Opportunistic Ohio State Thrashes Gophers 5-1 Friday Afternoon

Columbus, OH – The Minnesota Gophers welcomed back Oliver Moore, Brodie Ziemer, and Mason Nevers to their lineup, marking the first time since Minnesota’s 6-0 win over Michigan on 12/6 that the Maroon and Gold fielded a full roster.

Based on the way the game turned out, it seems like Minnesota may not have been at full strength even with their full complement.

After building a 2-0 lead through two periods, the #11 Ohio State Buckeyes (15-5-1 Overall (2-1 OT), 6-2-2-1 B1G) scored twice on an early third period five-minute major to seal the deal on the third regulation loss of the season for the #3 Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-4-2 (1-1), 7-2-1-1).

The story of the game is one of missed opportunities for Minnesota. The Gophers were on their heels to start, but earned a powerplay when Joe Dunlap went off for tripping at 7:54 of the opening period. Minnesota was not able to score on the man advantage, and less than two minutes later it was Ohio State opening the scoring when Max Montes gave the Buckeyes a 1-0 lead at 11:36 of the period.

Ohio State doubled its lead 5:19 into the second period when Jake Rozzi scored his third of the year to make it 2-0. Minnesota finally started finding its footing, and got a golden opportunity to get on the board when William Smith cross-checked Connor Kurth in the head and received a five-minute major and game misconduct, giving Minnesota a major powerplay down 2-0 with a chance to get back into the game.

The Gopher powerplay couldn’t get anything going, though, and they entered the second intermission down 2-0.

Early in the third, it was the Buckeyes that got an opportunity to break the game open, and they did not miss. Brodie Ziemer was called for a (weak, according to this writer’s eyes) five-minute major of his own, sending Ohio State to the powerplay just 45 seconds into the final frame. The Buckeyes used the powerplay to put the game away, with Gunnarwolfe Fontaine and Nathan McBrayer scoring one minute apart to increase Ohio State’s lead to 4-0. After the fourth goal, Bob Motzko pulled goalie Nathan Airey and put Liam Souliere in for the final 17:29.

The Gophers got on the board at 9:01 when Sam Rinzel scored his ninth of the year to pull Minnesota within three at 4-1. The Maroon and Gold pulled Souliere early to try to get back into it, but Davis Burnside scored on the empty net at 13:21 of the period to end the scoring at 5-1.

Minnesota will try to get back on the horse tomorrow at 5:30 central time against these same Buckeyes.