Gophers Advance In Big 10 Hockey In Area Sports Recap

MEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY:

-- The Gophers took down Penn State 3-2 to win 2-0 in the best of 3 series and advance in the Big Ten Tourney. Justen Close stood tall in net making 46 saves to help the U secure the win. The Gophers got two scores from Jaxon Nelson and one goal from Aaron Huglen. The Gophers are awaiting the outcome of other series to see who their opponent will be and if they get to host or have to travel for the next round in the Big Ten Tournament.

--St. Cloud State went out with a thud as they dropped the regular season final 4-2 to the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The win gives the Bulldogs the weekend sweep. After a scoreless first period, Duluth jumped out to a 2-0 lead. The Huskies would come back late in the period scoring twice 32 seconds apart in the last minute plus of the second period. They got a power-play goal from Tyson Gross and then an even-strength score from Zach Okabe to tie things up. The Bulldogs would regain the lead about halfway into the third on a power play goal by Aiden Dubinsky, which would end up being the game-winner. Duluth would get an empty netter for their final goal. SCSU will host the first round of the NCHC playoffs next weekend.

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MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL:

-- The University of Minnesota may have missed the NCAA tourney with their late-season woes. After losing to Indiana the Gophers lost 90-66 to Northwestern on Saturday in their regular-season finale. Dawson Garcia’s 30 points and 9 rebounds were not enough as the Wildcats jumped out to a 15-4 lead early and never looked back. The Gophers will open the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday at Target Center.

JUNIOR HOCKEY:

-- The St. Cloud Norsemen beat the Austin Bruins 5-1 on Saturday to earn a weekend sweep. The Norsemen got two goals from Andrew Cumming and then one each from Kyle Miller, Louis Wehmann, and Hudson Blue. Next up for St. Cloud is the Bismarck Bobcats on March 16^th.

-- The Granite City Lumberjacks came back in their playoff series and beat the Mason City Toros 4-3 on Saturday. The win means the two teams will play a third winner-take-all all game on Sunday. The Jacks got scores from Joe Greniuk, Thomas Gerum, Hayden Johnson, and Sam Brennan.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

--The University of Minnesota got another win on Saturday beating Fordham 4-2. Fordham got up early by scoring two runs in the top of the 2^nd. The Gophers got an RBI single from Taylor Krapf in the third to cut the lead in half to 2-1. Minnesota would get three more runs in the 5^th inning to take the lead and then hold on for the win. Krapf led the Gophers going 2-4 with 2 RBI in the game. Bri Enter picked up the win in relief with 5.2 scoreless innings only giving up 4 hits and striking out 3.

Graham Miller, St. John's University

COLLEGE BASEBALL

--St. John’s would mount a comeback in the later innings to beat Muskingum 6-3 on Saturday. Muskingum would go up in the first inning on an unearned run and then add two more in the fifth inning after there were two outs. The Johnnies would start their comeback in the 6^th inning with two unearned runs. After an error by the right fielder, St. John’s would get back-to-back singles from Jordan Amundson and Jackson Geislinger to cut the score to 3-2. The Johnnies would grab the lead the next inning on a 3-run homerun by DH Joe Becker and then add on one more run in the 8^th to get to the 6-3 final. St. John’s will head to Arizona next weekend for four games.

--The University of Minnesota lost 5-3 to Gonzaga in their rematch on Saturday. Weber Neels went 2-4 with 2 RBI and Brady Counsell had a HR for the Gophers. Connor Wietgrefe got the start for the U and went 5.2 innings giving up all five runs, although only one of those was earned, with one walk and one strikeout. The Gophers will take on St. Olaf next, on Wednesday.

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