MINNEAPOLIS — Wisconsin men's hockey lost an 8-0 game to No. 4 Minnesota in its final regular season tilt of the 2021-22 hockey season at 3M at Mariucci Arena on Saturday.

The Badgers got out of the gates fast and appeared to get on the board near the 7:30 mark on a redirect by freshman forward Zach Urdahl, but after an official's review, the goal was disallowed due to goaltender interference at the top of the crease.

Ben Meyers opened up the scoring for the Gophers when he scored from the offensive zone faceoff dot for his fourth consecutive goal of the series, assisted by Mason Nevers and Jackson LaCombe.

Just 21 seconds later, Tristan Broz picked a corner from the slot on a feed from LaCombe and Matt Staudacher to put Minnesota up, 2-0.

At 14:27 in the second period, Bryce Brodzinski took advantage of a power-play opportunity and added to the Gophers' tally when he fired a shot from the dot upon entering the Badgers zone. Rhett Pitlick and LaCombe assisted on the play.

Sammy Walker, Mike Koster, Meyers, Pitlick, and Grant Cruikshank added goals for the Gophers to claim the contest 8-0. 

Fifth-year senior defenseamn Josh Ess reached a milestone in the contest for the Badgers, becoming the 10th player in school history to skate in 170 games. Rob Andringa holds the school mark at 179 games played.

Next Up: Finishing in a tie for fifth place in the Big Ten standings, the sixth-seeded Badgers face third-seeded Notre Dame in a best-of-three series for the first round of the Big Ten tournament running March 4-6 in South Bend, Indiana.. The Badgers split with the Fighting Irish two weeks ago at the Kohl Center. Follow along on Twitter and Instagram at @BadgerMHockey