In all six meetings against Notre Dame this season entering Sunday night’s decisive Game 3 of the Big Ten quarterfinal series, the Gophers men’s hockey team had given up the first goal to the Fighting Irish. Minnesota still was able to win four of those games.
Gophers men’s hockey ousted by Notre Dame, has long wait until NCAA tournament
The Gophers jeopardized their shot at a No. 1 seed by failing to get out of the first round of the Big Ten tournament against the last-place Fighting Irish.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 10, 2025 at 5:35AM
They did it again on Sunday at 3M Arena at Mariucci, and this time chasing the game cost the Gophers dearly.
Owen Say made 38 saves and Jayden Davis, Grant Silianoff, Cole Knuble and Hunter Strand scored as the Fighting Irish beat the Gophers 4-1 and advanced to the Big Ten semifinals against top-seeded Michigan State.
With the loss, the second-seeded Gophers (25-10-4) won’t play again until March 27 or 28 in the NCAA tournament. That’s at least 17 days of no competition when teams are trying to hone their game for the national tournament.
“They frustrated us tonight with how they battled,” coach Bob Motzko said of the Fighting Irish, who blocked 23 of the 77 shots the Gophers attempted. “I give Notre Dame an enormous amount of credit for winning the series.”
The Gophers dropped from No. 3 to No. 4 in the PairWise Ratings, the computer formula that the NCAA uses to select and seed its 16-team tournament. That has them as the last of the four No. 1 seeds, but because the Gophers will sit idle, other teams, such as No. 5 Western Michigan, will have a chance to pass them and possibly knock them into the No. 2 seeding band. The PairWise updates after each game is completed.
Matthew Wood scored a power-play goal in the third period for the Gophers in front of an announced crowd of 4,642. Nathan Airey made 17 saves.
Notre Dame (12-24-1) kept its season going for at least one more game under coach Jeff Jackson, who is stepping away from the program after the season. Ohio State beat Wisconsin 3-1 in Game 3 Sunday, so the Buckeyes will play host to Penn State in Saturday’s other Big Ten semifinal.
The Gophers outshot Notre Dame 14-7 in the first period and attempted 24 shots to the visitors’ 12. The Irish scored their first goal at 17:25 of the first when Airey made a save on a shot by Jack Larrigan but gave up a rebound that Davis knocked in.
“Hockey is a hard game,” Gophers defenseman Luke Mittelstadt said. “It’s gonna get frustrating, but you’ve just got to keep fighting through it.”
Less than two minutes into the second period, Gophers center Aaron Huglen and Notre Dame’s Henry Nelson crashed into the Minnesota net. Huglen lay on the ice for a couple of minutes, then was helped to the bench, putting no weight on his left leg. He did not return to the game.
Notre Dame stretched the lead to 2-0 at 3:44 of the second when Silianoff slammed home a rebound of a shot by Blake Biondi.
In the third period, the Gophers cut the lead to 2-1 on Wood’s power-play goal at 8:07. Knuble restored the two-goal lead, 3-1, at 12:09 when he finished a rush by beating Airey. Strand scored into an empty net with 2:20 left.
“There’s not much to be said,” Gophers senior forward Mason Nevers said. “Just got to learn from it. That’s the last lesson. There’s no more lessons now. We got to wear it as a team … and come ready in two weeks to compete for the big one.”
The Gophers jeopardized their shot at a No. 1 seed by failing to get out of the first round of the Big Ten tournament against last-place Notre Dame.
