No. 7 St. Cloud State (9-3-0 overall, 5-1-0-0 NCHC) vs. Minnesota (4-5-0 overall, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten)
Date: Friday, Nov. 27
Location: Mariucci Arena | Minneapolis, Minn.
Puck Drop: 6:05 p.m. CT
TV: FOX Sports North
Stream: BTN2Go, FOX Sports Go
Radio: 1500 ESPN, Gopher Radio Network
Date: Sunday, Nov. 29
Location: Mariucci Arena | Minneapolis, Minn.
Puck Drop: 6:05 p.m. CT
TV: FOX Sports North
Stream: BTN2Go, FOX Sports Go
Radio: 1500 ESPN, Gopher Radio Network
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
The Gophers are 55-29-12 in 96 meetings against the Huskies.
The in-state rivals squared off twice last season. St. Cloud took the opener at home, 4-1. Minnesota earned the split at Mariucci with a 4-3 overtime victory.
Minnesota holds a 5-0 National Championship advantage.
STORYLINE CENTRAL
If you’ve got an hour to kill, Mick Hatten of the St. Cloud Times hosted a show with Huskies Jimmy Murray and Charlie Lindgren. The trio talks all things Husky hockey, including the matchup with the Gophers.
Hatten also provides a sound recap of the Huskies’ split last weekend with North Dakota. St. Cloud fell 4-3 in the opener but put on a dominating 6-1 performance to earn the split.
Nate Wells of SBNation College Hockey has the latest on a transfer from the Gophers. On Wednesday, Don Lucia announced that sophomore Robin Hoglund would be leaving the program.
NOTES AND QUOTES
Scouting the Huskies
With just one loss on the season, St. Cloud State is entering the weekend playing well. Facing off against the No. 7 team in the country is a great opportunity for the young Gopher squad.
“This is the biggest weekend of the year, by far,” said defenseman Jack Glover. “Our focus this week has been really good.”
The Huskies boast a potent offense, ranking third in the country with 4.17 goals per game.
“We know that they have a lot of high-end guys, a lot of high-powered forwards,” said Glover. “Their D as well have a lot of offensive skill so we know the challenge that’s in front of us and we’re going to have to lock it down this weekend and play our best defensive hockey we have this year.”
St. Cloud has the scoring up front but also boasts impressive forward depth.
“Very good team offensively,” said Don Lucia of the Huskies. “I think that’s what starts to separate why they’re elite is the amount of goals that they’ve scored. Their offensive depth, that’s the one thing that that impresses me. Not only are they getting scoring from three lines that are pretty balanced, but even their fourth line has four goals on the season right now.”
The Gophers need to play sound defensive hockey if they want to come away with a couple wins.
“It’s one of those weekends that we don’t have the firepower they do right now so we have to make sure we out-defend them,” said Lucia. “We’re not going to outscore them.”
In-State Rivalry
The Gophers are getting used to playing against their fellow Minnesota teams early in the year. The matchup with St. Cloud gives the Gophers a chance to knock off the top-ranked team in the state.
“Anytime we play a team in Minnesota it goes to a different level—this in-state rivalry we have,” said Glover. “With all the teams in here, we get up for each one of the games. We know for a fact the other team gets up—they all want to beat us. They bring their A-game and that forces us to bring an even better game ourselves. The weekend leading up to them, we definitely have them circled on the calendar.”
With the Huskies looking like the better squad through the first few weeks, the Gophers want to defend their home state.
“The fact that we’re playing guys that are an hour away from us, we have to defend our state,” said Glover. “Being from Minnesota, obviously, we know a bunch of guys that play up there. We’ve played with a lot of them throughout youth hockey. There is nothing better than beating another Minnesota team.”