Congratulations to the Minnesota Gophers on their sweep of the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Gophers defeated the Nittany Lions 5-1 on Friday night with goals from Sam Warning, Hudson Fasching (@Hfasching22), Kyle Rau (@KyleRau), Taylor Cammarata (@Cammy12Scores), and Nate Condon (@Condo16). They completed the sweep on Saturday night with goals from Travis Boyd (@Tboyd93) and the senior night hero, Tom Serratore (@Serratore1489). Michael Shibrowski (@shibby_01) was also the hero on senior night as he made 25 saves to keep the Gophers in the game. A huge congratulations also goes out to the five seniors on the team for a phenomenal career at Mariucci Arena. These five seniors will be greatly missed as they pursue other goals and dreams.
The Gophers are back on top of the USCHO Poll and the USA Hockey Magazine Poll. This was the result of the sweep over Penn State and Boston College's overtime loss to Notre Dame. The No. 1 ranked Gophers will face the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend for the second to last series of the regular season. The Gophers are 23-4-5 overall and 12-2-2 in conference play. The Buckeyes are 15-11-4 overall and 5-7-4 in B1G conference play.
Captain Condon
With Nate Condon's goal on Friday night, the senior is now 38-59--97, just 3 points away from reaching the milestone of 100 career points. The Wisconsin native has learned to overcome adversity this season as captain. Along with Kyle Rau, and the other veterans on the team, Condon has led this team through a great season. Hopefully the season continues on after the B1G Tournament and the Gophers are able to contend for the NCAA title.
Mikey Reilly
Mikey Reilly (@mreilly93) leads all B1G defensemen in both goals and points so far this season. He is 8-16--24 in his 32 games played this season. M. Reilly has been getting some good looks after his play this season, especially after Friday night's game - specifically from ESPN's John Buccigross (@Buccigross), BTN's Rick Pizzo (@BTNRickPizzo), and former Minnesota Gopher Tom Chorske (@hockeylogic).
If you missed Star Tribune's, Jason Gonzalez's (@JGonStrib) article about the Reilly brothers, be sure to take a look at it here. Personally, I'm still waiting for my Reilly to Reilly to Reilly goal too. In Friday's game against Penn State, M. Reilly had an assist on both Warning's goal and Cammarata's goal.
Senior Night Hero
Tommy Serratore scored the game winning goal against Penn State for the Gophers 2-1 win on Saturday night. The assists went to Travis Boyd and Ben Marshall. Towards the end of the period, Mariucci was getting loud and hyped up. Serratore added fuel to the fire by scoring the game winner. Very exciting moment for him and his teammates.
Michael Shibrowski
Gophers goaltender, Michael Shibrowski, stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced on Saturday night and was named the number two star of the game. Shibby has been dedicated to the program and his teammates over his years here, and it could not have been a better game for him on senior night. He deserved the starting position that night, and it's great to see him get the win and how supportive his teammates are of him.
Freshmen
Minnesota's freshmen class continues to lead all NCAA teams for most goals scored by a rookie class with a combined 45 goals this season. Boston College's freshmen class follows closely with 44 goals. The Gophers freshmen also lead all B1G teams in goals and assists this season with a combined 45 goals and 62 assists. Michigan follows with 28 goals and 41 assists from their rookie class. Freshman Hudson Fasching leads the B1G Conference in goals scored by a freshman with 12 goals on the season. Fasching is 12-15--27 so far this season, including his goal and assist in Friday night's win over Penn State.
Oh Boyd!
Junior Travis Boyd had a big impact in this weekend's sweep over Penn State which earned him B1G's First Star of the Week. Boyd had an assist on Fasching's goal and on Cammarata's goal on Friday night. He went on to score the first goal of the night on Saturday and had an assist on Serratore's game winning goal. Boyd is one of six juniors on the team. If no one opts to leave early at the end of the season, the Gophers will have six seniors to look forward to next year.
Iron Man
Sophomore Goalie Adam Wilcox earned B1G Weekly Honors as well this week as the Third Star of the Week. This is Wilcox's fifth Big Ten Weekly award. Wilcox stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced in Friday night's win over Penn State. He leads the B1G Conference in wins this season at 21, and is ranked third nationally in wins. In Wilcox's last 19 starts, he has only lost twice and is 13-2-4 during that time.
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 will be practicing at Ridder Arena from here on out to adjust to the smaller rink size. You can find B1G Tournament single-game tickets for sale here.
Gopher Hockey Commits
The Minnesota Gophers have picked up two Swedish players. NAHL Janesville Jet's, Robin Höglund (@Hoogi19), recently committed at the end of February and Leon Bristedt (@Leonbristedt) committed in November. Nick Lehr (@LehrBear) of the NAHL Austin Bruins will replace graduating goalie Michael Shibrowski. Tyler Sheehy (@t_sheehy22) of the Waterloo Black Hawk's committed with the Gophers in February. Jack Ramsey (@Ramsey_16), was recently named the Penticton Vees Rookie of the Year.
Good luck to the Gopher Men's Hockey team as they face the Ohio State Buckeyes this weekend. They play Friday at 6:30pm and Saturday at 6:00pm. Friday night's game will be broadcasted (watch) on FSN and Saturday night's game will be on ESPNews. Both games will be streamed (listen) on 1500 ESPN.
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