ROE KNOWS WHERE TO GO
01-14-2008
Courtesy of ROMAN AUGUSTOVIZ, Star Tribune
Last season, Garrett Roe and Alex Kangas were teammates on the Indiana Ice in the United States Hockey League.
They met for the first time as opponents on Friday, and Roe came out the victor. His second goal of the game against Kangas, with 1 minute, 41 seconds left, was the game-winner as St. Cloud State edged the Gophers 3-1 in the WCHA before a full house at Mariucci Arena.
"I remember Kangas from last year and I know his weak spots, so I put it low, far post," Roe said of the winning goal.
Andrea Nodl, who set up the winner, added an empty-netter with six seconds left for St. Cloud State (11-10-2, 6-8-1 WCHA).
The victory extended the Huskies' unbeaten streak against the Gophers to six games (4-0-2) over three seasons. The two teams meet again tonight in St. Cloud.
Roe's goals Friday night were his 12th and 13th goals of the season. He leads all freshmen in Division I hockey in scoring with 30 points.
A Gophers turnover led to Roe's late goal. "It was chipped out of the blue line, and I knew Nodl was going to wind up with it somehow and I just took off," Roe said. "By the time they realized Nodl had it, I was gone and I was all alone."
The Gophers (11-10-2, 5-
outshot St. Cloud State 17-5 in the third period, but Roe was just hoping for one more chance and got it on the odd-man rush.
"You can get stopped once, you can get stopped twice," Roe said, "you just have to keep fighting through everything. Eventually if work hard enough, you will get results."
He also wanted to atone for a missed chance in the second period. Kangas stopped him on a 2-on-0 break at 7:55.
Roe started redeeming himself 8½ minutes later, scoring on a 30-foot shot on a power play. The puck sneaked in underneath one of Kangas' arms on a power play and tied the score 1-1.
And his second goal? "It was extra, double special for me," Roe said.
Kangas kept the score tied 15 seconds into the third period by stopping Ryan Lasch, the Huskies' leader with 17 goals, with a quick glove on a breakaway.
"Alex was very good tonight," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "Even at the start of the third period, we turned it over and they get a breakaway. And he makes a big save. We seemed to surge after that."
Indeed, the ice seemed to tilt one way.
"They had us running around," Roe said. "They definitely outplayed us in the third, but we had Osky in the net and he was standing on his head."
Osky would be Huskies sophomore goalie Jase Weslosky, who finished with 30 saves, 17 in the final period.
As usual, Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the first period when senior winger Mike Howe, the only St. Cloud native on the team, scored on a rebound at 2:37. Howe attended Apollo High School.
In 23 games, the Gophers have scored first 17 times.
Midway through the second period, the Gophers almost scored again. Mike Carman -- playing his first game after being academically ineligible for the first half of the season -- took a shot from the right side and the puck appeared to hit Weslosky and a post.
Carman proceeded to circle the net and shot again during a scramble and some of the Gophers started celebrating. But the officials reviewed the play and ruled no goal. Several camera angles showed the puck was never in the net.
