Gophers men hockey loses to Notre Dame on quick goal in overtime

Landon Slaggert scored 32 seconds into overtime as No. 10 Notre Dame beat the No. 11 Gophers 3-2 on Saturday at the Compton Family Ice Arena.

Minnesota (15-11, 10-6 Big Ten) had won five straight over Notre Dame.

"We played our tails off, I'm proud of our guys," Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. "Since Christmas we've been playing awful good, and we did it again tonight. We just fell one goal short on the road. …I give our guys a ton of credit."

After beating the Fighting Irish 5-1 in the series opener, Motzko predicted a much closer second game.

And it was.

Notre Dame (18-8, 10-6) took a 2-0 lead in the opening period on goals by Max Ellis at 4:30 and Trevor Janicke at 16:45.

The Gophers cut into that lead in the second when two players got their 11th goals of the season. Ben Meyers scored at 10:45 to make it 2-1. Bryce Brodzinski's goal at 1:23 of the third tied the score and the two goalies kept it even into overtime.

Ryan Bischel made 24 saves to get the victory. Justen Close of Minnesota had 20 stops, including one in overtime.

Minnesota also had won seven in a row in the Fighting Irish's home rink, counting three wins against other teams in the Big Ten tournament last season.

The Star Tribune did not travel for this event. This article was written using the television broadcast and video interviews before and/or after the event.