Gophers Complete Sweep of St. Thomas with 3-0 Shutout
Minneapolis, MN – Bob Motzko says that Jimmy Snuggerud was “born to score goals.”
He lived up to that Saturday night.
The sophomore forward was all the offense the Gophers would need, as Minnesota (2-0-0) swept past St. Thomas (1-3-0) by a 3-0 score behind Snuggerud’s pair of goals and Justen Close’s 10th career shutout.
The two teams played it tight to the chest in the first period, with no goals being scored even though both teams had quality chances throughout the opening stanza.
After a similarly tense opening to the second, Snuggerud scored the game-winning goal at 13:45 of the middle frame. His powerplay wrister on a cross-ice feed gave Minnesota a slim 1-0 lead.
After plenty of back-and-forth action throughout the rest of the second and early third, Snuggerud tacked on his own insurance goal just shy of the 10 minute mark in the final period to put the Gophers ahead 2-0. Brody Lamb added an empty netter at 19:17, and Minnesota won 3-0 for its second win of the season. The shutout was Justen Close’s 10th as a Gopher netminder, in just his 57th career start.
Up next for the Gophers is a trip up to Grand Forks. Minnesota takes on a much-improved Fighting Hawks squad in this classic rivalry matchup. Both games can be seen on Fox 9+ and heard on AM1130 / FM103.5.