After an unexpectedly challenging two-game series against Arizona State, the Gophers got back to their bread and butter by beating Michigan State for the tenth and eleventh straight time last weekend, finishing their six-game road trip with a record of 5-1.

Shutout in Sparty Land

Logan Cooley began the Gophers’ dominating performance in East Lansing with a one-timed shot that would quiet the sold-out Spartan house. This would begin a long weekend for two-time 2022 B1G First Star of the Week goaltender Dylan St. Cyr.

Michigan State came the closest to breaking Justen Close’s shutout campaign in the second period with constant pressure on the Gopher goaltender, but to no avail. Rhett Pitlick, after being denied on a partial breakaway earlier in the middle period, scored with just under 3 minutes remaining.

The Gophers amplified their offense in the final period as Bryce Brodzinski and Matthew Knies both slugged the puck past St. Cyr. Michigan State recovered after a line change after receiving a breakaway gift. Cooley finished the match with his second goal of the game, and Minnesota left with a 5-0 win.

“It was a solid game and a lot of good Gopher hockey going on out there tonight,” Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. “It started with our goalie Justen Close. He had to make two monster saves when the game was close and we only broke it open there at the end.”

Six Gophers score and Close saves career-high

The best line in the Gophers’ arsenal and possibly the country — Jimmy Snuggerud, Cooley and Knies — continued to show out for the second game against Michigan State. Snuggerud and Cooley sparked a blazing 60 minutes of offense with a 2-on-0 breakaway that Snuggerud successfully completed. Michigan State’s offense was more in tune as well with plenty more shots on net.

Six minutes into the second period, Minnesota tallied one more goal from Brodzinski to make the game 2-0. Mason Nevers and Knies also added to the tally to give the Gophers a commanding lead going into the final period.

The Spartans struck back in the third period with three goals of their own, but it was too little, too late, and the Gophers would win 6-3 with the last goal coming from their captain, Brock Faber. Close would save 40/43 shots on net, a career-high.

“We didn’t like the way we played in Arizona,” Cooley said. “For us to come back on the road was big for us.”

The now No. 3 Gophers will play against their rival Wisconsin at home on Friday at 8 p.m., which will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, and Saturday at 6 p.m. on Bally Sports North. These will be their final games until Dec. 29 when they have an exhibition match against the U.S. National-Under 18 Team.

The No. 2 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers swept the No. 3 ranked Michigan Wolverines at Yost Ice Arena on Thursday and Friday, elevating themselves to 6-2 in Big Ten play.

Rhett Pitlick v. Dylan Duke and Gophers’ freshmen takeover

Thursday’s game started with a goal-scoring contest. Six minutes into action, the Gophers outshot the Wolverines 4-0 and, thanks to Rhett Pitlick finding the back of the net from the left faceoff dot, they were up 1-0 on the scoreboard. Pitlick wasn’t done, and his second goal would come at the 7:17 mark of the second period off a perfect pass coming across the crease from Mike Koster.

Michigan’s Dylan Duke matched both of those goals. He tied the game 1-1 off a powerplay goal right before the first intermission and answered Pitlick’s second with another power play goal three minutes after.

Luckily for the Gophers, the 2-2 tie would not last long. Leading scorer, freshman Jimmy Snuggerud, took over, scoring his ninth goal of the season and putting Minnesota back in the lead.

Coming out of the second intermission, Michigan took its time returning to the ice, resulting in a bench minor penalty for delay of game.

Fellow Gophers freshman Logan Cooley took advantage of the two-man advantage and sliced a one-timer from the top of the circle, which boosted the Gophers’ lead to 4-2 less than a minute into the final period. Five minutes later, another freshman, Luke Mittelstadt, scored the first goal of his collegiate career.

Minnesota ultimately took down the Wolverines 5-2 with Bartoszkiewicz stopping 29 shots in the process.

“We did a lot of good things tonight,” Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. “But again, for as good as we were at times, we let them off the mat … [we] started the game well and ended it well, with a little craziness in the middle.”

The Knies and Nelson duo dominates

Forward Cooley was called for a cross-checking major in Thursday’s game, and he was handed a one-game suspension, ruling him out of Friday’s game. The Gophers’ talented Snuggerud-Cooley-Matthew Knies line would need to have some tweaks. But there weren’t many problems without the freshman phenom.

After the Gophers got out of early troubles in the penalty box, Jackson LaCombe slapped through his first goal of the series to give Minnesota the first lead of the game.

Pitlick continued to find success in the scoring column, putting the game at 2-0 with 7:17 to go in the opening period. This season, Minnesota has found slow offensive starts in the first period, but in this series, they had no problem, even in hostile territory.

The second period was even more of a Minnesota onslaught. Bryce Brodzinski nabbed the puck behind the Wolverines net and sauced it to Snuggerud who slid it to Jaxon Nelson, tipping it into the back of the net for a commanding 3-0 lead.

