Gopher men’s hockey opens with 4-1 win

MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 11 Gopher Men’s Hockey program opened the program’s 100th season with a 4-1 win over No. 10/9 Penn State on Thursday night at 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Jonny Sorenson, Scott Reedy, Cullen Munson and Sampo Ranta scored for the Maroon & Gold while Jack LaFontaine made 26 saves on 27 shots to pick up the win in the season opener.

After waiting 256 days between the sudden end of the 2019-20 season and the start of the 2020-21 campaign, Minnesota (1-0-0 overall, 1-0-0-0 Big Ten) jumped out to a two-goal lead in the second period with goals from Sorenson and Reedy. Penn State (0-1-0, 0-1-0-0) brought it back to one at the end of the second but the Maroon & Gold added two more in the third period from Munson and Ranta.

Reedy (one goal, one assists) and Staudacher (two assists) led Minnesota in scoring as Staudacher picked up his first career multi-point game.

The Gophers outshot their opponent 28-27 on the night while winning 37-of-55 faceoffs – highlighted by Ben Meyers winning 11 out of 14 draws.

“Great first game for us…just to get a win and have that feeling in the locker room. Jack LaFontaine was great tonight,” Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said. “I’m proud of our guys tonight.”

photo credit: Brad Rempel/University of Minnesota Athletics