No. 2 Gophers vs. No. 10 Denver
7 p.m.
Mariucci Arena
Minnesota lines
Kyle Rau – Nick Bjugstad – Zach Budish
Sam Warning – Erik Haula – Nate Condon
AJ Michaelson – Christian Isackson – Justin Holl
Tom Serratore – Travis Boyd – Seth Ambroz
Seth Helgeson – Ben Marshall
Mike Reilly – Mark Alt
Brady Skjei – Nate Schmidt
Adam Wilcox
Michael Shibrowski
Ryan Coyne
Denver lines
Gabe Levin – Nick Shore – Chris Knowlton
Zac Larraza – Shawn Ostrow – Ty Loney
Garrett Allen – Quentin Shore – Matt Tabrum
Larkin Jacobson – Daniel Doremus – Grant Arnold
Paul Phillips – Scott Mayfield
Nolan Zajac – David Makowski
Joey LaLeggia – Josiah Dider
Juho Olkinuora
Sam Brittain
Notes
The juggled first and second lines that we saw last weekend seem to be sticking around. The combinations make sense, Budish spent most of last season with Bjugstad and Rau and the Warning-Haula-Condon line has been really clicking lately.
The starting goaltenders haven’t been announced yet, but odds are it will be Wilcox facing off against Olkinuora.
This is the final regular home series for the Gophers. Though they could be forced to go on the road for the first round of the WCHA playoffs, odds are we’ll be back at Mariucci in two weeks.
Minnesota sits two points behind St. Cloud State in the WCHA standings, if it wants to hoist the MacNaughton Cup at the end of the season three or four points this weekend is a must.
Read a feature about Minnesota’s lone senior Seth Helgeson here.
Here’s an interesting look at how close conference races are across the country from College Hockey Inc.
Elsewhere in the WCHA: Wisconsin @ Omaha, Alabama-Huntsville @ Minnesota-Duluth, Bemidji State @ North Dakota, Michigan Tech @ St. Cloud State, Minnesota State-Mankato @ Colorado College and Alaska-Anchorage @ Alaska.