(Video) Nate Condon goal and a few missed opportunities

If Gophers forward Kyle Rau had to play in a league where fighting wasn't banned he wouldn't yap at Steph Pattyn like that. I also agree with the host, Zach Budish showed some leadership by telling Rau to zip it.

If you talk to some of the players from UND, you will find out that Pattyn was a feared fighter when he was in the MJHL.

During a Wednesday press conference Bryn Chyzyk was asked about forward Steph Pattyn.

It’s funny you ask, I played against him up in Manitoba. I was so scared of that guy, he’s a scary guy to play against, but I defiantly like him a lot better on my team.”



The shorthanded goal by Nate Condon was definitely the turning point in the game. UND gets a power play on an interference call and Minnesota gets a back breaking shorthanded goal. I guess we could discuss the play by the two UND players on the Condon goal, but it’s easy to Saturday morning quarterback. I was wondering why Joe Gleason didn't just yank Condon down on the play. Up until that point, I thought it was a very close game.

Related articles

• UND completes the sweep with late goal from Danny Kristo (thehockeywriters.com)
• Breaking down the Minnesota vs. North Dakota Rivalry (thehockeywriters.com)

(Video) UND vs. UMN

This video is kind of long, I included all five Gopher goals and two questionable penalty calls that didn't go UND's way. I also included 2 minutes of play following one UMN goal, to kind of give a picture of how last night's game went.

I have seen a lot of people pointing their fingers at UND goalie Clarke Saunders, I don't think you can fault him for at least three of the goals last night... On the short handed goal by Nate Condon was a back breaker and there two guys that had poor defensive efforts on that play that, can't happen.

A few things...

Coach Hakstol was on the 9-Noon show today. You can listen here at the 15:15 mark.

If you want to walk down memory lane here is one... [Gopher Homer Alert]

Game Day; UND vs. UMN

Game Day… It’s here, the game that fans and players mark down on their calendar.

This is one of my favorite Rivalries; it’s the day that I can’t wait for, the weekend that I look forward to and the opposition team that I hate the most. When I see the hated “M” I see red.

It’s about bragging rights in the family. My Brother-in-law Andy Brink was once a Golden Rodent.  But he was actually a Sioux fan before he became a Golden Gopher.

“My favorite memory NCAA Memory is from before I played,” Brink said. “I grew up in Bemidji and grew up a Sioux fan. I remember going to Sioux games as a kid and still have a Sioux #20 Bob Joyce jersey. UND’s 1987 NCAA Championship is my fondest memory because I followed that team really close. There were also 2 players from my hometown on their roster and George Pelawa (from Bemidji) would have been a big part of that team had he not died in a car accident in the fall of ’86.”

This is also a sad time as well; I am going to miss bantering with Andy’s Brother Steve who passed away after a battle with Skin Cancer this past year.  We had some great back and forth moments over the years on Facebook. I hope Steve’s watching down from Heaven as tonight, hopefully UND runs over UMN.  

For practical purposes, this is still Sioux vs. Gophers, at least in my mind.  

This is the last time the two teams will play during the regular season for some time. Hall of fame writer Virg Foss has this article in today’s Herald.

Former Gopher Lou Nanne would like to see the rivalry continue.  

UND: The Weekend Ahead (1/18-1/19).

Tyler Buckentine and Joe Paisley from USCHO make their picks for this weekend’s games. Both writers are predicting a split.

Breaking down the Minnesota vs. North Dakota Rivalry.

The Grand Forks Herald has five memorable UND wins… Of those five, the 2005 and 2007 regionals are two of my favorite games.

UND: The Weekend Ahead (1/18-1/19)

The University of North Dakota travels to Minneapolis, Minnesota to take on the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in a pivotal two game WCHA series at Mariucci Arena.

Matchup: North Dakota (16-6-3, 8-3-3 WCHA) #6 versus #1 Minnesota (16-3-3, 8-3-3 WCHA).

Dates: January 18-19, 2013

Times: Jan. 18: 7:07p.m. (CT); Jan. 19: 5:07 p.m. (CT)

Radio:  UND 96.1 (KQHT-FM) – The Fox.

TV: Fox Sports North, DirecTV 668.

Live Stats:  GopherSports.com

Series History: UND trails the all-time series with the Gophers 130-137-14 (.488). UND has a 51-73-6 against the Gophers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under head coach Dave Hakstol, UND has a 17-13-3 (.561) record against the Gophers. UND was 2-4-0 against the Gophers last year.

