It’s time for men’s hockey at 3M Arena at Mariucci as the fifth-ranked Golden Gophers take the ice for their home opener Friday night at 5:30 p.m. against St. Thomas. The teams meet again Saturday night at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul with puck drop at 8 p.m.
HOMECOMING PARADE / TRAFFIC ADVISORY
The University of Minnesota will host their annual Homecoming Parade on Friday, October 25. Due to the parade route, University Avenue will be closed to all traffic from approximately 6-8 p.m. Individuals attending the game are encouraged to arrive early to avoid the road closure.
Ongoing construction will impact traffic flow on 4th Street between Oak Street and I-35W. All fans are encouraged to utilize other roads to avoid delays. Fans are encouraged to purchase parking passes in advance, available by clicking HERE. All fans arriving without a parking pass should park in lots on the east side of Huntington Bank Stadium – Gold Lot, Victory Lot, Ski-U-Mah Lot, etc.
LAST TIME OUT
Minnesota picked up a road sweep at in-state foe Minnesota Duluth, a team receiving votes in both national polls, last weekend and outscored the Bulldogs by a 12-6 margin. The Gophers got goals from 10 different players as their offense shined each night to secure the first sweep at UMD since Oct.14-15, 2011. Both Gophers’ goaltenders, Nathan Airey and Liam Souliere, picked up a win, while the forward line of Jimmy Clark, Connor Kurth, and Matthew Wood combined for 13 points on four goals and nine assists.
WATCH THE PRIDE ON ICE
For the second-straight year, Minnesota and FOX9 have partnered for a local television broadcast deal 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.
SUCCESSFUL STARTS
The Maroon and Gold have consistently found success in beginning a campaign, holding a 65-37-2 all-time record in the first game of the year. That total includes a 32-18-2 mark away from home following last week’s 7-1 win over Air Force. The Gophers have even more success in their home openers behind a record of 69-31-3, which contains a 21-8-2 mark in home openers at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
DEEP AND BALANCED OFFENSE
In four games this season, the Gophers have picked up 20 total goals from 13 different players and 54 total points via 16 skaters, showcasing their offensive depth in 2024-25. Only RPI has the same number of goal scorers this year as it leads the nation with 21 total goals. The balanced scoring from Minnesota has helped the team rank second nationally in scoring offense, averaging five goals per game, while also holding the fifth-best scoring margin at plus-2.8. The Maroon and Gold have lit the lamp seven times in each of the two Friday outings, a goal total it never reached a season ago, but did four times during the 2022-23 campaign.
CLARK CATCHING FIRE
For the first time in his career, Jimmy Clark was named a B1G Star of the Week after leading the Gophers with five points during the road sweep at Minnesota Duluth, earning Second Star honors on Oct. 22. He recorded the first three-point effort of his career last Friday, all three points coming via an assist in the first period. The Edina, Minn., native went on to score his first power-play goal with the Maroon and Gold on Saturday in a game where he also had an assist. The sophomore has multi-point outings in three of four games this season and his seven points are just four shy of his freshman total.
KURTH STARS IN SEASON OPENER
Connor Kurth was named the B1G Second Star of the Week (Oct. 15) thanks to his career-best, four-point outing in the Gophers’ season opener against Air Force in Las Vegas, Nev. The forward scored a goal in all three periods versus the Falcons, including the Maroon and Gold’s first two goals of the night. He remains one of six skaters in the country with a four-point outing this year and the lone player from the Big Ten Conference to hit that mark, while his two game-winning goals rank second nationally, and his eight points rank fifth. A native of Lindstrom, Minn., Kurth posted seven goals in both his freshman and sophomore seasons and is more than halfway there after scoring his fourth this year at UMD.
WELCOME TO GOPHER HOCKEY
Three skaters reached the scoresheet in their Gopher hockey debut during the Ice Breaker Tournament opening weekend and that trend continued in Duluth as three more players joined the scoring party. Freshman Beckett Hendrickson found the back of the net in the third period versus Air Force (Oct. 11) to make it a memorable debut with the Maroon and Gold, scoring his first collegiate goal. The next night, August Falloon was inserted into the lineup and picked up an assist to secure his first point. On the road at Minnesota Duluth Friday night, freshmen Erik Påhlsson and Brodie Ziemer scored their first NCAA goals, while transfer Matthew Wood put away his first in the new uniform.
POWERING UP
After being held without a power-play goal during their opening series at the 2024 Ice Breaker Tournament, the Gophers scored on the man advantage in both outings at Minnesota Duluth last weekend. Brody Lamb scored the first of the year for Minnesota less than five minutes into Friday night’s outing before Jimmy Clark tacked on the team’s second of the weekend Saturday night with an insurance tally in the third period against the Bulldogs.
HISTORY WITH THE TOMMIES
The Gophers have won four of the five all-time meetings (4-1-0) in the series with St. Thomas after picking up a sweep to begin the 2023-24 campaign. Jimmy Snuggerud scored the overtime winner in the season opener a year ago in a game that was played in front of more than 11,000 people at Xcel Energy Center. Snuggerud went on to post a four-goal, five-point weekend versus the Tommies, including the game winner in Saturday night’s 3-0 shutout. That was the first series between the teams that are separated by less than five miles in nearly 100 years after the previous series took place during the 1926-27 season.
INSIDE LOOK AT ST. THOMAS
After being shut out by St. Cloud State in the Tommies’ home opener, the CCHA Coaches’ Preseason Poll favorites, picked up a tie and a win over Vermont two weeks ago, scoring eight times in two outings against the Catamounts. Mason Poolman leads UST with three goals and four points from his spot along the blue line and earned CCHA Defenseman of the Week honors on Oct. 14. Goaltender Aaron Trotter limited Vermont to one goal in his lone start for the Tommies, recording the team’s lone win, while Jake Sibell has earned the other two starts in net and holds a 2.92 goals-against average. UST has had trouble staying out of the penalty box early in the year as the team is averaging 13 penalty minutes per game but have killed off all but one chance for a 91-percent penalty kill rate.
MOTZKO ON WEEKEND
WOODY, YOUR FAVORITE DEPUTY
No stranger to putting up points in college hockey, junior transfer Matthew Wood has kept that trend going since donning the Maroon and Gold uniform. He burst onto the scene opening night behind a three-assist effort versus Air Force (Oct. 11) and registered multi-point performances in both games of a road sweep at Minnesota Duluth last weekend. The product of Nanaimo, B.C., scored his first goal with Minnesota Friday to go with an assist and did the same thing the next night. Wood has seven points and a plus-6 rating in four games this season, ranking second on the team and 10th in the country in scoring.
ZIEMER ZIPS IT BY
After he was held off the scoresheet during the opening-weekend trip to Las Vegas, Nev., freshman Brodie Ziemer scored the first goal of the game in both outings at Minnesota Duluth last weekend. The Chaska, Minn., product used a highlight-reel toe-drag to evade a Bulldog defenseman before zipping home a shot 94 seconds into the contest. On Saturday night, he slipped into space in the slot and buried the opening tally mid-way through the first period. Ziemer’s two goals are tied for second on the team through four games of his young career.
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 picture courtesy of Gopher Sports)
