Minnesota @ Ohio State (1-29-21 and 1-30-21)

Ignatius L Hoops

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AGAINST OHIO STATE
The Gophers are 33-8-5 all-time against Ohio State in a series that began in 1968 while Minnesota has won four-straight against the Buckeyes (all at 3M Arena at Mariucci) and are unbeaten in the last five meetings (4-0-1) including a home sweep earlier this season. Brannon McManus, Sampo Ranta and Sammy Walker lead all active Gophers with eight points each against the Buckeyes. McManus has points in four-straight games against Ohio State and has eight points (two goals, six assists) over that stretch while Ben Meyers has points in four-straight against Ohio State and five of his six career games against the Buckeyes.

MCLAUGHLIN, MCMANUS EARN BIG TEN WEEKLY HONORS
Blake McLaughlin was tabbed the Big Ten First Star of the Week and Brannon McManus was named the Big Ten Second Star of the Week following the Arizona State series. McLaughlin led the Big Ten with seven points (four goals, three assists) and led the nation with 3.50 points per game and tied for the NCAA lead with four goals over the last week including a career-high four points in Thursday's win. McManus also tied for the NCAA lead with four goals and notched six points in the series including his second career hat trick on Thursday (Minnesota's first natural hat trick since Sam Warning accomplished the feat against Ohio State on Jan.18, 2004.

GOPHER HOCKEY NOTABLES
Scott Reedy tied the program record with five assists in Thursday's win (a career high for points for the senior). The feat marked the 11th five-assist performance in program history and the first since Gino Guyer on March 27, 2003...Brannon McManus and Sammy Walker tallied Minnesota's first hat tricks of the season on Thursday -- the first time Minnesota had multiple hat tricks in a game since Thomas Vanek, Jon Waibel and Troy Riddle did so in a 12-1 win over Alabama Huntsville on Nov. 1, 2002....Jack LaFontaine picked up his third shutout of the season and third of his career on Thursday...after tallying his first collegiate points with two assists on Thursday, freshman defenseman Carl Fish added his first career goal on Friday. All 24 Gophers who have played this season have now recorded a point including goaltenders Jack LaFontaine and Jared Moe...the Gophers boast the nation's most offensive-minded sophomore class with 63 points (22 goals, 41 assists) this season while the sophomores lead all Minnesota classes in scoring this season.
 

OSU is not good. Should be a sweet if the Gophers play their game.
 


Taking care of business so far. 4-0. This Gopher team usually wins the games they should win, which is what separates them as a legit team vs recent seasons.
 

5-1 final. One sided from the start
 


OSU sucks, but these are the games you gotta win convincingly and tonight we did.
 

hopefully we see a repeat effort like that in game 2. absolutely smothered them
 


Ho Hum.

Big weekend vs Bucky next weekend.
HUGE! The Gophers are 1-3 against challenging teams so far. Time to show what they're made of.

-Sweep would be massive, and IMO would establish the Gophers as a legit top 4 or 5 team in the country and a title contender
-Split would be acceptable to hold the same lead in the standings
-To get swept at home would be a problem and I'll leave it at that
 



HUGE! The Gophers are 1-3 against challenging teams so far. Time to show what they're made of.

-Sweep would be massive, and IMO would establish the Gophers as a legit top 4 or 5 team in the country and a title contender
-Split would be acceptable to hold the same lead in the standings
-To get swept at home would be a problem and I'll leave it at that

Yup.

1-1 is perfectly fine to stay in the driver seat to wrap up the conference in a month.

But 2-0 in a series like this is what we need for the long term outlook/momentum.
 

HUGE! The Gophers are 1-3 against challenging teams so far. Time to show what they're made of.

-Sweep would be massive, and IMO would establish the Gophers as a legit top 4 or 5 team in the country and a title contender
-Split would be acceptable to hold the same lead in the standings
-To get swept at home would be a problem and I'll leave it at that

I'd argue that Michigan was a "challenging" team. I realize that they were without five players when the guys played them, but the Gophers were also without three of their top defensemen, so both teams were short-handed.

Other than that, I fully agree. I think they are fully capable to sweeping if they play with focus and energy, something that was sorely lacking against Notre Dame, but I'd take a split.
 


I'd argue that Michigan was a "challenging" team. I realize that they were without five players when the guys played them, but the Gophers were also without three of their top defensemen, so both teams were short-handed.

Other than that, I fully agree. I think they are fully capable to sweeping if they play with focus and energy, something that was sorely lacking against Notre Dame, but I'd take a split.
Because both teams were not at full strength nothing material was learned from that series for either team. Those were not the teams that will be trying to win a title.
 



Because both teams were not at full strength nothing material was learned from that series for either team. Those were not the teams that will be trying to win a title.
Fair enough. I just wasn't clear what you meant by "challenging" due to the fact that I certainly don't consider Notre Dame a contender.
 

Fair enough. I just wasn't clear what you meant by "challenging" due to the fact that I certainly don't consider Notre Dame a contender.
They're not a contender but they are better than the three brutal Big Ten teams and can at least put up a fight with anyone given how they play defense.
 

This team is very, very special. Gophs have toyed with the opponents in these last four games, seemingly creating turnovers at will. Puck possession was completely lopsided. LaFontaine again looked great. Lather, rinse, repeat.
 




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