The Daily Gopher - All Posts

Gopher Hockey Gains Commits From Local Stars

2025-08-04T09:23:01-05:00

Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images

The August Recruiting Period has started out well for the Gophers

The annual Hockey recruiting calendar begins on August 1st of each year when the next age group of future college players is allowed to commit to schools. It’s only been four days, but the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s hockey team has made an immediate splash gaining commits from a trio of highly ranked in-state stars, and a potential fourth heading their way.

Everyone knows that Gopher coach Bob Motzko spend several years coaching St. Cloud State before being hired at Minnesota. It appears those long connections with the Huskies may be paying off now in Dinkytown as Motzko landed commits from a pair of players whose fathers stared at St. Cloud State in the 1990s and early 2000’s on top of the one he got earlier this spring when former Denver Commit Finn McLaughlin decided to switch from the Pioneers to the Gophers. His dad Kyle played for SCSU from 1995-1999.

The first one of this cycle was announced on Friday when Minnesota eaned a commit from Lakeville forward Gunnar Conboy.

CO〽️〽️ITTED

GUNNAR CONBOY IS STAYING
HO〽️E

‘09 Power Forward from Lakeville was a USHL tender by Green Bay after two varsity seasons with Lakeville North! 66 points in 2 years

Selected to Team U17 roster for 2025 Four Nations

Congrats to Gunnar & Family! RAH!!! pic.twitter.com/YaHr1KjrCo
— The Future of Pride On Ice (@FutureGophers) August 1, 2025

Conboy’s dad Tim Conboy played for St Cloud State from 2002-2004 before he went pro. Conboy played portions of three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes before playing in Europe for several years.

The next shoe dropped Monday morning when Minnesota received a surprise commit from Moorhead forward Wyatt Cullen.

CO〽️〽️ITTED

WYATT CULLEN IS A GOPHER!!!!!

The Moorhead native 2008 born forward had 31 points last season with the NTDP!

Son of former MN Wild forward Matt is staying HO〽️E!!!!

Congrats to Wyatt & Family! RAH!!!!! pic.twitter.com/veMdxIFFJ1
— The Future of Pride On Ice (@FutureGophers) August 4, 2025

As is stated in the tweet above, Cullen is the son of former St Cloud State star and NHLer Matt Cullen. Many of the recruiting “experts” thought that Minnesota did not have much of a chance to land Wyatt because his brother Brooks who is a year older committed last season to Michigan State, and it’s long been thought that the brothers would want to play together in college. They also have a younger brother Joey who is 15 and is thought to be the best brother of the three and was the 2025 Minnesota Bantam Player of the Year.

Well, after the Wyatt Cullen commitment news came out Monday morning, Grand Forks Herald Hockey writer Brad Schlossman tweeted this our.

I'm told Brooks Cullen has de-committed from Michigan State as well. The expectation is that Brooks will end up at Minnesota along with Wyatt. https://t.co/X0uxbqnNJt
— Brad Elliott Schlossman (@SchlossmanGF) August 4, 2025

Some observers did think this was a possibility just based on the fact that the commitment graphic for Wyatt Cullen shows his jersey with a W. Cullen rather than just Cullen—indicating there were more than one on the roster.

So while Brooks has not officially committed to Minnesota-there is a very good chance that will happen in the very near future.

Earlier last week, the Gophers got their commitment hot streak started by finally landing an in-state goalie recruit for the first time in a very long time. Grand Rapids native Carter Casey committed to Minnesota last Monday.

I am proud and honored to announce my commitment to further my education and continue playing hockey at the University of Minnesota. I want to thank my family, friends, teachers, coaches, and most importantly my parents for helping me become the person that I am today. #gogophs pic.twitter.com/tb3zLN8Rw1
— Carter Casey (@Caseytendy34) July 28, 2025

Casey played two seasons for Grand Rapids before joining the Waterloo Blackhawks in the USHL for the end of the 2024-25 season. Due to injuries he had to play down the stretch and was amazing going 11-2 with a .925 SV% and 2.08 GAA during the playoffs, helping Waterloo to the USHL finals. He will played in the WHL for the next two seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers before likely coming into the U for the 2027-28 season once Nathan Airey and Luca DiPasquoa have graduated.

