Gophers face Michigan State in battle of top-5 teams for Big Ten lead
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - It might be the middle of January, but it will feel more like March for the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team in East Lansing, Mich., this weekend.
The No. 3-ranked Gophers (19-5-2, 10-3-1) travel to No. 2-ranked Michigan State (19-3-2) for the top spot in the Big Ten with five regular season series remaining. The Gophers enter the weekend having won four of their past six after splitting a series with Notre Dame.
It’s the biggest weekend of the year so far with a little more than a month left in the regular season.
"You come to our program and you have rivalry weekends that are huge, the second half when you’re in these positions, you don’t know what weekend it’s going to be but there’s weekends that show up on your schedule and ‘OK, it’s game on,’" Gophers coach Bob Motzko said after Tuesday’s practice. "This is one of them."
What’s at stake
What we know: The Gophers are second in the Big Ten at 31 points, one behind the Spartans, who are at 31. At the end of the regular season, the top team in the Big Ten gets the No. 1 seed and a first round bye for the league tournament. They avoid a best-of-three series to move onto the semifinals.
Motzko wants the league title, but doesn’t want the time off. He can’t have both.
"I’d love to win the league, but I don’t want a bye either. I’ve been pretty vocal on that, but that’s still a month and change away," Motzko said. "That’s not even in our vocabulary right now."
Earlier this year, Minnesota had a 3-3 tie and 5-3 loss to Michigan State in mid-December at 3M Arena at Mariucci.
Jimmy Snuggerud earns Big Ten honor
Why it matters: Gophers’ forward Jimmy Snuggerud was named the Big Ten’s First Star of the Week on Tuesday. He scored twice in a 5-2 win over Notre Dame last Friday, his 13th career multi-goal game. He had another goal on Saturday as the Gophers lost in overtime.
It’s Snuggerud’s sixth Big Ten honor, five of which are First Star. He has goals in three straight games and eight goals over his last 10 games. He leads Minnesota with 33 points and 15 goals on the season.