University of Minnesota Athletics

DULUTH, Minn. – A four-goal opening period set the tone for the evening and seven different players found the net as the No. 6 Minnesota men's hockey team earned a 7-5 non-conference road win at AMSOIL Arena in Minnesota Duluth on Friday night secured.

Minnesota (2-1-0 overall) picked up its first win at UMD (1-3-0 overall), a team that had been receiving votes in the national polls since October 15, 2011, thanks to the multi-point efforts of Jimmy Clark, Brody Lamb, Oliver Moore, Cal ThomasAnd Matthew Wood. Freshmen Brodie Ziemer and Erik Påhlsson scored their first NCAA goals in the win, while 14 players found their names on the visitors' scorers list.

The Gophers scored on their first shot of the night 94 seconds into the game, when Ziemer took a pass from Moore at the blue line and went around the UMD defender before firing a shot past the goaltender. Two minutes later, Clark drew a penalty in the offensive zone and the Maroon and Gold took advantage of the man advantage. Lamb fought his way to the crease and pounced on a rebound, making the lead 2-0 less than five minutes after the puck was dropped.

The strong Minnesota forecheck led to another score as Clark picked up and found a loose puck Connor Kurth along the goal line. The junior made a pass onto Wood's tape in front of the net and the freshman missed a second chance. The visitors took the lead with 2:15 left in the fourth period when Wood threaded a pass to the point Sam Rinzel waited. The sophomore blasted a shot to the far post, giving the Gophers a 4-0 lead through 20 minutes, with a 23-4 advantage in shots on goal.

With the Bulldogs desperately needing a spark in the second stanza, they went for a power play, but were denied the chance. The home team used the momentum of the man advantage to get on the scoreboard through a scramble in the slot and reduce the deficit to 4-1. Minnesota got right back to work, attacking the UMD net and using the extended zone time to force the Bulldogs into a timeout after a hit late in the period. The Gophers regained their four-goal lead when a shot from Thomas ricocheted high into the net with 4:19 left. Aaron Huglen jumped on the puck and found the back of the net, giving the Maroon and Gold a 5-1 lead at the break.

In a wild six-goal third period, the Bulldogs held off an early Gophers attack and a shot bounced off the goalie's mask Nathan Aireyscored on the rebound for a 5-2 lead. Wood almost helped the visitors increase the lead back to four when his attempt at a 3-on-1 break failed at the left post. UMD continued to fight back, scoring a power play goal that was deflected off a Minnesota player with seven minutes left in the game, making it a two-goal contest.

Less than two minutes after the Bulldogs' goal, Moore and Påhlsson scored goals 27 seconds apart late in the quarter to grow the lead back to 7-3. UMD scored two goals in the final four minutes to bring the score closer before the Gophers escaped with a 7-5 win.

Airey finished the night by stopping 17 shots to secure his second win in as many starts of the 2024-25 season.

Remarkable

Minnesota's top offensive line of Kurth, Clark and Wood finished with six points, the second time this year with at least that many points… Clark made the first three-point night of his career on Friday with three helpers in the first period and has now five assists in three games… Ziemer scored his first collegiate goal with the opening goal and Påhlsson capped the night with the first of his career… For the second time this season, Wood scored a multi-pointer and scored with the Maroon and Gold in the net for the first time…Lamb buried his first power play goal of the year and his sixth career goal and added a helper on the Gophers' final goal for his ninth career multi-point effort…Rinzel scored his second This year already matched his goal total from his first season and is the only Gopher to score a point in all three contests this year…Huglen scored his first goal of the season and his 28th of a career…Moore dished out his second Helper before scoring in the third, and has a point in two of three games… It was the second multi-point game of Thomas' career when he scored his first two points of the season and now has a point in all three career games against UMD … The Gophers scored seven goals in just three games for the second time this year … All nineteen skaters who played Saturday had a shot on goal for Minnesota in the win. .. The Maroon and Gold won at UMD for the first time since October 15, 2011 by a margin of 0-5-2.

Comments from coach Motzko

“I liked a lot about our team for 60 minutes. But I thought they made some crazy jumps to get them back in the game,” Minnesota’s head coach said Bob Motzko said. “Every time the momentum changed we fought it back and it got a little messy at the end, but I like what we did tonight.”

Next: Away at Minnesota Duluth (October 19)

The Gophers and Bulldogs conclude the non-conference series Saturday night with a puck drop scheduled for 6 p.m., broadcast live on FOX9+ and broadcast via audio on the Gopher Radio Network.