The Gophers drew a penalty midway through the first period Friday. In a game they would lose 4-1 to Wisconsin.
The Badgers are plain awful on the penalty kill, about 75 percent. It was scoreless when Matt Paape was called for hooking. Here was a chance for the Gophers to take an early lead.
But the power play did virtually nothing. Two 50-foot shots by defensemen Nate Schmidt and Ben Marshall were blocked. Nobody else took a shot and that was the only man-advantage the Gophers would have.
Wisconsin coach Mike Eaves obviously told his troops: No penalties. The Badgers were called for three more penalties but, in all three instances, a Gophers player went in the box at the same time.
For at least 20-30 seconds of the power play, it was actually 5-on-3 1/2 players because one Badger had lost his stick.
The Gophers outshot UW 27-20, but that was a deceiving statistic. The home team only had seven shots from in "the house," the area beneath the circles up to the net.
Their best chance, with the score 3-0 Badgers in the second period, didn't even turn into a shot on goal. Freshman Seth Ambroz had the puck on the right side, in-tight, with the goalie out a little bit. So basically he had an open net, tap-in if he played his angle right.
But he hit the puck square and set it straight across the crease. Oh my. He will have nightmares about the play.
