Preview: No. 1 Minnesota at No. 5 UND
Oct. 20—GRAND FORKS — UND lost all eight of its defensemen from last year's team.
Minnesota lost its top three — Brock Faber, Jackson LaCombe and Ryan Johnson. Gopher coach Bob Motzko said a fourth, Mike Koster, is out this weekend, and a fifth, Ryan Chesley, is questionable.
The new look defensive corps, for both teams, are going to get a major test.
Two of the country's best forward groups will be going at young blue lines when No. 1 Minnesota takes on No. 5 UND in Ralph Engelstad Arena.
"Our sophomores are playing the minutes they played last year, plus they're playing the minutes for Faber, LaCombe and Johnson," Motzko said. "You can see their brains go, 'Oh boy, this is different.'
"I'm more interested in what those six (defensemen) look a month from now. That's our complete focus. We've got North Dakota, we've got Wisconsin, we've got Duluth, we've got Michigan. . . we've got a month, right now, of playing pretty good hockey teams. We've got to get better in that stretch."
Although both blue lines look a lot different than last year, when the teams split a two-game series in Minneapolis, there's talent on both sides.
UND's average time-on-ice leaders during last weekend's Ice Breaker Tournament were Bennett Zmolek (20:49), Logan Britt (19:56), Garrett Pyke (19:47) and rookie Jake Livanavage (18:02).
Minnesota's average time-on-ice leaders during last weekend's sweep of St. Thomas were Chesley (25:55), freshman Sam Rinzel (22:19), Luke Mittelstadt (20:40) and Cal Thomas (20:22).
UND Stat MN
4.5 Off 4.5
1.0 Def 2.5
12.5 PP 50.0
77.8 PK 100
57.7 FO 53.5
.952 SP .917
Stat categories are: offense (goals per game), defense (goals allowed per game), power play, penalty kill, faceoff percentage and team save percentage.
The first-round pick of the St. Louis Blues has one of the best releases in college hockey. He scored 21 goals and 50 points as a rookie and already buried four goals opening weekend this season. Snuggerud scored twice on the power play against St. Thomas and once in overtime. During last year's meeting between UND and Minnesota, he was the best Gopher player in the series finale.
The center from West Fargo had an excellent debut weekend with UND. Berg was successful in the faceoff dot, possessed pucks and hammered a one-timer for a goal. Playing on a line with setup man Jayden Perron, Berg is likely to get scoring chances. He doesn't need many to make an impact.
In 2019-20, UND went to Minneapolis and swept the Gophers with 9-3 and 3-2 victories. Outside of that weekend, the usual outcome has been a split when the Fighting Hawks and Gophers play. That's been the case in three of the last four meetings.
DraftKings lists the Gophers as a slight favorite (Minnesota -145, UND +114). The over/under is 6.
