Gophers men’s hockey team rolls early, begins back-to-back series with victory over Minnesota Duluth

DULUTH – The Gophers started out aggressive and took up all the space on the ice in a 7-5 win Friday over slow-starting Minnesota Duluth at Amsoil Arena — the opener of a two-game series here rather than the traditional home-and-home series that these two teams have played for more than a decade.

Sixth-ranked Minnesota scored four unanswered goals in the first period, two in the first five minutes, and gave up just four shots on goal before the first intermission. The Bulldogs responded late in the game with both teams racking up goal after goal in the final minutes of play.

Freshman Brodie Ziemer's first shot on goal turned into his first career goal. It came off a pass centered by Oliver Moore that Ziemer sent over UMD goalie Adam Gajan's shoulder to the right corner. Junior Brody Lamb followed with a wide-open shot on the right side of the net during a power play.

Gophers junior Matthew Wood scored off a rebound off Gajan's pads midway through the period, then sophomore Sam Rinzel gave the Gophers a 4-0 advantage with a shot to the high right corner.

Bulldogs junior defenseman Aiden Dubinsky caught a loose puck before it left the zone and scored just more than three minutes into the second period, Minnesota Duluth's lone goal of the game at the start of the second period.

The Gophers followed with a goal by senior Aaron Huglen, who was centered at the right time-right place to score with an assist by junior Cal Thomas.

Dubinsky scored again for the Bulldogs after the puck bounced off Gophers goalie Nathan Airey's facemask and he lost sight of it. Dubinsky caught the rebound and put it past him, bringing the score to 5-2.

Dominic James, a UMD senior, scored a power-play goal. Then the Gophers tacked on two quick goals — one by Moore, one by freshman Erik Pahlsson — before UMD's Joe Molenaar scored on Airey's left side and then his teammate Jayson Shaugabay spun around and added another.

This two-game series at Amsoil Arena is uncommon for these two teams. For the past decade-plus, when the Gophers and Bulldogs have faced off for back-to-back games it's been a home-and-home series. The plan is to stick with this template for at least the next three seasons, Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said during a media conference earlier this week. He said it's something Gophers coach Bob Motzko has wanted and he's fine with it, too.

And it's good for attendance tallies. The top five hockey crowds at Amsoil Arena have been when UMD hosts the Gophers. There were 7,596 people at a game in 2021 — a program record for the Bulldogs.

Last weekend, the Gophers finished 1-1 in the Ice Breaker Tournament in Las Vegas. They eased past Air Force 7-1, behind Connor Kurth, who had three goals and an assist. They lost to Omaha 2-1 in overtime during the championship game the next day. UMD split a series at Massachusetts Lowell, winning the opening game 4-2, then losing 4-1 the next day.

"The better team won," Sandelin said earlier this week. "I thought we were careless with the puck and didn't have any pushback, which bothered me. So we got what we got and, like I said, the better team won Saturday."