Biggest rivals today with historical context

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MisterBobblehead

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Being the dead zone of finals / winter break thought it would be fun to get a pulse on how we all view rivalries today. Post your top 6 rivalries in order and I will update this post with a composite ranking of how we the gopher hole posters (and in my case mostly reader) view our rivalries today. Figure we can get a good top 10 out of the different opinions.

Post your top 6 and I will composite it 6 points for #1 rank descending to 1 point for #6 I will try to update the rankings a few times a week as people contribute.

Composite rank & points: updated through 10 submissions
TeamComposite Score (6 is max)Rank
North Dakota
5.8​
1​
Wisconsin
5.0​
2​
Michigan
3.5​
3​
UMD
2.6​
4​
St Cloud State
1.6​
5​
Minnesota State
0.9​
6​
Denver
0.5​
7​
Boston U
0.4​
8​
Notre Dame
0.1
9
 
Last edited:

My top 6
1: North Dakota
2: Wisconsin
3: Michigan
4: Minnesota state
5: Boston U (even though we haven’t played much lately the history is there)
6: Denver (wish we played them more)
 

1. NoDak
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. Denver
5. UMD
6. St. Cloud
 

Rivalries today
1. UND
2. uw
3. UMD
4. SCSU
5. UM
6. Mankato
 

1. UND
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. UMD
5. St. Cloud
6. I guess Mankato

Big drop off after #2
 



You can see why they schedule the MN teams and UND all the time still. 10 years of the Big Ten and fans still prefer playing the old rivals.
 

1a/1b: UND/Wisconsin

Massive gap

3 MI

Massive gap

I don't really care from the rest but don't view anyone else as "rivals" in the same context as above. SCSU, UMD, Mankato probably all view MN as rivals but I wouldn't say the feeling is mutual. The other former WCHA teams who are good we now have stopped playing and games are overall pretty cordial. Lots of these guys know each other and go back so think the bad blood is lessening. Even similar to playing UND. Not many dead gophers being thrown on the ice anymore
 




upnorthkid said:
1a/1b: UND/Wisconsin

Massive gap

3 MI

Massive gap

I don't really care from the rest but don't view anyone else as "rivals" in the same context as above. SCSU, UMD, Mankato probably all view MN as rivals but I wouldn't say the feeling is mutual. The other former WCHA teams who are good we now have stopped playing and games are overall pretty cordial. Lots of these guys know each other and go back so think the bad blood is lessening. Even similar to playing UND. Not many dead gophers being thrown on the ice anymore
Click to expand...
Every UND fan I know still carries the same hate for the gophers as they once did, and I still hate them as much as ever. I half agree with you on the MN schools - the hate is definitely stronger in one direction on those.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Every UND fan I know still carries the same hate for the gophers as they once did, and I still hate them as much as ever. I half agree with you on the MN schools - the hate is definitely stronger in one direction on those.
Click to expand...
Many fans yes. It just doesn’t seem to have as much spice with the players. Some of that might be the game, but it’s been a long time since the Blood punch in the handshake line or something similar
 

upnorthkid said:
Many fans yes. It just doesn’t seem to have as much spice with the players. Some of that might be the game, but it’s been a long time since the Blood punch in the handshake line or something similar
Click to expand...
I mean a punch in the handshake line should not, and never will be, a regular occurrence in any rivalry.

The reality is, whether we like it or not, rivalries always matter more to fans than players. yes, the players want to win, but I've spent my whole life hating all things green. A lot of these players are considering both schools as options when they are committing to play college hockey. I would never consider being a fan of UND or Wisconsin. For a large chunk of players, this is a job, or a means to an end (i.e. NHL). That has always been true across all sports.
 

upnorthkid said:
Many fans yes. It just doesn’t seem to have as much spice with the players. Some of that might be the game, but it’s been a long time since the Blood punch in the handshake line or something similar
Click to expand...
Every time they play the current players say it's the biggest rivalry.
 



Another fun game is how many schools would call the gophers their biggest rival?

