Gophers roundup: Men’s hockey loses at home to Long Island 6-2

Long Island University used three power-play goals — two in the final four minutes — to skate past the Gophers men’s hockey team 6-2 on Friday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

In the first meeting between the two programs, the Gophers opened the scoring with a goal by Brodie Ziemer midway through the first period, but the Sharks responded with four unanswered goals to take a 4-1 lead early in the third period.

“They beat us at their game,” Gophers coach Bob Motzko told reporters afterward.

Brett Rylance tied it 91 seconds after Ziemer’s goal, and Brennan Nelson put Long Island up 2-1 with 2:01 remaining in the first period.

Sixten Jennersjö made it 3-1 on a power-play goal midway through the second period, and Chad Muller scored early in the third for a three-goal lead.

After the Gophers pulled within 4-2 with 7:28 remaining, the Sharks converted twice in the final 3:50 to seal the victory. Long Island’s Daniel Duris made 36 saves to 16 for the Gophers’ Luca Di Pasquo.

“Their goalie was outstanding,” Motzko said. “We had numerous chances to get in the game, make it a game, keep it going. And he just shut the door on us. And then our penalty killing fell apart. That’s kind of it.”

Nick Bernardo, Dylan Kinch and Jennersjö each had a goal and two assists for Long Island (5-5), which has won four games in a row. The Sharks are in their sixth season of Division I hockey.

“We weren’t horrible tonight, but they just stuck to the script, and we just couldn’t crawl back in,” Motzko said.

The teams conclude the series Saturday.

The Gophers women’s hockey team broke open a tie game with four third-period goals to defeat Bemidji State 6-2 before an announced 5,218 at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The Gophers moved from their usual home at Ridder Arena to host schoolchildren visiting for Field Trip Day.

“It was just an awesome opportunity to get over to Mariucci and play there. Just so much fun to see all those kids with their lunch boxes, counting the clock down and getting excited when our team scored.”

Ava Lindsay’s goal with 14:34 remaining gave the Gophers the lead for good. Jamie Nelson, Josefin Bouveng (shorthanded) and Abbey Murphy added goals in the final period for the No. 2 Gophers (11-2-0, 7-2-0 WCHA), who outshot the Beavers 21-3 in the third period and 56-12 for the game.

Bemidji State’s Morgan Smith scored only 14 seconds into the game. The Gophers tied it on a goal by Emma Kreisz with 13:29 left in the first period.

Sydney Morrow’s shorthanded goal put the Gophers up 2-1 midway through the second period, but the Beavers tied it on a power-play goal by Isa Goettl with 4:35 left in the period.

Kreisz had a goal and two assists for the Gophers, while Murphy and Lindsay each had a goal and assist. Murphy went into the game tied for first in the nation with 25 points.

Julia Hanson had 14 kills to lead the No. 20 Gophers volleyball team to a 25-23, 25-23, 25-22 victory over No. 24 Penn State at Maturi Pavilion.

Carly Gilk added eight kills and 10 digs for the Gophers (18-8, 8-7 Big Ten), who defeated the Nittany Lions (14-11, 8-7) for the first time since 2021.

Kennedy Martin had 26 kills for the Nittany Lions.

“We know we have five matches left that are really important for us going into the tournament,” Hanson said. “Personally, I’ve never beaten Penn State and I had a chip on my shoulder trying to beat them. I’m glad we got it done.”

Brylee Glenn scored 13 points and Sophie Hart had 12 as the Gophers women’s basketball team defeated New Jersey Institute of Technology 88-39 at Williams Arena.

The Gophers, who had nine players score between six and 13 points, made 36-of-68 field goal attempts (52.9%) and committed only eight turnovers.

Amaya Battle contributed six points, a team-high 10 rebounds and three assists for the Gophers. With the three assists, Battle became one of five Gophers in program history to have scored at least 1,000 points and handed out at least 500 assists.

Allison Cannon scored 11 points for the Highlanders (3-1).

The Gophers will play at Kansas on Nov. 19.