Gophers, Duluth skate to 2-2 tie

The Gophers men's hockey team will go into its 18-day holiday break in a pretty good mood after its latest series.

The Gophers tied high-scoring Minnesota Duluth 2-2 on Sunday before an announced crowd of 9,847 at Mariucci Arena. That followed their 3-2 victory in Friday's series opener, meaning the Gophers earned three points against the nation's No. 2-ranked team.

"We are making progress," Gophers coach Don Lucia said after Sunday's game, which was postponed from Saturday night because of the blizzard that struck the Twin Cities. "We had eight freshmen in our lineup tonight. The penalty-killing did a good job. [Goalie] Kent [Patterson] was really good both games this weekend. There were a lot of positives."

Center Nate Condon, one of those freshmen, made probably the play of the game. He got the puck in the slot early in the third period and made a blind backhand pass.

Condon's pass went to linemate Jacob Cepis about 5 feet closer to the net, and the senior winger put the puck between goalie Aaron Crandall's legs. Cepis' sixth goal of the season tied the score 2-2.

"It was a better pass than a goal," Cepis said. "It was a gift to me. We really needed that.

"We have struggled a little bit scoring. Me, too, because I haven't been scoring. It would have been horrible if we had lost both games and we would have had to think about it throughout the Christmas break."

Six of his saves in the third period came late when UMD had a five-minute power play.

Minnesota Duluth's power play came into this series at 24.7 percent, seventh best nationally, but it went 0-for-6 Sunday.

"[The Gophers] didn't score on a 5-on-3 either, so I don't think either team's power play was very effective," UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. "Give credit to the penalty killers. Obviously, [the Gophers] did a good job, they were a little more aggressive tonight."

The Gophers (9-7-2, 6-6-2), 1-for-6 with a man advantage, spent the last 92 seconds of overtime on the power play but managed only one shot on goal.

"I'd like to see us shoot a little more in that situation," Lucia said, "but they are a good team, and their goaltender played well, too."

The Gophers dominated the first period, outshooting UMD 15-6, but settled for a 1-1 tie.

Jake Hansen's power-play goal, on a deflection near the net, put the Gophers ahead 1-0 with 2 1/2 minutes left in the period. UMD's Jack Connolly tied it with 37 seconds to go.

"I didn't like our first period at all, we were atrocious," Sandelin said. "It looked like we sat around the hotel [Saturday]. The game picked up."

UMD controlled the second period -- outshooting the Gophers 22-5 -- and took a 2-1 lead on Mike Seidel's goal at 8:56.

The Gophers, tied for fifth in the 12-team WCHA at their halfway point in conference play, are off now until Dec. 31.