Nine minutes later, Michigan’s Duke striked again, finding the back of the Gophers’ net as energy was revitalized in the home crowd. Knies’ shot deflected off the back of Nelson into the net as the second-ranked team in the nation would enter the last intermission up 4-1, silencing the Michigan crowd

Duke opened the third period with a pivotal goal, his fourth goal of the series.

Minnesota and Michigan proceeded to trade a pair of goals with Knies tipping in a Nelson shot and finally a different Wolverine, Mackie Samoskevich, scored 24 seconds after. Gopher Ryan Johnson capped off the contest with an empty netter as Minnesota dominated and routed the third-ranked Wolverines on the road. Bartoszkiewicz halted a career-high 35 shots.

In the end, the Gophers won 6-3.

“I can’t say enough about how guys stepped up tonight,” Motzko said. “Our special teams were strong, a lot of contributions, and now we can rest up for a few days and get ready to go on the road again.”

Up next, the Gophers will play out west at Arizona State. The two games played on Friday and Saturday will both be televised on the PAC-12 Network and start at 8 p.m.

Close … but no cigar. The Minnesota Gophers outgained their arch rival, the Iowa Hawkeyes, in yardage (399 to 280) and Mohamed Ibrahim rushed for 263 yards on 39 attempts with a touchdown, yet the Maroon and Gold still came up empty in the win column.

“Give Iowa a lot of credit, they found a way to win,” Gophers head coach PJ Fleck said. “We had our chances, we just didn’t capitalize on those chances.”

Iowa’s offense began with a boom then ended in a whimper on their first possession. Sam LaPorta, who leads all Big Ten tight ends in receptions and receiving yards, galloped off a small underneath pass for 58 yards into field goal (FG) range. Alas, on their next set of downs, Spencer Petras fumbled the snap and the Hawkeyes settled for a field goal. LaPorta continued to find success in the Iowa passing game throughout the whole first half, finishing with four receptions for 95 yards.

Meanwhile, Minnesota was meh. Offensively, nothing clicked and Iowa predicted most of their moves, with ground game goliath Ibrahim averaging 2.3 YPC in the first quarter. Defensively, they could not cover any crossing patterns in the first quarter, mostly to LaPorta. Those pass give ups would turn into the first touchdown of the game to put Iowa up 10-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Gophers finally rose above their offensive woes with a 29-yard reception by Daniel Jackson to vault Minnesota into field goal range; off that passing play, quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis eclipsed his yardage numbers from last week’s snowy blowout when he tossed for only 64 yards.

“Athan played really confident,” tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford said. “Saw him have a couple good runs, great reads and that’s a big credit to Tanner Morgan as well. He’s been by his side this whole week, making sure he’s prepared, so credit to both of those guys; they work tremendously hard.”

Kaliakmanis received the starting nod after Tanner Morgan wasn’t medically cleared to play. The sixth-year quarterback was still nursing an upper-body injury that left him out of his final senior day.

Minnesota would cut back into the Hawkeye lead by just seven points before the half’s end. They could’ve tied the game, but the wind took Matthew Trickett’s 34-yard field goal attempt wide right. Kaliakmanis could’ve hit an open Spann-Ford on 3rd and 1, but the score stayed 10-7 at halftime. The first half ended with a bunch of “could haves” on the Gophers’ part, and although the Gophers outgained the Hawkeyes in total yards 173-170, they still trailed otherwise.

Awful news for Iowa rocked the Hawkeyes at the start of the second half: LaPorta was done due to an undisclosed injury. Then Ibrahim carried the rock into the heart of Hawkeye territory, dashing for a massive 54-yard gain before Hawkeye Cooper DeJean came flying out of thin air to make a touchdown-saving tackle. The drive ended in a Trickett-made 27-yarder, tying the game 10-10.

Iowa’s offense without LaPorta didn’t slow down. Within four plays, Iowa advanced to the Minnesota 26 yard line off carries from Leshon Williams and Kaleb Johnson. All was well for the Black and Gold until Terell Smith sacked Petras on a defensive back blitz for a huge loss of 10. The Hawkeyes would punt and land it at the Gophers 3 yard line.

This drive, the Gophers wouldn’t punt, riding on the back of Ibrahim who eclipsed 200 yards rushing for the fifth time in his career. He would continue running to eventually pass David Cobb’s all time Huntington Bank Stadium rushing record at 232 yards … until he fumbled inside the red zone. The football went to the Hawkeyes with five minutes remaining.

“I think it was an outside zone, I stretched it. They (Iowa) overran it, I cut it back, and I was a yard short of the first down,” Ibrahim said. “I wanted to fall forward but it popped out.”

Fleck said he still thought Ibrahim played “phenomenal,” and one play could not define how Ibrahim plays.

