Tommy Novak was named the #1 Star and Mike Szmatula was named the #3 Star of the Week by the Big Ten after they both factored significantly into the Gophers 5-5 tie Friday night and 2-0 win Saturday over formerly #3 North Dakota.
Novak led the Gophers with four points on the weekend. He came up huge in Friday night’s tie against the Fighting Hawks. Novak scored two goals including the game tying goal with 1:17 left in the game. Minnesota had an extra attacker on the ice with Eric Schierhorn pulled when Novak took a pass in the center of the ice from Justin Kloos and ripped a wrist shot past UND goalie Cam Johnson.