The University of Minnesota men’s hockey team has its sights set on a Big Ten Conference championship as it travels to red-hot No. 15/16 Penn State to close the regular season Feb. 28-Mar. 1.
The No. 2-ranked Golden Gophers enter the final weekend of play searching for their record seventh regular season title, holding a two-point lead in the league standings. The series gets underway at 7:30 p.m. (CT) Friday night and continues Saturday at 7 p.m. (CT).
LAST TIME OUT
Minnesota put together a complete weekend to claim all six possible points during a home sweep of No. 7/6 Ohio State in front of sold-out crowds both nights at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Ryan Chesley broke a 1-1 tie in the second period Friday for the eventual game-winning goal of a 4-1 victory, while Brody Lamb matched a career high with three points, including two goals. The Gophers built a 3-0 advantage Saturday but needed to fend off a surging Buckeyes’ squad to the finish getting a pair of empty-net tallies to secure a 6-3 win. Twelve players registered a point in the series finale led by Jimmy Clark’s three assists that tied his career best. Goaltender Liam Souliere stopped 41-of-45 shots during the weekend to record a pair of wins and picked up his first assist with the Maroon and Gold Friday night.
LOOKING AT THE STANDINGS
Coming off their home sweep of Ohio State, the Gophers begin the final series of the regular season in first place in the B1G standings with a two-point lead over Michigan State. Minnesota can potentially clinch the championship Friday and will finish no lower than second place heading into its series at Penn State, while the Spartans close the campaign at Notre Dame. The No. 1 seed for the B1G Tournament earns a bye into the semifinals on Mar. 15 and the second-place finisher will host the Fighting Irish in the best-of-three quarterfinals Mar. 7-9.
LAMB LIGHTS LAMP FOR ANOTHER STAR
Brody Lamb found his scoring touch again during the sweep of No. 7/6 Ohio State, totaling four points on three goals and an assist and was named the B1G Second Star of the Week (Feb. 25). It was the junior’s third time earning a weekly award this season. He matched a career high with three points Friday, including his third multi-goal effort this season, and snapped an 11-game goal drought that stretched back to Jan. 3. The Gophers are now 10-1-1 this season when Lamb lights the lamp and his three-goal series pushed him back into the top 20 nationally among all goal scorers with 16 tucks. He previously was named a star of the week on Dec. 3 following a three-point series versus Alaska and thanks to a four-goal weekend against St. Thomas, including his first NCAA hat trick, earned the honor on Oct. 29. All three goals of his natural hat trick versus the Tommies were on the power play, and his eight goals on the man advantage this year rank fifth in the NCAA.
SNUGGERUD STOCK RISING
After a four-point performance versus Wisconsin, Jimmy Snuggerud was named the B1G First Star of the Week for the third time this season and sixth time during his career, the most of any non-goaltender in B1G history, while also landing HCA Co-Player of the Month honors for the month of January. His 43 points rank fifth among the NCAA’s scoring leaders, including a B1G-best 18 goals in 22 league appearances. The junior posted two goals and two assists in the series opener against the Badgers (Jan. 31), extending his career-long goal streak to six games and the team owns a 12-2-1 record when he scores a goal this year and 33-9-3 in his three-year career. Snuggerud has tallied exactly 21 goals in all three campaigns and became the third player in Gophers’ history to score 20 or more goals in three-consecutive seasons to begin a career, joining M Club Hall of Famers John Mayasich and Dick Dougherty, who both hit the milestone more than 70 years ago in 1953-54. He has reached the scoresheet in 25 of 34 appearances this year with a team-best 14 multi-point outings, while his 63 career goals rank 34th in program history. Snuggerud is just two points away from reaching the top 50 all-time scorers in Maroon and Gold as he currently has 127 to his credit.
HOBEY BAKER FAN VOTING CONTINUES
Sam Rinzel and Jimmy Snuggerud from the Maroon and Gold are two of more than 90 players representing all 64 NCAA Division I programs nominated for the 2025 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. The fan-voting portion began Jan. 22 and goes until Mar. 9 and can be found by going to hobeybaker.com/vote. Phase two of fan balloting will feature the Top Ten Hobey Baker finalists beginning Mar. 19 and closes Mar. 30. The fan vote accounts for a percentage of the total ballot in each phase in selecting this year’s award recipient.
SHOWING OFF THE BALANCE
The Gophers have lit the lamp an NCAA-best 135 times this season with 20 different players scoring at least one goal, including six that have eclipsed double-digit goals. Minnesota’s offensive depth in 2024-25 has shined through as its 363 points have come via 21 of their 22 total skaters, and two goaltenders. A total of 14 players have surpassed double-digit points, while six have 25 or more points. The team has found the back of the net five or more times in 16 appearances and hold a 21-3-2 record when scoring at least three goals. More importantly, the Gophers are putting in the work on the defensive end, holding the NCAA’s fourth-best scoring margin at plus-1.62 as they have surrendered 80 goals all season, a 2.35 goals per game average.
