In its season opener Friday afternoon, top-ranked Minnesota took an early lead and held off a late Minnesota Duluth comeback to earn a 4-3 victory in South Bend, Ind.
Senior Kyle Rau, who finished the game with three points, had a goal and an assist in the first period, as the Gophers took a 2-0 lead. Justin Kloos scored at 4:01 in the second period to put Minnesota up 3-0, before Duluth's Dominic Toninato found the net to make it 3-1. After Minnesota's Hudson Fasching, who'd assisted on Rau's earlier goal, scored one of his own at 18:45, the Gophers went into the third period with a 4-1 lead.
That would be just enough for Minnesota, which allowed two third-period goals to the Bulldogs. Junior goalie Adam Wilcox made 24 saves in the win.
With his game-high three points Friday, Rau became the 49th player in school history to reach 125 career points. Sam Warning also scored for Minnesota.
With the victory, the Gophers advanced to the Ice Breaker Tournament championship game on Sunday, where they will face the winner of Friday night's RPI-Notre Dame game.
