With the extra season of eligibility granted to student-athletes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ona Loper exercised the option to return to the Gophers gymnastics team for her fifth year and hasn’t looked back.

Loper helped fuel No. 6 Minnesota en route to a dominating 197.575-195.775 victory over Ohio State after recording her career-best all-around score of 39.750 and winning three event titles Saturday evening.

Originally from Bluffton, S.C., Loper took home the bars title after tallying 9.950, a new career-high, the vault title with a score of 9.975, and the all-around title. She also tied her career-best score on floor after recording 9.950.

“I feel like I’m growing a lot of confidence every single week. Just having the team supporting me is everything,” Loper said. “I don’t think I would get as good of scores without them. I’m really thankful for them. It’s all about the team.”

Fifth-year Lexy Ramler followed just behind Loper in the all-around, recording 39.725, highlighted by her beam title-winning score of 9.975. It’s the third time the super senior has scored over 39.700 this season.

The Gophers’ floor team closed out the meet in dominating fashion as their five scoring routines combined for a team total of 49.700, the second-highest in program history.

Sophomore Mya Hooten returned to Minnesota’s floor lineup and bounced back after she struggled last Sunday versus Illinois, scoring an almost perfect 9.975 to win the floor title.

Ramler and redshirt junior Maddie Quarles matched Loper’s score of 9.950. It was just Quarles’ second time performing floor in her career as she posted a new career-best, almost reaching perfection.

“[Before the Illinois meet], the last time I did a floor routine was six years ago. Last week, I wasn’t even nervous, which was kind of shocking, but I knew I could do it. This week, there was a home crowd. I was so excited,” Quarles said. “I always wanted to do floor…now I can do more than just one event and it’s fun.”

Minnesota’s bars team also had a strong evening at Maturi Pavilion. Their five scoring routines combined for a total of 49.475, which is their highest score this season and ties the fifth-highest team score in program history.

Outside of Loper’s almost perfect 9.975, Ramler scored 9.925 and senior Tiarre Sales made her season debut, scoring 9.900, after recovering from an injury suffered before the season.

“It was really exciting to be back in the lineup and feeling the excitement of the crowd again,” Sales said. “Now that I’ve recovered, it’s super exciting. I can’t wait to help the team grow and do better.”

Minnesota’s total of 197.575 ranks seventh in program history as 18 of their 20 scoring routines were at least 9.800.

With Minnesota’s meet against Maryland being canceled earlier this season due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols in the Gophers program, the meet will now take place Monday, Feb. 14, at 2 p.m. in College Park, Md.

The freshmen for the No. 7/8 Gophers men’s hockey team have been steadily progressing all season long. On Friday night against No. 8/7 Ohio State, the top team in the Big Ten, they fueled Minnesota to a 3-2 victory, snapping the Buckeyes’ seven-game unbeaten streak.

With the freshmen scoring every goal, the Gophers (17-11) now trail the Buckeyes by two points in the Big Ten standings as Ohio State sits tied atop the table with Michigan at 42 points.

“I think all the freshmen are getting much more confident, every weekend, every practice,” freshman Aaron Huglen said earlier in the week at media availability. “It’s been really fun to watch.”

Earlier in the week before Friday night’s matchup, Gophers head coach Bob Motzko had a conversation with the freshmen group, telling them they were not freshmen but sophomores, and they played like it.

Three of Minnesota’s four freshmen in the lineup registered two points. Chaz Lucius and Huglen both recorded one goal and an assist. Rhett Pitlick had the primary helpers on Lucius and Huglen’s tallies.

Freshman Tristan Broz rounded out the big night for the Gophers’ first-year group after burying his fourth goal this season, marking his third in his last four games.

“We’re starting to see them contribute more and more. That’s just the life of freshmen in college hockey, some come quicker and some go through that little learning curve,” Motzko said earlier in the week at media availability. “[They] have a chance to be awful fun hockey players to follow and we’re starting to see it every weekend.”

