Notre Dame’s home part of the 2023-24 hockey season came to an end this weekend as the Irish earned a weekend split with No. 8 Minnesota.
The Irish dominated from the get-go in Friday night’s affair, drubbing the Golden Gophers 6-1. Carter Slaggert got the Irish on the board a little more than halfway through the first period before an Irish onslaught came in period two.
Cole Knuble scored just 1:30 into the second period to make it 2-0 before he added another to stretch the lead to 3-0 at 8:23. Landon Slaggert would net a goal before period’s end to make it 4-0 in what wound up being a 6-1 Notre Dame victory.
Saturday night was more competitive of game but not as sweet of result for the Fighting Irish.
Connor Kurth got the scoring started for Minnesota early the second period before Notre Dame goals by Justin Janicke and Jayden Davis put the Irish in front 2-1. However, Jaxon Nelson added another goal for Minnesota at 13:40 of the second, evening the score at 2-2.
Things stayed that way in a back-and-forth third period and an extra frame was necessary. Jimmy Snuggerud netted the winner for the Golden Gophers as the teams split the weekend series.
Notre Dame finishes their regular season next week as the 15-15-2 Irish travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan.