The No. 3 Golden Gophers return to 3M Arena at Mariucci for a Big Ten Conference men’s hockey series with Notre Dame Jan. 17-18 as they begin the second half of the league slate.

The action gets underway Friday night at 7 p.m. before continuing Saturday evening with puck drop set for 5 p.m.

Tickets for the entire weekend series are sold out, but a limited number of standing-room-only seats are now available at GopherSports.com.

PARKING NOTICE
Due to overlapping events on campus both Friday and Saturday, men’s hockey fans are encouraged to purchase advance single-game parking HERE. For those arriving without a parking pass, the best parking options are the Ski-U-Mah, Gold, and Victory lots.

LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Gophers picked up a road split at No. 11 Ohio State last weekend in their return to B1G play but it was two drastically different outings. Minnesota struggled during a 5-1 loss Friday before turning things around Saturday with a 6-1 victory. Netminder Liam Souliere stopped 38-of-29 shots he faced in nearly four periods of action to earn B1G Third Star of the Week. Connor Kurth and Luke Mittelstadt led the offense behind three points apiece, while Mike Koster matched a career high by scoring twice on the power play Saturday as the Gophers went 3-for-4 on the man advantage in the series finale.

WATCH THE PRIDE ON ICE
Minnesota and FOX9 have partnered for a local television broadcast deal for the second-straight year that will air 16 home games and four road games during the 2024-25 campaign presented by Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union. This year’s home broadcasts on FOX9 and FOX9+ will feature a 30-minute Pride on Ice Pre-Game Show presented by M Health Fairview as well as a post-game show recapping the action presented by RBC Wealth Management. This is in addition to the six games picked by the Big Ten Network and one airing on FS1 during the year. Check the schedule page on GopherSports.com for all the latest information and viewing options for every contest. Other FOX affiliates around the area have added Gopher hockey to their coverage with games available in Duluth (KQDS) and Fargo (KVRR) markets.

PUCK STOPS AT THE STAR 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. Last weekend, he stopped all six shots he saw in relief Friday before making a season-high 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 won four of his last five starts and recorded shutout victories over Penn State (Nov. 2), his first appearance versus his former team, and Michigan (Dec. 7) for the year. Souliere has allowed 18 goals in 12 appearances this season, more than two in a game just once, for a 1.59 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage that rank third and fifth in the nation, respectively.

MIKE RICHTER WATCH LIST
Minnesota’s goaltending tandem of Nathan Airey and Liam Souliere was named to the 2025 Mike Richter Award Watch List, it was announced by the Hockey Commissioners Association (HCA) Jan. 15. The two Gophers are among 35 netminders up for the award, which is given annually to the top goalie in NCAA Division I men’s hockey since 2014. Jack LaFontaine is the only representative of the Maroon and Gold to claim the honor when he won in 2021.

SHOWING OFF THE BALANCE
The Gophers have lit the lamp an NCAA-best 98 times this season, 13 more than any other program, with 18 different players scoring, while their 262 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, five with 20 or more points, 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 13 appearances and been held to fewer than three goals just five times. More importantly, the Gophers are putting in the work on the defensive end, holding the NCAA’s best scoring margin at plus-2.0 as they have surrendered 50 goals all season, a 2.1 goals per game average.

EXTRA MANPOWER OFFENSE
Minnesota’s 21 goals on the man advantage lead the B1G and rank fourth in the NCAA as it has converted at least one power play in 14 of its last 22 outings. The team has converted 25.3 percent of its chances overall (21-of-83), sitting 11th in the country for power-play efficiency, but are an impressive 37.5 percent (12-of-32) on the man advantage while on the road. The Gophers have three games with three goals coming versus St. Thomas (Oct. 26), Notre Dame (Nov. 22), and Ohio State (Jan. 11). It’s been goal contributions from eight different players on the man advantage this season, while 13 players have a power-play point, led by 10 from Jimmy Snuggerud and nine via Brody Lamb and Sam Rinzel.

