Ryan Stoa just took a penalty at 2:01 of the second to negate the rest of the Gopher power play, but not before Ben Gordon put Minnesota up by a 4-3 score.
8:11 remaining in the second and the Gophers are within a goal. After a slew of penalties, which resulted in no ejections but a ten minute misconduct on Wheeler, Mike Vannelli scored on the power play to make it 3-2 Mankato.
Another Gopher power play and that led to a minor-brawl in the Mankato end. Blake Wheeler was taken down by Mankato's Brian Kilburg, with Wheeler going skates-first into Tormey. Tormey's hand was sliced open and he went right to the dressing room and is being replaced by Mike Zacharias. The remaining players on the ice paired off and a series of pushing and shoving matches commenced.
13:00 left in the second period and the Gophers are on the board thanks to a power play goal by Evan Kaufmann. 3-1 Mavericks and the Gophers are buzzing.
From GPL
2nd Period
The puck drops in four minutes. The Mavericks enter the second period with a 3-0 lead despite being outshot by the Gophers 9-7.
14:25 to go in the second, still 3-0. Not the start of the second that many Gophers fans hoped for. Shots are now even at 13 a piece.
Also, last year other teams didn't focus on these two as much with Zajack, Stafford and Sparky in the lineup. With success comes attention and they are getting better at dealing with this every week.