#12 Irish Fall To #3 Gophers In Game One

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The 12th-ranked Irish of Notre Dame fell to the No. 3 Minnesota Gophers Friday night, 4-1, at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The two teams battled through the first period of play, with the Irish just narrowly trailing shots on goal, 10-13, through 20 minutes of play.

Minnesota looked to take the lead early as the Irish were called for interference and the opposition awarded a penalty shot. Ryan Bischel read the play early and came out of his crease to make the stop and keep the game scoreless with just over 15 minutes to play in the period.

With under a minute to play in the opening frame, the Irish saw the powerplay for the first time Friday night. Despite several shots on goal during the man-advantage, the Irish were unable to capitalize and the two teams remained tied at 0-0 early in the second period.

The Gophers broke the stalemate at 7:30 of the second period, following a series of saves by Bischel. Unable to clear their zone, the Irish and Gophers battled along the back boards with Minnesota eventually coming up with the puck where they found an open skater out front for the quick shot high.

The Irish found themselves down a pair at 14:09 of the second stanza following a Gophers’ shorthanded goal. Peppering the Minnesota netminder with shots, an Irish rebound trickled through traffic and onto the stick of a Gopher uncontested.

After two periods of play, the Irish continued to trail by two while posting 17 shots on goal.

A quick wrister from a Gopher forward extended their lead to three goals at 5:59 of the third period. Shortly after, the Irish were called for a hook and skated down a man for two minutes.

The Irish successfully killed off the penalty and regained their ground searching for twine.

At 12:05 of the third, the Irish were whistled for a slash on the Gophers’ breakaway and Minnesota was awarded their second penalty shot of the night. After being denied in the first period, the Gophers opted for the man-advantage. Just 12 seconds later Notre Dame was whistled for a cross-check and had two men in the box of which the Gophers capitalized to take a 4-0 lead.

Following the Gophers’ fourth goal of the game, Jack Williams went in goal for the Irish, making just his second appearance with the Irish.

GOALS

  • Justin Janicke broke the Gophers’ shutout bid in the final minute of regulation, finding twine at 19:14 of the third period with assists to Nick Leivermann and Zach Plucinski.

UP NEXT

The two teams return to action Saturday night with an 8:07 p.m. ET puck drop inside 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Notre Dame then returns home Nov. 11-12 to face Michigan. Friday night’s game will serve as Military Appreciation Night with puck drop set for 7:35 p.m. at Compton Family Ice Arena.