We have fully hit February and things are starting to get tense as some of the winter spots teams are hitting their final stretch runs into postseason competition. But, we also have the berth of new seasons as Gopher Softball kicks off their 2026 run with a tournament in California this weekend. Add in a ton of Gophers competing this weekend in the 2026 Olympics, and oh yeah, that little Super Bowl thing and would have all the makings of a great spots weekend. Here is a preview of all the Gophers action
going on and how you can check it out!
Friday February 6th:
#3 Women’s Hockey @ St. Thomas Noon B1G+
The Gopher women’s hockey team starts off a home and home series against St. Thomas in St. Paul for a Friday afternoon tilt. Minnesota will jump back into action after a home split with #1 Wisconsin last weekend in the first series without Minnesota’s four Olympians. Minnesota picked up a huge 3-2 OT win on Friday before falling on Saturday 6-1.
This week the Gophers will face a team that will be a full strength as they have no Olympians in 2026. St. Thomas sits in fifth in the WCHA standings with 22 points, just one ahead of Minnesota State and will be ready to try and lock up that spot. They swept 7th place St. Cloud State in St. Paul last weekend with an OT win on Friday. Junior forward Rylee Bartz was the overtime hero in Friday’s contest and leads the team with 15 goals and 26 points. Junior forward Ella Boerger paces the squad with 16 assists. Julia Minotti has started 22 games in net this season, posting a 2.82 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage with a 9-14-0 record and two shutouts. Head coach Bethany Brausen is in her second season and is still searching for her first win against her alma matter and where she was a former assistant coach, holding an 0-4-0 mark all-time versus Minnesota. The Gophers have never lost to the Tommies going 22-0-0 all-time.
With several of their scoring stars gone, the Gophers will look to play a bit more of a defensive game. They still have Hannah Clark in goal wo was named one of the Semifinalsists for WCHA Goalie of the Year on Friday. Coming into the weekend Clark ranks 14th nationally in goals-against average (1.95), 31st in save percentage (.924), and is tied for 16th with three shutouts. She also owns the fifth-highest goalie winning percentage (.842).
Friday’s game began at Noon and as of the posting of this article the Gophers led 4-1 in the third period.
Indoor Track @ Fairgrounds Invitational 1 PM
The Gopher indoor track and field team sent several of their sprinters to the Fairground Invitational in Indianapolis this weekend. Action is slated to start at 1 PM and live results will be available HERE.
Softball vs Miami, OH @ San Diego 1:30 PM
The Gopher softball team kicks off their 2026 season in San Diego at the at the SDSU Season Kickoff . Minnesota will play five games this weekend with two each on Friday and Saturday and one on Sunday. The Gophers will be looking for a group of veterans to lead them, but some newcomiers to make instant impacts. IN the circle the Gophers will rely on senior Sydney Schwartz. A year ago she earned All-Big Ten Defensive Team honors and led the staff with 39 appearances and 27 starts, totaling 158.0 innings. She posted six shutouts, a 2.84 ERA, and 123 strikeouts. Minnesota will need breakouts from a least one or two other pitchers and will hope a pair of sophomore in Natalie Susa and Macy Richardson can step up and be those players. Joining them as the seocnd member of the battery will be redshirt freshman Texas Tech transfer Cassie Johnson, After a redshirt year with the Red Raiders she will look to find her game that she had as an exceptional high school player where she was
ranked the No. 10 overall player in the 2024 class by Perfect Game and earned AllState, First Team All-District, and First Team All-Conference honors.
The Gophers got one blow earlier this week when they announced senior centerfielder Breezy Burnett would miss the season with a lower leg injury. She will redshirt and play her senior season in 2027. Freshman Ella Shand could be pressed into duty quickly.
In the infield Minnesota returns sophomore shortstop Tinley easton who was named one of three Gophers to watch by the Big Ten. In 42 games last season she had a .927 fielding percentage and a .234 batting
average. First pitch of a season opener is set for 1:30 PM
Swimming and Diving NCAA First Chance Meet 5 PM B1G+
The Gopher swim and dive teams will host the NCAA First Chance meet as a warmup t the upcoming Big Ten Championships Friday at the Jean K Freeman Natatorium.
