The third-ranked Minnesota men’s hockey team hits the road for the first time in nearly 50 days as it travels to No. 11 Ohio State for a Big Ten Conference series from Value City Arena Jan. 10-11.
The series opener was moved up to a 4 p.m. (CT) puck drop, while Saturday’s weekend finale starts at 5:30 p.m. (CT).
LAST TIME OUT
The Gophers collected their seventh sweep of the campaign after winning twice on home ice over Mercyhurst, outscoring the Lakers by an 11-4 margin. Minnesota remains unbeaten at 7-0-0 in the all-time series thanks to goals via nine different players and points from 14. Jimmy Snuggerud had multiple points in each game, while Ryan Chesley, Nick Michel, John Mittelstadt, and Erik Påhlsson all had career-best offensive performances during the series. The Maroon and Gold scored six of its 11 goals against the Lakers in the first period and averaged 44.5 shots on goal for the weekend.
PACK UP THE SUITCASES
It’s been nearly 50 days since the Gophers have been on the road as their last eight games since late November were at home. Prior to the homestand, Minnesota had a stretch where five of six games were away from home with trips to Madison, Wis., and South Bend, Ind., surrounding a home-and-home series with Bemidji State. The team went 4-1-0 in that road stretch, improving to 6-1-0 in true road games this season, and while there is a small difference in the scoring offense between home and road, 3.92 to 4.29 goals per game, respectively, there is a stark change defensively as it allows more than a goal per game more when away from campus, 1.67 to 2.71. One area the Gophers have thrived when on the road is the power play as they are converting 34.6 percent (9-for-26) compared to just 15.4 percent (6-for-39) at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
FEELING GOLDEN AGAIN
Oliver Moore and Brodie Ziemer along with associate head coach Steve Miller helped the United States to a gold medal at the 2025 IIHF World Junior Championship on Jan. 5 in Ottawa. Ziemer finished fifth on the team in scoring behind seven points in seven games, including an assist on the gold-medal-clinching goal against Finland. The freshman tallied two goals in his tournament debut against Germany (Dec. 26), starting a three-game point streak. Moore put together a five-point event with a goal and four assists and had points in four of five games leading up to the finals. Three of Moore’s five points came during the medal round aided by a two-assist game versus Switzerland (Jan. 2) in the quarterfinals. The Maroon and Gold have been represented by at least one player at the tournament in 46 of the 49 years it has been played, including now 11 players that have claimed a gold medal with Moore as the only Gophers’ skater to win the event twice.
SHOWING OFF THE BALANCE
The Gophers have lit the lamp an NCAA-best 91 times this season, 16 more than any other program, with 18 different players scoring, while their 243 points have come via 21 of their 22 total skaters and one goaltender. Minnesota’s offensive depth in 2024-25 has shined through as 11 players have reached double-digit scoring, the most of any college program, and the team is tied for first nationally in scoring offense, averaging 4.1 goals per game. The team has found the back of the net five or more times in 12 appearances and been held to fewer than three goals just four times. More importantly, the Gophers are putting in the work on the defensive end, holding the NCAA’s best scoring margin at plus-2.14 as they have surrendered 44 goals all season, a 2.0 goals per game average.
HISTORY WITH THE BUCKEYES
Minnesota holds a 44-10-6 (.783) record in the all-time series against Ohio State, including a 15-6-3 record in games away from home. The Gophers are unbeaten over the past seven matchups with a mark of 6-0-1 and own a record of 15-2-1 in the last 18 meetings versus the Buckeyes since the start of 2020. Last season, the Maroon and Gold won three of four meetings with a 1-1 tie and shootout loss on the road as the only game where Minnesota failed to score at least five times. Sam Rinzel posted six assists and Oliver Moore had five against OSU a year ago, while eight others posted multiple points in the season series.
INSIDE LOOK AT OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes are coming off a series where they claimed four of six points from Michigan, including a dramatic 4-3 win during the B1G Frozen Confines at Wrigley Field. After being swept at Princeton in late November, Ohio State has played some of their best hockey of the season, going 5-1-0 and has not dropped a game in regulation. The team owns the NCAA’s ninth-best scoring defense, allowing just 2.05 goals per game, backstopped by goaltender Kristoffer Eberly and his 1.50 goals against average and .937 save percentage, which rank second and sixth nationally, respectively. The Buckeyes are led on offense by Gunnarwolfe Fontaine’s nine goals and 22 points, while three others have at least 18 points this season.
