Scott Reedy's first three goals of the season lead Gophers over Ferris State

Scott Reedy, a sophomore right wing, scored his first three goals of the season to lead the Gophers to a 5-3 victory over Ferris State on Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci before an announced crowds of 7,962.

Reedy's first goal, 1 minute, 53 seconds into the game, put Minnesota, coming off a three-week break, ahead 1-0. His second on a backhander, at 6:18 of the second, gave the Gophers a 4-3 lead. He completed his hat trick with 3:54 left in the game.

"What a good night for him," Gophers coach Bob Motzko said. "How many times have we all seen that? First halves — an injury, a slump and then you come back with a recharged battery.

"And we are going to have other guys do this, too. They are going to have good second halves. … We have good hockey players capable of what you saw Scott do tonight."

Robbie Stucker, a 6-4 freshman defenseman from St. Paul, had an assist on all three of Reedy's goals. Those were his first three assists of the season.

Reedy had seven goals in 35 games last season after playing two seasons with the U.S. national development team.

The Prior Lake native had two assists in 11 games before this series.Brent Gates and Rem Pitlick had the home team's other two goals.

Nate Kallen, Cooper Zech and Jason Tackett scored Ferris State's goals, all in the opening period. Tackett put the Bulldogs ahead 3-2 with 59 seconds left in the first.

Goalie Mat Robson started for the Gophers but was replaced by Eric Schierhorn at the start of the second period. Robson stopped four of seven shots, Schierhorn all 15 he faced. Roni Salmenkangas had 27 saves for Ferris State.

With the victory, Minnesota improved to 6-6-4. Ferris State, meantime, fell to 4-14-1. The Bulldogs are 0-9 on the road and winless (0-10-1) in their past 11 games.