'U' Renews Border Battle at Wisconsin Nov. 8-9

MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 3 Minnesota men's hockey team continues Big Ten Conference play with a Border Battle series at Wisconsin Nov. 8-9 inside Kohl Center.

Looking to extend their six-game win streak, the Golden Gophers face off with the Badgers starting at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday with both outings available to stream live on B1G+. Fans also can tune in for audio coverage via the Gopher Radio Network 103.5 FM/AM-1130 KTLK.

LAST TIME OUT
After allowing the first goal during the weekend against No. 18 Penn State, Minnesota's goaltending tandem of Nathan Airey and Liam Souliere shut down the opposition the rest of the series to secure a Big Ten Conference-opening sweep. The Gophers extended their current winning streak to six games, the longest streak since winning nine-in-a-row from Feb. 4 to Mar. 12, 2022. Jimmy Snuggerud scored twice in the second period Friday, including the eventual game winner on the power play, while Jimmy Clark had a goal in each game of the series versus the Nittany Lions. Clark found the back of an empty net Friday before breaking a 59-minute deadlock Saturday, scoring the contest's lone tally with 26 seconds remaining in regulation to finish off the Maroon and Gold's third-straight sweep.

SHOWING OFF THE BALANCE
Through eight games this season, the Gophers have picked up 37 total goals from 14 different players and 100 total points via 18 skaters, showcasing their offensive depth in 2024-25. Balanced scoring has helped Minnesota rank second nationally in scoring offense, averaging 4.6 goals per game. The team has lit the lamp five or more times in five of its eight appearances. More importantly, the Gophers are putting in the work on the defensive end of the ice, holding the NCAA's fourth-best scoring margin at plus-3.0 as they have surrendered just 13 goals all season, a 1.6 goals per game average. The Maroon and Gold has erased 13-straight man advantages over the past five outings, improving the penalty kill to 89.5 percent (17-of-19), which has aided the early defensive numbers.

STRONG SOPHOMORE START
Goaltender Nathan Airey is fully healthy entering his second year of college hockey after missing nearly the entire first half of last season with an injury and is making an impact in the Minnesota net. He earned his first win during his college hockey debut last January at home against Robert Morris (Jan. 12) and has won all four of his starts to begin his sophomore campaign. A native of Cochrane, Alberta, Airey owns a 2.00 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage this season and given up one goal in three of his four appearances.

SOULIERE STOPPED THEM ALL
Graduate transfer goaltender Liam Souliere is enjoying a change of scenery as he joined the Gophers during the summer after playing four seasons at B1G-foe Penn State. After suffering a 2-1 overtime loss in his Minnesota debut against Omaha (Oct. 12), he won each of his next three starts, including a 28-save shutout of the Nittany Lions in his first appearance versus his former team to secure a series sweep. That was also his first time playing in front of his new home fans inside 3M Arena at Mariucci. He has allowed just five goals in four starts this season for a 1.25 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage, both of which rank in the top five nationally, while only three of the goals have come via even strength action with two being scored while the opposition has been shorthanded. Before joining the Maroon and Gold, Souliere ranked second all-time in wins (39), third in saves (2,067) and shutouts (3), fifth in goals-against average (2.95), and seventh in save percentage (.897) with PSU.

WOODY, YOUR FAVORITE DEPUTY
No stranger to putting up points in college hockey, junior transfer Matthew Wood has kept that trend going since donning the Minnesota uniform. He burst onto the scene opening night behind a three-assist effort versus Air Force (Oct. 11) and registered five multi-point performances in his first six appearances. The product of Nanaimo, B.C., scored his first goal at Minnesota Duluth (Oct. 18), starting a three-game, goal-scoring streak. Wood joins linemate Connor Kurth with a team-leading 13 points, which sits fifth in the country, while his 10 assists are third among all NCAA skaters.

KURTH STARS IN SEASON OPENER
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. The forward scored a goal in all three periods versus the Falcons and remains one of six skaters in the country with a four-point outing this year, and the lone player from the Big Ten Conference to hit that mark. His six goals are tied for the second-most in the NCAA this year and just one shy of reaching his single-season high of seven set in each of his first two collegiate campaigns. The nation's plus-minus leader at plus-13, Kurth tied his career-long, goal-scoring streak when he found the back of the net for the third-consecutive outing Saturday at Xcel Energy Center against St. Thomas.

