Pregame Blog: Minnesota vs. Michigan State Super Saturday Line Combinations & More

Greetings from Madison Square Garden!

I'm here for the Big Ten's Super Saturday where the Gophers (5-4 winners Thursday in the opening game) will face Michigan State (technically the home team) later tonight in the second game of a hockey-hoops doubleheader. Minnesota basketball already played, losing 67-49 to Ohio State.

That's right. On Hockey Day Minnesota, I was in New York covering my first college basketball game.

Records: #13/14 Minnesota (14-12-1, 5-9-1-1 Big Ten), Michigan State (9-15-1, 3-11-1-1 Big Ten)
Date: Saturday January 20th
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Location: Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY
TV: Big Ten Network
Radio: 1130 KTLK AM in Twin Cities
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/TSN Go
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage/The Athletic

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Michigan Saturday Line Combinations, Gophers Lose Trophy & More

Michigan (9-10-2, 4-7-2-1 Big Ten) at #9 Minnesota (13-11-1, 4-8-1-1 Big Ten)

Date: Saturday January 13th
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Location: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North PLUS
Radio: 1130 KTLK AM in Twin Cities
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/TSN Go
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage/The Athletic

Last night's recap: Minnesota falls to Michigan (Zone Coverage)

Friday's loss ensures the Gophers will be handing off the Renfrew-Mariucci trophy for the first time since Michigan and Minnesota joined the Big Ten.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Wisconsin Saturday Line Combinations, TV, Radio & More

#14 Wisconsin (9-7-2, 3-3-1-0 Big Ten) at #7 Minnesota (10-6-1, 4-4-1-1 Big Ten)

Date: Saturday December 2nd
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Location: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North PLUS
Radio: 1130 KTLK AM in Twin Cities
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/TSN Go
Nate is covering for tonight: Everyone

Last night's game recap: Gopher pair hit milestones in win over Wisconsin


In the midst of a nine-game pointless streak, Scott Reedy was telling himself to stick to the basics. It paid off Friday night. The freshman forward broke through with three points, including his third goal of the season.

"I got to play my game. As long as I'm getting chances, I know points will come," he said.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Wisconsin Friday Line Combinations, TV, Radio & More

#14 Wisconsin (9-6-2, 3-2-1-0 Big Ten) at #7 Minnesota (9-6-1, 3-4-1-1 Big Ten)

Date: Friday December 1st
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Location: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North PLUS
Radio: 1130 KTLK AM in Twin Cities
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/TSN Go
Nate is covering for tonight: Everyone

Preview: Gophers trying to get more quality shots on goal and rebounds

Pregame Reading: Rem Pitlick's inch-by-inch journey from "little peanut" to Gophers' leader scorer, by Eric Vegoe (The Athletic) 

Note: You can follow me on Twitter @gopherstate for live, in-person coverage.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Notre Dame Saturday Line Combinations, Friday Notes, TV, Radio, Streaming & More

#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, 2017
Time: 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.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Harvard Saturday Line Combinations, TV, Radio & More

Harvard (2-4-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) at #7 Minnesota (8-4-1, 3-2-1-1 Big Ten)

Date: November 18, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North PLUS
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go/TSN Go
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: The Athletic/Zone Coverage/Wellsociated Press

Last night's recap: Casey Mittelstadt & Minnesota Get Highlight-Reel Win Over #13 Harvard (Zone Coverage)

Winners of six straight at home, Minnesota is finding comfort in the friendly confines of Mariucci Arena.

While Harvard head coach Ted Donato did not make an excuse, he did believe it took his team some time to get used to the Olympic-sized ice sheet.

"(Minnesota's) a good hockey team, but hopefully we'll be a little better tomorrow," he said. "I think there's an adjustment for any team who comes to the big ice surface and they certainly have guys who can get around the ice well and get you out of your zone skating. That's not something that is surprising to us."

Adjustment or not, everything clicked Friday for Minnesota through forty minutes. The Gophers left the ice leading 4-0 and kept a speedy Harvard team in check.

"I don't know if it was the best, but we did a pretty good job other than if we turned the puck over and some vulnerable errors that could get us in trouble. Harvard's got such good speed that they are going to come back at you," said Minnesota head coach Don Lucia. "We did a good job at getting sticks on pucks and blocking shots."

