After a close weekend against Penn State, the Gophers men’s hockey prepares for a three-game series against Notre Dame this weekend. 

Minnesota is the No. 2 seed in the tournament while Michigan State is No. 1, despite their shared conference championship. Notre Dame is the No. 7 seed in the tournament, however, Gophers forward Oliver Moore said they do not care who is seeded where. 

“We are definitely not taking this Notre Dame team lightly,” Moore said. “They have a really well-coached team, and they have really good players on their team. I expect their best for sure.” 

This series is the start of the Gophers postseason stretch and is one of the three matchups for the Big Ten Conference tournament quarterfinals this upcoming weekend. 

The last time Minnesota and Notre Dame faced off, the Gophers won the first game in the series and lost in overtime during the second game. 

Gophers head coach Bob Motzko said despite the difference in seeding, Notre Dame is not a team to take lightly.  

“The difference between a seventh-place team is minuscule,” Motzko said. “It’s a fresh start for them. You know that they are looking for a ray of hope and we need to be sharp, we need to be on top of our game.” 

Notre Dame is ranked 59th in the NCAA for scoring defense and 38th in scoring offense this season. They have a strong power play which has a combined 15 goals on the man advantage. 

Gophers forward Mason Nevers said their strengths are not something they are ignoring. 

“Working on our D zone and making sure that we are blocking shots,” Nevers said. “Their first power play is good so we got to be on it defensively.” 

Motzko has confidence that his team will be able to fight against these challenges.  

“The key to our team all year has been the versatility of our offense,” Motzko said. “That all the lines contribute.”

Motzko added that in previous games it never bothered the team or threw them off when players got hurt. 

Normally, a regular season series is two games, but during the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals they will play a maximum of three games if the series is tied after two. The win-or-go-home game would be March 9. 

The expectation for a third game means a different kind of preparation from the team. 

“We took a day off this week preparing so that we save some mileage on our legs,” Motzko said. “We have to be prepared to go three, but we have to go for Friday first.” 

Minnesota has a 47-29-6 overall record against Notre Dame. In the four games Minnesota and Notre Dame played this year, the Gophers won 19-12. 

“We are not fancy but we are deep and solid and when we are deep and solid is when we are at our best,” Motzko said.