The Gophers hit the road for the first time since mid-November
The #3 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team will hit the road for the first time since mid-November when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to face the #11 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in a Big Ten series this weekend. Friday’s game has been bumped up by two hours as to not interfere with the Ohio State Football game at the Cotton Bowl Friday night and will now be a 4PM faceoff and will stream on B1G+. Saturday’s game is a 5:30 PM faceoff and will air on BTN.
Minnesota returns to conference play after sweeping Mercyhurst in their final non-conference series last weekend. Minnesota picked up the sweep via a 6-2 win on Friday that saw six different Minnesota goal scorers, and a 5-2 win on Saturday where five different Gophers found the back of the net. Minnesota was short players once again last weekend as Brodie Ziemer and Oliver Moore were in Ottawa winning a gold medal with the US Junior Hockey Team, and the Gophers are still ravaged by injuries. The Gophers got one player back last weekend as Erik Pahlson returned from his upper body injury and it sounds like they will get another back this week as Mason Nevers has recovered from his injury and is expected to play against the Buckeyes. Minnesota still is missing August Falloon and Cal Thomas who suffered knee injuries and may not return for a few weeks yet.
Jimmy Snuggerud is continuing his great junior season for the Gophers. He picked up four points last weekend with a pair of goals and assists that now give him 28 points on the season, one off the nation’s lead held by Wisconsin’s Quinn Finley. Snuggerud’s 17 assists on the season are second in the Big Ten, one behind Ohio State’s Aiden Hansen-Bukata. Minnesota currently has five players with 20 or more points on the season with Connor Kurth and Matthew Wood each having 24, Sam Rinzel with 21, and Brody Lamb with 20. Lamb’s 13 goals lead the team, two more than Snuggerud’s 11.
The Gophers still have had success with their goalie platoon. Sophomore Nathan Airey is still undefeated on the season with a record of 10-0-2. He has a goals against average of 2.06 and a save percentage of .916. Grad student Liam Souliere has been statistically even better, but hasn’t had quite the same goal support. He is 7-3 on the season with a 1.70 GAA and a .933 save percentage.
Ohio State comes into the weekend after a series with rival Michigan. The two teams played on Friday at Wrigley Field where the Buckeyes picked up a 4-3 win, and then Michigan split the series with a 3-2 OT win in Ann Arbor on Sunday. The Buckeyes are third in the Big Ten with 20 points, four behind first place Minnesota and Michigan State. After being swept in a non-conference series by Princeton on Thanksgiving weekend, the Buckeyes won five consecutive Big Ten games sweeping Penn State and Notre Dame in Columbus before splitting with the Wolverines.
Ohio State’s offensive output has been revitalized by a series of transfers. Northeastern transfer Gunnerwolfe Fontaine leads the team with 22 points and nine goals on the season. Hansen-Bukata came over from RIT and ranks second on the team with 19 points along with Alaska-Anchorage transfer Riley Thompson.
In net the Buckeyes have also gone with a platoon this season. Kristoffer Eberly and Logan Terness have split action this season. Eberly is a sophomore who is 10-1 this season with a Big Ten leading 1.5 GA and a .933 save percentage. Terness transferred from UCONN after the 22-23 season and is 4-4-1 with a 2.45 GAA and a 9.12 save percentage.
This weekend will be a battle of the top offensive team in the nation against one of the better defensive teams in the country. Minnesota’s offense ranks #1 scoring 4.14 goals per game, while Ohio State is 22nd at 3.2 goals per game. Defensively the Buckeyes and Gophers are nearly identical. Minnesota ranks #8 in the nation giving up 2 goals per game, while Ohio State is #9 at 2.05 goals per game. On Special teams the Gophers have a better power play percentage at 23.38% good for 16th in the country to Ohio State’s 19.44% which is 31st in the nation. The PK flips the other way with Ohio State #30 in the country and Minnesota way down at 53rd in the country.
Minnesota has dominated the Buckeyes since the teams became conference rivals. The Gophers hold a 44-10-6 (.783) record in the all-time series against Ohio State, including a 15-6-3 record in games away from home. The Gophers are unbeaten over the past seven matchups with a mark of 6-0-1 and own a record of 15-2-1 in the last 18 meetings versus the Buckeyes since the start of 2020. Last season, the Maroon and Gold won three of four meetings with a 1-1 tie and shootout loss on the road as the only game where Minnesota failed to score at least five times.
Hopefully w see more of that this weekend and Minnesota can jump back into Big Ten play and make some noise yet again.
HOW TO WATCH:
#3 Minnesota Golden Gophers @ #11 Ohio State Buckeyes
Where: Value City Arena, Columbus, Ohio
When: 4 Pm Friday; 5:30 PM Saturday
TV: Big Ten Network (Saturday Only)
Stream: Big Ten Plus (Friday), Fox Sports App (Saturday)
Radio: 1130 AM/103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio