Northeastern (1-2-0) vs. No. 19 Minnesota (0-3-0)
Location: Mariucci Arena
Puck Drop: Friday – 7:05 p.m. CT, Saturday – 8:05 p.m. CT
TV: Friday – FOX Sports North Plus, Saturday – FOX Sports North
Stream: BTN2Go, FOX Sports Go
Radio: 1500 ESPN, Gopher Radio Network
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
The Gopher and Huskies have met 14 times with the Gophers holding a slim 8-6-0 advantage. Eight of the last ten meetings have been decided by one goal.
The Gophers dropped a close game to Northeastern early last season, 3-2.
Minnesota holds a 5-0 National Championship advantage.
STORYLINE CENTRAL
Joshua Brown of USCHO recaps Northeastern’s series last weekend. After winning their opening game of the season, the Huskers were surprisingly swept by Bentley.
Since we’re just a couple weeks into the season, a yearly preview is still a worthwhile read for a team many Minnesota fans won’t know a lot about. Conor Ryan of SBNation College Hockey previews the Huskies.
NOTES AND QUOTES
Slow Start
The Gophers are 0-3 and haven’t looked good in any game so far. Despite the poor start to the season, the young Minnesota team isn’t giving up.
“This team really practices well,” said Don Lucia. “They practice hard every day. That’s the thing I’ve been most impressed with. We’ve actually practiced, at times, better than what we’ve played. Now the challenge is playing the way the practice, into a game. Obviously games become more difficult because you’re going to have more pushback, there’s more traffic you have to deal with coming up the rink.”
Finding Scoring
Usually one of the most prolific offenses in the country, the Gophers have been atrocious this year putting the puck away. Through three games, the Maroon and Gold have managed just one goal. Without high-powered scorers up front, the Gophers are looking for production.
“I think the first couple of games we put a little too much pressure on ourselves,” said Justin Kloos. “There’s a new formula this year. Last year, it was obviously different. We had guys like Rau and Boyd—guys to lean on. This year we just have to get used to it and not put too much pressure on ourselves as far as gripping our sticks a little too tight when we’re in close to the net. We just have to relax and play hockey. We’ve been doing this for a long time and every day we just have to realize that we’re pretty good at this game and we can rely on our skill and our effort and make some plays.”
The Gophers have struggled in the neutral zone which has led to very little offensive attack.
“It seems like we’ve been choppy, whether it’s been breaking out or neural-zone regrouping and that has led to very little offensive zonetime,” said Lucia. “I thought we made some progress, the last couple periods of the game Saturday, we came up the rink a lot fluidly than what we had done earlier.”
Scouting Northeastern
Playing a team from out east isn’t new for Minnesota, but the Gophers will have to do their homework in preparation for this weekend.
“We haven’t done the pre-scout yet,” said Nick Seeler of the Huskies. “We’ll do some video tomorrow and Friday to learn about more on them. They’re a tough team; we’re going to have to be ready to play them.”
The Gophers met Northeastern last year for one game. The Huskies pulled out the victory, 3-2, over the No. 3-ranked Minnesota squad.
“I just talked to Frank [Mazzocco] and I was going to say, I don’t remember a whole lot,” said Kloos of the game. “We went out east and played Boston College the night before and beat them 6-2; I remember that. I think we looked past them a little bit and it was just one of those close games, just waiting for one team to get a bounce. They got a fluky goal and they were able to close us out, I think, 3-2.”
The winless Gophers aren’t overlooking anyone this year.
“Obviously can’t look past them this weekend, especially with our slow start,” said Kloos. “I think they’ll come in with a lot of jump getting a chance to play at Mariucci so we have to be ready.”