February 21st, 2025: Gophers’ Brody Lamb snaps an 11-game goal drought with two goals in a 4-1 win over Ohio State.
–> Follow @Dylanloucks4 on Twitter (X).
Minneapolis, Minn – Playing one-goal games toward the end of the season is extremely important for a playoff-bound team. The Minnesota Gophers (22-7-4 | 13-5-3) lost in overtime and a shootout last weekend to the Michigan Wolverines.
On Friday, the Gophers walked away with a 4-1 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes 20-9-2 | 13-7-1) in what was a one-goal game until the final two minutes and 30 seconds.
“Yeah, I think we’re comfortable,” Brody Lamb, who scored two goals, said on if the team is comfortable in one-goal games now. “There’s always a little bit of nerves in a 2-1 game with five minutes left. There are going to be nerves no matter who you are or what team you are. But, I think we’ve done a pretty good job handling that this year, and obviously tonight, we just got better.”
It had been a struggle for Lamb recently. The junior forward opened the season on a tear. He started the season with 13 goals and 20 points in the team’s first 20 games but went without a goal for 11 consecutive games until Friday. Lamb had only one assist in his last 11 games.
“It felt good. I’ve been battling it a bit,” Lamb said of his drought. “So, it feels good to finally get that off my chest and better to come up with the win.”
When you start the season as hot as Lamb did it can be easy to get frustrated when it’s not going in the net. But Lamb stayed positive through it all. He credits video work as something that got him out of it.
“I watched some clips. Just some little things I can do better in the O-Zone,” Lamb said. “Just give myself more space and more chances. I think tonight it kind of came together.”
Lamb opened the scoring after Aaron Huglen, who welcomed a daughter into the World a few weeks ago, burst past a few Buckeyes before passing one to Lamb in the slot.
Huglen and his wife Maddie welcomed their firstborn Evelynn on February 9th when the Gophers were on a bye week.
“I think he’s got a little jump in his step ever since his little daughter came into the world,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said of Huglen. “He sure has been good and he played great for us tonight.”
As for Huglen and what it has been like for him recently.
“Amazing. Obviously a whirlwind having that kid. But yeah, she’s awesome. It’s been fun.”
And also being a father, college student, and Gophers hockey player and assistant captain?
“Yeah, that’s obviously another responsibility. But you know, my wife stays at home and she does a great job being a mom. I just try to help out as much as I can.”
Huglen’s patience with the puck opened a passing lane for Lamb in front of the net to give the Gophers a 1-0 lead to start the game. Ryan Chesley’s patience gave the Gophers a 2-1 lead which eventually turned into the game-winning goal.
Beckett Hendrickson entered the zone with speed in the second period. He sent a pass to a streaking Chesley, who caught the pass and skated toward Ohio State goaltender Logan Terness. Instead of shooting, Chesley waited and waited until Terness went down, and then Chesley slipped it in under the glove.
“Yeah, he’s got a lot of confidence,” Motzko said on Chesley’s goal. “A lot of defensemen don’t find themselves down around the net that often but you could tell he knew what he wanted to do. It was a great play.”
Chesley was paired with Cal Thomas tonight and boy were they a shutdown pair. The two stopped nine chances off the rush and didn’t allow a single high-danger chance against.
“We’re using those two as shutdown defensemen,” Motzko said. They’ve been doing a great job at it.”
Chesley also finished the night a perfect 5-for-5 on defensive zone exits. Thomas went 5-for-5 on defensive zone exits as well.
Nonetheless, it was a good game for the Gophers and the exact type of game they will hope to play every time in one-goal games. You can expect Ohio State’s best game on Saturday as well. Saturday’s game likely won’t be the last time these two teams play each other this season.
They seem bound to meet in the playoffs.
“We didn’t try to change anything. We played a little nervous because we’ve been in these tight games and we had the lead. But I give our guys credit,” Motzko said. “They did a lot of good things tonight. We’ll get some good stuff out of that, too for the future.”