The Minnesota Golden Gophers split their home-and-home series this week against the Bemidji State Beavers.

After picking up a 5-3 win at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Thursday night, the Gophers saw their nine-game winning streak snapped on Saturday evening a the Sanford Center in Bemidji.

The Gophers still come out of the weekend with a fantastic 10-2 record and continue to be amongst the nation's leaders when it comes to scoring with 49 goals this season. The only program with more goals this season is the Denver Pioneers with 57 goals.

On Thursday night, the Gophers jumped all over the Beavers early in a 5-3 win, picking up three first-period goals including two in the first six minutes of action. Brodie Ziemer (4), Brody Lamb (7), and Oliver Moore (2) all found the back of the net in the first 20 minutes of action. The Gophers were relentless on Bjemidi State's side of the ice and suffocating defensively, outshooting the Beavers 17-6 in the first period.

The second period was just as dominant from the Beavers in the shots category, outshooting Bjemidi State 16-3 though this time it would only result in one goal as John Mittelstadt picked up his first of the year which answered a BSU goal from Reily Funk just a few minutes prior.

In the third period, BSU would cut the Gophers lead down to just one with a Kirklan Irey goal at the 11:10 mark of the period but Brody Lamb with an empty net goal, his second goal of the day and eighth of the season would put the game away with just over a minute remaining, making it a 5-3 game.

On Saturday, Bemidji State would jump out to a two-goal lead in the first period as Kirklan Irey picked up his third and fourth goals of the season.

After a scoreless second period, Matthew Wood picked up the Gophers' lone goal of the game after the Gophers pulled Liam Souliere from the net. The Beavers, however, would ice their win off with an empty net goal in the final seconds from Donte Lawson, giving the game its final score of 3-1.

In the game, the Gophers had three powerplay opportunities but failed to convert on any of the opportunities. Minnesota also outshot Bemidji State in the game 29-21 including 26-10 over the final two periods but were unable to beat Mattias Sholl despite an expected goals of 6.3 in the loss.

The Golden Gophers will now prepare for a home series next weekend against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. After starting the season with a 6-2 record, the Irish have lost five straight games, all in conference play against Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State.

Last season, the Gophers and Fighting Irish split their four games against each other. Though Minnesota historically has had the advantage since the 2020-2021 season with a 10-5-1 record.

============================

- Talk about it INSIDE GOPHER NATION.

- Follow us on Twitter: @MinnesotaRivals, @RivalsDylanCC

- SUBSCRIBE to Gophers Nation