No. 8 Gopher Hockey hosts the 24th annual Mariucci Classic this weekend with No. 7/9 UMass-Lowell, No. 18 Merrimack and Rochester Institute of Technology all making their second-ever appearances at the traditional holiday tournament. Minnesota takes on Merrimack to open the event at 7 p.m. CT on Friday, Jan. 2 (TV: FOX Sports North PLUS; Stream: BTN2Go; Radio: 1500 ESPN/Gopher Radio Network) while UMass-Lowell and RIT play on Friday at 4 p.m. (Free stream on GopherSports.com).
Minnesota will play either UMass-Lowell or RIT on Saturday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. (Stream: BTN Plus; Radio: 1500 ESPN/Gopher Radio Network) while Merrimack will play the other opponent at 4 p.m. (Stream: Free on GopherSports.com).
About the Mariucci Classic
Named for the legendary John Mariucci, who was an All-American player and coach for the Gophers, the Mariucci Classic is now in its 24th year. Minnesota has won 13 of the previous 23 tournaments -- last doing so in 2012-13. RIT returns to the Mariucci Classic as the only team in the field to beat Minnesota at the event, finishing second in 2007-08 while UMass-Lowell finished second behind the Gophers in its only Mariucci Classic appearance in 2005-06 and Merrimack finished third at the event in 2004-05.
The University of Minnesota is 32-12-2 all-time at the Mariucci Classic (Minnesota’s two ties have been decided by shootouts with a win in 2007-08 and a loss last year vs. Colgate).