It was a win nearly six years in the making. For junior goaltender Eric Schierhorn, it was more specific. Friday’s performance came from the culmination of a whole summer’s work.
Playing at Ralph Engelstad Arena for the first time since January 2012, visiting Minnesota skated off the ice with a 2-1 victory over North Dakota in the 294th game played between the two teams throughout their long history.
Schierhorn, who shut out the Fighting Hawks the last time the two teams in Minneapolis, finished with 34 saves on 35 shots. His teammates helped, blocking 29 UND shots, taking bumps and bruises, and keeping an explosive offense off the scoresheet until the third period.
Minnesota’s penalty kill finished the night 5-for-6 a week after giving up four goals in two games against Penn State.
“It’s unbelievable. It energizes me, energizes the team, brings us closer,” said Schierhorn. “The sellout you saw from all of our guys tonight was unbelievable and that’s the reason we won.”
Schierhorn and his teammates’ defensive effort began early. North Dakota (3-1-1, 0-0-0-0 NCHC) outshot the Gophers 9-1 over the first 10 minutes. Minnesota (3-2-0, 1-1-0-0 Big Ten) had multiple stretches throughout the game where the team went 8-to-10 minutes without a shot on Fighting Hawks goaltender Cam Johnson as the home team allowed 18 total shots.
However, the Gophers took advantage of their chances. On the team’s second shot of the game, Rem Pitlick finished a breakaway set up from linemates Casey Mittelstadt and captain Tyler Sheehy, who returned to Minnesota’s lineup after missing both games against Penn State.
“It’s nice to score and help our team out,” Pitlick said. “It was a great play by Tyler and Casey and everyone else out there. Luckily it went in and we won the game so that’s all that matters.”
After a scoreless second period, Minnesota doubled its lead thanks to an unlikely source 12:08 into the third period. Senior defenseman Steve Johnson unleashed a wrist shot that went into the back of the net to snap a 48-game goal drought and quiet a sellout crowd of 11,862 mostly North Dakota fans.
More importantly, it gave the Gophers a needed 2-0 lead.
“I told (Johnson), ‘you’ll remember that one forever.’ That’s a big goal and we kind of felt after the second that we were going to need another one,” head coach Don Lucia said after the game. “I didn’t think one would necessarily hold up and that’s a big second goal to give us a two-goal lead.”
Rhett Gardner got North Dakota on the board less than two minutes later, putting home a rebound four seconds into a Fighting Hawks power play, but the home team could not solve Schierhorn for the tying goal.
“He was huge. He was on fire tonight,” Johnson said. “He makes those saves in practice too. He works really hard so we expect that out of him.”
Twice Schierhorn was able to stop Trevor Olson on the same shift. As the game wound down, the junior got to the post to keep a Gabe Bast wraparound attempt, and getting a last-second Jack Ramsey block to hand UND its first loss of the season.
But to Schierhorn the game was not an aberration. He believes the work he put in over the summer is paying off. Through five games this season the Anchorage native has a .930 save percentage, nearly .025 higher than his career average.
“I felt really good,” he said. “I feel more confident. I feel more comfortable. I feel more at ease and I think it’s just showing in the games.”
Minnesota and North Dakota play again Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
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