Gophers Beat Northeastern for First Win of the Season

MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – Eric Schierhorn made big save after big save on Friday night to pick up his first career win and first career shutout as the No. 19 Gopher Hockey program opened the weekend with a 4-0 win over Northeastern at Mariucci Arena.

In addition to the rookie goaltender standing tall, the Maroon & Gold also saw Tommy Novak, Jack Glover and Tyler Sheehy pick up their first goals as Gophers while Jack Sadek tallied his first career point with an assist in his collegiate debut.

The story of the night, however, was Schierhorn in net as the freshman goalie made a huge glove save in his first real test of the night, added several stops on breakaways and skated off the ice with 23 saves on the night as the game’s first star. The Anchorage, Alaska native moved to 1-3-0 on the season while his save percentage jumped up to .932. Perhaps the only negative for Schierhorn on the night was that his handful of impressive saves were overshadowed by Northeastern goalie Ryan Ruck’s diving blocker catch that temporarily kept the game at 3-0.

Minnesota (1-2-0 overall, 0-0-0 Big Ten) scored three times in the first period – all coming as the first college goal of their respective scorer – before adding a fourth tally late in the contest.

In addition to his first goal as a Gopher, Novak ended a 12 power-play drought to start the season when he knocked in a loose puck at 6:48 of the first on Minnesota’s first advantage of the night. Justin Kloos and Michael Brodzinski assisted on the play. Glover padded the lead for the Maroon & Gold when he slipped a wrist shot into the net at 8:50 of the opening stanza on a setup from Hudson Fasching.

While upperclassmen set up the first two goals of the night, it was an all-freshmen goal on the third tally at 11:50 of the first when Sadek forced an offensive zone turnover and then fed Sheehy at the top of the slot to make it 3-0.

Fasching closed out the night with his first goal of the season at 17:09 when the junior forward found the back of the net for his second point of the night. Novak also picked up his second point of the night with the primary assist while Leon Bristedt also earned a helper on the score.

The Gophers kept Northeastern (1-3-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) at bay with a 6-for-6 performance on the penalty kill while ending the night 1-for-5 on the power play. The Maroon & Gold also outshot the Huskies 26-23 on the night – the first time this season the team has outshot its opponent.

The two nonconference foes close out this weekend’s series on Saturday night at 8:05 p.m. CT.