April 6th, 2023: Luke Mittelstadt scores two goals in under two minutes in the third to push the Gophers to the NCAA National Championship.
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Tampa, Fla – The boxscore would show this game was pretty even and it was for the most part. But Luke Mittelstadt scored two goals in one minute and 58 seconds apart to boost the Gophers to the NCAA Championship game.
I liked us tonight,” Gophers’ head coach Bob Motzko said. “I thought we were playing well. We had some unfortunate goals called back but our guys stuck with it.”
Rhett Pitlick added: “Lots of ups and downs but we stuck with it as a team and knew the momentum was sticking with us.”
Boston University got the game’s first goal after Sam Stevens crashed the net hard and picked up the rebound. This was after the Gophers thought they scored.
Jimmy Snuggerud fired a shot off the post to the right of Drew Commesso, the puck sat in the crease as Snuggerud celebrated. Matthew Knies came rushing in and poked the puck wide where Logan Cooley circled around the net and put it right in the crease. Not long after the Terriers came down and scored.
As Domenick Fensore fired a point shot, it seemed like Cal Thomas and Ryan Chesley miscommunicated on the play which lead to an open spot in front for Stevens who ripped home his eighth goal of the year.
It looked like Thomas didn’t play the rest of the game.
About five minutes later the Gophers went to the power play after Jay O’Brien went to the box for elbowing Mason Nevers.
Jaxon Nelson passed one to Cooley who was streaking in, Cooley later passed one to Mike Koster who ripped home his sixth goal of the year. It was Cooley’s 38th assist and 58th point of the year. Nelson picked up his 17th assist and 26th point in 39 games for the Gophers.
The Gophers went back to the power play after Luke Tuch went to the box for interference. Eight seconds later Rhett Pitlick banged home an unreal pass by Aaron Huglen, giving the Gophers a 2-1 lead.
NSFW warning on this feed by @aaronhuglen_8 pic.twitter.com/4QatugXXh2
— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) April 6, 2023
With 44 seconds left in the first period, Knies tipped a point shot on net that Commesso stopped. Cooley picked up the rebound and scored his 21st goal of the year.
Or he thought he did.
After review, it was ruled goaltender interference after Knies got his stick caught in Commesso’s glove. The hard part about it was Commesso would probably not have gotten to the rebound. Nonetheless, it was ruled no goal.
Knies came out into the second on fire and got the period’s first shot just 27 seconds in but then the Gophers went over 12 minutes without a shot and watched Boston tie the game at 2-2.
The Terriers got their goal on the power play when O’Brien tipped home his eighth goal of the year. Domenick Fensore’s point shot was right on target for O’Brien who tied the game at 2-2.
With two minutes and five seconds left in the second period Lane Hutson went to the box for tripping. With 55 seconds left in the power play, Ty Gallagher went to the box for tripping. The Gophers fired three shots on the net but Commesso stopped them all.
After the period ended, Cade Webber took a shot at Knies which resulted in a charging penalty. This sent the Gophers back to a five-on-three power play.
Just a minute and 40 seconds into the third period, Bryce Brodzinski sent a pass to the point for Koster. The Junior defender waited a bit before passing one over to Luke Mittelstadt who later ripped home his fourth goal of the year.
MITTELSNIPE pic.twitter.com/zpPxJCExNB
— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) April 6, 2023
The crowd blew up inside Amalie Arena with hundreds of Gopher fans to their feet cheering the Minnesota Rouser.
“I was really impressed with tonight was the Minnesota people that showed up,” Motzko said. “What a crowd we had tonight. Nothing would’ve been worse than for them to have to stick around without their team being here. We are pretty fired up that we all get to stick around the next couple of days.”
Under two minutes later Mittelstadt got another one. It came with more traffic in front of Commesso which has been his biggest weakness all season long. Ryan Chesley and Huglen got the assists on the play.
“Luke Mittelstadt is a heck of a player,” Motzko said.
Cooley picked up two empty-net goals in the final three minutes to help the Gophers walk away with a 6-2 win over Boston. His two goals and three points put him at 22 goals and 60 points in just 38 games.
With his three-point effort, Cooley is now two points behind Thomas Vanek and John Mayasich for third all-time in scoring amongst Gopher freshmen. The Gophers actually brought Mayasich with them for the trip to watch the Gophers.
With the win, the Gophers will play the winner of Quinnipiac against Michigan. The Gophers will look to win their sixth national championship and first in exactly 20 years. Puck drop will be 7:00 pm central time and 8:00 pm here in Tampa.