The Gophers kick off their search for St. Paul in Sioux Falls Thursday
The Minnesota Golden Gophers begin their quest to try and advance out of the Sioux Falls Regional to return home to St. Paul for the 2024 NCAA Frozen Four on Thursday night when they play the Omaha Mavericks at 7:30. The Gophers are the #2 seed in the region and Omaha is the #3 and also the regional host. However it sounds like there will be plenty of maroon and gold in the 10,000+ Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls to see if Minnesota can punch their ticket back to the Frozen Four for the third season in a row.
Minnesota comes in after 11 days of being idle after a loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Semifinals on March 16th. Omaha comes in after a pair of games last weekend in the NCHC Tournament, first a 6-3 semifinal win over North Dakota on Friday before falling 4-1 to Denver in the Championship game on Saturday. The Gophers can not afford to come out rusty on Thursday evening as the Mavericks are too good of a team to not take advantage. The Maverick are good at playing with a lead as the are 17-9 on the season when scoring the first goal of the game while the Gophers are just 5-6-4 when allowing the opening goal. Additionally the Gophers have not won yet this season when trailing after the first period going 0-6-4.
While it will be the Gophers 41st all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament the Gophers will play their first ever game in South Dakota on Thursday. The Gophers own a 61-41 record (.598) in 40 trips to the national stage since 1953. Those 61 wins is the most for any school in the country. Minnesota will hope for a big “homecoming” weekend from 5th year senior Jaxon Nelson who is from Magnolia, Minnesota just 40 miles from Sioux Falls. Minnesota had additional ties to Sioux Falls with four players who played in the USHL there including Garrett Pinoniemi, Max Rud, Cal Thomas and Nelson. Bob Motzko served as the general manager and coach of the Stampede during the team’s first three seasons in the USHL (1998-2001) before joining the Gophers for back to back NCAA Championships in 2002 and 2003.
Minnesota will need to play good hockey this weekend as the Mavericks come in as one of the hottest teams in the nation. Omaha is 12-3-2 in their last 17 games and can win close tight checking games. The Mavericks are an incredible 16-2 in one goal games this season while the Gophers are just 7-5. Minnesota needs to open up the play early and get a lead and keep adding to it. History is not in their favor though as while the Gophers are 5-3 against the Mavericks all time, five of those games were one goal affairs. The most recent matchup between the two teams came nearly exactly three years ago at the 2021 Loveland Regional. The Gophers knocked off the Mavericks 7-2 in the regional semifinal. Current Minnesota Wild defenseman and former Gopher captain Brock Faber tied a single-game school record with five assists while current Gopher captain Mason Nevers scored the first two goals of his career.
Minnesota statistically is the better team both offensively and defensively coming into the matchup. The Mavericks enter the NCAA Tournament ranking 31st nationally in scoring at 2.95 goals per game and rank 25th in defense, allowing 2.79 goals per game. Minnesota ranks 10th in the nation in scoring at 3.49 goals per game, and are 11th in defense at 2.49 goals per game. Minnesota also has a significant advantage on special teams. Minnesota ranks 14th in the nation on the power play at 23.42% while Omaha is 43rd at 18.22%. On the penalty kill its similar but not as large a difference as Minnesota ranks 32nd at 80% and Omaha is 42nd at 78.4%. If the Gophers can get on the board with a power play goal, good things tend to happen as Minnesota is 13-2-3 this season when doing so. Where the Mavericks have a distinct advantage is in the faceoff circle. Omaha ranks 9th in the nation with a 53.5% win percentage while the Gophers are 37th at 49.9%. It will be key for the Gophers centers, notably Nelson and Oliver Moore to win key draws both in the defensive end, and especially when trying to establish a power play.
The Mavericks are led offensively by Tanner Ludtke who leads UNO in scoring with 28 points and is one of four players to reach double-digit goals, led by 13 goals from both Zach Urdahl and Jack Randl. Tanner’s brother Griffin is second on the team in scoring with 27 points. Both are Elko, Minnesota natives. Urdahl is a Wisconsin transfer.
Minnesota is led by Rhett Pitlick with 35 points on the season. Minnesota has a quartet of players with more than 30 points with Jimmy Snuggerud, Moore and Bryce Brodzinski joining Pitlick. Snuggerud leads the team in goals with 21 with Pitlick with 19 and Nelson with 16 behind.
In goal for Omaha will be Slovakia native Simon Latkoczy. On the season he has recorded a 2.68 goals-against average, .912 save percentage, and two shutouts.
The Gophers will counter with Justen Close who will make his 100th career appearance in Thursday’s game. This season the 5th year grad student has a 2.33 goals-against average, a .923 save percentage, and four shutouts. He needs just one more shutout to take sole possession of the program record which he currently shares at 13 with Adam Wilcox and Kellen Briggs.
Minnesota is the better team. They just need to feel confident and play their game. If they can avoid gripping the sticks too hard and make some plays and play their game rather than falling into the trap of playing their opponents game, they should be able to advance to Saturday’s regional final.
They would face the winner of the #1 seed Boston University and the #4 seed RIT. BU is ranked #2 in the nation this season trailing only cross-town rival Boston College. RIT got the auto bid from Atlantic hockey and has a older senior heavy team that will look to pull off a major upset. That game will face off at 4PM on Thursday.
HOW TO WATCH: NCAA REGIONAL SEMIFINAL
#3 Omaha Mavericks vs #2 Minnesota Golden Gophers
Where: Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
When: 7:30 PM Thursday
TV: ESPNU
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio/ Varsity Network App