Gophers hockey beats Notre Dame to force Game 3 of Big Ten series

With the Gophers men's hockey season one loss from extinction, coach Bob Motzko had one imperative question after Friday's Big Ten tournament loss.

"Do we still have them?"

The Gophers did indeed still possess the key to turning around the team's postseason. And as players skated onto the ice for warmups Saturday, they revealed their secret weapon against Notre Dame:

The good juju jerseys.

A team of Golden Woogers beat Notre Dame 2-1 Saturday in front of an announced crowd of 2,281 at 3M Arena at Mariucci, forcing a decisive final home game Sunday. The winner will advance to face top seed Penn State next weekend in the conference semifinals and also keep hopes of an NCAA tournament berth alive.

The Gophers have worn the jerseys — a tribute to former player and coach Doug Woog, who died in December — two other times this season, a 5-2 win over Bemidji State in December and a 4-1 victory over Ohio State in late January.

The Gophers (15-14-7) have since auctioned the jerseys off, but Motzko — who had the idea to stitch the nickname on all the gold shirts — has delayed the shipment.

"I really like those jerseys," senior Ryan Zuhsldorf said. "And I think we should wear them from now on."

Zuhlsdorf is proof there might be some mystical magic in those superstitious sweaters. The defenseman had scored only three times in four seasons, and all three goals had come on the road. But when center Sammy Walker fed him the puck in the slot fewer than two minutes into Saturday's game, Zuhlsdorf looked like a veteran scorer, beating Notre Dame goalie Cale Morris.

Considering the Gophers offense had dried up in recent weeks after a big midseason spike, and considering the Irish (15-14-7) had won 1-0 Friday night, taking a lead early boosted the Gophers' energy.

"They get a goal, and they get giddy, and the bench gets some life to it," Motzko said. "And then when they started playing well, they feed off of it."

The Gophers really rounded into form in the second period and doubled their lead in the third, again from an unusual suspect. Junior winger Cullen Munson chipped in only the second score of his career in his 15th game of the season. He and Joey Marooney, who assisted on Munson's goal for his fifth career point, were two new additions to the lineup Saturday in the midst of line shakeups after center Jack Perbix did not play because of injury.

Motzko told his team before the game he wanted it to be a "rock fight." That was actually a vague reference to the Flintstones, specifically Fred Flintstone's job of hauling boulders via brontosaurus crane.

"We throw the rock down in their end, they throw right back," Munson said. "It was definitely a dogfight."

Gophers goaltender Jack LaFontaine certainly weathered the brunt of that stone-throwing, saving 30 shots. He gave up only a power-play goal from Cam Morrison with about 10 minutes to play.

Not that LaFontaine's heroics or Zuhlsdorf and Munson's goals were all because of a uniform, but Motzko did admit the threads have been working.

"It's playoffs. We've got to do something," Motzko said. "We're wearing them again tomorrow."