HISTORY WITH THE NITTANY LIONS
Minnesota holds a 31-18-1 (.630) record in the all-time series with Penn State after winning twice on home ice to begin the B1G season in November but are just 11-10-1 at Pegula Ice Arena. The Gophers have now won 10 of the last 11 meetings, including a 5-1 mark in the last three trips to Pegula Ice Arena. The sweep at 3M Arena at Mariucci came during the middle of the team’s nine-game win streak earlier this year as it limited the Nittany Lions to one goal in the series. Jimmy Clark and Jimmy Snuggerud combined to score all four goals for the Maroon and Gold with Snuggerud potting a pair Friday before Clark’s game winner with 26 seconds remaining in regulation of the 1-0 victory Saturday. Liam Souliere stopped all 28 shots he saw in the first time facing his former team to record his first shutout at Minnesota.
INSIDE LOOK AT PENN STATE
After starting 0-8 in the B1G with a pair of losses at 3M Arena at Mariucci, the second half of the season has been a complete turnaround for the Nittany Lions. The team is 9-1-3 in its last 13 outings and claimed 17 of a possible 18 points in the conference over the past three weeks, including five of six at No. 1 Michigan State last weekend. PSU is third in the NCAA at the faceoff dot, winning 55 percent of draws, and ranks ninth in scoring offense, averaging 3.4 goals per game. Sophomore Aiden Fink currently is tied for the national scoring lead at 45 points behind 23 goals and 22 assists, including 15 goals in 16 games since the calendar switched to 2025. Netminder Arsenii Sergeev has been at the top of his game the last two months and been named B1G First Star of the Week three times in the past eight weeks. The junior owns a 2.50 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage and is unbeaten in his last six starts.
HITTING THE 20-WIN MARK
After winning their 20th game of the season on Jan. 31 against Wisconsin, the Gophers secured their fifth-consecutive 20-win campaign and reached the mark during the month of January for just the second time since 2012. It’s also the 11th time over the past 14 years Minnesota has eclipsed 20 wins. The sustained success of the Gophers has been a point of emphasis as the program has reached the 20-win mark 42 times in 52 years dating back to 1973-74, a year when the Maroon and Gold claimed the first of its five national championships.
FRIDAY NIGHT HUGLEN
Coming off a career year in 2023-24 where Aaron Huglen reached double-digit goals (13) for the first time as a Gopher, he has continued to put his name on the scoresheet this season, especially in Friday night outings. The senior has a point in 11 of 16 Friday games this year, totaling 13 of his 18 points. He has reached double-digit scoring in four-consecutive campaigns thanks to eight points over an eight-game stretch from Nov. 22 to Jan. 3. Since becoming a father to his daughter Evelynn in early February, the Roseau, Minn., native has four points in four appearances, including the 11th multi-point effort of his career versus Ohio State on Senior Night (Feb. 22). Last year, Huglen became the 15th player in program history to score a goal in three different NCAA Tournaments, a feat that had not been accomplished in more than 15 years, when he found the back of the net against Boston University in the 2024 NCAA Sioux Falls Regional Final.
PUCK STOPS AT SOULIERE
Graduate transfer goaltender Liam Souliere is enjoying a change of scenery as he joined the Gophers after playing four seasons at B1G-foe Penn State. On the road at Ohio State in mid-January, he stopped all six shots he saw in relief Friday before making 32 saves during Saturday’s win to pick up the third B1G Star of the Week honor of his career and first since coming to Minnesota. He has not lost a game in regulation in 10-straight starts since Dec. 14 and recorded shutout victories over Penn State (Nov. 2), his first appearance versus his former team, and Michigan (Dec. 7) this year. He has tallied double-digit victories in three-straight years and picked up the 50th win of his NCAA career against Ohio State (Feb. 21). Souliere has allowed 41 goals in 21 appearances this season for a 2.05 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage that rank 10th and 13th in the nation, respectively.
HENDRICKSON LENDS HELPING HAND
Since the start of the 2025 calendar year, Beckett Hendrickson has found his stride and recorded seven points in 13 appearances, including assists in three of his last four outings. The freshman became the Gophers’ 14th player to reach double-digit scoring when he picked up an assist versus Ohio State (Feb. 21) before adding his 11th point of the campaign the next night.
STAYING OUT OF THE BOX
A strength over the last six years for Minnesota has been playing a disciplined brand of hockey and avoiding trips to the penalty box. The Gophers ended the 2023-24 season as the nation’s leader in penalty minutes, averaging just 6.6 per game, and currently rank third at 6.8 a night after committing just one minor infraction versus the Buckeyes. Three times over the last five seasons, the Maroon and Gold have finished a campaign as the NCAA’s least penalized team, and they have ended inside the top five every year since 2018-19. Under Coach Motzko’s direction, the team has never averaged double-digit penalty minutes per game for an entire season with the highest of 9.8 minutes in his first year behind the Gophers’ bench.
(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
