With the regular season drawing to a close, there is fevered anticipation among Golden Gopher hockey fans ahead of the Big Ten Tournament. Many athletic programs are all about basketball’s March Madness at this time of year but here at the University of Minnesota we also always have hockey on our minds.
How the Golden Gophers fare in the conference tournament will have a huge impact on any chance of making the Frozen Four, of course. We haven’t celebrated a National Championship for over 20 years now but you won’t need reminding of how the Gophers came to glory in 2023. Last year’s tournament was something of a disappointment, so the fans will be anticipating the serious part of the year with some trepidation.
A quick look at the odds for the championship at some of the best sports betting sites like Everygame has the Golden Gophers as one of the contenders. Will this team be able to bring another championship to the north though? We thought it would be an excellent time to look back at some of the best Golden Gophers of recent times to act as inspiration to our team as it goes into a crucial part of the season.
Blake Wheeler
A native of Plymouth, Minnesota, Wheeler chose to be a Golden Gopher over the chance to go to Boston College and is well remembered in these parts. He had also been a talented football player as a youth but concentrated on hockey, and was drafted by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2004. He eventually enjoyed three years as a Golden Gopher, being part of the team that won the program’s first-ever Icebreaker Invitational in 2007.
After failing to agree to a contract with Phoenix, Wheeler signed with the Bruins and was a major player in the team that made the playoffs in his first two years in the pro game. After three years in New England, Wheeler moved to Atlanta – and then to Winnipeg when the franchise was moved. It was there where he played most of his career and made the Conference finals in 2018. He most recently signed with the Rangers and is currently an unrestricted free agent.
Nick Leddy
Like many Golden Gophers, Nick Leddy is another Minnesota native and was actually picked 16th overall by the Wild in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. In the end, Leddy played just one year for the University of Minnesota but made a huge impact, being named the Rookie of the Year. Although many on the program had hoped Leddy would stay for at least another year, he made the jump to the NHL in 2010 when his rights were sold to Chicago.
Leddy played 82 games in his first year as a Blackhawk and became an important part of the roster. He was part of the team that won the Stanley Cup finals in 2013 and played one more season before joining the New York Islanders in 2014. He has since played for the Detroit Red Wings and currently the St. Louis Blues where, last year, he played his 1,000th NHL game against the Wild – the team that first drafted him back in 2009.
Phil Kessel
Regarded as one of the best-ever Golden Gophers, Kessel was the recipient of the Hobey Baker Award after coming through the USA Hockey National Team Development Program. Already an obvious natural goalscorer, Kessel was drafted by the Boston Bruins but it wasn’t until he went to Pittsburgh that he won two of his three championships.
“Phil the Thrill” played a few years in Boston and then went to Toronto before the move to Pittsburgh. Kessel was part of the most important line, known as the “HBK”, as the Penguins beat the Sharks and he only just missed out on the MVP. He won his second championship the very next year and later moved to Arizona. His title-winning days were not behind him though. He signed a one-year deal with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2022 and was part of the team that won a famous Stanley Cup finals against the Florida Panthers.
Brock Faber
One of the more recent Golden Gophers to become a bona fide NHL star, Brock Faber is still only 22 but has been earmarked to enjoy a successful pro career since joining the Wild in 2022. Before then he was named in the All-Big Ten Freshman Team and was named in the all-conference team a year later, as well as the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
After playing his final collegiate game in the NCAA Championship loss to Quinnipiac, Faber was taken by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2022 draft before his rights were traded to Minnesota. He made an immediate impact there as well, playing all 82 games in the 2023-24 season and being named to the NHL All-Rookie Team. Faber looks a real star of the future and will surely continue to develop his game over the next few years to even greater success.
Thomas Vanek
Vanek will always be remembered as the player who scored the overtime goal to clinch the 2003 NCAA Championship for the Golden Gophers. He was outstanding throughout the season and tournament and ended up playing two seasons on the program before embarking on his professional NHL career with Buffalo, initially with the Rochester Americans in the AHL.
Vanek played 11 years in Buffalo, as well as some time in his native Austria during the NHL Lockout in 2012. He became known as a top goalscorer throughout his time in the big league and starred for a number of other teams in a glittering career. He may not have won a Stanley Cup finals but he managed to score over 30 goals on four occasions in the toughest league in the world.