Ohio State’s Cole McWard scored the first goal of the night 6:41 into the first period after the Buckeyes killed a Minnesota power play 1:11 earlier.

As the Gophers continued to control the pace of play in the first period, Lucius and Huglen scored their goals in a short span of 1:19 seconds late in the first period to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead at the first intermission.

To cement Minnesota’s victory, Huglen scored his second career game-winning goal with 4:46 remaining in the middle frame off a slick feed from Pitlick.

“[The freshmen] are uncanny strong. They’re fearless. They weren’t feeling confident [early in the season] because they weren’t scoring,” Motzko said at media availability Wednesday. “Now, they’re past that comfort level, so they look comfortable out there.”

In the third period, the Buckeyes started to push back as Joe Dunlap cut their deficit in half just 31 seconds into the final frame. But then junior goaltender Justen Close shut down the next 10 shots he faced.

Close backstopped the Gophers to victory as he made a career-high 32 saves on 34 shots faced to improve his record to 6-3 this season as Ohio State outshot Minnesota 34-31.

Junior Bryce Brodzinski recorded a secondary assist on Broz’s goal, marking the first time he has reached the 20-point mark in a season in his collegiate career.

When the puck drops for game two against Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 5 p.m., the Gophers will search to sweep back-to-back series for the first time this season.

Gophers gymnastics’ redshirt junior Maddie Quarles has competed only on vault throughout her collegiate career. However, Sunday evening, she got the opportunity to compete in a different event for the first time, and she did not disappoint.

9.900. That was the massive score Quarles scored in her collegiate debut on floor to help the No. 5 Gophers dominate Illinois Sunday evening en route to a 197.125-195.725 victory.

“She nailed it. It was awesome. She hasn’t trained floor consistently over the last few years and we really gave it a shot this year,” Hansen said. “Her tumbling is so big and so high. It was really fun to see her out there today.”

Outside of Quarles’ strong floor score, junior Halle Remlinger helped bolster the Gophers’ victory after scoring a career-high 9.925 on floor to win the event title.

Sunday’s win also marked the collegiate debuts for freshman Marissa Jencks, who scored a 9.800 on vault, and sophomore Gianna Gerdes, who competed for the first time on floor and beam.

In the win, the Gophers swept all five of the event titles. Each of their lineups also defeated all of Illinois’.

“We’re just really proud of how the team performed today. We had some new people step up and do a great job,” Hansen said. “Coming back from having the weekend off, we’re just really proud of how the team did.”

Fifth-year Lexy Ramler took home the all-around title after scoring a total of 39.575, highlighted by tying her career-best score of 9.975 on beam to win the event title, while fifth-year Ona Loper was just behind her with an all-around score of 39.500 and a vault title (9.900).

“They [Ramler and Loper] just keep doing what they do — being those steady rocks for our team,” Hansen said. “They had great days as well.”

Minnesota started the meet on bars as Loper and Ramler earned matching team-highs of 9.875s, tying Illinois’ Amelia Knight for the event title. Their fifth-year counterpart, Hannah Willmarth, helped boost the Gophers’ bars team, which totaled 49.075, as she scored 9.825.

Outside of Loper’s event-leading score and Jencks debut on vault, Ramler and Quarles scored matching 9.875s, while Gerdes tied her career-best score of 9.850 to round out Minnesota’s vault team that totaled 49.300.

As the meet progressed, the Gophers stayed hot as both their beam and floor teams totaled matching 49.375s.

Besides Remlinger’s career-high and Quarles’ collegiate debut on floor, Loper, Ramler and sophomore Emily Koch scored 9.875, 9.850 and 9.825, respectively, to round out the rotation.

Freshman Haley Tyson earned her career-best on beam after scoring 9.825. Outside of Ramler’s huge 9.975, Koch tallied a 9.875, while Loper and senior Abbie Nylin matched each other with 9.850s.

Minnesota has great depth this season. They will need their depth gymnasts when some of their best do not have their strongest meets.

