Notre Dame Hockey: Irish Lose to Minnesota, Split Series

After a come from behind win Friday night, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team returned to action on Saturday for game two against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

The game started off slowly before Tyler Nanne opened the scoring for the Gophers 8:53 into the first period. The rest of the first period played out without another goal.

Notre Dame struck back in the second when Alex Steeves scored his first goal since January 5th 4:50 into the second. The play started forced a turnover on the forecheck. Graham Slaggert dropped the puck off below the goal line for Steeves, who scored on a wraparound.

Minnesota answered five minutes later off an Irish turnover. Scott Reedy took advantage and beat Cale Morris from the faceoff circle for a 2-1 lead.

Notre Dame had several chances in the third period and outshot Minnesota 13-4 over the final 20 minutes, but they couldn’t find the equalizer.

Scoring

MINN - Tyler Nanne (4) at 8:53 in the 1st, assisted by Rem Pitlick and Brent Gates Jr.

ND - Alex Steeves (7) at 4:50 in the 2nd, assisted by Graham Slaggert and Jake Pivonka

MINN - Scott Reedy (6) at 9:28 in the 2nd, assisted by Garrett Wait and Ryan Zuhlsdorf

Goalies

ND - Cale Morris allowed 2 goals on 17 shots in the loss

MINN - Mat Robson saved 26 of 27 shots for the win

Penalties

MINN - Tyler Sheehy, 2 for interference at 12:42 in the 1st

MINN - Blake McLaughlin, 10 minute misconduct at 19:28 in the 3rd

Up Next

Notre Dame closes out the regular season next weekend with a home series against the Penn State Nittany Lions. Notre Dame will honor the four seniors on the team before the finale on Saturday. Notre Dame currently sits in third place in the Big Ten, tied with the Michigan Wolverines with 34 points. They are 2 points ahead of Penn State and 2 points behind Minnesota.