Now in Saturday's rematch, both teams believe they can improve upon last night's results. Donato would like to see his team get off to a better start and be better on both ends of special teams. Harvard went 0-4 on the power play Friday night and didn't test Gopher goaltender Eric Schierhorn.

As for Minnesota?

"We need to do the same tomorrow and not even let them get a couple goals in there and close a little better," Rem Pitlick said Friday.

Line Combinations:

For the fourth time this season, Minnesota goes with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen. Nate Knoepke makes his second appearance of the season while Ryan Norman sits to make room. (Jack Glover was healthy when I asked Wednesday.)

"From a defensive standpoint, (7D) allows us to get one of the freshmen involved in the game with the comfort of knowing that one of the veterans is still availble to us," Lucia said. "From a forward standpoint it allows us to mix and match.

"We've scored the most goals when we've played 11 instead of 12. It allows us to get our top guys out a little more."

Although the Gophers twice scored six goals when utilizing 11 forwards, the third time saw Minnesota shut out against North Dakota.

Harvard makes one change wth Mitchell Perrault replacing Ferederic Gregoire on the fourth line.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers

Forwards
Brent Gates Jr. (#10) - Tommy Novak (#17) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Casey Mittelstadt (#21) -  Brannon McManus (#7)
Leon Bristedt (#18) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Scott Reedy (#19)
 Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)

Defense
Ryan Lindgren (#5) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Tyler Nanne (#29)
Sam Rossini (#28) - Ryan Zuhlsdorf (#20)
Nate Knoepke (#24)

Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Brock Kautz (#1)
Nick Lehr (#34)

Harvard University Crimson

Forwards

Henry Bowlby (#28) - Ryan Donato (#16) - Lewis Zerter-Gossage (#77)

Seb Lloyd (#15) - Jake Horton (#19) - Michael Floodstrand (#44)

Ty Pelton-Byce (#17) - Jack Badini (#33) - Nathan Krusko (#13)

Benjamin Solin (#11) - Eddie Ellis (#7) - Mitchell Perrault (#9)

Defense

Wiley Sherman (#25) - John Marino (#12)

Jacob Olson (#26) - Adam Fox (#18)

Adam Baughman (#20) - Reilly Walsh (#2)

Goaltenders

Merrick Madsen (#31)

Michael Lackey (#35)

Cameron Gornet (#32)

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Harvard Friday Line Combinations, TV, Radio & More

Harvard (2-3-0, 2-3-0 ECAC) at #7 Minnesota (7-4-1, 3-2-1-1 Big Ten)

Date: November 17, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North PLUS/TSN5 in Canada
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: The Athletic/Zone Coverage/Wellsociated Press

Pregame reading: Gopher hockey loses its finishing touch in disappointing weekend at Michigan (The Athletic), Harvard 1989 shocker still haunts Gophers 28 years later (The Athletic)

Pregame listening: That Gopher Hockey Puckast Episode 8

"That's the million dollar question."

Said by Don Lucia earlier this week, the Gopher head coach was responding to the question "how do you pull the positives all together?" Minnesota has found success on defense, allowing 2 and 1 goals against in back-to-back weekends, as well as offense, scoring 10 goals in 2 games.

However, the two have yet to go together in the same weekend.

Pregame Blog: 3 Thoughts From Friday, Minnesota-Michigan State Line Saturday Combinations & More

Michigan State (4-3-0, 0-1-0-0 Big Ten) at #5 Minnesota (6-3-0, 2-1-0-0 Big Ten)

Date: November 4, 2017
Time: 4:00 pm CT - NOTE THE EARLY TIME
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage and The Athletic

Last night's recap: Ryan Lindgren, Minnesota D shine in win
Pregame Listening: That Gopher Hockey Puckast Episode 6

Pregame Blog: Minnesota-Michigan State Friday line combinations, TV Schedule & More

Michigan State (4-2-0, 0-0-0-0 Big Ten) at #5 Minnesota (5-3-0, 1-1-0-0 Big Ten)

Date: November 3, 2017
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Place: 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis, MN
TV: Fox Sports North/Fox Sports Detroit Plus
Stream: BTN2Go/Fox Sports Go
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: Zone Coverage and The Athletic

Pregame Listening: That Gopher Hockey Puckast Episode 6

Greetings once again from snowy Minneapolis, where fall, we hardly knew you.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota vs Union Line Combinations, UMD Loss & More

Eight is not great when it comes to Minnesota's losing streak against its in-state neighbor 150 miles north.