“We wouldn’t be anywhere near a program like what we are right now if it wasn’t for Mohamed Ibrahim,” Fleck said.

On the following Hawkeye drive, Petras threw three passes, totalling zero yards, and the Gophers would get the pigskin back with four minutes remaining.

After Ibrahim bowled his way into Hawkeye territory, the young Kaliakmanis threw an errant pass to Iowa’s leading tackler Jack Campbell. He would return the ball to the Minnesota 45-yard line. Both teams flip flopped again. Then Petras threw a dart to a wide open Luke Lachey for 33 yards; Iowa could smell the pig trophy.

After a review of a near fumble recovery by Mariano Sori-Marin, Iowa put the nail in the coffin with a 21-yard field goal made with 28 seconds left. The Hawkeyes would win their eighth-straight Floyd of Rosedale game.

“Those are two teams that have shared identities in their physicality,” Fleck said. “That locker room is full of winners in there, unfortunately winners do lose and that’s all they did tonight, we lost.”

Minnesota will go from playing one arch rival to another on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin. The Gophers will play the Badgers to defend Paul Bunyan’s Axe. They now have fallen out of the sweepstakes to win the Big Ten West title. The battle for the axe will be televised on ESPN at 2:30 p.m.

Coming off of a weekend where the No. 8 Penn State Nittany Lions nearly swept then No.1 Michigan, they put up a valiant effort against another top-ranked team, this time in Minneapolis at Mariucci Arena against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Sarlo turns the tide in upset victory

Momentarily after the puck was tipped, you could sense Minnesota’s opponent, Penn State, was no Notre Dame. They were fast and feisty, outhustling and outskating the Gophers for the entire first period. Connor MacEachern scored the lone goal of the period on a 2-on-1 breakaway. Those breakaways would become a theme this game with the Gophers defenseman playing lackadaisical with the puck.

“We did the opposite of our strengths,” Minnesota’s captain Brock Faber said. “We were trying to play cute, trying to play slow, we weren’t physical enough, we just weren’t ready to go tonight.”

The Gophers briefly woke up in the second period, shooting an outstanding ten shots on goal compared to Penn State’s one through the first eleven minutes of play. One of those shots went through the pads of the Nittany Lion netminder, Liam Souliere, by Bryce Brodzinski, his third of the season. Later in the period, Brodzinski nearly had another shot go in from atop the right circle, but it hit the post.

Nearing the end of the middle period, Christian Sarlo was released from the penalty box after serving time for a hooking penalty. Sarlo then corralled the puck and skated around the inside of the right circle and dangled and decked Justen Close, fooling the Gophers goaltender to give the Nittany Lions back the lead with just 5.8 seconds left in the period.

Penn State wasn’t finished, as MacEachern not long into the final period scored on yet another 2-on-1 breakaway, leading the Nittany Lions to a 3-1 advantage on his second goal of the night. Minnesota didn’t throw in the towel just yet, as Aaron Huglen struck the puck from the left zone in the Penn State net for his first goal of the season.

“The transitions are different just back and forth down the ice,” Huglen said on the difference between this game and the Notre Dame series. “Notre Dame likes to play back and this is completely different.”

But alas, the Matthew Knies/Logan Cooley/Jimmy Snuggerud line was completely held in check for the rest of the game as the Penn State defense shut down one of the best lines in hockey. Without their offensive leadership, the Gophers ended up falling to Penn State 4-2. Ashton Calder cashed in a late empty netter.

“It was a tale of two games,” Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. “You get off to a slow start and we were a little frustrated. We found it in the second period and then unfortunately, we handed them two goals. You can’t do that; they’re playing awful well.”

Brodzinski evens series with 2-goal third period

If Minnesota underestimated Penn State on Thursday, then Friday was all business. The Gophers came out more energized than ever and kept up with Penn State early on in the period.

Unfortunately, the maturity of the Nittany Lions was still too much for the young pups in gold. Penn State quickly took a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal, coupled with Sarlo’s second goal of the series, shooting a one-timer from the center-left of the goal. The Gophers entered the second period down 1-0 against an experienced and gritty group.

“They [Penn State] play north as fast as any team we are going to play,” Motzko said. “You’ve gotta possess it [the puck] down low and for the most part we did a decent job this weekend. But, if you make mistakes against them, they’re going to make you pay.”

The Gophers, like they always have this season, found a way to regroup in the middle period. On a power play, which the Gophers had an abundance of this game, Mason Nevers tipped in a shot by Mike Koster from the blue line to tie the game at one apiece. Immediately after the Nevers goal, the game’s momentum completely shifted, adrenaline was injected into the student section and a penalty from Penn State’s captain Paul DeNaples would give Minnesota a powerplay that would extend into the final period.

“We were a lot better tonight,” Motzko said. “When the game was kind of quiet we just hung in there until a powerplay goal…we’re playing a veteran and very good hockey team. Our veterans took over and that’s what we needed.”

