
Freshman winger Nathan Burke battled a month-long bout with mono that set him well far behind his teammates in terms of fitness to start the season. But in just his third game this season, he left the ice the hero.
Burke scored his first and second goal for the Gophers on Saturday in a revenge 3-0 victory against St. Lawrence to split the series at 3M Arena at Mariucci in front of an announced 8,098 fans. The Gophers lost 4-3 in overtime on Friday.
The Arizona native redirected junior defenseman Tyler Nanne's pass in the first period and then pulled off a spin-o-rama in the second for the win. Senior goaltender Eric Schierhorn called it SportsCenter-worthy. Fellow freshman Sammy Walker then added a third on a breakaway with just a couple minutes to play.
"It's exciting. We've been working hard in practice, and after last night, it was definitely cool to bounce back and help my team out," Burke said. "I have great linemates, Walker and [Blake] McLaughlin. They did all the work, I just happened to go to the right places. So it definitely felt amazing. I don't know. I'm kind of speechless about it."
Schierhorn also earned the shutout, stopping all 12 of St. Lawrence's shots. The Gophers, meanwhile, shot off 31.
"I mean, our guys were dialed in," Schierhorn said. "I'll take a shutout whenever I can get it. Not knocking St. Lawrence: that was probably the easiest shutout that I've had in college hockey. But that's a credit to my team."
Coach Bob Motzko was disappointed in Friday's step back, but seemed optimistic Saturday was a firm turnaround.
"I hope that this is another staple another stamp of a direction turn in our compete level," Motzko said. "We had to make some changes. We made some changes in our lineup. We made some changes in our lines. But they made the change in how they were going to play."