“We need Badger hockey to be good. You do in college hockey, but more importantly, we need Gopher hockey to be better.”
That sums up Bob Motzko’s mindset as Minnesota travels to Wisconsin to face the Badgers, a team that swept the Golden Gophers in Minnesota at the end of October. Sharing his take on things with Minnesota’s play-by-play guy Wally Shaver, Motzko had much sincere praise for Mike Hastings and his Badgers, especially on the defensive end in the game.
Motzko singled out Kyle McClellan, whose 1.92 goals-against average and .930 save percentage are among the best in college hockey.
“They struggled in goal the last years and this kid’s numbers are outstanding and their defensive numbers are outstanding,” said Motzko. “They’ve got good hockey players over there.”
The Wisconsin defense is tops in the nation, allowing 1.88 goals on average per game. The Badgers split a road series against Michigan last weekend, with their 5-1 Friday loss snapping a 10-game win streak. In the two games, Wisconsin gave up an uncharacteristic 10 goals, following Friday’s loss with a 6-5 overtime win.
After that, said Motzko, “You can best be assured that their week in practice is going to reset on defense.”
Motzko also had a prediction for this series: “And you’re going to see a tight weekend, a very tight weekend.”
Hastings sees similarities in the “ability level” between the Wolverines – the second-best offensive team in the nation (4.71) – and the Gophers, who average slightly more goals per game (3.69) than do the Badgers (3.58). Both teams, said Hastings, “play with pace and make plays, and they’re always looking to make them.”
In his weekly press conference, Hastings said that the Badgers learned some lessons last week that they can apply against the Gophers.
“One thing I thought Michigan did a really good job of was getting inside us, our defensive zone, their offensive zone,” said Hastings. “Yeah, it’s a point of emphasis for us this week, our rush defense and our ability to make sure that we’re trying to with a little bit bigger rink protecting the most important ice, which is inside those dots.”
The Badgers announced their presence in the 2023-24 season with authority when they swept the then-No. 1 Golden Gophers in Mariucci Arena to open Big Ten play Oct. 26-27. Hastings, who spent a year as an assistant coach at Minnesota in 2008-09, said before that initial series he’d learned long ago how much the rivalry between these teams meant from the Golden Gophers’ perspective.
“When I was hired at Minnesota,” said Hastings, “I was told that there was only one thing that couldn’t happen, and we couldn’t get beat by the Badgers.”
This week, Hastings is still keenly aware of the importance of this series, both in terms of Big Ten play and local pride.
“It’s no disrespect to any other team that we play on the schedule, because if you’re not ready in this league, you’re going to get your lunch handed to you repeatedly and so you have to be on point,” said Hastings, “but one of the first things that was mentioned in the weight room on Monday morning at 7:30 was that it was Gopher Week. And that wasn’t delivered from the coaches. That’s the players.”
Dating back to the first time these teams met in 1922, the Gophers have a 183-103-24 lead all-time over the Badgers. Minnesota went 3-1-0 last season against Wisconsin, but the Badgers have won the last three meetings.
This is the first time that the teams will meet in Wisconsin as top-10 opponents since 2006. The significance of this rivalry’s return to relevance isn’t lost on Hastings.
“This is college hockey at its best,” said Hastings. “You know, you see the BC-BU [series] play out the way that it played out last weekend. They didn’t hand a trophy to BC, but it still was entertaining hockey, and it was a great opportunity for both those programs to look each other in the eye and go after it.
“It’s no different this weekend when Minnesota comes into our program. I think those rivalries throughout college hockey – and North Dakota playing Denver – I think you’ve had some of the most storied programs in all college hockey competing against each other trying to fly their flag a little higher than the other. It’s going to be no different this weekend.”
In third place, Minnesota trails Wisconsin by six points in the Big Ten standings, and both teams are chasing Michigan State, who leads the Badgers by five points and the Gophers by 11. Minnesota had a chance to gain some ground on the road against the Spartans last weekend, but just like the Badgers, the Gophers split the weekend.
The 3-2 Friday loss was a tough repeat of a pattern that the Gophers have attempted to break all season – letting a game get away in the third period. Trailing 2-0, Michigan State scored three goals in the third period, with Daniel Russell’s game-winning marker coming at 19:56.
“That loss on Friday, that stung because we played so well for two periods and then we let them back in the game,” said Motzko. “It was us.
“But our guys rebounded Saturday. We played really good, for five of the six periods, we played outstanding hockey.”
Motzko said that he hopes that the Gophers learned from the series against the Spartans.
“I like where we’re at,” he said. “I like what we’re doing. I wish these young kids wouldn’t make a few mistakes once in a while, but they do, but we’ve got a pretty good hockey team. We’re awful fun and we keep going.”
He also said that the series against Wisconsin gives Minnesota a chance to measure its growth this season.
“I’m anxious for us to continue to play right now and we’re playing these top teams right now, and that’s great for us,” said Motzko. “And we’re a top team. We’re right there. I just think it sets up for a great weekend.”
The Badgers are the only team to have swept the Gophers so far this season. Michigan State is the only team that’s swept Wisconsin. It’s this very tight dynamic at the top that may dictate how the regular season plays out. Motzko’s team is in a pretty good position in the PairWise Rankings.
“All we concentrate on [is that] we play everybody in our conference four times, and you want to win your series with each team,” said Motzko. “That’s all you really want to do, is win your series. The only series we’re down in is with Wisconsin. When you take care of your series, you’re going to be in the right spot in the standings. We’re okay, but we’ve got a lot of big games coming up.”
Hastings said that he’s seen growth and maturity from the Badgers since the last time they played the Gophers, but prevailing against Minnesota at home this weekend will take something more.
“You have to do it with depth, and you have to be able to defend,” said Hastings. “We still need to rely upon the depth that has been developed, the young guys playing not like young guys and our old guys drawing from the experiences that they’ve had in situations like this when you’re playing Minnesota. All that’s in a different place than it was earlier this year.”
This is Wisconsin’s first home Big Ten series since a sweep of Penn State Dec. 8-9.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to try to defend our home ice,” said Hastings. “It’s been a while since we’ve been here, so it’s a very important weekend – and not only because of who we’re playing, but when we’re playing in the season.”
