MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s Justin Kloos couldn’t remember the last time he scored a hat trick.
“It wasn’t in juniors and it wasn’t last year, so I’m guessing high school,” he said.
The three goals he scored in Saturday’s game against St. Cloud State will probably be more memorable than any previous hat trick in his career.
Kloos beat Charlie Lindgren 79 seconds into overtime to give Minnesota 4-3 victory over the Huskies at Mariucci Arena.
Though Kloos buried the biscuit in overtime, the play happened in large part thanks to Taylor Cammarata, who won the puck behind St. Cloud’s net and fed Kloos out front.
“[Kloos] and [Cammarata] have been playing together for three or four years now and they have a little chemistry together,” Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. “They can play off each other, too.”
The goal came on Minnesota’s 35th shot of the game, which was in overtime even though St. Cloud only mustered 14 shots on frame.
“I took it away from the guy down low and as soon as I looked up I saw Kloos in the slot and I just moved it to him quick,” Cammarata said of the game-winner.
Kloos gave most of the credit for the goal to his fellow sophomore.
“It was 95 percent him and then he got me the puck,” Kloos said. “We were pressuring them pretty well there. Cammarata just stripped the guy and I just turned and he got me the puck in the slot. Luckily, I was able to sneak one in.”
After a scoreless first period, Kloos scored 12 seconds into the second period, thanks to a phenomenal play by Kyle Rau. The senior co-captain won the period’s opening faceoff and gained possession of the puck. After slicing his way deep into St. Cloud’s zone, he slid a cross-crease pass to Kloos, who had an empty net at his disposal. The goal came on a power play that carried over from the end of the first period.
“That’s what a great player will do, make a play like that,” St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko said of Rau’s assist after the game. “It was kind of game that someone had to make plays. They made them and then we made them, [but] we were just disappointed with the last goal.”
Minnesota was 1-for-4 with extra man. St. Cloud scored one power-play goal on three opportunities.
The Huskies answered when Andrew Prochno scored on the team’s fifth shot of the game with about 13 minutes left in the game’s middle period. Prochno snuck a wrist shot past Gophers’ netminder Adam Wilcox from the point.
Ethan Prow made it 2-1 huskies six minutes later when he too put a shot from near the blue line past Wilcox. The power-play goal was the first of the season for Prow.
St. Cloud seemed poised to take the 2-1 lead into the locker room until Kloos corralled a puck near the boards and patiently skated it into the high slot, waited for traffic to clear up, and sniped the puck over Lindgren’s right shoulder to tie the game.
Kloos scored his first goal 12 seconds into the second and scored his second with 12 seconds left in the period.
Minnesota held a 25-10 shot advantage after two periods. The second period was actually an improvement shot-wise for St. Cloud over the first. The Huskies only had two shots on goal in the first and only attempted four total shots.
What St. Cloud lacked in offensive pressure, it made up for in team defense. Even though the Gophers held a vast shot lead all afternoon, it never seemed like the Gophers were dominating the game. The Huskies had 14 blocked shots Saturday afternoon.
Connor Reilly scored an even-strength goal a little more than two minutes into the third period to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead. The Gophers relinquished that lead with a little more than five minutes left in the third when Joey Benik scored.
“I was happy to see [Reilly] get a five-on-five goal tonight,” Lucia said. “We need more guys stepping forward five-on-five to help us contribute.”
Lindgren finished the game with 31 saves, which drew praise from Motzko, saying he “was the reason we were close to being in the game.”
Motzko also said that he sense a lack of energy on the bench all game long.
“They were trying to find it, they’re a good group of guys,” he said. “It’s just so hard when you can’t find it. We were a group on the bench that just kept trying to find it. When we got the lead, there was a little spirit on the bench and when we tied it up it was there. Then it just came down to who’s going to make the next play.”
Motzko also noted that the Gophers were the more physical team on Saturday, which was easy to see.
“They had much more jump and they were much more physical,” he said. “They got to the point of impact much harder than we did. We both played the same amount of minutes and we just couldn’t get going like we wanted to get going tonight.”
Lucia said he was more impressed with Minnesota’s effort on Saturday, compared to its effort in a 4-1 loss to the Huskies on Friday.
“Our knees were bent and we went after some pucks,” he said. “Even if we wouldn’t have won the game, tonight I was much happier with the play.”
