Gophers stumble, bumble but look who opposition was

Coaches and teams are better measured by how they end their season, especially when it stretches for six months. And the Denver team they lost to is might talented. The Pioneers were rated No. 1 or 2 in the preseason polls. They are 4-2-0 and the two losses came with an inexperience freshman goalie in the nets.

Mike Chambers, who cover DU for the Denver Post, has written this may be the best team coach George Gwozdecky has had in 16 seasons. Remember, DU won national titles in 2004 and '05.

So the losses to DU should not shock anyone too much. Being shut out twice, though, is a big concern.

The Gophers made DU goalie Marc Cheverie look good by shooting so many shots into his chest and stomach. He's a broad-shouldered 6-3 lad who covers a lot of the net.

How much early season trouble the Gophers are in will be better known after this weekend. Alaska Anchorage is coming off an impressive 2-1 victory over North Dakota last Satuday, but the Seawolves are still not in the class of North Dakota and DU.

So we'll see. The players are frustrated, for sure, but still confident there are better games ahead.

"There are a lot of things we need to correct, but they are very fixable," Gophers co-captain Tony Lucia said after Saturday's 3-0 loss to DU. "We got to give their goaltender and their defense a lot of credit because they made it tough for our forwards to get to the net.

"But we know it's early in the season. We have plenty of time to dig ourselves out of a hole. We got to get back to some of the basics. We need to look internally, Obviously, our power play hasn't score a goal, and when your power play doesn't score goals it's tough to win games, especially in the WCHA. We only gave up one five-on-five goal and if we get one power play goal, we get ourselves back in the game.

"That is a big key to our success. We have to look to maybe changing some of the personnel. But once again, all the answers are in our locker room. We have plenty of talent, plenty of skill. We just have to work a little bit harder.

"From the captains on down, it's frustrating because you look around and try to find answers. But they are not just going to be given to you. Once again, we have to look at our work ethic and know that if you keep working hard, things are going to bounce your way. Because that is what it comes down to. Eventually the hockey gods will pay off. But the work ethic has to be there.

"They outworked us at times but I think we deserved at least one this weekend. But the bottom line is, we didn't score."

OUTSIDE DU LOCKER ROOM

"We knew they were coming even harder [Saturday]. They wanted to get a win in their own barn. Our defense played great and Chevy [goalie Marc Cheverie] stood on his head. ... He has great confidence right now. He is covering everything. Defense is helping a lot but he is getting on a roll right now."

* Junior goalie Marc Cheverie, who shut out the Gophers 3-0 on Friday and 3-0 on Saturday with 30 saves each night: "It was nice to get that second [shutout]. It felt good. There was no way I was losing it.

"There was a little more traffic [Saturday].They came out hard, They worked hard and we just sort of weathered the storm at the start, That's what we had to do. Shut them down and take the wind out of their sails and take the crowd out of it. That was our main objective this weekend.

"My teammates are playing great defense in front of me. I have to give all the credit to them. They are blocking shots and making my life easy.

"This is huge [sweeping the Gophers], especially the way we ended last season in this building, losing to Miami. "

The players gave their coach George Gwozdecky a standing ovation in the locker room after Saturday's victory, his 500th. "We are all very proud of him," Cheverie said.