Minnesota vs. St. Cloud State: In-state rivals Minnesota and St. Cloud will play their second home-and-home series of the season and 36th all-time this weekend. The Gophers swept SCSU in six games in 2008-09 and the Huskies took both 2009-10 meetings, but the teams split two games at Mariucci Arena last season and split their first home-and-home series of this season on Nov. 18 and 19.
Back in November, St. Cloud held off a late Gopher comeback at the National Hockey Center to win the first contest 4-3, but Minnesota prevailed with a 5-0 victory at home the following night. Minnesota now holds a 49-27-12 edge in the all-time series, which began in 1990. In home-and-home series in where the Gophers host the first game, UM is 9-6-1 in the first game and 5-6-5 in the weekend finale.
About The Huskies: After losing the high-scoring Drew LeBlanc, freshman forward David Morley, and star senior goaltender Mike Lee to injury early in the year, St. Cloud saw forwards Cam Reid and Mitch MacMillan leave the program before beginning the second half of its WCHA schedule. Despite this adversity, the Huskies went 2-2-0 in against No. 12 Colorado College and 18th-ranked North Dakota in their last two series. SCSU, 10-12-4 overall, now sits in a tie for seventh place in the conference with Michigan Tech with a 7-8-3 WCHA ledger. St. Cloud has been led offensively by junior forward Ben Hanowski's 27 points (12g-15a). Behind Hanowski are senior forward Jared Festler (11g-9a) and standout defensemen Andrew Prochno (4g-16a) and Nick Jensen (5g-14a). Prochno's 20 points rank him second nationally in scoring by a freshman defenseman. In the absence of Lee between the pipes, freshman Ryan Faragher has gotten all of the playing time. In 21 games, Faragher has gone 8-10-3 with a 2.75 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage.
In The Polls: The 17-9-1 Gophers are No. 3 in the latest USCHO.com poll and No. 3 in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. Minnesota has been ranked in the top five in both polls for the last 12 weeks. Minnesota began the year No. 19 in the USCHO.com poll and was unranked in the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll.
Good Memories: The last time that Minnesota met St. Cloud State was on Nov. 19 at home. The Gophers won 5-0 and the shutout was Kent Patterson's sixth of the season, setting a new school record. The game also featured the first hat trick of Nick Bjugstad's career.
Let's Play Four: St. Cloud State is one of three teams that the Gophers face four times this season in WCHA play. Minnesota is 3-1 against North Dakota this year and will face Wisconsin at home on March 2-3 to finish the regular season. The Gophers are 1-1-0 against both the Huskies and Badgers.
