The No. 8 Gophers could not hang on to their lead on Saturday, losing the second game of their two-game series against Michigan Tech.
The Gophers veterans started the game strong with a quick goal by senior captain Brody Lamb in the first minute of the game.
The goal was used as momentum for the rest of the first period. Two more goals were scored for Minnesota by sophomore Erik Pahlsson and freshman LJ Mooney.
Despite ending the first period with a 3-2 lead, the Gophers would not see another goal for the rest of the game. Head coach Bob Motzko said the early lead negatively affected the Gophers’ mindset.
“We got the 3-1 lead early, and it’s like we shifted into a gear where we thought it would be an easy game,” Motzko said. “Then, when the game got hard, really hard, we couldn’t shift back into the gear.”
Michigan Tech took advantage of that and put up a hard offensive fight against the Gophers. The Huskies ended the game with an empty net goal, solidifying their 5-3 win against Minnesota.
The Gophers gained a lot of new players during the offseason, including some transfers. One was junior goalie Luca Di Pasquo.
Di Pasquo is a transfer from Michigan State and started his first game for the Gophers on Saturday. Di Pasquo saved 28 out of the 32 shots he faced and has had a few standout moments.
During a five-minute sequence in the second period, Di Pasquo lost his goalie stick and was given another from a teammate. He was able to block multiple shots the Huskies put his way.
Di Pasquo held his ground until there was finally a stoppage of the puck, allowing him to go and grab his goalie stick for the rest of the period.
The Gophers have seven new freshmen on their team this year, filling the spots of players who went pro or graduated at the end of last season. Motzko said there was some panicking with the puck throughout the game
“You could see they were nervous, some was coming from our young guys,” Motzko said. “We had to overplay our two older defensemen.”
Motzko added that the younger players know he and the rest of the team have faith in them, and the game was a learning experience.
The Gophers’ next series is against No. 6 Boston College, a team they have not played since the 2016-17 season. The series starts Oct. 9.