Another Penn State penalty occurred early in the third. Luckily, they got through it unscathed, unfortunately right after, Brodzinski scored his second and third goals of the series. It was all Minnesota for the rest of the period, and behind Close who saved 37/38 shots, they would tie the series with a very underrated No. 8 Penn State.

The Gophers next embark on a six-game road trip to play Michigan, Michigan State and Arizona State before returning home to play the Wisconsin Badgers to end the first half of the season. They play in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Thursday (5:30 p.m. puck drop) and Friday (5 p.m. puck drop). Both games will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

Following a two-game winning streak, featuring a 31-0 blowout and a 20-13 comeback victory, all the Gophers had to do against Northwestern, who had a record of 1-8, was be themselves, and that’s exactly what they did.

“The grit that this football team has…we were on a three game losing streak”, offensive lineman John Michael Schmitz said on how far the Gophers have come since losing big at Penn State. “Just being able to focus on this week. Learning from our past to create our future and just being able to respond to those upcoming weeks and focus on one game at a time.”

Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis and co. received the pigskin first and the Wildcats’ defense led to a three and out. Northwestern traded three and outs with the Gophers and this seemed to have started a classic Big Ten battle of punts and one- to two-yard runs up the middle.

Northwestern QB Brendan Sullivan broke both teams’ offensive struggles open by tossing a 37-yarder to Marshall Lang right down the middle. That quick burst would be squashed by a pair of defensive backs, Terell Smith and Jordan Howden, sent on blitzes. The Gopher duo shut down RB Evan Hull’s 4th and 1 rush attempt.

As the game continued, Minnesota became more comfortable offensively, starting with its first first down of the game on their third drive. Mohamed Ibrahim barreled his way into the end zone after a nine play, 82-yard drive where there were seven rushes by Ibrahim and Trey Potts for 69 yards and a touchdown.

As Ibrahim kept rumbling and the Wildcats offense kept stumbling, Minnesota nearly entered the half with a 14-0 lead.

With two minutes remaining, Sullivan threw a 27-yard pass to Malik Washington, but the quarterback had to leave the game and get carted off the field. The new single caller, Ryan Hilinski, used Sullivan’s formula and nearly doubled his results, nailing the same receiver, Washington, for 46 yards, Northwestern ended the drive with a 35-yard field goal.

The Gophers’ secondary would rebound in the second half with a Tyler Nubin interception, his fourth of the season, turning into three points. Yet, Northwestern wouldn’t let the game get out of reach just yet, with Devin Turner forcing a fumble on Dylan Wright. Defense kept the Wildcats within a reachable distance to come back. The only problem was that Minnesota’s defense was just plain better and their offense had much more firepower.

“Honestly it was our box, our D-Line and linebackers played unbelievable,” Nubin said. “Getting off the ball, send the edges, create knockback in the run game, that made it a lot easier for us (defensive backs) for them to contain like that.”

The story of the game and the season has been Ibrahim, so it is only fitting he carried the Gophers on his back once again against Northwestern. He ran 36 times for 178 yards and 3 touchdowns, a true tour de force in the backfield. He now sits sixth all time in Big Ten rushing touchdowns, passing former Wisconsin Badger Jonathan Taylor.

“Do we need him (Mo) to have 38 to 40 carries a game? No,” Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck said. “Mo is such a fighter, and he’s so tough, but I don’t want to see Mo run inside zone 22 times on a Tuesday. He works incredibly hard in the training room…when you ask about how a kid can take so many carries, he’s mentally, physically and emotionally ready come Saturday.”

True freshman Zach Evans had the last laugh of the ballgame, scoring the first touchdown of his career at the climax of the fourth quarter, and Minnesota would bulldoze Northwestern 31-3.

“I’m really proud of our team tonight and how they persevered all week,” Fleck said. “We didn’t have the greatest practice Wednesday and I let them know and I challenged them, challenged our staff, challenged me, and they responded really well to that.”

The Gophers play their rival, the Iowa Hawkeyes, on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium to fight for the Floyd of Rosedale. Iowa and Minnesota are currently in a four-way tie for first place in the Big Ten West with Illinois and Purdue.

The twelfth ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish took their first Big Ten Conference road trip to Minneapolis this weekend to battle the No. 3 Minnesota Gophers at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Snuggerud and Knies dice up the Irish

It was a banner night for one of the best lines in college hockey. The Matthew Knies, Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud trio destroyed Notre Dame Friday, leading a heavy offensive onslaught and scoring four goals on a whopping 54 shots on goal.

“That was a good game for us,” said Gophers head coach Bob Motzko. “The shorthanded goal kind of put a little dagger in and then our guys went to work. Pretty strong effort throughout our entire lineup tonight.”