Players to Watch:

North Dakota: Forwards: Danny Kristo (13g-17a—30pts), Rocco Grimaldi (7g-10a—17pts), Mark MacMillan (8g-9a—17pts), Corbin Knight (10g-21a—31pts), Drake Caggiula (5g-6a—11pts). Defense:  Dillon Simpson (2g-11a—13pts), Andrew MacWilliam (1g-5a—6pts), Derek Forbort (4g-7a—11pts). Goaltenders: Clarke Saunders 10–3, 2.28 GAA, .919 save percentage, Zane Gothberg 3-2-0, 2.99 GAA, .897 save percentage.

Minnesota Golden Gophers: Forwards: Erik Haula (9g-17a—26pts), Kyle Rau (13g-12a—25pts), Nick Bjugstad (12g-10a—22pts), Zach Budish (7g-12a—19pts), Defense:  Nate Schmidt (3g-19a—22pts) Mike Reilly (2g-9a—11pts). Goalies: Adam Wilcox 15-2-3, 1.65 GAA, .925 save percentage, Michael Shibrowski 1-1-0, 3.18 GAA, .881 save percentage.

UND Official Web Page

Minnesota Golden Gophers official Web Page

Cross posted at the Hockey Writers Combine...

Sioux nickname reason UND's not playing UMN

There is an old saying, ‘I guess if you repeat something enough times it becomes true’. Doh’k! I have pretty much covered this subject in this blog post and here as well.

Roman Augustoviz, The Roman Empire --- These strong rivals will not meet in the regular season again until the 2016-17 season, according to what Gophers coach Don Lucia said on his weekly radio show on Monday.

"We are going to get them the first available opportunity back on our schedule," Lucia said.

That opportunity won't come until the 2016-17 season. Yikes. Of course, they could meet in the NCAA tournament, but that's not a given.

Next season the Gophers will be in the new six-team Big Ten Conference, UND in the new eight-team National Collegiate Hockey Conference.

Lucia said the Gophers couldn't schedule North Dakota as a nonconference opponent because, at the time the current agreements were being made, UND still had an American Indian nickname. (The U of M has a policy prohibiting its teams from playing nonconference opponents with such nicknames. Now, of course, UND has dropped its Fighting Sioux nickname.)

I think keeping this rivalry series alive, is a no-brainer  I don’t know any UND fans that want this historic rivalry to end. In my humble opinion, this is one of the great rivalries in college hockey. I read some statements from Minnesota Gopher fans this past week that are head scratchers; do they really want to watch a tame, unexciting series where there is no emotion on the ice? That's what you're going to get with Penn State and Ohio State.

If you ask the players, they love playing in these games; I have never heard any of them say that they don’t want to play Minnesota. The UND vs. UMN games for the players, is one of these series that they look forward to. I have hard them say this at the Wednesday press conferences.

This was one of my favorite statements this week, was from a fan on Gopher Puck Live. From a random fan said… “The Gophers are the better team this year, but if North Dakota is allowed to do their usual after the whistle shenanigans I can see this series getting dirty again. I totally understand why Lucia is avoiding playing the dirty Canadians after this season. Why risk one of your star players getting injured over some North Dakota cheap shot.”

By some of the comments I have read this week, you’d think that UND was a bunch of talentless hacks that have a 5-11-2 record and have yet to win a game against an opponent with a winning record. From some of the comments I have read, you'd think that UND spends all of their time skating up and down the ice taking liberties with the opposition. That hasn't happened this season. This year’s UND hockey team is not a bunch of knuckle dragging Nethanderals, UND is only ranked 30th nationally in penalties. So that dog doesn't hunt.

Maybe some need to look up the word rivalry in the dictionary.

I did and this is what Merriam-Webster has to say; a competitive or antagonistic state or condition. That would probably be an accurate definition of the UND vs. UMN rivalry.

Related articles

• A few things... UMN vs. UND (ndgoon.blogspot.com)
• Minnesota hesitant to play North Dakota in hockey for now... (thehockeywriters.com)

Minnesota hesitant to play North Dakota in hockey for now…

Recently, I wrote a blog post about the UND and UMN rivalry and from the outside looking in; it would appear that UMN is shying away from the historic rivalry. If you ask UND fans, a lot of them will tell you it appears to be for egoistic reasons. From this UND fan’s perspective, it smacks of “elitism.”

Seriously!

