Game 34: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Location: Mariucci Arena | Minneapolis, Minn.
Date: Friday, March 11
Puck Drop: 7:03 p.m. CT
TV: ESPNews
Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: 1500 ESPN, Gopher Radio Network
Game 35: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin
Location: Mariucci Arena | Minneapolis, Minn.
Date: Saturday, March 12
Puck Drop: 7:03 p.m. CT
TV: Big Ten Network
Stream: BTN2Go
Radio: 1500 ESPN, Gopher Radio Network
Inside the Matchup
The Border Battle is the most-played series for the Badgers and things haven’t been going well. In the all-time series, the team from the east is getting throttled: 163-90-23. Things certainly don’t get better in Minneapolis where the Gophers are 91-28-9 against the Badgers. And if you’re part of the anti-Lucia group of fans, just be happy we don’t have Mike Eaves. When playing Wisconsin with Eaves on the opposing bench, Minnesota is a dominant 30-17-9.
The last meeting between the two rivals was…ummm…good for the Gophers. Minnesota traveled to Madison and swept the Badgers with a 4-0 win followed up by a 9-2 thumping.
The player to watch for Wisconsin is likely 2016 first-round draft pick, Luke Kunin. The freshman has been stellar this year, pacing his team with 16 goals to go with 28 total points in 31 games.
It’s a big weekend for the Gophers. If they win just one game, they win the Big Ten Championship for a third straight year.
Storyline Central
GoAUpher over at The Daily Gopher takes a look at all the possible scenarios for the conference championship this weekend. In short: the Gophers control their own destiny to hang another banner.
Not much has gone right for Wisconsin this year, but freshman goalie Matt Jurusik was recently named a Big Ten Star of the Week. Ross Jacobson of the Wisconsin State Journal has a short write-up on the honor.
Ben Cross of the Badger Herald details Wisconsin’s surprising win over No. 14 Penn State last weekend.
Notes and Quotes
Don Lucia
On how to guard against overconfidence against Wisconsin:
“I don’t see how we could be overconfident about anything. We’ve proven that we can beat anybody, we’ve also proven anybody can beat us. We certainly are a team with plenty of flaws but when we’re on, we play a pretty good brand of hockey. Wisconsin is a much-improved team over the course of the season. They’re not the same team they were a year ago.
“We were able to beat them a couple time handily in Madison but, to me, it was just one of those weekends where everything went out way. We have to try a win a game. It’s important to win the Big Ten. It’s important for NCAA’s. The more we can do to help ourselves the better it is for us. It’s that point in time when you either do it or you don’t.”
Connor Reilly
“Obviously every year you want to raise a banner and win a conference championship. We’re in a pretty good spot having a chance to close it out this weekend, raise a banner, and do it for the guys in the locker room. After that, it’s conference tournament; that’s obviously going to be a huge weekend. Can’t look too far ahead right now, just looking forward to Friday.”
Hudson Fasching
On what he expects out of Wisconsin this weekend:
“We expect them to come out hot. We went there, swept them in their building, so they’re going to be pretty upset with us. They’re going to come out strong and we have to be ready for them.”