Hopefully the Gophers can keep up this great start to the 2025 recruiting season and continue to add players to make Minnesota a threat at the top of the nation yet again.

Wayzata’s Nolen Anderson commits to Gopher hoops

2025-07-31T15:49:48-05:00

Brace Hemmelgarn-Imagn Images

Niko Medved gets his second commit for the 2026 class

Niko Medved has landed his second commit for the 2026 class. Wayzata’s Nolen Anderson, a 3-star foward, has committed to Minnesota.

COMMITTED〽️〽️〽️〽️ pic.twitter.com/fKxlrprOEd
— Nolen Anderson (@nolen_anderson7) July 31, 2025

Nolen Anderson

Pos: F
Ht: 6’6”
Wt: 180

Anderson will be coming to the Gophers from Wayzata, the defending state champs. He and Iowa State commit, Christian Wiggins led the Trojans to a state title last season and will be back to defend it.

He is the type of recruit who does a lot of this little things VERY well. For one, he is a good shooter, which is important. But what is going to make Anderson a great college basketball player is that he is elite at playing away from the ball. You will find that Anderson is not going to be the guy creating on offense by attacking the rim, blowing past defenders or creating his own shot. But what he will excel at is making cuts to the basket, moving the ball, setting screens and playing with a high basketall IQ that actually makes the offense work better for everyone.

Anderson had a recent offer from Virginia Tech to go along with handful of mid-majors.

What is next?

There are two big takeaways from this commitment.

First, Medved is getting the local kids. It is only one recruiting cycle, and every coach before him had at least one recruiting cycle when they kept key local kids home. But landing Cedric Tomes and Anderson are excellent gets, who fit very well with what Medved wants to do.

Which leads me to the second key takeaway...Medved is recruiting the right kind of kids who fit what he wants to do on both ends of the floor. And what impressed me about Anderson is that he sees it too.

“I’d say that I fit really well because I am more of an off the ball guy and they work well with guys off the ball, they had one of the highest assist rates in all of the NCAA last year. That is good because I am good at moving off the ball and I am good at cutting and running off of screens. They are not more dribble dominant as a team, and I think I fit in more this way on the team. I think I can fit right in because they need guys that can stretch the floor and shoot it pretty well for their team and those are things that I do pretty well and can help with.”

The self-awareness of Anderson is not common and making this decision based on how he’s going to fit into what they already run is very mature. But it also speaks to how he was recruited by Medved and his staff.

That gives the program two incoming freshmen for 2026. I would not at all be surprised to see them work on bringning in another guard and ideally a big man to develop.

The Top 25 Gopher Basketball players in the last 25 seasons

2025-07-28T13:38:22-05:00

Ranking the top 25 Gopher basketball players of the last 25 seasons.

Continuing with our summer series of ranking the last 25 seasons, time to dive deeper into Gopher hoops. This exercise of ranking Gopher basketball players was a collective effort among the TDG staffers who pay the most attention to basketball. We each ranked our top 12 players over the last 25 seasons (starting with the 2000-01 season) and compiled the following list.

The past 25 seasons of Gopher hoops have been mostly unremarkable. The program has made it to just six NCAA Tournaments and earned two wins. Tubby Smith upset UCLA as an 11-seed in his final season and Richard Pitino upset Louisville as a 10-seed in 2019. But we’ll get into the teams and seasons at a later time; today is all about the players.

#25 Elliott Eliason - C (2011-15)

I bet you didn’t expect to see Eliason on this list, but the center who played his first three seasons for the Gophers is 6th in total rebounds over the last 25 seasons and played in 139 games (3rd in that same span of time).

#24 Kris Humphries (2003-04) / Cam Christie (2023-24)

This one is a tie for the one-and-dones that came through the program in this timeframe. On the one hand, you have to acknowledge the respective talents of these two Gophers. But on the other hand, it is not like they left a legacy or helped to establish a foundation that led to greater success for the program.

Humphries was the 14th overall pick in the 2004 draft after just one year under Dan Monson. That particular season was one of the worst in the last 25 years as the team finished 3-13 in the Big Ten and just 12-18 overall. It wasn’t a fun season to watch. But Humphries averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds during his freshman season.

