Gophers men’s hockey veteran Jaxon Nelson aims for bountiful postseason harvest

Hats of varying shades of maroon, gold, black and white rained down on the Mariucci ice sheet last Friday as Gophers hockey fans celebrated Jaxon Nelson’s third goal in a 6-2 win over Michigan. The only thing more fitting to honor the fifth-year senior’s first collegiate hat trick would have been some green-and-gold John Deere lids in the mix, too.

Nelson, the farm kid from tiny Magnolia in far southwestern Minnesota, enjoyed what he called a heartfelt moment last weekend in Minnesota’s final regular-season series. With a strong contingent of family and friends in attendance, the former Luverne High School legend put on a show, following up his hat trick with two third-period goals and an assist on the tying goal late in regulation of a 6-5 overtime loss on Saturday. For his efforts, Nelson was named the Big Ten’s first star of the week.

“It was a good weekend,” Nelson, the Gophers’ 23-year-old captain, said in his usual understated way.

It’s also the type of weekend Gophers coach Bob Motzko would love to bottle up and break out during the postseason, which begins Friday against Penn State in a best-of-three Big Ten tournament quarterfinal series at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

“The big fella, when he gets going downhill, he’s not going to be stopped,” Motzko said. “He’s given us his heart, and it’s great to see him get rewarded.”

Nelson, 6-4 and 220 pounds, has been using his size to his advantage often recently. Along with the six-point weekend against Michigan, he scored the tying goal in a 3-2 win at Notre Dame in the previous series. It’s part of his game that the Gophers coaching staff emphasizes and that Nelson wants to refine.

“The biggest thing is going to the net,” Nelson said. “That’s how you score goals. It’s where the defense has to turn their backs and try to defend.”

Nelson has to skate the fine line between establishing his net-front presence and interfering with the opponent’s goalie, and that’s been a challenge this season. College hockey writer Nate Wells coined the phrase “Jaxon Nelson Hat Trick” for a player who scores a goal, gets an assist and has a goal waved off because of goalie interference. Gophers winger Bryce Brodzinski joked that he and Mason Nevers, who are Nelson’s linemates, are missing points because of Nelson’s bulldozing.

“We score, and then all of a sudden it’s goalie interference because Jaxon Nelson ran somebody over,” Brodzinski said. “We did the stats with Jaxon the other day, and all the goals that he’s gotten called off, you’d have like 11 more points this year.”

Nelson scored a state-record 78 goals for Luverne as a sophomore in the 2015-16 season but hasn’t been as prolific a scorer for the Gophers. He’s shown steady improvement and has followed up last year’s 10-goal, 17-assist performance with 14 goals and 11 assists this season.

More importantly, he’s shown a nose for the net during the postseason, scoring six goals and assisting on 10 over the past three years. Included in that was the Gophers’ second goal in their 3-2 overtime loss to Quinnipiac in last year’s NCAA title game and one point in all four NCAA tournament games last season.

It’s that loss to Quinnipiac that fuels Nelson and the Gophers this season. They were less than three minutes away from winning the national championship only to see the Bobcats tie the score and win quickly in overtime.

The Gophers’ aim is to return to the Frozen Four for a third consecutive year and finish business in St. Paul.

“After the loss last year at the end of the season, we’ve been looking forward to the playoffs the whole year, and now it’s here,” said Nelson, who plans to return to the family farm once his hockey career is over. “We’re really gonna buckle down and not take anyone lightly because everyone’s gonna want to beat us.”

Motzko appreciates the gritty part of Nelson’s game that goes beyond the goals and assists. Be it faceoffs, breakouts or killing penalties, Nelson contributes heavily to the Gophers’ success.

“He’s so smart, and he’s always in position defensively,” Motzko said. “… We’ve had a lot of success the last few years in our program, and sometimes we get these fancy players who get a lot of the accolades. But when we do an autopsy on our big wins, he’s all over it. He’s really important to our program.”