Monday, November 7, 2011

Gophers Sweep Player, Rookie of the Month

Gophers Sweep Player, Rookie of the Month

University of Minnesota goaltender Kent Patterson, who posted a 7-1-0 record, a 1.74 goals-against average, a .939 save percentage and a nation’s best four shutouts in eight starts between the pipes, is the Hockey Commissioners’ Association National Division I Player of the Month for October.

A 6-1, 196-pound senior from Plymouth, Minn., Patterson began the 2011-12 season with three straight home shutouts, blanking Sacred Heart twice (9-0 and 6-0 on Oct. 7 & 8) and Vermont once (6-0 on Oct. 21). He then picked up his first road shutout on Oct. 28 with a 5-0 triumph at league rival Alaska Anchorage. A perfect 4-0-0 on the road, Patterson’s seven victory-month also includes a WCHA sweep at defending national champion Minnesota Duluth on Oct. 14-15 when he posted back-to-back, career-high, 46-save performances.

Named WCHA co-Defensive Player of the Week twice in the month, he surrendered just nine even-strength goals in eight games, with five coming on the power-play. Patterson’s four shutouts in October make him the third recorded Minnesota goaltender to shutout an opponent more than three times in the same month by himself, joining Robb Stauber in 1988 and George Clausen in February of 1934. His four shutouts also are one shy of the UM season record of five, set by Stauber in 1987-88, when he won the Hobey Baker Memorial Award.

Kyle Rau, a freshman teammate of Patterson’s, is the choice as HCA National Rookie of the Month for October. A 5-8, 172-pound native of Eden Prairie, Minn., Rau produced 13 points (7g, 6a) in eight games in the month of October, notching at least one point in seven games. He had six multiple-point games and scored at least one goal in six of those eight games.

Rau, the team’s first-line left wing, leads all freshmen nationally in both scoring and goals, has four power-play goals, three game-winners and is tied for the team lead with a +12 plus/minus rating. He was named the WCHA Rookie of the Month on Oct. 18 after helping the Golden Gophers to a road sweep over defending national champion Minnesota Duluth.