Only 100 feet separate the home locker room from the visitors quarters at Mariucci Arena. Yet the distance between the Gophers and Alaska-Anchorage after Saturday’s game seemed as vast as the half-continent that divides the two schools.
The stark contrast between a hockey team that expected to win — the Gophers won convincingly both nights, 8-2 and 5-1 — and one that could only hope to keep the score close was illustrated by two images:
Seawolves goalie Doug Teskey crouched, facing a wall just outside his locker room. Saturday’s game had already been over for 15 minutes, but Teskey still had his uniform and equipment on. He wasn’t willing to let his teammates see the tears that accompanied a frustrating end to the season.
Meanwhile, Gophers players bolted from their locker room as if the place was on fire. Shortly after finishing off Alaska-Anchorage in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, their mission changed to making it to the St. Paul Civic Center for the third period of the state AA hockey championship between Edina and Duluth East.
But don’t interpret the Gophers quick exit as a sign of indifference. They had a game plan. They expected to execute. They did what they had to do. It was just business as usual.
“We knew what we wanted to do,” Gophers goalie Steve DeBus said. “We looked forward to playing this series, and everyone chipped in well.”
Minnesota — which has won 24 of 25 first-round league playoff games under Doug Woog — advanced to the WCHA Final Five at the Civic Center where it will face St. Cloud State on Friday.
The Gophers have won two of the last three league playoff titles, including last year’s Final Five at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. UAA, meanwhile, has still never won a WCHA playoff game.
For two periods on Saturday, the Seawolves made a bid for an upset. After Minnesota dominated Friday’s game from the start by scoring two goals in the first two minutes, Alaska-Anchorage was able to control the tempo with its slow-down tactics for 40 minutes the following night. Neither team scored in the first two periods, and they combined for just 21 shots on goal.
“They clogged the neutral zone very well,” Gophers coach Doug Woog said. “The timing on their defensive scheme was so good. They took a lot of room away from us.”
But with one minute left in the second period, the Seawolves committed their first penalty of the game. Considering the Gophers went 2 for 2 on the power play Friday night and 5 for 7 in a previous series this season against UAA, Minnesota knew it had a great opportunity to break the tie.
But Brian LaFleur’s power play goal 32 seconds into the third period did more than just snap the deadlock — it also loosened up the Seawolves’ defense and started chipping away at their spirit.
“We just cracked them with our power play goal,” said Gophers forward Reggie Berg, who had three goals and two assists on the weekend. “Once we got the first one, we got them running around a little bit.”
Another power play goal six minutes later by Mike Crowley and an even-strength goal by Berg two minutes after that put the game out of reach.
Friday night’s eight-goal onslaught also began with a power play goal, but it started about two periods sooner. Dave Spehar’s rebound goal just 57 seconds into the game broke down the Seawolves’ trapping defense early.
Even though the Gophers only had four power play chances all weekend, they scored on every one of them.
“You don’t want them to put their five best players on the ice at once,” UAA coach Dean Talafous said.
Woog praised the Seawolves’ effort, but at the same time he said the Gophers will have to increase their intensity when playing St. Cloud State.
“Now we have to face the fact that our next series is against a team with many more resources,” Woog said. “We’re going to have to pick up our level of concentration.”

FRIDAY’S SUMMARY
Alaska-Anchorage 0 0 2 — 2
Gophers 3 2 3 — 8

First Period: Min — Spehar 17 (Crowley, LaFleur) PPG, :57. Min — Hendrickson 3 (Clymer, J. Godbout), 1:49. Min — Rasmussen 13 (Smith, Kraft) PPG, 19:34.
Second Period: Min — Berg 9 (Kraft), 6:32. Min — Smith 16 (LaFleur, Crowley), 13:52.
Third Period: Min — Clymer 7 (Woog, J. Godbout), 6:49. Min — LaFleur 9 (Rasmussen, Crowley), 8:38. UAA — Edwards 11 (Grabinsky, Silverman), 10:59. UAA — Silverman 11 (Simon, Grabinsky), 12:58. Min — Crowley 6 (LaFleur, Checco), 18:17.
A-9,801.

SATURDAY’S SUMMARY
Alaska-Anchorage 0 0 1 — 1
Gophers 0 0 5 — 5

First Period: No scoring.
Second Period: No scoring.
Third Period: Min — LaFleur 10 (Crowley, Smith) PPG, :32. Min — Crowley 7 (Clymer, Berg) PPG, 6:15. Min — Berg 10 (Anderson), 8:28. Min — Hankinson 13 (Berg), 14:30. UAA — Vallieres 9 (Bethard, Prevost) PPG, 16:51. Min — Berg 11 (Hankinson, Woog), 18:56.
A-9,825.