The #4 Golden Gophers return to Big Ten Conference play with a weekend men’s hockey series at Notre Dame Nov. 22-23 inside Compton Family Ice Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) Friday night and finishes Saturday at 5 p.m. (CT) from South Bend, Ind.
LAST TIME OUT
Minnesota picked up its ninth-straight victory on Thursday in a 5-3 home win over Bemidji State thanks to a pair of goals from Brody Lamb and the eventual game winner from John Mittelstadt. The streak ended two days later on the road as the Beavers earned a series split behind a defensive effort that limited the Gophers to one goal on 39 shots during a 3-1 setback. Oliver Moore ended a six-game point drought with a team-best three points as he reached the scoresheet in both outings, while Matthew Wood’s Saturday goal was his first tally since Oct. 25.
SUITCASE LIVING
The Gophers are closing a stretch where five of six games are away from home with trips to Madison, Wis., and South Bend, Ind., surrounding a home-and-home series with Bemidji State. Minnesota holds a 4-1-0 record in true road games this season and while there is little difference in the scoring offense between home and road, 4.00 to 3.80 goals per game, respectively, there is a stark change defensively as it allows more than a goal per game more when away from campus, 1.25 to 2.60. One area the Gophers have thrived when on the road is the power play as they are converting 33.3 percent (5-for-15) compared to just 14.3 percent (2-for-14) at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
JOHNSON REACHES NHL MILESTONE
Former Gophers’ defenseman Erik Johnson skated in the 1,000th game of his National Hockey League career last Saturday as his Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres at Wells Fargo Center. The first-overall pick of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft by the St. Louis Blues, Johnson has spent 17 seasons in the NHL playing for four teams, totaling 94 goals and 251 assists for 345 career points. A native of Bloomington, Minn., he was the fifth American-born player to be selected first in the NHL draft and remains the highest draft pick in team history. He is the ninth former skater from Minnesota, and fourth player from the 2006-07 team, to reach the 1,000-game milestone, the most of any NCAA program. In his lone season with the Maroon and Gold, he led all WCHA rookie defenseman in scoring with 28 points on four goals and 24 assists, earning a WCHA All-Rookie Team selection.
TIME TO START A NEW STREAK
Minnesota saw its winning streak stop Saturday after nine-consecutive victories and looks to begin a new streak with four series remaining before the holiday break, including three at home. It was the third time the Gophers had won nine or more games in a row since the start of the 2020-21 campaign. During the recent stretch, the Maroon and Gold were dominating in all facets of the game and outscored its opponents by a 40-17 margin thanks to a 10-3 advantage in power-play goals. Jimmy Snuggerud led the charge as he totaled 14 points and had a point in eight of the nine outings, while four other skaters reached double-digit points in that span. The goaltending tandem of Nathan Airey and Liam Souliere limited the opposition to a combined 1.88 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
SNUGGERUD STARS AGAIN
For the fifth time in his career, Jimmy Snuggerud was named a B1G Star of the Week (Nov. 12), this time after leading the Gophers with multiple points in each game of a road sweep at Wisconsin. He scored twice in the come-from-behind win Friday, including the game winner in the third period, before adding two assists Saturday. He capped the weekend with a backhand saucer pass to Brodie Ziemer for the overtime winner, which was the 50th assist of his career. After another two-assist game versus Bemidji State (Nov. 14), Snuggerud put up multi-point efforts five times in a seven-game stretch and is tied for the team’s scoring lead with 15 points. He has 28 career multi-point games and is just one point shy of 100 as a Gopher, thanks to reaching the scoresheet in nine of 12 appearances this year. He posted 21 goals in each of his first two college hockey seasons and is one of just six Gophers to score 20 or more goals in back-to-back seasons since 2000.
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 nine of 12 outings this season and registered a career-long, five-game point streak between Oct. 18 and Nov. 1. Thanks to a four-goal weekend against St. Thomas, including his first NCAA hat trick, Lamb 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 he has scored six of the Gophers’ 10 goals on the man advantage this year, ranking second in the NCAA, while his eight total goals sits tied for third.
STRONG SOPHOMORE START
Goaltender Nathan Airey is fully healthy entering his second year of college hockey after missing nearly the entire first half of last season with an injury and is making an impact in the Minnesota net. He earned his first win during his college hockey debut last January at home against Robert Morris (Jan. 12) and has won all six of his starts to begin his sophomore campaign. A native of Cochrane, Alberta, Airey is one of only two NCAA goaltenders (with at least six appearances) to have won every start this season. He owns a 2.17 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage in 2024-25 and given up two or fewer goals in four of six outings.
SOULIERE STOPPED THEM ALL
Graduate transfer goaltender Liam Souliere is enjoying a change of scenery as he joined the Gophers during the summer after playing four seasons at B1G-foe Penn State. After suffering a 2-1 overtime loss in his Minnesota debut against Omaha (Oct. 12), he won four-straight starts, including a 28-save shutout of the Nittany Lions (Nov. 2) in his first appearance versus his former team. That was also his first time playing in front of his new home fans inside 3M Arena at Mariucci. He has allowed nine goals in six appearances this season, no more than two in any game, for a 1.49 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage, both of which rank in the top eight nationally. Souliere has needed to be at his best as the Gophers are averaging just 2.8 goals per game when the Montreal, Quebec, native has started between the pipes. Before joining the Maroon and Gold, he ranked second all-time in wins (39), third in saves (2,067) and shutouts (3), fifth in goals-against average (2.95), and seventh in save percentage (.897) with PSU.
HISTORY WITH THE FIGHTING IRISH
Minnesota owns a 44-28-6 (.603) record all-time against Notre Dame, dating back to 1925, including a 10-3-1 mark over the past 14 outings but have split each of the last two series. The Gophers have won six of the last seven series finales with the Irish. Under the guidance of Coach Motzko, the Maroon and Gold are 8-3-2 inside Compton Family Ice Arena and hold an all-time record of 15-11-3 in games played at Notre Dame.
INSIDE LOOK AT NOTRE DAME
The Fighting Irish were swept by league-leading Michigan State last weekend and were outscored by a 12-6 margin. The setbacks extended their losing streak to five games after opening league play with an overtime win over Wisconsin back on Nov. 1. Notre Dame leads the B1G with 132 total penalty minutes, the ninth-most in the NCAA, while its penalty kill ranks 32nd nationally at 81.1 percent efficiency. Cole Knuble and Justin Janicke pace the team with 13 and 11 points, respectively, while Knuble has scored three of the team’s five game-winning goals, sitting third in the country in that category. Goaltender Owen Say has started five of the last six games for the Irish and has a 2.42 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage for a 4-4-0 record this season.
STAYING DISCIPLINED
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 fourth at 5.9 a night through 12 games. 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.
WE ARE THE STATE OF HOCKEY
According to data from College Hockey Inc., 249 NCAA Division I men’s hockey players hail from the state of Minnesota, nearly a quarter of all student-athletes, and more than double the next closest state. That total is bolstered by the Gophers lineup as 22 of their players this season will skate in their home state, including five of their eight newcomers. Even more impressive is the fact that 20 of the 22 Minnesotans on the team are from within 70 miles of campus.
(info and stock photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
