Cepis: Gophers won't be bullied anymore

Senior Jacob Cepis said the Gophers have beaten most of the best teams in the WCHA -- North Dakota, Denver and UMD -- and the top teams from other leagues, too.

The U beat Michigan 3-1 in the final College Hockey Showcase and took Union to overtime before losing 3-2 in its holiday tournament.

Michigan won the CCHA title this past weekend while Union won the Cleary Cup, symbolic of its first ECAC title.

The Gophers, of course, had a good weekend, too, sweeping Michgian Tech 5-2 both games. It got chippy Saturday as the U built a lead.

"Don [Gophers coach Don Lucia] was a little upset because we don't need to be taking dumb penalties like that," Cepis said. "But when someone is going to go after you, you have to protect yourself. And there is no reason someone should come in here and try to bully us around. It was good for the guys to do that."

The biggest brawl happened with 1:11 left in the second period, after Gophers defenseman Seth Helgeson checked Bennett Royer into the sideboards hard.

After that fracus, 36 minutes were handed out to four players, Freshman defenseman Jake Patenteau and Royer received game disqualifications for fighting. That they did. Fists were flying as the crowd roared.

Michigan Tech had five roughing penalties, a five-minute major for facemasking, two 10-minute misconducts and the one game disqalification.

CEPIS SAYS

* On his goal in Saturday's 5-2 victory over Michigan Tech being reviewed by officials: "It feels like they review all our goals. You scored -- we are going to review it anyways."

* On whether brawl the Gophers' 3-2 win at North Dakota on Jan. 14 was a bonding experience: "We've got a lot of bonding experiences this year. We see each other too much. Every second of the day. We've got some young guys who are not afraid to mix it up. Enough of that stuff where people are criticizing us for not being tough. We showed we can be tough. Same with North Dakota. You want to try to bully us, it's not going to work. We are going to back ourselves up."

After a big hit on Gophers defensemen Kevin Wehrs, the 5-8, 170-pound Cepis actually took exception and started the donnybrook at the end of the second period. He got called for slashing.

* On the Bemidji State series: "It's huge. If we can win these next two -- whoof. It can really look good for us. On a winning streak as the year ends, what more can you ask for. ... If you lose those two games,. you can drop way down. We need those points, it's a crucial weekend."