Gophers Drop Badgers In Series Finale

MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – With one of the largest crowds in Mariucci Arena history watching, the No. 13/16 Gopher Hockey program took down Big Ten and Border Battle rival Wisconsin to the tune of 5-2 on Saturday night to close out the conference series.

Travis Boyd and Mike Reilly led the way for Minnesota (11-7-2, 2-2-2-0 Big Ten) with three points each while Adam Wilcox made 24 saves in front of 10,384 fans – the third-largest crowd in Mariucci Arena history.

A senior forward for the Gophers, Boyd’s three points and two goals on the night matched his career highs while his nine goals on the year matched his career-high for goals in a season from last year. Reilly’s three assists on the night also tied the junior defenseman’s career single-game highs for assists and points.

For the second night in a row, the Maroon & Gold dominated the opening stanza as the Gophers erupted for three goals in the first period. Boyd put the team up 1-0 at 4:30 of the first period with a power-play goal that was set up by brothers Connor and Mike Reilly before Boyd teamed up with Brady Skjei to set up Sam Warning at 12:51 for the senior’s seventh of the season. Boyd ended his scoring for the night at 17:01 when Warning and Mike Reilly set him up for his second of the night.

Minnesota kept the pressure on in the second period as Connor Reilly picked up his second point of the night – scoring his team-best 11th goal of the season at 1:56 with an assist from Justin Kloos. A night after his career-best eight-game point streak came to an end, Connor Reilly ended Saturday with two points. Christian Isackson later tacked on his first goal of the season at 7:36 of the second, snapping a 30-game goal drought for the senior, with assists from Vinnie Lettieri and Mike Reilly.

Wisconsin (2-13-3, 0-3-1-1) battled back with a pair of goals from Grant Besse in the third period, but the Gophers would let them get no further.

As the physicality picked up late in the game – the teams combined for 28 penalties and 110 penalty minutes – Wilcox refused to let the Border Battle rivals back in the game, making several of his biggest saves on the night in the game’s final minutes with Minnesota frequently at a disadvantage. Wilcox moved to 11-6-2 on the year with the 24-save win and now sits with 62 career wins – two away from tying John Blue for fourth in the Gopher record books. Joel Rumpel fell to 2-11-3 with the loss, making 45 saves.

Minnesota returns to action next weekend with the second annual North Star College Cup presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. The Gophers open the four-team tournament against Minnesota State on Friday and will play either Minnesota Duluth or Bemidji State on Saturday. All four games will be broadcast on the FOX Sports North network and will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.