Cam Christie was Ben Johnson’s biggest recruiting win and it was clear very early in the season that Johnson trusted Christie with playing time and big shots. In the third game of the year, down two points at home against Missouri, it was Christie who had the ball in his hands with a chance to win it. He ended up scoring only 11 points per game with 3.5 rebounds as a freshman and was drafted in the 2nd round with the 46th overall pick.

#23 Maurice Hargrow - G (2001-06)

The guard from St. Paul is perhaps the most surprising 1,000-point scorer in Gopher history, sitting just ahead of Ralph Sampson III with 1,021 points. Hargrow played all four years but took a brief detour during his junior year. In January of 2004, Hargrow transferred out of the program to Arkansas ,where he practiced, but did not play in any games. It didn’t work out for him as a Razorback, so he enrolled back at Minnesota in the fall but was ruled ineligible. So he sat out the 2004-05 season, the only season the team made the NCAA Tournament during his career, and played out his senior year in 2005-06.

#22 Dupree McBrayer- G (2015-19)

Over the last 25 seasons, McBrayer ranks 8th in games started, 6th in assists and scored 1,100 points in his Gopher career. On top of that, he was an excellent defender for Richard Pitino. He was also able to play on two different NCAA Tournament teams

#21 Michael Bauer - F (2000-04)

Recency bias didn’t keep Bauer from making the list. Dan Monson recruited Bauer out of Hastings and landed a forward who started 68 games, scored 1,140 career points and 520 rebounds. He was never a part of an NCAA Tournament team, but in his junior season they were on the bubble before losing 5 straight games (including the Big Ten Tournament) to end the season and earn a disappointing NIT invite.

#20 Deandre Mathieu - G (2013-15)

Perhaps the most surprising name on the list and Matheiu found his way into the top 20. This Tennessee native bounced around for his first two collegiate seasons before being recruited by Richard Pitino for his first season as the Gophers’ coach. The 5’9” point guard held the spot down till Nate Mason was ready to be the full-time starter and finished with the 6th most assists in the 21st century in his two seasons.

#19 Rick Rickert - F (2001-03)

Played just two seasons in at The Barn, but Rickert finished his Gopher career with 940. He was the first Gopher to win Big Ten Freshman of the Year and he returned for his sophomore season, the one mentioned under Bauer, where the Gophers started strong, earning a top 20 national ranking in December, but the team floundered down the stretch before making an NIT run. Rickert was drafted by the Timberwolves in the late second round, but he never made the team and is perhaps best remembered for being punched by Kevin Garnett in 2004 pickup game.

He played professionally from 2003 to 2018, but never played in an NBA regular season game.

#18 Gabe Kalscheur - SG (2018-21)

When Gabe Kalscheur got hot, it was a lot of fun to watch. The elite shooting guard from DeLaSalle shot 34.5% from behind the arc during his three seasons in Minnesota while also playing great defense.

He started all 88 games at Minnesota, with a few signature games where he was on fire. Kalscheur put up 24 points with 8 rebounds in the program’s last NCAA Tournament win back in 2019 over Louisville.

During the coaching change from Pitino to Ben Johnson, Kalscheur took his game to Iowa State where he was able to play for two more seasons.

#17 Marcus Carr - G (2019-21)

This Canadian point guard began his career at Pitt, transferred to Minnesota for two seasons and then left for Texas during the transition year between Pitino and Johnson. But during those two seasons, Carr was one of the best Gopher point guards in memory. As a junior, he earned 1st Team All-Big Ten (AP) and during his sophomore season, he set the Gophers’ single-season assist record.

#16 Rodney Williams - F (2009-13)

Part of the elite 2009 recruiting class for Tubby Smith, Williams became a 4-year starter who electrified The Barn with his athleticism and dynamic dunks. There was no denying that Williams had an explosive first step, making him hard to defend. And defensively, he was adept at blocking shots as the second defender. What held Williams back was his 25% three-point accuracy.

He, along with Royce White, were both local, 4-star recruiting wins for Tubby Smith. Williams ended up being a very good Gopher who played in 134 games, starting 101. He finished his career as the 19th Gopher with over 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. And he played on teams that made the NCAA Tournament as a freshman and again as a senior.