“We knew our depth was one of our strengths this year as a team, really on every event,” Hansen said. “We’ve got people that can step in and score well. It was great for us to see that today. We put some new people in and they did a good job, and that gives us a lot of confidence going forward.”

The Gophers will return home next weekend when they host Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 12, at 4 p.m. at Maturi Pavilion.

With the second game of the series against Michigan State knotted at 1-1 in the third period, senior co-captain Sammy Walker took over in the last 10 minutes to lift the No. 8/10 Gophers men’s hockey team to a 3-1 victory and their fourth series sweep this season Saturday night.

“We’re down four major players in our lineup,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said. “Last night, our freshmen popped through for us. In the second night when we needed it, our captain came through for us.”

Midway through the final frame, Walker skated his way toward a breakaway, but Michigan State’s Erik Middendorf hooked him, eliminating a high-quality chance. Then, on the delayed penalty, junior Jackson LaCombe fed Walker a pass near the right faceoff circle, where he one-timed the puck into the back of the net to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead with 9:21 remaining.

But the Gophers veteran leader was not done just yet. 1:28 later, while on the man advantage, junior Ryan Johnson sent a pass across the circles to an open Walker, who rifled a shot into the upper half of the net to cement Minnesota’s 3-1 win with 7:53 remaining in the game.

Before the game, Motzko called out Walker’s line to a challenge, and Walker stepped up big time. With his two-goal performance, Walker’s 11 goals this season tie for the team’s most with junior co-captain Ben Meyers and junior Bryce Brodzinski.

“Our line’s got to produce. That’s it. It was nice that we could get a couple there,” Walker said. “It was a huge game…every game, every play matters. So, it was nice to get that sweep.”

Opposite of Friday night’s game that saw a slow start for Minnesota, the Gophers got off to a speedy start at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Senior Ben Brinkman opened up the scoring for the Gophers just 1:39 into the contest after firing a blistering one-timer into the upper right corner of the net from the slot off a drop pass feed from freshman Rhett Pitlick to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

Brinkman’s early tally for Minnesota marked his first goal in a Gophers uniform since November. 9, 2018, to end his scoring drought at 123 games.
“I haven’t been much of a goal-scorer, but I found the right area. Pitter [Pitlick] made a good pass,” Brinkman said. “I haven’t had that feeling in a while. Not much of a goal-scorer, but it felt good to score a goal.”

The Gophers continued to dominate Michigan State throughout the remainder of the opening period as the Spartans did not have an answer for Minnesota’s relentless offensive attack.

Michigan State did not record their first shot on goal until 9:23 had passed. The Gophers were winning races to pucks, controlling the pace, and making it difficult for the Spartans to break out of their zone as they held a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

Right out of the gate in the second period, Michigan State dumped the puck deep into the Gophers’ zone. Then, they quickly capitalized on a Minnesota turnover behind the net as Jesse Tucker one-timed the loose puck from the slot to tie the game at 1-1 just 16 seconds into the middle frame. The tally marked the Spartans’ lone goal of the game.

Michigan State’s goaltender Drew DeRidder kept the Spartans in the game all night long. He made 32 saves on 35 shots faced, including nine on five Minnesota power plays.

“Good game for us again tonight. If it would’ve went sideways, DeRidder was the answer,” Motzko said. “He was outstanding.”

On the opposite side of the ice, junior goaltender Justen Close made 25 saves (.962 save percentage) to help the Gophers get the series sweep and their ninth-straight win against the Spartans.

Saturday’s victory guarantees the Gophers at least home-ice advantage in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Minnesota (17-11) will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes (on Friday, Feb. 11, at 5:30 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 12, at 5 p.m. as they look to continue rising in the Big Ten standings.

Michigan State tested Minnesota’s depth in their first game without junior co-captain Ben Meyers, sophomore Brock Faber, and freshman Matthew Knies. But the collective group of first-years for the No. 8/10 Gophers stepped up to the plate when they needed them the most Friday night.

