The Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team will face an intense rival for the third weekend in a row as they head to Madison for a Thursday/ Saturday series against the #14 Wisconsin Badgers. The series is the Big
Ten opener for both teams. Minnesota will look to try and get back on track after a home sweep to Minnesota-Duluth last weekend that dropped them to #18/19 in the national rankings.
The Gophers struggled to put the puck in the net against the Bulldogs last weekend. UMD goalie Adam Gajan was on fire earning NCHC Goalie of the Week honors for his efforts. But it’s not just him. Minnesota has struggled at getting the puck out of their own zone and maintaining offensive pressure. Missing several key playmakers has not helped either. Omaha transfer Tanner Ludtke missed the series finale last Saturday and will miss this weekend’s series with a viral illness. Defenseman Cal Thomas did not play well last Friday and missed Saturday’s game with an injury. The Gophers will need to try and overcome their depleted lineup to find a way to take it to the Badgers.
With the Gophers not being able to score, they will need to continue to pick it up defensively. Minnesota leads the country with 141 blocked shots, averaging nearly 18 per game, a full 36 more than the next closest Big Ten team. John Whipple and senior Luke Mittelstadt rank first and second in the NCAA with 22 and 21 blocks, respectively. The problem has ben when that group is not on the ice. Freshmen Jacob Rombach and Finn McLaughlin have struggled so far this season and opposing teams have taken advantage. The Gophers platoon of goalies in Nathan Airey and Luca DiPasquo have been good, but not great. That makes a difference because when you are giving up three goals a game but can only score one or two—its a loss either way.
Wisconsin has opened the season 4-0-2 with sweeps of Alaska and Lindenwood and a pair of ties that resulted in shootout wins over Minnesota State. Like a classic Mike Hastings team, the Badgers play a trapping defensive style of hockey—not a great matchup for a Minnesota team struggling offensively right now. The Badgers are allowing just 1.5 goals per game—the best in the nation. Freshman goaltender Daniel Hauser has started every game and boasts a 1.46 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.
Simon Tassy leads the Badgers with seven points, while Christian Fitzgerald paces the squad with four goals, including two game winners. But Wisconsin is getting scoring from its depth as well. In the nine goals they scores last weekend in a sweep of Alaska, the Badgers had eight different goal scorers. Through six games so far this season, 15 different skaters have scored a goal – 65-percent of UW’s roster.
The Gophers are going to need to stay out of the box and then make sure they can be successful on the penalty kill if they do end up there. Wisconsin’s power play ranks eighth in the NCAA and has produced eight of their 22 goals. Their penalty kill ranks 26th killing off over 82% of their penalties. Meanwhile the Gophers special teams have been atrocious to start the season. The power play has been awful scoring at just over 9% which ranks 48th in the country, while the penalty kill is only slightly better ranking 46th killing just 72.7% of their penalties.
The Gophers need to find a way to dig deep and play well. It’s not a great matchup for the struggling Minnesota offensive, so they need to be willing to get dirty and win a 2-1 game if necessary. They can’t make mistakes because they won’t be able to make up for them. Minnesota has dominated recent Border Battle meetings, going 11-3-1 in the last 15 contests and are 5-2-1 in its past four trips to Madison. They know how to win in Madison. They just need to find a way to snap out of this funk and get to it.
The series this weekend was moved to Thursday/ Saturday not to avoid Madison’s annual Halloween State Street celebration on Friday, but for TV purposes. Thursday night’s game is an 8 PM faceoff and will air live on Big Ten Network. Saturday’s game will not be on TV and only available via a stream on B1G+ with a 6 PM faceoff.