#15 Ralph Sampson III - C (2008-12)

Coming to the program just a year before the Williams/White class, Ralph Sampson III was part of a very good class in 2008 that included Devoe Joseph and Colten Iverson. For this past quarter-century, Sampson finished 3rd in rebounding and 15th in points scored while starting 112 out of 125 games.

He is one of the rare Gophers who played in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, which has only happened three times in program history. His senior year had a talented roster that lost six straight in February/March to relegate Minnesota to the NIT where they made it to the championship game in Madison Square Garden.

Sampson played professionally for four years, mostly in the NBA G League.

#14 Dan Coleman - G (2004-08)

Coleman was a freshman on Dan Monson’s only NCAA Tournament appearance with Minnesota and he finished his career as a senior on Tubby Smith’s initial season. The Hopkins native ended up 6th in points and 5th in rebounds over this 25-year span and he started 98 games in maroon and gold.

#13 Lawrence Westbrook - G (2006-10)

Who could forget his 29-point night in Madison back in January of 2009? Westbrook hit the game-tying three to send the game into overtime and then scored nine in the final five minutes to lead the Gophers to a RARE win at the Kohl Center. Minnesota is just 1-11 in Madison since that win.

Westbrook came to Minnesota from Arizona to play for Dan Monson’s last year and stuck around for the Tubby Smith era. He currently ranks 27th on the Gophers’ all-time scoring list, finishing with 1,199 career points. His shot selection was suspect, but he had no fear.

#12 Damian Johnson - F (2006-10)

After redshirting his freshman season, Johnson played the same four years as Westbrook, crossing over between Monson and Smith. Johnson was the perfect complementary collegiate player. His numbers don’t jump out at you, but he did a little bit of everything...the consummate “glue-guy.”

His defensive alertness, his offensive awareness, and his willingness to do all of the little things to help his team win are what earned him a spot on this list. And frankly, I could easily see an argument that he should be higher.

Johnson committed to Minnesota out of Louisiana and still calls Minnesota home today. He is currently the head coach at Benilde St. Margaret and is having quite a bit of success with the Red Knights.

#11 Vincent Grier - G (2004-06)

Perhaps the one player who nearly saved Dan Monson’s career at Minnesota, Vincent Grier transferred to the Gophers after a year at UNC-Charlotte and a year at Utah Tech. He led the team in scoring both seasons and carried the team into the NCAA Tournament in 2005.

On a per game basis, Grier was the 4th leading scorer over the past 25 years at 17 ppg. He was a fearless perimeter player who attacked the lane.

Grier is also in the coaching world and was most recently on staff at Truman, a D2 school in Missouri.

And Now for the Top 10

#10 Blake Hoffarber - G (2007-11)

There has not been a better pure shooter in Gopher history. I would accept an argument for Voshon Lenard, but his 37% career three-point percentage is not at the same level as Hoffarber’s 41%. But it wasn’t just his pure percentages; you have to also include his penchant for hitting big shots.

It started in Hopkins, hitting a game-tying shot while sitting on the floor to send the state championship game into overtime. And it continued through his game-winner of Indiana in the 2008 Big Ten Tournament. A shot that possibly secured an NCAA Tournament bid, pushing them up and off the bubble.

He is the program’s all-time leader in threes made and finished 23rd in career scoring with 1,267 points.

#9 Al Nolen - G (2007-11)

For my money, Nolen is the best on-ball defender in my lifetime as a Gopher fan. And perhaps the best, traditional point guard we have seen since Ariel McDonald. He would be higher on this list if it were not for a complete omission by one of the esteemed TDG voters. He would also likely be much higher on this list were he not suspended for academics in 2010 and then missed half of the 2010-11 season with a broken foot. Despite missing out on the equivalent of one full season, Nolen ranks 4th on the all-time assist leaderboard.

Both of those seasons were talented teams and each of them could have achieved some postseason success, had Nolen been there for February and March. But I digress.

Nolen is now the Gopher radio broadcast color commentator and he runs the Al Nolen Foundation to help youth in high-risk youth who are in difficult situations.

#8 Daniel Oturu - C (2018-20)

The big man from Cretin-Derham Hall who played his first two seasons for Minnesota, before leaving early and being drafted by the LA Clippers with the first pick of the 2nd round.