With the Gophers trailing Michigan State 2-0 at the end of the first period, Minnesota scored four unanswered goals en route to a 4-2 victory to improve to 16-11 this season as three of them came from their freshmen.

The most important goal for the Gophers was their first of the night from freshman Rhett Pitlick, which put Minnesota right back into the game.

Pitlick skated his way through the neutral zone and made a drop pass to sophomore Mike Koster at the blue line. Then, Koster returned the favor, feeding the puck back to Pitlick in the slot, where he fired a one-timer into the bottom right corner of the net to cut Michigan State’s lead in half at 2-1 with 9:21 remaining in the second period. The goal not only helped the Gophers get back into the game, but it also marked Pitlick’s first collegiate goal.

“I think there’s a lot of emotion in that play. [My] former teammate at high school, Mike Koster, I gave him a nice pass and he gave me a nice pass back,” Pitlick said. “That’s the monkey off the back. It’s been a while, but I think it came at a good time…when you get your first goal in college, that’s a pretty cool moment.”

Just a 1:35 later, freshman Aaron Huglen equalized the game for the Gophers at 2-2 after banking the puck home off of Michigan State’s goaltender Pierce Charleson from behind the net.

Minnesota continued to build its momentum for the rest of the second period, carrying it quickly over into the third period after the middle frame saw 19 shots on goal.

Junior Bryce Brodzinski made a heads-up play from the Gophers’ defensive zone to feed an open senior Blake McLaughlin up-ice in the neutral zone. From there, the Minnesota veteran worked his way into the slot and buried a shot into the upper right corner of the net, scoring the game-winning goal 4:08 into the third period for the Gophers to give them their first lead of the night at 3-2.

Freshman Tristan Broz topped off the magnificent night for Minnesota’s first-year group as he cemented Minnesota’s 4-2 victory after scoring his third career goal 8:45 into the third period.

“Bob has been telling us, ‘it’ll be a good time to take a big step,’” Huglen said. “We’ve been watching clips. It was really fun to see Rhett get rewarded. He’s got an absolute missile of a shot, so there’s going to be more of that to come.”

But the game was not all pretty for Minnesota. After the first period, they trailed Michigan State 2-0 as the Spartans made them pay for a couple of its costly mistakes.

The first mistake came just 2:06 into the action. Junior Jack Perbix circled the offensive zone, but Michigan State’s Christian Krygier stripped the puck away from Perbix near the blue line to go on a breakaway, where he roofed a backhand shot to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead.

And the Spartans were not yet done capitalizing on the transition. Before the halfway point of the first period, Michigan State’s Jeremy Davidson extended the Spartans’ lead.

Michigan State’s Erik Middendorf fired a back-door pass to Davidson, who made no mistake firing home the puck to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead and its largest of the night, 8:23 into the first period.

“We made two blatant mistakes that they capitalized on,” Motzko said. “They got adrenaline. You get a 2-0 lead on the road, they had a little swagger and we had to steal the swagger back.”

The Gophers are 9-1 following a loss on the season with Friday’s win after they outshot Michigan State 40-23.

The comeback victory also marks career win 350 as a head coach for Motzko.

Minnesota will host Michigan State for game two of the series on Saturday, Feb. 5, at 5 p.m. at 3M Arena at Mariucci as they look to sweep the Spartans for the second time this season.

After a slow first period, the No. 10 Gophers men’s hockey team’s comeback against No. 11/12 Notre Dame fell short as they lost to the Fighting Irish 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night.

Because of penalties, Minnesota (15-11) struggled to gain offensive zone time in the first period.

The Gophers had the opportunity to build momentum as they got the game’s first powerplay just 3:25 into the action. However, they took a penalty just 13 seconds into their man advantage. Then, Notre Dame quickly capitalized during the four-on-four play.

Max Ellis opened up the scoring 4:30 into the game after he buried a long-range shot from just inside the blueline to give Notre Dame an early 1-0 lead.

