Gophers Bounce Back from Friday Fail to Trounce Buckeyes 6-1

Columbus, OH – Following what coach Bob Motzko characterized as the worst performance by a Gopher team that he’d seen in his seven seasons as head coach, everyone was curious what to expect in Saturday’s rubber match against #11 Ohio State.

Fortunately for Minnesota fans, the Gophers returned to normal.

After a sluggish 5-1 defeat Friday afternoon, the #3 Minnesota Gophers (18-4-2 Overall (1-1 OT), 8-2-1-1 B1G) were on a mission Saturday, dismantling the #11 Ohio State Buckeyes (15-6-1 (2-1), 6-3-2-1) to the tune of a 6-1 shellacking. Mike Koster scored twice to pace the Gophers, who went 3-4 on the powerplay on the night.

It was a quick start for Minnesota, with Koster getting the Gophers an early 1-0 lead on the powerplay after Ohio State took a too-many-men penalty just 1:26 into the contest. The message from the coaching staff seems to have been ‘just get the puck on net’, and that’s exactly what Koster did on the goal – his blueline slapper picked the right corner and gave Minnesota the start they were looking for after Friday’s debacle.

The Gophers really put their feet down five minutes later, when midway through the period Mason Nevers and Connor Kurth scored just 15 seconds apart to give Minnesota a huge 3-0 lead.

The Maroon and Gold expanded the lead to 5-0 in the second period with two powerplay goals from Koster (again) and Jimmy Snuggerud. Snuggerud’s goal was a beauty, a one-time snapshot off a perfect no-look seam pass from Matthew Wood.

The Gophers’ Ryan Chesley scored his seventh goal of the season midway through the third to give Minnesota a 6-0 lead, but Chesley took a late penalty that resulted in Ohio State’s Gunnarwolfe Fontaine’s powerplay goal late in the third to end Liam Souliere’s shutout bid and close out the scoring at 6-1.

The most intriguing thing to come out of the weekend is perhaps the first real movement in the goaltender battle between Minnesota’s Nathan Airey and Liam Souliere. Airey struggled Friday in a losing effort (his first loss of the season), while Souliere was outstanding Saturday night. Coach Motzko has been happy to rotate the two goalies most of the season… but does Souliere now earn a full weekend to see if he can stake claim as the #1 goalie (like Airey got earlier in the season)? Knowing Motzko, he’s not going to like answering those questions from the media this week, but the question is out there and Bob needs to address it at some point. Souliere is third in the nation in goals against average (1.59) and fifth in save percentage (0.938). Airey’s numbers are also impressive, at 2.26 GAA and 0.910 Sv%.

Next on the docket for Minnesota is a home weekend against Notre Dame. The Irish have struggled in Jeff Jackson’s final year as head coach, but are coming off a 7-4 win against Michigan. Minnesota swept Notre Dame in late November in South Bend (the same weekend that Airey got both starts).