Gophers Sweep to 6-3 Win over Buckeyes

Minneapolis, MN – The Kurth-Clark-Wood line is back, and better than ever.

The trio, which was red-hot early in the year before being split up in The Great Injury Blight in the middle of the year, combined for three goals (Kurth 2, Wood 1) and seven points to lead the Minnesota Gophers (23-7-4 Overall (1-3 OT), 13-3-1-5 B1G) to a 6-3 Saturday victory and series sweep over the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes (20-10-2 (3-1), 11-6-2-3).

The win (and 6 weekend points) moves Minnesota into first place in the Big Ten after a 5-point Penn State weekend over Michigan State.

The Gophers got off to a rip-roaring start in the first period, pouring 17 shots on the Ohio State net. They only could manage one goal, a Connor Kurth tally on a nice pass from Mike Koster at 12:41 of the period.

Minnesota earned three power play opportunities in the opening frame, but despite quality chances they could not beat OSU goalie Logan Terness to extend the lead, and went into the locker room leading only by one goal at 1-0.

However, the Gophers started the second period on a power play after a late first period OSU penalty. Minnesota took advantage of the chance as Oliver Moore scored just 19 seconds into the period to give the Maroon and Gold a big 2-0 lead. The Gophers expanded the lead to 3-0 at 13:41 of the period when Matthew Wood swatted the puck out of the air and past OSU goalie Logan Terness.

The Buckeyes are the #8 team in the country for a reason, though, and refused to give up. OSU scored 36 seconds after Wood’s goal to cut the lead to 3-1, and scored early in the 3rd off a Gopher turnover to get within one at 3-2.

From then on, it was a slugfest to the finish. Connor Kurth scored at 10:35 of the third to give the Gophers another two-goal lead at 4-2. Ohio State answered back at 13:22 to get within one again at 4-3. Minnesota’s Brody Lamb scored on the empty net with 1:36 left in the period to put Minnesota up two again at 5-3.

You’d think it would be over at that point, but not so fast. Ohio State beat Minnesota’s Liam Souliere once again to make it 5-4, but coach Bob Motzko challenged the play for offsides, and after a lengthy review the play was deemed off and the goal was wiped off the board. Jimmy Snuggerud scored another empty netter with 40 seconds left to seal the game at a 6-3 final score.

Souliere improved to 12-5-2 on the season, making 16 saves on only 19 Ohio State shots on goal.

Saturday night’s game was the last home game of the regular season, which means it was senior night for senior center Aaron Huglen. Huglen will be sorely missed by this writer, who loved watching his slick hands and solid two-way center play.

Minnesota will also say goodbye to graduate students Mike Koster and Liam Souliere at the conclusion of the year, but Gopher fans are certainly hoping for a long goodbye for those players.

Up next for Minnesota is an away date with Penn State to close out the regular season. The Gophers are still alive for the Big Ten championship and currently hold a two-point lead in the conference standing. Next weekend, the Gophers have to go into Happy Valley and face a Penn State team that just took 5 out of 6 points from #1 Michigan State in East Lansing in their series this weekend.

Michigan State is the only other team that can win the conference, and they travel to last-place Notre Dame for a set of games next weekend. The Irish have won just one game in regulation in their Big Ten schedule this year, meaning Minnesota needs to take 5 or 6 points to guarantee the title. Michigan State holds the tiebreaker by virtue of winning the regular season series against the Gophers.

Perhaps more importantly, the weekend sweep likely locks the Gophers into a 1 or very high 2 seed in the NCAA tournament. Minnesota is currently #3 overall but hot on the heels of the #2 Spartans, while they have a decent lead over #4 Maine and a more sizable lead over #5 Western Michigan (who is on the verge of being swept by Arizona State as I type this).