Here is who the Gophers will try and get back to the Frozen Four with
The Minnesota Golden Gophers kick off the 2024-25 hockey season on Friday night in the Icebreaker Tournament out in Las Vegas. Minnesota opens play against Air Force at 9:30 Friday night in their first game to try and climb that hockey mountain and get back to the Frozen Four for the third time in the last four seasons. While a large chunk of the roster returns for this season, Minnesota will both lose some major parts of last year’s team, and add a slew of new faces who will make immediate impacts this weekend. Here is a quick roster preview as Minnesota gets ready to kick things off.
So Who’s Gone:
The Gophers lose their top two scorers from a season ago and three of the top five. Oh yeah, and that goalie who backstopped Minnesota for the past two and a half seasons. No biggie. It’s only 40 percent of their goal scoring from last season.
Only one of those four are still playing college hockey and that’s Rhett Pitlick. Pitlick led Minnesota with 36 points and had 19 goals a season ago and it was unknown if he would come back to the U for his 5th season or not all summer long. He became a pro free agent on August 15th when the Montreal Canadians lost his rights, but could not seem to find anyone to sign him to a pro deal. Thus about two weeks who it was announced that he had suddenly appeared on the Minnesota State Mavericks roster and will play for them in his final season of eligibility. Pitlick was an offensive maestro, but did not always see eye to eye with Bob Motzko resulting in him getting benched for times in some fairly large games last year. So he decided to find a different course and will be wearing Purple and Back this season.
Bryce Brodzynski also has 36 points for the Gophers last season and has finally used up his eligibility. He played five seasons for Minnesota and became one of the teams best scorers. He signed a deal late in the spring with the Ontario Reign of the AHL, and will start this fall playing for the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in the ECHL. Jaxon Nelson also leaves after five season in the maroon and gold and was 5th on the team with 31 points and 19 goals a year ago. Minnesota will miss his big body crashing the net and screening goalies on the power play. He will play for the Providence Bruins in the AHL this season.
Minnesota’s final graduating player is goalie Justen Close. Close played nearly every game the last two and a half seasons and ended his Gopher career on top of several records including tied for first all time in career shutouts with 13 and in save percentage at .924. He is second all time in program history in goals-against average at 2.18, and is 6th all-time in wins with 62. Minnesota will need some great goaltending this season from a little-tested sophomore and a 5th year transfer to keep up the pace.
Minnesota also lost three additional players to the transfer portal after last season. 5th year defenseman Carl Fish is off to Providence after getting squeezed out of a roster spot this season. He’s joined by junior forwards Charlie Strobel who went to Colorado College, and Garret Pinoiemi who Minnesota may see on Saturday as he now plays for Omaha. None of the three will be a huge loss for the Gophers as they reloaded with some very talented freshmen.
Who’s Back?
Minnesota returns 19 players from last season’s roster. Some played major parts, while others generally did their work in practice. But several of these player swill play huge roles this season. We start with the forwards:
Minnesota brings back a pair of 5th year senior forwards in Mason Nevers and Nick Michel. Michel did not see game action after transferring from St. Johns and was mainly a body in practice—a role he again will fill this season. Nevers will play a much larger role. He recorded 15 points last season playing mainly on a line with Brodzinski and Nelson. This year he will play more as a 4th line forward, the selfless grinder who can also provide scoring.
Minnesota has only one 4th year senior on the roster and that is Aaron Huglen. The Roseau native mainly played on the third line a season ago with Brody Lamb and Connor Kurth and recorded 20 points and 12 goals. He started last Saturday’s exhibition centering Kurth and transfer Matthew Wood which could be a very productive spot for him this season.
The junior class is where Minnesota’s returning scoring punch comes from. Minnesota got its biggest boost when Jimmy Snuggerud decided to return for his junior season rather than sign with the St. Louis Blues. Minnesota’s leading goal scorer with 21 a year ago will be asked to take an even bigger step forward to lead this team and be it’s primary scoring threat—despite being the marked man every single night. Joining him in returning forwards are Kurth and Lamb. Lamb had a breakout season scoring 26 points and 12 goals while Kurth added 21 points himself, generally playing on the third line together. They both will play top 9 spots and one or the other will likely be a top 6 forward as the season progresses. Taking another step each will be huge for Minnesota. John Mittelstadt also is in that junior class at forward. He is the ultimate grinder and may end up the odd man out often this season for the Gophers with their influx of freshmen talent. But he busts his butt everynight when he’s in the lineup.