LAMB STARS THE POWER PLAY
Brody Lamb continues to find offensive success after setting career highs in goals (12), assists (15), and points (27) a year ago. The Byron, Minn., native has a point in 15 of 21 outings this season, aided by a career-long, five-game point streak between Oct. 18 and Nov. 1. After a three-point series versus Alaska, he earned his second weekly award from the league office as the B1G Third Star of the Week (Dec. 3). He picked up the first honor following a four-goal weekend against St. Thomas, including his first NCAA hat trick, and was named the B1G Second Star of the Week (Oct. 29). All three goals of his natural hat trick Saturday were on the power play, and his eight goals on the man advantage this year pace the NCAA. Lamb scored goals in both outings versus Michigan State to close 2024 before finding the back of the net for the third-straight game, tying a career-long goal streak, against Mercyhurst (Jan. 3). It was his team-leading 13th of the campaign, setting a new career high, and he remains second in the country for total goals.
MITTELSTADT BROTHERS SERVING UP WINNERS
After Luke Mittelstadt failed to pick up a point for the first five games this season, he has 10 assists in his last 17 appearances, including a trio of multi-assist efforts versus Notre Dame (Nov. 23), Michigan (Dec. 6), and Mercyhurst (Jan. 3). The first three of those helpers came on the winning goals that sealed Minnesota sweeps of three different series during a nine-game win streak from Oct. 18 to Nov. 14. He has seven points in 10 league appearances, ranking seventh in the B1G for defensemen scoring. The Eden Prairie, Minn., product became the first Gophers’ defenseman to record 20-plus points in each of his first two seasons since Alex Goligoski had 20 in 2004-05 and 39 in 2005-06. Meanwhile, his brother John scored his first goal of the season and second-career game-winning goal in a home win over Bemidji State (Nov. 14) that snapped a goal drought of 26 games. He added the first multi-point effort of his tenure with two assists at home versus Mercyhurst (Jan. 4) to extend his career-long scoring streak to three games.
PÅHLSSON PICKS BACK UP
After missing nearly two months with an injury, Erik Påhlsson returned to the lineup to begin the 2025 calendar year and picked up right where he left off. The freshman had a career-high three points in the Friday night win over Mercyhurst, including a shorthanded tally into an empty net that secured the victory. It was his first multi-point game with the Maroon and Gold and continued a stretch where he had seven points over a six-game stretch, recording a point in six of those outings.
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 eight of 11 Friday games this year, totaling 10 of his 13 points. He has reached double-digit scoring for the fourth-consecutive campaign thanks to eight points over the past nine games. He has 32 goals and 35 assists for 67 career points across 133 appearances after his second multi-point outing of the campaign against Michigan (Dec. 6). Huglen also 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.
DRAFTED THE SWEET 16
The Gophers have more NHL draft picks on their roster than any other NCAA hockey program in 2024-25. Minnesota’s 16 players are the most for the team since 2011-12 when it had 17. From that roster more than a decade ago, four players (Nick Bjugstad, Travis Boyd, Erik Haula, Justin Holl) are still playing in the NHL. This year’s roster features four first-round selections in Matthew Wood (15th overall), Oliver Moore (19th overall), Jimmy Snuggerud (23rd overall), and Sam Rinzel (25th overall). Minnesota has had the most all-time draft selections (242) by any NCAA men’s hockey program after adding three over the summer. At least one Gopher has been drafted in 50 of the last 51 NHL Entry Drafts dating back to 1974, with 2001 being the only exception.
DEFENSEMAN ‘U’
Minnesota was the lone college hockey program in the country with double-digit blue liners in the NHL last year. A total of 12 former Gopher defensemen took the ice in the NHL during the 2023-24 season, accounting for more than 750 games played. Highlighting the group was Brock Faber as he finished second in voting for the Calder Trophy given to the NHL’s rookie of the year. Nick Leddy and Erik Johnson both reached the 1,000-game milestone, becoming the eighth and ninth former Gopher to hit the mark.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
Minnesota’s lineup has a more international flavor than years past as the team has four players from outside the country in 2024-25. The last time that many international players were on the Gophers’ roster in a single season was 1951-52. Two of the team’s goaltenders are from Canada in Nathan Airey (Cochrane, Alberta) and Liam Souliere (Montréal, Québec), while fellow Canadian Matthew Wood joins the group as a native of Nanaimo, British Columbia. For the first time since 2018, a Swedish-born player will don the Maroon and Gold as Erik Påhlsson begins his collegiate career. Leon Bristedt was the most recent Swedish skater for the Gophers, as he played 144 games between 2014-18.
(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