CLARK CATCHING ON
For the first time in his career, Jimmy Clark was named a B1G Star of the Week (Oct. 22) after leading the Gophers with five points during the road sweep at Minnesota Duluth, earning Second Star honors. He recorded the first three-point effort of his career in the series opener, all three points coming via assists in the first period. The Edina, Minn., native went on to score his first power-play goal with the Maroon and Gold on Saturday in a game where he also had an assist. He followed that by scoring in consecutive outings for the first time as a Gopher when he buried the final goal in both games of a B1G sweep of No. 18 Penn State, including the game winner in Saturday's 1-0 shutout with just 26 seconds remaining in regulation. It was Clark's second-career game-winning goal and pushed him to double-digit points for the year, one point shy of his freshman total.

SNUGGERUD STILL RISING
Behind a two-goal effort in the series opener against Penn State, Jimmy Snuggerud extended his point streak to five games, totaling three goals and six assists for nine points. That night, he recorded his 10th-career game-winning goal and 15th on the power play, while posting multiple goals for the 10th time as a Gopher. The junior continues to average more than a point per game in his Minnesota career with 93 points (45 goals, 48 assists) in 87 career appearances. A two-time All-B1G selection, Snuggerud recorded a hat trick in each of his first two years with the Maroon and Gold and now put together 25 multi-point performances. He posted 21 goals in each of his first two college hockey seasons and is one of just six Gophers to score 20 or more goals in back-to-back seasons since 2000.

HISTORY WITH THE BADGERS
Minnesota has faced Wisconsin more than any other opponent in the program's 104 years of college hockey and owns a 184-103-25 (.630) record in the all-time series that dates back to 1922. The Gophers are just 1-3-1 in the last five meetings between the two border rivals with the lone win coming in overtime last season but won the six matchups prior to that. Brody Lamb scored the game-winning goal in the extra session in February, while Jaxon Nelson was the lone skater with multiple goals in the four-game season series against the Badgers a year ago.

INSIDE LOOK AT WISCONSIN
The Badgers picked up their first B1G win of the season last Saturday, a 2-1 victory at Notre Dame that snapped a five-game losing skid. Wisconsin has struggled to find its offense early in the year and ranks 54th in the country with 1.8 goals per game, while allowing opponents to score 3.0 per contest. A bright spot has been the power play where six of the team's 14 total goals have been scored as it has generated 33 chances on the man advantage in eight outings. Quinn Finley and Gavin Morrissey pace the offense with seven points each as Finley leads the way with five goals and Morrissey is tops on the squad behind five assists. Goaltender Tommy Scarfone, the 2024 Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Year at RIT, has made five appearances for Wisconsin and posted a 1-4-0 record with a 2.59 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage, while William Gramme has allowed 10 goals in three starts for a record of 1-2-0.

STAYING DISCIPLINED
A strength over the last six years for Minnesota has been playing a disciplined brand of hockey and avoiding trips to the penalty box. The Gophers ended the 2023-24 season as the nation's leader in penalty minutes, averaging just 6.6 per game, and currently rank seventh at 6.6 a night through eight games. It was the third time over the last five seasons the Maroon and Gold finished a season as the NCAA's least penalized team, and they have ended inside the top five every year since 2018-19. Under Coach Motzko's direction, the team has never averaged double-digit penalty minutes per game for an entire season with the highest of 9.8 minutes in his first year behind the Gophers' bench.

WE ARE THE STATE OF HOCKEY
According to data from College Hockey Inc., 249 NCAA Division I men's hockey players hail from the state of Minnesota, nearly a quarter of all student-athletes, and more than double the next closest state. That total is bolstered by the Gophers lineup as 22 of their players this season will skate in their home state, including five of their eight newcomers. Even more impressive is the fact that 20 of the 22 Minnesotans on the team are from within 70 miles of campus.

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Players Mentioned

Nathan Airey

Jimmy Clark

Connor Kurth

Brody Lamb

Jaxon Nelson

Jimmy Snuggerud

Liam Souliere

Matthew Wood