University of Minnesota Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS – For the second time in six weeks, it’s a battle of two of the NCAA’s best men’s college hockey programs as No. 4/3 Minnesota faces a road test at No. 2 Michigan State during a Big Ten Conference series Jan. 24-25.
 
Game one from Munn Ice Arena is set for 6 p.m. (CT) Friday night streaming on B1G+ before the series finale on Saturday at 5 p.m. (CT) live on Big Ten Network. Fans can also tune into audio coverage of the entire weekend through the Gopher Radio Network 103.5 FM/AM-1130 KTLK with expanded coverage Friday on KFAN 100.3 FM.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Gophers claimed four of a possible six points during a weekend series at home against Notre Dame in front of sellout crowds each night. Minnesota scored five times in the first period to erase an early deficit Friday, including a pair of tallies from Jimmy Snuggerud, and got the eventual game winner from John Mittelstadt in a 5-2 victory. Matthew Wood found the back of the net in the third period Saturday that pushed the game to overtime, but the Irish picked up the 4-3 win.
 
SNUGGERUD STOCK RISING
Jimmy Snuggerud was named the B1G First Star of the Week for the second time this season and sixth weekly award of his career behind a three-goal series versus Notre Dame. The junior scored twice during the opening frame of Friday’s 5-2 victory and followed with another first-period goal on Saturday. He has goals in three-straight games and put away eight goals over his last 10 outings to move into second in the NCAA scoring race with 33 points. After leading the Gophers with multiple points in each game of a road sweep at Wisconsin, he also claimed the honor (Nov. 12). He capped the weekend with a backhand saucer pass to Brodie Ziemer for the overtime winner, which was the 50th assist of his career. Snuggerud has reached the scoresheet in 20 of 26 appearances this year with a team-best 11 multi-point outings. He became the 62nd player in program history to record 50 career goals when he scored against Michigan (Dec. 6). Snuggerud posted 21 goals in each of his first two seasons and is one of just six Gophers to score 20 or more goals in back-to-back seasons since 2000.
 
HOBEY BAKER FAN VOTING BEGINS
Sam Rinzel and Jimmy Snuggerud from the Maroon and Gold are two of more than 90 players representing all 64 NCAA Division I programs nominated for the 2025 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. The fan-voting portion began Jan. 22 and goes until Mar. 9 and can be found by going to hobeybaker.com/vote. Phase two of fan balloting will feature the Top Ten Hobey Baker finalists beginning Mar. 19 and closes Mar. 30. The fan vote accounts for a percentage of the total ballot in each phase in selecting this year’s award recipient.
 
SHOWING OFF THE BALANCE
The Gophers have lit the lamp an NCAA-best 106 times this season, 21 more than any other program, with 20 different players scoring after both Cal Thomas and Luke Mittelstadt joined the list versus the Irish last weekend. Minnesota’s offensive depth in 2024-25 has shined through as its 282 points have come via 21 of their 22 total skaters, and one goaltender, including 13 players that have reached double-digit scoring, five with 20 or more points. The team has found the back of the net five or more times in 14 appearances and been held to fewer than three goals just five times. More importantly, the Gophers are putting in the work on the defensive end, holding the NCAA’s second-best scoring margin at plus-1.92 as they have surrendered 56 goals all season, a 2.15 goals per game average.
 
GETTING GAMES STARTED
Despite only scoring the first goal of the game in half of the team’s 26 appearances this season, Minnesota has dominated during first periods of action in 2024-25. The Gophers are outscoring their opposition by a 38-16 margin thanks to a 354-224 advantage in shots on goal. They have found the back of the net in the opening frame in 17 of 26 total games, including five of the last six, and in seven of those outings have recorded three or more first period goals. Jimmy Snuggerud has six goals and Connor Kurth has five to pace the team, while Kurth has a team-best 12 points.
 
