Gophers Outclassed (Once Again) In Madison, Drop B1G Opener 5-2
Madison, WI – We’re nine games into the 2025-2026 season, and the Minnesota Gophers have only won two of them.
A disturbing start for the Maroon & Gold showed no signs of turning around Thursday night in Madison, as the Golden Gophers (2-6-1 Overall, 0-1-0-0 B1G) lost to the Wisconsin Badgers (5-0-2, 1-0-0-0) 5-2 to open their Big Ten season.
A scoreless first period gave way to an exciting second, as the teams traded five goals in the middle frame. Wisconsin’s Christian Fitzgerald scored the first of his hat-trick of goals at 5:26 on the power play to give the home Badgers the first lead of the game. Minnesota’s Mason Moe answered back less than a minute later with an unassisted goal at 6:05 to tie the game at 1-1.
Wisconsin took the lead for good on goals less than a minute apart in the middle of the period, as Blake Montgomery and Logan Hensler scored at 11:13 and 11:56 respectively to put UW up 3-1 halfway through the game.
Minnesota’s Brodie Ziemer tried to claw the Gophers back into it with a late-period powerplay goal to narrow the Badger lead to 3-2 heading into the 3rd, but the Maroon & Gold failed to mount much of a push in the 3rd period, mustering only 3 shots on goal in the final stanza. Wisconsin’s Fitzgerald added two more goals in the third period to complete his hat trick, and the Gophers skated away with a 5-2 loss. Luca Di Pasquo took the L in net for Minnesota, making 38 saves on 43 Badger shots.
It’s not so much that the Gophers have lost some games against quality opponents early on, but it’s how they are losing those games. Minnesota was outshot 43-16 Thursday night, and have been outshot in 6 of their 9 games on the season. The Gophers have posted less than 20 shots in 5 games so far, and 5 or less shots in a period a staggering 12 of 27 periods (44%), eclipsing 10 shots in a period just 6 times (22% of periods played). The team struggles to get out of its own defensive zone, and struggles generating consistent zone time and offensive output.
The team lost a lot of offense from last season’s roster, and is young, so there is still hope for improvement. But they are not playing at the level of their competition yet, and the coaching staff would appear to have some hard work on their hands to get this team whipped into shape for a playoff push in the second half of the year.
The Gophers have another chance to right the ship Saturday, as they take on the Badgers once again and try to avoid losing their fourth game in a row. The 6PM puck drop streams on B1G+ and can be heard on 1130AM/103.5FM.