Border Battle series kicks off Minnesota's stretch run

Returning to the ice fully charged from an idle week, Minnesota junior forward Tommy Novak has a goal in mind. Three series remain in the Big Ten regular season beginning with this weekend's Border Battle in Madison Friday and Saturday against the Wisconsin Badgers.

Novak would like to be home at the end of it.

"To be at Mariucci for the Big Ten playoffs would be huge. Our seniors don't only want to play two more games here at Mariucci so that would be the biggest goal, getting home ice for the Big Ten playoffs," he said.

The top four teams host games in the new conference tournament format. First place gets a bye to the semifinals while second through fourth host a best-of-three quarterfinal series.

To get home ice in the quarterfinals would likely be enough for Minnesota (16-13-1, 7-10-1-1 Big Ten) to clinch an at-large berth in the 16 team NCAA Tournament. The Gophers are currently ninth in the Pairwise thanks in part to a 9-3-0 non-conference record and five wins over the eight teams ahead.


Still, Minnesota starts the weekend sixth of seven teams in the Big Ten standings, five points behind the third-place Badgers and unable to catch first place Notre Dame. (Big Ten games are worth three points apiece.) The team has two Big Ten games in hand on Wisconsin, fourth-place Michigan and fifth-place Penn State. If the Gophers win out the team would finish at worst third.

The Gophers also face two of those three teams on the road, a place where the Gophers this season have struggled going 4-8-1 away from Mariucci. Saturday's game is on track to be Wisconsin's first sellout of 15K seat Kohl Center since 2014.

"It's going to be a hostile environment. We haven't been that good on the road this year so when you get into the playoffs and tournament game you have to win on the road," Mike Szmatula said. We just want to play a good hard two games starting Friday."

It begins in net. Head coach Don Lucia would not say which goaltender would start Friday. However, he feels confident with both Eric Schierhorn and Mat Robson, who have split time since Robson became eligible in December.

"We're in a better situation than we were a year ago. We feel that we have two guys who have proved they can play in big game situations," he said. "It puts a little more pressure on each other, but competition is a good thing."

While the Gophers have found success in wins over the nation's best with goaltending and defense, the offensive side continues to lag behind. No Minnesota player has yet to hit 10 goals on the year. No team nationally has been worse over the last 12 games on the power play.

The Gophers are a a woeful 3 for 49 dating back to the last time Minnesota and the Badgers played in early December.

"If we can get some momentum off of (the power play) and start scoring some goals off of that, I think everyone will gain some confidence and start putting the puck in the net a bit more," Novak said. "That's the first thing that needs to be better if we're going to win down the stretch. Special teams are so important in the playoffs where games can come down to who scored the power play goal."

Throughout the season Gopher players and Lucia have said they want to be playing their best hockey in February and March. February is here. March comes at the end of the six game stretch, which after Wisconsin sees Minnesota host Ohio State and travel to Penn State for two games apiece.

The opportunity lies ahead for the team to add another weapon to the arsenal and play its best hockey. There's a goal in sight, one that this weekend's opponent shares in a way. Wisconsin has home ice yet at 17th in the Pairwise would miss the NCAA Tournament if the season ended today.

Neither side of the Border Battle can afford an off weekend.