Wisconsin Scores Shootout Win Over Gophers

MADISON, Wis. (GopherSports.com) - For the second night in a row, senior forward Seth Ambroz skated off the ice with a pair of goals to his credit. Saturday's series finale with Wisconsin just took him a little longer to do so, that's all. 

Ambroz scored his second of the night and fourth of the weekend with just two seconds left in regulation as the Gopher Hockey program tied the Badgers 4-4 in overtime. Wisconsin would go on to win the shootout 3-2 in seven rounds, but Minnesota heads back to the Twin Cities with four of six Big Ten points in their bags.

Minnesota (12-9-3 overall, 3-2-3-0 Big Ten) went down early as Ryan Wagner scored for Wisconsin just nine seconds into the game. But the Maroon & Gold answered back with Jake Bischoff's second of the weekend and third of the year at 7:57 of the first period with assists coming from Connor Reilly and Travis Boyd and then grabbed the lead at 4:47 of the second period when Ambroz tallied his first goal of the night during a power play after being set up by Leon Bristedt and Justin Kloos.

After three goals in the first 40 minutes, the two Border Battle rivals opened up the floodgates in the third period, combining for five goals. Grant Besse evened the score for Wisconsin (2-16-4, 0-6-2-2) at 7:31 while Christian Isackson scored his second of the year just 30 seconds later to reclaim the lead off a setup from Taylor Cammarata. The Badgers fought back with two-straight goals from Kevin Schulze at 9:24 and Cameron Hughes at 18:47 with Hughes' first career goal appearing to serve as the game winner.

But Ambroz and the Gophers refused to go quietly. With the Minnesota net empty, Kyle Rau and Mike Reilly set up the senior for his seventh of the year as the Maroon & Gold knotted the game at 4-4 with just two seconds left in regulation. Eleven of Ambroz's 35 career goals have now come against the Badgers.

After no winner could be found in overtime, the Badgers edged Minnesota in the shootout by a 3-2 margin.

Adam Wilcox made 21 saves for Minnesota against Joel Rumpel's 42 with Minnesota outshooting the Badgers 46-25 including a 4-0 margin in overtime.

Minnesota returns to Mariucci Arena next weekend for a two-game Big Ten series with Ohio State.