NCAA Tournament

Gophers Depth Gets Them to Title Game

April 6, 2023 Eric Vegoe Comments Off on Gophers Depth Gets Them to Title Game

Tampa, Fla. — Coming into the Frozen Four there were high hopes for the pace of play based on the sheer volume of skill amongst the teams in Tampa. The Gophers boasted 14 draft picks in their line-up and the Terriers tallied 11 in theirs. Neither team disappointed during an intense Minnesota 6-2 win over Boston University during the first semi-final of the weekend. However it wasn’t necessarily the Gophers top line or the Terriers heralded freshman defensemen that made the most noise, it came from some of the team’s depth players. […]

NCAA Tournament

Gophers Finding Right Combination for Success

April 6, 2023 Eric Vegoe 1

Minneapolis, Minn. — Looking over a roster of 14 NHL draft picks, plenty of pundits think it is an easy job to put together a lineup for Minnesota. The reality is that it’s always a challenge to find the right chemistry and every fall the concern over early lineups are brushed aside by Bob Motzko with a grin and a cliche that the lines he sets at the start of the year have never been […]

Logan Cooley waiting for the puck
Features

Opportunity to Improve Against In-State Rivals Ahead

October 7, 2022 Eric Vegoe Comments Off on Opportunity to Improve Against In-State Rivals Ahead

Minneapolis, Minn. — When the University of Minnesota men’s hockey program decided it was time to make a change in leadership behind the bench, it wasn’t necessarily because the team was losing the majority of their games, it was because they were losing the wrong ones. The Gophers seemed to struggle on the biggest stages and the losses during the postseason and the losses to the other in-state programs were adding up. Now as Gophers […]

Features

We Have What We Need, We Need What We Have

February 11, 2022 Eric Vegoe Comments Off on We Have What We Need, We Need What We Have

Gophers have games in hand with Buckeyes, but key upcoming series will have huge implications for conference race and best chance to make an impact to their PairWise Ranking during rest of regular season Minneapolis, Minn. — Players coming into the locker room to start a crucial February stretch of Gopher Hockey noticed a new message on the team’s white board last week, ‘We Have What We Need.’ Storylines throughout January focused on goaltender Jack […]

LaFontaine Cele
News

Gophers LaFontaine Signs Pro Contract with Canes

January 10, 2022 Eric Vegoe Comments Off on Gophers LaFontaine Signs Pro Contract with Canes

Fifth-year goalie will immediately join Carolina taxi squad Minneapolis, Minn. — Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko was watching the Minnesota Vikings wrap up their season Sunday when his phone rang and it brought the type of news that usually doesn’t come until after his own team wraps up their season — fifth year player Jack LaFontaine informed him that he was signing a professional contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. “According to him, he got […]

News

Gopher Men’s Hockey Scanned Attendance Numbers Increased in 2018-19 Season — Will it Continue?

October 6, 2021 Eric Vegoe Comments Off on Gopher Men’s Hockey Scanned Attendance Numbers Increased in 2018-19 Season — Will it Continue?

The number of season ticket holders continues its decline, the actual number of fans coming to the rink reversed its trend in 2019-20. The numbers of tickets scanned grew from the 5,284 attending in 2018-19 to 5,799 in 2019-20, a ten percent increase. […]

No Picture
News

Gophers Get Five of Six at Yost, Prep for Series with Penn State

November 14, 2019 Eric Vegoe Comments Off on Gophers Get Five of Six at Yost, Prep for Series with Penn State

During availability Bob Motzko said after getting five of six from Michigan he did what all old coaches do, go through the film and pick out all the things the team did wrong. The head hockey coach has said during the first ten games that he has to remember to be patient with this team and he quickly turned his focus back to the things they did well. The Gophers killed off all nine shorthanded […]

Podcast

GPL Podcast #242: Gopher goalie Justen Close joins the podcast

June 27, 2023 Craig Cotner Comments Off on GPL Podcast #242: Gopher goalie Justen Close joins the podcast

Returning Gopher goalie Justen Close joins us for this special offseason podcast. He is enjoying the last few weeks of his summer break at his family cabin 3 hours north of his hometown of Kindersley, Saskatchewan. We get in to the disappointment of losing the National Championship game. The new NIL opportunities with Dinkytown Athletes as well as some of his favorite cooking! Audio You can listen to the podcast here, or on Apple Podcasts […]

Features

3M Arena at Mariucci Will Almost Be NHL-Sized for 2023-24 Season

June 21, 2023 Eric Vegoe Comments Off on 3M Arena at Mariucci Will Almost Be NHL-Sized for 2023-24 Season

Minneapolis, Minn. — 3M Arena at Mariucci has looked like a sandbox for much of this offseason as a long anticipated project is finally underway reducing the size of the ice surface from an Olympic sized 200 x 100 to a more NHL sized 200 x 89 with tighter corners. The project includes replacing the refrigeration system for both Mariucci and Ridder Arena from a discontinued R-22 refrigerant to an ammonia based one, updating the […]

Mason Nevers embraces Brock Faber after the Gophers are beaten in overtime. Photo by Craig Cotner
NCAA Tournament

Quinnipiac Stuns Gophers in OT to Win First NCAA Title

April 9, 2023 Chris Eckes 1

Tampa, FL – We had them right where we wanted them, and we let ‘em off the hook.

Despite building a two-goal lead early in the second period, the Minnesota Gophers (29-10-1) couldn’t score that next goal to put the Quinnipiac Bobcats (34-4-3) away for good. Quinnipiac mounted a furious charge after the second Gopher goal, outshooting Minnesota 26-8 after the first period and potting three unanswered goals, the last just 10 seconds into overtime, to win their first national championship 3-2. […]