Gophers Blast Penn State

MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – The Gopher Hockey program scored three unanswered goals and put up a season-high 43 shots on goal Friday night to claim sole possession of first place in the Big Ten behind a 4-1 win over Penn State.

Minnesota (14-12-0 overall, 9-2-0-0 Big Ten) picked up two-point nights from Taylor Cammarata and Leon Bristedt, who each notched a goal and an assist in the win.

The Maroon & Gold improved to 11-2-0 on the season when scoring first after Hudson Fasching picked up his team-leading 16th goal of the season just 1:16 into the game on Friday night at Mariucci Arena. Connor Reilly and Tommy Novak assisted on the goal as Reilly extended his career-best point streak to seven games and set a new career high with 17 points on the season.

Penn State (16-8-3, 6-5-0-0 Big Ten) answered back with its only goal of the night midway through the first when Chase Berger scored at 9:35. The goal was the only blemish of the night in another stellar performance by Eric Schierhorn, who made 31 saves to move to 14-12-0 on the season. The rookie goalie has made 30 or more saves in nine of his 26 starts this year.

And after that, the game was all Minnesota.

Cammarata picked up his fourth goal of the season at 19:12 to send the Gophers into the first intermission with the lead after the junior forward’s tally was set up by Jake Bischoff and Leon Bristedt.  Cammarata then picked up his second point of the night when he set up a tic-tac-toe goal for Tyler Sheehy at 8:31 of the second period. Sheehy scored his ninth goal of the year on the play while Justin Kloos picked up the primary assist.

Kloos has now tallied a point in eight-straight games – extending the longest scoring streak of his career – while his career-best goal scoring streak came to an end at seven games. Meanwhile, Sheehy and Cammarata now have four points each in the last four games.

The Gophers closed out the night with a 4-on-4 goal early in the third period when Vinni Lettieri fed Bristedt for the sophomore’s 13th goal of the season at 6:00.  

The Maroon & Gold return to action on Saturday as part of Hockey Day Minnesota 2016 – the 10th annual celebration of hockey across the state of Minnesota. The Gophers and Penn State close out the series at 4 p.m. CT.
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