Di Pasquo Stands Tall as Gophers Battle No. 1 Wisconsin to a Tie

Luca Di Pasquo was the story of the night at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Thursday, turning aside 41 shots as the Minnesota Golden Gophers battled the top ranked Wisconsin Badgers to a 1-1 tie. Wisconsin eventually claimed the extra Big Ten point with a shootout victory, but it took a tremendous effort from the senior goaltender to keep Minnesota in the game.

The Gophers were under pressure from the opening minutes as Wisconsin came out attacking. Di Pasquo was busy early, stopping eight shots in the first five minutes, including a dangerous odd man rush.

Minnesota got an opportunity to take control when a hit from behind by Wisconsin’s Grady Deering resulted in a five minute major penalty. The Gophers eventually made the Badgers pay.

At 9:43 of the first period, Tarin Smith sent a cross ice pass to Mason Moe, who jumped into the play and fired a shot over the glove of Wisconsin goaltender Alexis Cournoyer to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead.

The Gophers carried that lead into the second period, but Wisconsin gradually took control of the game. The Badgers spent much of the period in the Minnesota zone, eventually finding the equalizer at 6:52 when Zach Wooten finished a pass from behind the net by JJ Wiebusch.

Wisconsin outshot Minnesota 17-5 in the second period, but Di Pasquo continued to make the necessary stops to keep the game tied. The Gophers also received some help from their defense, which cleared a pair of pucks from the blue paint.

The pressure continued in the third period. Wisconsin outshot Minnesota 11-2, but the Gophers nearly reclaimed the lead midway through the frame when Smith’s shot from the point rang off the crossbar.

Neither team could find the go ahead goal, sending the game to overtime.

The extra session featured opportunities at both ends, with Di Pasquo continuing to turn away the Badgers. Minnesota also had reason to be frustrated with the officiating after Tarin Smith was tripped while carrying the puck up the ice, a play that went unnoticed by the officials.

Following the game, Brett Larson addressed the missed calls throughout the night, including the incident involving Smith in overtime.

Obviously the one in overtime… must have been just human error and they missed it somehow

Brett Larson

Neither team could break the deadlock in overtime, and the game headed to a shootout.

Wisconsin’s Bruno Idzan scored on the Badgers’ first attempt, getting around Di Pasquo with a backhand move. Cournoyer then stopped all three Minnesota shooters to secure the extra conference point for Wisconsin.

For Minnesota, the result was another hard fought point against a highly ranked opponent, but the night belonged to Di Pasquo. His 41 saves included double digit stops in all three periods, with 16 coming in the second. It was the fifth time in his career that he has recorded at least 40 saves in a game.

Larson acknowledged just how much his team relied on its goaltender and the defensive effort in front of him.

“Obviously, as you can see, (Wisconsin) owned a lot of the offensive territory and spent a ton of time on our end. I have to give our guys a ton of credit because, boy, we were eating pucks and blocking shots and collapsing and helping Luca around the net in the blue paint,” Larson said.

“Unfortunately, that gave us no energy to go on offense. It turned into a game where we just had to defend and flip it out and change.”

Minnesota will have another opportunity against the Badgers on Saturday night when the two teams close out the weekend series at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. as the Gophers host their annual Gold Out game.

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