University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, December 28
7:00 PM
University of Minnesota
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Bemidji State
8-6-3
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Bemidji State
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Minnesota
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Photo by: Craig Lassig
‘U’ Tops BSU 5-2 for Motzko’s 300th Win
12/28/2019 9:48:00 PM | Men's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS – Bob Motzko earned his 300th career coaching victory on Saturday night as the Gopher Hockey program took down Bemidji State 5-2 to advance to Sunday's Mariucci Classic championship game against St. Cloud State – setting up the first meeting between Motzko and the program he led for 13 years.
Minnesota (6-9-4 overall, 3-4-4-3 Big Ten) snapped a five-game winless drought with its best offensive performance of the season on Saturday night against the Beavers.
The Gophers rallied from a one-goal deficit in the first period and then repeated the performance in the second before tacking on three goals in the third to cruise to a semifinal win.
After Ross Amour scored for the Beavers at 13:33 of the opening stanza, Scott Reedy answered the bell for the Maroon & Gold with his seventh of the season at 16:49 after deflecting a shot from Tyler Nanne. Jonny Sorenson also earned an assist on the goal. Bemidji State reclaimed the lead with a shorthanded goal from Owen Sillinger at 5:20 of the second period only for Garrett Wait to fire the puck home for the second time this season at 14:39 off assists from Ben Meyers and Brannon McManus.
After 40 minutes of back-and-forth battling, the third period favored the Maroon & Gold when it came to finding the back of the net.
Blake McLaughlin scored the eventual game winner at 17:10 of the third stanza with an unassisted tally before Minnesota picked up a pair of empty-net goals. Reedy scored his eighth goal of the year at 18:43 to take over the team goal scoring lead (and record Minnesota's first multi-goal performance of the year) after being set up by Ryan Zuhlsdorf and Wait. Sammy Walker followed up with his sixth of the year at 19:55 with an assist to Ryan Johnson.
Jack LaFontaine improved to 3-5-3 on the year, picking up the win with 28 saves on 30 shots. Zach Driscoll fell to 8-5-2, making 13 saves on 16 shots. Minnesota was outshot 30-18 on the night while going 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play.
Earlier in the afternoon, St. Cloud State opened the Mariucci Classic with a 7-2 win over No. 2 Minnesota State at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Zach Okabe scored his first four goals of the season including the eventual game-winning goal for the Huskies, setting a new Mariucci Classic single-game record for goals. Jami Krannila tied the tournament single-game record with four assists.
Notable
Motzko's 300th career win came on the same night the University of Minnesota honored the late and legendary Doug Woog, who passed away on Dec. 14. Motzko is the third coach with ties to the Gophers to reach 300 career wins after his predecessors in Don Lucia (736 career wins, 457 at Minnesota) and Woog (388 career wins, all at Minnesota).
Quotable
"The players are the ones who get the wins," Motzko said. "I've said it my entire career, "I'm a really good coach when I have really good players," and we do have some really good players, and we're going to keep getting better."
Up Next: Mariucci Classic
Minnesota will look to win its 15th Mariucci Classic title on Sunday night when the Gophers host St. Cloud State at 7:00 p.m. CT at 3M Arena at Mariucci (TV: FOX Sports North PLUS; Stream: FOX Sports Go/TSN App; Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM/103.5 FM). Minnesota State and Bemidji State play in the consolation game at 4:00 p.m. CT (Stream: BTN PLUS).
Minnesota (6-9-4 overall, 3-4-4-3 Big Ten) snapped a five-game winless drought with its best offensive performance of the season on Saturday night against the Beavers.
The Gophers rallied from a one-goal deficit in the first period and then repeated the performance in the second before tacking on three goals in the third to cruise to a semifinal win.
After Ross Amour scored for the Beavers at 13:33 of the opening stanza, Scott Reedy answered the bell for the Maroon & Gold with his seventh of the season at 16:49 after deflecting a shot from Tyler Nanne. Jonny Sorenson also earned an assist on the goal. Bemidji State reclaimed the lead with a shorthanded goal from Owen Sillinger at 5:20 of the second period only for Garrett Wait to fire the puck home for the second time this season at 14:39 off assists from Ben Meyers and Brannon McManus.
After 40 minutes of back-and-forth battling, the third period favored the Maroon & Gold when it came to finding the back of the net.
Blake McLaughlin scored the eventual game winner at 17:10 of the third stanza with an unassisted tally before Minnesota picked up a pair of empty-net goals. Reedy scored his eighth goal of the year at 18:43 to take over the team goal scoring lead (and record Minnesota's first multi-goal performance of the year) after being set up by Ryan Zuhlsdorf and Wait. Sammy Walker followed up with his sixth of the year at 19:55 with an assist to Ryan Johnson.
Jack LaFontaine improved to 3-5-3 on the year, picking up the win with 28 saves on 30 shots. Zach Driscoll fell to 8-5-2, making 13 saves on 16 shots. Minnesota was outshot 30-18 on the night while going 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and 0-for-3 on the power play.
Earlier in the afternoon, St. Cloud State opened the Mariucci Classic with a 7-2 win over No. 2 Minnesota State at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Zach Okabe scored his first four goals of the season including the eventual game-winning goal for the Huskies, setting a new Mariucci Classic single-game record for goals. Jami Krannila tied the tournament single-game record with four assists.
Notable
Motzko's 300th career win came on the same night the University of Minnesota honored the late and legendary Doug Woog, who passed away on Dec. 14. Motzko is the third coach with ties to the Gophers to reach 300 career wins after his predecessors in Don Lucia (736 career wins, 457 at Minnesota) and Woog (388 career wins, all at Minnesota).
Quotable
"The players are the ones who get the wins," Motzko said. "I've said it my entire career, "I'm a really good coach when I have really good players," and we do have some really good players, and we're going to keep getting better."
Up Next: Mariucci Classic
Minnesota will look to win its 15th Mariucci Classic title on Sunday night when the Gophers host St. Cloud State at 7:00 p.m. CT at 3M Arena at Mariucci (TV: FOX Sports North PLUS; Stream: FOX Sports Go/TSN App; Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM/103.5 FM). Minnesota State and Bemidji State play in the consolation game at 4:00 p.m. CT (Stream: BTN PLUS).
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Team Stats
BSU
MINN
Shots
30
18
PPG
0
0
SHG
1
0
Penalties
3
2
Penalty Mins
6
4
Faceoffs Won
22
27
Game Leaders
Skaters
+/-
+2
Goals
2
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
+2
Goals
1
Sh
2
A
1
+/-
+1
Goals
1
Sh
3
A
0
+/-
0
Goals
1
Sh
2
A
0
Players Mentioned
Defense
/ Men's Hockey
Goaltender
/ Men's HockeyForward
/ Men's Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Hockey
Forward
/ Men's Hockey
Defense
/ Men's HockeyForward
/ Men's Hockey
Forward
/ Men's HockeyForward
/ Men's HockeyForward
/ Men's Hockey
Defense
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