Gophers hockey opens Big Ten Tournament vs. Penn State

A year ago today the Minnesota men’s hockey team had a well-deserved week off, this year it’s different. Subtracting Hobey Baker finalists Logan Cooley and Matthew Knies from the equation along with three key defenseman in Brock Faber, Jackson LaCombe and Ryan Johnson has proven to be a rougher ride than imagined.

On paper, those losses seem to be significant. Yet, when you factor in the surprising amount of graduating talent that that did return for one more ride, including Mike Richter semifinalist netminder Justen Close and MVP of the 2023 Fargo Regional, Bryce Brodzinski, along with the additions of late first-round Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Oliver Moore and Sam Rinzel, you’d think Minnesota would miss a slight step but nothing too eye-opening. Many collegiate hockey pundits across the nation predicted the Gophers would continue their dominance as a regular force in the top 3-5 teams in 2023-24.

After beginning the season as the preseason No. 1 though, the Gophers have fallen to consistently hovering around the No. 8 range. Slower defense and varying offensive explosiveness (including incredibly inconsistent production from star sophomore forward Jimmy Snuggerud) have been the main culprits of a disappointing season. Bowing down its top-tier status to goliaths such as Boston College and Boston while Michigan State and Wisconsin have surprisingly emerged to reach the top of the Big Ten Conference, Minnesota has mostly operated outside of the national spotlight for the first time since the 2019-20 season (where things were much worse, finishing 16-14-7 before the postseason was canceled due to COVID).

“We’ve got to bury the regular season now,” said Motzko following last weekend’s 6-5 overtime loss to No. 16 Michigan, which included an otherworldly 5-goal third period by his skaters to send the game past regulation. “We know it has to be done and it’s a new season now.”

The good news is, the Gophers haven’t been nearly as disjointed in the second half. Their only glaring missteps have come from a 6-4 shootout versus Colorado College and a 6-1 blowout in South Bend to Notre Dame. And besides the one anomaly last Saturday, Minnesota has won 8 games in its last 3 home series (Penn State, Notre Dame and ½ of Michigan). Jaxon Nelson is also playing the best hockey of his collegiate career accomplishing his first-career hat trick on Friday versus the Wolverines. Nelson has 6 goals and 7 points in the last 3 games he has skated.

This weekend should bring back that same home cooking produced by the maroon & gold group. The Gophers face a Penn State squad that was on the losing end of the Gophers’ best series of the season at Mariucci Arena a month ago. Justen Close dazzled with two straight shutout performances after giving up 5 goals to Penn State during a single game in the back end of early December’s two-game tilt in Happy Valley. Aaron Huglen also notched his first multi-goal game in Saturday’s affair on February 10th.

Even though Penn State is below .500 on the season and are more than beatable, the Nittany Lions are playing their best hockey of the season following a narrow 3-2 overtime loss versus No. 6 Wisconsin and a second straight sweep over Ohio State in Columbus last weekend. Yet, saying this is the best period of hockey PSU has played all year is nothing compared to what other teams in the conference have accomplished.

The Gophers are 27-18-1 all-time versus Penn State since the creation of the Big Ten Hockey Conference in 2014 and the Nittany Lions are the lone team with a winning record versus Minnesota in the Big Ten Tournament (3-1). Senior forward Christian Sarlo leads the team with five goals and three assists throughout 13 games played versus UMN. Freshman forward Dane Dowiak is a player to watch. He matched half of his season-long goal output during the last five games (3) with his first multi-goal game last Saturday scoring every goal in a 2-1 victory over the Buckeyes.

Anything can happen in March and with experienced players like Jaxon Nelson hitting their strides along with steady progression from the freshman class, there is still hope for a third straight Golden Gopher Frozen Four appearance next door to Mariucci Arena in St. Paul. Being the least penalized team in the nation always helps as well (2.74 penalties/6.5 minutes per game).