Minnesota will face their toughest task of the season thusfar
The #4 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers hockey team will face their stiffest test of the season thus far this weekend when they host the #6 Michigan Wolverines in a Big Ten series. Both teams come into the weekend undefeated in conference play. Michigan has had success at 3M Arena at Mariucci the past few seasons splitting the regular season the past three seasons, and the Wolverines have knocked off the Gophers in Minneapolis in the Big Ten Championship Game each of the past three seasons.
Minnesota enters the weekend after a win and a tie against Alaska at home last weekend. The Gophers struggled for the first five periods of the weekend to solve Nanooks goalie Nicholas Grabko. The Gophers and Nanooks would tie at 1 on Friday night and Minnesota trailed 2-1 on Saturday before finally breaking through for four goals in the third period and picking up a 5-2 win. Brodie Lamb picked up a goal and a pair of assists and earned the Big Ten’s #3 Star of the Week.
Minnesota will continue to split time in net between sophomore Nathan Airey and 5th year transfer Liam Souliere. Airey is the only NCAA goaltender with more than six appearances to have not lost a single game this season. He owns a 2.21 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage in 2024-25 and given up two or fewer goals in five of nine outings.
Meanwhile Souliere has been just as good if not better, but just has not been getting the same offensive help. Through 8 games Souliere has a 1.57 GAA and a .931 save percentage. Yet he has been in net for for both Go[her losses, a 2-1 loss to Omaha and a 3-1 loss to Bemidji where he only gave up two goals, the third being an empty net.
Minnesota will need some stronger production from their top players this weekend against the Wolverines. Jimmy Snuggerud was held completely off the scoresheet last weekend as were Connor Kurth and Mathew Wood. Add in the fact that the Gophers will not have Mason Nevers for the rest of 2024 after he was injured in last Friday’s game, and the Gophers will need to reply more on their top scorers rather than their four lines of depth.
Minnesota has been getting a lot of offense from their blue line which as helped. Sam Rinzel has seven goals on the season and Ryan Chesley has five.
The Wolverines come into the series this weekend off of a home and home spilt with #7 Western Michigan last weekend. The Wolverines lost on the road in Kalamazoo 4-1 on Friday before returning to Ann Arbor and picking up a 2-1 win on Saturday.
Like usual the Wolverines have a potent offense. They are averaging 3.64 goals per game, which is eighth in the nation in scoring offense. They have been led in scoring by a freshman. Michael Hage leads the team with 17 points and a team-high nine goals. He led the nation’s rookies in scoring in November with 10 points in seven games as Michigan went 7-1 against top-tier opponents. Michigan also has a highly talented offensive defenseman as Jacob Truscott led the nation’s defensemen in scoring during November with nine points in eight games.
In goal the Wolverines have also been going with a platoon. Ferris State grad transfer Logan Stein has a 6-2 record with a .910 save percentage and a 2.45 goals-against average. Freshman Cameron Korpi is 4-1-1 with an .895 save percentage and a 2.82 GAA. Both goalies will likely see action this weekend.
Michigan has been slightly better on special team that Minnesota thus far this season. The Wolverine’s success rate on the power play is at 25.5 percent, slightly higher than Minnesota’s 24.6 percent. The penalty kill difference is a bit more stark with Michigan killing off 83 percent, while the Gophers are only killing off 76.5 percent. Staying out of the box will be critical this weekend—especially in the game Airey starts. He has allowed seven power play goals out of his 20 goals, while Souliere has allowed just one out of the 11 he has let in.
The two teams have met 50 times in their all-time history when both sides are ranked inside the top 10 with the Gophers holding a 27-22-1 advantage in those meetings. Head Coach Bob Motzko has a record of 16-10-4 against Michigan since taking over at Minnesota with 10 of those 30 outings going into overtime. The Wolverines are 2-0-1 this season in the extra period and are 3-0 in one-goal games, so the faster the Gophers can get a lead, the better.
Friday’s nights game will face-off at 7PM and will air live on FS1. Saturday’s game is a 5 PM faceoff and will air locally on Fox9+. Saturday is also being billed as a “Ice Out” and fans are encouraged to wear white, and will be given white rally towels.
HOW TO WATCH:
#6 Michigan Wolverines @ #4 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Where: 3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis, Minnesota
When: 7 PM Friday; 5 PM Saturday
TV: FS1 (Fri); Fox9+ (Sat)
Stream: Fox Sports App (Friday) B1G+ (Sat)
Radio: 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio/ Varsity App