University of Minnesota Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 6/5 University of Minnesota men's hockey team gets its first taste of competition Saturday night when it travels to St. Cloud State for an exhibition against the 16th-ranked Huskies. Fans across the state can watch the game live on FOX 9+ from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center beginning at 6 p.m.

START ON THE SECOND

After back-to-back Big Ten Conference titles in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 regular seasons, Minnesota finished third in the standings a year ago. With a league-leading six B1G titles already under their belts, the Gophers are looking to return to the top of the conference this season and were picked to finish second in the preseason poll, which was voted on by the seven B1G head coaches. Defending champion Michigan State takes top honors after claiming its first-ever regular season and tournament titles last season.

B1G PRE-SEASON HONORS TO FOUR

Four players representing the Maroon and Gold were recognized by the league's head coaches and named to one of the Preseason All-B1G Teams for 2024-2025. Jimmy Snuggerud was a unanimous selection to the All-B1G First Team he joined Sam Rinzel. Mike Koster and newcomer Matthew Wood earned spots on the All-B1G Second Team.

READY FOR THE ROAD

Minnesota opens the season with five of its first six games away from home, but after heading to the Ice Breaker Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, will play its next four games within state lines. After their trip west, the Gophers will travel north to Duluth, Minnesota, for a weekend series against the Bulldogs Oct. 18-19 before their home opener on Oct. 25 against St. Thomas. The series with the Tommies concludes with a Saturday night match at Xcel Energy Center, a rematch of last year's season opener, where more than 11,000 fans attended.

DESIGN THE SWEET 16

The Gophers have more NHL draft picks on their roster than any other NCAA hockey program in 2024-2025. Minnesota's 16 players are the most for the team since 2011-12, when it had 17. From that roster from over a decade ago, four players (Nick Bjugstad, Travis Boyd, Erik Haula, Justin Holl) are still playing in the NHL. This year's roster includes four first-round selections Matthew Wood (15th overall), Oliver Moore (19th overall), Jimmy Snuggerud (23rd overall), and Sam Rinzel (25th overall). Minnesota has the most all-time draft selections (242) of any NCAA men's hockey program, after adding three over the summer. At least one Gopher has been drafted in 50 of the last 51 NHL Entry Drafts dating back to 1974, with 2001 being the lone exception.

LOOKING FOR NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Minnesota's victory over Omaha in last season's NCAA Sioux Falls Regional opener was the program's 62nd all-time victory in the NCAA tournament, the most of any college hockey program. The Gophers have a record of 62-42 (.596) in 41 trips to the national stage since 1953 and have made four straight appearances. Led by the head coach Bob Motzkothe Maroon and Gold are 7-4 in the postseason event, including at least one win in each of the past four years.

Let's go see

Fans continue to enter arenas to attend college games in person as attendance for NCAA Division I men's hockey increased 8 percent nationwide in 2023-2024, with 36 of 62 (58 percent) programs returning in both 2023-2024 and participate in 2022-2023. experience attendance gains. That follows a 15 percent increase between 2021-22 and 2022-23. The Big Ten Conference had five of the top 10 teams in the country in total attendance a year ago, and Minnesota ranked third nationally with nearly 200,000 people coming to campus. An average of 9,225 fans attended 3M Arena in Mariucci across 21 home games, and the Gophers finished the year with seven sellouts, including the second-highest attendance in arena history (10,750) against Penn State on February 9, 2024 The 'U' also set a new series attendance record when 21,310 fans came to the arena that weekend against the Nittany Lions.

HISTORY WITH THE HUSKIES

Minnesota has faced St. Cloud State a total of 108 times in program history and leads the all-time series 60-36-12, but is just 19-19-6 in games away from home. However, because Saturday's match is an exhibition match, it will not count in the official record. The Gophers last battled the Huskies in the 2023 NCAA Fargo Regional Finals, where top-seeded Maroon and Gold posted a 4-1 win over in-state foes to reach the Frozen Four. Logan Cooley scored the eventual game winner in the second period ahead of Jackson LaCombe and Jaxon Nelson added insurance is correct. The two teams also shared a home-and-home series during the regular season that year, with each team defending home ice. This will be the second all-time exhibition game featuring Minnesota and SCSU, with the only other game taking place in the US Hockey Hall of Fame Game at the Eveleth Hippodrome on October 3, 1987, a 6-0 victory for the Gophers.

INSIDE VIEW TO ST. CLOUD STATE

The Huskies finished fourth in the NCHC standings a season ago and were picked to finish in the same spot this year according to the league's preseason poll, behind Denver, North Dakota and Colorado College. SCSU posted its fourth straight winning season in 2023-2024 with a 17-16-3 record and advanced to the semifinals of the NCHC Frozen Faceoff. Head coach Brett Larson's team returns six of last year's top 10 scorers, led by Adam Ingram, who finished fourth on the team with 26 points, while Verner Miettinen is the other returner who recorded 20 points for the Huskies.

PRODUCTION RETURNS

Minnesota returns nearly 60 percent of its scoring output from a season ago, led by a trio that all reached double figures. Jimmy Snuggerud followed the Gophers in 2023-2024 and has scored more than 20 goals in consecutive campaigns, while Aaron Huglen And Brody Lam added 13 and 12 goals respectively. These three also combined for 14 of the team's 19 returning game-winning goals. Minnesota has 11 different players back in the lineup who finished with double-digit points last year, including seven who had more than 20.

NEW SCORING PUNCH

With 55 goals and a third of their total points lost from a season ago, the Gophers are turning to their five forwards for an extra goal in 2024-25. The addition of UConn transfer and first-round pick Matthew Wood Tools that helped the junior lead the Huskies to 62 points in 70 games each year. While the four remaining newcomers may be new to the collegiate scene, they are no strangers to getting on the scoresheet. August autumn, Beckett HendricksonErik Påhlsson, and Brodie Ziemer combined to achieve 238 points for their respective junior teams in 2023-2024.

STRENGTHENS THE BLUE LINE

Minnesota adds seven defensemen to the lineup, including four with more than 75 games of college hockey experience, as the backbone of the roster. The team welcomed two freshmen this summer Leo Gruba And John Whipple will strengthen the blue line and give the team depth at every turn. Gruba was named USHL Defenseman of the Year after helping the Fargo Force win the Clark Cup last season. He led all USHL defensemen in scoring with 57 points in 60 games, setting a single-season franchise record for points by a blue liner. Whipple comes to campus as a 2024 fifth-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings following a 17-point campaign with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program.

DEFENSE MAN 'U'

Minnesota was the only college hockey program in the country to have blue liners with double-digit numbers in the NHL last year. A total of twelve former Gopher defensemen took the ice in the NHL during the 2023-2024 season, totaling more than 750 games played. Highlighting the group was Nick Leddy when he reached the 1,000-game milestone with the St. Louis Blues in March, becoming the eighth former Gopher to reach the mark.