Last weekend the Gopher women faired will in their tri-meet with Purdue and Northwestern and the men faltered. The women took down Purdue 242.50-110.50 and Northwestern 186.00-166.00. The men’s program fell to Purdue 144.50-208.50 and Northwestern 139.00-214.00. Vivi Del Angel swept the women’s diving events held at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatics Center, winning Big Ten Diver of the Week honors for her efforts. Vivi tallied a score of 339.65 in the women’s 3-meter and a score of 331.30 in the women’s platform to take home the victory in both events. Katie McCarthy tallied three individual event wins and a new pool record over the two days of competition at the Norris Aquatics Center. McCarthy tallied a new pool record with a time of 9:40.49 to win the women’s 1000 free, and would go on to take first place finishes in the women’s 400 IM and 500 free.
The Gophers will be joined by St. Thomas and South Dakota State in Friday’s individual meet. It will stream on B1G+.
#7 Wrestling @#15 Rutgers 6 PM B1G+
The Gopher wrestling team hits the road again after their road upset at #4 Iowa last Friday. Minnesota will face Rutgers who enters Friday’s duel with a 10-5 overall record and a 3-3- Big Ten record. Minnesota has never lost to Rutgers in its history, winning all seven dual matches between the schools. Minnesota has won five straight road duals after winning the last three straight to close out last season and then defeating No. 11 Illinois on Jan. 10, 27-9, and No. 4 Iowa on Jan. 30, 21-16.
Based on the probable starters and the latest rankings from InterMat, there are projected to be eight ranked matchups Friday night with the Gophers sporting the higher-ranked wrestler in six of them. The teams each have the higher ranked wrestler in the two other matchups.
125: # 10 Jore Volk and # 28 Ayden Smith have not met in their respective careers.
149: #17 Drew Roberts could meet #29 Andrew Clark for the second time in their careers. Last year, Clark prevailed in the regular season dual, 9-7.
157: #19 Charlie Millard is set to take on #29 Anthony White for the first time in his career.
165: #11 Andrew Sparks could face #20 Andrew Barbosa for the first time.
174: #24 Ethan Riddle could face #16 Lenny Pinto for the very first time.
184: #4 Max McEnelly is set to face #Shane Cartagena-Walsh for the third time in their careers. McEnelly won both matchups last year by bonus points, starting with a major decision in the regular season and adding a tech fall win at the Big Ten Championships.
197: #25 Gavin Nelson could face #16 Remy Cotton for the second time in their careers. At the 2024 Edinboro Open, Cotton, who was then at Michigan State, defeated Nelson, 4-1.
285: #10 Koy Hopke and #19 Hunter Catka could meet for the first time.
Friday’s duel will stream on B1G+.
Softball @ San Diego State 6:30 PM MTN West Network
Game two of the day and season sees the Gophers facing the host Aztecs. This game will stream on the Mountain West Network.
Men’s Hockey vs Ohio State 7 PM Fox 9/ B1g+
The Gopher men remain at home at 3M Arena at Mariucci for the second consecutive week after a massive sweep of then #7 Wisconsin last weekend. This week a different red team comes in as the Ohio State Buckeyes will be in Minneapolis.
Sophmore Eric Påhlsson delivered a breakout weekend and earned the Big Ten Second Star of the Week. The sophomore totaled five points on three goals and two assists with multi-point performances in both games to lead Minnesota to a 4-1 win Friday and a 8-4 win on Saturday. With the sweep of the Badgers, the Gophers picked up ground on them i the Big Ten Standings. Minnesota sits in 5th place with 20 points, just two back of the Badgers in 4th place and the final Big Ten oFirst Round hosting spot. The Gophers are seven points clear of the Buckeyes in 6th.
The Buckeyes come to Dinkytown having dropped three of their last four outings but picked up one point in the B1G standings following an overtime loss at home versus No. 1 Michigan last Saturday and are 2-5-1 since the calendar flipped to 2026. OSU ranks just 54th in the NCAA in scoring defense, having allowed 3.6 goals per game, while its offense sits 34th at 2.9 goals per game. Davis Burnside and Jake Karabela are pacing the team’s scoring behind 21 and 20 points, respectively, and Max Montes has a team-best 10 goals. Goaltender Kristoffer Eberly has six wins in net across 17 starts and posted a 3.34 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage.
