#6 Minnesota (9-5-1, 3-3-1-1 Big Ten) at #4 Notre Dame (11-3-1, 5-0-0-0 Big Ten)
Date: November 25, 2017Time: 7:00 pm ET/6:00 pm CT
Place: Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Indiana
TV: None
Stream: NBC Sports (FREE)
Radio: Hot 102.5; 1130 KTLK-AM will join in progress (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: The Athletic/Zone Coverage/Wellsociated Press
Last night's recap: Gophers drop Notre Dame opener 1-0
Note: You can follow me on Twitter @gopherstate for live, in-person coverage.
Andrew Oglevie was not surprised by how much trouble Minnesota gave Notre Dame Friday night.
"They're a very, very good team. They're very fast, but I thought we did a good job skating with them," the Notre Dame senior said. "We'll correct a few things for tomorrow, but nothing too surprising."
The Fighting Irish held on to win 1-0, the third time in four games Notre Dame has won by that score. Cale Morris made a career-high 44 saves while the Gophers were unable to get many second chances thanks in part to ND's defense.
One reason Notre Dame, playing its first Big Ten season, was not surprised comes from experience. The Fighting Irish, a 4 seed, defeated #1 seed Minnesota 3-2 in the Northeast Regional after trailing 2-0. It was the first of two upsets (UMass-Lowell being the other) as ND advanced to the 2017 Frozen Four.
"We definitely learned from that game last year at the regional," Oglevie said. "We watched some tape on that game and looked at their tendencies and whatnot, saw we could skate with them and try to shut down some things they do very well offensively. I thought we did a good job."
This time around, Notre Dame is not surprising anyone. The home team has won eight straight games since switching to Morris in goal and all five in conference.
For the Gophers, Saturday night comes with early season stakes. Second-place Minnesota trails the Fighting Irish by 4 points in Big Ten play and have played two more games.
With how the rest of the Big Ten has played so far this season, that would be a surprise.
Shots Shots Shots
In its last two games, Minnesota has 94 shots on goal. It's the most the Gophers have had in two consecutive games since the team put up 99 in a two-game home series against Wisconsin in January 2015. That year the Badgers won 4 games. Minnesota this time around has controlled possession and shot opportunties against the #4 team in the country and Harvard, which hasn't allowed more than 26 shots to any team that's not Minnesota.
Line Combinations
Going once again with 12 forwards and 6 defensemen, Minnesota makes a couple changes in personnel and lines.Freshman Sam Rossini returns in place of Jack Glover after sitting out Friday's game. He'll be on a pairing with Ryan Zuhlsdorf.
Jack Ramsey gets a chance on the third line with Leon Bristedt and Mike Szmatula, both of whom Don Lucia thought played well Friday. He switches spots with Scott Reedy, who slowly has moved down the depth chart. Reedy has not had a point in eight games.
Notre Dame, meanwhile, has the same personnel group, going with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. The forwards are a little different, hwoever. Oglevie returns to center with Cal Burke taking his spot on the top line. Jack Jenkins, who was at center last night, moves to the fourth line with Pierce Crawford.
University of Minnesota Golden Gophers
ForwardsBrent Gates Jr. (#10) - Tommy Novak (#17) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Casey Mittelstadt (#21) - Brannon McManus (#7)
Leon Bristedt (#18) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Jack Ramsey (#16) Ryan Norman (#23) - Darian Romanko (#26) - Scott Reedy (#19)
Defense
Ryan Lindgren (#5) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Tyler Nanne (#29)
Sam Rossini (#28) - Ryan Zuhlsdorf (#20)
Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Brock Kautz (#1)
Nick Lehr (#34)
University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish
ForwardsCam Morrison (#26) - Jake Evans (#18) - Cal Burke (#11)
Dylan Malmquist (#25) - Andrew Oglevie (#15) - Colin Theisen (#13)
Dawson Cook (#9) - Mike O'Leary (#19) - Bo Brauer (#29)
Pierce Crawford (#17) - Jack Jenkins (#28)
Defense
Dennis Gilbert (#4) - Andrew Peeke (#22)
Matt Hellickson (#5) - Jordan Gross (#3)
Bobby Nardella (#27) - Tory Dello (#6)
Justin Wade (#20)
Goaltenders
Dylan St. Cyr (#1)
Cale Morris (#32)
Nick Sanford (#33)
Italics indicates starters.
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