HISTORY WITH THE FIGHTING IRISH
In the all-time series that stretches 100 years, Minnesota owns a 46-28-6 (.613) record against Notre Dame and is 26-15-3 on home ice. The Gophers are 12-3-1 over the last 16 meetings with the Irish following a sweep on the road earlier this season. Jimmy Snuggerud and Sam Rinzel each posted multi-goal performances, while Oliver Moore scored in both outings to pace the offense with Rinzel and Brodie Ziemer collecting the game-winning goals. In net, Nathan Airey earned the start in consecutive games for the first time in his career and picked up a pair of victories behind 25 and 20-save efforts.

INSIDE LOOK AT NOTRE DAME
The Fighting Irish picked up an important split with No. 9 Michigan at home last weekend bouncing back from a 5-3 loss Friday to win 7-4 Saturday. After opening B1G play with a win, Notre Dame dropped its next nine league outings before claiming a shootout win over Penn State during the Frozen Confines at Wrigley Field on Jan. 4. The team boasts a dangerous power play that has scored 16 times on the man advantage and its 25.8 percent conversion rate ranks eighth in the NCAA. The Irish are 50th in the country for scoring defense as they allow 3.2 goals per game, while their offense averages 2.8 goals per game to sit 35th nationally. Danny Nelson has won the most faceoffs of any B1G center with 270 and the team’s offense runs through Cole Knuble (22 points) and Justin Janicke (21 points) as the pair rank in the top 12 of the conference for points per game.

MITTELSTADT BROTHERS SERVING UP WINNERS
After Luke Mittelstadt failed to pick up a point for the first five games this season, he has 13 assists in his last 19 appearances, including four outings of multiple assists. The first three of his helpers came on winning goals that sealed Minnesota sweeps of three different series during a nine-game win streak from Oct. 18 to Nov. 14. He has 10 points in 12 league appearances, ranking second 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.

NEW NUMBER, SAME SAM THE STAR
While he may have changed from No. 5 to No. 2 during the offseason, the game of Sam Rinzel has remained unchanged following an All-B1G Second Team selection in 2023-24. After recording multi-point performances in both games against St. Thomas, the sophomore landed B1G First Star of the Week honors (Oct. 29). He extended his career-long point streak to eight games, dating back to the final game of last season, with an assist in the series opener versus Penn State (Nov. 1). Rinzel has a point in 17 of 24 appearances this year, including the first two power-play goals of his tenure at Notre Dame (Nov. 22) and another versus Michigan (Dec. 7). He’s scored two game-winning goals and leads all NCAA defensemen with nine goals and 24 points, thanks to five multi-point performances and 14 total points over his last 12 games.

BLUE LINE SCORING
With a combined 71 points from eight skaters along their blue line, the Gophers are getting an offensive boost from the defense in 2024-25. The defensive group in 2022-23 totaled 147 points on 30 goals and 117 assists, aided by three now-NHL skaters, and that number dipped to 83 points last season. Sam Rinzel (9) and Ryan Chesley (7) have both more than doubled their single-season high for goals and rank first and fourth among NCAA defensemen in goals, respectively. The duo has helped Minnesota surpass last season’s nine-goal production, totaling 20 tallies as a group this year, including four of the team’s seven goals at Ohio State last weekend.

FROM ‘U’ TO THE LEAGUE
Thirty-one former Gophers took part in National Hockey League training camps for the 2024-25 season, representing 21 different NHL organizations. Included in the group that spans more than 15 years of the program are 13 former captains and nine All-Americans. Minnesota had 26 former skaters in the NHL last season, increasing the all-time number of Gophers in the NHL to an NCAA-best 125. Brock Faber finished second in the 2024 Calder Memorial Trophy voting, the highest ever for a Gopher, while Logan Cooley was fifth, and both guys were named to the NHL’s All-Rookie Team in 2023-24. In the final game of the season, Kyle Okposo joined Ben Clymer and Jordan Leopold as the only former Gophers to play in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final. Clymer’s Tampa Bay Lightning defeated Leopold’s Calgary Flames back in 2004. Okposo also made it three-straight seasons with a Gopher hoisting the Stanley Cup after his Florida Panthers won in June, a feat that had never been done in program history.

(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)

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