Gophers Fall to Badgers 4-3 in Finale

Gophers Fall to Badgers 4-3 in Finale

MINNEAPOLIS – A 3M Arena at Mariucci record crowd was on hand for a back-and-forth battle between Gopher Hockey and Wisconsin as the Badgers edged Minnesota 4-3 on Saturday night in this weekend’s Border Battle finale.

With an attendance of 10,686 fans on hand, the series finale broke a 14-year old facility record when 10,587 fans turned out to watch Minnesota and Wisconsin battle on Nov. 6, 2004.

For the second night in a row, Minnesota (10-11-4 overall, 7-6-3-0 Big Ten) tallied three power-play goals with two tallies from Rem Pitlick and one from Brent Gates Jr. Tyler Sheehy recorded assists on all three goals while Brannon McManus earned two assists in the series finale.

Wisconsin (9-11-4, 5-5-4-1) scored four even-strength goals to earn a regular-season split with the Gophers at 2-2-0.

The Gophers and Badgers matched each other shot for shot on Saturday with 32 shots each. Mat Robson took the loss for Minnesota (his first against the Badgers), making 28 saves to move to 8-7-4. Daniel Lebedeff made 29 saves to earn the win, improving to 6-5-2.

Minnesota went 3-for-6 on the power play in the game and 6-for-10 on the weekend while the penalty kill was perfect on the weekend – going 1-for-1 in the finale and 3-for-3 in the series.

Minnesota continues a four-game home stand next weekend with a two-game Big Ten series against Michigan at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Notes: Sheehy and Pitlick have now each recorded points in 15 of the last 16 games…Sheehy recorded seven points (one goal, six assists) in the series and now has 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 16 games against the Badgers…the senior captain is Minnesota’s active leading scorer with 135 points (51 goals, 84 assists) in 136 games – he is now tied with Craig Johnson for 41st all-time in career scoring at the University of Minnesota…McManus extended his career-long scoring streak to six games…Pitlick, who leads Minnesota with 15 goals and 28 points this season, will play in his 100th career game in his next appearance.