Gophers roar into national championship game with Frozen Four win over Boston
The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's hockey team is back in the NCAA national championship game after routing Boston University 6-2 in Thursday night's opening game of the Frozen Four semifinals.
Tied 2-2 after two periods, Luke Mittelstadt sniped a power-play goal for what proved to be the go-ahead and game-winning goal. It was Minnesota's third power-play goal of the game.
Less than two minutes later, Mittelstadt doubled the Gophers' lead as they took over in the third period.
Two late Logan Cooley empty-net goals made the scoreline look more lopsided than the game actually was, as the Gophers brushed past Boston to secure their first national title game appearance since 2014.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT PASS?! 😱@GopherHockey takes the lead. 🐿
— NCAA Ice Hockey (@NCAAIceHockey) April 6, 2023
📺 ESPN2#MFrozenFour pic.twitter.com/umU3Atwan7
Minnesota came out the gates firing, pushing Boston back immediately but the Terriers survived the initial onslaught and opened scoring with a Sam Stevens goal with 9:22 left in the first period.
The Gophers responded four minutes later with two goals in a minute to take the lead into a second period that was dominated by Boston.
Gophers goaltender Justin Close made 29 saves in the win.
Next up for Minnesota is the national championship game Saturday at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Michigan/Quinnipiac semifinal.
The Gophers haven't won the national championship since 2003.
