University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
North Dakota
North Dakota Edges Minnesota 2-1
1/13/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Jan. 13, 2012
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In its first WCHA game of 2012, the fifth-ranked Minnesota men's hockey fell to No. 17 North Dakota 2-1 at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D. UND sophomore Brock Nelson scored the game-winning goal with 3:35 to play in regulation and North Dakota netminder made 25 saves in a winning effort.
"Like all three of the games, it was hard-fought and they made the play late in the game tonight to win it," said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. "Both teams played hard and the goaltenders played well."
In the game's opening moments of the contest, North Dakota leading scorer Danny Kristo got a prime scoring chance in alone on Minnesota goaltender Kent Patterson, but Patterson made a pad save and denied the ensuing rebound.
UND lost Kristo for the game due to a check-from-behind penalty with 1:11 left in the period after the Eden Prairie-native hit Gopher defenseman Ben Marshall deep in the UM zone.
Though both teams put up multiple quality scoring chances in the opening 20 minutes, North Dakota and Minnesota entered the first intermission in a scoreless tie.
UM goaltender Kent Patterson turned away multiple shorthanded opportunities on Kristo's five-minute major including a breakaway by Nelson. Nelson deked right tried to sneak a backhand shot through Patterson's legs, but the senior goalie shut the door.
Minnesota freshman Kyle Rau broke the deadlock 6:29 into the second period with his 13th goal of the season.
Redshirt sophomore Zach Budish fired a quick shot on goal from the top of the right circle and Dell kicked out a rebound to Rau, who snuck his own shot just inside the post to give the Gophers the lead.
North Dakota tied the score with nine seconds left in the frame when an Andrew MacWilliam blast from the point made its way through traffic and over Patterson's shoulder to make it 1-1 entering the third.
After a back-and-forth final period, Nelson beat Patterson five-hole with snapshot after walking out in front with the puck.
With Patterson pulled after head coach Lucia called a timeout with 1:05 to play, the Gophers were unable to re-tie the game despite holding the puck in the zone for a majority of the remaining time.
"Every game is huge," said Patterson, who finished the night with 23 saves. "We have to play every game like it's our last and it was a great game tonight. It was really competitive and we knew it was it was going to be like that coming into this building."
Friday's defeat, along with losses to Northeastern and No. 3 Notre Dame in the past two weeks gave Gophers their third straight loss.
The last time Minnesota lost three games in a row was from Oct. 15-22, 2010 and the last time the Gophers lost three straight games against different opponents was when they finished the 2005-06 season with losses to St. Cloud, Wisconsin, and Holy Cross.
UM will look to earn a split and its first win of 2012 in the weekend finale. The game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.
