Two weeks after a highly ranked rival of the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team came into 3M Arena and left nursing their wounds, Gophers fan will hope that history repeats itself this weekend. The #1 ranked Wisconsin Badgers come to Minneapolis this weekend looking to remain undefeated and take down the Golden Gophers. Meanwhile Minnesota knows what it took to take down one huge rival already this season, and will try and do the same once more.
The Gophers enter this weekend ranked #18 in
the nation after a pair of overtime games against Penn State last weekend to open up Big Ten play. The Gophers and Nittany Lions tied at 1 on Friday night with Penn State taking home the extra conference point after winning in the shootout. Saturday night the teams again went to overtime knotted at three before LJ Mooney called game scoring just 17 seconds into the extra session to give Minnesota a 4-3 victory. Christian Humphries scored twice earlier in the game to give him the season lead in goals for the Gophers with five and points with six.
Luca Di Pasquo made 26 saves in the shootout loss on Friday and Melvin Strahl made 25 saves in the win on Saturday. Expect them to again see one game each in this series.
Wisconsin has been on a tear to start the season. They come in undefeated at 6-0 and absolutely destroyed Notre Dame to open up conference play last weekend by 7-1 and 9-1 scores. They have been one of the best teams in the nation both offensively and defensively ranking 5th in offense with 4.8 goals per game and secnd in defense allowing just 0.8 goals per game. In six games the Badgers have outscored their opponents by a 29-5 margin. They are spreading it around their entire roster as well. Vasily Zelenov leads the offense with nine points on two goals and seven assists, while a total of 15 different Badgers have found the back of the net this season. Goaltenders Daniel Hauser (0.67 GAA, .961 SV%) and Alexis Cournoyer (1.00 GAA, .949 SV%) are both a perfect 3-0-0 and combined to allow just five goals against.
Special teams have been especially key for Wisconsin with a nation leading 40.7 percent success rate on the power play after going 7-for-15 versus the Fighting Irish, including six man-advantage goals in Saturday’s finale. The penalty kill is slightly worse killing at only a 77% success rate. Four of the five goals the Badgers have given up this season have come on the man advantage for the other team. The Gophers special teams have been much less special. Minnesota is scoring on just 20% of their power plays going 4-20 on the season. The penalty kill numbers also are not great killing penalties just shy of 70% of the time and have already given up eight power play goals on the season.
It’s an awkward Thursday/ Saturday series this weekend due to a home men’s basketball game Friday night when the Gophers host crosstown opponent St. Thomas. Saturday’s game access could be a bit awkward as the Gopher football game kicks off at 11 AM against UCLA, and some football fans may still be lingering in the parking lots when hockey fans arrive for the 7 PM puck drop.
Minnesota will hope their recent success against Wisconsin continues into this ranked matchup. The Gophers lead the all-time series between the two schools 90-105-25 and have a 7-2-1 record in their past ten meetings with the Badgers. Both teams swept a home series against the other last season. There have been plenty of matchups between the schools when Wisconsin has been ranked #1 in the country as well. Minnesota has a 9-15-1 record against a #1 ranked Wisconsin team, but the last victory came in December 1985 in a series sweep at home.
Thursday’s game will face off at 7 PM and will air on Big Ten Network, while Saturday’s game will also be a 7 PM faceoff and will air on Fox9+.