The first period was similar to two boxers beginning to feel each other out. Even though the Gophers dominated puck possession, the score would stay tied nil-nil heading into the first intermission with Minnesota leading shots on goal 13-10.

The best hockey the Irish played all series was the theme of the start of the second period; they stopped rushing everything and got into control on both sides of the puck. With some great opportunities coming off a powerplay and longer puck possession from setting up their offense for smoother sailing, they were only down in shots on goal 16-15 on Minnesota.

Then, Mason Nevers started a Golden Gopher avalanche and Notre Dame’s little time basking in the spotlight dimmed. Nevers slotted his fourth goal of the season and Minnesota swiped a 1-0 lead over the Irish. Knies followed that up with a shorthanded puck steal in Notre Dame’s zone, glided his way and eventually slid in his sixth goal of the season, tying fellow linemate Jimmy Snuggerud for the team lead and boosting the Gopher lead to 2-0.

The third period was the culmination of a growing Gophers offensive effort. Snuggerud received an impressive no-look backward feed from Knies and took the lead in team goal scoring with seven. Minnesota led 3-0 with a 40-21 shots on goal advantage, a far cry from where they were at the beginning of the middle period.

“I heard him screaming and he made a good play,” Knies said. “Obviously, it’s an onside one timer. That’s a hell of a shot he had, so I’m really happy for him.”

The freshman phenom wasn’t finished. On a 5-on-3 powerplay, Knies found Snuggerud all alone left of the slot, which resulted in No. 81’s eighth goal of the season. With 46 seconds left in the match, the lone Irish goal came on a ticky tack play that was reviewed for goalie interference.

Hometown kid, Justin Janicke (Maple Grove), sniped the puck past the pads of Gophers goalie Justen Close, who had one of his best nights in between the pipes this year. The game would soon come to an end with a final score of 4-1 with the Gophers dominating shots on goal 54-25.

“It’s been wonderful,” said Knies on his chemistry on a line with two young guns, Snuggerud and Cooley. “Those two guys are obviously really skilled players and are starting to learn how to play like that. I want to get ‘em the puck and make their days easier. It’s definitely a privilege to play with those two.”

Off the ice, Knies playfully said the two freshmen are “weirdos” and are like “two little mice that are hard to get to calm and sit down because they are always roaming around.”

Close completes fifth shutout of his career

The Fighting Irish kept the Gophers to a more even keel game on Saturday, but to no avail in the win column, as Minnesota completed the two game sweep.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Motzko said. “We got the first one and a powerplay goal, then it kind of turned into an arm-wrestling match. We won some battles and lost some and closer (Close) was good when we needed him, but a great grown-up game for our group.”

The first period mirrored the beginning of Friday’s game but was even more quick with few stoppages. Neither team drew blood, even though the Gophers put up a valiant effort beating Notre Dame in shots on goal 9-3.

The second period came and boy did it go well for Minnesota. The Gophers took a commanding lead in shots on goal and notched two goals during the process. The first score came from Jaxon Nelson flipping the puck into the top left shelf of Ryan Bischel’s net and the second came from Knies tapping in his seventh goal of the season. At the end of 40 minutes, Minnesota led Notre Dame 2-0 and 26-10 in shots on goal, outshooting the Irish 17-7.

Nelson finished with a relentless offensive effort, firing seven shots on goal and winning 8/17 faceoffs.

“Jaxon Nelson right now is stepping up in a huge way for us,” Motzko said. “There were three or four names that we wrote on the board last year that were going to take big steps this year. He was one of them.”

The third period was rather quiet with not much action around each team’s nets. Cooley finished the game’s scoring off with a breakaway empty netter with five seconds left to lift the Gophers to a 3-0 win over the Fighting Irish and their first two-game sweep since their first series of the season versus Lindenwood. They led in shots on goal 31-21 at the conclusion, and Close completed his second shutout of the year and his fifth of his collegiate career.

“It felt good,” said Close after nearly shutting out the Fighting Irish the night before. “They had a few chances, there was one that dribbled by the short side that could’ve spoiled it, but yeah it felt pretty good.”

Minnesota will stay at Mariucci next week as they play the No. 13 Penn State Nittany Lions on Thursday (televised on Bally Sports North) and Friday (televised on Bally Sports North Extra). Both games will commence at 7 p.m.

The Minnesota Gophers traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to begin Big Ten Conference play this season.

No. 11 Buckeyes bound no. 1 Gophers

Ohio State started off the series Friday with the lead in the scoring column. Dominic Vildoli tipped a pass up front to pull the Buckeyes to a 1-0 lead. The score would stay that way heading into the first intermission with the Gophers struggling on offense.

Shortly inside the second period, Jackson LaCombe tied the contest with a slap shot blast all alone above the right circle. That draw would only be around for six minutes as Ohio State’s Travis Treloar scored on the Buckeyes’ first man advantage on the power play. Joe Dunlap would also help the puck find the back of Minnesota’s net. At the halfway point of the middle period, the Gophers faced a two-goal deficit at 3-1 and were losing the shots on goal battle 20-15.

