Gophers Lock Up Border Battle Sweep
MADISON, Wis. (GopherSports.com) – Behind its highest offensive output of the season, the No. 12/9 Gopher Hockey program completed a Border Battle sweep over No. 17 Wisconsin on Saturday night with a 7-1 win at the Kohl Center.
Playing in the 3,000th game in Gopher Hockey history and the program’s 100th Big Ten contest, the Gophers (18-13-1 overall, 9-10-1-1 Big Ten) jumped Wisconsin in the Big Ten standings on Saturday night and have now won five of the last six games. Thirteen skaters notched a point for the Maroon & Gold in the series finale with five Gophers recording multi-point games. Following Friday’s 4-2 win, Minnesota has now earned weekend sweeps in Madison in two of the last three seasons.
After scoring three goals in the third period on Friday, the Maroon & Gold repeated the feat in the opening stanza of the series finale. Leon Bristedt scored on Minnesota’s first shot of the night just 1:07 into the game followed by a goal from Brent Gates Jr. at 9:48 and a power-play tally from Tyler Nanne at 15:38. Trent Frederic’s goal at 18:47 of the first period ended up being the lone tally for Wisconsin (14-15-4, 8-11-3-1).
After that, the scoring was all in favor of the Maroon & Gold.
Rem Pitlick scored two-straight goals at opposite ends of the second period, finding the net first at 1:44 before an impressive power-play strike at 18:36 that saw the sophomore bat a puck out of midair and into the net.
Minnesota added two more in the third period with Tyler Sheehy scoring on a breakaway at 10:29 before Jack Ramsey closed out the night with a power-play goal at 15:13. Minnesota went 3-for-7 on the power play and 7-for-7 on the penalty kill in the series finale.
Pitlick and Sheehy led the way for Minnesota with three points each while Gates, Tommy Novak and Leon Bristedt each added a pair of points in the sweep clincher.
On the other end of the ice, Mat Robson improved to 6-2-0 with a 23-save performance on Saturday. Robson made 61 saves on 64 shots in the series. The Gophers outshot Wisconsin 36-24 on the night.