Minnesota’s Bob Motzko has an idea about the 2022-23 Big Ten hockey season: “We’re just going to beat the snot out of each other this year.”
Motzko’s Golden Gophers are in third place in B1G conference standings after splitting a home series against Penn State last weekend, losing 4-2 and winning 3-2. The three road points the Nittany Lions earned moved them into second place – a point ahead of Minnesota and a point behind first-place Michigan State.
In the Big Ten preseason coaches’ poll, the Spartans were picked to finish last and the Nittany Lions right above them in sixth place. Who did the coaches think would finish on top of the standings? Minnesota.
“Look what our league’s doing,” said Motzko. “Michigan State’s in first place, Penn State’s in second place. You can’t get too low on low points and don’t get too high on high points. You just keep trudging through.”
Entering the weekend against Penn State, the Gophers sat atop the DCU/USCHO Men’s Division I Poll, and the loss to the Nittany Lions knocked them into the No. 2 spot. Right behind Minnesota is No. 3 Ohio State, and six of the Big Ten’s seven teams are currently ranked in the top 20, including No. 6 Penn State, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 17 Michigan State and No. 20 Notre Dame.
Minnesota will play three of its remaining first-half series on the road, starting with Michigan this weekend followed by Arizona State (Nov. 25-26) and Michigan State (Dec. 2-3). Motzko doesn’t want to think about three consecutive road weekends, focusing only on the Wolverines, a team he calls “dangerous.”
“This is when we have to play our style as best we can,” said Motzko. “They’re going to play their way. We have to be disciplined. All the cliches come out. We’ve got to block shots. We’ve got to get pucks deep. If you don’t do the little things, they’ve got enough firepower to hurt you.”
Junior defenseman and alternate captain Brock Faber said that he sees a lot of similarities between the Wolverines and the Golden Gophers.
“They’re a fast, skilled team,” said Faber. “They get up and down the sheet. Their ‘D’ are aggressive and I’d say that’s a lot like us. We’ll try to focus on work ethic and little details throughout the game, backchecking, getting to the net, things like that, making the game hard on them.”
The Wolverines get a lot of press for their offensive play, all of it well earned. Michigan leads the nation in scoring, averaging 4.42 goals per game with a power play clicking at 33.3 percent and two Wolverines – freshman Adam Fantilli (9-14—23) and sophomore Mackie Samoskevich (10-9—19) – the first- and third-leading scorers in the country.
When it comes to offense, though, the Gophers are hardly deficient. Minnesota is averaging 3.58 goals per game – ninth-best in the nation and on par with their fifth-best average of 3.54 last season. The Gophers’ five-goal output against Penn State was their lowest weekend total this season. Coming into the series against the Nittany Lions, the Gophers had netted four or more goals per game in seven of their first 10 contests.
In spite of the relatively low-scoring games against the Nittany Lions, Motzko said that the Gophers “can start to see some things” progress, like sophomore Aaron Huglen’s first goal of the season in Friday’s loss.
“Huglen, I thought the week before, had half a dozen great chances to score and then it pops the next week,” said Motzko.
Another is the line of junior Mason Nevers and seniors Jaxon Nelson and Bryce Brodzinski, a trio that has scored 12 of Minnesota’s 43 goals through the first 12 games of the season.
“That whole line’s got confidence right now,” said Motzko. “They’re riding high in the saddle, feeling good. But that’s sports. Coaches wish we could bottle that thing up, confidence, and give it to players, but once they earn it, it’s awesome to see it happening. And it comes at a good time for us. We need those older guys to step up and they’re doing it in a big way right now.”
Brodzinski had two third-period goals in the come-from-behind 3-1 Saturday win, including the game winner. He also had the first Minnesota goal in Friday’s loss. Brodzinski, who had 12 goals in 39 games last season, has five on the year so far.
“That’s two weeks in a row now obviously Brodzinski and Nevers and Nelson have been going,” said Motzko. Nevers and Nelson each had a goal in Minnesota’s sweep of Notre Dame Nov. 4-5. “The [Logan] Cooley line has their moments now and they show their youth a little bit, but their confidence isn’t lacking.”
Logan Cooley, a freshman, centers a line flanked by classmate Jimmy Snuggerud on the right and sophomore left winger Matthew Knies. Snuggerud leads the Gophers with eight goals, Knies is right behind him with seven, and Cooley has three.
Motzko said that freshmen Brody Lamb and Connor Kurth and sophomore Rhett Pitlick are poised to contribute more.
“We’ve got another group of guys who are starting to join the party, and we think that’s what we need,” Motzko said. “Our ‘D’ core, all seven, are playing awful strong. Once we get that forward group cooking on the same page, we think that’s going to be a good recipe.”
Faber said that the offense is coming together in part because players are “understanding their roles” and beginning to play to their abilities.
“We have guys on our third and fourth line that grew up playing on first lines, too,” said Faber. “There’s a lot of diversity when it comes to our offense.”
The Golden Gophers are 147-131-19 all-time against the Wolverines, but their most recent meeting is Minnesota’s 4-3 loss at home to Michigan in last year’s Big Ten championship game. In the regular season last year, the teams split a pair of lopsided games in Ann Arbor (Dec. 3-4) and a pair of closer games in Minneapolis (Jan. 21-22), including a 2-1 OT Minnesota win.
“It’s fun going into places like that, where it’s most likely to be a sold-out crowd,” said Faber. “It’ll be a great experience for all of us older guys, but especially the younger guys who haven’t played at a place like that before. It’s going to be fun. We’re looking forward to it.”