The Gophers earned their second powerplay of the night, 6:10 into the first, but another penalty 27 seconds later negated the man advantage.

Minnesota took one more penalty in the first period to make matters worse. Although they killed Notre Dame’s advantage, momentum was still not in their favor.

To top off their penalty-filled first period, the Gophers conceded another goal. Notre Dame’s Trevor Janicke scored after receiving a cross-crease pass while on a two-on-one rush from Landon Slaggert to put the Fighting Irish up 2-0 with 3:15 remaining in the first.

But Minnesota quickly got back to their dominating form in the second period, similarly to Friday night’s game, as they outshot Notre Dame 12-3 and cut into the Fighting Irish’s lead.

Just 1:27 into the middle frame, junior co-captain Ben Meyers buried a one-timer into the back of the net from the slot off a beautiful feed from junior Jackson LaCombe to cut Notre Dame’s lead in half at 2-1.

The Gophers started the third period just like they did in the second, building momentum by scoring another early goal.

Junior Bryce Brodzinski beautifully re-directed junior Ryan Johnson’s pass from the point off the crossbar and into the back of the net just 1:23 into the third just after their powerplay expired.

The rest of the regulation play was a battle. Both teams saw offensive scoring opportunities, but the goaltenders kept things knotted at 2-2, so the game went into overtime.

Overtime did not serve the Gophers well. Notre Dame’s Slaggert buried his own rebound just 32 seconds into extra time to prevent Minnesota from sweeping his team for the second time this season.

Meyers and Brodzinski both tallied their 11th goal in the loss, tying each other for most on the team this season.

The Gophers will return home next weekend when they host Michigan State on Friday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 5, at 5 p.m. at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The No. 10 Gophers men’s hockey team continues to play well throughout the new year. They dominated No. 11/12 Notre Dame en route to a 5-1 victory on Friday night to remain undefeated against the Fighting Irish this season.

The game started with a lot of back-and-forth play, as either team struggled to take control of the pace. It took 6:05 for the first shot on goal to occur, which also happened to be the game’s first goal by the Gophers.

Senior Grant Cruikshank flew down the left side of the ice to create an odd-man rush, kept the puck for himself, and fired a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot to score his fourth goal this season and give the Gophers an early 1-0 lead.

After Cruikshank opened up the scoring, Minnesota (15-10) dominated play the rest of the way.

Two minutes later, freshman Tristan Broz added to the Gophers’ early lead with 11:20 remaining in the first after he re-directed junior Jackson LaCombe’s shot from the right circle.

To put the cherry on top for Minnesota’s strong first period, senior Blake McLaughlin worked his way past the goal line and fired the puck toward the middle of the zone. Then, it banked into the net after hitting the backside of Notre Dame’s goaltender Matthew Galajda to give the Gophers a 3-0 lead with 8:51 remaining in the first.

McLaughlin’s tally marked the first career point for Minnesota junior goaltender Justen Close, who recorded a secondary assist on the play.

As the Gophers hit the ice for period two, they quickly returned to dominating Notre Dame.

Just 37 seconds into the second period, senior co-captain Sammy Walker extended Minnesota’s lead to 4-0 after burying a cross-crease pass from freshman Matthew Knies.

The Fighting Irish scored their lone goal on the man advantage after Trevor Janicke deflected Chase Blackmun’s shot from the blue line to cut the Gophers’ lead to 4-1 with 3:36 remaining in the second.

With Notre Dame cutting into Minnesota’s large lead, it seemed like the Fighting Irish started to gain momentum. However, the Gophers quickly responded just before the end of the second period.

McLaughlin scored his second goal of the night with 35.7 remaining in the period after firing the puck into the back of the net off a cross-crease feed from junior Bryce Brodzinski to cement Minnesota’s 5-1 victory.

