Gophers men’s hockey solidly beat Michigan State 8-0

Those who arrived late to the 3M Arena in Mariucci on Friday night missed the early fireworks. It’s okay though. The Gophers men’s hockey team gave the announced sellout crowd of 10,220 many more opportunities to practice the “Minnesota Rouser.”

Logan Cooley scored nine seconds into the Big Ten opener and added two assists, and fellow freshman phenom Jimmy Snuggerud and defenseman Mike Koster each had a goal and two assists as the second-ranked Gophers beat 15th-ranked Michigan State 8-0. . Justen Close made 21 saves in his fifth suspension of the season.

The explosion, fueled by goals from eight different players, allowed coach Bob Motzko to enjoy a largely stress-free night after the tight games.

“I watched four overtime games in five games. I didn’t care about it,” Motzko said of Friday’s result.

Aaron Huglen had a goal and an assist for the Gophers. Matthew Knies, Connor Kurth, Jackson LaCombe and Garrett Pinoniemi also scored for Minnesota, which outshot the Spartans 33-21.

The Gophers (19-7-1, 13-3-1 Big Ten, 40 points) extended their Big Ten lead to 13 points over Penn State, which lost to Michigan 7-3, and Ohio State, which was idle. Fourth-ranked Michigan State fell to 13-12-2 and 7-8-2 with 24 points. The series ends on Saturday starting at 16:00.

Before the crowd could take their seats, the Gophers were up 1-0. Cooley dug the puck up for a steal in the opening period before it hit a Spartan player and found the stick of Ryan Johnson. Johnson fired an overtime pass to fellow defenseman Brock Faber. With Cooley open up the middle, Faber hit him with a pass, and the No. 3 overall draft pick of the Arizona Coyotes drove in and snapped a shot past Spartans goalie Dylan St. Cyr just nine seconds into the period.

“Great pass from Faber to Cooley,” Motzko said. “We worked on it, they read it and it started from there.”

Faber, who had two assists, said like Johnson: “Luckily [Cooley] was open, and apparently he doesn’t miss that detachment much.”

Snuggerud extended the Gophers’ lead to 2-0 at 16:47 of the first when he fired a shot from the slot over St. Cyr’s right shoulder.

“It’s an amazing shot,” Motzko said. “We all shake our heads when he takes it.”

Koster had a hand in two of the Gophers’ three second-period goals, as Kurth converted a Koster rebound for a 3-0 lead and Koster slammed home a Rhett Pitlick layup to make it 5-0. In between, Knies scored his 16th goal of the season with Snuggerud.

“All of us can contribute offensively,” said Koster, part of a blue line that had seven points. “The biggest thing was that we were smart and didn’t give away opportunities the other way around.”

The Gophers opened it in the third period with Pinoniemi’s first career goal.

During the bounce, the Gophers’ skills were on display in unusual ways, as Knies tried a lacrosse-style shot and Pitlick completed a split between the legs. Neither worked, but both created a buzz from the crowd.

“It was a feel-good night that we can feel good about right now, but we have to park it because we have to play tomorrow,” Motzko said.