MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Irish hockey team closed out their trip to Minnesota Saturday night, ultimately falling to the home Gophers 4-1 in the weekend finale.
Minnesota took an early lead after a turnover behind the Irish net resulted in a chipped shot top-shelf over the glove of Nicholas Kempf.
Shortly after the goal, Carter Slaggert drew a penalty in front of the Minnesota net and the Irish saw their first powerplay opportunity of the night. The Irish managed to generate some offense on the man-advantage but could not break the Gopher netminder prior to the first media timeout of the night and continued to trail the home team by a goal just over seven minutes into the contest.
The Irish nearly had the equalizer with just under four minutes to play in the opening period when Cole Knuble’s shot bounced behind the Gophers’ Luca Di Pasquo in the crease and Cole Brown tried to get his stick on the loose puck but was tangled with a Minnesota defender who cleared it out.
Despite outshooting the Gophers in the first 20 minutes of play, the Irish were still looking for the equalizer at the end of the first frame as they skated to the locker room for the intermission trailing 1-0.
The Irish evened the tally early in the second off the stick of Michael Mastrodomenico – his third of the year. The defenseman’s shot from inside the near circle beat Di Pasquo over the blocker to make it a 1-1 contest just 3:59 into the second stanza.
With the game knotted, the Irish were called for roughing on a scrum next to the Gopher net with the puck frozen and would sit for two. Notre Dame’s penalty kill unit managed to kill off the chance for Minnesota and returned to full strength with both sides looking to break the stalemate.
Next, it was Minnesota who would get called and sent to the box, this time for a high stick near the Irish blueline but Notre Dame could not take advantage of the powerplay and play returned to five-on-five.
A hooking call against the Irish would prove costly as the Gophers capitalized on the man-advantage opportunity at 16:17 of the frame to make it a 2-1 contest. Just over a minute later they further extended their lead to two after a shot from the dot beat Kempf glove-side with 2:27 to play in the second. The score would remain stagnant through the final minutes of the frame as the Irish headed to the second intermission trailing by two.
A pair of unsportsmanlike conduct calls sent a skater from either side to their respective boxes at 1:52 of the third. Ninety seconds elapsed on the four-on-four before the Gophers were tasked with the four-on-three kill following a slashing call.
The Irish saw a few looks at the net during the man-advantage but the powerplay was short lived as a tripping call against Notre Dame negated the final thirty seconds of the Minnesota penalty.
Minnesota further extended their lead at 13:48 of the final period off a breakaway chance beat Kempf in the crease to make it a 4-1 contest.
A pair of late penalties against the Irish at 19:19 of the third gave the home Gophers their fifth powerplay opportunity of the night while the Irish looked to overcome the three-goal deficit.
The Irish managed to chip the puck out of their zone on the penalty kill and the Gophers would hold it in their end until the final horn marking the 4-1 final.
GOALS
- Michael Mastrodomenico scored the team’s lone goal Saturday night after burying a shot from atop the near circle at 3:59 of the second period. Cole Knuble set the senior defenseman up with a pass behind the Gophers’ net to even the tally 1-1. Paul Fischer picked up the second assist on the play.
UP NEXT
The Irish return home next weekend to face-off against top-ranked Michigan State for a two game series November 14-15 inside Compton Family Ice Arena.
Friday’s game, slated for a 7pm puck drop, will be the team’s annual Military Appreciation Night with various recognition and ceremonies throughout the night honoring service members, along with a crowd-sung national anthem prior to puck drop.
The two teams close out the weekend series Saturday with a 6pm start.