BLOG: Gophers Have Few Home Overlaps With Wild; Likely Idle For Hockey Day Minnesota

With the release of the NHL schedule today (Tuesday, June 25), a few questions for the University of Minnesota men's hockey schedule I had earlier this month have been answered.

Turns out there is some good, some bad and some ugly.

First, the good. For another season, the number of home games overlapping between the Gophers and Wild seems to be in a reasonable range. Fans who have season tickets to both won't need to choose too often. Only four dates are shared between the two over a 19 game home schedule (plus two exhibitions). None are held over the final two months of Minnesota's regular season.

Those dates are:
-Saturday, November 2nd (Gophers host Notre Dame, Wild host St. Louis)
-Saturday, November 16th (Gophers host Penn State, Wild host Carolina)
-Friday, November 29th (Gophers host North Dakota, Wild host Ottawa)
-Saturday, December 29th (Gophers play either St. Cloud State or Minnesota State in the Mariucci Classic, Wild host New York Islanders)

Depending on timing, the total number of overlaps for fans could be as low as one.

The game at Xcel Energy Center on November 16th is scheduled for a 1pm CT start. Both the Wild and Gophers play at home on Friday, November 29th, however, the Wild game against Ottawa is a 3 pm start while the Gophers will have played North Dakota the night before. In both cases, it's difficult to see the Gophers bouncing back quickly with an afternoon game.

On December 29th, the Wild play another afternoon game with a 5 pm CT start. Times for the Mariucci Classic has yet to be announced, but it wouldn't be a surprise if the Gophers play the later game in its own tournament. There would still be some overlap, but not enough for fans to be able to get back from St. Paul to Dinkytown in time for the second and third periods.

Now, the bad. Not having a single overlap in the second half does come with a negative. When Minnesota's schedule was released earlier this month, I wondered whether Hockey Day Minnesota was on Saturday, January 25th since the Gophers were idle the prior weekend (outside of hosting the USNTDP in an exhibition that Friday) and the event was being hosted by Minneapolis.

It doesn't appear so. The Wild's schedule shows Minnesota hosting Dallas on Saturday, January 18th. The weekend of the 25th is NHL All-Star Weekend.

Minnesota does host Boston the following Saturday (February 1st) while the Gophers are in Madison facing Wisconsin, but that would be the only option for Bob Motzko's team to play in a hometown Hockey Day Minnesota. The only other Saturday game that the Wild play in January is on the 4th. The Gophers are also idle that weekend.

That said, Hockey Day Minnesota shouldn't be completely rid of University of Minnesota teams. The Gopher women's hockey team plays at home both on the 18th and February 1st against Ohio State and Minnesota Duluth, respectively. Either game would be a fantastic addition to HDM or even played outdoors at Parade Stadium.

Recent Hockey Day Minnesota celebrations have been without the Gophers as Minnesota has been on the road (i.e two years ago the Gophers were a part of BTN's spotlight day with a hockey-hoops doubleheader at Madison Square Garden) or HDM was hosted in a college town with a Division 1 team.

It makes sense when that is the case, as would this year's edition given Minneapolis is home to the University of Minnesota. Not having both the Gopher men's and women's teams at home in a Hockey Day Minnesota hosted in its home city ends up being ugly.

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