Lucia built up players confidence before Saturday win

Gophers coach Don Lucia tried to cheer up his players before Saturday's game by bringing up recent history.

"In my meeting [Saturday], I said there were four teams in the Frozen Four," Lucia said. Michigan went seven [games} this year without a win. North Dakota went four, Notre Dame went four. And UMD lost three in a row at home.

"I told the guys, we lost three and the reason was, we just weren't scoring. We had two five-on-five goals [in those three games]. We had only given up four five-on-five goals in three games. If you continue to do those things, and that be your foundation, you will start scoring again and win games."

Sure enough, the Gophers got a split at The Ralph with a fast start. Lucia said after the game he was not worried when UND cut the Gophers' 4-0 lead to 4-2 in the second period. "They had one goal deflected and the other one went in off our stick," he said. "That's their two goals. Shots were 10 to 10. It wasn't like we got our ears pinned back with 20 shots.

"Just continue to play, but obviously getting that fifth goal [from Nate Condon late in the second period] was important."

'A' GAME CAME OUT SECOND NIGHT

"[Friday] they can kind of dictated the game to us," Gophers sophomore Nick Condon said, referring to a 2-1 loss to UND the first night. "[Saturday] we brought out our 'A' game and took it to them."

Nick Bjugstad gave the Gophers a 2-0 lead in the first period with his 18th and 19th goals.

"Bjuger wasn't happy with the way he played [Friday] night, a couple mistakes," Condon said. "He really took it on his own to get us going here early in the game. When you can get a guy like that putting up points in the first period, it makes the game a lot easier."

Condon on his first goal: "I skated up the ice. [Seth] Ambroz made one of the few passes that he does to me and I squeaked one in there. He is my big man. He is usually down in the corners grinding it out and me and Matson are working around the puck. It was a good play by him."

"We just got to get back to the team that we were at the beginning of the year. And we showed that we can do that here."

[Saturday] we played more toe-to-toe with them. We took the hits, we made plays and came right back at them."

BJUGSTAD RECOVERS

"I had some bad turnovers that led to some goals," Bjugstad said, referring to Friday's 2-1 loss.

He stepped up in the second game as did Condon.

"I always call [Nate] the PK specialist," Bjugstad said. "He gets those goals. He is fo fast. He can break off those defensemen. It is good to have a guy that can kill penalties and score as well."

Of Condon's eight goals, three have come short-handed.

THE DON SAYS

* On Joey Miller, getting a rare start on Saturday: "Joey Miller, jumping into our lineup, did a nice job playing with [Erik] Haula and [Jake] Hansen. He provided energy and effort and blocked shots. And doing the little things [Saturday]."