SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Minnesota forward Jaxon Nelson had himself a night to remember near his old hometown.
Nelson scored twice in the third period, which included the late game-winner as Minnesota rallied to beat Omaha 3-2 on Thursday night at Denny Sanford Premier Center, advancing to Saturday night’s regional final.
Nelson, a native of Magnolia, Minn., about 40 miles from the arena, had many friends and family in attendance and gave his peers a finish to remember.
“It was great to get the win. It was a great atmosphere,” said Nelson. “It means a lot, the support from the community.”
Joaquim Lemay and Ty Mueller had goals for Omaha, which came into the NCAA tournament red-hot but fell to Minnesota for the second straight time, both in the tournament’s first round in the last four years – the Gophers won their 2021 NCAA meeting 7-2. But Mavericks coach Mike Gabinet has seen so much growth with his players and the program in-between those meetings, and he felt that was a big part of going into this year’s tournament.
“It’s a big stage, but I felt we were battle tested,” Gabinet said.
For most of the first period, it seemed like the Gophers were chasing the game. They didn’t spend a lot of time in the offensive zone, and they ended up taking two penalties, one of which was a head contact major on Ryan Chesley, who stayed in the game. Most of the major carried to the second period, and the Mavericks were able to convert it into a goal from Lemay for a 1-0 lead. Those seven minutes of penalty killing really had the Gophers on their heels – they were being outshot 18-4 by the time the major expired.
“Seven minutes of killing penalties can really put us in a hole,” said Minnesota coach Bob Motzko. “Right after the penalty kill, we started playing.”
Minnesota did indeed seem to wake up after the kill and spent most of the next 10 minutes pushing relentlessly for the tying goal, finally getting it after Connor Kurth made a great play to keep the puck in the offensive zone, feeding Jimmy Clark and going in 2-on-1 with Clark before the latter aimed a perfect laser over Simon Latkoczy’s right shoulder at 18:01 and sending the teams into the second intermission in a 1-1 deadlock. The Gophers were badly outshot when the major expired but finished the final 15 minutes of the frame with a 21-7 SOG advantage to put them ahead 26-25 in that department.
“We had a lot of momentum,” said Kurth.
However, the Mavericks went back ahead within the first five minutes of the third period as a Jack Randl shot found Mueller on the other end of the net, and he buried it for a 2-1 lead. The Gophers answered a few minutes later when Bryce Brodzinski won a battle behind the UNO net and fed Nelson out front to equalize the game for the second time.
Then that very same combo in that very same order struck again with just over four minutes left after Omaha’s Tanner Ludtke lost his balance and fell in his own zone along the far wall, turning the puck over to Brodzinski whose shot tipped off the stick of Nelson and in for the winning goal.
“Bryce made a nice play to get the tip,” Nelson said.
CAPTAIN. CLUTCH.
📺: ESPNU pic.twitter.com/rgesV5GT5e
— Minnesota Men’s Hockey (@GopherHockey) March 29, 2024
Omaha relentlessly fought for the tying goal over the final two minutes after Latkoczy was pulled for the extra skater, and they were able to force a long shift for Minnesota’s skaters until Justen Close made a big save with 9.3 seconds left, stopping play and allowing a crucial line change for the Gophers to clear the zone and finish off the game after the final faceoff.
“We played pretty well in that last minute; we gave it everything we got,” said Omaha forward Matt Miller. “Fell a little short, but that’s everything we had.”
Minnesota will face Boston University in the regional final on Saturday at 5:30 PM CT. It will be a rematch of their 2023 Frozen Four semifinal matchup, a 6-2 Minnesota victory.
“We saw them last year; we know they got a ton of talent,” Motzko said. “We’re just darn happy we’re playing Saturday.”