On a per-game average for his two seasons, Oturu averaged 15 points and 9 rebounds. Those numbers are not far off from Jordan Murphy’s 13 points and 9.8 rebounds. He was also named to the Big Ten All-Defensive team following his sophomore season. Returning for one more year in college may have benefited his pro career; it certainly would have made the 2020-21 Gopher team significantly better.

#7 Trevor Mbakwe - F (2010-13)

A double-double machine over his three seasons in Minnesota. Mbakwe was a beast on the boards, reminiscent of Richard Coffey. By my count, Mbakwe had 32 double-doubles over his 72 career games as a Gopher.

He missed most of the 2011-12 season because of a December ACL tear, but was able to come back with a medical redshirt the following year. That season he led the team to an 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament and a first round win over Florida.

Very recently, Mbakwe was hired at the U, working as the Director of National Engagement for the alumni association.

#6 Austin Hollins - G (2010-14)

Similar to Damian Johnson, Austin Hollins was a fantastic collegiate “glue-guy.” His mark on the Gopher record books is most noticed as the program’s career leader in games played, with 141. But he also ranks 19th on the all-time scoring list with 1,321 career points. Perhaps most importantly, during Hollins’ final three seasons, those teams accounted for more wins than any other 3-year span in the past 25 seasons. Between the NIT and NCAA tournaments, Hollins was also 10-2 in the postseason in his final three seasons.

Hollins was a great off-the-ball defender, smooth at attacking the rim and played with a high basketball IQ. He was also the MVP of the 2014 NIT after the Gophers beat SMU for the championship.

He continues to play professionally throughout Europe and the Middle East.

#5 Amir Coffey - G (2016-19)

The biggest recruiting win for Richard Pitino and Amir Coffey delivered. Coffey finished 24th on the Gophers’ all-time scoring list with three seasons of playing. During those three seasons, the Gophers made the NCAA Tournament twice, missing only in 2017-18 when Coffey missed the last half of the season with a shoulder injury.

Following his junior season, he left early, went undrafted, and signed a two-way contract with the Clippers. They eventually signed him to a 3-year, $11 million contract and he is currently a free agent.

#4 Andre Hollins - G (2011-15)

The four-star recruit from Memphis with a huge smile was a huge recruiting win for Tubby Smith. He ended up being the 5th all-time leading scorer in Gopher history and is second to Austin in total games played with 140. He had a memorable 41-point night against Memphis, early in his sophomore season, where he was 5/5 from three and 12/13 from the free throw line.

He and Austin were a fun pair to watch for their three years together.

After college, Hollins was briefly a graduate assistant on the Gopher staff. He has since gone back and earned his MBA from Carlson and is working in the local business community. He married Gopher women’s great, Rachel Banham, to become the ultimate Gopher power couple and perhaps we will see another generation of Hollins/Banham in The Barn.

#3 Nate Mason - G (2014-18)

Quite easily the most complete guard we have seen in a Gopher uniform over these past 25 years. Mason scored, he defended, he distributed and led. Mason was a 3-star recruit out of Georgia who had won three state championships and was his class valedictorian.

He finished his Gopher career ranking 2nd in assists, 3rd in threes made and 6th in scoring.

As a junior, he led the team to a 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing to Middle Tennessee St. And his final season at Minnesota had a chance to be fairly special with Jordan Murphy, McBrayer, Reggie Lynch and Coffey on the roster. But the Coffey injury and Lynch suspension derailed the team that had been ranked as high as #12.

Mason is still playing professionally, currently in Dubai.

#2 Dawson Garcia - F (2022-25)

The highest ranking Gopher who is also from Minnesota, Garcia initially passed on playing for Richard Pitino and played his freshman season at Marquette. From there, he transferred to UNC for part of a season. And finally settled on playing for Ben Johnson, back home at Minnesota.

His first year as a Gopher did not seem to be a great fit with Jamison Battle and the team sputtered to a 9-22 record. The following two seasons were very clearly his teams to lead. The 2023-24 season was one that had a chance to be very good as the team jumped out to a 12-3 record, 3-1 in the Big Ten. Garcia was the focal point of a team that included Cam Christie, Elijah Hawkins and a group of sophomores who were all coming into their own. They were on the bubble as of late February before struggling down the stretch and eventually getting knocked out of the NIT in the 2nd round.

