The No. 6/5 University of Minnesota men’s hockey team gets its first taste of competition Saturday night when it travels to St. Cloud State for an exhibition contest versus the 16th-ranked Huskies. Fans throughout the state can watch the game live on FOX 9+ starting at 6 p.m. from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
STARTING IN SECOND
Following its back-to-back Big Ten Conference regular season titles in 2021-22 and 2022-23, Minnesota finished in third place in the league standings a year ago. With a league-leading six B1G titles already under their belt, the Gophers are looking to get back to the top of the conference this season and were picked to place second in the preseason poll as voted upon by the B1G’s seven head coaches. Defending champion Michigan State holds the top honor after claiming its first-ever regular season and tournament titles last season.
B1G PRESEASON HONORS TO FOUR
Four players representing the Maroon and Gold were recognized by the league’s head coaches and named to one of the Preseason All-B1G Teams for 2024-25. Jimmy Snuggerud was a unanimous selection to the All-B1G First Team where he was joined by Sam Rinzel. Mike Koster and newcomer Matthew Wood earned spots on the All-B1G Second Team.
READY FOR THE ROAD
Minnesota opens the season with five of its first six games away from home, but after its season-opening trip to the Ice Breaker Tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., play the next four games inside state lines. Following their trip west, the Gophers travel north to Duluth, Minn., for a weekend series against the Bulldogs Oct. 18-19 before their home opener Oct. 25 versus St. Thomas. The series with the Tommies ends with a Saturday night tilt at Xcel Energy Center, a rematch of last year’s season opener that had more than 11,000 fans in attendance.
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.
SEEKING THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Minnesota’s win over Omaha in the 2024 NCAA Sioux Falls Regional opener last season was the program’s 62nd all-time victory in the NCAA Tournament, the most of any college hockey program. The Gophers own a 62-42 record (.596) in 41 trips to the national stage since 1953 and have made four-consecutive appearances. Under the guidance of head coach Bob Motzko, the Maroon and Gold own a mark of 7-4 in the postseason event, including at least one win in each of the last four years.
LET’S GO WATCH
Fans continue to pile into arenas to catch college games in person as attendance for NCAA Division I men’s hockey was up eight percent nationwide in 2023-24, with 36 of 62 (58 percent) programs that competed in both 2023-24 and 2022-23 experiencing attendance gains. That follows a 15-percent increase between 2021-22 and 2022-23. The Big Ten Conference had five of the top 10 teams in the country for total attendance a year ago and Minnesota ranked third nationally with nearly 200,000 people coming to campus. An average of 9,225 fans entered 3M Arena at Mariucci across 21 home contests, and the Gophers closed the year with seven sellouts, including the second-highest attendance in arena history (10,750) against Penn State on Feb. 9, 2024. The ‘U’ also set a new series attendance record as 21,310 fans came to the arena for that weekend versus the Nittany Lions.
HISTORY WITH THE HUSKIES
Minnesota has faced St. Cloud State a total of 108 times in program history and lead the all-time series 60-36-12 but are just 19-19-6 in games away from home. However, with Saturday’s game being an exhibition contest, it will not count in the official record. The Gophers last battled the Huskies during the 2023 NCAA Fargo Regional Final where the top-seeded Maroon and Gold picked up a 4-1 victory over the in-state foe to reach the Frozen Four. Logan Cooley scored the eventual game winner in the second period before Jackson LaCombe and Jaxon Nelson added insurance tallies. The two teams also split a home-and-home series that year during the regular season with each side defending its home ice. This will be the second all-time exhibition game featuring Minnesota and SCSU with the only other instance coming in the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game at the Eveleth Hippodrome on Oct. 3, 1987, a 6-0 win for the Gophers.
INSIDE LOOK AT ST. CLOUD STATE
The Huskies finished fourth in the NCHC standings a season ago and were picked to end up in the same spot this year according to the league’s preseason poll, behind Denver, North Dakota, and Colorado College. SCSU posted its fourth-straight winning season in 2023-24 with a 17-16-3 record and advanced to the NCHC Frozen Faceoff semifinals. Head coach Brett Larson’s team brings back six of its top 10 scorers from last year, led by Adam Ingram, who was fourth on the team with 26 points, while Verner Miettinen is the other returner that reached 20 points for the Huskies.
RETURNING PRODUCTION
Minnesota brings back nearly 60 percent of its goal scoring from a season ago, led by a trio that all reached double digits. Jimmy Snuggerud paced the Gophers in 2023-24 and has put up 20-plus goals in back-to-back campaigns, while Aaron Huglen and Brody Lamb added 13 and 12 goals, respectively. Those three also combined to tally 14 of the team’s 19 returning game-winning goals. Minnesota has 11 different players back in the lineup that finished last year with double-digit points, including seven that had more than 20.
NEW SCORING PUNCH
With 55 goals and a third of their total points lost from a season ago, the Gophers turn to their five incoming forwards for an added scoring punch in 2024-25. The addition of UConn transfer and first-round pick Matthew Wood aids that cause after the junior led the Huskies in scoring each year behind 62 points in 70 games. While the four remaining newcomers may be fresh to the collegiate scene, they are no stranger to reaching the scoresheet. August Falloon, Beckett Hendrickson, Erik Påhlsson, and Brodie Ziemer combined to put up 238 points for their respective junior teams in 2023-24.
BOLSTERED THE BLUE LINE
Minnesota returns seven defensemen to the lineup, including four with more than 75 games of college hockey experience, as the backbone of the roster. The team welcomed two freshmen over the summer as Leo Gruba and John Whipple will bolster the blue line, giving the team depth at every turn. Gruba was named the USHL Defenseman of the Year after helping the Fargo Force win the Clark Cup last season. He led all USHL defensemen in scoring with 57 points in 60 games, setting a single-season franchise record for points by a blue liner. Whipple comes to campus as a 2024 fifth-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings following a 17-point campaign with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.
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 Nick Leddy as he reached the 1,000-game milestone with the St. Louis Blues in March, becoming the eighth former Gopher to hit the mark.
(info courtesy of Gopher Sports)