Obvious answers:
UND
WI
UMD
SCSU
Mankato

Possibly:
Bemidji
UST
Penn State
 

bonin21 said:
Every time they play the current players say it's the biggest rivalry.
Click to expand...
Oh I agree. It’s why i listed it first. I think until we start seeing postseason games against them again, it’s waiting to kind of “wake up” in terms of the rhetoric or vitriol as now the games mean less when they’re non con. That said, still want to beat the green pukes every time and love to see them lose (went to college there as a Gopher fan; had some good times in the student section)
 

upnorthkid said:
Oh I agree. It’s why i listed it first. I think until we start seeing postseason games against them again, it’s waiting to kind of “wake up” in terms of the rhetoric or vitriol as now the games mean less when they’re non con. That said, still want to beat the green pukes every time and love to see them lose (went to college there as a Gopher fan; had some good times in the student section)
Click to expand...
You could very well see an extremely tough regional final matchup against a #1 seed UND team in an arena full of Whioux fans in Sioux Falls in March. With the winner heading to St. Paul, it would be the most stressful game outside of a Frozen Four I can remember since beating them at the X in 2012.
 

bonin21 said:
You could very well see an extremely tough regional final matchup against a #1 seed UND team in an arena full of Whioux fans in Sioux Falls in March. With the winner heading to St. Paul, it would be the most stressful game outside of a Frozen Four I can remember since beating them at the X in 2012.
Click to expand...
Would be great for the game and to end their season. Sign me up, though I’d prefer it happens with us as a 2/3 rather than as the initial 1/4 so it’s for the trip to the X. Would be a whole lot of intensity. Been awhile since we’ve had one
 

Gophers1992 said:
Another fun game is how many schools would call the gophers their biggest rival?

Obvious answers:
UND
WI
UMD
SCSU
Mankato

Possibly:
Bemidji
UST
Penn State
Click to expand...
I think this is spot on and also fun. St Thomas could move from possible to obvious list depending on how the next few years go
 


bonin21 said:
You can see why they schedule the MN teams and UND all the time still. 10 years of the Big Ten and fans still prefer playing the old rivals.
Click to expand...
Epic games. I do think it can be generational, so if they get scheduled a lot less frequently it will probably wane as a rivalry.
 

1. UND
2. Wisconsin
3. Michigan
4. UMD
5. BU
6. Denver
 

bonin21 said:
You could very well see an extremely tough regional final matchup against a #1 seed UND team in an arena full of Whioux fans in Sioux Falls in March. With the winner heading to St. Paul, it would be the most stressful game outside of a Frozen Four I can remember since beating them at the X in 2012.
Click to expand...
That would be a lot of fun. I would do everything I could to be in attendance. There would be plenty of MN fans there too.
 


upnorthkid said:
1a/1b: UND/Wisconsin

Massive gap

3 MI

Massive gap

I don't really care from the rest but don't view anyone else as "rivals" in the same context as above. SCSU, UMD, Mankato probably all view MN as rivals but I wouldn't say the feeling is mutual. The other former WCHA teams who are good we now have stopped playing and games are overall pretty cordial. Lots of these guys know each other and go back so think the bad blood is lessening. Even similar to playing UND. Not many dead gophers being thrown on the ice anymore
Click to expand...
I don't know if this is a majority opinion but I'd say Duluth is clearly a rival based just on the past 15 years.

Plenty of Gopher fans are angry about Duluth winning the majority of the matchups in the past 10 years. I mean I think the Gophs are like 3-13-2 against them in the past ten years, plus there is the 2 nattys.

I'd say there are lots of fans that would want to beat them badly when they play again.
 

adchester said:
I don't know if this is a majority opinion but I'd say Duluth is clearly a rival based just on the past 15 years.

Plenty of Gopher fans are angry about Duluth winning the majority of the matchups in the past 10 years. I mean I think the Gophs are like 3-13-2 against them in the past ten years, plus there is the 2 nattys.

I'd say there are lots of fans that would want to beat them badly when they play again.
Click to expand...
Bulldogs definitely top five.
 

Duluth is top 4 and if you ask more and more fans it'll just confirm that.
 

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