik Haula, Mike Hoeffel and Cade Fairchild scored Minnesota's three goals in the second period. Patrick White got the Gophers' final goal in the third when Denver made a little comeback.
"We are playing our best hockey right now, and this is the time to be playing it," said Fairchild, who besides his third goal in four games contributed three assists.
"They were by far the better team," Denver coach George Gwozdecky said. "They zinged that puck around, they hit areas that we couldn't stay with them. And they had good goaltending early on the few times they did break down."
"What we take out of this game is that we can play with anybody," Fairchild said after the Gophers improved to 3-3-2 against the conference's top three teams. "Denver is a heck of a hockey team, and so are we."
At times, certainly.
