Perbix picks up first college goal but Leivermann, Irish take series finale

Jack Perbix is no stranger to the score sheet. The University of Minnesota freshman winger racked up 121 points in 74 games for Elk River high school from 2015 to 2018. 

After finishing his high school career at Elk River in the spring of 2018, Perbix split his 2018-19 season between the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers and the Des Moines Buccaneers, scoring 12 goals among his 49 points in 60 games. But in his first seven games Gopher he had been blanked other than a pair of assists, although not for lack of opportunity.

“I’ve had Grade-A chances that I want back but after getting that first one, you know, it was definitely monkey off my [back],” said Perbix, a 2018 fourth-round pick (No. 116 overall) by the Anaheim Ducks.

The monkey is gone after Perbix notched his first collegiate goal which gave the Gophers a 2-0 first period lead over No. 5 Notre Dame on Saturday night. But a pair of goals by Eden Prairie’s Nick Leivermann helped lift the Irish to 5-3 win over Minnesota in the finale of the opening weekend of the Big Ten conference schedule for both teams.

Leivermann, picked in the seventh round (No. 187 overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft by the Colorado Avalanche, scored twice in the second period, including a game-tying goal after which the Irish never trailed. The sophomore now has three goals to his credit at Notre Dame with all three coming at 3M Arena at Mariucci. 

“We’ve kind of seen what our good hockey can look like; it looks pretty good,” Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said. “We didn’t sustain it tonight.” 

The Gophers jumped out out to a 2-0 lead on a pair of first-period goals by Brannon McManus and Perbix 3:39 apart. McManus, a junior, finished a 2-on-1 with Sampo Ranta when he took Ranta’s feed and beat a sliding Morris from the right circle at the 12:34 mark.

Less than four minutes later, Perbix jumped on a loose puck off a turnover forced by fellow freshman linemate Jaxon Nelson and wheeled into the high slot before firing a shot high off the inside of the right post. 

“I came across the circle and I noticed that I couldn’t see the goalie’s face and that’s just telling me that he couldn’t see mine,” Perbix said. “So I knew that he was screened and I just picked open net and I hit it.”

“The Nelson line emerged looking like college hockey players this weekend,” Motzko said. “I think the first six games we’ve been waiting for a group of guys. We had much more energy at times throughout all of our lines were tonight.”

The Irish bounced back in the second period with a trio of goals, two of them by Leivermann. His power-play goal at 5:20 got the Irish on the board and Notre Dame tied it at 13:46 on a goal by Mequon Wisconsin’s Spencer Stastney. 

“(Coach Jeff Jackson) has kind of been preaching to our power play that we haven’t got enough pucks to the net,” Leivermann said. “So I mean, we just kind of moved it around, make five or six passes, and hopefully, one of them goes in.”

Motzko lamented missed opportunities on special teams on a night when Minnesota’s power play was 0-for-3 against the Irish.

“We lost the special teams battle in a big game when you need it,” Motzko said. “Our power play had a couple opportunities get us back in the game and it doesn’t.”

But the Gophers regained the lead just 42 seconds later on a pretty goal by Garrett Wait. The former Edina star carried the puck into the left circle and across the low slot — with a toe-drag to evade a sliding Irish defenseman — before patiently outwaiting Morris who went down as Wait lifted a backhand shot over him.

The lead lasted less than four minutes, however, as Leivermann cut across the slot and fired a shot from between the tops of the circles that beat Moe for his second goal of the game and just the third of his college career. 

“Both are goals that I had were plays made by other players so it’s nothing to be looked down upon me,” Leivermann said “But I think it’s really fun to play here and I know that the boys kind of get going, especially all of the Minnesotans. We’re excited to be here so it’s fun.”

Jackson said Leivermann, after struggling a bit on Friday night, bounced back solidly on Saturday. 

“He’s learning how to defend because he’s always had the offensive skill,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to be patient with him, trying to get him some playing time so we can build some confidence, and tonight I thought it was really good.”

Tied 3-3 to start the third, the Gophers could not mount any offense and were outshot 17-2 in the final period. Defenseman Charlie Raith’s goal, the sophomore’s first collegiate point, just 1:25 into the period held up as the game winner with Maple Grove’s Trevor Janicke finding an empty net with 11 seconds remaining. 

“The bad thing about tonight’s game in general is we got destroyed on the faceoff,” Motzko said of Notre Dame’s 41-18 faceoff advantage. “So you start the entire night on defense and that wears you down and give Notre Dame credit on that.”

The post Notre Dame Wears down Gophers appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Irish power-play opportunities dry up in title game loss to UMD

St. Paul — One of the well-documented themes of the 2018 NCAA Tournament was Minnesota-Duluth’s shutdown defense, a facet of the Bulldogs game that won the battle in the Frozen Four title game.

But Notre Dame’s power play sure came close to stealing the show Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Irish fell short, losing the championship 2-1 to the Bulldogs.

“Our power play has always been a big part of us in all these one-goal games,” Irish defenseman Jordon Gross, from Maple Grove, said.

Every time Notre Dame trailed during the NCAA tournament, its man advantage gave the Irish the spark it needed with the team’s first goal. It gave Notre Dame a spark Saturday, too, but a lack of opportunities down the stretch let that spark fizzle.

Trailing 2-0 for the second time this Frozen Four, Notre Dame scored on the power play to get within a goal of the Bulldogs. Andrew Oglevie was the man to score that first goal for the third time this tournament.

“(Our power play unit) has played together for a long time, we know where guys are going to be and we work on it a lot in practice,” said Oglevie, who had 15 goals this season, nine of which on the power play (eighth-most nationally).

“We pre-scout the other team pretty well.”

Oglevie’s redirection from the top of the crease on a rush off a pass from Cam Morrison sent the puck into UMD goaltender Hunter Shepard’s equipment and it trickled through into the net.

Oglevie saw that play coming.

(Photo by Jonny Watkins)

“The breakout goal was a direct result of our pre-scout,” Oglevie said. “We knew (the UMD penalty kill) would be vulnerable to the fast-break breakout. We posted two guys high and I kind of floated up the middle.

“Jake (Evans) made a nice pass up to Cam (Morrison) and he found me back door. I just tried to get a stick on it, not really trying to pick a corner. I just wanted to get it on net. I think it went five-hole.”

Notre Dame found itself trailing Providence by a goal after the first period of the East Region final, but an Oglevie power play goal got the Irish on the board late in the second period in a 2-1 win.

And Thursday night in the Frozen Four semifinals, after giving Michigan a two-goal lead going into the second, Notre Dame again used an Oglevie goal with the advantage to spark the comeback.

The Irish finished the season with a power play that converted 23.7 percent of its opportunities, good for seventh in the nation and went 6-for-15 from the beginning of the Big Ten Playoffs through Thursday’s semifinal.

But after Notre Dame scored Saturday, it wasn’t rewarded another power play, and without it, couldn’t get the equalizer.

“(The power play) got us back into the game and gave us momentum,” said Gross, who assisted on two power play goals and scored one this postseason. “Unfortunately, the refs put their whistles away after that goal. They didn’t want to give us another one.”

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