University of Minnesota Athletics
Friday, January 9
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5:00 PM
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at
Penn State
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Photo by: Brady Paitrick
'U' Travels to Face No. 9 Nittany Lions Jan. 9-10
1/8/2026 11:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Gophers close season series with Penn State
MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota men's hockey team closes a season-long, five-game road stretch as it returns to official action this weekend, traveling to No. 9 Penn State for a Big Ten Conference series from Pegula Ice Arena Jan. 9-10.
Both games between the Golden Gophers and Nittany Lions are scheduled for 5 p.m. (CT) and will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network with streaming coverage on the Fox Sports app. Wally Shaver and Pat Micheletti are on the call for the Gopher Radio Network 103.5 FM/AM-1130 KTLK of each contest.
LAST TIME ON THE ICE
Minnesota skated to a 3-3 tie during its lone exhibition matchup of the season last Friday night at Bemidji State. The Gophers took an early 2-0 lead on goals from defensemen Luke Mittelstadt and John Whipple before the Beavers scored the next three goals. Tanner Ludtke buried a Tate Pritchard pass in the third period to force overtime where neither team could score a game winner. The home side scored the lone goal in the shootout to cap the night. The Maroon and Gold freshmen class combined to record all four assists in the first test of the 2026 calendar year.
ZIEMER LIGHTS THE LAMP FOR FIRST STAR
Brodie Ziemer is operating at a point-per-game pace, tying for the team lead with 19 points in 19 games, and his team-leading seven power-play goals rank second nationally. The sophomore closed 2025 on a blistering run, lighting the lamp in six of the last seven outings with a pair of three-game goal streaks. The Chaska, Minn., native delivered back-to-back multi-goal efforts at Ohio State in December to earn B1G First Star honors (Dec. 9) and piled up eight goals and 11 points across his last seven games. Ziemer has also turned opening goals into a habit. After striking first in four games a year ago, he set the tone again by scoring the opener in both matchups against Long Island as well as the season opener against Michigan Tech.
OVERTIME HERO EARNS MOORE B1G STAR
Javon Moore played the role of overtime hero for the Maroon and Gold in its upset at the fourth-ranked Pioneers in late November, scoring with just 35 seconds left in the extra session. The freshman's first collegiate game winner capped a two-point night and earned him B1G Second Star of the Week honors. A native of Carver, Minn., Moore has a point in seven of his last eight appearances, totaling 10 points in that stretch, including all three of his multi-point efforts, two of which sparked top-five upsets of Penn State (Nov. 21) and Denver (Nov. 29).
LAMB KEEPS FEASTING
Senior captain Brody Lamb has been a driving force behind the Gophers' offense, tying for the team's scoring lead with 19 points on nine goals and 10 assists. The Byron, Minn., native posted consecutive three-point outings at Denver (Nov. 29) and Ohio State (Dec. 4), recording four multi-point performances over the final eight games of 2025. Known for starting strong, he totaled 44 points (24 goals, 20 assists) in 46 games played during the months of October and November across his last three seasons.
MOONEY MAGIC
LJ Mooney's breakaway goal to close the sweep of the Fighting Irish on Nov. 8 highlighted the speed and skill of the Gophers' rookie, who will play a college hockey game in his home state for the first time. It was the first multi-point night of his young career, and he has not slowed down since, tallying three more multi-point performances to put up 10 points in the last eight games. The West Mifflin, Pa., native has at least one point in nine of 10 series played, totaling four goals and tying for the team lead with 11 assists, including nine points on Minnesota's 13 total power-play goals.
AT HOME WITH TEAM USA
LJ Mooney and Brodie Ziemer represented the Maroon and Gold on the international stage for Team USA at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship recently held in the Twin Cities. Ziemer served as captain for the Red, White, and Blue and finished third on the team with six points behind a goal and five assists in five appearances and was named Player of the Game against Switzerland (Dec. 27). The forward was also selected as one of the team's top three players at the end of the tournament. Thanks to a multi-assist outing versus Slovakia (Dec. 29), Mooney posted three assists in five games as one of the youngest players on Team USA. The Gophers have been represented by at least one player at the event in 47 of the 50 years it has been played, including 11 players that have claimed a gold medal. Bob Motzko coached the Americans for the third time in his career, winning a gold medal in 2017 and a bronze in 2018. He was joined on the bench by Minnesota's associate head coach Steve Miller, director of operations Jacob LeRoy, and athletic trainer Jeff Winslow.
