Gophers Open New Season with Shutout Victory
Anchorage, AK (Gophersports.com) – Anchorage native Eric Schierhorn made 14 saves in a homecoming shutout as the Gopher men’s hockey team opened the 2016-17 season with a 6-0 win over Alaska Anchorage.
A First Team All-Big Ten pick and the Big Ten Goaltender of the Year last year, Schierhorn opened the season with his fourth-career shutout.
Eleven Gophers tallied points in the win including five players with multi-point games.
Jake Bischoff and Brent Gates Jr. both recorded two goals in the win with Bischoff setting a new career high and Gates matching his career best. Connor Reilly and Tyler Sheehy added three assists each – setting and matching new career highs, respectively.
Minnesota (1-0-0 overall, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) took the first half of the opening stanza to warm up before Ryan Zuhlsdorf opened the scoring with his first goal as a Gopher midway through the period. The Gophers doubled the production in the second with goals from Bischoff and Gates before adding three in the third – another from both Bischoff and Gates with Rem Pitlick’s first goal as a Gopher in between the tallies. Zuhlsdorf added an assist on the sixth goal of the night to close out the opener with a two-point night in his Gophers debut.
Minnesota, which outshot the Seawolves 39-14, also snapped Alaska Anchorage’s unbeaten streak in season openers at 15 (12-0-3) – a streak that dates back to 2001.
The Gophers return to action on Sunday, Oct. 9 at Sullivan Arena against Alaska Fairbanks. Game time is set for 7 p.m. CT.
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