DULUTH, Minn. — Despite having in-laws in the Twin Ports, Minnesota Gophers coach Bob Motzko likes to poke fun at Duluth and its propensity for less-than-stellar weather. But with the moon shining off Lake Superior, the fall colors blazing, and his team winning on the waterfront, he’s happy to be sticking around for another night.
Motzko was satisfied despite some crazy action late in his team’s 7-5 win at Minnesota Duluth on Friday, which saw the Gophers explode out of the gate with a quartet of first-period goals.
In the run-up to this series — the Gophers’ first two-gamer in Duluth in more than a decade — Motzko had talked about seeing glimpses of his deep talent pool’s potential the previous weekend in a win versus Air Force and an overtime loss to Omaha. The potential wasn’t hidden on Friday, most notably in an opening 20 minutes, in which the visitors shushed the rowdy student section on one end of Amsoil Arena.
“For 60 minutes there was a whole lot that I liked about our team tonight,” said Motzko, who credited the Bulldogs for a spirited comeback, making a game of things late with four goals in the final 15 minutes. “They got a couple bounces that were kind of crazy to get them back in…They came out hard, but we rassled it back. So every time the momentum kind of changed, we rassled it back. It got a little squirrely there at the end, but I liked what we did tonight.”
Jimmy Clark, a sophomore forward from Edina, set up three of the team’s four early goals, while newcomer Matthew Wood had a goal and an assist in the opening period.
“The first goal was just huge,” Clark said, stressing the need to take the sellout crowd out of the game.
Clark had eight assists as a rookie and has five already in his first three games this season.
“I’ve got confidence going for sure. The linemates are unbelievable,” said Clark, who skated with Wood and Connor Kurth on Friday. “We’ve got a lot of chemistry going so far. Let’s just keep it going.”
Wood, a junior who came to Minnesota from UConn over the summer via the transfer pool, is a first-round draft pick of the Nashville Predators and has drawn early raves for his size and skill.
“Really good players and smart players find a way to come together,” Wood said. “We had a pretty long camp and a good camp, and it’s worked well.”
Minnesota (2-1-0) got 22 saves from goalie Nathan Airey, who entered the season with just three games’ experience at the college level but has looked solid in backstopping the two Gophers wins. For Minnesota Duluth (1-3-0), rookie goalie Adam Gajan was busy right from the opening faceoff, finishing with 42 saves.
Aiden Dubinsky scored two goals for the Bulldogs, who had not lost to the Gophers at Amsoil since Oct. 15, 2011. UMD’s second goal came after defenseman Aaron Pionk blasted a shot off Airey’s facemask, which seemed to stun the goalie for a few seconds — long enough for Dubinsky to pop in the rebound. Pionk led the Bulldogs with four assists in the game.
Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin liked his team’s late push but could not forgive the first 20 minutes.
“Weren’t skating, we weren’t doing anything, and we made it pretty easy for that,” Sandelin said. “I thought there was one shift in the first period where we had three opportunities, four opportunities to get the puck out. And the next thing you know, it’s in our net.”
The series concludes with a 6 p.m. start at Amsoil on Saturday.
Minnesota 7, UMD 5
MIN 4-1-2—7
UMD 0-1-4—5
First period — 1. MIN, Brodie Ziemer 1 (Oliver Moore), 1:34. 2. MIN, Brody Lamb 1 (Jimmy Clark), 4:27. 3. MIN, Matthew Wood 1 (Connor Kurth, Clark), 10:59. 4. MIN, Sam Rinzel 2 (Wood, Clark), 17:45. Penalties — Carter Loney, UMD (tripping), 3:32.
Second period — 5. UMD, Aiden Dubinsky 1 (Matthew Perkins, Blake Bechen), 3:20. 6. MIN, Aaron Huglen 1 (Mason Nevers, Cal Thomas), 15:41. Penalties — Wood, MIN (slashing), 1:10; Jack Smith, UMD (hooking), 17:22.
Third period — 7. UMD, Dubinsky 2 (Aaron Pionk), 6:31. 8. UMD, Dominic James 2 (Pionk, Owen Gallatin), 12:56, PP. 9. MIN, Oliver Moore 1 (Ziemer, Beckett Hendrickson), 14:51. 10. MIN, Erik Pahlsson 1 (Jimmy Snuggerud), 15:18. 11. UMD, Joe Molenaar 2 (Pionk, Loney), 16:21. 12. UMD, Jayson Shaugabay 3 (James, Pionk), 18:25, EA. Penalties — Erik Pahlsson, MIN (hooking), 2:41; Perkins, UMD (hooking), 19:49.
Shots on goal — MIN 23-11-15—49; UMD 4-7-11—22. Goalies — Nathan Airey, MIN (22 shots-17 saves); Adam Gajan, UMD (49-42). Power plays — MIN 1-of-3, UMD 1-of-2. Referees — Ryan Hersey, Nicholas Krebsbach. Linesmen — Jeff Schultz, Tony Aronson. Att. — 6,444.
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