Minnesota will look to advance past the Nittany Lions
The Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team will begin their post season run this weekend as they host Penn State in a best-of-three Big Ten First Round matchup. The Gophers will be playing on the first weekend of the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2020—meaning that only a trio of Gophers in Jaxon Nelson, Bryce Brodzinski, and Justen Close have ever participated in one. So that hardest thing for the Gophers may be trying to get in the mindset that they need to be in to get past the Nittany Lions and advance to the Big Ten Semifinal next weekend.
The Gophers come into the Big Ten tournament off of a four point weekend at home against Michigan. Minnesota came out Friday and locked up third place in the conference standings with a dominating performance in a 6-2 win led by a hat trick by Nelson. Saturday was a bit different. The Gophers struggled early falling behind 3-0 after the first period and saw Close pulled after the first period. Freshman Nathan Airey kept them in the game and the Gophers clawed back. The teams traded goals early in the third to give the Wolverines a 4-1 lead before Minnesota scored a trio of goals in just over six minutes to tie the game at four. The teams would trade goals one more time late and head to overtime before Michigan won on a power play goal in the extra session. But the Gophers showed resilience in coming back…something that could be key in the post season.
Penn State knew headed into the final weekend they were locked into sixth place in the conference standings and still finished off their regular season with a sweep of last place Ohio State in Columbus. They now return to Minneapolis looking for their first goal at 3M Arena at Mariucci this season after the Gophers swept the Nittany Lions in a pair of 3-0 games in early February. The final of those back to back shutouts by Justen Close was his 13th in his career which tied him for the all-time Minnesota career record with Kellen Briggs and Adam Wilcox. It would be great to see him take sole possession of that record this weekend.
One of the keys for the Gophers will to try and get their top line clicking again. Jimmy Snuggerud has been in a bit of a funk since mid-January and the Gophers really need him to get hot for the post season. Meanwhile the senior line of Nelson, Brodzinski and Mason Nevers has really come alive as of late, and has been the Gophers main scoring threat down the stretch run. Rhett Pitlick still leads the Gophers in points with 33 on the season, but Brodzy is just one back at 32 tied with freshman Oliver Moore. Justen Close will need to bounce back from his poor period last Saturday as well and show the type of play he did the last time out against the Nittany Lions. Or frankly all season against Penn State where he has stopped 136-of-142 shots faced in four appearances behind a 1.52 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage.
Despite their troubles scoring the last time in town, Penn State is still a very dangerous offensive team. The Nittany Lions own the NCAA’s 17th-best scoring offense, averaging 3.2 goals per game. Freshman sensation Aiden Fink paces the team and all league rookies with 33 points and 15 goals. Defense has been where Penn State has struggled as they rank #58 in the nation giving up 3.59 goals per game. Liam Souliere struggled while posting a 3.37 goals-against average and an .875 save percentage in 26 appearances for Penn State. Meanwhile the Gophers are 10th in the nation on offense averaging 3.53 goals per game and rank 15th on defense allowing 2.56 per game. Special teams play will be key as it always is in the post season and that also trends the Gophers direction. Minnesota is 14th in the nation on the power play with a 23.8% success rate buoyed by a trio of power play goals in Friday’s win over Michigan. Meanwhile Penn State is scoring at a 20.31% rate, good for 31st in the nation. That despite Fink having eight power play goals, a new PSU single season record. The penalty kill is where both team struggle. Minnesota ranks 39th in the nation killing penalties at a 78.75% rate while Penn State is 50th at 76.67%. The big difference just like last weekend is the rate at which the teams take penalties. Penn State averages 9.38 penalty minutes a game which is the 47th least in the country. But the Gophers average only 6.5 penalty minutes per game—the fewest in the nation. The Gophers need to take advantage of those numbers this weekend.
As we said this is just the first time since 2020 that Minnesota has played in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. The 2021 tournament was played all at one location due to COVID, and Minnesota won the Big Ten in 2022 and 2023 earing a first round bye. Nelson and Brodzinski are the only two Gophers to have played in a first round best-of three series. But Minnesota and Penn State do have history in the Big Ten Tournament. This will be the fifth and sixth, (and potentially 7th) meeting between the two teams in the Big Ten Tournament with Penn State owning a 3-1 record over the Gophers sweeping them in a series in Happy Valley in 2017-18. The Gophers lone win was a 3-2 Semifinal victory at 3M Arena at Mariucci in 2022.
This week will also go a decent ways in shaping NCAA field for both teams. Penn State is in a lose and your season is over situation—the only way to make the NCAA Tournament is to win the Big Ten Tournament. Meanwhile the Gophers are locked into the field and are just playing for seeding. They enter the weekend ranked 7th in the Pairwise and will be playing to see if they can move up to a higher two seed, and avoid dropping back to the #3 line. A loss to Penn State wouldn’t be devastating, but losing the series and sitting and watching for the next three weeks would.
If the Gophers advance, their most likely path will be through Madison. Wisconsin is the 32 seed and hosts Ohio State in a best-of three series this weekend. Though the Buckeyes swept the Badgers three weeks ago in the teams last meeting, it’s still likely Wisconsin will advance and host a Big Ten Semifinal next weekend—next Sunday in fact as the Kohl center is booked with the Wisconsin High School Basketball Tournament through Saturday. But, both the Gophers and Badgers need to take care of business this weekend first.
All three games this weekend will air on FS2 and stream on the FoxSports App. Times are a bit weird to account for the TV coverage so Friday and if necessary Sunday will face off at 6 PM while Saturday’s game will be a 3:30 PM matinee.
Good luck to the Gophers taking the first step to try and end the season in St. Paul.
HOW TO WATCH: BIG TEN FIRST ROUND
#6 Penn State Nittany Lions @ #3 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Where: 3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis, Minnesota
When: 6 PM Friday; 3:30 PM Saturday; 6 PM Sunday (if necessary)
TV: FS2
Stream: Foxsports.com
Radio: 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio App/ Varsity Network App