Gophers stay hot at Ohio State as mega-gauntlet looms after holiday break

Minnesota has a chance to get back to .500 with another win Friday night against the Buckeyes.

The Gophers celebrate after a goal in a 6-3 win at Ohio State. | Image courtesy of Minnesota Athletics

After an ugly start to the season, the Minnesota Gophers men's hockey team has found its stride, and Thursday night's road win at Ohio State was its sixth victory in the last eight games.

The maroon and gold peppered the Buckeyes for three goals in the second and third periods en route to a 6-3 win, albeit the last two goals were on an empty net. Bordy Lamb led Minnesota with a three-point night, while Beckett Hendrickson and Brodie Ziemer tallied two points apiece, and goaltender Luca Di Pasquo made 32 saves.

🗣️ Let em know LAMB!!

📺: BTN pic.twitter.com/9wqqNTNqVl

— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) December 5, 2025

Minnesota started the season 2-7-1, falling regularly to top-20 teams, including Boston College, North Dakota, Minnesota-Duluth, and Wisconsin. They even lost at home to Michigan Tech and Long Island University. Boston College is currently ranked 15th, while North Dakota is No. 5, UMD is No. 4, and Wisconsin is No. 2 in the nation.

The Gophers have since caught fire, splitting a home series against then-No. 5 Penn State, and then beating then-No. 4 Denver in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game. Those victories generated some hope that 2025-26 won't be a bust, and the Gophers have otherwise, outside of a bad home loss to Long Island, taken care of business against Notre Dame and now the Buckeyes, who are at the bottom of the Big Ten standings.

"I give our guys a ton of credit and our leaders. Sometimes it wasn't pretty, but we were pretty beat up coming back from Denver with the travel problems that we had. We had a great fight in us tonight," Gophers coach Bob Motzko said Thursday night. "We have one more before a holiday break, and tomorrow's a big game for us to continue to stay strong."

Another win at Ohio State on Friday night would get Minnesota back to .500 at 9-9-1 entering the holiday break, giving them nearly a month to recharge before the Big Ten schedule stiffens when they return to action in January.

January is going to be a monster, and it could make or break the Gophers' season. They play at No. 9 Penn State Jan. 9-10, followed by showdowns with No. 1 Michigan, No. 3 Michigan State, and No. 2 Wisconsin.

It doesn't happen very often when the Golden Gophers are facing the top three teams in the country on consecutive weekends, but that's what's coming — and it will test Minnesota's mettle as they attempt to convince the nation that they are the top-10 team everyone thought they were when the season started.