The Gophers men’s hockey team splits yet another series after playing Ohio State University.
The first game of the series started slowly — not a single goal was scored until the second period. The Buckeyes scored first, around 49 seconds into the second period.
The first goal set off momentum for both teams. The Gophers would score three goals in the second period to the Buckeyes’ two.
Ohio scored its third and final goal around five minutes into the third period, tying the game, but the Gophers were not deterred.
Senior forward Brody Lamb put away the game for the Gophers with the 19th goal of his career. In the past eight games, Lamb accumulated 12 points.
Lamb was not the only player to show an impressive effort during the first game of the series. Gophers sophomore forward Brodie Ziemer scored two goals in the first game.
Ziemer was the first and last Gopher to score. He helped the team get on the board and later solidify their lead against the Buckeyes.
The final score of the first game was 6-3 for the Gophers. Minnesota’s head coach, Bob Motzko, said he has to give a lot of credit to his team and its leaders.
“Sometimes it wasn’t pretty, but we were pretty beat up coming back from Denver with the travel problems that we had. We had a great fight in us tonight,” Motzko said. “We have one more before a holiday break and tomorrow’s a big game for us to continue to stay strong.”
While the Gophers put up a strong fight in the second game, they fell short in overtime with a score of 6-5. Both the Buckeyes and the Gophers traded goals all game, making it a high-pressure offensive period.
Ziemer scored another two goals for the Gophers, making it his third game in a row with multiple goals. Going into the final period of the series, the Gophers were down one goal, 4-3.
Both teams kept their momentum high, as Ziemer put another one on the board and forced the game into overtime. Despite the effort, the Gophers still fell short.
Motzko said his team made some pretty glaring mistakes, but he is still hopeful.
“The coach in me is going to come out,” Motzko said. “We had two leads in the game, one early in the first and one in the third. We made some pretty glaring mistakes, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. We’re trying to finish on a strong note, and I give our guys a lot of credit; what we went through in October, they battled back.”
The Gophers are now going into their extended holiday break. They will return to the ice on Jan. 2 against Bemidji State.
