The Minnesota Golden Gopher men’s hockey team will take the ice for the first time in the 2026-27 season on Friday night in Houghton, Michigan as they take on the Michigan Tech Huskies in a battle of former WCHA foes. For Minnesota, they hope that the old school matchup brings back old school memories, and they can finally flush everything from the 25-26 season away. There has been a ton of change in Dinkytown—new coaching staff, tons of roster turnover, and a program now being led by a former UMD
Bulldog with some significant contributions from a former St. Cloud State Husky. While Doug Woog might be rolling over in his grave, Herb Brooks surely is smiling as the State of Hockey as folded over upon itself to try and right the Gophers masts. Will it work? There’s only one way to find out.
Who is Gone?
Let’s start with the man behind the bench. Bob Motzko is out after eight seasons as the Gopher bench leader. He brought the Gopher program back to success after the struggles at the end of the Lucia era, and got within a whisker of a NCAA Championship in 2023, but saw his teams fall off significantly over the last three seasons as the college hockey world changed around him. Assistant Steve Miller also is gone and is now on staff at St. Thomas.
As for the players, Brody Lamb, Luke Mittelstadt and Cal Thomas all graduated and are off to the AHL affiliates of the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadians, and Utah Mammoth respectively. John Mittelstadt and Zach Weise graduated and saw their hockey careers end. And then Brett Larson came in as coach, and decided to make some changes. Minnesota had seven players hit the transfer portal after the new coaching staff arrived. Former goalie Nathan Airey is the lone one to not find another college team as he decided to move on and now works in development for the San Jose Sharks and is their emergency backup goaltender.
The other six Gophers all found new homes with three of them sticking around the Big Ten. Former centers Erik Pahlsson and Jimmy Clark transferred to Ohio State and Michigan State respectively. Defenseman Leo Gruba is now on the Notre Dame roster. Additionally defenseman Finn McLaughlin is now at St. Cloud State . defenseman Max Rud is now at Alaska Fairbanks, and forward August Falloon is now at Union.
Who is Back?
Most Gopher fans and casual observers knew that Larson had two players he had to do just about anything to make sure they returned for the 2026-27 season if Minnesota wanted any chance of improving. He successfully kept both as forwards Brody Ziemer and and LJ Mooney will return to the ice as Gophers this season. Ziemer is a junior and will wear the Captain’s C for the Gophers this season. He has been as impactful a player as possible for the Gophers the past two seasons and earned Second Team All-Big Ten honors last season as he led Minnesota’s offense, averaging a point-per-game, with 36 points on 23 goals and 13 assists. His 23 goals ranked 7th in the nation. The conference coaches expect to take off where he left off and he was named to the All-Big Ten Preseason First Team.
Mooney returns for his sophomore season after a rookie campaign that saw him record 30 points on seven goals and a team-leading 23 assists. He’s your classic playmaker who’s vision on the ice is truly special. The lone concern about Mooney is his durability as he missed a pair of games due to injury last season and starts this season banged up and is questionable for the opening series against Michigan Tech this weekend. He will wear an A for the Gophers this season.
The Gophers returned their fourth leading scorer from a season ago and are looking for a sophomore break out from Javon Moore. The Gophers power forward scored eight goal and added 13 assists and hopefully will become a top 6 forward this season.
Beckett Hendrickson also scored 20 points as a sophomore last season and showed some toughness and grit—something Minnesota will want to try and play with more of this season.
Other returning forwards include senior center Tanner Ludtke, seldom used junior Graham Harris and a trio of sophomores in Mason Moe, Tate Prichard and Teddy Townsend.
Minnesota’s blue line struggled mightily last year, and so from graduation and players told to enter the portal there is not a ton returning for the Gophers. Junior John Whipple who will wear an A is one of the major returners. The Minnetonka native has steadily improved over the past two seasons and will be looked upon to be a prototypical shut down defender this season for the Gophers.
Two other returners likely will see action for the Gophers mainly do to their lack of depth at this position. Sophomore Jacob Rombach has the size you want in a blue liner but had a rough freshman season a year ago adjusting to the college game. The hope is he had a good summer and will be ready to be more of a playmaker this season. Junior Axel Begley also returns and is likely to be Minnesota’s 7th defenseman until newcomer Tarin Smith is ready to see action hopefully in November.
