University of Minnesota Athletics
Rinkside: Border Battle Bullet Points
2/9/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Story by Jackson Riebel
MINNEAPOLIS -- The No. 12/9 Gopher Hockey program is set for the second installment of this season's Border Battle, taking on rival Wisconsin at 8 p.m. CT (Big Ten Network) tonight at the Kohl Center in Madison. The two teams will retake the ice Saturday night for the series finale at 7 p.m. CT (FOX Sports North PLUS, FOX Sports Wisconsin PLUS).
Winning In Different Ways
With its recent 1-0 overtime victory over Notre Dame on Jan. 26, Minnesota provided yet another example of a new formula being used to win games this season. After averaging 3.71 goals per game a year ago, the Gophers have undergone an unexpected drop in scoring this season. But when the offense hasn't been clicking, Minnesota has leaned on strong defensive play and a pair of quality goaltenders to grind out low-scoring wins.
"I think as the season has gone by, especially in the big games against Notre Dame and St. Cloud that have been low-scoring games, we've played really well," senior forward Mike Szmatula said. "At the end of the year, you don't really care how you win, it's just that you win."
"When we're playing top teams like Notre Dame and St. Cloud, one of those 1-0 games, it really comes down to selling out and playing as hard as we can," added junior forward Tommy Novak. "We've had great goaltending in those games too, but we know we can still score goals and win that way."
As the team continues to search for sustained offensive production from a talented locker room, wins may have to come by whatever means necessary. But Novak didnt seem to see that as a problem; after all, a win is a win.
"It's definitely a 'whatever works' kind of mentality for us right now. We can win in different ways."
Bring It Home
Entering the weekend as the No. 9 team in the Pairwise rankings, Minnesota would likely be granted a spot in the NCAA Tournament if the season were to end today. But nothing is guaranteed, and with six games left on the regular-season schedule, Lucia and his squad have remained focused on the task at hand.
"We've got four of the final six games on the road, and we've got good quality opponents. But that's been our strength of schedule all year long," Lucia said Wednesday. "You just can't look down the line. It's cliché, but it's just one game at a time."
This weekend's rivalry series will be a crucial determinant of seeding for the Big Ten Tournament. The tournament is set to begin Mar. 2-4 with three best-of-three series hosted by the second, third, and fourth seeds, with the top seeded team receiving a bye to the semifinal round. For a Gopher team boasting a 12-5 record in Minneapolis this season, securing a top-four seed and the chance to play on home ice could prove to be a huge advantage.
"I think that's what our goal is. To be at Mariucci for the Big Ten playoffs would be huge," Novak said Wednesday. "Our seniors don't want to only play two more games here at Mariucci. So that would be our biggest goal, to be on home ice for the playoffs."
