Irish Fall To #5 Minnesota, 3-0

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Ryan Bischel made 25 saves, but Notre Dame dropped a 3-0 decision to fifth-ranked Minnesota on Saturday night inside Compton Family Ice Arena.

The Irish went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play.

Jack LaFontaine stopped 25 shots to earn the victory in goal for the Gophers.

How It Happened
The teams played a scoreless first period, despite the Irish outshooting Minnesota by a 15-7 mark, with Ryder Rolston and Nick Leivermann having the best chances of the opening 20 minutes. 

Two minutes into the second, Ryan Bischel made back-to-back point blank stops on Jaxson Nelson and Sammy Walker to keep it scoreless. 

But Brannon McManus was able to tap a Sampo Ranta pass in at the far post to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead at 4:09 of the second. Just over two minutes later Nathan Burke took advantage of an Irish turnover and gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead at 6:16.

Ranta scored with just under five minutes to play to make the final 3-0.

Notes

  • Senior Matt Hellickson skated in his 139th-consecutive game, dating back to the first game of his freshman season.
  • Ryan Bischel made his first start since winning 3-2 at Minnesota on Jan. 15. 
  • On Friday, alternate captains Pierce Crawford & Matt Hellickson were named two of 15 college hockey finalists for the 2020 Senior CLASS Award.

Next Up

  • Notre Dame heads back out on the road next weekend with a two-game series at No. 6/7 Wisconsin (Feb. 19-20).
  • Game one will be played at 8 p.m. ET, while game two is slated for 5 p.m.
  • Both games will be broadcast on Fox Sports Wisconsin and streamed on BTN Plus.

—ND—