On Friday night, we welcome Matt Koalska back to campus thanks to
@TruStoneFCU
!
Matt will be at 3M Arena at Mariucci signing autographs and taking photos with fans pregame on the concourse by section 24 starting when the doors open at 6:30pm.
🎟:
I hate being the get off my lawn grandpa on this app but does every celebration need to be a skate the full length of the ice ordeal. I mean if you tie the game or take the lead hell yeah but brother it’s 3-1
If yesterday was the last time these three played at Mariucci I just want to say thank you from all of us Gopher fans for a terrific five years. Left the program better than you found it.
I love Big 10 hockey but if there’s one thing I miss it’s the WCHA final five. This year’s field would likely be (in any order):
Minnesota
North Dakota
Denver
Wisconsin
Colorado College
Omaha
St. Cloud??
Bemidji?
Mich Tech even got hot at the end of the year
Was always fun.
Brock Faber
Brady Skjei
Nick Leddy
Ryan Lindgren
Nate Schmidt
Eric Johnson
Nick Seeler
Mike Reilly
Justin Holl
Jackson LaCombe
Alex Goligoski
Ryan Johnson
Is Minnesota “Defenseman U”?
Sam Rinzel is making a late case for All-Big Ten. Will be very hard to pass one of Levshunov(MSU) or Casey(Mich) but the freshman has 10 assists in his last 4 games from the blue line.
Should be a lock for the All-Freshmen team.
How good has John Mittelstadt been as a 4th liner for the past two years? I can’t be the only one that really appreciates what he brings to the lineup. Knows his role and plays it to perfection. Absolute workhorse every shift.
Fun fact, Gophers are 3-0 when salty UND fans show up who didn’t wanna give away their tickets show up to the regionals the past couple years. Keep comin’ guys!
Feels like the first Gophers/Badgers series that really means something in a long time.
As much as I hate to say it, college hockey is better when the Badgers are good.
With that being said…
#betterdeadthanred
If yesterday was the last time these three played at Mariucci I just want to say thank you from all of us Gopher fans for a terrific five years. Left the program better than you found it.
2012-13 Gophers by NHL games played:
Bjugstad: 694
Haula: 690
Schmidt: 661
Skjei: 609
Reilly: 400
Holl: 323
Boyd: 296
Rau: 61
Helgeson: 50
Alt: 20
Wilcox: 1
That’s 3,805 total NHL games played and counting. Many of them have a ways to go til retirement. Underrated group IMO.
Last year’s Frozen Four game vs BU was hilarious cause the Canadiens front office showed up to watch Lane Hutson and left thinking “shit we gotta draft this Mittelstadt guy”
3 months later:
If there’s one thing Motzko deserves a ton of credit for, it’s the discipline of his teams. Gophers have been the least penalized team in the country 3 years running now. I don’t know how you coach a team to simply not take penalties, but he clearly has it figured out.
And people were worried about recruiting a month ago…
Top scoring forward and top scoring defenseman in the USHL in the past few days but who’s keeping track.
Potentially unpopular take but I have nothing but respect for Edina and what they’re able to do year after year. I get why there’s hatred but at the end of the day they are the pinnacle of MN hockey
Had to look up the last time there was only 1 Minnesota team in the NCAA tourney. You’d have to go back to 2010-11 where the only MN team in the tournament (Duluth) ended up winning it all at the X.
At first I thought it would be nice for the Big 10 to get their first title but nah, the Gophers gotta be the ones to break the seal or else the 10+ years of dominating the league means nothing
The last Gopher defenseman to put up 30 points in their freshman season was… Mike Crowley in 1994-95 (38 pts).
Sam Rinzel is 3 points away from joining some pretty elite company.
Not enough praise can be given to this young Gopher d corps. Just an absolute masterclass. Rinzel looks like he’s played 2 or 3 seasons of college puck
Better team lost. Gophers steal three points in Yost thanks to Minnesota Wild legend Jimmy Clark.
Stop me if I’ve said this before, but Close was the Gophers best player.
I have tickets for my first Frozen Four this year. It will be fun either way but if the Gophers make it, it will be a transcendent sports event for me and a lot of people. The Rouser when they come on the ice for starting lineups will be deafening. 3 periods to make it happen.
Had to look up the last time there was only 1 Minnesota team in the NCAA tourney. You’d have to go back to 2010-11 where the only MN team in the tournament (Duluth) ended up winning it all at the X.
Week 12 of posting a random Gopher hockey goal til the season starts:
Junior Brian Bonin with a buzzer beater to tie up the game in Grand Forks in fall 1994. Another Mazzacco masterpiece.
The Gophers have almost always saved their gold jerseys for sweep situations. If you wanna see these beauties tomorrow you really gotta cheer for a Gopher win tonight
The “Wood to Minnesota” situation has quieted down ever since Snuggerud announced he’s returning for his junior season. Some have speculated that scholarships may be something that have complicated things as the coaching staff may have thought Jimmy was moving on, … [1/2]
Head to head ➡️ MN
Frozen Fours ➡️ MN
Tournament Appearances ➡️ MN
Tournament wins ➡️ MN
Conference championships ➡️ MN
Conference Tourney champs ➡️ MN
Hobey Bakers ➡️ MN
NHL players ➡️ MN
National Championships ➡️ UND
UND holds the one that matters or else there’d be no doubt.
I don’t get to vote on team awards but if I did Cal Thomas would get my vote for the “unsung hero” award.
Dude is a rock back there and was getting matched up with teams top lines for a lot of the season.