Gophers catch CC at right time, get rare road sweep

Where to start? The Gophers will have a happy flight home Sunday morning.

They beat Colorado College, which had been playing nothing but one-run games (and one tie), by scores of 4-1 and 9-4. That first game was actually close, a 2-1 struggle until the Gophers late in the third period and added an empty-netter.

Saturday's game was an offensive explosion for the maroon and gold. The Gophers scored in the first Minnesota when Zach Budish scored at 53 seconds on a rush with Jacob Cepis, who fed him the puck at the right time. It was the U's fastest goal of the season.

And the goals just kept coming. Three in the first period, four in the second and two in the third. The Gophers had 44 shots, 10-17-17. So Minnesota was on the power play a lot? Just one, total.

But the U scored three goals in the first four minutes of the second period and a short-handed goal in the third period.

* The Gophers are averaging 4.1 goals per game after their nine-goal outburst. Senior captain Jay Barriball has eight goals in eight games. He had a team-high 20 goals as a freshman and 43 points, but has not come close to those numbers since. As a sophomore he had six goals, as a junior 11. ... CC's Jaden Schwartz, picked to be Rookie of the Year in the WCHA by the coaches and media, had two more goals Saturday. He has seven this season.

* The Gophers are tied for second in the WCHA with North Dakota (3-1) and Minnesota State Mankato (2-2-2). All threehave six points.

* The last time the Gophers swept a road series was Dec. 11-12, 2009 when they beat Michigan Tech twice by 3-2 scores. ...a The last time they scored nine goals in a WCHA game was on Nov. 11, 2005 when the Gophers beat Alaska Anchorage 9-0. ... Gophers' ninth goal was by freshman forward Tom Serratore, who is from Colorado Springs. His dad, Frank, coaches the Air Force Academy.

Gophers senior defenseman Cade Fairchild on FSN after game: "We came out here to win two games and we are pretty proud to do it."

* CC had two of its top forwards out on Saturday and three out on Friday. Sophomore center Rylan Schwartz, who was suspended Friday, was the only one who played the second night.

PREDICTIONS UPDATE

I went 6-4-2 on my WCHA predictions this week, so did Dan Myers, the WCHA correspondent for College Hockey News. My downfall was picking Alaska Anchorage to sweep visiting Minnesota State Mankato. The Mavericks went 1-0-1 up there. Did correctly pick Denver and North Dakota to split, my only 2-0 series.