DULUTH, Minn. — Bilingual, thanks to his formative years spent in Montreal, new Gophers goalie Liam Souliere is rapidly teaching his teammates that “refuse” means “denied” in French.
On Saturday at Amsoil Arena, Souliere had 31 saves for the Gophers, who swept their weekend series at Minnesota Duluth with a 5-1 win before a sellout audience. After posting numbers that disappointed him in his final season at Penn State, Souliere enjoyed the goal support and defensive depth that the Gophers handed him on Saturday but did his part with two point-blank saves in the first two periods that kept the Bulldogs from grabbing any momentum.
“That’s the fun of college hockey, that whole energy and the passion of the fans,” said Souliere who came to Minnesota with more than 80 games of experience in a Nittany Lions sweater. “This was a tough opponent we played. They’re solid from front to end, and we had to work hard but we got through.”
Goals by Brodie Ziemer, Connor Kurth and Jimmy Snuggerud gave Souliere some breathing room in the second period, as Minnesota improved to 3-1-0 heading into their home opener next weekend. Ranked No. 6 in the national polls, the Gophers did not trail at any point in the two games with the Bulldogs, who fell to 1-4-0. Jimmy Clark and Matthew Wood added, respectively, power-play and empty-net goals late.
Gophers coach Bob Motzko praised his team for pressuring UMD’s defense all night and for having a perfect penalty kill, while expressing some disappointment in the Gophers taking five penalties.
“We took some unnecessary penalties tonight and took ourselves off a power play,” Motzko said. “We’ve got to be a little smarter there. We just told our guys, you can win games, but you’ve got to learn how to win big games. And winning on the road for a second night is really big.”
Trailing by a goal and making a strong push for the equalizer in the middle period, the Bulldogs were repeatedly “refuse” by Souliere. Then Snuggerud — the team’s leader with 21 goals last season — scored his first of the season in emphatic fashion. Known for a rocket of a slap shot that prompted the St. Louis Blues to draft him in the first round, Snuggerud settled down a puck 30 feet out from the Bulldogs’ crease, then unleashed a blast that was behind UMD goalie Adam Gajan and dented the back of the net before the goalie could flinch.
“It went off a shin pad or a skate or something and right back to me,” said Snuggerud, who joked that the direction the puck takes is a mystery. “I was just trying to get off a knuckler. The goalie doesn’t know where it’s going. Neither do I.”
Gajan, a freshman from Slovakia, finished with 29 saves. The Bulldogs’ lone highlight came with just 3.4 seconds remaining in the opening period and the teams skating 4-on-4, when a rising shot by Bulldogs defenseman Owen Gallatin found the upper corner behind Souliere to pull UMD back within a goal after trailing 2-0 early.
“We’re just not quite there yet,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said, tipping his cap to Minnesota. “Obviously this is one of the better teams in the country, so they exposed us in some areas. Those are areas we’ve got to shore up. It’s that simple.”
For the Gophers, with all of their early chemistry on display, it still came down to the simple fact that the team with better goaltending will win most nights. On Saturday, that was Souliere.
“He made a couple saves to keep the game in check,” Motzko said. “That’s why they wear $4,000 worth of equipment. Maybe more than that.”
The Gophers have a two-game series with St. Thomas next weekend. They host the Tommies at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Friday, with the Saturday rematch at Xcel Energy Center.
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