Earlier this week, Motzko mentioned that the line of McLaughlin-Walker-Brodzinski needs “to amp it up.” And the veteran line for the Gophers did just that as they combined for three goals and two assists in the win.

Close had another great performance for Minnesota between the pipes as he recorded a .966 save percentage after making 28 saves on 29 shots faced.

Twelve Gophers’ players recorded at least one point in the win, highlighted by Broz’s game-winning goal in the first period. The winning tally marked the first game-winning goal of his career.

Minnesota will look to finish undefeated against Notre Dame this season when they take on the Fighting Irish on Saturday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m.

Although the No. 7 Gophers gymnastics team fell just short to No. 1 Michigan by a score of 198.025-197.650, Minnesota has much to be proud of from their performances in their loss Monday evening.

Defeating a number one team in the nation is never an easy task, but the Gophers (1-1) gave the Wolverines a tough matchup through phenomenal performances across each event. Minnesota’s team score of 197.650 is their third-best total in program history.
“Both teams were really great tonight. Everybody hit their routines, which was amazing. It was a great meet from start to finish,” Gophers head coach Jenny Hansen said. “I think it gives us a lot of confidence going forward. We still have room to grow. We still have room to get better. That, to me, is really exciting. We are not close to maxing out yet. It was a really fun night.”

Fifth years Lexy Ramler and Ona Loper and sophomore Mya Hooten highlighted Minnesota’s night as they put on marvelous performances across. Ramler won the all-around. Loper and Hooten achieved perfection as they recorded perfect 10s, marking the first time in program history two perfect 10s have occurred in the same home meet.

Ramler won the all-around title, along with the bars title, after totaling 39.825, the second-highest score in program history. Her all-around score is the highest earned by any gymnast so far this season. Loper totaled 39.725, a career-high, highlighted by her fourth career perfect 10 on vault to secure the vault title. Hooten closed out the meet for the Gophers on floor, tallying a perfect 10, the second of her career, to win the floor title.

“It’s been amazing because it’s been a different week for them. It’s not a normal training week. They started school last week,” Hansen said. “For them to come back and perform the way they did tonight is pretty amazing. It shows them what they are capable of, even greater things than maybe they even thought of themselves before.”

Minnesota’s vault team started the meet on a fantastic note, producing 49.575, the program’s second-highest score in the event, respectively.

Outside of Loper’s perfect 10, other strong performances came from Ramler (9.975) and redshirt junior Maddie Quarles, who tied her career-best (9.950). Hooten and sophomore Gianna Gerdes, who made her season debut, rounded things out with 9.850 and 9.800.
“Everyone was just on fire. It’s super easy to hit when everyone else is hitting. It’s kind of contagious,” Loper said. “That energy was amazing. Having all the fans back is just so much more fun. It was just a really great night.”

As their vault team got the fans going, the Gophers’ floor team gave them a reason to continue standing and applaud them even though the team would go on to lose the meet.

Minnesota’s floor team once again shined for a second-consecutive week as they tallied 49.725, a program record that shattered the previous one that stood at 49.575.

“They were on fire. Every landing was on. All the leaps were great. The presentation was amazing,” Hansen said. “We told them before they went on floor, this is where we shine, and they shined tonight. They are beautiful on that event.”

Besides Hooten’s routine that hit perfection, Ramler earned her career-high of 9.975, Loper and Koch tallied matching 9.925s (career-high for Koch), and junior Halle Remlinger capped off the historical team performance as she tied her career-best of 9.900.

“Once I hit my last pass, I was like, ‘okay, okay, cool.’ That was a memorable moment for me because the fans made it 10 times better,” said Hooten, who scored a perfect 10 last season at Maturi Pavilion when fans were not allowed to attend meets due to COVID-19.

As usual, the Gophers’ bars team showed up, producing 49.325 and bringing consistency that will help this team go a long way when the postseason arrives.

Ramler produced the meet’s highest score at 9.950. Loper (9.900) and fifth-year bars specialist Hannah Willmarth (9.875) added more strong scores for Minnesota, while Remlinger, Hooten, and junior Mallory LeNeave tallied matching 9.800s.