I have seen some UMN fans try to blame UND’s former moniker on the lack of a scheduling agreement.  I think that excuse is convenient when you have nothing else to fall back on.  

After the state wide vote this past summer – that objection has been overcome – they can no longer blame the Fighting Sioux nickname, that’s a nonfactor – the Fighting Sioux nickname is gone.  One has to wonder if this goes deeper than a nickname or wanting to play teams from Minnesota… Does this smell like a possible riff between the two athletic departments?

Like I said before, the University of Wisconsin kept dates open on their future schedule with the caveat that if UND didn’t change the Fighting Sioux nickname the future nonconference games would be canceled. There is no reason that the University of Minnesota could have done that as well unless they really didn’t want to play UND in the first place.

I’ve had UND fans ask me, why the heck did we change the name to appease the B1G schools, only to have them turn around and tell us that they don’t want to play us anyways.

I have also read where UMN has said that they need to focus on the team in the State of Minnesota first as well. Really! How many times is UMN going to “actually” travel to BSU, Duluth, Saint Cloud and Minnesota State? Yeah! I can see Minnesota saying, sure we will play you but at our rink, with the possibility they “may” make an occasional trip from time-to-time.

UND Hockey beat writer Brad E. Schlossman has this article in today’s Grand Forks Herald and this is what UMN’s head coach Don Lucia had to say about the rivalry last winter. 

Minnesota coach Don Lucia was unavailable for comment Thursday, but has said in the past that he may not want to play the rivalry every year.

“We will go back there as a nonconference team,” Lucia said at a media gathering in January. “We have a great rivalry. Sometimes, it gets a little over the top and I’m not sure that is healthy for anybody. So we will continue to play, but I doubt we will continue to play each and every year.”

Wait, what? When I read Don Lucia’s comments last winter I thought those comments were over the top. I have learned that coach speak at times is tough to decipher at times and you have to be able to wade through some of it to actually figure out what their trying to say. This time it’s pretty evident.

What is Luica really saying? If I am reading his comments right, and I think I am, Lucia is saying in so many words, that he didn’t want to play UND in hockey for a few years because they [UND] have beaten us up pretty bad in the physicality department.

I can’t imagine Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves, Denver head coach George Gwozdecky or Nebraska Omaha head coach Dean Blais saying something like this. Honestly, does that not make you ask the question; what the heck is that?

If you think that I am being melodramatic this is like the Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma telling the Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette that his team doesn’t want to play the Flyers anymore because the games got a little rough.  

 Is Men’s Division I Hockey not a game played by men? College sports are about heated rivalries and at times rivalry games do get a bit out of hand. But so what?

Since the 2004-05 season, when Dave Hakstol took over the coaching duties the University of North Dakota has a 18-13-2 record against the University of Minnesota. All you have to do is go to YouTube and do a search of Sioux vs. Gophers and you will see hours of highlights of fights, dustups and handshake lines that have gone awfully wrong. One could liken the rivalry the feud between the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s.

But again; so what?

Finally, the UND and UMN series is one of the best rivalries in all of college sports. I agree with Coach Hakstol, “The rivalry, tradition and history is important.”  I also think the fans deserve to have this historic rivalry continue. Let’s hope the two schools can set aside their differences and get this done.

Originally posted at the Hockey Writers - Combine.

Sioux vs. Gophers lines - Loser goes home...

Minnesota’s Forward Lines

7 Kyle Rau – 27 Nick Bjugstad – 24 Zach Budish
11 Sam Warning – 19 Erik Haula– 21 Jake Hansen
16 Nate Condon–22 Travis Boyd – 9 Taylor Matson
14 Tom Serratore – 13 Nico Sacchetti – 17 Seth Ambroz

Minnesota Defense Parings

4 Seth Helgeson–12 Justin Holl
10 Ben Marshall–20 Mark Alt
6 Jake Parenteau–29 Nate Schmidt

Goalies 

35 Kent Patterson
1 Michael Shibrowski
30 Jake Kremer

Minnesota Players Stats 


Fighting Sioux Forward Lines

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
16 Mark MacMillan–27 Carter Rowney–15 Michael Parks
Stephane Pattyn 28 –9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 20 Joe Gleason
8 Dan Senkbeil–13 Connor Gaarder– No forward.