AN INSIDE LOOK AT PENN STATE
After a 43-day layoff from competition over the holiday break, the Nittany Lions returned to action with a home-and-home split against RIT with both sides winning on home ice last weekend. It is the third-consecutive series where they have finished with a split. Despite leading the nation by averaging 19.8 penalty minutes per game, the team boasts the NCAA's sixth-best penalty killing percentage at 88.2 percent. They also rank 10th in the country having scored 19 times on the man advantage, led by six from JJ Wiebusch, who leads PSU with 11 tucks on the year. Charlie Cerrato paces the Nittany Lions and ranks 14th nationally behind 24 points, while Wiebusch and Matt DiMarsico each have 20 points. In goal, Joshua Fleming has a 2.20 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage that have pushed his record to 5-3-0 in eight starts.
HISTORY WITH THE NITTANY LIONS
Minnesota and Penn State close the season series at Pegula Ice Arena this weekend after facing each other in late November, the final games of 2025 for the Nittany Lions. The Gophers own a 33-20-1 (.620) record in the all-time series thanks to an 8-2-0 mark over the last 10 meetings. The teams split a series at 3M Arena at Mariucci Nov. 21-22 with the Maroon and Gold claiming the opening contest, 3-2, in come-from-behind fashion to secure its eighth-straight home victory over the Nittany Lions. Facing a 2-0 deficit, Axel Begley's first NCAA goal helped spark the rally before Brodie Ziemer scored on the power play and Mason Moe buried the first game-winning goal of his career. PSU evened the series by scoring twice on the man advantage Saturday for a 2-1 win.
SPECIAL TEAMS ROLLERCOASTER
Special teams have played a defining role in Minnesota's early-season highs and lows. After striking just four times in the first 13 games of the season, the power play has converted nine times over their last six outings. That has risen the Gophers to 15th nationally, but they remain just 62nd on the penalty kill, ranking second-to-last in efficiency. Their 5-on-4 unit has surged for nine goals in the last 18 chances with Brodie Ziemer potting five in that stretch, ranking second in the NCAA behind seven total power-play goals. The margin is stark: when Minnesota keeps opponents off the board on the man advantage, it holds a 6-1-0 record, but the Gophers are just 2-9-1 when allowing a power-play goal. Historically, Minnesota has averaged 17.5 power-play goals against over the last four seasons, including a program-record low of 15 allowed in 2021-22. Through 19 games this year, the Gophers have already conceded 19.
GAUNTLET RUN FROM START TO FINISH
Minnesota's 2025-26 regular-season slate will once again be among the nation's toughest. Of the Gophers' 35 scheduled games, 25 come against teams that were ranked in the USCHO preseason poll, with eight more against opponents that received votes. Through 10 weeks, the schedule is the most difficult in the country and will remain a challenge through the meat of Big Ten Conference play where the league has the top three teams in the national polls. Minnesota is no stranger to difficult schedules, having battled the nation's No. 4 strength of schedule in 2023-24 and the No. 2 schedule the year before. Even last year's "dip" to the No. 19 toughest schedule still placed the Gophers among the most battle-tested teams in the country.
WE ARE THE STATE OF HOCKEY
The state of Minnesota continues to lead college hockey, with 223 NCAA Division I men's players coming from the state, nearly a quarter of all American-born student-athletes and more than double any other state, per data from College Hockey Inc. The Gophers contribute heavily to that total with 20 homegrown players on this year's roster, including seven of their 10 newcomers. Remarkably, 19 of those 20 players are from within 70 miles of 3M Arena at Mariucci.
PROVEN PATH TO THE PROS
Minnesota continues to make its mark on professional hockey, as 36 players with ties to the program participated in NHL training camps for the 2025-26 season, representing 20 different organizations. The group, which spans back to the 2009 roster, features 15 former team captains and 10 All-Americans. The Gophers' NHL presence remains unmatched across college hockey. A total of 25 alumni skated in the league last season, pushing the all-time number of Minnesota players to reach the NHL to an NCAA-best 131. Four more joined the list in 2024-25, as Oliver Moore, Sam Rinzel, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Matthew Wood each made their professional debut following their collegiate seasons in Maroon and Gold.
HOCKEY IN THE FAMILY
Family ties run deep in Minnesota men's hockey, with four current players continuing the Gophers tradition. John and Luke Mittelstadt followed their older brother, Casey, who played at Minnesota during the 2017-18 season. Together, the three Mittelstadt siblings have totaled 104 points across 249 career games. Sophomore Beckett Hendrickson also carries on a legacy, his father, Darby, and uncle, Dan, combined for 124 points while each spending at least two seasons in the Maroon and Gold. Beckett is also making a uniform change this year and will wear the same No. 7 sweater as his dad. Freshman LJ Mooney adds to the lineage as well, joining his cousin, Logan Cooley, as two of the program's three Pennsylvania-born players. Cooley left his mark as a First Team All-American after a 60-point freshman season in 2022-23.
