Gophers Beaten By St. Cloud State Again

MINNEAPOLIS,MN(GopherSports.com) – Leon Bristedt recorded his first career three-point game in a special teams bonanza on Sunday night as the Gophers fell to No. 7 St. Cloud State by a 7-4 margin in the series finale.

With seven of 11 goals in the contest coming either on the power play or with an empty net, special teams proved to be the turning point on Sunday evening at Mariucci Arena.

Minnesota (4-7-0 overall, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) was unable to stop St. Cloud State’s red-hot power-play unit, which went 4-for-7 on the night. The Gophers successfully converted both of their power-play chances with Jake Bischoff scoring his second goal of the series and of the year to even things up early at 1-1 and Bristedt giving the squad a shot of energy late in the second period with his team-leading seventh goal of the year.

Freshmen Tyler Sheehy and Ryan Norman also tallied even-strength goals for the Gophers in the loss. Sheehy notched his third career two-point game with a goal and an assist while Norman tallied his first collegiate goal late in the third period to bring the Maroon & Gold within two. Darian Romanko set up Norman’s goal for his first point with Minnesota.

St. Cloud State (11-3-0, 5-1-0-0 NCHC) added an empty-net goal just over two minutes later to cap off the win in an offensive battle that saw Minnesota outshoot its opponent 33-26.

Eric Schierhorn took the loss for Minnesota, making 15 saves in two periods of work before Nick Lehr came on to start the third period. The sophomore made four saves in his first action of the season.

With a goal and two assists tonight, Bristedt now leads Minnesota with 12 points (seven goals, five assists) on the season. The sophomore forward factored into five of Minnesota’s six goals on the weekend.

The Gophers kick off the Big Ten schedule next weekend with a two-game series against Ohio State at Mariucci Arena.