Gophers, Pioneers Meet at Ball Arena Saturday

MINNEAPOLIS - The University of Minnesota men's hockey team returns to the ice for a powerhouse matchup against No. 4 Denver in the 2025 U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game on Nov. 29. The game opens a five-game road stretch for the Golden Gophers and will be played at Ball Arena, home of the NHL's Colorado Avalanche.

The final nonconference game on the schedule this season is set for 7 p.m. (MT) / 8 p.m. (CT) and will be televised in the Twin Cities area on FOX9+, while streaming through NCHC.tv. Fans can also tune into the Gopher Radio Network 103.5 FM/AM-1130 KTLK to hear all the action with Wally Shaver.

LAST TIME ON THE ICE
Minnesota opened the weekend with a statement win, rallying from two goals down to topple No. 5 Penn State, 322, behind a three-goal second period capped by Mason Moe's game winner. Axel Begley's first career goal and a power-play strike from Brodie Ziemer helped fuel the comeback, while John Mittelstadt and Javon Moore each added a pair of assists. The Gophers could not complete the sweep Saturday, falling 2-1 as the Nittany Lions converted a power-play goal in each of the final two periods. Tanner Ludtke scored Minnesota's lone tally, and the loss ended an eight-game home winning streak over PSU.

YOUNG GOPHERS MAKING MAJOR IMPACT
Minnesota's rookies have made a significant impact, posting 31 points on 12 goals and 19 assists through the season's first two months. The group combined for six points in the series-finale win over Long Island and has contributed offensively in 12 of 16 games. LJ Mooney leads the class with 11 points, including seven on the power play. Javon Moore and Mason Moe have seven and six points, respectively, while Teddy Townsend and Jacob Rombach recorded their first collegiate goal and point against the Sharks (Nov. 15). All seven newcomers are on the board, with Tate Pritchard at four points and Finn McLaughlin with one.

LAMB KEEPS FEASTING
Senior captain Brody Lamb has been a driving force behind the Gophers' offense, pacing the team in scoring with seven goals and 13 points. The Byron, Minn., native has posted nine of his 13 points in the second game of a series, including three-straight Saturday appearances with at least one point. He showcased his scoring touch in a road win at North Dakota on Oct. 18, recording a three-point night for the fourth time in his career and first since Feb. 21, 2025, against Ohio State. Lamb added his third and fourth multi-point efforts of the campaign in the series finales against Notre Dame (Nov. 8) and Long Island (Nov. 15). Known for starting strong, he has totaled 41 points (23 goals, 18 assists) in 45 games played during the months of October and November across his last three seasons.

LUKE DOING IT ALL
Captain Luke Mittelstadt has opened his final season playing some of the best hockey of his career. The Eden Prairie, Minn., native leads the Gophers with nine assists, seventh among all NCAA defensemen, and has generated 33 shots thanks to his consistent offensive jump. His first goal of the year, a power-play game winner against Notre Dame on Nov. 8, ended a 23-game scoring drought and capped the series sweep. Mittelstadt added his second multi-assist night of the year versus Long Island (Nov. 15) and extended his point streak to four games thanks to an assist against Penn State (Nov. 21). The senior blocked a career-best eight shots against Boston College and remains third nationally in that category with 31 blocked shots.

ZIEMER LIGHTS THE LAMP FIRST
Brodie Ziemer has continued his knack for striking first, netting the Gophers' season-opening goal against Michigan Tech. The Chaska, Minn., product, who opened the scoring in four games last year, set the tone again by scoring first in each contest versus Long Island. He's nearly at a point-per-game pace, recording 12 points in 16 games, including a team-best four power-play goals, ranking 10th nationally.

"3M LINE" PROVIDES A SPARK
In Minnesota's home win over No. 5 Penn State last Friday, the newly formed "3M Line" of Mason Moe, Javon Moore, and John Mittelstadt delivered the offensive spark that fueled the upset. Moe buried the eventual game-winner in the second period, becoming the sixth different Gopher to record a deciding goal in each of the team's six victories this season. Moore added a pair of assists for his first career multi-point performance, extending his point streak to four games, while Mittelstadt matched him with two helpers for his second multi-point outing. All three finished the night with a team-best plus-2 rating.

