No. 2 Michigan State pulled away from the No. 4 Gophers in the final 30 minutes for a 9-3 victory Friday at Munn Arena in East Lansing, Mich.
Gophers men’s hockey team is routed by Michigan State in meeting of Big Ten’s best
The Gophers, ranked fourth, lost 9-3 to the No. 2 Spartans, giving up four goals in each of the last two periods.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 25, 2025 at 7:07AM
The victory gave the Spartans (20-3-2, 11-2-2 Big Ten) a four-point lead over the Gophers (19-6-2, 10-4-1) in the Big Ten standings.
The Gophers entered Friday giving up just 2.15 goals per game, eighth best in the nation, but gave up nine goals in a game for the first time since Jan. 28, 2019, a 9-3 loss to North Dakota. It was a season-high output for the Spartans, whose previous high came in an 8-3 victory over Notre Dame in November.
After the Gophers tied the score 2-2 midway through the second, the Spartans outscored the Gophers 7-1 over the final 30 minutes.
“There were a handful of moments in the first half of the game where we let it get away from us,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “Then it completely got away from us. We tied it up at 2, and then we lost a draw and all of a sudden we’re down 3-2; they get a power-play goal and it’s 4-2. Then we were chasing the game, and it was the wrong team tonight to chase a game on. Thank goodness it was Friday night; we get to come back and play tomorrow.”
The Spartans led 1-0 after the first period. Each team scored on its first shot on goal of the second period — an indication of things to come as the teams combined for seven goals in the period.
Oliver Moore scored 26 seconds into the second period to tie the game for the Gophers, but 75 seconds later Tommi Mannisto scored to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead.
The Gophers tied it on a goal by Brodie Ziemer with 11 minutes, 42 seconds remaining.
The Spartans scored three times in a span of 4 minutes, 20 seconds to take control. Two goals from David Gucciardi and a power-play goal from Daniel Russell made it 5-2.
Jimmy Snuggerud’s 16th goal of the season got the Gophers within 5-3 with 4 ½ minutes left in the second period.
Isaac Howard, who entered the game tied for the most goals in Division I (18), scored twice in the third period. Charlie Stramel, a Wild first-round draft pick from Rosemount, and Patrick Geary also scored in the third period for the Spartans.
Going into the game, the Gophers led the nation in scoring with 106 goals in 26 games. The Spartans were sixth with 82 goals in 24 games.
The teams met at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Dec. 13, playing to a 3-3 tie before the Spartans won the shootout to earn the extra point in the standings. The Spartans won the next night 5-3.
The teams will conclude the series Saturday.
Dawson Garcia scored 31 points for Minnesota, which won its third in a row despite giving up a big early lead.
