Gophers men’s hockey completes sweep of Notre Dame with 4-1 victory

Jimmy Clark, Brody Lamb and L.J. Mooney each had a goal and an assist as the Gophers men’s hockey earned its first sweep of the season with a 4-1 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The Gophers (4-7-1, 2-2 Big Ten) won Friday’s game 3-0, when they played as an unranked team for the first time since February 2020.

“This weekend is what the doctor ordered,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters after the game. “Give our guys a lot of credit, we had a heck of a week of practice.”

Lamb’s goal, assisted by Clark, 3:37 into the game, gave the Gophers an early 1-0 lead.

Notre Dame tied it on Michael Mastrodomenico’s goal at 3:59 of the second period.

Luke Mittelstadt broke the tie with a power-play goal — assisted by Lamb and Mooney — with 3:43 left in the second period. Just over a minute later, Clark extended the lead to 3-1 with 2:27 left. Clark’s goal was assisted by Javon Moore and Max Rud.

Mooney made it 4-1 with 6:12 remaining in the game.

Luca Di Pasquo, who earned his first shutout with the Gophers on Friday, had 33 saves on Saturday. The Gophers outshot Notre Dame 35-34.

Di Pasquo told reporters afterward that he learned he would be starting back-to-back nights Saturday morning. “Obviously, it’s a great feeling, but you know you’ve got to stay level,” he said. “If you get the opportunity to go two in a row, you’ve got to produce, you’ve got to take advantage of it.”

The series sweep was the first for the Gophers since they swept Ohio State on Feb. 21-22 last season. The Irish (3-6-1, 0-4) won two of three from the host Gophers in March in the Big Ten playoff quarterfinals.