Gophers Get 16-17 Season Off on the Right Foot
Defensemen, Freshmen Power Minnesota to 6-0 Victory
Anchorage, Alaska – The Minnesota Golden Gophers opened last season at home against Vermont, and went down in a disappointing 3-0 game.
This year started out a little better.
Minnesota (1-0-0 Overall) got off to a solid start, beating their former WCHA foes the University of Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves 6-0.
The Gophers got on the board in the first period, with freshman defenseman Ryan Zuhlsdorf scoring the first Gopher goal of the year, and the first goal of Zuhlsdorf’s young college career. Zuhlsdorf took a drop pass from a finally injury-free Connor Reilly and buried it. Tyler Sheehy got the second assist on the goal at 11:42 of the opening frame.
Minnesota bookended the second with goals. Senior defenseman Jake Bischoff took yet another drop pass from Connor Reilly and scored early at 1:35. Tyler Sheehy again was credited with the second assist. Junior Gates scored late at 18:13, with Jack Ramsey and Jack Sadek on the assists.
The third period was again all Minnesota, with goals from Jake Bischoff (Sheehy, Reilly), freshman Rem Pitlick (Bristedt, Lettieri), and Junior Gates (Cammarata, Zuhlsdorf). Anchorage-native Eric Schierhorn had to make a couple big saves just before the buzzer to preserve the shutout in front of a hometown crowd.
Despite the offensive outburst, the Gophers went 0-2 on the power play, including a five-minute major that the Seawolves were able to kill off.
Minnesota took five minor penalties themselves, though Anchorage could not convert on their opportunities.
The Gophers are off Saturday before playing the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks Sunday evening at 4:30 PM Alaska Time / 7:30 PM Central.
Notes
Gopher Point-getters: Jake Bischoff (2G-0A), Brent Gates (2-0), Connor Reilly (0-3), Tyler Sheehy (0-3), Ryan Zuhlsdorf (1-1), Rem Pitlick (1-0), Jack Ramsey (0-1), Jack Sadek (0-1), Leon Bristedt (0-1), Vinni Lettieri (0-1), Taylor Cammarata
Final SOG: Gophers 39, Seawolves 14
Eric Schierhorn records his first shutout of the season and