Buffalo Roam in Big Win over Golden Gophers; Prospect Cup Within Grasp
September 11 2005 (Buffalo News) - Mark Mancari (pictured) scored twice in the first four minutes of the game to lead Buffalo to a dominating 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers last night at HSBC Arena. With two victories and a +13 goal differential, the Sabres have all but guaranteed themselves a victory in the first annual Prospect Cup.
2005 second round draft pick Phillip Gogulla and top pick Marek Zagrapan both contributed three assists each in the game. Dylan Hunter, Vasily Bizyaev, Patrick Kaleta, Slava Buravchikov and Denis Ezhov were the other goal scorers in the contest.
The Sabres dominated the game to such a degree that coach Lindy Ruff was able to rest his top line of Zagrapan, Hunter and Kaleta for almost the entire second half of the game. Neither player spent ten minutes on the ice.
"The thing to remember is that this is a friendly competition at heart", Ruff would point out in his post-game interview. "I know the kids want to play and they want to score to impress the coaches and management but I'm not willing to run up the score in a game like this."
Ruff would admit he's a bit surprised at how dominating his club has been in the two games thus far. It won't likely be any different tomorrow in their final game of the tournament against the U.S. National Development Program. The NTDP has lost both games it's played so far. Yesterday, they were on the losing end of a 4-2 decision to the Denver Pioneers. Sabres prospect Chris Butler had a huge game, scoring once and adding two helpers in the contest. Highly touted center Paul Stastny also scored, as did Geoff Paukovich and Patrick Mullen, who incidently is the son of former NHL great Joe Mullen. Scoring for the NTDP were Buffalo native Patrick Kane and Tony Mosey.
Buffalo will face the U.S. squad in the first game tomorrow afternoon while Denver will go up against Minnesota in the nightcap. Tickets are still available for the doubleheader at the HSBC Arena ticket office.
| FINAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | TOTAL |
| Minnesota | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 1 |
| Buffalo | 4 | 2 | 1 | | 7 |
|
| FIRST PERIOD |
| SCORING |
| 1. Buffalo - M. Mancari 1 (P. Gogulla, A. Kryukov), 0:45 |
| 2. Buffalo - M. Mancari 2 (A. Kryukov, P. Gogulla), 3:38 (PP) |
| 3. Buffalo - D. Hunter 3 (M. Zagrapan), 10:57 (PP) |
| 4. Minnesota - B. Wheeler 2 (M. Howe, M. Vannelli), 18:03 |
| 5. Buffalo - V. Bizyaev 2 (M. Sheviev, D. Denisov), 19:42 |
| PENALTIES |
| Minnesota - P.J. Atherton (Roughing), 3:10 |
| Minnesota - P. Kennedy (Hooking), 9:11 |
| Minnesota - P. Kennedy (Misconduct), 9:11 | | | |
| Buffalo - D. Hunter (Hooking), 12:22 | | | | |
| SECOND PERIOD |
| SCORING |
| 6. Buffalo - P. Kaleta 2 (M. Zagrapan, V. Buravchikov), 3:15 (PP) |
| 7. Buffalo - V. Buravchikov 2 (P. Kaleta, M. Zagrapan), 12:35 (PP) |
| PENALTIES |
| Minnesota - C. Harrington (High Sticking), 1:16 |
| Buffalo - C. Aslund (High Sticking), 7:57 |
| Buffalo - C. Aslund (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 7:57 |
| Minnesota - R.J. Anderson (High Sticking Double Minor), 11:26 | |
| Minnesota - P.J. Atherton (High Sticking), 12:16 | | |
| Buffalo - V. Bizyaev (Hooking), 17:07 | | | | |
| Buffalo - M. Card (High Sticking), 18:49 | | | |
| THIRD PERIOD |
| SCORING |
| 8. Buffalo - D. Ezhov 1 (D. Denisov, P. Gogulla), 0:29 (SH) |
| PENALTIES |
| Minnesota - D. Peltier (Hooking), 3:23 | | | |
| Buffalo - M. Sheviev (Tripping), 5:29 | | | | |
| Minnesota - D. Irmen (Tripping), 8:58 | | | | |
| Buffalo - M. Vondrka (Tripping), 16:22 | | | |
|
| GAME INFORMATION |
| SHOTS ON GOAL | 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | TOTAL |
| Minnesota | 8 | 7 | 6 | | 21 |
| Buffalo | 22 | 22 | 13 | | 57 |
| POWERPLAYS | THREE STARS |
| Minnesota | 0 - 7 | 1. P. Gogulla (BUF) 3a +2 |
| Buffalo | 4 - 8 | 2. M. Mancari (BUF) 2g +1 |
| ATTENDANCE | 5649 | 3. M. Zagrapan (BUF) 3a |