Fittingly, Minnesota's 21st home game of the season commenced with a goal from Riddle, who wears number 21 on his jersey. The weekend belonged to the speedy freshman Riddle, who narrowly chose the Gophers over the Tigers and was playing in front of former USHL teammates Alex Kim and Peter Sejna. And he was our best player this weekend. We needed that first goal to get us going. Sparked by Riddle, the Gophers rolled to a 6-1 win.
Defenses have to look out.
Saturday's game opened in different fashion, as Colorado College played Minnesota evenly in the first period. Riddle earned hearty applause for a sequence in which he stole the puck from the Tigers Shaun Winkler in the neutral zone, then skated in for a shot on net. After blowing by Colorado College defenseman Mike Colgan, Riddle maneuvered around goalie Jeff Sanger for a backhanded goal. His speed to the outside is incredible, it opens things up. He put a lot of pressure on us.