Fighting Sioux Defensive Pairings

4 Derek Forbort – 24 Ben Blood
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) – 5 Nick Mattson
18 Dillon Simpson–22 Andrew Panzarella

Fighting Sioux Goalies 

32 Aaron Dell 
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

UND Official Players Stats 

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox.
Television: ESPNU 208 DirecTV

Wally Shaver's call of the Blood dust up.

I don't think anyone can call Tim Hennessy a homer again, listen to this, no attempt to be even remotely objective. [Wally Shaver]  Hilarious, none the less.

Classic comment by Wally Shaver,  "what a bunch cheap hose heads, just a bunch of hose heads, I am done with these guys, go form your own league." Just for the record Ben Blood is from Plymouth, Minnesota, so he wouldn't be a hose head.

Here is what hose head nation had to say on the incident.

Mark Alt's CFB on Michael Parks

We have discussed the Kristo hit on Marshall the night before; these are the types of hits that the NHL, NCAA, Jr's and High School hockey want to eliminate from the game of hockey. I don't know why the on ice officials discussed this hit for so long before they decided to toss the Gophers defenseman Mark Alt from the game.

The NCAA needs to go back to the five and a game misconduct for checking from behind plays. According to this article by David La Vaque of the Star Tribune the MSHSL rules just got tougher on hits from behind. It's a very good idea that I applaud.

The Minnesota State High School League will impose tougher penalties for three of hockey's most dangerous infractions after an illegal hit to a Twin Cities high school player.

Beginning with games Monday, players called for a check from behind, boarding or head contact will get at least a five-minute major penalty. The "major" designation puts the player's team at greater risk of being scored on because it must play shorthanded for the duration.

The measure is aimed at making players aware of serious injuries their bigger, faster and stronger bodies can cause or sustain through reckless physical play.

Its approval by the National Federation of State High School Associations comes barely two weeks after Benilde-St. Margaret's sophomore Jack Jablonski was paralyzed from crashing headfirst into the boards after a check from behind. [MN Hockey HUB]

Shot Charts UMN vs. UND game two.

First off s/t to @StatsOnCrack for the shot charts. This is what a 6-2 game looks like on paper, it wasn’t pretty at all. I actually think it could have been worse if Aaron Dell and Brad Eidsness had not played as good as they did… The Gopher forwards were behind the UND defenseman all night long, these games happen and it can be used as a teachable moment going forward.  



Last night, North Dakota junior forward Corbin Knight said. “There were some holes in our game right now that were exposed tonight, so we need to work on that and improve on that and just go in with a positive attitude.“

Shot charts from UMN vs. UND game one

First off s/t to @StatsOnCrack, he is the guy that sits in the press box recording shots and he does one hell of a job… Perusing the stats here is what we have on Saturday morning following UND’s grind it out win against the Gophers… UND has killed 17/18 Minnesota power play opportunities in three games.

With Kristo’s major penalty last night UND moved from the 11th in penalty minutes to 10th over all.

One thing that gets lost in the shuffle is how well UND goaltender Aaron Dell has played, he has been stellar in net and has made some game saving saves at the right time. Overall Dell has a 9-7-2 records, a 2.67 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. In WCHA play, Dell is ranked third with a 2.43 goals against average and is ranked 5th with a .911 save percentage.

UMN was 0-4 on the power play. UND was 0-3 on the power play and killed off a 5 minute major penalty to Danny Kristo.

UND went 32-26 in the face off circle last night. Here is how the UND players did in the face off circle.
Corbin Knight 12 – 11
Mark MacMillan 5 – 3
Mario Lamoureux 4 – 2
Stephane Pattyn 4 – 2
Carter Rowney 4 – 7
Brock Nelson 1 – 0
Taylor Dickin 1 – 0
Brendan O’Donnell 1 – 1

UND vs. UMN game one

UND Forward Lines 

29 Brock Nelson–10 Corban Knight (A) –7 Danny Kristo
9 Mario Lamoureux (C) – 27 Carter Rowney – 14 Taylor Dickin
21 Brendan O’Donnell–16 Mark MacMillan–13 Connor Gaarder
8 Dan Senkbeil–28 Stephane Pattyn–15 Michael Parks

UND Defense Paring

18 Dillon Simpson–24 Ben Blood (A)
2 Andrew MacWilliam (A) – 5 Nick Mattson
20 Joe Gleason–22 Andrew Panzarella


UND Goalies 

32 Aaron Dell
31 Brad Eidsness
35 Tate Maris

Scratches: Derek Rodwell (shoulder), Roco Grimaldi (Knee) 4 Derek Forbort (undisclosed).

