What may be the final regular season men's hockey game between the No. 1-ranked Gophers and No. 6 North Dakota is a hot ticket.
Both games at Mariucci Arena -- Friday night, Jan. 18, and Saturday afternoon -- are sold out. Tickets were listed for sale on StubHub on Thursday for as much as $320 apiece and $85 each for standing room. Students still can purchase standing-room tickets at Mariucci for $55 apiece.
Tickets are scarce because Minnesota's longest-standing and fiercest hockey rivalry seems to be coming to an end.
The Gophers leave the Western Collegiate Hockey Association after this season to play in the Big Ten Conference, and coach Don Lucia says there is no room for North Dakota on Minnesota's nonconference schedule because he wants to keep playing Minnesota's other Division I teams.
That means that other than postseason collisions, the rivalry will conclude this weekend after 283 meetings.
Minnesota leads 137-130-14.
Former Gopher Lou Nanne said there were a lot of intense battles in those games.
"As far back as when I came here in 1959, it was always the top rivalry for the Minnesota Gophers," Nanne said. "I can't remember any time that series was played without a great deal of passion and a great deal of interest. It's been the prime rival for a long, long time. It's something I'm going to miss."
The Gophers and the team formerly known as the Sioux first played at the old Williams Arena on Jan. 23-24, 1948, with North Dakota winning
the first game 5-3 and Minnesota scoring three goals in overtime to win the second 7-4.
By the time John Mariucci took over as Gophers coach in 1952, the rivalry had blossomed.
"He loved it," Nanne said.
Mariucci's other favorite foe was Michigan State because Spartans coach Amo Bessone was a friend, but as far as team matchups, Nanne said, Mariucci looked to North Dakota.
"North Dakota was always the top rival," Nanne recalled. "In those days, Michigan and Michigan State were in our league, but North Dakota was our biggest rival."
Lucia has said he wants to play Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Minnesota State Mankato and Bemidji State in nonconference games, and that leaves Zach Parise a bit sad.
Parise, a former North Dakota star who plays for the Wild, remembers the feeling in Grand Forks, N.D., when Minnesota was next on the schedule.
"There was a lot of buzz on campus," he said. "It was pretty fun because we still had a lot of students from Minnesota who cheered for the Gophers, so we gave 'em a hard time all week. It was fun."
Former North Dakota defenseman Chay Genoway, who plays for the Houston Aeros and was in town this week for the Wild's intrasquad scrimmage, said he wished the timing would have been different so he could have attended one of the weekend games. Genoway recalls pictures from the old days posted in the North Dakota locker room, and most were from games against Minnesota.
"Every year that was a game we had circled; it's one those guys are probably gritting their teeth about since Monday," Genoway said. "It's definitely an intense weekend."
Nanne said he hopes the rivalry can be renewed.
"I just wish the university would find some way to make sure they play North Dakota and Duluth two times a year as part of their nonconference schedule," Nanne said. "Those two teams are really important to the Gophers' schedule. I just don't like to think of building another rivalry that's going to compete with North Dakota. This one's been going for 50 years; you just don't replace it."
