Gophers men’s hockey makes it a clean weekend with another shutout over Penn State

As the final seconds ticked off the clock Saturday afternoon at 3M Arena at Mariucci, Penn State’s Tyler Paquette tried to unleash one last slapshot from center ice in hopes of getting something — anything — past Gophers goalie Justen Close.

Paquette’s stick broke, and the right winger promptly snapped it in half and spiked the pieces to the ice — a fitting exclamation point to the frustration Close and the Gophers inflicted on the Nittany Lions all weekend.

Close made 30 saves for his second consecutive shutout as the Gophers beat Penn State 3-0 in front of 10,560. The shutout, which followed his 36-save blanking on Friday, was the fourth of the season for Close and 13th of his career, moving him into a tie for the school record with Kellen Briggs and Adam Wilcox.

“That’s a tough team to shut out,” Gophers forward Mason Nevers said of the Nittany Lions, a volume-shooting bunch that entered the series averaging 39.6 shots on goal. “They’re really, really good, offensively. They throw a lot of pucks to the net, and it just takes one bounce to get one in.”

Close made sure that didn’t happen. He made 12 saves in the first period, keeping it scoreless as the Gophers worked through a sluggish start. He added 12 more in the second and needed only six stops in the third as the Gophers (18-7-5, 11-5-4 Big Ten) won for the ninth time in their past 11 games. The fifth-year senior is on an 8-1-1 roll.

“We’ve petitioned for him to get another year of eligibility,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko joked about the 25-year-old Saskatchewan native.

While Close frustrated the Nittany Lions (12-13-3, 4-11-3), center Aaron Huglen provided the offensive spark for the Gophers with a pair of second-period goals. Nevers added a third-period tally.

“That first goal was huge because it was an up-and-down game going both ways,” Motzko said. “Great for Hugey to get a couple and for Nevers to get rewarded.”

The Gophers took a 1-0 lead 1:12 into the second when Huglen pounced on a Penn State turnover at center ice and sped into the Nittany Lions zone on a two-on-one rush with Brody Lamb. Huglen sent a cross-ice pass to Lamb, who fired it back to Huglen for an easy goal as goalie Liam Souliere arrived late.

Minnesota doubled the lead on Huglen’s second goal, which came shortly after the Gophers killed off Bryce Brodzinski’s cross-checking penalty. As Brodzinski exited the penalty box, he joined Huglen and Rhett Pitlick on a three-on-one rush. Brodzinski passed the puck to Pitlick, who initially fumbled it but recovered in time to feed Huglen with cross-ice pass for a blast that beat Souliere at 4:34.

“The puck just finds you sometimes,” Huglen said, “and I was just happy to be there.”

The three goals — plus four pipes hit by Penn State shooters — were more than enough to stave off the Nittany Lions in the finale of a series that drew a total attendance of 21,310, the most in Mariucci history. Penn State had been shut out only once this season before arriving in Minneapolis.

This is the second time that Close has posted back-to-back shutouts in a series. He had 5-0 and 8-0 home shutouts of Wisconsin on Feb. 25-26, 2022.

“It’s one of the remarkable stories of my coaching career,” Motzko said of Close’s development. “It never ceases to amaze you what these young people can do.”