Ranked 1-2, Gophers and Spartans ready to Rumble

Thursday December 12, 2024

Big Ten Battle Highlights Last weekend before the holidays

While several NCAA Division I men's hockey teams have begun their break, this weekend will be anything but for Minnesota and Michigan State.

Ranked 1 and 2 respectively in this week's national polls, the Golden Gophers will host the Spartans in a major showdown of the Ten at the 3M Arena in Mariucci. Minnesota (15-2-1, 8-0-0) has not yet lost in conference play; Michigan State (12-2-0, 5-1-0) has lost just one conference game.

Conference rivalry aside, it's also a remarkably compelling matchup on paper. Both teams rank in the top four of the PairWise rankings, and both rank in the top five nationally in scoring offense, scoring defense and shots on goal per game.

The Gophers are coming off a pair of shutout wins over Michigan last weekend, with Nathan Airey (So., Cochrane, Alberta) and Liam Souliere (Gr., Brampton, Ontario) each of which resulted in a clean slate. Airey's shutout was the first of his NCAA career, and he helped the Gophers earn back-to-back shutouts of the Wolverines for the first time since 1943.

For the goalkeepers, eight players have already scored five-plus goals, including Sam Rinzel (So., Chanhassen, Minnesota), the nation's top-scoring defenseman.

Michigan State, meanwhile, is coming off a conference split at Wisconsin and bounced back from Friday's 4-0 loss for its first Big Ten loss of the season with a 3-2 overtime victory Saturday. Wisconsin resident Isaac Howard (Jr., Hudson, Wis.) scored the winner, his team-leading 17th point of the year, and is already one goal away from tying the career-best eight he scored a year ago.

You won't find Spartans in the top 20 national scoring leaders, but you will find a deep, balanced roster that receives contributions from all over. In fact, 19 of the 22 skaters who prepared for at least one competition this year found the scoresheet.

And of course the second year highlight is between the pipes Trey Augustine (South Lyon, Michigan), who has started 12 of the team's 14 games, winning 10 of them, while posting a 1.83 goals against average and a .934 save percentage.

Friday's game can be seen on the Big Ten Network. Saturday's rematch will be streamed live on B1G+.

The two other top 20 matchups this weekend take place in the NCHC, where No. 4 Denver takes on No. 11 Colorado College in a home-and-home series, and No. 9 St. Cloud State visits No. 18 North Dakota.

USA Hockey/The Rink Live National Poll Rankings (December 9)

Daily Scoreboard | Weekly schedule | Statistical Leaders | Purpose-oriented leaders

Must read:

Boston Sphere: Battered Boston College showed off its versatility in Monday's win over UMass Lowell

College hockey news: Wood clicks completely again in new home

College hockey news: Team of the Week: Minnesota

Duluth News Tribune: Plante and Kleber want to take the next step at World Juniors

Duluth News Tribune: Wellen's trip report: Where does the state of Arizona rank among NCHC road trips?

EP ice rink: Halfway through the college season, James Hagens is building momentum

EP ice rink: Dartmouth got off to a hot start as the NCAA's biggest surprise

Big Forks announce: Meet UND junior forward Dylan James

St. Cloud Live: SCSU's Gavin Enright brings a new mental approach in his fifth season of college hockey

USCHO: Colgate players understand the gravity of the moment and want to continue the recent surge

USCHO: After back-to-back shutouts over Michigan, Minnesota found goalie rotation was the key to success

USCHO: The healthy UMass Lowell team, a completely new team, is having a monstrous first half of the 2024-2025 season

Must hear:

Bulldog Insider: The insiders provide an overview of the first half of 2024-2025

CHN Insiders: Featuring broadcaster and former Golden Gopher Pat Micheletti

College hockey today: Talking conference leaders, advanced stats, NCHC rookie snipers and more

Ice Hockey on Campus: With Providence coach Nate Leaman, BU sophomore F Shane Lachance

Farewell Schotts: Union coach Hauge discusses the Princeton-Quinnipiac weekend and previews the Vermont games

The CCHA Show: Featuring Minnesota State Captain Josh Groll

EN Hockey podcast: A search in Oxford

USCHO weekend review: No. 1 Michigan State splits, Minnesota sweeps, right roster sizes

Must watch:

ECAC hockey: Deciders: With Quinnipiac head coach Rand Pecknold

Opinion polls apart:

As college hockey approaches its unofficial midseason mark, it's interesting to look at the conference standings.

In five of the six conferences, the standings are led solely by teams that were not They are predicted to finish first in their respective preseason polls. In the sixth, Atlantic Hockey, preseason favorite Sacred Heart shares first place with Bentley, who finished in fifth place:

Conference leader (preseason)
Atlantic Hockey Bentley (5th) and Heilig Hart (1st)
Big Ten Minnesota (2nd)
CCHA Minnesota State (4th)
ECAC Hockey Colgate (5th)
Hockey Eastern Maine (4th)
NCHC Western Michigan (6th)

College Hockey Goes to Washington:

Penn State and Army West Point face off Thursday at Capital One Arena, home of the NHL's Washington Capitals. The game is in a nightcap for the first time Capital Hockey Classica college hockey doubleheader that also includes a matchup between the Army and Navy club hockey teams.

