Taking the long road to his home debut, Minnesota sophomore goaltender Mat Robson did not waste any time getting his first collegiate win.
Robson, who sat out a year and a half of college sandwiched around a stint in the BCHL, made 25 saves on Saturday as the Gophers defeated Army 4-1 to sweep the Black Knights at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
“I’m really happy for Mat Robson,” Gophers head coach Don Lucia said about his goaltender, ineligible the first semester and playing in his second game. “He made a lot of really great saves.”
Freshman defenseman Sam Rossini scored a third-period goal and added an assist for his first career multi-point game.
After Tyler Sheehy got Minnesota (12-9-1, 4-7-1-1 Big Ten) started for a second straight night, the Gophers took a 2-0 lead in the closing seconds of the first period. Rossini’s shot was tipped by sophomore Tyler Nanne, playing at forward instead of defense for the third time this season.
“We had a lot more time than yesterday and we also found the lanes,” said Rossini, who has 3 goals in 10 career games. “Teams are good at blocking shots and getting in lanes nowadays. As the season goes on and we practice more and more, I think we’re going to get better.”
Mike Szmatula didn’t waste much time in the second period to make it 3-0. The senior scored his sixth goal of the season 1:17 into the middle frame to put Army (8-10-2, 6-7-2 Atlantic Hockey) further behind.
Robson was told Thursday he would start. Trying to live up to Eric Schierhorn’s 13 save shutout from Friday, he faced more pressure and more shots Saturday from the Black Knights. At times the defense came through to help while Robson’s strengths shined when needed.
“He’s very quiet. When you watch him play he’s very technical. When I say quiet, you don’t see him make any extra movement. He’s just very square in everything he does,” Lucia said. “He’s played well both games. He’s given up 3 goals in 2 games.”
Minnesota came within 10:37 of the first weekend shutout since October 2011 until Brandon Soucie pounced on a loose rebound to get Army on the board.
“They were coming to the net hard. I don’t think any team wants to be shut out for the weekend. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it, but that’s just the way it comes down,” said Robson. “When it gets down to crunch time teams start to really drive the net and dig deep for those second chances.”
The Gophers were once again without Casey Mittelstadt and Ryan Lindgren, who are off representing Team USA in the U-20 World Juniors. Both should be back in time for next weekend’s series against top-ranked St. Cloud State. Minnesota travels to St. Cloud Saturday before the Huskies come down to Minneapolis for the series finale Sunday.
They’ll also be returning from their own travels to a team that won two straight following a 1-5 stretch to end the first half and a goaltender with his first win.
“It means a lot. The guys have been terrific picking me up,” Robson said. “Unfortunately I had to wait a couple extra weeks to get that, but now that it’s out of the way we can keep moving forward and hopefully there are many more to come.”
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