Gophers thumped out of NCAA regionals by rival Minnesota Duluth, read Friday night's game story.
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The high-end talent the Gophers relied on throughout the season was nowhere to be found in Friday night's 4-1 loss against Minnesota Duluth in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Leading scorer Mike Reilly and leading goal-scorer Kyle Rau were held scoreless. Standout goaltender Adam Wilcox gave up more than two goals for the first time in three weeks.
Without support from their best scorers and Wilcox unable to make up for the team's offensive shortcomings, the result was just the fourth loss for the Gophers over the last nine weeks. Seth Ambroz had the team's only goal late in the third period to break up the shutout.
Reilly led the team with seven of their 32 shots on goal, but was making uncharacteristic mistakes that included whiffing on one-time attempts and breaking sticks. Rau only had two shots on goal, but one was arguably the Gophers' best scoring chance in the second period.
They trailed the shots on goal battle 28-15 after two periods.
"I feel bad for the kids. They didn't play their A-game, but again you have to give the other team credit on that," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "The emotions involved, it's a big part of it. You can look in the guys' eyes and see where they are emotionally in the game. ... We didn't have enough offensive zone time and we didn't generate enough from an offensive standpoint. When we had our chances, whether we blew it, misfired, missed one-timers, it just wasn't our night."
The two teams play a similar style of hockey and the Bulldogs got plenty of support from their best players. Top scorer Tony Cameranesi had two points (a goal and assist), while four of their five leading scorers had at least one point.