WINNERS FROM EVERYONE
The Gophers offensive balance is showcased by the fact that 13 different skaters have accounted for their 19 game-winning goals. No one from the roster has scored more than two game winners as six are tied for the team lead. A year ago, only 10 Minnesota players recorded a winning goal in the team’s 23 total victories.
 
MITTELSTADT BROTHERS SURGING
After Luke Mittelstadt failed to pick up a point for the first five games this season, he has 12 in his last 14 appearances, including four outings of multiple assists, and his first goal of the season that ended a 31-game scoreless drought. He has 12 points in 14 league appearances, ranking second in the B1G for defensemen scoring, behind only teammate Sam Rinzel. The Eden Prairie, Minn., product became the first Gophers’ defenseman to record 20-plus points in each of his first two seasons since Alex Goligoski had 20 in 2004-05 and 39 in 2005-06. Meanwhile, his brother John scored his first goal of the season and second-career game-winning goal in a home win over Bemidji State (Nov. 14) that snapped a goal drought of 26 games. He added the first multi-point effort of his tenure with two assists at home versus Mercyhurst (Jan. 4) to extend his career-long scoring streak to three games and picked up another game winner versus Notre Dame (Jan. 17).
 
KURTH REMAINS THE NCAA’S BEST
Connor Kurth was named the B1G Second Star of the Week (Oct. 15) thanks to his career-best, four-point outing in the Gophers’ season opener against Air Force in Las Vegas where he scored a goal in all three periods. The nation’s plus-minus leader at plus-27, he leads Minnesota with five outings of three or more points this year. Kurth matched his single-season career high of seven goals with his first collegiate power-play tally at Wisconsin (Nov. 9), while his current total of 11 goals ranks 28th in the NCAA and his 28 points are 10th nationally.
 
HISTORY WITH THE SPARTANS
Minnesota remains 136-52-18 in the all-time series against Michigan State despite only picking up one of a possible six points in the previous meeting between the two teams in December at 3M Arena at Mariucci. Brodie Ziemer scored three times earlier this year versus the Spartans, including his first collegiate multi-goal effort Friday that helped force overtime, while Brody Lamb chipped in a goal both nights for the offense. The all-time series win total was aided by a 16-game unbeaten streak between Dec. 3, 2020, and Nov. 26, 2023. This weekend marks eight-straight meetings with both sides ranked in the top 10 of the national polls and hold a 2-2-2 record in the previous six.
 
INSIDE LOOK AT MICHIGAN STATE
The Spartans are coming off a series split with rival Michigan last weekend and remain in first place in the B1G standings, holding a one-point lead over the Gophers. MSU is 9-1 at Munn Ice Arena this season, winning eight straight, and rank in the top 10 nationally in both scoring offense (3.42 goals per game) and scoring defense (1.96 goals per game). With an incredible run of 21 points in his last 11 outings, including a five-point night at Penn State (Jan. 10), Isaac Howard has taken over the NCAA’s scoring lead as the junior sits at 36 points for the year. Goaltender Trey Augustine is having a career year, posting a 1.97 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage to go with a B1G-leading 12 wins.
 
HITTING THE CENTURY MARK
The current roster of Gophers is riddled with college hockey veterans as eight different players have all reached the century mark for career games played. Mike Koster and Mason Nevers led the way as they have appeared in 166 and 157 games with the Maroon and Gold, respectively, and are nearing the top 20 list in program history, while Aaron Huglen is close behind with 137 games to his credit. This season, five members of the junior class hit the milestone in the last month with two more less than 10 games away.
 
DEFENSEMAN ‘U’
Minnesota was the lone college hockey program in the country with double-digit blue liners in the NHL last year. A total of 12 former Gopher defensemen took the ice in the NHL during the 2023-24 season, accounting for more than 750 games played. Highlighting the group was Brock Faber as he finished second in voting for the Calder Trophy given to the NHL’s rookie of the year. Nick Leddy and Erik Johnson both reached the 1,000-game milestone, becoming the eighth and ninth former Gopher to hit the mark.