The Gophers slowly tried to creep back into the game with a Brody Lamb wrister straight ahead of the Buckeye blue circle to decrease the lead to one. Yet, Stephen Halliday of Ohio State soon scored an unassisted goal to give the Buckeyes a two goal advantage at 4-2 heading into the final period.

The third period was as much of a frenzy as the second with four total goals. Early on, Treloar netted his second goal for Ohio State and was quickly followed five minutes later by Patrick Guzzo scoring, leading to a 6-2 Ohio State win. This was the Gophers’ largest deficit of the season.

Bryce Brodzinski and John Mittelstadt each scored goals for Minnesota, and Mittelstadt did it with 16 seconds left in the game, scoring his first as a Golden Gopher. Yet, they needed two more as the No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes upset the top team in the nation

“Obviously, we are not real happy right now,” Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. “That was not a great effort by us. Our energy was low and we were trying to find it. When you don’t have your energy, you make some poor decisions.”

Gophers even the series at one apiece

LaCombe once again started the game strong for the Gophers offensively, netting Minnesota’s first goal of the game to give them their first lead of the series 1-0. One minute later, Davis Burnside managed to score an unassisted shorthanded goal to tie the game at one apiece.

In the second period, both teams were at an offensive standstill for 16 minutes until Mason Nevers broke the draw with 4:22 left in the period, and he was shortly followed by Matthew Knies finding scoring success for the first time over the weekend, bringing the score to 2-1.

In the third period, around the halfway mark, leading scorer Jimmy Snuggerud earned himself a powerplay goal, his sixth of the season. Before the game’s conclusion, Burnside got another shorthanded goal, but it was too late as Minnesota would win 4-2.

“We went to work tonight,” Motzko said. “It wasn’t all pretty early, but we hung in there; we kept with it and you get rewarded. Our freshmen line had a huge shift for us in the second period and it got our guys on the bench going.”

The Gophers return home Friday and Saturday to play the No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Both games will be televised on Bally Sports North Extra and will start at 7 p.m.

Two men’s hockey heavyweights collided in a two-game series to remember forever in Minneapolis Friday and Saturday. The seventh ranked North Dakota Fighting Hawks visited their bitter enemies, the top-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Knies’ OT heroics complete comeback victory for the ages
An all-time Gopher victory took place at Mariucci Arena on Friday as game one of this two-game slugfest commenced.

To begin, the Gophers were seemingly overthinking everything. They were out hustling the Hawks, but almost to an extreme in which players were slipping on the ice. The Gophers obtained open looks at the net but couldn’t finish.

North Dakota’s Jake Schmaltz opened up the scoring column less than five minutes into the game and gave the Fighting Hawks a commanding sense of momentum. Probably no one was fueled more by North Dakota’s control than fifth-year transfer goalie Drew DeRidder, who stopped 35 out of 38 shots on goal by the Gophers.

North Dakota led in shots on goal by one and in the scoreboard by one after the first twenty minutes.

In the second period, the Gophers slowly got back to form and were finally clicking on offense but still couldn’t find the back of the net.

Minnesota, unlike in the first period, dominated puck possession. After a massive Justen Close save from North Dakota’s Riese Gaber, the Gophers were still down 1-0 but now leading in shots on goal 16-11.

Minnesota finally sprung on the scoring board, with two minutes remaining in the period. Jackson LaCombe swiftly glided his way through the right of North Dakota’s zone and hooked in his first goal of the season on the top right shelf.

“Yeah, there wasn’t much to it,” said assistant captain LaCombe. “Their forwards got a little confused when I cut across and then there was just a wide open lane down low so I took a shot and it happened to go in.”

Unfortunately, Gaber gave the Fighting Hawks the lead with 36 seconds left in the period. North Dakota led 2-1 at the end of the middle period.

The final period was a slugfest. Neither team scored a goal until there was 1:24 remaining in regulation when Mason Nevers slugged a slapshot past the pads of DeRidder, slingshotting the game into overtime.

“Don’t screw up,” is what Gophers head coach Bob Motzko told his team before 3-on-3 overtime. “I thought North Dakota played great, they played just how they wanted to play, but we weathered the storm.”

Overtime didn’t take long. Matthew Knies received a pass from captain Brock Faber in the right circle and barreled his way past North Dakota defenseman, Chris Jandric, for the game-winning goal while tripping on the ice, only 21 seconds into OT.

The final score was Minnesota 3 (with 38 shots on goal) and North Dakota 2 (with 18 shots on goal).

“I wanted to score so bad,” Knies said. “I was just happy when we won that game … this is what we wanna build here, that kind of culture and atmosphere is trending in the right direction for Gopher hockey, and it’s only going to get better.”