Garcia averaged 17.5 points and 7 rebounds per game over his three seasons. He finished with 1,557 points and 621 rebounds as a Gopher (over 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for his collegiate career).

#1 Jordan Murphy - F (2015-19)

And finally we get to Jordan Murphy. This forward out of San Antonio was a 3-star recruit from San Antonio who had been committed to Shaka Smart at VCU before Smart took the Texas job. Richard Pitino convinced him to come to Minnesota, where he was dominant.

By then end of his career, he was the Big Ten’s 2nd leading all-time rebounder (eventually passed by Zach Edey, pushing him to third). He ranks 1st in Gopher history in total rebounds and 2nd in points. He is also tied with Andre Hollins for the most starts as a Gopher, with 122 games.

Murphy’s teams made two NCAA Tournaments, losing to MTSU as a 5-seed in 2017 and beating Louisville as a 10-seed as a senior in 2019.

Murphy was a treat to watch. Not only was he an elite Big Ten forward, but he was was a great teammate and played with joy. Well-deserved to be #1 on this particular list.

Honorable Mention:

I’m sure we are missing people that you may think belong.

Spencer Tollackson - C (2004-08)

Had a very productive career and stuck it out through the transition from Monson to Tubby.

Tolloackson also served as the color commentator on the Gopher’s radio broadcast, making his name familiar to younger Gopher fans as well.

Lawrence McKenzie - G (2006-08)

Transferred back to Minnesota after originally playing for Oklahoma, McKenzie played two seasons at Minnesota. McKenzie made 157 threes over those two seasons and averaged 13.3 points per game.

PJ Fleck at the Big Ten Media days

2025-07-25T16:19:39-05:00

Photo by Louis Grasse/Getty Images

PJ was put in front of the media, here’s what he had to say about his 2025 team

Representatives from the Gopher football program are in Las Vegas this week as part of the 2025 Big Ten Media days. Darius Taylor, Koi Perich, Drake Lindsay and Anthony Smith are all there representing the program and facing the Big Ten media.

Yesterday, PJ Fleck was on the podium for his 15 minutes. Here are some of the highlights of what he spoke about.

He starts with thanking everybody. I mean basically EVERYBODY. His family, he AD, the Big Ten, Las Vegas, donors, former players...everybody. This is the first 3 minutes of the video.

The next 12 minutes were about the Gopher program and their focus for 2025.

“For us, we talk about ourselves being the ultimate life program. I know there’s changing aspects of college athletics, but they’re still student-athletes, and until somebody tells me differently, we are going to run the best life collegiate program in America, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”

“Not enough people talk about that, they’re student-athletes still. It doesn’t mean that in the transformational programs and things like that, there aren’t transactions, there are transactions within the transformational programs. I’ve had to learn that and adapt to that as well.”

I do appreciate this. College athletics has become very transactional, but it is important to note that they are still student athletes. They are still at a time in their life when they are away from home for the first time in their lives and learning how to become adults. And continuing to have that as a part of the program and the culture, is important.

Creating a culture of connected individuals helps raise the ceiling because it becomes about more than just the transaction. And he used one word to describe this team, “multipliers.”

“Groups just add. A plus B plus C plus D. They just add it, just like you’re adding out of the portal, adding to your team. Can you connect that team? This team has done an unbelievable job of amplifying the talents we have around each other and multiplying those talents.”

Fleck then transitioned from talking about multipliers to talking about the four individuals they brought with them to Vegas for media days. This section of his address had some fun anecdotes, but it was not terribly insightful for what we can expect from them this season. But their themes for 2025 were.

1 - Be Delusional

“It means no cap on the jar. No limitations. Dreaming big. With the College Football Playoff where it is, as Indiana showed last year, anybody can get there. If we’re delusional enough to know we can do that, we can get there. When you’re somewhere long enough, the standards are one thing, but then you continue to raise the expectations, and that’s what we want to continue to do. We want to do that off the field as well. We want to be delusional as husbands, as fathers, as brothers, as sons, as members of our community. Take the cap off the jar, limitless.”

