Snuggerud OT goal beats Irish for Gophers, but Notre Dame still earns point
SOUTH BEND – The last player Notre Dame wanted to see with the puck on his stick in overtime Saturday night was Minnesota Gophers sophomore goal-sniper Jimmy Snuggerud.
The 6-foot-1,185-pound Snuggerud, who scored 21 goals as a freshman last year and has 24 this year, five of them for Team USA’s World Junior team gold-medalists, beat partially screened Notre Dame goaltender Ryan Bischel at 1:18 in the 3-on-3 extra session to give No. 8 Minnesota a 3-2 victory and two points in the Big Ten standings.
The goal, witnessed by the 16th straight sellout crowd (5,326) watching at the Lefty Smith Rink, ruined the green jersey-clad Irish chances for a big weekend in their last scheduled regular-season series at the Compton Family Ice Arena. It also made the post-game salute of graduate student Bischel and his 11 fellow seniors and graduate students a sad one.
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But there would be good news later for Jeff Jackson’s Irish (15-15-2 overall, 9-11-2 Big Ten), who had a 6-1 dominating win Friday night over Bob Motzko’s Gophers (19-8-5, 12-6-4 Big Ten). Though six points behind third-place Minnesota (37-31) in the conference standings, Notre Dame picked up a crucial point and now is three ahead (31-28) of Michigan for fourth place in the race for home-ice in the next month’s Big Ten tournament quarterfinals. The Wolverines, who fell 4-2 Saturday night at Penn State, welcome the Irish to Yost Ice Arena next weekend.
All in all, Jackson was happy with his team’s comeback from being swept last weekend at second-place Wisconsin in a penalty-marred series. Notre Dame had just five minor penalties in the two games against the Minnesota and managed to kill off four Gopher powerplays.
“We played one of the hottest teams in the country,” said Jackson of the Gophers, who entered the weekend on a 9-1-1 streak. “We went toe-to-toe with them all weekend. A disappointing finish, but a good weekend for the most part. The guys battled as hard as they could. They (the Gophers) obviously elevated, but we held in there and found a way to get at least a point tonight. It gives us the season series against Minnesota, too (seven points out of a possible 12).”
Bischel finished with 36 saves as Minnesota outshot Notre Dame 39-26. His Minnesota counterpart Justen Close, who had won back-to-back Big Ten First Star of the Week honors for his play, bounced back from his Friday night benching by Motzko after allowing four Irish goals and finished with 24 saves.
Close, who came back to play a graduate season for Minnesota, also was awarded a pair of assists on Minnesota’s final two goals — Jaxon Nelson’s tying goal at 13:40 of the second period and Snuggerud’s game-winner — after making a glove save on Drew Bavaro’s potential game-winning 15-footer just eight seconds before Snuggerud’s ultimate game-winner.
He probably shouldn’t have received the latter as defenseman Ryan Chesley passed the rebound created by Close over to center Aaron Huglen, who then hit Snuggerud in stride before he skated into Irish zone with freshman center Danny Nelson, his Team USA teammate, between him and Bischel. Snuggerud cut through the faceoff circle and then used Nelson as a screen before snapping the 15-foot wrister that beat the Irish goaltender under his blocker.
After a scoreless first period, the teams skated to a 2-2 tie after the second period. After Connor Kurth gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead at 1:44 of the second period, Irish junior right wing Justin Janicke tied the game at 6:27 when he skated around the net and stuffed the puck past Close off assists from freshman Paul Fischer and junior center Hunter Strand.
The Irish then made it 2-1 at 13:22 when freshman center Jayden Davis took a pass from senior left wing Brady Bjork and beat Close from the mid-slot. It was the first career point for Bjork, the son of former Notre Dame All-American Kirt Bjork and brother of former Notre Dame Hobey Baker Award finalist Anders Bjork.
But 18 seconds later, Nelson tied the game off feeds from Mason Nevers and Close. It remained 2-2 until Snuggerud’s game-winner.
“I’m proud of us as a team,” said Janicke, whose brother Trevor, a graduate right wing, was unable to play this weekend after suffering an upper-body injury in Thursday’s final practice. “Obviously, it stinks to lose this way. We’re not afraid of anyone. We know what we can do. It’s a matter of doing it on a consistent basis for the full 60 minutes.”
In Saturday’s case, the Irish were consistent for 61 minutes and 17 seconds.
MINNESOTA 3, NOTRE DAME 2 (OT)
At Lefty Smith Rink/Compton Family Ice Arena, South Bend
Minnesota | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1—3
Notre Dame | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0—2
First Period—Scoring: None. Penalties: Minnesota 0-0, Notre Dame 1-2.
Second Period—Scoring: 1. Minnesota, Connor Kurth 7 (Aaron Huglen, Sam Rinzel) EV 1:44; 2. Notre Dame, Justin Janicke 4 (Paul Fischer, Hunter Strand) EV 6:27; 3. Notre Dame, Jayden Davis 2 (Brady Bjork) EV 13:22; 4. Minnesota, Jaxon Nelson 9 (Mason Nevers, Justen Close) EV 13:40. Penalties: Minnesota 0-0 (0-0), Notre Dame 0-0 (1-2).
Third Period—Scoring: None. Penalties: Minnesota 0-0 (0-0), Notre Dame 1-2 (2-4).
Overtime—Scoring: 5. Minnesota, Jimmy Snuggerud 19 (Ryan Chesley, Justen Close) 3-on-3 EV 1:18. Penalties: Minnesota 0-0 (0-0), Notre Dame 0-0 (2-4).
Shots on goal: Minnesota 39 (9-15-14-1), Notre Dame 26 (4-14-7-1). Goalie saves: Minnesota, Justen Close 24 (4-12-7-1), Notre Dame, Ryan Bischel 36 (9-13-14-0).
Power-play opportunities: Minnesota 0 of 2, Notre Dame 0 of 0. Faceoffs won: Minnesota 31 (7-11-12-1), Notre Dame 36 (11-13-12-0). Blocked shots: Minnesota 14 (2-8-4-0), Notre Dame 18 (12-2-4-0).
Referees: Brian Aaron and Sean Fernandez. Linesmen: Jake Davis and Dan Cohen.
A: 5,326 (4,852)
Big Ten standings: 1. Michigan State 14-4-2, 46 points (20-7-3 overall); 2. Wisconsin 13-6-1, 42 points (22-8-2 overall); 3. Minnesota 12-6-4, 37 points (19-8-5 overall); 4. Notre Dame 9-11-2, 31 points (15-15-2 overall); 5. Michigan 8-10-2, 28 points (15-12-3 overall); 6. Penn State 5-12-3, 20 points (13-14-3 overall); 7. Ohio State 3-15-2, 12 points (11-15-4 overall)
Saturday’s results: Minnesota 3, Notre Dame 2 (OT); Ohio State 3, Wisconsin 1; Penn State 4, Michigan 2.
Friday’s results: Notre Dame 6, Minnesota 1; Michigan 5, Penn State 3; Ohio State 3, Wisconsin 2 (OT).
Feb. 23-24 series: Notre Dame at Michigan; Ohio State at Michigan State; Wisconsin at Penn State; Minnesota-idle.
March 1-2 series: Michigan at Minnesota; Michigan State at Wisconsin; Penn State at Ohio State; Notre Dame-idle.