Gophers End Regular Season With Loss

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (GopherSports.com) – Brady Skjei scored twice for the inaugural Big Ten champion and top-ranked Gophers on Saturday, but the two goals weren’t enough as No. 13 Michigan closed out the regular season with a 6-2 win at Yost Ice Arena.

Minnesota (24-5-6 overall, 14-3-3-0 Big Ten) will head into the Big Ten tournament as the top-seed and will face the winner of four-seed Ohio State and five-seed Michigan State on Friday at 7 p.m. CT in semifinal action at Xcel Energy Center. The inaugural Big Ten title game is set for Saturday at 7 p.m. All five games of the Big Ten tournament will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.

Skjei was the bright spot in Minnesota’s final regular-season game of the season, setting a new career high with two goals and tallying two points for the second time in his career. The sophomore defenseman ended the weekend with three goals to his credit after scoring in the Gophers’ 3-2 overtime win to clinch the Big Ten crown on Friday night.

Additionally, Travis Boyd tallied an assist on Skjei’s first goal of the night on Saturday to give the junior forward his 50th career point as a Gopher. Seth Ambroz and Justin Holl also tallied assists for Minnesota.

Michael Shibrowski took the loss for Minnesota in goal, suffering his first loss of the season and moving to 2-1-0 this year with 22 saves. Zach Nagelvoort moved to 11-8-3 for Michigan with 25 saves.

Source: Gophersports.com