Gophers find puck luck, gain on North Dakota

"Games are funny," Gophers coach Don Lucia said after his team's 5-1 victory over Norrth Dakota on Saturday. "Sometimes you need a little puck luck, too, and we certainly didn't use up any the first half of the season. Tonight we had a little bit.

"It was a game of surges like [Friday] night. They had a good surge in the second. We were up 1-0, Alex [goalie Alex Kangas] made some real important saves.

"Then the surge came. Tony made a heck of a play with a blocked shot and then scored on a breakaway. Then we scored right after that to give us a four-goal lead."

Jacob Cepis got the fourth goal, his fourth in six games.

"We will take our three-points from the weekend and get ready for St. Cloud next weekend," Lucia said.

Minnesota, with 16 points, is now only three behind sixth-place North Dakota and, with a sweep of St. Cloud State, the Gophers would pass the Sioux and tie the Huskies.

LUCIA QUOTES

* On Cepis' four goals: "We saw it every day in practice. That he can score off the rush and make plays. And that's something that has been lacking."

* On 4-0 lead: "We didn't know what to do with it. My gosh, it has been so long since we scored some goals. We are starting to score a few more. Our power play scored again tonight, our penalty kill was a bright spot all weekend long. We didn't give up a power play goal against a team that was averaging about 24 percent." The Sioux were 0-for-4 on Friday, 0-for-6 on Saturday.

* On play of goalie Alex Kangas: "Alex was real good tonight. That might have been Alex's best game of the season."

* On sellout crowds at Mariucci: "The crowd was great this weekend. You have to feed off each other. When the crowd is into it, we are going to play better. When we play better, the crowd is into it. It is a two-way street. It is always a big rivalry. They were not in our building last year. We got some big rivals this second half when you look at North Dakota, St. Cloud and CC and Wisconsin. We got opponents the second half the fans really want to see and the students are back. That all lends itself to a fun atmosphere."

* On biggest momentum shift: "The momentum got shifted back when we scored the second goal. And then I don't know how much longer after that we got to three and four. It didn't seem that long. So all of a sudden you get those two and they are in a little bit of a state of shock and on their heels. A four-goal lead the way our goaltender is playing is a pretty good lead."

* On how team is playing: "We are going to lose some games, we understand that. But give ourselves a chance to win with a good honest effort night in and night out. We are doing that and our team is playing better."