The Minnesota Gophers remain ranked No. 1 in both the USCHO poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll. The Gophers were in Columbus last weekend facing the Ohio State Buckeyes. They defeated Ohio on Friday night 5-1 with goals from Justin Kloos (@jkloos15), Kyle Rau (@kylerau), Taylor Cammarata (@Cammy12Scores), Connor Reilly (@CReilly81), and Vinni Lettieri (@19Lettieri95). The Gophers lost 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday night with goals from Kyle Rau and Gabe Guertler (@gabeguerts8). The Gophers will face the No. 13 ranked Michigan Wolverines this weekend for the final regular-season series of the season.
Michigan
Minnesota faced Michigan exactly a month ago at Mariucci Arena. They came out on top with 5-3 and 4-1 victories. The Gophers are 24-4-6 this season and 13-2-3 in conference play while the Wolverines are 17-11-4 this season and 9-7-2 in B1G conference play. The Gophers overall record against Michigan is 130-117-14 and they have the most wins over Michigan than any other team in college hockey. Minnesota is Michigan's second oldest rivalry. Both teams were a part of the WCHA from 1951-1981 before Michigan moved to the CCHA before the 1981-82 season. A month ago, the Gophers were awarded the Mariucci-Renfrew Trophy for their sweep over Michigan.
ESPN
ESPN will be doing the play-by-play for the game on Friday night between Minnesota and Michigan, you can catch the game on ESPNews. John Buccigross (@Buccigross) himself will be at Yost Arena on Friday. #cawlidgehawkey
Mikey Reilly
It seems as if Mikey Reilly (@mreilly93) comes up on a weekly basis. The sophomore defenseman earned his first B1G Weekly Honor as the Third Star of the Week. He had four assists this weekend, three coming during Friday night's game and another on Saturday. M. Reilly has proved he can be a versatile player and is a key asset to the Gophers defensive unit. He leads all B1G defenseman in goals, points, and assists so far this season and is 8-20--28.
Hudson Fasching
Hudson Fasching (@Hfasching22) leads all Big Ten freshman in goals at 12 and is ranked second in points at 27 behind Michigan's JT Compher who has 29 points. Fasching is 12-15--27 so far this season. He has certainly made an impact to the team his rookie year after coming from the USA National Development Team in Ann Arbor, Michigan. If you haven't yet, take a minute to read this article about Hudson Fasching and his family. They are truly an inspiration both at and away from the rink.
Captain Condon
The senior captain, Nate Condon (@Condo16), is 7-12--19 this season and is 38-59--97 overall. He is just 3 points away from reaching the milestone of 100 career points. Condon has skated in 151 consecutive games for the Gophers and 152 games in his career.
Multi-Point Night
The Minnesota vs. Ohio State University game on Friday night was a big multi-point game for four different Gophers. Mikey Reilly tallied four assists that night while his older brother, Connor Reilly, had a goal and an assist. Kyle Rau also had a goal and an assist in Friday night's game. Taylor Cammarata had a big night as well as he tallied a goal and two assists. The Gophers typically have a wide spread of scoring and it speaks volumes that they are able to successfully score goals from all four lines.
Fourth Line Spark
Ever since the Gophers last series against Michigan, the fourth line Gophers have broke out of their rut. Before that series, the fourth line had not been tallying the goals or assists that they would have liked. C. Reilly, Guertler, and Lettieri all had a multi-point weekend the last time they played Michigan. In fact, Guertler had his first career goal against Michigan. This past weekend against the Buckeyes, C. Reilly tallied a goal and an assist on Friday. Lettieri scored a goal on Friday and had an assist on Saturday. Lastly, Guertler notched an assist on Friday and topped it off with a goal on Saturday. This weekend against the Wolverines will be another test for these players to see if their hot streak continues.
Sam Warning
Junior forward Sam Warning was sidelined with an upper-body injury on Saturday night's game against Ohio. He practiced today, Wednesday, with the Gophers, but his status for this weekend is still undetermined. With the first line forward out, C. Reilly is up practicing with the first line. Everyone else on the roster is healthy.
B1G Tournament
The Gophers series against Penn State was the final series played at Mariucci this season as the B1G Tournament is taking place at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Gophers are practicing at Ridder Arena to adjust to the smaller rink size. Minnesota is seeded #1 and will play Friday, March 21, at 7:00PM. You can find B1G Tournament single-game tickets for sale here.
B1G Title
The Gophers will play for the B1G Ten Title this weekend. The B1G Title would be their third straight regular season conference championship which would be a first in program history. Minnesota and Wisconsin are the only two teams in the conference that can claim the title. The Gophers' magic number is 2, whether that is 2 points won this weekend or 2 points dropped from Wisconsin. They can claim the title as early as Friday night.
Good luck to the Gopher Men's Hockey team as they face the Michigan Wolverines this weekend. They play Friday night at 5:30pm and Saturday night at 6:00pm. Friday night's game will be broadcasted (watch) on ESPNews and Saturday night's game will be on BTN. Both games will be streamed (listen) on 1500 ESPN.
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