The Minnesota Gophers head to Penn State for hockey’s Big Ten Champions!

The Minnesota Gophers men’s hockey team was unable to win the Big Ten regular season title on their own last weekend in Madison after losing to the Badgers on Saturday. The Gopher headed to Happy Valley this weekend knowing that just two points against the Nittany Lions would earn them the title. Now they don’t even need it. Thanks Ohio StateAfter defeating Michigan in a shootout Thursday night in Columbus, the Gophers officially own the 2022-23 Big Ten regular season title by four games. The Gophers have clinched the overall seed in the conference tournament and earned a first-round bye. But the Gophers still have a lot to play for in their final four regular season games, and they need to do it in short order.

The Gophers appeared to have made it through Madison without major injuries, but earlier this week that was proven not to be the case. The Gophers will be without a pair of running backs for at least this weekend, as junior captain Brock Faber is week-to-week with an upper-body injury and has been seen wearing a leash around campus. He could still return for the regular season finale next weekend when the Gophers host Ohio State. They will definitely be missing freshman linebacker Ryan Chesley, who will be out until the playoffs, according to Gopher coach Bob Motzko. due to an upper body injury. Chesley played the entire game in Madison on Saturday and didn’t appear to have any ill effects, but apparently something happened that will now cause him to miss the final four games of the regular season. Maybe it’s a good thing since all the Gophers received a first-round bye to give Chesley and possibly Faber an extra week to recover before the Gophers host the Big Ten semifinals at 3M Arena in Mariucci on Saturday, March 11.

Despite the losses, Minnesota still has a full three sets of defensemen with Carl Fish joining the team and playing a regular rotation. But they don’t have depth behind him because Minnesota won’t redshirt senior Matt Staudacher. Minnesota will play an extra forward this weekend instead of the extra defenseman they’ve usually wanted to play, and that means a full trade for not only Fish, but also Luke Middlestadt and Cal Thomas, with one of them joining the team. another pairing.

Minnesota is also looking to lock up the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and finish the regular season. Despite their loss last Saturday, the Gophers remain No. 1 in the Pairwise rankings ahead of #2 Quinnipiac, who leapfrogged them in the voter polls. The Gophers finish strong with series against #5 Penn State and #9 Ohio State, while the Bobcats close out their regular season with games against Yale, Brown Union and RPI. Union is the highest remaining team of the pair at No. 35. There just isn’t much room for Quinnipiac to move up, especially if the Gophers can finish the regular season with a 3-1 record or better. Regardless of what happens in the conference tournaments, it should lock the Gophers into the No. 1 seed and likely a trip to Fargo for their regional and hopefully without North Dakota.

Penn State isn’t going to lay down and let the Gophers run wild by any means. The Nittany Lions are fishing for both their conference home ice and to climb as high as possible in Pairwise. Penn State is currently ranked No. 5 Pairwise, just tied for No. 1, but currently sixth in the Big Ten standings with 30 points. The Nittany Lions have a pair of games in hand in both State of Michigan and Our Lady who have tied for fourth place just one point ahead of them, so PSU’s chances to earn at least the #4 seed and an opening round home series are likely. But they need to get past the Gophers to make sure it doesn’t come down to the last possible weekend.

Penn State has been one of the only Big Ten teams to have success against the Gophers in its history. Entering this weekend, Minnesota has a 21-17-1 all-time record against the Nittany Lions dating back to the dawn of the PSU program in 2014. Pegula Arena had been a house of horrors for the Gophers until last season. Minnesota swept the Nittany Lions en route to the Big Ten regular season title, but prior to last season, the Gophers had gone 0-7-1 over the last four seasons.

It should be another streak of two high-powered offenses. Minnesota averages 4.00 goals per game, ranking second in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation, and Penn State averages 3.50, ranking third in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation. The teams split the series in Minneapolis in November, with PSU winning the opener 4-2 before Minnesota bounced back with a 3-1 win on Saturday. The Gophers will look to get their highly touted first line of Logan Cooley, Mathew Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud more action this weekend than they did in November, when Cooley’s assist was the trio’s only point of the weekend. The Gophers also need to start faster than they have in recent games. PSU scored the opening goal in both games in Minneapolis, and if Minnesota falls behind early on a rampant Pegula crown, especially on THON weekend, the Gophers will hear it all night. It’s time for Minnesota to take over the weekend early on Friday and carry the momentum throughout the weekend.

But it will be a difficult task for Justen Close to play without two of his best defenders. Close has been brilliant for most of this season, but has had some disappointments at times. This weekend is not the time for one of them, because the way PSU puts pucks in the net all the time, there is no such thing as a break this weekend Close, who was just named one of the semifinalists for the university’s Mike Richter Award. the best goalie in hockey. But Minnesota won’t go far in March and April without Close playing at the top of his game.

With the regular season title clinched, hopefully the Gophers can avoid a potential disappointment they didn’t achieve themselves and come away from Pegula with at least a sweep to keep their momentum going into the final weekend of the regular season.

HOW TO WATCH:

#2 Minnesota Gophers @ #7 Penn State Nittany Lions

Where: Pegula Ice Arena, University Park, Pennsylvania

When: 5:30 Friday/Saturday

TV: Big Ten Network

Streaming: FoxSports.com

Radio 1130 AM/ 103.5 FM/ I Heart Radio app