SPECIAL TEAMS ROLLERCOASTER
Special teams have played a defining role in Minnesota's early-season highs and lows. The Gophers sit 36th nationally on the power play but just 62nd on the penalty kill, ranking second-to-last in efficiency. Their 5-on-4 unit has surged, striking six times in 17 chances from Nov. 8–22, with Brody Lamb, LJ Mooney, and Brodie Ziemer on the ice for all nine power-play goals this season. The margin is stark: when Minnesota keeps opponents off the board on the man advantage, it holds a 5-1-0 record, but the Gophers are just 1-8-1 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 only 14 games this year, the Gophers have already conceded 16.

AN INSIDE LOOK AT DENVER
The Pioneers are currently tied atop the NCHC standings having won six of their last seven games but had a six-game win streak snapped in overtime at Arizona State last Saturday, 3-2. Denver ranks in the top 10 of the NCAA in both scoring defense (1.71 goals allowed per game) and scoring offense (3.8 goals per game), sitting third and eighth, respectively. Minnesota native Eric Pohlkamp is Denver's top scorer this season and paces all college hockey defensemen with 10 goals and 16 points. Five other Pioneer skaters have reached double-digit points in 2025-26. Quentin Miller has started 12 of the team's 14 outings between the pipes and has posted an 8-3-1 record with two shutouts to go with a 1.64 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage.

HISTORY WITH THE PIONEERS
Minnesota holds a 94-73-12 (.559) advantage in its all-time series with Denver, a familiar foe from the former WCHA era. The programs haven't faced each other since 2013, when they split a top-10 matchup in Minneapolis. Recent trips to Denver have been far tougher for the Gophers, who have dropped five straight at Magness Arena and are 3-13-1 in the last 17 meetings dating back to 2007-08, getting outscored 58-36 over that span. This will be just the third-ever game for the Maroon and Gold inside Ball Arena, formerly the Pepsi Center, in downtown Denver after defeating Air Force on Mar. 24, 2007, in the NCAA West Regional before falling in overtime to North Dakota in the regional final the next night.

OFFENSE FROM THE DEFENSE
Axel Begley added his name to the list of defensemen to score a goal after he put away his first NCAA goal that kickstarted the offense in Friday's come-from-behind win over No. 5 Penn State. During the home sweep of Notre Dame, Minnesota defensemen contributed offensively with John Whipple scoring the first goal of his college career Friday, Luke Mittelstadt adding the game-winning goal Saturday, and Max Rud recording his first collegiate assist. Those performances have pushed the blue line's season total to 22 (five goals and 17 assists) through eight weeks. Last month at North Dakota, Rud and Leo Gruba each scored in the series finale, with Gruba notching his first multi-point game and surpassing his freshman point total with four points in just five games to begin the year.

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 eight weeks, the schedule is the fifth-most difficult in the country and only going to get tougher 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.

DEFENSEMAN 'U'
Minnesota was the lone college hockey program in the country with more than 10 blue liners in the NHL last season. A total of 12 former Gopher defensemen took the ice in the NHL during the 2024-25 campaign, accounting for more than 600 games played. Highlighted in that group was Erik Johnson becoming the ninth former Minnesota skater to reach the 1,000-game milestone when he hit the mark last November and capped by Nate Schmidt's Stanley Cup victory with the Florida Panthers. At the collegiate level, Minnesota has dominated the Big Ten Conference's postseason awards dedicated to defensive play, winning six of the 12 Defensive Player of the Year awards distributed, including three of the last four.

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Players Mentioned

Axel Begley

Leo Gruba

Brody Lamb

Tanner Ludtke

Finn McLaughlin

John Mittelstadt

Luke Mittelstadt

Mason Moe

LJ Mooney

Javon Moore

Tate Pritchard

Jacob Rombach

Max Rud

Teddy Townsend

John Whipple

Brodie Ziemer