University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, January 15
3M Arena at Mariucci
7:00 PM
University of Minnesota
11-2-0
2
vs
3
Notre Dame
6-6-1
1
2
3
F
Notre Dame
1
1
1
3
Minnesota
1
1
0
2
Photo by: John Autey
‘U’ Drops Series Opener to Notre Dame
1/15/2021 10:04:00 PM | Men's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS – Jackson LaCombe scored his first goal of the year and Sampo Ranta added his Big Ten-leading ninth goal of the season, but it wasn't enough on Friday night as the No. 1 Gopher men's hockey program suffered a 3-2 setback to Notre Dame at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
Minnesota (11-2-0 overall, 9-2-0-0-0-0 Big Ten) jumped out to a one goal lead in each of the first two periods of play only for Notre Dame to find the equalizer twice before notching the deciding goal in a third period that was paced by the play of the Irish.
LaCombe opened the night with a tally at 16:50 of the first period after being set up by Mike Koster and Nathan Burke only for Alex Steeves to score for Notre Dame at 19:28 of the opening stanza. Ranta reclaimed the lead with a goal off a draw from Jaxon Nelson at 1:48 of the second period only for Landon Slaggert to find a power-play goal at 6:23 of the period. Graham Slaggert picked up the deciding goal at 15:17 of the third period.
Notre Dame (6-6-1, 4-4-1-0-1-1) outshot Minnesota 27-19 in the series opener.
Jack LaFontaine (10-2-0) stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced to take the loss for the Gophers while Ryan Bischel (3-4-1) made 17 saves on 19 shots.
Minnesota concludes this weekend's series against Notre Dame on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 5:00 p.m. CT (TV: FOX Sports North; Stream: BTN+/FOX Sports Go; Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM/103.5 FM)
Quotes from Coach
"Notre Dame was the better hockey team tonight," Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. "It's unfortunate because we had two leads in the game. Their fight and their resolve was harder all night, and all three goals were blatant mistakes on our part. We didn't have enough juice to get back in this thing."
Noteworthy
Friday's game marked the 12th time in the last 13 meetings between Minnesota and Notre Dame that the game was decided either in a tie, a one-goal deficit or an empty-net goal…the loss snaps an eight-game winning streak for Minnesota at 3M Arena at Mariucci dating back to last year's Big Ten quarterfinal series against the Irish.
Minnesota (11-2-0 overall, 9-2-0-0-0-0 Big Ten) jumped out to a one goal lead in each of the first two periods of play only for Notre Dame to find the equalizer twice before notching the deciding goal in a third period that was paced by the play of the Irish.
LaCombe opened the night with a tally at 16:50 of the first period after being set up by Mike Koster and Nathan Burke only for Alex Steeves to score for Notre Dame at 19:28 of the opening stanza. Ranta reclaimed the lead with a goal off a draw from Jaxon Nelson at 1:48 of the second period only for Landon Slaggert to find a power-play goal at 6:23 of the period. Graham Slaggert picked up the deciding goal at 15:17 of the third period.
Notre Dame (6-6-1, 4-4-1-0-1-1) outshot Minnesota 27-19 in the series opener.
Jack LaFontaine (10-2-0) stopped 24 of the 27 shots he faced to take the loss for the Gophers while Ryan Bischel (3-4-1) made 17 saves on 19 shots.
Minnesota concludes this weekend's series against Notre Dame on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 5:00 p.m. CT (TV: FOX Sports North; Stream: BTN+/FOX Sports Go; Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM/103.5 FM)
Quotes from Coach
"Notre Dame was the better hockey team tonight," Minnesota head coach Bob Motzko said. "It's unfortunate because we had two leads in the game. Their fight and their resolve was harder all night, and all three goals were blatant mistakes on our part. We didn't have enough juice to get back in this thing."
Noteworthy
Friday's game marked the 12th time in the last 13 meetings between Minnesota and Notre Dame that the game was decided either in a tie, a one-goal deficit or an empty-net goal…the loss snaps an eight-game winning streak for Minnesota at 3M Arena at Mariucci dating back to last year's Big Ten quarterfinal series against the Irish.
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Team Stats
ND
MINN
Shots
27
19
PPG
1
0
SHG
0
0
Penalties
2
1
Penalty Mins
4
2
Faceoffs Won
22
21
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
+1
Goals
1
Sh
4
A
0
+/-
+1
Goals
1
Sh
2
A
0
+/-
+1
Goals
0
Sh
1
A
1
+/-
+1
Goals
0
Sh
0
A
1
Players Mentioned
Forward
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Goaltender
/ Men's HockeyForward
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