The meet was not all smooth sailing as Minnesota’s beam team that scored 49.025 had a few lower scores, but the floor team brought things back just as they did in the tri-meet last Monday.

“After beam, we got it together. We didn’t give up,” Hooten said. “That’s what I love about this team.”

If the Gophers can keep performing like they did tonight, a very special season will soon be in the making as the year progresses.

“There’s just so many highlights from this night from each individual on this team,” Ramler said. “I think everybody brought the energy. It was just so fun…it was just such a memorable night for all of us.”

The Gophers will travel for the first time this season as they take on Maryland (2-1) on Sunday, Jan. 30, at 11 a.m.

Despite an early and strong start for the No. 11 Gophers men’s hockey team Saturday night, Minnesota lost 4-1 against No. 3/4 Michigan after making a few costly mistakes.

“We made three mistakes tonight. They [Michigan] scored on them,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said. “Portillo was awfully good. We played a heck of a game…we did a lot of good things tonight. I don’t come in here [the media room] many times after a loss and say that.”

The Gophers scored just 2:46 into the game. Senior Blake McLaughlin fed a pass to a streaking junior Bryce Brodzinski at the blue line, and then Brodzinski fired home his 10th goal of the season to give Minnesota an early 1-0 lead.

Minnesota (14-10) played fantastic for almost the entire first period after Brodzinski’s opening goal. They were winning puck battles, dumping pucks deep into the offensive zone, and just made life difficult for Michigan as they relentlessly attacked their defense.

The Gophers also played well for most of the game as they outshot Michigan 40-19, but the Wolverines converted on a few short, bad lapses by Minnesota.
“We didn’t really give them much. I felt like we were peppering them the whole time,” McLaughlin said. “Their goalie, Portillo, played unbelievable. I think we were shooting high but should’ve shot some more [pucks] low. We got a little too cute trying to press our offense.”

Michigan equalized the game when Ethan Edwards fed a back-door pass from the blue line to Brendan Brisson on the back doorstep, and Brisson buried the puck from the bottom of the right circle to tie the game at 1-1 wIth 5:21 remaining in the first period.

Then just 1:02 later, Matty Beniers capitalized for Michigan, finishing off a fast rush from nearly the same spot as Brisson’s goal to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

On Michigan’s back-to-back goals, the Gophers left junior goaltender Justen Close out to dry as he did not have much of a chance to save either of them.

As the second period got underway, the Gophers continued to pressure Michigan, but they had another bad lapse just minutes before the halfway point.

Michigan pressured in the offensive zone, the Gophers couldn’t clear it out after multiple attempts, and the Wolverines made them pay 7:00 into the period.

Thomas Bordeleau forced junior Jackson LaCombe to cough the puck up in front of Minnesota’s net. Then Michael Pastujov gathered the loose puck at a point-blank spot and buried it past Close to extend Michigan’s lead to 3-1.

After firing a shot past Close from the left faceoff circle, Nick Blankenburg added to the Wolverines’ lead to cement Michigan’s 4-1 victory with 7:38 remaining in the third period.

Minnesota played a great game Saturday, but just a few costly mistakes changed the game’s outcome, and the Gophers have now split seven of their last eight series.

“I have liked us since we came back from Christmas [break]. We’re in a good sport right now.” Motzko said of his team, who is 4-2 in 2022. “Our kids put up a fight tonight. We just needed to find a way to score a goal tonight.”

In Michigan’s victory, their goaltender Erik Portillo backstopped them as he made 39 saves with a .975 save percentage.

“I thought we were an unbelievable team,” Brodzinski said of Minnesota’s performances this weekend. “Justen Close is an unbelievable goalie. I thought we hung him out to dry a couple of times today. We take that to heart. I think we’re going to be a lot better going on.”

