The numbers were stacked against No. 1 Minnesota on Tuesday in its non-conference showdown with No. 2 Notre Dame at Mariucci Arena.
Only certain numbers, though.
In the 15-plus seasons of the USCHO.com Division I Men’s Poll, a No. 1 team had never won a home game against a No. 2 team.
In the last 10 games between the top two teams in the rankings, the No. 1 team was winless.
Minnesota was winless in five appearances in a 1-versus-2 game.
The Golden Gophers took care of business with a 4-1 victory over the Fighting Irish, and they took care of those three trends, too.
A home No. 1 team improved to 1-6-1 against the No. 2. The last time No. 1 beat No. 2 in any game was Dec. 29, 2000, when Michigan State beat Boston College in the Great Lakes Invitational.
The Gophers finally got in the win column in games matching the top two teams in the rankings at 1-4-1.
In 17 overall games between the top two teams since the start of the 1997-98 season, No. 1 improved to 5-8-4.
Before Tuesday, it had been almost five years since we’ve seen a game of this rankings magnitude. We’ve started a page listing all of those games, and you can find it here.