Minnesota owns a 48-12-6 (.773) record in the all-time series versus Ohio State and that margin is even wider in home games for the Maroon and Gold at 26-3-3 (.859). The Gophers have won seven straight matchups inside 3M Arena at Mariucci and are 11-2-1 when facing the Buckeyes at home under the direction of Coach Motzko. Minnesota picked up four of a possible six points against OSU in early December winning the opener 6-3 before falling in overtime 6-5 in the final game before the holiday break.
Faceoff Friday is set for 7 PM and will air on Fox9 in Minnesota and stream on B1G+.
Saturday Februry 7th:
Tennis @ Wyoming 9 AM
The Gopher tennis team hits the road again this time to Wyoming for a match on Saturday. Minnesota is 4-0 so far this season after sweeping a Pair of MAC teams last weekend in Western Michigan and Northern Illinois. The match will stream HERE.
Indoor Track @Fairgrounds Invite/Gopher Classic 10:30 AM
Day two of the Fairgrounds Invitational in Indianapolis is set for a 10:30 AM start live results will be available HERE. The Gophers also will host the Gopher Classic at the Fieldhouse on Saturday. It will begin at 10:30 and is free to atend. Live results are available HERE.
Softball vs Miami, OH @ San Diego 11:00 AM
The Gophers will face Miami, Ohio for the second time in two days to open up Saturday’s action in San Diego. First Pitch is set for 11 AM.
Swimming and Diving NCAA First Chance Meet 11:00 AM B1G+
Day two of the NCAA First Chance meet begins at 11 AM.
Softball vs Loyola, Chicago @ San Diego 1:30 PM
Minnesota closes out Saturday on the diamond with a game against Loyola, Chicago.
#3 Women’s Hockey vs St. Thomas 2:00 PM B1G+
Game two of the home and home series between the Gophers and Tommies moves to Ridder Arena Saturday. Puck drop is set for 2 PM and will stream on B1G+.
#17 Gymnastics vs #5 UCLA 4 PM B1G+
The Gopher gymnastics team will host #5 UCLA at 4 PM on Saturday at the Pav. Minnesota has already had two huge home upsets this season with wins over #10 Arkansas and then #5 Michigan. UCLA will be tough however as they bring in former US Olympian Jordan Chiles who is one of the best in the nation.
Minnesota is coming off of a win over Iowa last weekend that extended their record to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten action. They currently rank #10 nationally on floor, #15 on beam and #19 on both bars and vault. UCLA ranks #4 on Vault, Bars and Beam and #9 on floor.
Action begins at 4 PM and streams on B1G+.
Men’s Hockey vs Ohio State 8 PM BTN
Game two of the series between the Gophers and Buckeyes is set for an 8PM faceoff as the second game of a hockey doubleheader on Big Ten Network.
Sunday February 8th:
Women’s Basketball @ Rutgers 11AM B1G+
The Gopher women’s basketball team will look to extend their 5-game winning streak at Rutgers on Sunday morning. Minnesota will need to avoid a let-down loss against the last place Scarlet Knights after a huge road win at #10 Iowa on Thursday. Tip will be at 11 AM and stream on B1G+.
Tennis @ Colorado State 11:30 AM
The Gophers continue their western road trip in Fort Collins to face Colorado State Sunday morning. The meet will start at 11:30 and will stream HERE,
Softball vs Kentucky @ San Diego 12:30 PM
The Gophers close out their first weekend of action with a SEC opponent in Kentucky. First pitch will be at 12:30.
Men’s Basketball vs Maryland 1:00 PM BTN
The Gopher men’s basketball team will try and not have a let down after their huge upset win over #10 Michigan State at Williams Arena on Wednesday night. Minnesota will host last place Maryland at The Barn on Sunday. Tip is set for 1:00 PM on Big Ten Network.
#7 Wrestling @Maryland 1 PM B1G+
Minnesota closes out the Big Ten road schedule at Maryland on Sunday afternoon. Based on the probable starters and the latest rankings from InterMat, there are projected to be just two ranked matchups Sunday with Minnesota having the edge in seven of the eight unranked matches.
149: #24 Drew Roberts could meet #4 Carter Young for the first time.
197: #25 Gavin Nelson could face #17 Branson John for the second time this season. At the season-opening Southeast Open, John defeated Nelson, 11-4.
The meet will kick off at 1 PM and stream on B1G+.