The tilt between Penn State and Army marks the third NCAA Division I men's hockey game played at an NHL venue this season. Minnesota and St. Thomas met on Oct. 26 at Saint Paul's Xcel Energy Center, while Quinnipiac and Cornell faced off on Nov. 30 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Power surge:

Since early November, St. Thomas owns the nation's top power play at 35.9 percent, converting 14 of 39 opportunities with a man advantage during that stretch. That narrowly trails Denver (35.5) and LIU (35.0).

Five other teams are also clicking at 30 percent or better since Nov. 1: Maine (33.3), Colgate (30.8), Canisius (30.0), Lake Superior State (30.0) and UMass (30.0) .

BC PK A-OK:

Boston College went almost the entire first half of the season without allowing a single power play goal.

After a 5-for-5 performance from their penalty-killing units in Friday's 3-3 overtime tie at UMass Lowell, the Eagles were an incredible 38-for-38 on the season. That streak finally came to an end in Monday's rematch with the River Hawks when I was a freshman Mirko Buttazzoni (Langley, British Columbia) found the net on UMass Lowell's second power play of the game.

Now 38 for 39 (97.6%) this year, BC enters the holiday break leading the NCAA in penalty kill. St. Lawrence ranks second with 92.0 percent.

Suitable for printing:

The way I look at hockey, one-timers are an amazing thing.

— Minnesota State F Rhett Pitlick (Sr., Plymouth, Minnesota) after his overtime one-timer gave the Mavericks a 3-2 victory over CCHA foe Bowling Green on Saturday (source: MSUMavericks.com).

NHL note of the week:

Former Boston University captain Kevin Shattenkirk (2007-10) announced his retirement Tuesday after a 14-year NHL career.

Shattenkirk, the 14th overall pick out of Colorado in 2007, spent three years with the Terriers and was an All-America defender on BU's NCAA championship team in 2008-09. The following season, as a junior, he was appointed team captain.

Shattenkirk went on to play in 952 NHL regular season games (plus 91 playoff games) with Colorado, St. Louis, Washington, the New York Rangers, Tampa Bay, Anaheim and Boston. He represented the Blues in the 2014-15 NHL All-Star Game and won the Stanley Cup in 2019-20 with the Lightning.

Shattenkirk also represented the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Fries at the bottom of the bag:

BC has won 18 straight home games since last season, tying the school record from the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons. Colgate senior F Brett Choir (Edina, Minnesota) has the nation's longest active point streak at 12 straight games. He hasn't been off the scoresheet since Oct. 19 and has recorded at least one point in 15 of his 18 games this year. Aidan Thompsons (Jr., Fort Collins, Colo.) season-opening 14-game winning streak was snapped in Denver's 3-2 loss to Western Michigan last Friday Minnesota State junior D Campbell Chichos (Albert Lea, Minn.) blocked nine shots in the Mavericks OT win over Bowling Green Saturday, tying LIU's Valtteri Piironen (Nov. 23) for the most in an NCAA Division I men's game this season. Cichosz also scored his first goal of the season in the 3-2 win at Minnesota sophomore G Nathan Airey (Cochrane, Alberta) recorded its first NCAA shutout in the Golden Gophers' 6-0 victory over Michigan on Friday. Airey improved to 9-0-1 on the season with a 1.99 goals against average and a .918 save percentage Wisconsin G Tommy Scarfone (Sr., L'le-Bizard, Que.) made his 100th career start on Friday, coming off a 26-save shutout against top-ranked Michigan State, his first shutout as a Badger.

Longest Active NCAA Point Streaks:

• 12 matches, f Brett Choir (Colgate)
  • 9-514, started at RIT on October 25
• 9 games, D CJ Foley (Dartmouth)
  • 3-1013, started on November 3 against Stonehill
• 8 games, f Tyler Fukakusa (RIT)
  • 4-812, started on November 16 against the army
• 8 games, f Connor Milburn (Lake Superior State)

Longest active target sequences:

• 3 games, f Mirko Buttazzoni (UMass Lowell)
  • 4-15, started Nov 30 vs. Clarkson
• 3 games, f Cameron Garvey (Robert Morris)
  • 3-14, started Nov 30 vs. AIC
• 3 games, f Cam Lund (Northeastern)
  • 3-47, started on December 1 vs. Bentley
• 3 games, f Jos Nadeau (Maine)
  • 3-25, started December 1 at RPI

Conference websites
Atlantic hockey | Big Ten | CCHA | ECAC hockey | Hockey East | NCHC

College Hockey Inc. Resources:

Did you know? 93% of NCAA Division I men's hockey players obtain their diploma!