Gophers Sweep Penn State and will Host Michigan in Big Ten Semifinal

Minnesota got some help from Ohio State to get one more home game

The Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team played one great period and one minute of great hockey on Saturday afternoon to escape past Penn State 3-2 and sweep the Nittany Lions out of the Big Ten Tournament. The Gophers advanced to the Big Ten Semifinal where thanks to #7 seed Ohio State upsetting #2 Wisconsin, Minnesota will host #4 seed Michigan on Saturday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

After a fairly easy 5-1 win in Friday’s opening game of the series, the Gophers hoped it would be similar on Saturday. But as Bob Motzko put it in his radio interview after Friday’s win, it’s always hard to end a team’s season and he knew Penn State would come out with a lot of fire. But the first period ended up belonging to the team in the black and white, not blue or maroon and gold.

Minnesota would strike first when Jaxon Nelson wristed a shot top shelf past Liam Souliere to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead just 98 seconds into the game.

Then the ref show would begin. Jimmy Snuggerud would get called for a checking from behind penalty along the boards 4:07 into the period that was definitely a penalty, but most neutral observers did not think warranted a game DQ. The referees disagreed and Minnesota would need to play the rest of the game without their star. During the kill of the major penalty the gophers were whistled for not one, but two very questionable cross-checking penalties. Minnesota would need to kill off over three minutes of 5×3 and they did successfully thanks to several big saves by Justen Close. After the kill the Gophers had all of the momentum once again and would cash in when the referees decided to even things up calling Penn State for a pair of penalties in 39 seconds. Nelson would put in his second goal of the game on the power play on a feed from Luke Middelstad to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead. Thats how the first period would end, and the last time the Gophers had any momentum until the final minute of the game.

Penn State came out like a team desperate to save their season on the second period and the Gophers…didn’t. The Gophers looked a step slow the entire period and could not figure out a way to get any offense going. Penn State would take advantage of the Gophers lax play and would tie the game at 2 by the end of the period after outshooting Minnesota 13-3 in the second stanza. The third period would be much of the same. Penn State continued to press and the only reason they did not take a lead was the suberb play of Close. Minnesota could not get any offensive flow going at all, and it sure felt like we were headed for a Game 3.

But, puck luck does exist, and for once the Gophers took advantage. Penn State appeared to have taken a lead with 5:48 left in the game, but Minnesota challenged that the play was offside. Upon review, the puck got stuck on the lineman’s skate and did not fully enter the zone in time and the play was offsides, and the goal was waived off. Minnesota hd escaped one bullet.

They decided to take their luck even further and it would be the eventual game winner. With just over a minute left in the game Aaron Hugelin forced a turnover in the Penn State zone and the puck bounced right to Brody Lamb. Lamb skated in and threw the puck at the net where it landed perfectly on Hugelin’s stick who slid it past Souliere to give the Gophers the lead with 1:08 to play. Minnesota would withstand another flurry by Penn State with the goalie pulled and would sneak away with a 3-2 lead. Close would finish with career high 46 saves on 48 shots.

Minnesota was outshot 33-6 in the final two periods, but Close kept the Gophers in the game until they could score that final goal. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky. Penn State’s season comes to an end, while Minnesota advances to the Big Ten Semifinal.

That semifinal will be back on home ice for the Gophers thanks to #7 see Ohio State winning game 1 and game 3 in Madison to take the series of the #2 seeded Wisconsin Badgers 2-1. Ohio State advanced to play the #1 seed Michigan State Spartans who had an opening round bye, and the #4 seeded Michigan Wolverines who swept Notre Dame will come back to Minneapolis. The Gophers and Wolverines closed out the regular season at Mariucci two weekends ago with the Gophers winning on Friday and then coming back form a three goal deficit to force overtime before losing 6-5 to Michigan on Saturday. It’s also a rematch of the last two Big Ten Championship games at Mariucci both won by the Wolverines.

Saturday’s semifinal will face off at 8 PM and will air on Big Ten Network. We will have a full preview later this week here on TDG.