The No. 11 Ohio State men’s hockey team scored twice on a five-minute power play early in the third period and went on to defeat the No. 3 Gophers 5-1 on Friday at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Gophers men’s hockey team is overpowered by Ohio State’s power play
The Buckeyes scored twice with a five-minute man advantage, contributing to a 5-1 rout in a Big Ten game.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 11, 2025 at 1:16AM
The victory was only the second for the Buckeyes (15-5-1, 8-3 Big Ten) in their past eight meetings with the Gophers. The loss ended a two-game winning streak for the Gophers (17-4-2, 8-2-1), who played their first road game since Nov. 23.
“We didn’t like our team tonight, and it started when our alarm clocks went off this morning,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. “We did not have the mentality to fight. Now we had moments to get back into it, but we have to be better and come with much more energy to play the game.”
The Buckeyes, who improved to 9-0-1 at home this season, led 2-0 after two periods before scoring twice 59 seconds apart in the first three minutes of the third period, while the Gophers’ Brodie Ziemer — back after winning a gold medal with the United States at the world junior championships Sunday in Ottawa — was serving a major penalty for direct contact to the head. Ziemer was also assessed a game misconduct.
Max Montes scored midway through the first period to open the scoring for the Buckeyes.
Jake Rozzi’s goal gave the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead with 14 minutes, 41 seconds left in the second period.
Gunnarwolfe Fontaine scored his team-leading 10th goal to make it 3-0, and Nathan McBrayer made it 4-0 only 2½ minutes into the third.
Sam Rinzel scored for the Gophers with 10:59 to play, but Davis Burnside’s empty-net goal made it 5-1 with 6:39 left. The teams finish the series Saturday.
Minnesota, with Emma Kreisz handing out assists liberally, won for the fifth time in six games.