Minnesota Duluth's Parker Mackay scored 1:45 into overtime to hand the visiting Gophers a season-opening 4-3 loss in the Ice Breaker tournament. It's the eighth straight defeat to UMD dating back to October 2014.

"It sucks to say, but right now the numbers don't lie. They got our number these last few years. We were really hoping to change that tonight," Tyler Sheehy said after Friday's loss. "We tried to play with a chip on our shoulders. That was something that has been going on these past few years. We weren't able to come out on top tonight." 

Minnesota now faces Union today in the tournament consolation game.

As a reminder, today's game is NOT on television in the Twin Cities. Here's why. I'm in Duluth and you can follow me on Twitter @gopherstate.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota vs Minnesota Duluth Ice Breaker Line Combinations

Pregame Blog: Teams not arrived, tailgate party yet to begin 2 months before Ice Breaker opens season. pic.twitter.com/AkP1SqJ3W0

— Nate Wells (@gopherstate) August 6, 2017

Date: October 6, 2017
Time: 7:30 pm CT
Place: AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, MN
TV: No TV in Twin Cities, My9 (Duluth NBC affiliate) in Duluth
Stream: NCHC.TV ($$$)
Radio: 1130 KTLK-AM (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: The Athletic Minnesota

Two extra games. That's where it begins.

Notebook: Ice Breaker, Potential Lines, TV Situation, Mittelstadt & More

Here are some Minnesota news and notes in the lead-up to the men's regular season opener tonight at Duluth and the women hosting Ohio State this weekend.

I'll be up in Duluth this weekend covering the Ice Breaker for a few different outlets. Of course, you can find links to anything Gopher-related I write on this website, as well as follow me on Twitter @gopherstate. I'm also planning on doing a Facebook Live video to discuss the games, which will be posted here as well afterwards.

My plan is to put a pregame blog a couple hours before the game. I do still hope to do a TV analysis blog before we get too far into the season for those who were wondering. Unfortunately, neither of this weekend's games are on television in the Twin Cities. The Gophers do not control TV rights to visiting non-conference games and the Bulldogs and My9 Duluth did not allow Fox Sports North to broadcast. Those in the Twin Cities can stream the game live for a fee at NCHC.TV.

It's a college hockey-wide problem where every season you can almost count the number of nationally televised non-conference games on one hand. Sadly, the problem seems to be getting worse and worse as realignment creates more non-conference games and more teams get TV deals. The same situation will occur in two weeks when the Gophers travel to Grand Forks to face North Dakota.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota's chance to make history + Gophers-MSU Line Combinations

Friday's Game Info

Michigan State at #5 Minnesota

Date: March 10, 2017
Time: 6:30 pm CT (7:30 pm ET)
Place: Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, MN
TV: ESPNEWS (Kevin Brown and Sean Ritchlin)
Stream: Watch ESPN (Free for cable subscribers)
Radio: 1500 ESPN (Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco)
Nate is covering for tonight: St. Paul Pioneer Press

The Gophers can make history this weekend with any combination of four points won by Minnesota or lost by Wisconsin.

By doing that - and for those scoreboard watching the Badgers' game against Ohio State tonight starts half an hour later - Minnesota will win its fourth straight Big Ten regular season title and sixth overall dating back to 2011-12 in the WCHA. (The Gophers shared the 2012-13 title with St. Cloud State.) No team has ever won six straight conference regular season titles.

Regardless of your thoughts on the Big Ten and Minnesota playing in a six-team conference, winning one, let alone six straight regular season titles, is an impressive feat.

It's hard to be consistent in college hockey.

Pregame Blog: Rem Pitlick & freshmen shine + Minnesota-Penn State Saturday Line Combinations

Saturday's Game Info

#6/4 Penn State at #7 Minnesota

Date: February 4, 2017
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Place: Mariucci Arena
TV: BTN
Stream: BTN2Go (Free for cable subscribers)
Radio: 1500 ESPN
Nate is covering for tonight: St. Paul Pioneer Press

After spending yesterday's blog detailing secondary scoring from the bottom-six forwards, Minnesota goes out and gets four even-strength goals from its top-six in a 5-1 win against Penn State.

