Rhett Pitlick, part of the No. 1 Minnesota Gophers’ star-studded freshman class, celebrated a goal in a way that has maybe never been before.
After ripping a wrist shot by North Dakota’s goalie to put the Gophers up 2-0, Pitlick celebrated by chucking his stick into the stands. A North Dakota fan caught it and immediately threw it back on the ice, similar to how baseball fans throw an opposing team’s home run ball back onto the field.
rhett pitlick scores, throws his stick into the crowd and gets a penalty for it 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/8ti4qMBVsq
— ava (@teapottoffoIi) October 23, 2022
While fans got a kick out Pitlick’s celebration, the officials didn’t.
Pitlick was slapped with a 10-minute misconduct penalty, which sparked a North Dakota rally – and the Fighting Hawks went on to win 5-4 in overtime.
Jackson Blake scored on the ensuing power play 2 minutes, 9 seconds later. And Riese Gaber’s power-play goal tied the game 2-2 54 seconds later, and Mark Senden gave the Fighting Hawks a 3-2 lead just 18 seconds later.
Less than three minutes after that UND scored again to take a 4-2 lead.
Minnesota battled back with a goal from Mason Nevers with 34 seconds left in the second period, and the Gophers tied the game 4-4 on freshman Jimmy Snuggerud’s goal 6 minutes, 30 seconds into the third.
Senden, who went to Wayzata High School in the Twin Cities, scored in overtime to help UND split the weekend series against Minnesota.
