"We have lost five of the last six games when we had a chance to make a move," Gophers coach Don Lucia said Monday on his weekly radio show. "And four of the last five games, we have scored only one goal. You are not going to win scoring one goal. Again, it's the offensive side of things that have really hurt us.

"When you score a few goals, it gives you momentum, it gives you life. And that hasn't happened."

Lucia said on Saturday the Gophers turned the puck over more that usual and had only eight or 10 net presences, where some nights it is 35 to 40.

"That was a real area of weakness, where we didn't get our forwards to the net. It is something we have been preaching and showing and sometimes it gets frustrating. If you are going to score goals -- every one of Denver's goals was probably within 1 or 2 feet of the blue paint.

"If you are going to score goals, you have to get pucks to the blue paint and you have to go there. And we didn't do that at all on Saturday. Friday we did a pretty good job and not Saturday and that's why we didn't have a chance to win."

This is not a new theme. Lucia has said much the same thing over and over again this season because the problem continues.

Lucia said Denver goalie Marc Cheverie is the WCHA's best player this season. The Pioneers were a .500 hockey team when he got hurt shortly after the first Gophers series in late October, Lucia said, and with him DU has lost three games all year long.

"That just shows you the impact he has had at that position for Denver," Lucia said."You look at his numbers against us and they are frightening. We had about 140 shots on goal and scored two times in four games. He certainly had our number. But we have to do a better job of getting to that dirty area to score goals."

If Cheverie is named the WCHA's Player of the Year or Hobey Baker winner, he should send a thank you card to the Gophers. They more than any other team, helped make it happen.