Gophers Goalie Tandem

Liam Souliere had one mission as the clock wound down last Friday during the Gophers’ 6-0 victory over Michigan at Mariucci Arena. The goaltender wanted the puck — badly.

Not for himself, Souliere was the backup goalie, but rather for goaltending partner Nathan Airey. Souliere felt such urgency to secure the puck from Airey’s first collegiate shutout that he is still uncertain if the final horn sounded before jumped on the ice.

“Was the game over?” Airey asked Souliere.

Souliere’s response: “I might have been on the ice before the game was over. No joke, I might have.”

Souliere got the puck for Airey following his 32-save performance, and the sophomore delivered a message right back. “OK, your turn. You go get one.”

Souliere didn’t disappoint as he stopped 22 shots in a 2-0 victory last Saturday to give the Gophers a sweep of then-No. 6 Wolverines and move Minnesota into the No. 1 spot in both college hockey polls this week.

No plan? It’s working.
Bob Motzko has his team atop the rankings doing something he usually eschews: Employing a goalie rotation. Since Motzko took over as Gophers coach in 2018-19, he has had two goalies start double-digit games only twice in a season. The last time it happened was in 2021-22, when Jack LaFontaine turned pro in January, forcing Motzko to turn to Justen Close. Close started 92 games over the next two-plus seasons.

Gophers goaltender Liam Souliere spent four seasons at Penn State before arriving at the University of Minnesota and becoming part of a successful goaltending duo. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

But Close’s departure after last spring created an opportunity for Airey, who missed almost the entire first half of 2023-24 because of injury, and also led Motzko to bring in Souliere, a graduate transfer who had spent four seasons at Big Ten rival Penn State.

The fact Motzko hasn’t picked a primary starter is a credit to Airey and Souliere.

“We have no plan,” Motzko said when asked about his goalie plan. “Just keep doing what we’re doing. We didn’t set it out to be a plan; it’s just working out that way right now. Both guys are doing great.”

Souliere’s 1.37 goals-against average is the best in Division I, and Airey isn’t far behind at 1.99. Airey’s 9-0-1 record makes him one of only two goalies in Division I to not have a loss. Souliere has a .943 saves percentage; Airey is at .918.

They have rotated all season, except for a late November series against Notre Dame when Airey got back-to-back starts in a pair of victories. Otherwise, it’s been Airey in the opener and Souliere the following night. Souliere made 28 saves in a 1-0 shutout against his former team on Nov. 2, a night after Airey stopped 21 of 22 shots in a 3-1 win against Penn State.

Tight friendship off the ice
One reason this system has worked so well is because the two have become so close. Talking to them in a lounge just outside the Gophers locker room on Tuesday, you got that feeling that they are more like brothers than hockey buddies.

Airey, 21, is from Cochrane, Alberta, and Souliere, 25, is from Montreal. The two had never met before the offseason and chatted a few times once Souliere arrived. But they hit it off during a trip to the Minnesota State Fair to help promote Gophers hockey.

“We’re both Canadian,” Airey said. “There was poutine and whatnot (at the Fair), so we were kind of comparing that and right away when you have two Canadians on a team, obviously, with Matthew (Wood, who is from British Columbia) as well, you jell right away, that’s just the reality of it. Going around that day we were talking about everything. Whether it was our pasts, or our futures and what we wanted everything to look like, we kind of went through a lot of stuff.”

Souliere appreciated the patience Airey showed in answering his many questions.

“I think I got to kind of show him my curious side,” Souliere said. “He’s a farm boy, and I knew that about him. When we went to go see the animals I was asking a bunch of questions and he was answering them. And he was happy to answer them. He could have been like, ‘Oh, this guy is weird, why is he asking me about, why do goats act like this?’ I knew that he knew a lot about all these types of different things that were happening at the State Fair and just getting to learn them. I also loved his maturity. For a younger guy, he’s super, super mature and calm. I take after that and I’ve learned a lot about that. It’s been great.”

Sophomore Gophers goaltender Nathan Airey has typically gotten the nod in net in series openers. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

Airey could have decided that after a season recovering from injury and then getting into only three games, with one start, playing behind Close, that he wanted to be the main goalie. But he welcomed the news that Souliere was coming to Minnesota and even requested the two be roommates on the road.

Airey said he had been impressed watching Souliere at Penn State and wanted to be pushed. “It was a no-brainer, I was pumped,” he said.

Airey, though, probably didn’t expect to get along this well with his goalie partner. Souliere already has a degree in finance and in some ways plays a big-brother role in a relationship that goes well beyond just talking about goaltending.

“Our interests are aligned, and that really helps,” Airey said. “We talk finance and I go to him. He’s got a lot of experience with that. We’ve talked relationships before, we’ve talked about a bunch of stuff. Whether it’s on the bus or wherever it is, we always enjoy each other’s company and we’re always on the same page.”

Rotation helps both of them
Their rotation has enabled both to pick up things from the other. Souliere can go to school on an opponent by watching Airey on Friday, and Airey can see how his veteran teammate approaches things on Saturday. The goaltenders offer different styles in part because Airey is 6-foot-3 and Souliere is 5-foot-11.

“Michigan, obviously is a super-skilled team, super-good team, and Nathan did a really, really good job of having calm feet and keeping his hands high,” Souliere said of what he picked up on Friday. “He made so many hard saves look easy and just being able to see that and understand that the success he had was because of those decisions. Not over moving his feet, keeping his hands up, tracking the puck, all those little things.

“I am going to school on Fridays and it’s awesome. I get to just feel the game out and see how he handles it and the things he’s doing that led to success.”

So what does Airey pick up from Souliere?  

“Two things for me,” he said. “First of all, his movement, it’s amazing. Whether it’s sliding, whether it’s feet-to-feet movement, it’s so smooth and crisp and it’s also quick and fast. Powerful. Another thing is he’s got so much experience, his puck movement is amazing. … Just his confidence with playing the puck is top notch. Whether it’s passing it up to a wing and bypassing the d-man sometimes. It’s just plays like that where I can just learn and watch and understand that maybe I have a little more time (to move the puck) than I think.”

Sophomore Gophers goaltender Nathan Airey, shown here in practice this week at Mariucci Arena, enters the weekend with a 1.99 goals-against average. (MHM Photo / Jeff Wegge)

The Airey-Souliere Show will return to Mariucci Arena tonight, Dec. 13, as the Gophers face a Michigan State team (12-2-0) that fell from first to third in the rankings this week.

Souliere, as usual, will be Airey’s biggest fan in the opener.

“It’s easy. I love the guy. He’s a great kid and well raised,” Souliere said. “This is a team game and whoever is doing the job is doing the job, and right now we’re both doing it. It’s wonderful and, to be honest, it’s kind of nice. We get to just talk about the game together after games and we kind of just feed off each other.

“He’ll go on Friday and do fantastic, and it kind of just pushes me to have to do the same. I’m pretty sure that if I do great on the Saturday, he feels the responsibility to keep it up on the Friday and it’s kind of like a give-and-go kind of thing we have going and it’s been awesome.”