Gophers hand North Dakota its first loss of season

GRAND FORKS — Bennett Zmolek walked into the postgame press conference Saturday night.

He answered questions from the assembled media for a few minutes. A grimace never left his face.

A 5-1 loss to your biggest rival at home will do that.

Minnesota broke a 1-1 tie early in the third period with a long-range shot from seventh defenseman Max Rud, then the Fighting Hawks unraveled the rest of the way en route to their first loss of the season.

“We weren’t good enough,” said Zmolek, UND’s captain. “We didn’t play to our standard. Bottom line, we had 20 minutes to win a game.”

After Rud’s first collegiate goal, Leo Gruba sniped one as a power play expired, Brody Lamb scored on an odd-man rush as UND pressed for offense and L.J. Mooney iced it with an empty-netter.

The rivalry series ended