Gophers Rally for Overtime Victory

MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – Hudson Fasching scored just over a minute into overtime to give the Gopher Hockey program a 3-2 win in its Big Ten opener along with Don Lucia’s 400th win as head coach at the University of Minnesota.

Fasching’s tally at 1:08 of the added session capped a conference battle that saw the Maroon & Gold rally from a two-goal deficit in the third period thanks to power-play goals from Tyler Sheehy and Tommy Novak. Fasching (one goal, one assist), Novak (one goal, one assist) and Steve Johnson (two assists) tallied two points each for the Gophers in the win.

Meanwhile, Lucia is the first coach in Minnesota’s 95-year history to reach 400 wins. Now in his 17th season with the program, Lucia holds a 400-209-68 (.641) at Minnesota while the Grand Rapids, Minn., native now ranks eighth all-time in college hockey with a 679-364-97 (.662) record in 29 total seasons.

Minnesota (5-7-0 overall, 1-0-0-0 Big Ten) dug itself out of a hole on Friday night at Mariucci Arena as Ohio State (3-10-0, 0-1-0-0) jumped out to an early lead when Josh Healey slipped a shot through a screen out in front at 8:53 of the first and Nick Schilkey made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 3:06 of the second.

The Gophers, who outshot the Buckeyes 40-28 in the series opener, were down but certainly not out – converting both power-play opportunities in the third period to even the game at 2-2.

Tyler Sheehy deflected in his fourth goal of the season at 6:10 of the third and Novak popped in a rebound at 15:33 for the equalizer. Johnson and A.J. Michaelson set up the Gophers’ first goal while Fasching and Connor Reilly tallied assists on Novak’s second goal of the season. The Gophers finished the night 2-for-3 on the power play.

With no winner in a back-and-forth regulation, the game continued back and forth in the added session until Fasching pocketed his fifth goal of the season off a feed from Novak to lock up the victory for Minnesota. Johnson tallied his second assist of the night on the play.

In net, Eric Schierhorn moved to 5-7-0 in his rookie campaign, making 26 saves including a diving play to break up a possible breakaway during regulation and another great stop on an odd-man rush in overtime. Christian Frey took the loss for the Buckeyes with 37 saves to move to 0-4-0.

Minnesota concludes the series on Saturday night at 7 p.m. Hear it on KROC AM starting at 6:30.