The Gophers have a pair of sophomore forwards who also will be expected to grow quickly and play major center minutes on this team. Oliver Moore made his presence known last season scoring 33 points and being the 4th leading scorer on the team playing with Snuggerud. He once again is slated to play on a line with Jimmy and the two of them do have chemistry to make fun things happen. Jimmy Clark stepped in and really grew as the season went on a year ago. He moved up from playing mostly 4th line minutes ot third line be the end of the season and quietly put up 11 points. He will start centering the third line again and will be asked to become an even bigger point producer.
The blue line is where the Gophers are by far the strongest. Minnesota has been blessed with riches at defense over the past few season ,and the younger players who watched the Fabers and LaCombes of the world are now the top dogs teaching the younger guys. Mike Koster returned for his fifth season as a Gopher. He struggled a bit last year after suffering a knee injury in training camp and never really looked full strength. he is back to his old ways and will be a huge anchor on the Gopher blue line and on both the power play and penalty kill.
A trio of juniors returned after playing massive minutes a season ago and will once again be major players. Ryan Chesley is set for a breakout season both on the offensive end, and defensively. He’s joined by his d-partner Cal Thomas to form one of the best pairs in the conference if not the nation. They will be on the Gophers opponent’s top line night in and night out. Luke Mittelstadt is also in that group. The sniper was the second leading scoring defenseman for Minnesota a season ago with 20 points.
Minnesota return a trio of sophomore defenseman, but only one of the three will play a huge role this season. Sam Rinzel returns for his second year in the maroon and gold and after leading all Gopher defensemen with 22 points a season ago will look add to in in 2024-25. He got better as the season went on and should be one of the best defenseman in the nation. Axel Begley and Max Rud both had to play as freshmen last season when they probably were not ready. But this year they will be depth as the Gophers bring in two highly touted freshmen who will likely get the nod instead.
Minnesota returns a trio of goalies from last season’s roster who played a grand total of 129 minutes in goal all season long. Only sophomore Nathan Airey saw action last year and he will be expected to take over the Gopher net—at least partially as the season kicks off. The touted Canadian was injured for much of last season and played in just three games going 1-1 giving up seven goals on 52 shots. Minnesota will need much more form his this year, but it’s also why Bob Motzko went out and got an insurance policy in the portal.
The Gophers return a pair of junior practice goalies in Zach Wiese and Matt Bryant. Both should not expect to see any time in net unless some very weird things happen this season.
So Who’s New?
Minnesota went to the transfer portal to gain two notable players for the first time in Bob Motzko’s tenure, and both players will be expected to make immediate impacts. The Gophers first struck when they got a commitment from former UCONN firward Matthew Wood. The 2022 First Round Pick of the Nashville Predators recorded 28 points and scored 16 goals for the Huskies a season ago and Minnesota hopes that he will pick up some of the scoring slack that Minnesota will miss from a season ago.
On the opposite end, the Gophers brought in Penn State transfer 5th year goalie Liam Souliere. Souliere was great for the Nittany Lions in his junior season and had a backslide last season. Minnesota will expect him to spit time with Airey and with a really strong defense in front of him see if he can refind his mojo from 2022-23.
The Gophers bring in six freshmen all of who will be expected to immediately join the lineup. On the forwards Minnesota brings in several players with US U-18 experience. Beckett Hendrickson is the son of former Gopher and Wild great Darby Hendrickson and he joins Minnesota after a season in the USHL. He finished the 2023-24 regular season ranked 14th in USHL scoring with 64 points on 27 goals and 37 assists in 59 total games.
Joining him from the USHL was his teammate in Dubuque in Erik Pahlsson. The Swede was even better and ended the season ranked sixth in the league’s scoring race with 72 points in 57 games behind 28 goals and 44 assists (1.26 points per game). He set a USHL record for the most points in a single season by a Swedish-born player.
Also coming in is August Falloon. The St. Cloud native had career highs in goals (16), assists (16), and points (32) for Tri-City last season.
Minnesota added one forward directly from the US U-18 program in Brodie Ziemer. The Chaska native ranked fourth on Team USA in scoring during the 2023-24 campaign with 70 points (27 goals, 43 assists) in 61 appearances.
The Gophers also added a pair of defensemen. Leo Gruba was the USHL defenseman of the Year last season for Fargo. The Lake Elmo native led all USHL defensemen in scoring during the 2023-24 regular season, posting 57 points on 22 goals and 35 assists in 60 games played.
John Whipple comes from the US U-18 team as well. The Minnetonka native was more of a true defensive minded defenseman and will likely be the Gophers #7 defenseman this season.