Embarrassed by an uncharacteristic home sweep at the hands of Notre Dame last weekend, the Gophers men's hockey team took out its frustrations on Arizona State on Thursday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
And how.
Behind hat tricks from Brannon McManus and Sammy Walker, and two goals and two assists from Blake McLaughlin, the fourth-ranked Gophers steamrolled their way to a 10-0 victory over the Sun Devils, a team that's wrapping up an eight-game, 23-day road trip and is playing all 28 of its games on the road in Big Ten Country this season.
How dominant were the Gophers in improving to 12-3? They outshot Arizona State 23-2 in the first period, 40-8 through two periods and 52-14 for the game. They scored 10 goals for the first time since Jan. 17, 2004, in a 10-3 win over Minnesota State Mankato.
"We had a real strong game tonight. We had some orneriness to us,'' Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. "… Arizona State, they're banged-up right now, and tonight was just not going to be a good night.''
Nathan Burke and Ben Meyers also scored for Minnesota, while Jackson LaCombe and Scott Reedy each had four assists. Goalie Jack LaFontaine needed to make only 14 saves for his third shutout of the season.
The loss dropped the Sun Devils to 5-12-2 overall and 1-6 on this trip, which concludes with Friday's 4 p.m. series finale.