Gophers off to worst start in years after being swept at home by UMD

While the third-ranked Gophers women's hockey team was sweeping Minnesota-Duluth this weekend, the Minnesota men's team was getting swept by the UMD Bulldogs.

At 2-5-1, Gophers fans might be hitting the panic button after UMD shut out Minnesota 3-0 on Friday and then spanked them again by a score of 4-1 on Saturday at 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis.

The 2-5-1 start matches the worst eight-game beginning to any season since Bob Motzko was named head coach at Minnesota ahead of the 2018-19 season. That first-year Motzko team finished 18-16-4 and missed the NCAA Tournament.

"The last thing we can do is feel sorry for ourselves or be down, because we've lost some games here early in the year," Motzko said Saturday night. "We've got to push through it. And we've got a lot of faith that we will."

What's more is that Minnesota isn't winning at home, having gone 1-4-1 through six games in Minneapolis. It's their worst start at home since the 1971-72 Gophers went 1-5-0 at home en route to an 8-24-0 overall record.

It's also the first time the Gophers have been swept by a nonconference opponent at home since 2019, when North Dakota skated onto the ice at Mariucci and left with a pair of victories.

The combination of letting in soft goals and seriously lacking offensive firepower is concerning. Minnesota is averaging 22.6 shots per game, a huge drop after averaging more than 35 shots-on-goal per game last season. Overall, the Gophers have been outshot by 49 this season.

Minnesota has a chance to course correct this coming weekend when they head to Madison for their first Big Ten series against the Wisconsin Badgers.

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