For the third year in a row the Gophers and Wolverines meet at Mariucci in the Big Ten Tournament
The Minnesota Golden Gophers knew that they were going to play in a Big Ten Semifinal Saturday afternoon after the final horn of their 3-2 win over Penn State on Saturday afternoon. They just didn’t know until Sunday evening if they would be making the four hour bus ride to Madison, Wisconsin to take on Wisconsin, or get one more home game. Well thanks to the Ohio State Buckeyes finishing off a 2-1 series win over the #2 seeded Badgers, the Gophers do get to play at least one more game at Mariucci Arena this season. It will be against a familiar foe as for the third season in a row the Michigan Wolverines will head to Minneapolis for a Big Ten Tournament elimination game. The winner will advance to the Big Ten Championship Game next weekend against either #1 overall seed Michigan State, or the #7 seeded Buckeyes trying to go on a historic run through the rest of the conference to keep their season alive.
Minnesota played four great periods and one minute of great hockey last weekend in earning a sweep of Penn State. The Gophers cruised to a 5-1 win on Friday night with a pair of Rhett Pitlick goals and 20 saves by Justen Close. Saturday’s game would be much more interesting.
The Gophers got a pair of goals from Jaxon Nelson, escaped the loss of Jimmy Snuggerud who was kicked out of the game less than five minutes into the game for a checking from behind penalty, killed off over three minutes of 5×3, and then sat on their heels and held on for mercy for 39 minutes while Penn State fought to keep their season alive. They Gophers would escape when Aaron Huglen tapped in a pass from Brody Lamb with just over a minute left in the game to give the Gophers a 3-2 win and advance to this Saturday night. Close kept the Gophers in the game making a career high 46 saves.
Michigan hosted #5 seed Notre Dame in the first round and also earned a two game sweep. In the opener the Wolverines came back from a 4-1 deficit and scored a pair of power play goals early in the third period to win 5-4. Saturday was another tight one Where Notre Dame again blew a 3-1 lead and Michigan got the game winner from Gavin Brindley in the third for a 4-3 win.
It’s very likely the game on Saturday will be another offensive explosion. The two teams faced each other in the final weekend of the regular season just two weeks ago where the Gophers jumped all over the Wolverines and ran away with a 6-2 win on Friday before falling behind 3-0 in the opening period on Saturday, pulling Close for freshman Nathan Airey and then mounting a frantic comeback in the third period that saw the Gophers claw back time and time again to force overtime. The Wolverines would pot the game winner to split the series. The Gophers went 1-0-1 vs Michigan in Ann Arbor in November.
All-time Minnesota holds a 155-135-20 record all time against the Wolverines with a 11-7-2 edge in post season play. In the recent postseason meetings between the teams Minnesota holds a 3-2 edge in four of the last five Big Ten Tournaments. It will be the third season in a row these teams meet in an elimination game of the Big Ten Tournament at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The past two seasons the game was a week later when they faced off for the Big Ten Championship. Michigan would take both of those games by a pair of 4-3 scores.
Both teams are nearly locks for the NCAA Tournament with Minnesota still potentially fighting for a #1 seed. Michigan is confidently sitting in the #10 spot and appears locked into the tournament unless everything goes wrong. Minnesota likely slots in as a #2 seed while the Wolverines are likely slotted in as a #3 seed.
Faceoff is slated for 8 PM and will air on Big Ten Network after the completion of the first semifinal game featuring #7 seed Ohio State at #1 seed Michigan State. The two winners will play at the highest remaining seed next Saturday for the Big Ten Championship.
HOW TO WATCH BIG TEN HOCKEY SEMIFINAL
#4 Michigan Wolverines @ #3 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Where: 3M Arena at Mariucci, Minneapolis, Minnesota
When: 8 PM Saturday
TV: Big Ten Network
Stream: Fox Sports.com
Radio: 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio App/ Varsity Network App