Pregame blog: 3 Badgers to Watch + Minnesota at Wisconsin Line Combinations

It only seems like senior forward Grant Besse (#12) has been around at Wisconsin for a decade.

Maybe it's because former head coach Mike Eaves was fond of saying "young Besse" like Grant is an eternal sophomore. Or maybe that's because Besse, the 2013 Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award winner, makes his presence known against Minnesota. Besse has saved his best for when the Badgers face their maroon and gold enemies. In his last nine games against the Gophers he scored a total of nine goals and 12 points.

One of those games Wisconsin was shut out. Otherwise Besse scored in every other game against the Gophers since his freshman year. Nearly a quarter of his collegiate goals have been celebrated in games versus Minnesota.

Pregame Blog: Minnesota Line Combinations vs Michigan (January 13, 2017)

Greetings from Mariucci Arena!

I'm covering this weekend's series against Michigan for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Pick up a newspaper copy for both games if you can.

Tonight's game begins at 8 pm CT on BTN and 1500 ESPN.

With all the question marks entering tonight due to illness, everyone appears to be healthy enough to give it the old college try. Minnesota's lineup Friday turns out to be familiar to the one Don Lucia iced at the Mariucci Classic nearly two weeks ago.

On defense Ryan Lindgren is healthy enough to play, returning to his blue line pairing with Jake Bischoff. He returns from World Junior Classic duty where the freshman won a gold medal with Team USA while spending a few days in the hospital with a strep throat and illness.

He is in for Jack Glover (#3).

The other major scratch, Connor Reilly (#21), missed one of the Classic games with the flu. Reilly played in the championship win against UMass, however. Jack Ramsey takes his place.

Leon Bristedt and Brent Gates Jr. switch spots on the wings. Bristedt moves up to a line with Tommy Novak and Vinni Lettieri in an attempt to spark Novak, who has been held without a point in his last five games and gone nearly two months without a goal.

Luke Notermann plays in his third straight game.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers lines

Forwards
Rem Pitlick (#15) - Justin Kloos (#25) - Tyler Sheehy (#22)
Leon Bristedt (#18) - Tommy Novak (#17) - Vinni Lettieri (#19)
Brent Gates Jr (#10) - Mike Szmatula (#9) - Luke Notermann (#11)
Taylor Cammarata (#13) - Darian Romanko (#26) - Jack Ramsey (#16)

Defense
Jake Bischoff (#28) - Ryan Lindgren (#5)
Steve Johnson (#4) - Jack Sadek (#2)
Ryan Zuhsldorf (#20) - Ryan Collins (#6)

Goaltenders
Eric Schierhorn (#37)
Nick Lehr (#34)
Brock Kautz (#1)

Michigan's lines

Zach Nagelvoort is listed first in goal and expected to start. The Wolverines also get back Joe Cecconi from the World Juniors.

Pregame Reading:

If you're reading this, you know that I made a blog to put all my Gopher hockey writing and podcasts in one spot. Congrats you early adopter!

-Scouting Michigan
-Gopher Hockey Notebook touches on Ryan Lindgren winning a gold medal and Luke Notermann's debut at the Mariucci Classic.

The Gopher women's team lost 3-2 this afternoon to UMD, snapping a 21 game unbeaten streak against the Bulldogs. Twice Minnesota scored third period goals to come back, however, could not do it a third time when Katherine McGovern put UMD ahead with less than five minutes left.

What was impressive about Minnesota Duluth's win was that the Bulldogs not only battled back. The team out-shot Minnesota 35-30 - it's not often anyone accomplishes that feat.

Gopher junior forward Kelly Pannek (1G-1A) extended her point streak to 18 games. Sarah Potomak also had a goal and an assist while UMD's Lara Stalder finished with 3 points.

Some good Michigan Twitter follows:

-Orion Sang, Michigan Daily beat writer is in the building and at (@orion_sang)
-Official Michigan Twitter
-Yost Built

You can follow me on Twitter as well @gopherstate.