FARGO, N.D. – It was almost like the 2014 West Regional championship. The top overall seed Gophers facing the in-state rival Huskies for a Frozen Four spot. The venue may have been different, but the scoring was almost the same, and even the victorious team was the same.
Nine years after their first regional title meeting, Minnesota got the better of St. Cloud State again as the Gophers overpowered the Huskies 4-1 on Saturday at Scheels Arena in the West Regional final, clinching their second consecutive Frozen Four berth and the 23rd in school history.
In that 2014 meeting, it was Minnesota coming out over St. Cloud State 4-0 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. Current Gophers’ coach Bob Motzko was coaching the Huskies then, but this time he was on the other side of the rivalry and he’s headed to his third Frozen Four as a collegiate head coach, his second with Minnesota.
“I got a lot of connections over on that other side,” said Motzko, who spent 13 years at SCSU before going to Minnesota in 2018. “I’m proud of everybody over there in that program.”
Adam Ingram had the lone goal for the Huskies, who started the game off somewhat poorly but played well over the final two periods despite not being able to match the Gophers’ scoring, thanks to Minnesota’s down-low defense. It was a tough end to an up-and-down season for St. Cloud State, who won four straight coming into Saturday’s game. It didn’t help that they were unable to convert most of their power plays. They went 1-for-5 on the man advantage.
“I just think we didn’t have a great first period,” said Micah Miller, who played his final game at SCSU. “I feel like the second and third period we started playing our game.”
Minnesota got things going just after their first power play expired early in the first as Jaxon Nelson made a nice feed from behind the net to Bryce Brodzinski on the doorstep, and Brodzinski beat St. Cloud’s Jaxon Castor for his fourth goal of the regional, putting the Gophers up 1-0.
It was part of what turned out to be first-period domination for the NCAA tournament’s top overall seed, as Minnesota outshot SCSU 14-6. The only real chances the Huskies had were the shorthanded breakaway by Miller that was stopped by Minnesota goaltender Justen Close and the two power plays that went by the wayside.
“I thought the first period, they just had way more jump than us,” said St. Cloud coach Brett Larson. “We looked a little intimidated. We looked a little tentative. [Castor] held us in it in the first.”
But St. Cloud wouldn’t go away that easily. The Huskies drew two penalties quickly in the second period and cashed in on the first one as Adam Ingram scored from the left circle to tie the game at 1-1.
The Gophers came back to reclaim the lead less than three minutes later though. Jackson LaCombe threaded a beautiful stretch pass from his own zone to Logan Cooley streaking up the middle as Cooley then split two defenders before beating Castor to make it a 2-1 game.
“I just threw it up there,” said LaCombe.
Even so, the Huskies kept pushing into the third period with a more physical approach to their game. It worked when it came to generating more chances, but they couldn’t push the equalizer across.
Then off an offensive zone faceoff with just over eight minutes remaining, the Gophers added a huge insurance goal. Cooley won the puck and fed LaCombe behind him for a blast and a goal, and it was 3-1 Minnesota.
“Obviously [Cooley] had a great win on the draw there, and then I saw it late,” LaCombe said.
Nelson finished things off with an empty-net goal with 31.1 seconds left.
The Gophers will face Boston University in the first round of the Frozen Four in Tampa in two weeks. The Terriers claimed the Manchester Regional earlier Saturday with a 2-1 victory over the Cornell Big Red.
