Mavs shock the Gophers for their first WCHA victory



     The Mavs beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers 5-4 Friday night in front of

    9,601 fans at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. (Photo by Elliot Huss/UNO Gateway)


Patrick Cooley

Sports Editor

Game Stats

Minneapolis – What was supposed to be UNO’s rude awakening to WCHA hockey turned out to be one of the biggest wins in program history.

The Mavs took full advantage of a slow start by the No. 13 Minnesota Golden Gophers, and were able to fend off a furious rally in the second and third periods on their way to claiming a 5-4 victory Friday night in front of 9,601 fans at Mariucci Arena.  The victory is the first for the Mavs in their new conference - the WCHA.

“Whether you’re in the CCHA or WCHA it really doesn’t matter,” said Gophers head coach Don Lucia.  “I mean [UNO] has some good players and they took advantage of some mistakes we made tonight and forced some mistakes too, and that’s what good teams do.”

It took UNO just over nine minutes to score their first WCHA goal, and they didn’t stop there.

The Mavs used a three-goal first period to jump out to a 3-0 lead against a talented Minnesota team featuring 17 NHL draft picks.

Senior forward Rich Purslow scored a power play goal on assists from fellow seniors Joey Martin and Eric Olimb to get the Mavs on the board at the 9:22 mark in the first period. Junior center Alex Hudson followed suit scoring at the 10:46 mark and freshman forward Matt White added his third goal as a Maverick less than three minutes later. 

The second period saw the Mavs add to their lead on senior forward Matt Ambroz’s fourth goal of the season.  The New Prague, Minn. native put the Mavs up 4-0, silencing the Gopher faithful.

“[After the fourth goal] we were kind of looking around like ‘alright this is a good team’,” said UNO’s Alex Hudson.  “We were doing good and tried to stay with it, but that second period they came out hard and their skill came to the fore front.”

Following Ambroz’s goal, the Gophers showed why they are such a good team.

UNO committed six penalties in the second period and the Gophers took full advantage.  After UNO’s freshman defender Michael Young received a five minute major penalty for contact to the head, the Mavs got called for too many men on the ice following a line change.  The two penalties gave the gophers a five-on-three power play.

“The five minute major was the story of the game,” said UNO head coach Dean Blais. “It gave them momentum, and tired us out.  We did a good job killing it, but obviously they have too much talent to give them that much for that long.”

The Mavericks did their best to fend off the Gophers who outshot UNO 21-4 in the second period, but they couldn’t keep Minnesota out of the net.

Gopher freshman forward Nate Condon took full advantage of the five-on-three to score his first goal as a Gopher with 10 seconds remaining on the power play, cutting the lead to 4-1. Then, junior forward Jake Hansen beat UNO’s sophomore goaltender John Faulkner with 26 seconds remaining in the period to put the Gophers within two at 4-2.  The Mavs spent a total of 23 minutes in the penalty box in the second, while the Gophers stayed out of the box - a frustrating statistic for Blais.

“I thought the referee’s whistle was going to wear out there,” said Blais.  “But no, they were good calls. I’ve been warned already.  My baptism into the league has been ‘keep your mouth shut Blais’.”

Things got worse for the Mavs when Minnesota’s senior forward Mike Hoeffel brought the Gophers within a goal scoring off an assist from teammate Jacob Cepis 2 minutes and 43 seconds into the final period. The teams went back and forth for the next fourteen minutes of play, until senior captain Jay Barriball tied the game on his fifth goal of the season with just over 3 minutes left in the game. The goal sent Mariucci Arena into a state of pandemonium, giving the Mavs an early season gut-check.

While the tying goal by Barriball seemed to end any hope of victory for the Mavs, UNO remained poised under the veteran leadership of junior Alex Hudson. 

“We didn’t have to say anything,” said Blais. “[Hudson] said ‘we’re gonna find a way’…that’s when you look at character and leadership and the older guys are the ones that did it.”

The Corona, Calif. native capitalized on an overly aggressive Minnesota defense and a lazy Gopher pass to the middle, netting his second goal of the game with 1:36 remaining.

“[Coach Blais] said get out there and get it going and I said alright,” said Hudson. “I just wanted to go out there and if I got a chance I was going to bury it.”

Hudson’s third goal of the season gave the Mavs a 5-4 victory, but it was the 34 saves from UNO sophomore goaltender John Faulkner that stood out most in Hudson’s mind.

“He was amazing on those five-on-three’s in the second period,” said Hudson. “He’s a very mentally tough person and I’m very happy for him.”

Hudson finished with two goals and teammates Rich Purslow and Joey Martin combined for five assists for the Mavs.

The two teams are back on the ice again tonight at 7:10 p.m.

“I’m sure they’re going to come [out] hard and in that game,” said Hudson.  “They definitely know what we’re about and we know what they’re about now, so it should be a battle.”

 Here are some photos from the game...

The Gopher student is notoriously known for its heckling
of the opposing team's goaltender. 

The Gophers took the ice as the favored WCHA veterans, but
it was the Mavs who played with confidence Friday night.

The Mavs celebrate after Alex Hudson's first goal of the
game put them up 2-0 in the first period.

Following a flurry of Gopher shots at the end of the game, the Mavs
hung on for the victory and the two teams exchanged forearms.

Mavs head coach Dean Blais gave credit to his veteran leaders,
especially junior Alex Hudson, who scored the winning goal.