The Fighting Hawks and Senden strike back
If you like weird and wacky hockey games you would have loved to be inside Mariucci Arena on Saturday night.

The game had a picture perfect start for Minnesota. There were checks and plenty of body shots; Minnesota wasn’t messing around, and at the same time they were calm and collected.

At the end of the first period, the score was still deadlocked at zero, yet 4:44 of UND’s five minute major penalty on Tyler Kleven would continue into the second. The penalty was for game misconduct (contact to the head).

Knies, hero of the game less than 24 hours ago, utilized the advantage and gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

North Dakota soon returned to full strength, but Rhett Pitlick didn’t care. He dangled his way into the Fighting Hawks’ slot and wristed through Minnesota’s second goal of the contest. The Gophers were dominating on all fronts: 2-0 lead and 26-6 lead in shots on goal.

Pitlick, in celebration of his first goal of the season, decided to toss his stick into the crowd to celebrate, earning himself a 10-minute major in the penalty box.

After a TV timeout and plenty of penalties, North Dakota scored its first goal of the contest; the score was 2-1 with the Gophers still leading in shots on goal 27-8.

The Fighting Hawks scored another power play goal from Gaber’s right circle shot, and the game was tied in the blink of an eye.

Soon, captain of the Fighting Hawks, Mark Senden gave North Dakota the lead. The table totally turned and “Let’s go Sioux” bellowed throughout a near-sold out Mariucci arena from the visiting UND faithful. The Hawks led 3-2 while Minnesota still led in shots on goal 27-11.

After a huge scuffle near North Dakota’s net, Knies and Ryan Sidorski got into an old school brawl. It seemed as if Knies got the best of Sidorski, while Logan Cooley also was called for a five minute major for game misconduct (face mask).

Until the two minute warning, Minnesota wasn’t at full strength, and Cooper Moore of the Fighting Hawks took advantage of it, giving UND a two-goal lead 4-2, and Close replaced Owen Bartoszkiewicz in net for the Gophers.

“[We] wanted to give him a shot,” said Motzko about starting his backup sophomore goalie over senior Close. “We wanted to get him in there, that’s all I can tell ya.”

The Gophers rallied after the change. With 34.8 seconds left in the middle period, Nevers scored for Minnesota, making his third goal of the season and cutting the lead to 4-3.

Nobody scored through the first six minutes of the final period until leading goal scorer, freshman Jimmy Snuggerud, rebounded an errant shot by Faber and injected adrenaline back into the arena.

In another overtime period, UND’s Senden found the back of the net. The goal took to replay for goalie interference but to no avail. The final score was North Dakota 5 (with 20 shots on net) and Minnesota 4 (with 41 shots on net).

“It’ll come Monday,” uttered a fuming Motzko when asked postgame how he will address Pitlick’s goal celebration, completely changing a game where Minnesota was playing on all cylinders.

The Gophers next weekend travel to Columbus, Ohio, to start Big Ten conference play versus the Ohio State Buckeyes. Friday’s game will be televised on the Big Ten Network, starting at 5:30 p.m., while Saturday’s will be on Big Ten Plus’ subscription service, starting at 4 p.m.

“It was really fun,” said Gophers captain Ryan Johnson on the series’ atmosphere. “Our fans brought a lot of cheering, a lot of energy and you know they [North Dakota] were pretty loud too.”

Two weeks removed from a homecoming loss to the Purdue Boilermakers, the Minnesota Gophers will travel to Champaign, Illinois to take on the no. 24 Illinois Fighting Illini.

The Fighting Illini are featured in the AP Poll for the first time since 2011. They are led by NCAA rushing yardage king, Chase Brown, who exploded for 147 yards on 32 carries when the Illini upset the Gophers last year, winning 14-6 at Huntington Bank Stadium.

“Chase Brown is one of the best backs in the country,” said Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck about the Big Ten leader in all-purpose yards (933). “He’s got a very similar style with Mohamed [Ibrahim] in breaking tackles and getting a lot of yards after contact. He’s a very patient runner, he will stay behind his offensive line for a while then, pfft, pop out the other side…then finish it for touchdowns.”

With the Illini’s success on the ground, it makes it even harder for opposing defenses to cover the play-action pass and deep aerial attacks. It will be a game-time decision for QB Tommy DeVito, who reaggravated an ankle injury last weekend in a 9-6 narrow victory over Iowa.

If DeVito cannot suit up, backup Artur Sitowski will take the reins. Sitowski threw 13/19 for 74 yards and 1 INT off the bench against the Hawkeyes.

Meanwhile, Minnesota as a team leads the Big Ten Conference in rushing yards per game (245) and will have their leading rusher, Mohamed Ibrahim, return this week from an ankle injury.

“It’s a joy having him back,” said Minnesota center John Michael Schmitz. “Just the energy he brings each and every day in practice…glad to see him back as his normal self.”

