The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team opened their season against their neighboring Division 1 school, the University of St. Thomas. The Tommies are in their second season competing in NCAA Division 1 hockey where they received many Minnesota natives transfer to their team to play in the State of Hockey again.
Opening night for the Gophers and the Tommies took place at the Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild, where the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four tournament will take place, in which the Gophers have unfinished business to take care of in St. Paul this April after finishing runner-up in Tampa, Florida last season.
Friday night, the Golden Gophers started the game with a hot start scoring two goals in the first period. Aaron Huglen opened the scoring for the Gophers 8 minutes into the game. Late in the first period, Minnesota capitalized on the powerplay with a goal by Jaxon Nelson assisted by freshmen Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel.
In the second period, the University of St. Thomas looked to be a completely different team while stalemating the Gophers’ offense. Opening the scoring for the Tommies was Mack Byers while shorthanded three minutes into the second period. Following Byers, the Tommies had goals scored by Liam Malmquist and Luke Manning to give UST a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.
Starting the third period, the Tommies’ offense came out hot once again with a goal just 27 seconds into the final frame giving UST a 4-2 lead. Shortly following the Tommie goal, the Gophers drew a powerplay and answered with their leading scorer, Sophomore Jimmy Snuggerud. Snuggerud sparked life into the Gophers’ offense and Brody Lamb followed Snuggerud to account for two more goals to give the Gophers a 5-4 lead. With 7 minutes remaining in the game, UST tied the game with a goal from Lucas Wahlin to force overtime.
The three-on-three overtime period did not last very long once the Gophers gained possession of the puck. The Gophers leading scorer answered once again to give the Gophers a 6-5 win in the overtime period.
Saturday night the Gophers hosted the Tommies at 3M Mariucci Arena for their home opener of the season. With 9,862 fans in attendance at the newly remodeled Gophers home arena, the Gophers answered any uncertainty with their defensive play from Friday night.
After a scoreless first period, the Gophers found the back of the Tommie’s net with a powerplay goal by Jimmy Snuggerud with assists going to Bryce Brodzinski and Oliver Moore. Later in the period, Snuggerud had another Gopher goal giving the Maroon and Gold a 2-0 lead over the Gophers giving the assist to Brody Lamb.
After a successful defensive effort through the first two periods, Minnesota went to the locker room with a two-goal lead heading into the third period. After the first 18 minutes in the third period, St. Thomas pulled their goalie to gain the man advantage to try and score in the final minutes of the game. Fortunately for the Gophers, Brody Lamb was able to score the third goal of the game to put an end to the two-game series against the University of St. Thomas, where the Gophers had the upper hand in both games.
After the first two games of the season, the University of Minnesota is led by Jimmy Snuggerud with 4 goals and 1 assist, Brody Lamb 3 goals and 1 assist, and goaltender Justen Close with 2 wins, 2.47 GAA, and a .917 save percentage.
Minnesota will be back in action this weekend playing against a common foe, the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