Both games between the Golden Gophers and Nittany Lions are scheduled for 5 p.m. (CT) and will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network with streaming coverage on the Fox Sports app. Wally Shaver and Pat Micheletti are on the call for the Gopher Radio Network 103.5 FM/AM-1130 KTLK of each contest.
LAST TIME ON THE ICE
Minnesota skated to a 3-3 tie during its lone exhibition matchup of the season last Friday night at Bemidji State. The Gophers took an early 2-0 lead on goals from defensemen Luke Mittelstadt and John Whipple before the Beavers scored the next three goals. Tanner Ludtke buried a Tate Pritchard pass in the third period to force overtime where neither team could score a game winner. The home side scored the lone goal in the shootout to cap the night. The Maroon and Gold freshmen class combined to record all four assists in the first test of the 2026 calendar year.
ZIEMER LIGHTS THE LAMP FOR FIRST STAR
Brodie Ziemer is operating at a point-per-game pace, tying for the team lead with 19 points in 19 games, and his team-leading seven power-play goals rank second nationally. The sophomore closed 2025 on a blistering run, lighting the lamp in six of the last seven outings with a pair of three-game goal streaks. The Chaska, Minn., native delivered back-to-back multi-goal efforts at Ohio State in December to earn B1G First Star honors (Dec. 9) and piled up eight goals and 11 points across his last seven games. Ziemer has also turned opening goals into a habit. After striking first in four games a year ago, he set the tone again by scoring the opener in both matchups against Long Island as well as the season opener against Michigan Tech.
OVERTIME HERO EARNS MOORE B1G STAR
Javon Moore played the role of overtime hero for the Maroon and Gold in its upset at the fourth-ranked Pioneers in late November, scoring with just 35 seconds left in the extra session. The freshman's first collegiate game winner capped a two-point night and earned him B1G Second Star of the Week honors. A native of Carver, Minn., Moore has a point in seven of his last eight appearances, totaling 10 points in that stretch, including all three of his multi-point efforts, two of which sparked top-five upsets of Penn State (Nov. 21) and Denver (Nov. 29).
LAMB KEEPS FEASTING
Senior captain Brody Lamb has been a driving force behind the Gophers' offense, tying for the team's scoring lead with 19 points on nine goals and 10 assists. The Byron, Minn., native posted consecutive three-point outings at Denver (Nov. 29) and Ohio State (Dec. 4), recording four multi-point performances over the final eight games of 2025. Known for starting strong, he totaled 44 points (24 goals, 20 assists) in 46 games played during the months of October and November across his last three seasons.
MOONEY MAGIC
LJ Mooney's breakaway goal to close the sweep of the Fighting Irish on Nov. 8 highlighted the speed and skill of the Gophers' rookie, who will play a college hockey game in his home state for the first time. It was the first multi-point night of his young career, and he has not slowed down since, tallying three more multi-point performances to put up 10 points in the last eight games. The West Mifflin, Pa., native has at least one point in nine of 10 series played, totaling four goals and tying for the team lead with 11 assists, including nine points on Minnesota's 13 total power-play goals.
AT HOME WITH TEAM USA
LJ Mooney and Brodie Ziemer represented the Maroon and Gold on the international stage for Team USA at the 2026 IIHF World Junior Championship recently held in the Twin Cities. Ziemer served as captain for the Red, White, and Blue and finished third on the team with six points behind a goal and five assists in five appearances and was named Player of the Game against Switzerland (Dec. 27). The forward was also selected as one of the team's top three players at the end of the tournament. Thanks to a multi-assist outing versus Slovakia (Dec. 29), Mooney posted three assists in five games as one of the youngest players on Team USA. The Gophers have been represented by at least one player at the event in 47 of the 50 years it has been played, including 11 players that have claimed a gold medal. Bob Motzko coached the Americans for the third time in his career, winning a gold medal in 2017 and a bronze in 2018. He was joined on the bench by Minnesota's associate head coach Steve Miller, director of operations Jacob LeRoy, and athletic trainer Jeff Winslow.
AN INSIDE LOOK AT PENN STATE
After a 43-day layoff from competition over the holiday break, the Nittany Lions returned to action with a home-and-home split against RIT with both sides winning on home ice last weekend. It is the third-consecutive series where they have finished with a split. Despite leading the nation by averaging 19.8 penalty minutes per game, the team boasts the NCAA's sixth-best penalty killing percentage at 88.2 percent. They also rank 10th in the country having scored 19 times on the man advantage, led by six from JJ Wiebusch, who leads PSU with 11 tucks on the year. Charlie Cerrato paces the Nittany Lions and ranks 14th nationally behind 24 points, while Wiebusch and Matt DiMarsico each have 20 points. In goal, Joshua Fleming has a 2.20 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage that have pushed his record to 5-3-0 in eight starts.