Ibrahim, during the season, has played four games with 567 yards rushing, eight touchdowns and averages 6.4 yards per carry. Without Ibrahim against the Boilermakers, the Gophers totaled 47 yards on 26 carries, averaging a horrific 1.8 yards per rush.

“We gotta be more consistent,” said Gophers offensive coordinator, Kirk Ciarrocca, on how the running game can improve from the Purdue game. “From the offensive line to the running backs…blocking on the perimeter, all that. We’ve worked really hard on our fundamentals these last two weeks.”

Ciarrocca also pointed out that Illinois’ front seven is definitely the toughest that Minnesota has faced all season. On the passing end, he believes Illinois CB Devin Witherspoon is the most talented cornerback the Gophers have seen.

“It sure makes me smile watching him [Ibrahim] practice and move around out there and see him at close to full speed,” Ciarrocca said. “It’s human nature when you have a great player coming back from an injury and him being out there it helps pick you up a little bit…I certainly don’t undervalue his presence in our lineup…you can’t put a price on that.”

The Gophers will play Illinois on Saturday at 11 a.m. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

The No. 2 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team began their 2022-23 season this weekend at Mariucci Arena with a sweep over the visiting Lindenwood Lions, winning 4-0 on Saturday and 6-4 on Sunday.

Cooley scores twice in freshman debut

On a down night after Gophers football fell to Purdue, the men’s hockey team lifted Minnesota fans’ homecoming spirits shutting out their first opponent of the season, the Lindenwood Lions, 4-0.

Senior forward Jaxon Nelson scored the first Gophers goal of the season with a one-timer from the right circle. Freshman forward Logan Cooley also nabbed his first point of his Minnesota career by earning a secondary assist.

The future Arizona Coyote wasn’t finished in the scoring department and managed to get his first goal as a collegiate hockey player early in the second period. The Pittsburgh, Penn. product made a backhanded shot that found the back of the net, rebounding off of Rhett Pitlick’s shot. This would give Minnesota a 2-0 lead six minutes into the middle period.

Matthew Knies got in the scoring column for the first time this season also in the second, bringing the game to a dominating 3-0 lead before the final period.

In the final period, the freshman forward striked again. Cooley, utilizing the backhand once more, put the Gophers up 4-0 over the Lions. Minnesota finished the homecoming game with a 34-16 advantage in shots on goal and was successful in all three of its penalty kills while going two-for-five on their own power plays.

“We liked a lot of things we saw, there’s an arrow pointing in the direction of things we need to get better at, exciting with a couple of the young guys, but it was a good hockey game,” Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. “We’re real pleased after game one because it gives us a starting point of what we got to do moving forward.”

Faber’s first goal leads Minnesota to the sweep

Throughout the second game, Lindenwood showcased more prowess on the offensive side of the ice, scoring four goals in the contest. The Lions just couldn’t keep up defensively with the high octane offense of the Gophers though, who completed the sweep, winning 6-4 Sunday night.

Connor Kurth allocated his first goal of his career around eight minutes in, and the Gophers would take that lead into intermission.

In the second period, the scoring came fast and furious as both the Lions and Gophers chalked up four goals in the span of five minutes. Lindenwood swiped the puck away for a turnover and tied the game 2-2 on a breakaway and less than two minutes later, they secured a 3-2 lead.

Freshman forward Brody Lamb brought the Gophers back into the game quickly and soon, captain Brock Faber slinged a slapshot past the pads of Matt Ladd to vault Minnesota back in the lead.

The Lions didn’t let up, and Ryan Finnegan slid over by the right side of the net and snuck the puck in to bring this game back to a 4-4 draw. Sophomore goalie Owen Bartoszkiewicz had a rough night compared to senior Gophers netminder Justen Close on Saturday.

Luckily, Mike Koster came up clutch in the final 13 minutes, saucing up Bryce Brodzinski an assist on a tip in goal and then sending a one-timer into the net to give the Gophers a 6-4 lead, which they kept for the rest of regulation.

“Lindenwood played their tails off tonight,” Motzko said. “They blocked 35 shots and they got life, they scored some goals, nothing gets a team into it more, so it was a challenge for us. I hate lessons…teams like this have to have lessons, but thank goodness we won the game and we gotta build off it.”

Minnesota will face off against the team that has ended each of their last two seasons next weekend: The No. 5 Minnesota State-Mankato Mavericks. It will be a home-and-home series with the first to be played in Minneapolis on Friday at 7 p.m. CT and the second in Mankato on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT. Friday’s match will be televised on Bally Sports North.

“It was good for us … to be in a tight game like that,” said Faber on a more challenging contest versus the Lions. “We struggled … and we’re not happy with how we played but we’re happy with the outcome. Obviously next weekend is going to be a whole different pace, so we’re definitely going to get back to work this week and build on it.”