UND Players Stats

UMN  Forward Lines

16 Nate Condon–9 Taylor Matson–17 Seth Ambroz
14 Tom Serratore–22 Travis Boyd–18 Nick Larson
11 Sam Warning–19 Erik Haula–21 Jake Hansen
7 Kyle Rau–27 Nick Bjugstad–24 Zach Budish

UMN Defense Parings 

4 Seth Helgeson–12 Justin Holl
10 Ben Marshall–20 Mark Alt
6 Jake Parenteau–29 Nate Schmidt

UMN Goalies 

35 Kent Patterson
1 Michael Shibrowski
30 Jake Kremer

UMN Stats 

Referees: Don Adam, Timm Walsh  Assistant Refs: Andy Dokken, Justin Hills

Related articles

• North Dakota vs. Minnesota Series Notes (insidehockey.com)
• UND Freshman Connor Gaarder named WCHA Rookie of the Week (mvn.com)

UND vs. UMN series notes

Cross Posted @ INSIDE HOCKEY...

The University of North Dakota entertains the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers at the Ralph Englestad Arena.

Game Time: 7:37 pm Friday, 7:07 pm Saturday.

Television: TV: UND Sports Network, MidcoSN3, FOX College Sports Central,
FOX Sports North, DirecTV 617 and 668.

Radio: The games can be heard at 96.1 the Fox.

Internet: UNDSports.com

Records and Rankings: UND (11-8-2 overall, 7-7-0 WCHA) UND is ranked 17^th in the USCHO poll. North Dakota Beat Clarkson (3-1) in the College Hockey Classic.

Minnesota Golden Gophers (15-7-1, 10-4-0 WCHA);  ranked 5^th in the latest USCHO poll. Minnesota lost to Notre Dame in the Hall of Fame Game (4-3) last weekend.

Series History:  UND is 15-11-3 against the Minnesota Golden Gophers since head coach Dave Hastol took over the coaching reigns at the beginning of the 2004-05 season. The Gophers swept UND (2-0 and 3-2) earlier back in November.  The Minnesota Gophers lead the all-time series against UND by a 135-128-14 record.

Players to Watch:

For UND: Forwards: Danny Kristo (11-13a—24pts), Corbin Knight (6g-15a—21pts) and Brock Nelson (15g-9a—24pts). Defense: Nick Mattson (5g-8a—13pts), Dillion Simpson, (0g-11a—11pts), Ben Blood (2g-8a—10pts).  Goaltenders: Aaron Dell .894 save percentage and a  2.77 goals against average. Brad Eidsness .918 save percentage and a 2.43 goals against average.

UND Injuries: Forward Rocco Grimaldi is out, forward Corban Knight and defenseman Derek Forbort are questionable for this weekend, forward Derek Rodwell is out for the season (shoulder surgery).

For the Gophers: Forwards: Kyle Rau (12g-10a—22pts), Nick Bjugstad 17g-11a—28pts), Erik Haula (10g-17a—28pts), Zach Budish (6g-14a—20pts). Defense: Nate Schmidt (1g-23a—24pts), Mark Alt (4g-10a—14pts). Goalie: Kent Patterson .918 save percentage and a 2.13 goals against average.

Key Numbers:

1 – UND goalie Aaron Dell has one shutout so far this season.

1 – UMN forward Kyle Rau is tied for first nationally in game winning goal with 5.

1 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked first in the nation for shutouts with 6.

1 – UMN is ranked first in scoring nationally.

3 – UMN is ranked third in the WCHA for penalty minutes.

4 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked fourth in the nation in goals per game .81.

6 – UMN is ranked sixth nationally in defense.

7 – UMN is ranked seventh on the power play

8 – UND forward Brock Nelson is ranked eight in the nation for goals per game .71.

9 – UND forward Danny Kristo is ranked ninth in the nation for game winning goals with three.

9 – UND forward Brock Nelson has nine power play goals for UND to lead the nation.

10 – UMN has 10 conference wins so far this season.

11 – UND is ranked 11^th in penalty minutes in the WCHA.

11 – UMN forward Nick Bjugstad is ranked 11^th nationally for points per game.

12 – UND is ranked 12^th on the power play nationally.

13 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 13^th in the nation for assists per game with 0.83.

13 – UMN goalie Kent Patterson is ranked 13 nationally in goals against average.

18 – UND is ranked 18^th in the Pairwise Rankings.

