Gophers senior Jacob Cepis was named WCHA co-offensive player of the week. He had two goals and an assist in the Gophers' win and tie at Wisconsin last weekend.
Cepis is co-WCHA offensive player of the week
Gophers forward shares honor with North Dakota's Brett Hextall.
February 23, 2011 at 5:35AM
OTHER HONOREES
Cepis shared the award with North Dakota's Brett Hextall, who had three goals in the Sioux's three-point weekend at St. Cloud State.
All three of Hextall's goal gave the Sioux the lead. The 5-11, 195-pound junior from Manhattan Beach, Calif., has a five-game point-scoring streak. The right winger is a Phoenix Coyotes draft pick and now has eight goals and nine assists in 28 games.
The defensive player of the week was Minnesota State goalie Austin Lee, who had 40 saves in a 3-1 victory over UMD on Friday night. In the scoreless third period alone, he stopped 28 shots.
Lee is a 6-3, 200-pound junior who played high school hockey for Bloomington Jefferson. He is 4-3-2 this season with a 2.37 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage.
MIchigan Tech winger Ryan Furne was the the freshman of the week after scoring two goals in a split at Denver. He is another Minnesota kid, from Oakdale.
The 6-2, 200-pound left winger scored the game-winning goal as the Huskies edged DU 3-2 in the first game. That goal was short-handed at 8:38 of the second period. The victory broke Tech's 26-game winless streak.
He also had his team's lone goal as Tech lost 5-1 to the Pioneers on Saturday. He had a team-high 10 shots in the series. Furne is Tech's second leading scorer with 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points.
Tech, of course, plays against the Gophers at Mariucci Arena this weekend.
CEPIS STEPPING UP
Cepis scored his first goal against Wisconsin on Friday, in a four-on-four situation with the score tied 1-1. That goal came 70 seconds after the Badgers had tied the game. The Gophers won the game 5-2.
On Saturday in a 3-3 overtime tie, Cepis took a shot, which Jake Hanse deflected in to tie the score 2-2 in the second period. Then, 44 seconds into the third period, Cepis scored on a breakaway to put the Gophers ahead 3-2.
Cepis was a plus-2 for the weekend and was not called for any penalties.
The 5-8, 175-pound left wing from Parma, Ohio, now leads the Gophers in points with 26, is tied with fresheman Erik Haula for most assists with 16 and is third in goals with 10 behind Mike Hoeffel and the injured Jay Barriball who have 12 apiece.
Cepis is the sixth different Gopher to be honored by the WCHA this season. The others:
F Barriball, offensive player of the week, Oct. 12
F Taylor Matson, offensive player of the week, Nov. 2
F Nate Condon, rookie of the week, Nov. 2
F Hoeffel, offensive player of the week, Nov. 23
G Kent Patterson, co-defensive player of the week, Dec. 14
The Vikings open their 2024 NFL season today against the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium, where their starting quarterback Sam Darnold used to play as a Jet.
