Notre Dame completes sweep of Gophers with 2-1 win

The No. 1 Gopher men’s hockey suffered a 2-1 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night as the Maroon & Gold were swept at 3M Arena at Mariucci for the first time in over a year.

Minnesota (11-3-0 overall, 9-3-0-0-0-0 Big Ten) surrendered an early goal to Solag Bakich at 1:54 of the first period before Notre Dame (7-6-1, 5-4-1-0-1-1) adding a power-play goal from Max Ellis at 10:37 of the second period.

The Gophers, who outshot the Irish 26-24 on the night, brought the game within a goal with Jaxon Nelson’s third of the year at 17:36 of the third period, but the home squad couldn’t find the equalizer. The extra-attacker goal was set up by Ryan Johnson and Sammy Walker.

Jack LaFontaine (10-3-0) made 22 saves on 24 shots in the losing effort while Dylan St. Cyr (5-4-0) stopped 25 of 26 to earn the win.