Moore’s OT Goal Caps Wild 6-5 Win for Gophers in Denver
Denver, CO – Javon Moore scored with 35 seconds remaining in overtime and Luca Di Pasquo made 47 saves on 52 shots, as the Minnesota Gophers (7-9-1 Overall) won a 6-5 thriller over #4 Denver University (9-4-1) Saturday night.
While Minnesota’s Tate Pritchard put the Maroon & Gold up 1-0 early, the first period quickly became the Di Pasquo show. The Gophers were inundated with shots in the opening 20 minutes, and Di Pasquo was superhuman between the pipes, making 24 saves on 25 Pioneer shots to keep Minnesota in the game. Denver scored in the final minute of the period on the power play to send the teams to the locker rooms tied at 1-1.
The second period was one of Minnesota’s better periods of play this season, given the context. Having almost been shelled out of the building in the first, the Gophers gapped up and started seeing slow but steady success throughout the middle stanza. Minnesota outshot Denver 11-10 in the second, including two late-period goals from the Brody/ies (Lamb from Hendrickson at 11:05, and Ziemer from Lamb and Ludtke at 18:52 on the PP) to give the away Gophers a two-goal lead at 3-1 heading into the third.
The third was a wild one, with six total goals scored leading to crazy momentum changes and swings of emotion. DU’s Samu Salminen scored to get the Pios within one at 3-2 just 4:11 into the period. Minnesota’s Jimmy Clark gave the Gophers their two-goal lead again at 4-2 with an answering goal 1:38 later, and Salminen again tallied less than a minute after that to make it 4-3.
Denver’s stud transfer defenseman Eric Pohlkamp tied the game at 4-4 just past the midway point of the third on a wicked shot following a scrum in front of the Gopher net. In a brand new hockey game, though, Minnesota did not back down. The Gophers drew a penalty late in the 3rd, and LJ Mooney put Minnesota on top 5-4 off a beautiful backhand pass from Ziemer in front.
Not to be outdone, DU scored with the extra attacker with less than a minute left to tie the game at 5-5 and give the fans just a bit more drama in what was already a thrilling game.
In the overtime period, Javon Moore was the hero for Minnesota, beating his defender on a rush up the left wing before firing a hard wrister into the back of the net for the 6-5 Gopher victory.
It’ll be a relatively quick turnaround for Minnesota, who closes out the first half of the season with a Thursday / Friday series at Ohio State. The Buckeyes have struggled out of the gates this season, but will be looking to get right before the holiday break versus the Gophers. Thursday’s game starts at 6:30 Central time, while Friday is a 5pm Central start.