Notre Dame Bounces Gophers 4-3 in OT as Refs Swallow the Whistles Late

Minneapolis, MN – In Friday night’s tilt between the Minnesota Gophers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Minnesota built a huge early lead and salted the clock away in the final 40 minutes.

In Saturday’s series finale, the Gophers chased the Irish the whole way.

Former UMD Bulldog Blake Biondi beat Gopher goalie Liam Souliere 3:46 into the overtime period as the Minnesota Gophers (19-5-2 Overall (1-2 OT), 9-2-1-2 B1G) fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-15-1 (2-2), 1-10-3-2) by a 4-3 score.

As is always the case in college hockey, Notre Dame played a much better hockey game Saturday night after getting shellacked Friday. The Irish took the early lead (and never trailed in the game) on an Ian Murphy tip past Souliere 7:43 into the first period. Minnesota’s Jimmy Snuggerud scored his 15th goal of the year about five minutes later at 12:33 of the first on a mammoth individual effort – Snuggerud beat his defender at the right-wing blueline and made a power move to the front of the net, before beating ND goalie Owen Say five-hole to tie the game at 1-1.

Notre Dame took another lead early in the second period when Carter Slaggert scored 2:25 into the middle stanza to give the Irish another one-goal lead at 2-1. Luke Mittelstadt scored his first goal of the season (!) on a breakaway (!!) at 5:30 of the second to tie the game again at 2-2. At 10:54 of the second, Notre Dame’s Cole Knuble scored to give the Irish the lead again at 3-2, which is where the two teams ended after the second period.

In the third, Minnesota looked like they wanted to win the game, and the Gophers got off to a good start when Oliver Moore found Matthew Wood for a goal 7:14 into the period to tie the game at 3-3. After the tying goal, the Gophers turned it up, applying loads of pressure to Notre Dame and forcing the Irish into some questionable decisions.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, the referees chose to swallow the whistles in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Notre Dame tripped Gopher forwards with the puck in the offensive zone right in front of the officials multiple times as the clock wound down, but Minnesota didn’t get any calls, and the game advanced into overtime with the teams tied at 3-3.

In the 3-on-3 overtime, the most important play is the opening faceoff – the team that wins that draw controls the puck, and often can control for long stretches. In Saturday night’s game, Notre Dame won the draw, and Minnesota barely touched the puck after that. The Irish scored at 3:46 of the OT and had about 3:43 of possession, but the winning goal was not without controversy. Once the Gophers finally won the puck, Ryan Chesley tried to skate the puck out of Minnesota’s defensive zone, but was held / interfered with by the Notre Dame player defending him, resulting in a turnover that ultimately became the Biondi game-winner. As was the case late in the third, no penalty was called on the play. The fans booed the referees heartily, but boos don’t impact the game, and at the end of the day it was a 4-3 Irish OT win.

The bitter taste of defeat for Minnesota sets up an absolutely massive series next weekend, as the #3 Gophers head to East Lansing to take on the #2 Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans took 4/6 points in their home-and-home matchup against Michigan this weekend, losing in OT in Ann Arbor Friday before winning handily in East Lansing Saturday night.

The Gophers and Spartans are separated by just one point in the Big Ten standings, so next weekend will go a long way towards determining which team ends up winning the league title. When they last met, Minnesota lost in a shootout Friday and let a two-goal lead slip away in the third period Saturday as the Spartans took five-of-six points at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers have a full roster this time around, so we’ll see if they can hold up better against a very strong MSU attack.

Friday’s game is a 6PM start, while Saturday’s rubber match starts at 5PM.