University of Minnesota Athletics
In-State Rivals Set to Face Off at Mariucci
11/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Minnesota (4-5-1, 3-4-1) vs. Minnesota Duluth (7-4-1, 4-3-1)
Date: Friday-Saturday, Nov. 20-21
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Mariucci Arena (10,000)
Series History: Minnesota leads 127-68-13
Radio: KYCR 1570 AM (Fri.)/WCCO 830 AM (Sat.) - Wally Shaver and Glen Sonmor
Television: Fox Sports North - Frank Mazzocco and Doug Woog
A rematch of last year's WCHA Final Five play-in game takes place at Mariucci Arena this weekend as the Gophers host Minnesota Duluth in a two-game series. The Bulldogs beat the Gophers 2-1 in the Final Five after Minnesota took three points in the teams' two regular season meetings. The games are Minnesota's only conference games in a three-week span.
Last Time Out
The Gophers split a non-conference series against Bemidji State, winning 4-1 on Saturday and dropping a 6-2 decision on Saturday. Jordan Schroeder scored a goal in each game for the Gophers, who held the Beavers to 22 shots in the opening game and just 19 shots in the second game. Alex Kangas earned the victory on Saturday with 21 saves.
Series History
Minnesota leads the all-time series 127-68-13 and are 7-2-2 over the past 11 meetings. The teams were even in three matchups last year with a 1-1-1 record. Minnesota Duluth posted a 2-1 victory in the WCHA Final Five play-in game. They tied in the first meeting 2-2 before Minnesota won the second game 5-3 in their regular season series on Feb. 27-28 at Mariucci Arena.
About the Bulldogs
Last year's WCHA playoff champions, Minnesota Duluth is off to a 7-4-1 start this year and lost consecutive games before exploding for an 8-1 win over Michigan Tech in its most recent outing on Saturday. Justin Fontaine had four goals and one assist in Saturday's win and was the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week. He leads the country with 11 goals for the season, including a national-best eight power play goals. Rob Bordson had four assists on Saturday and is the nation's assists leader with 14 for the year. Fontaine also has seven assists for the season and ranks fourth nationally in points per game with 18 points in 11 games played. Jack Connolly totaled a goal and four assists in the most recent game and now has seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points for the year. Brady Hjelle has played the majority of minutes in goal and has a 2.97 goals against average and .903 save percentage. Minnesota Duluth ranks sixth nationally on the power play at 26.5 percent with a national-best 22 power play goals in 12 games. The Bulldogs rank second in the country in penalty minutes with 22.0 minutes per game. Minnesota Duluth is playing at Mariucci Arena for the first time since last year's NCAA Regional when the Bulldogs fell one game short of the Frozen Four with a 2-1 loss to Miami.
Power Surge
The Gophers were 4-for-13 on the power play in last weekend's series against Bemidji State. They are now 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) over the past five games after opening the year 0-for-25 through the first five games. Minnesota ranked eighth nationally on the power play last season at 20.1 percent for the year.
Killing Them Off
Minnesota's penalty kill has also been on a roll recently as the Gophers had killed off 24 straight opponent power plays before Bemidji State scored twice on the man-advantage in Sunday's game. The Gophers' opponents have scored two goals in the last 28 power play chances after opening the year 7-for-22.
High and Low
The Gophers surrendered a season-low 19 shots on goal in Sunday's loss to Bemidji State, but gave up a season-high six goals. Minnesota also allowed just 22 shots in Saturday's victory. The only other Gophers' opponent with fewer than 30 shots in a game this season was Denver with 26 in their Oct. 24 meeting.
Keeping it Clean
After committing 19 penalties in the series opener against Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 30, the Gophers have committed a total of just 22 penalties over their past five games. The Gophers will need to continue to stay out of the penalty box this weekend as Minnesota Duluth has drawn more penalties than any other team in the country. The Bulldogs have had a whopping 83 power play chances already in 12 games and scored a national-best 22 power play goals. No other team in the country has had more than 70 power play opportunities.
Speaking Short
If Minnesota does find itself in the penalty box this weekend, the Gophers are in a comfortable position, having already scored a national-best three shorthanded goals. Minnesota is among seven teams in the country with three shorthanders. Minnesota Duluth has allowed two shorthanded goals.
Streaking Senior
Senior forward Tony Lucia had an assist in each game to extend his career-high point-scoring streak to six games. His previous high was three straight games, which he had done five times. Lucia leads the team in scoring with four goals and seven assists for 11 points. All of Lucia's points have come in the past six games and he was the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week following a five-point weekend against Alaska Anchorage. He is well on his way to a career season as Lucia's season-best was 19 points during his freshman year. He scored 17 points last season.
Holding Them Down
Alex Kangas turned in another strong performance on Saturday against Bemidji State, allowing just one goal in a game for the 16th time in his career. He also has three shutouts among his 74 career starts. Kangas currently ranks 15th in the country with a .929 save percentage. He was the WCHA Defensive Player of the Week following his career-high 45 saves in the Gophers' 5-2 win at Wisconsin on Nov. 7.
Line Changes
With numerous injuries and other circumstances already this season, the Gophers have yet to use the same lineup in any of their 10 games this season. Of Minnesota's 25 players, only 10 have played in all of the team's first 10 games.
Missing From Action
Senior captain Ryan Flynn missed Sunday's game against Bemidji State with a leg injury and will be evaluated this week to determine his status for this weekend's series. Flynn had played in 65 consecutive games since missing a game on Jan. 19, 2008 at Minnesota Duluth. He has played in 127 of a possible 136 games with four of the games missed coming when he participated in the World Junior Championships.
Minnesota's Best
In an effort to determine the top sports rivalry in every state, The Sporting News chose the men's hockey battles between Minnesota and Minnesota Duluth as the Gopher State's top rivalry. The magazine, which was released the week of May 4-8, 2009, selected the top intra-state showdown at any level of sports in each of the 50 states. For instance, the cover of the magazine featured the Cubs-White Sox tradition as Illinois' top rivalry.
