Who will leave Minneapolis in second place in the Big Ten?
With only four games left in the regular season, every game is important. Every win puts a team in a better spot headed into the postseason, and every loss can damage those hopes. Wins and losses matter in the standings, but they are also important to the psychological makeup of a team, to either provide momentum ,or to put them back on their heels.—not to mention what they can do to a team’s fanbase. All of that comes to a head this weekend as the Ohio State Buckeyes come to Minneapolis for a huge series with the Minnesota Golden Gophers at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
The Gophers and the Buckeyes are currently in a dead heat—tied with 40 point each for second place in the Big Ten. Both teams trail first place Michigan State by three points with four games to play. While a chance to try and leap above the Spartans to take the regular season crown and the opening round bye in the Big Ten Tournament is still possible, either the Gophers or the Buckeyes will need some help from The Spartans opponents to get there. But second place is very much up for grabs and is most likely will come down to how the teams on the ice fare this weekend.
For the Gophers, even more important that the Big Ten seeding is picking up at least one or hopefully a pair of wins that could go a long way into locking down a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and a likely trip just up I-94 to Fargo for the opening two rounds. If the Gophers falter this weekend both Maine and Western Michigan are ready to leap the Gophers into one of the #1 seeds and make Minnesota’s road to the Frozen Four much harder.
And, while less important, the Gophers fan are looking for Minnesota to put it all together for a full weekend once again. The Gophers struggled to just two of a possible four points last weekend in Ann Arbor against Michigan because thy struggled to score the big and timely goal. Minnesota is the leading goal scoring team in the nation but was held to just two goals in each of the games against the Wolverines last weekend. Minnesota needs to get a complete effort, to not play from behind, and to put the pedal to the metal this weekend to prove them belong as one of the upper echelon teams as we near the postseason, and aren’t just another one stuck in the mire of the middle.
There is no better time for the #5 Gophers to do that as they welcome the #7/6 Buckeyes to town. Minnesota split their series in Columbus earlier in the year getting ran out of the building by the Buckeyes in Friday’s opener 5-1 before returning to do the complete opposite in a 6-1 win the next night. Minnesota has won the last 5 in a row over the Buckeyes in Minneapolis and would like to add to that streak.
The Buckeyes come in after a home sweep of Wisconsin. They have a balanced scoring attack with six players with more than 20 points. Six Buckeyes have hit the 20-point mark. Northeastern transfer Gunnarwolfe Fontaine leads the Buckeyes with 31, followed by Riley Thompson who has 28 points and leads Ohio State with 16 goals. In goal the Buckeyes have been splitting the load. Kristopher Ebberly has 16 starts on the season and has a 12-3-1 record. He is allowing 2.16 goal per game and has a .919 save percentage. Logan Terness has been nearly identical. He’s started 14 games and is 8-5-1 with a 2.15 GAA and a.928 save percentage. Ebberly started both games against Minnesota when the teams met in Columbus in January and was pulled after giving up five goals on 13 shots in Saturday’s loss.
That situation was nearly the same for Minnesota in that series. Nathan Airey started on Friday and was pulled for the third period for Liam Souliere after allowing four goals on 19 shots. Souliere played the rest of Friday and Saturday giving up just one goal. He appears t have taken over the #1 goalie spot for Minnesota having started the last five games for the Gophers and has allowed just 11 goals over that stretch. It’s very likely he will start both games this weekend as well.
Minnesota needs to find someone other than Jimmy Snuggerud to start scoring more. Brody Lamb led the team in goals in the first half of the season but has been very quiet in the second half of the season. If the Gophers want to live up to their expectations, they need to get back to scoring in the five goal per game realm, not the two goals per game.
The Gophers will honor their seniors in a post-game ceremony on Saturday. Most of their 5th year seniors were honored last season, so it appears it will be just Aaron Huglen and Liam Souliere being honored on Saturday night.
HOW TO WATCH:
#6/7 Ohio State Buckeyes @ #5 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Where: 3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis Minnesota
When: 7 PM Friday; 5 PM Saturday
TV: Fox 9
Stream: B1G+
Radio: 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio