Minnesota nice was left off the ice as the Gophers took on their cross-town rivals St. Thomas at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday.

Purple foam glow sticks held by St. Thomas students illuminated the arena as the lights dimmed at Xcel. The Tommie’s student section outnumbered the Gophers’ in the crowd of over 10,000.

Among the St. Thomas fans, Stephanie DuBois sat with her family. But sitting on the opposite side of the arena, away from the St. Thomas crowd, was DuBois’ sister Leslie Judge, a Gophers fan.

Judge said the recent matchups between the Gophers and Tommies created friendly competition in the family.

The Gophers and Tommies met for the second consecutive year in a series consisting of one game at 3M Arena at Mariucci and one at Xcel.

St. Thomas’ Cooper Gay opened the scoring on Saturday, igniting the St. Thomas crowd less than five minutes into the first period. “Sink the boat” chants began midway through the first period, riding on the momentum from the opening goal.

Gophers defenseman Ryan Chesley snapped a shot that redirected to the back of the net at the ten-minute mark of the opening frame. Less than two minutes later, a first-period power play set the Gophers up for the lead as junior forward Brody Lamb buried a loose puck into the net.

Flares picked up during the second period after St. Thomas forward Matthew Gleason was ejected for head contact, and the Tommies received a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. Two second-period power-play goals from Lamb, who completed the hat trick, quieted the St. Thomas crowd as the Gophers built a three-goal lead.

Through the first two periods, tension rose. Scrums broke out and body checks were exchanged in the high-physicality matchup.

Late in the second period, Gophers senior forward Aaron Huglen extended the team’s lead to four, using his edgework and a short-side shot to beat a Tommie defender and goalie Aaron Trotter.

When the second-period buzzer sounded, St. Thomas students started to exit the arena.

A shorthanded goal from St. Thomas forward Liam Malmquist briefly revived the shrunken student section as the Tommies cut the Gophers’ lead to 5-2. Minnesota responded with a goal less than three minutes later as junior forward Connor Kurth capitalized on a passing sequence to make it 6-2.

The Gophers’ power play was three-for-seven on the evening, taking two penalties compared to St. Thomas’ seven. Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said Minnesota showed maturity by avoiding taking penalties in a high-intensity game.

“We kept our cool,” Motzko said. “We tried to stay out of it and just play hockey.”

St. Thomas head coach Rico Blasi said his team played hard but took too many penalties, which cost them the game. Two St. Thomas players received major penalties.

“Our emotions got the best of us and we took a couple of undisciplined penalties,” Blasi said. “Can’t do that against a good team.”

With the loss, St. Thomas fell to 1-3-1 in their fourth season of NCAA Division I hockey.

Minnesota started its season with wins over No. 16 St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth the week before St. Thomas. Motzko said games against in-state opponents challenge the team to be on top of their game early in the season.

“They take it serious against us,” Motzko said. “They want to come after us.”

The Gophers continue their season on Nov. 1 with their first Big Ten matchup against No. 18 Penn State.