The Gophers will head on the road for their next series as they face Notre Dame on Friday, Jan. 28, at 6:30 p.m., and Saturday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m. at Compton Family Ice Arena.

Leading into Friday night’s game, and this weekend, Gophers head coach Bob Motzko wanted his team to ‘settle down.’ No. 11 Minnesota did just that as they battled for over 60 minutes to complete a comeback against No. 3/4 Michigan en route to a 2-1 overtime victory.

“We played a complete game tonight,” Motzko said. “I give our guys an enormous amount of credit. Physical, they had to be. We got back into lanes. We didn’t make things easy for them, and that’s one thing you have to do against them because they’re so dangerous.”

The Gophers (14-9) played arguably one of their best games this season. Minnesota was doing all the right things to win the game – blocking shots, relentless attack, stingy defense, and strong goaltending.

In his third career start between the pipes, junior Justen Close backstopped Minnesota after making a career-high 26 saves with a .963 save percentage and a handful of huge saves.

“He was incredible, some of the saves he made,” junior co-captain Ben Meyers said. “They got a talented team, so to hold them to one goal is just a great job for him.”

Late in the third, Michigan’s Jacob Truscott received a five-minute major and game misconduct for hitting from behind with 2:09 remaining. Then with 12.1 remaining in the game, the referees disallowed a Gophers’ goal after senior Blake McLaughin kicked in the puck, and the game went to overtime.

“We had to stay composed. That wasn’t the outcome we wanted on that call,” freshman Matthew Knies said. “We put our heads down and went back to work. Simplified our game.”

Meyers later cemented the win for Minnesota on the power play just 1:09 into overtime on a tic-tac-toe play.

Freshman Chaz Lucius passed the puck to junior Jackson LaCombe at the top of the slot. Then, Lacombe faked a slapshot and fed a no-look pass to Meyers, who buried the puck into the net off a one-timer from the right faceoff circle to score his team-leading 10th goal this season.

“They’re both [Lucius and Meyers] are incredible players,” Knies said. “I’m really fortunate to play with them…to play alongside those two, it’s definitely helped me.”
Meyers’ power play tally marks the end of a scoreless drought on the man advantage. Previously, the Gophers did not convert their last 17 power plays. Their game against Michigan State on Saturday, Jan. 8, was the last time they recorded a power play goal.

The overtime win comes crucial for Minnesota as they earn an extra point in the Big Ten standings to reach 27. They trail Michigan by three points, with game two set for Saturday night.

Minnesota played strong throughout the majority of the game. In the first period, although their power play went 0/3 in the first period, they were winning puck battles, making it difficult for Michigan to get any offensive zone time and forcing the Wolverines to make mistakes.

The Gophers were also blocking shots and minimized high-quality scoring chances for the Wolverines. Minnesota killed a power play and held Michigan’s star-studded offensive group to just four shots in the period as it took them 6:33 to record their first shot on goal.

The second period of play was full of back-and-forth action as the goalie battle continued. Both teams found opportunities throughout the first 10 minutes, but they were all shut down by Close or Erik Portillo for Michigan.

With 7:36 remaining in the second, Michigan struck first as Dylan Duke ripped home a point-blank shot in front of Minnesota’s net off a rebound to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.

Outside of Duke’s tally, the Gophers had another strong period. They had a power play that they did not convert late in the second, but they had a few more quality looks, highlighted by a point-blank chance from Knies.

But Knies was not satisfied. Just 4:43 into the third period, the 6-foot-3-inch forward buried a one-time pass from Lucius on a sharp angle from nearly the goal line to tie the game at 1-1. The equalizer marked sophomore Carl Fish’s first point this season as he recorded the secondary assist on the play.

Against a lethal Michigan offensive attack, the Gophers penalty kill reached perfection as they killed all three of the Wolverines’ power plays.

“Both teams seemed to have their systems dialed in,” Meyers said. “Expect the same [Saturday night].”

The Gophers will host Michigan for game two on Saturday, Jan. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at 3M Arena at Mariucci.