HISTORY WITH THE NITTANY LIONS
Minnesota and Penn State close the season series at Pegula Ice Arena this weekend after facing each other in late November, the final games of 2025 for the Nittany Lions. The Gophers own a 33-20-1 (.620) record in the all-time series thanks to an 8-2-0 mark over the last 10 meetings. The teams split a series at 3M Arena at Mariucci Nov. 21-22 with the Maroon and Gold claiming the opening contest, 3-2, in come-from-behind fashion to secure its eighth-straight home victory over the Nittany Lions. Facing a 2-0 deficit, Axel Begley's first NCAA goal helped spark the rally before Brodie Ziemer scored on the power play and Mason Moe buried the first game-winning goal of his career. PSU evened the series by scoring twice on the man advantage Saturday for a 2-1 win.
SPECIAL TEAMS ROLLERCOASTER
Special teams have played a defining role in Minnesota's early-season highs and lows. After striking just four times in the first 13 games of the season, the power play has converted nine times over their last six outings. That has risen the Gophers to 15th nationally, but they remain just 62nd on the penalty kill, ranking second-to-last in efficiency. Their 5-on-4 unit has surged for nine goals in the last 18 chances with Brodie Ziemer potting five in that stretch, ranking second in the NCAA behind seven total power-play goals. The margin is stark: when Minnesota keeps opponents off the board on the man advantage, it holds a 6-1-0 record, but the Gophers are just 2-9-1 when allowing a power-play goal. Historically, Minnesota has averaged 17.5 power-play goals against over the last four seasons, including a program-record low of 15 allowed in 2021-22. Through 19 games this year, the Gophers have already conceded 19.
GAUNTLET RUN FROM START TO FINISH
Minnesota's 2025-26 regular-season slate will once again be among the nation's toughest. Of the Gophers' 35 scheduled games, 25 come against teams that were ranked in the USCHO preseason poll, with eight more against opponents that received votes. Through 10 weeks, the schedule is the most difficult in the country and will remain a challenge through the meat of Big Ten Conference play where the league has the top three teams in the national polls. Minnesota is no stranger to difficult schedules, having battled the nation's No. 4 strength of schedule in 2023-24 and the No. 2 schedule the year before. Even last year's "dip" to the No. 19 toughest schedule still placed the Gophers among the most battle-tested teams in the country.
WE ARE THE STATE OF HOCKEY
The state of Minnesota continues to lead college hockey, with 223 NCAA Division I men's players coming from the state, nearly a quarter of all American-born student-athletes and more than double any other state, per data from College Hockey Inc. The Gophers contribute heavily to that total with 20 homegrown players on this year's roster, including seven of their 10 newcomers. Remarkably, 19 of those 20 players are from within 70 miles of 3M Arena at Mariucci.
PROVEN PATH TO THE PROS
Minnesota continues to make its mark on professional hockey, as 36 players with ties to the program participated in NHL training camps for the 2025-26 season, representing 20 different organizations. The group, which spans back to the 2009 roster, features 15 former team captains and 10 All-Americans. The Gophers' NHL presence remains unmatched across college hockey. A total of 25 alumni skated in the league last season, pushing the all-time number of Minnesota players to reach the NHL to an NCAA-best 131. Four more joined the list in 2024-25, as Oliver Moore, Sam Rinzel, Jimmy Snuggerud, and Matthew Wood each made their professional debut following their collegiate seasons in Maroon and Gold.
HOCKEY IN THE FAMILY
Family ties run deep in Minnesota men's hockey, with four current players continuing the Gophers tradition. John and Luke Mittelstadt followed their older brother, Casey, who played at Minnesota during the 2017-18 season. Together, the three Mittelstadt siblings have totaled 104 points across 249 career games. Sophomore Beckett Hendrickson also carries on a legacy, his father, Darby, and uncle, Dan, combined for 124 points while each spending at least two seasons in the Maroon and Gold. Beckett is also making a uniform change this year and will wear the same No. 7 sweater as his dad. Freshman LJ Mooney adds to the lineage as well, joining his cousin, Logan Cooley, as two of the program's three Pennsylvania-born players. Cooley left his mark as a First Team All-American after a 60-point freshman season in 2022-23.
Highlights: Gophers 0, Penn State 3
Friday, January 09
Highlights: Gophers 3, Bemidji State 3 (EXH)
Friday, January 02
First Half Season Highlights
Wednesday, December 31
Timelapse: 2026 World Juniors
Monday, December 22