No. 1 Gophers Continue Campaign with SCSU

#1 Minnesota (4-0-0) vs. #7 St. Cloud State (2-2-0)
Date	Friday, October 31 (7:30 p.m.)
Location	St. Cloud, Minn.
TV	Fox Sports North

Date	Saturday, November 1 (4 p.m.)
Location	Mariucci Arena
Tickets	MyGopherSports.com
TV	Fox Sports North \| BTN2Go

Radio	1500 ESPN \| Listen Online
Game Notes	Minnesota \| SCSU \| Big Ten
Live Stats	Friday \|
Live Blog	Saturday
Social Media	@GopherHockey \| Facebook

Oct. 29, 2014

The No. 1 Gopher Hockey program continues its nonconference schedule this weekend with a home-and-home series against in-state foe and former WCHA rival No. 7 St. Cloud State. The series kicks off Friday night at 7:37 p.m. in St. Cloud (FSN, 1500 ESPN) before returning to Mariucci Arena on Saturday afternoon at 4:05 p.m. (FSN, BTN2Go.com, 1500 ESPN).

	The Gophers previewed this weekend's series vs. SCSU

Mariucci Magic

With both Ferris State and Union suffering home losses last weekend (Union fell to St. Cloud State), Minnesota now holds the longest active home unbeaten streak in the nation at 14 games dating back to Nov. 24, 2014 (2-6 loss to Minnesota Duluth). Included in the 14-game unbeaten streak is Minnesota's 1-0 victory over Ohio State in the 2014 Hockey City Classic at TCF Bank Stadium, which was officially scored as a home game.

Rau's Hot Start

Senior Kyle Rau is tied for second in the nation with an average of two points per game (tied with BU's Jack Eichel and behind Omaha's Jake Guentzel's 2.25 points per game). Rau has tallied a point in all four games this season including three games with multiple points. The forward tallied his 50th career goal on Saturday and now has 131 points in 125 career games.

Boyd Breaks Out

Travis Boyd was named the Big Ten First Star of the Week on Tuesday after tallying four points (three goals, one assist) over the weekend in Minnesota's two-game sweep over Bemidji State. Boyd tallied both game winners for the Gophers while his two-goal showing in Friday's 5-2 win marked his first career multiple goal game. With a short-handed goal and a power-play goal in the victory, Boyd is the first Gopher to score both in a game since Jordan Schroeder in a 7-4 win over Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 29, 2010.

There's No Place Like Home

The 2014-15 season marked the 21st campaign in which the Gophers have called Mariucci Arena home. Since opening Mariucci Arena, Minnesota is 292-113-45 on home ice. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, the Gophers are 50-10-6 on home ice including a 15-1-3 (.853) mark last year.

Seniors to Lead in 2014-15

All-American Kyle Rau will lead the Gophers as team captain in 2014-15, making the senior the first player at the University of Minnesota to serve as captain for two-straight seasons since Grant Potulny in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Seniors Seth Ambroz and Ben Marshall will serve as alternate captains -- the 159th and 160th players to serve as either captain or alternate captain for the Gophers in a tradition that dates back to the program's first year of play in 1921-22 when Chet Bros led the Maroon & Gold.

Iron Man in Net

Over his two-plus seasons with the Gophers, Adam Wilcox has arguably put up two of the top seasons in net in program history. The South St. Paul, Minn., native set a new school GAA record of 1.88 in 2012-13 as a freshman, earning All-WCHA Third Team honors. Last year was even better for the netminder. Wilcox set a new school save percentage record of .932 and earned Second Team All-America accolades as well as being named Big Ten Player & Goaltender of the Year and First Team All-Big Ten. He also was named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award -- Minnesota's first finalist since Ryan Potulny in 2006.

Up Next - Notre Dame

The Gophers continue the nonconference schedule next weekend, hosting Notre Dame for a two-game series at Mariucci Arena. Friday's series opener is set for 7 p.m. (BTN, BTN2Go.com, 1500 ESPN) while the series closes up on Sunday at 4 p.m. (ESPNU, 1500 ESPN).

Kloos Lets Loose

Sophomore forward Justin Kloos returns to the Gophers this year after leading the team with 16 goals as a freshman in 2013-14. The Lakeville, Minn., native was the first Minnesota freshman to lead the team in goal scoring since Jay Barriball scored 20 goals as a rookie in 2006-07. Kloos scored three goals to earn NCAA West Regional Most Outstanding Player honors and totaled five points (four goals, one assist) in four NCAA tournament games.

The Return of Rau

Kyle Rau returns to the Gophers after leading the team with 40 pointsâ€ˆ(14 goals, 26 assists) last season -- he tallied both his 100th career point and 75th career assist during his junior campaign . Minnesota is 69-11-6 all-time when the forward tallies a point including a 35-2-0 all-time when Rau tallies more than one point in a game. Rau has tallied at least 40 points in each of his three seasons with the Maroon & Gold and became just the 49th Gopher to reach the 125-point mark at the Ice Breaker Tournament.

A Glance at Coach Lucia

Minnesota's 4-0 win over St. Cloud State in the NCAA West Regional finals last year advanced the Gophers to the Frozen Four, but it also gave Minnesota head coach Don Lucia his 650th career coaching victory. Lucia is 655-344-94 all-time as a head coach including 376-189-65 at Minnesota. Only Doug Woog has more coaching wins behind the Gophers' bench with 390. Lucia's 655 career wins rank him 10th all-time in college hockey while he will enter his 28th overall season as a head coach and 16th season with the Gophers in 2014-15.

Live and In Color

Twenty-nine regular-season Gopher Hockey games will be available on television during the 2014-15 across several networks. FOX Sports will lead the way in Gophers television coverage this season with 14 games while the Big Ten Network will broadcast 11 regular-season games featuring the Maroon & Gold over the course of the season. The ESPN network follows up with another four Gopher games. The entirety of the 2015 Big Ten Hockey Tournament will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.

And on the Radio with Wally and Frank

Gopher Hockey will continue to call 1500 ESPN home for its radio broadcast after Minnesota and Learfield Sports' Gopher Sports Properties announced a three-year agreement with the radio station this summer. Every regular-season game as well as the entire post-season will be broadcast on the 1500 ESPN radio waves through 2016-17. Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco have the call.

Upcoming Events

Players Mentioned

Seth Ambroz

Travis Boyd

Justin Kloos

Ben Marshall

Kyle Rau

Adam Wilcox

Upcoming Events

University of Minnesota Athletics