The Gophers got 3 of 4 weekend points against rival North Dakota.
If you bet on sports, a battle between rivals is always hard to leave emotion out of it. That was the case this weekend as big time college hockey rivals Minnesota and North Dakota faced off for the last time in regular season as conference foes.
The line of Sam Warning, Nate Condon and Zach Budish accounted for two of No. 1 Minnesota’s four goals on Saturday including the late, game-tying score as the Gopher men’s hockey program rallied from a two-goal third period deficit to tie No. 6 North Dakota 4-4 in overtime in the final WCHA regular-season meeting between the two rivals.
Minnesota (17-3-4 overall, 9-3-4 WCHA) closed out the weekend with three league points to move into a tie for first in the WCHA standings with St. Cloud State, each with 22 points this season.
After North Dakota (13-7-4, 8-4-4) took an early 1-0 lead for the second night in a row at 11:39 of the first period, Jake Parenteau brought the game back to even with his first goal of the season just 1:11 later when Mark Alt and Christian Isackson fed the junior for a solid backhand goal at 12:50.
North Dakota would open the second period with goals from Corban Knight and Rocco Grimaldi at 9:34 and 12:28, respectively – putting the Gophers down 3-1 before Minnesota’s second line hooked up to bring the game back to a one-goal deficit 1:20 later when Warning rifled a shot off Zane Gothberg and in for his fifth goal of the season (assisted by Budish and Condon). North Dakota would reclaim a two-goal lead at 7:20 of the second when Drake Caggiula snuck the visitors’ fourth goal of the night behind Adam Wilcox.
The Gophers, however, weren’t beaten yet.
Nick Bjugstad notched his 13th goal of the season – tied for the team lead with Kyle Rau – after being set up by Erik Haula at 11:10 of the third period. Haula has now recorded a point in 16-straight games.
And for the second night in a row, the game’s final score came off the stick of Nate Condon. The junior lit the lamp for the ninth time this season with 2:58 left in regulation to force overtime after Zach Budish earned his second assist of the night. The Gophers linemates paced Minnesota with two points each tonight while Condon finished the weekend with five points for the Gophers.
Minnesota extended its unbeaten streak to 10 games with the tie while Wilcox moved to 16-2-4 in a 22-save performance in net. Gothberg made 31 saves in net for North Dakota.
The Gophers return to action next weekend with a home-and-home series against Minnesota State.