The hole is getting deeper for the Gophers men's hockey team.
The two-time defending WCHA champions dropped to 0-4 in conference play -- their worst start ever -- after losing 4-1 to Denver on Sunday at Mariucci Arena.
Freshman center Tyler Bozak of Denver had a hat trick, including two short-handed goals in the third period, as the Pioneers completed their first sweep of the Gophers on the road since 1994. No. 7-rated Denver (6-2, 3-1) beat Minnesota 5-1 on Friday.
Coach Don Lucia and his players said that the Gophers, 4-4 overall, seem to be pressing. Minnesota was 0-for-6 on power plays and is 0-for-30 the past seven games.
"Obviously, special teams were the difference tonight," Lucia said, "with an open-netter, the short-handed goal, the power-play goal and the four-on-four goal."
He was summarizing Denver's four scores. As for the Gophers? "[Our] guys are obviously squeezing the sticks a little bit right now," Lucia said. "We had some open nets that we missed. [Denver goalie Peter] Mannino made some real good saves again tonight."
It's a frustrating situation.
"We've had multiple, multiple chances to score the last couple of weekends on the power play," Gophers forward Ben Gordon said, "and it's just not falling. Guys start gripping their sticks too tight. They start pressing to score goals and thinking: 'We got to score. We got to score. We got to score.' And it never happens, because everybody is pressing so hard."
Minnesota had several good chances early on two power plays in the first period. Senior defenseman Derek Peltier had most of the net on one, but his shot missed.
Blake Wheeler put the Gophers ahead 1-0 at 11 minutes, 33 seconds of the first period. Their only lead of the series lasted less than five minutes.
Bozak scored at 16:13 with both teams one player down. Rhett Rakhshani's power-play goal at 17:26 made it 2-1.
Still, the Gophers fans in the crowd of 9,898 had hope. The Gophers were on a power play -- which has to score eventually -- early in the third period. Not this time, though.
Bozak stole the puck from freshman defenseman Cade Fairchild near the Gophers blue line and scored on a breakaway at 6:25 for a 3-1 lead. He scored short-handed again at 18:07 on a long shot into an empty net. The Gophers had pulled freshman goalie Alex Kangas, for a six-on-four advantage, with 2:30 to play.
"It's huge coming in here. [The Gophers] don't lose much at home," said Bozak. "To get two wins off these guys is unbelievable."
Roman Augustoviz • raugustoviz@startribune.com
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