The Gophers men's hockey team went into Saturday night's regular-season finale against Michigan knowing it could finish anywhere from Big Ten co-champion to a being fifth-place team sent on the road in the conference playoffs.
Turns out, the Gophers won't be getting a share of the conference regular-season title — Penn State will have it all to itself. Instead, Minnesota — a 2-1 loser to Michigan on Saturday — finished in a three-way tie with Ohio State and Michigan for second in the league after entering the weekend with a chance to win it outright.
For conference tournament purposes, the Gophers will be the No. 4 seed, with No. 2 Ohio State and No. 3 Michigan holding the tiebreaker (11-9 in conference wins) over Minnesota.
Nick Granowicz scored early in the third period and Strauss Mann made 27 saves as the Wolverines won Saturday in front of an announced 9,613 at 3M Arena at Mariucci, making sure the Gophers couldn't hang a conference title banner.
"It was a great performance by Michigan and a very disappointing one by us," said Gophers coach Bob Motzko, whose team went 1-2-3 in its past three series. "… I'm standing here very disappointed. We have some guys who did not have good games tonight."
On a weekend that saw the Gophers secure only one of a possible six points, there was one slight positive: Thanks to Michigan State getting a point in a shootout loss at Notre Dame, the Gophers (38 points) will be home for next weekend's best-of-three, first-round series in the Big Ten tournament. Minnesota will be host to fifth-place Notre Dame. Ohio State and Michigan also had 38 points, and the Buckeyes won the second tiebreaker (head-to-head) with the Wolverines.
The news when it comes to the PairWise Ratings was worse for the Gophers. Entering Saturday, the Gophers (14-13-7, 9-8-7-4 Big Ten) were 13th in the PairWise, the mathematic formula the NCAA uses to fill its 16-team tournament field. After the loss, they had dropped to 16th.
How the Gophers fare in the Big Ten tournament will determine if they make the NCAA field. They might need the automatic bid that goes to the conference tourney winner to do so.
For the second consecutive night, a sluggish start plagued the Gophers, who were outshot 11-6 in the first period by the Wolverines (16-14-4, 11-10-3-2). Though Minnesota played much better in the second, Michigan took a 1-0 lead at 10:02 on Jack Becker's goal.
"We're not coming out and starting games right," Gophers senior defenseman Ryan Zuhlsdorf said. "Even last night, we came out flat. … That's unacceptable this time of year."
The Gophers tied it 1-1 at 13:35 of the second when Nathan Burke, parked in front of the net, tipped in a pass from center Jack Perbix, who pounced on a turnover by Wolverines center Luke Morgan.
"He was in hockey hell for months," Motzko said of Burke, who has three goals and three assists this season after totaling 15 points the previous year. "He worked himself through it. The last three, four weeks, he's been back to the Burke we saw last year."
Michigan got the winner 2:13 into the third, when Granowicz beat goalie Jack LaFontaine. The Gophers pressed late, with Jaxon Nelson ringing the post, but Michigan held on.
"It's a tough weekend for us; we had high expectations," Burke said. "We're a little down right now, but we have Monday and all next week, and we've got to come back to work. It's a new season."
