Gophers men's hockey scores five first-period goals to dispatch Notre Dame

The third-ranked Gophers men's hockey team scored five unanswered goals in the first period and Notre Dame was never able to find its way back, or any luck, in a 5-2 Minnesota victory Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.

The Irish (7-15-1) actually struck first when Paul Fisher found the back of the Gophers net 4 minutes, 2 seconds into the first period. But Jimmy Snuggerud scored 22 seconds later to knot the game for the Gophers (19-4-2), kicking off a five-goal run that put the game away early. Four minutes, 19 seconds after Snuggerud's goal, Cal Thomas made it a 2-1 game.

John Mittelstadt scored 29 seconds later. Snuggerud scored his second of the night with 2 minutes, 10 seconds remaining in the first period, and Mason Nevers scored 14 seconds later for a commanding 5-1 Gophers advantage.

The Golden Gophers scored FIVE goals in the first period 😳 @GopherHockey leads Notre Dame 5-1. #B1GHockey pic.twitter.com/fFTYwkq6xJ
— Big Ten Hockey (@B1GHockey) January 18, 2025

Jimmy Jurcev added a second-period goal for Notre Dame, but the final two frames were mostly uneventful.

The Gophers had a significant 46-15 advantage in shots on goal. Nicholas Kempf was pulled after giving up the five goals on 19 first-period shots. Owen Say was able to shut Minnesota out after that, stopping all 22 shots he faced.

Nathan Airey made 13 saves on 15 shots for the Gophers.

Snuggerud was the first star of the game; Mike Koster, who had a pair of assists and finished as a plus-3, was the second star; and Thomas was the third star.

The Gophers and Irish meet for the second of the two-game series at 5 p.m. Saturday night back at Mariucci.