Minnesota brings back their #1 goalie from a season ago in senior Luca Di Pasquo. The Michigan State transfer took over the sole starting spot from Airey after the holiday break and started 24 of the Gophers 39 games. He ended the season with a 8-15-2 record and a 3.18 goals against average and a .910 save percentage. The talent is there and the hope is with a better defensive corps ahead of him, he will be better this season as well. He was named to the Preseason 2nd All-Big Ten Team this fall.
Who is New?
There has been lots of change in the Gopher program this offseason from the coaching staff to the players. We start behind the bench where Brett Larson takes over as the head coach of the Gophers. Larson was formerly the head coach at St. Cloud State and was an assistant at UMD prior to that where he helped recruit and coach the Bulldogs to three NCAA Championships. The Duluth native has extensive ties to Minnesota and recruiting in the CHL as well and hopefully will get the Gophers positioned in the near future to return to their dominating ways.
Larson retained assistant coach Ben Gordon and Director of Goaltender development Brennan Poderzay and promoted former Gopher and NHL defenseman Paul Martin from Director of Player Development to a full assistant coach. His third assistant is former Gopher Cory Laylin who was on the staff at St. Thomas. But the most interesting hire might be the Gophers new Director of Player Development in former NHL star and St. Cloud State alum Matt Cullen. The Moorhead native has a keen interest in the Gophers and their development as he currently has a pair of sons who are freshmen on the team beginning this fall as well as a third who is committed to come in in the fall of 2028.
As for the players the Gophers added seven freshmen and six transfers to their roster for this season. The two freshmen headlining the roster are the two Cullen brothers in Brooks and Wyatt. Wyatt is the more talented one and was the #10 overall pick by Nashville in the NHL Draft this summer after scoring 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists) in 34 games for the Us U18 development Team last season. Brooks played for Fargo in the USHL last season and recorded 23 points for the Force. He likely will be a bottom 6 forward to start, but is the type of grinder player teams can always use more of.
Joining the Cullen’s is another highly touted forward in Jacob Kvasnicka. The Wayzata native played for Penticton in the WHL last season and led the Vees with 85 points (35 goals, 50 assists) in 65 appearances and was a plus-32.
Jackson Nevers is the next in the Edina family legacy to play for the Maroon and Gold. He played in the USHL in Madison and Waterloo the last two seasons and was the Capitol’s captain last year. HIs brother Mason played for Minnesota from 2020-2025 and his dad Tom played both hockey and baseball for the Gophers before a professional baseball career.
Minnesota added a pair of freshman defenseman in Axel Lofgren and Tarin Smith. Lofgren played in Fargo with Brooks Cullen last season and recorded 33 points on 10 goals and 23 assists. The Sweden native was originally committed to UMass prior to Larson taking the Minnesota job. Smith is a 4th round pick of the Anaheim Ducks in 2024 who had used up his WHL eligibility and the Ducks wanted him to get more playing time before he becomes a professional. He played for Everett and was a defensive partner of expected #1 NFL Draft Pick in 2027 Landon DuPont who will play for Michigan this season. Smith injured his hand in the Silvertips playoff series in May and will miss the beginning of the Minnesota season, but hopefully will return to action by November.
Minnesota added a freshman goalie in Alex Sabev. He will become Minnesota’s #3 goalie after going 11-3-0 record and one shutout behind a .917 save percentage across 15 appearances for the Idaho Falls Spud Kings in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC). The Mounds View native played his high school hockey at Irondale.
Minnesota added six transfers in the offseason to try and quickly overhaul their roster. Five of the six are expected to see immediate action in the lineup, with the sixth locked for the future. The transfer class is led by senior defenseman Evan Murr. The Minnesota State transfer was a 2nd Team All-American for the Mavericks last year and was the CCHA Defenseman of the Year and finalist for CCHA Player of the Year. The Stillwater native posted a career-high 30 points on 10 goals and 20 assists to lead Minnesota State a season ago. He immediately will play on the Gophers top defensive group and quarterback the power play. He was named to the Preseason All-Big Ten Team 2nd Team this fall. Joining him on the blue line is pair of St. Cloud State transfers in junior Finn Loftus and sophomore Tanner Henricks. Loftus started his career at UMass before transferring to SCSU for his sophomore season scoring 16 points. Henricks missed a majority of the season a year ago with an injury but was a 4th round pick of Columbus in the 2024 NHL Draft. At 6’4 205 pounds he has prototypical size and should step immediately into the Gopher lineup and play a large role.
