3rd ranked Gophers outlast Bemidji State for 9th straight win

The No. 3 Golden Gophers men’s hockey team has caught fire with nine straight wins, their latest victim being the Bemidji State Beavers in a 5-3 rout at Mariucci Arena Thursday night in Minneapolis.

At 10-1-0, the Gophers are nearly perfect. Their only loss came against Omaha – a 2-1 overtime loss in Las Vegas – on October 12th. Minnesota has outscored opponents 478-20 this season.

Minnesota took a 1-0 lead 3:55 into the first period on Brodie Ziemer’s goal, and 1:47 later they went ahead 2-0 on a power play goal by Brody Lamb. Jimmy Snuggerud, the reigning Big Ten First Star of the Week, had the primary assist on both goals.

After Eric Martin gave Bemidji State some life at 16:06 of the first period, the Gophers almost immediately regained momentum on a goal by Oliver Moore just 45 seconds later.

The Beavers cut it to 3-2 at 6:09 of the second period, only to have Minnesota strike back with a goal from John Middelstadt at the 9:50 mark of the middle frame.

The Kirklan Irey goal made it 4-3 with 8:50 left in the third period, an incredible feat considering they had been outshot 36-15 at that point. Bemidji State applied tremendous pressure over the next seven and a half minutes to get Lamb to turn a puck the length of the ice into an empty-net goal with just over 60 seconds left to seal the win for Minnesota.

The second game of the series will be in Bemidji at 6pm CT Saturday.