The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's hockey team played one period and one minute of great hockey Saturday afternoon, defeating Penn State 3-2 and eliminating the Nittany Lions from the Big Ten Tournament. The Gophers advance to the Big Ten semifinals thanks to No. 7 seed Ohio State's win over No. 2 seed Wisconsin, and Minnesota hosts No. 4 seed Michigan on Saturday night at 3M Arena in Mariucci. It turns out.
After a fairly comfortable 5-1 win in the series opener on Friday, the Gophers were hoping for a similar story on Saturday. But as Bob Motzko said in a radio interview after Friday's win, it's always difficult to end a team's season, and he knew Penn State would come rushing back. . However, the first period belonged to the black and white team instead of the blue, maroon, and gold.
Just 98 seconds into the game, Minnesota State took the lead when Jackson Nelson hit a top-shelf shot past Liam Souliere to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead.
Then the referee show begins. Jimmy Snageld is called for a back-check penalty along the boards 4:07 into the period, and while it was definitely a penalty, most neutral observers think a DQ of the game is justified. I didn't think so. The referees disagreed, and Minnesota would have to play the rest of the game without its star player. During the major penalty kill, the Gophers were whistled for not one, but two highly questionable cross-checking penalties. Minnesota needed him to shut out his 5×3 over three minutes, but they were successful thanks to some big saves from Justen Crouse. After this game, the Gophers regained momentum and tied the score with less than 39 seconds left on the referee's decision to penalize Penn State. Nelson scored his second goal of the game on a power play off a feed from Luke Middelstad, giving Minnesota a 2-0 lead. That's how the first period ended, and the Gophers maintained their momentum until the end of the game.
Penn State came out looking like a team desperate to save its season in the second period, but the Gophers…didn't. The Gophers looked a step behind throughout the period and couldn't find a way to mount an attack. Penn State took advantage of the Gophers' loose play and outscored Minnesota 13-3 in the second period, tying the game at two points by the end of the period. The third season will probably be about the same. Penn State continued to press, but the only reason they couldn't take the lead was poor play from Crows. Minnesota just couldn't seem to get their offense going and it certainly felt like they were heading into Game 3.
But puck luck exists, and the Gophers took advantage of it just once. Penn State appeared to take the lead with 5:48 left in the game, but Minnesota contested the play as offside. Upon review, the puck got caught on a lineman's skate and failed to fully enter the zone in time, resulting in the play being ruled offside and the goal revoked. Minnesota HD escaped one bullet.
They decide to push their luck even further and end up winning the game. With just over a minute left in the game, Aaron Hugelin forced a turnover in the Penn State zone and the puck bounced to the right and hit Brody Lamb. Lamb skated and threw the puck toward the net, which bounced off Hueguelin's stick and slipped past Soulier to give the Gophers the lead with 1:08 remaining. Minnesota would endure yet another run by Penn State, which had its goaltender pulled, and would sneak away with a 3-2 lead. Kroos finished with a career-high 46 saves on 48 shots.
Minnesota trailed 33-6 in the final two periods, but Crows kept the game going until the Gophers scored the final goal. Sometimes it's better to be lucky. While Penn State's season is over, Minnesota advances to the Big Ten semifinals.
That semifinal was on the Gophers' home ice, thanks to seventh-seeded Ohio State winning Games 1 and 3 in Madison and defeating the second-seeded Wisconsin Badgers in the series 2-1. I will be going back. Ohio State will advance to play the top-seeded Michigan State Spartans, who received a bye in the opening game, and the fourth-seeded Michigan State Wolverines, who defeated Notre Dame, will return to Minneapolis. . The Gophers and Wolverines wrapped up the regular season in Mariucci this past weekend. The Gophers won on Friday, coming back from a three-point deficit to force overtime, but lost 6-5 to Michigan on Saturday. It was also a rematch of the past two Big Ten Championship games at Mariucci, both won by the Wolverines.
Saturday's semifinals will be played at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. We'll have a full preview on TDG later this week.
