MINNEAPOLIS<\/b> — Minnesota’s performance on Friday night had some flashy plays on offense and an all-around solid effort on defense.<\/p>\n
The result was Minnesota’s best showing of the season and a 5-0 shutout of Notre Dame.<\/p>\n
“I thought our effort was really good tonight and for the first time all year, I thought our forwards really worked in the offensive zone,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “We were able to get some pucks behind the defense and I thought we did a good job of controlling the puck in the offensive zone.”<\/p>\n
Lucia said that they team had talked about the fact that they were getting too many one-chance opportunities off the rush and that they needed to improve on that.<\/p>\n
“We had some continuation shifts,” Lucia said. “Two or three in a row where we were able to sustain momentum, and we hadn’t seen that this year.”<\/p>\n
For the second straight game, the Gophers vastly outshot their opponent, but Friday night’s game was much more convincing than Minnesota’s 4-3 overtime victory against St. Cloud State last weekend.<\/p>\n
Justin Kloos, who scored a hat trick last Saturday against the Huskies, opened the scoring early in the first when he received a pass from Kyle Rau near the crease, put it on his backhand and maneuvered a shot past goaltender Cal Petersen.<\/p>\n
Minnesota outshot Notre Dame 18-6 in the first period, but the Gophers were lucky to be leading at the break. The Fighting Irish has two-on-zero and three-on-one odd-man-rushes in the period, but couldn’t solve Adam Wilcox.<\/p>\n
“There was a couple mistakes, we had some pinches and we fell over one time and gave them a two-on-zero,” Lucia said. “[Wilcox] looked really sharp tonight. He was quiet in the net, and when Adam’s calm and quiet in the net that’s when he’s the best.”<\/p>\n
Wilcox confirmed his coach’s thoughts and said that he felt really comfortable between the pipes Friday night.<\/p>\n
“I started to feel like myself tonight,” he said. “Kind of like how I felt last year. I think I just needed to get a little more balanced and a little more calm. I was working on that in practice, and I had a really good week of practice and it carried over into the game.”<\/p>\n
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead about halfway through the second period when Leon Bristedt took a feed from Hudson Fasching near the left circle and sniped a shot past Petersen. The goal, which catapulted the water bottle from its holder on the back of the net, was the first of Bristedt’s career.<\/p>\n
“I needed that one,” Bristedt said. “I’d been struggling a little bit in the beginning. I had a couple of chances before, but I got the third one in.”<\/p>\n
Bristedt, who hails from Sweden, said he feels like he’s getting accustomed to the college game.<\/p>\n
“It’s so much bigger than I thought it would be – it’s a lot more north and south,” he said. “Coming from a European style with a lot of criss-cross and puck possession, here it’s more north and south, you chip it in and chip it out.<\/p>\n
“The adjustment has been harder than I thought it would be, but I think I’m getting there, and I’m getting better every day.”<\/p>\n
Minnesota kept its foot on the gas and peppered Petersen with 13 more shots in the second. After the game’s middle stanza the Gophers held a 32-15 shot advantage.<\/p>\n
Mike Reilly and Sam Warning scored in quick succession in the first five minutes of the third period to put the game on ice. Reilly’s goal came off of a nice one-time pass from Jack Glover, which was the first collegiate point for the freshman defenseman.<\/p>\n
Ben Marshall added Minnesota’s fifth goal on a slap shot from the point with two minutes remaining in the game. <\/p>\n
The final shots on goal tally was 44-20 in favor of Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame head coach Jeff Jackson was unavailable for comment after the game.<\/p>\n
The same two teams will conclude this two-game series at 4 p.m. on Sunday, due to the Minnesota football game on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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