March 23rd, 2025: Gophers are set to travel to Fargo for the 2025 NCAA Regionals.
–> Follow @Dylanloucks4 on Twitter
Minneapolis, Minn – The Minnesota Golden Gophers (25-10-4) are set to travel to Fargo, ND, for the 2025 NCAA Hockey Regionals. The NCAA announced on Sunday the 16 teams competing in the tournament and the four regionals.
Minnesota is set to play the University of Massachusetts Minutemen (20-13-5) on Thursday night at 7:30 on ESPN2. The game before them is Minnesota State against Western Michigan at 4:00 on ESPNU.
The Gophers last played on March 9 against Notre Dame in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. They lost the series in three games and will enter their game against UMass without playing a game in 18 days. Could the rest be a good thing? We will see.
UMass is ranked 11th in the league and ranks 7th in the NCAA in goals with 127 in 38 games. The Gophers have scored 150 goals in 39 games, they rank 3rd in goals. UMass has allowed 91 goals this year for a scoring positive scoring margin of .95. The Gophers have allowed 96 goals for a positive scoring margin of 1.38.
Western Michigan leads the NCAA in scoring margin with 1.95 and Minnesota State has allowed the fewest goals in the league and has one of, if not the best, goaltender in the league. Nonetheless, it is a tough region.
The Minutemen’s penalty kill is at 83.5 percent which ranks tied for 15th in the NCAA. Their power play is at 24.8 percent which ranks 10th in the NCAA. The Gophers have the 13th best power play at 24.4 percent but rank 52nd in the NCAA in penalty kill percentage.
Who To Watch
The Minutemen have been led by Junior forward Cole O’Hara who has 22 goals in 38 games. He ranks tied for 7th with Minnesota’s Jimmy Snuggerud in the NCAA scoring race. Sophomore forward Aydar Suniev has 18 goals in 33 games and Sophomore forward Jack Musa also has 18 in 38 games.
Seven of O’Hara’s 22 goals have come on the power play. He also ranks tied for 4th in the NCAA in points with 51. Suniev has 36 points and Musa has 35.
They have got the offense and a few game-breaking talent but not only that, they have one of the better goaltenders in the entire league. Michael Hrabal is 18-11-5 on the season with a 2.33 goals-against average (GAA) and a .926 save percentage. He ranks 10th in save percentage and 28th in GAA.
The 6-foot-6 goaltender was the Utah Hockey Club’s 38th overall pick from the 2023 NHL Draft.
Gopher Notes
Senior forward Aaron Huglen suffered a lower-body injury in the Gophers loss to Notre Dame during the last game of the series and will likely miss the regionals.
The biggest question will become who starts in goal for the Gophers. Graduate student Liam Souliere is 13-7-2 on the season with a 2.28 GAA and a .918 save percentage. After splitting time with Sophomore goaltender Nathan Airey, Souliere was given the starters crease on Jan 24th and made 11 consecutive starts after that.
After the Gophers lost the first game in the series to Notre Dame in the Big Ten Playoffs, the Gophers turned to Airey for the next two games of the series. Airey is 12-3-2 on the season with a 2.42 GAA and a .902 save percentage.
Will they go with the 26-year-old veteran goaltender in Souliere for a the regionals or will they turn to the 21-year-old Airey for their first game in 18 days?
Does History Repeat Itself?
In 2022, Minnesota went to the Worcester regional as the two seed and beat the three seed UMass in overtime. They then shut out one seed Western Michigan in the regional championship to go to the Frozen Four. It was the first Frozen Four under current Gophers head coach Bob Motzko.
The Gophers enter the Fargo regional as the two seed and face the three seed UMass on Thursday. Western Michigan is the one seed and Minnesota State is the four seed. The winner of Gophers vs Minutemen will play the winner of Minnesota State vs Western.
Mike Koster and Huglen are the only two players that were on the 2022 team that played UMass in game one. Huglen assisted on Ben Meyers’ overtime-winning goal.
We will see if history can repeat itself a week from today.