Jan. 26, 2018
By Dan Colleran
MINNEAPOLIS — Top-ranked Notre Dame and No. 13/14 Minnesota played an exciting hockey game on Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci (8,501), with the Golden Gophers ultimately taking game one of the weekend series 1-0 in overtime on a Casey Mittelstadt goal.
In net, sophomore goaltender Cale Morris made 33 saves for Notre Dame (19-5-1, 13-2-0-0), while sophomore Mat Robson made 25 saves to earn the shutout for Minnesota (16-12-1, 7-9-1-1).
A scoreless first period saw the Irish kill off a pair of Golden Gopher power plays near the beginning and end of the frame. One of Notre Dame’s best scoring chances of the period also came short handed when Cal Burke had a partial breakaway, but Robson made the stop just over four minutes into the game.
Morris made 13 saves in the second period and then in the third he continued to keep the Gophers off the board, denying Brannon McManus with a pad save as the Minnesota freshman skated in on a breakaway with 12 minutes to play in the third.
The Irish had an opportunity with 3:49 remaining in the third as McManus took down Jake Evans in front of the Irish goal, but Robson made several more saves to kill off the ensuing Notre Dame power play.
Both teams went for the win in overtime, with Andrew Oglevie, Colin Theisen and Tory Dello all coming close before Mittelstadt converted at the other end.
The Irish and Gophers each finished the night 0-for-3 on the power play.
NOTES
- Jordan Gross skated in the 144th consecutive game of his Irish career (dating back to the first game of his freshman season).
- Jake Evans skated in his 116th consecutive game dating back to his freshman season.
- Notre Dame is now 1-1-1 this season in overtime.
- The Irish have suffered back-to-back defeats for the second time this season and the first since Oct. 14 and 19.
- Two of the team’s’ three meetings so far this season have ended 1-0.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame and Minnesota close out their weekend series at 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT on Saturday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Northwest Plus and streamed via BTN2Go.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, Director of Athletics Communications at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).