The Gophers added a pair of forwards in SCSU Junior Austin Burnevik and Michigan sophomore Christian Humphries. Burnevik was a scorer for the Huskies ranking second on the team with a 38-point campaign (20 goals, 18 assists) and earning 2nd Team NCHC Honors. He should immediately join the Gophers top line and be a major offensive threat. Humphries originally played for Michigan for 10 games in 2024-25 before returning to the OHL. Last season he 85 points behind 27 goals and a team-leading 58 assists with the Rangers, ranking third on the team in scoring offense. He played on the US Development team with Ziemer and Mooney and had committed to the Gophers prior to the coaching change. He also should see significant Top 6 minutes early and help boost the Gophrs offensive output.
The final transfer was a goalie in former Michigan State backup Melvin Strahl. A year after Minnesota took Trey Augustine’s backup from the Spartans, they did so again. Strahl only played in three games as a freshman but went unbeaten with a record of 2-0-1 with a 2.27 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage including a 3-3 tie against the Gophers in the regular season finale. A 5th round selection of the Blue Jackets in 2023, Strahl will likely be the main backup to Di Pasquo this season before having the edge to become the starter in 2027-28.
So What’s the Forecast?
The Big Ten coaches and national media do see a bounce back season for the Gophers. Minnesota was predicted to finish in fourth place in the conference behind Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin. In the preseason USCHO.com Poll the Gophers placed 14th in the nation—the only sub-.500 team from a year ago to be in the initial rankings this season. But it will not be easy. Minnesota starts off with three non-conference series against ranked opponents. After playing a pair against #19 ranked and projected CCHA Champions Michigan Tech, the Gophers get an off weekend before heading up I-35 for a series at #5 Minnesota Duluth. The following weekend the Gophers return home to open the season at 3M Arena at Mariucci and host rival #4 North Dakota. After the Gophers open the Big Ten schedule at home against Penn State Halloween Weekend, they then host another arch rival in #6 ranked Wisconsin the following weekend. There are no breathers for the Gophers in the first six weeks of the year. How Minnesota fares in those first three non-conference series may determine just how good they need to be in the Big Ten to be able to be on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. The NPI is an unforgiving system, so the Gophers must be ready to go from the first drop of the puck this weekend.
The potential definitely exists for the Gophers team to return to the NCAA Tournament this season, but they have no room for error. Nobody should judge Larson too harshly if the Gophers don’t get there this season, but with a slew of very highly touted recruits in the next few years, the pressure will ramp up quickly. Only time will tell if this squad has the talent needed to compete with the nation’s best, or if the talent gap that occurred over the past couple of years is just too great, and it will be wait until the next cycle to return to glory. In either case, this team should hopefully be fun to watch going forward once again.
This Weekend:
Minnesota opens up play at Michigan Tech for a series on Friday and Saturday night. It’s the Gophers first trip to Houghton since their final trip as WCHA conference mates in 2012. The Gophers and Huskies split a series in Minneapolis to open the season last year. The Gophers are 66-37-2 all-time record in the first game of the year, including six-straight, season-opening victories that includes a 603 win over Tech last October. The Gophers do hold a dominating lead in the all-time series between the two schools at 175-79-15 (.678). The 175 wins over Michigan Tech are the second most over any opponent in program history only behind the 190 total wins over Wisconsin.
Minnesota will again see a familiar face in net as former Gopher Owen Bartoszkiewicz backstops the Huskies. The senior posted a 23-12-2 record with a 2.52 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage in 2025-26.
As a reminder the home team controls the TV rights so this weekends games will only be viewed on Midco Sports Plus. No streaming on any Big Ten platform will be available. The Gopher radio team will broadcast all the action on 103.5 FM/ 1130 AM in the Twin Cities, or via the I Heart Radio App.
Faceoff is set for 6 PM Friday and 5 Pm Saturday.