21 – UND is ranked 21^st in scoring nationally.

23 – UND forward Corbin Knight is ranked 23^rd nationally for points per game.

25 – UND forwards Danny Kristo and Brock Nelson are ranked nationally for points per game.

29 – UND is ranked 29^th nationally in defense.

Other games in the WCHA: Alaska Anchorage at Michigan Tech, Minnesota Duluth at Nebraska Omaha, Wisconsin at Minnesota State, Bemidji State at Denver, Saint Cloud State at Colorado College

A battle between two states; Minnesota vs. North Dakota?

Tonight the 17th ranked University of North Dakota; formerly known as the Fighting Sioux hockey team, hosts the No. 5th ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers in a two-game series at Ralph Engelstad Arena (7:37 tonight, 7:07 p.m. Saturday); it will be the last time these two teams play at the Ralph Engelstad Arena as WCHA foes.

On a sad note; this series is historic because it will be the first series that the UND Men’s Hockey team will no longer be known as the Fighting Sioux as well.

Here are some of the stories of significance leading up to this historic series between UND and UMN. Roman Augustoviz and Chris Miller of the Star and Tribune break down their picks for this weekend’s WCHA series.

Minnesota at North Dakota

Chris: So Roman tells me one of my favorite hockey teams can’t use its nickname any more and I say “What? I have to call them the Charleston hockey club now? And what’s the story with that dog?” Prediction: Two ties.

Roman: The Gophers have either beat or played everybody close. Six of their seven losses have been by one goal. So Chris is not being totally silly be forecasting two ties. U beat UND 2-0 and 3-2 in series at Mariucci in early November.

But UND is surging, 7-1-1 in its last nine games and it’s after Christmas now. Coach Dave Hakstol’s team always get better. His teams have a winning percentage of .577 before Christmas in his eight years at UND, and .707 after. He needs two wins to reach 200. Gino Gasparini is the winning coach at North Dakota with 392 wins, Blais is next with 262. Prediction: Split

Roman Augustoviz from the Star Tribune has a story about the Erratic Gophers hockey team remains a mystery [Star Tribune]

A Tradition of Excellence has his Thursday Morning and Friday Morning Coffee additions. I also like coffee, Caribou or Starbucks are my poison.

Brad Schlossman has a bunch of good stuff to read leading up to the tilt at the REA; UND - Minnesota week: One last WCHA tilt at The Ralph [Grand Forks Herald]

UND Men's hockey: UND, Gophers to resume rivalry [Grand Forks Herald]

UND Men's Hockey: Finding a way to get it done [Grand Forks Herald]

Here is the Gophers Puck Live Podcast. [Click to Listen]

Here is the link to KFAN and Cardinal’s Country Clomp Feast [KFAN.COM]

Tyler Buckentine and Brian Halverson from USCHO.COM broke down this weekend’s series between UND and UMN.

No. 5 Minnesota (15-7-1, 11-3-0 WCHA) at No. 17 North Dakota (11-8-2, 7-7-0 WCHA)

Tyler: The Gophers have played rather sluggish since Christmas, with home losses to Northeastern, and then Notre Dame last weekend. What a great time to have a rivalry game on the schedule to wake Minnesota up. UND isn’t head-and-shoulders above the Gophers in the physical play department as evidenced by the first two games between these teams in November. UND is banged up but slowly getting healthier but nothing will slow the team down this weekend. This one’s going to be fun to watch as always and I don’t see either team letting the other grab a big edge all weekend. Split

Brian: Minnesota holds a 5-3-2 edge over the series’ last 10 games but North Dakota is 6-3-1 vs. the Gophers in the most recent 10 at Ralph Engelstad Arena. The last time Minnesota traveled to Grand Forks holding a double-digit lead in the rankings, No. 17 UND swept the seventh-ranked Gophers (5-3, 7-3) on Jan. 9-10, 2009. Neither team has swept a four-game season series since Minnesota managed the feat in 1991-92 (4-2, 8-2 in Mpls.; 10-1, 5-3 in GF) and it won’t happen this year either. North Dakota, winners of seven of its past nine (7-1-1) games, sweeps the series.

Nate Wells from SBNation has this write up on the Minnesota Gophers. Gophers Hockey: Erratic Play Catches Up To Minnesota In 4-3 Loss [Daily Gopher]

Sean Lee talks to assistant UND coach Carey Eades about the Gophers, Canada and the Packers [UND Sports]