Again, incorporating the development of these young men along with expectations on the football field.

2 - Get Two

“There’s two things that connect the locker room more than anything, it’s empathy and gratitude. If you do not have those two things, you do not have a connected locker room. And our players are incredibly grateful, and they have empathy. They can walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes. They’re willing to do that for each other. So the get two piece is really, really critical.”

This one ties everything together in my opinion. This is the development of more life skills but it also creates a connected locker room and a connected locker room allows you to multiply talents, not just add.

3 - Give More

“We were 8-5 last year, but the great thing about Minnesota now is, when you’re 8-5, you’re like, yeah, all right. That’s our sixth straight in a row bowl game with our team being there in technically seven years. That’s tremendous, but we’ve got to continue to raise the expectations. We were 3-4 in one-possession games last year. People always say, how do you improve that? You’ve got to win situational football. You’ve got to be better in two minute. You’ve got to be better in four minute.

That’s what we’ve been focusing on since January, if we can give a little bit more and we can flip those, just like in 2019, 6-1 in one-possession games, that’s how you win 11 games in the Big Ten. There are nine conference games. It is a hard league. You have got to be able to find ways to win those one-possession games. We’re a missed field goal, an onside kick offsides, and a fourth and three away from having that flip to 6-1 and being in the College Football Playoff. That’s what our players know, and that’s what they believe.”

It takes a little more and finding ways to win the game of inches, turns good seasons into great seasons.

The season will be here very soon! Here’s hoping that this team of multipliers puts together something special.

A new look coming for The Daily Gopher in August

2025-07-24T11:00:00-05:00

Our coverage remains the same but with a new look

In just a couple of weeks, The Daily Gopher is switching to a new platform as part of SB Nation’s network-wide move to a new publishing platform. This will change the look of the site and also make it faster and more reliable on any device you use. This is an upgrade.

When you land on the site, it will look cleaner – less clunky, with more white space, a better ad experience with faster load times – but will still have all the usual articles, analysis, and news by all the folks you know.

Community discussion and content created by you will be more prominent in the new design. The best comment threads will be easy to find, and staff and commenters alike will be able to start conversations whenever they like with a brand new tool.

We’re planning on an early August reveal, so we wanted to give you a heads up. You’ll hear more from us when it’s almost here. The site will look a little different, feel a little faster, and, most importantly, have a bigger role for you, the community.

So, stick around and check it out!

2025-26 non-conference schedule released for men’s basketball

2025-07-21T18:16:29-05:00

Brad Rempel-Imagn Images

Gopher hoops released their non-conference schedule for the 2025-26 season

Football season is just around the corner, but Gopher hoops is taking the headlines today with the release of their 2025-26 non-conference schedule. The goal

Typically the non-conference schedule is important for any program with aspirations of making the NCAA Tournament. The goal is to schedul mid-major programs that are good enough to boost your strength of schedule but not quite good enough to beat you, along with a couple of other Power 5 teams that are going to be a Quad 1 (or 2) wins for you. You want it to be challenging, but not too challenging.

Racking up non-conference wins against weak teams helps a little...until you struggle in conference play and your wins are exposed as fraudulent. It is a tricky balance for the coaching staff. And the last couple of seasons saw very weak non-conference opponents.

But this is a transition season for the program, with a new coaching staff and so many transfers, and that goal may not seem objectively realisitic. But Niko Medved won’t share that reality and that will certainly be something they will aspire to accomplish. And he seems to have giving his team a challenging schedule in his first season.

EXHIBITION

The North Dakota schools offer a new challenge for the program. Over the last several years, Minnesota has schedule exhibition games against the D2 or D3 schools in the area. Now they are stepping that up a notch with games against North Dakota State and North Dakota in October.

THE NON-CONFERENCE GAMES

Nov 3 - Gardner-Webb (H)
Nov 8 - Alcorn State (H)
Nov 12 - @ Missouri
Nov 15 - Green Bay (H)
Nov 18 - Chicago St (H)
Nov 22 - San Francisco - in Sioux Falls
Nov 27 - Stanford - in Palm Desert, California as part of the Acrisure Invitational
Nov 28 - Santa Clara or St. Louis - Acrisure Invitational
Dec 14 - Texas Southern (H)
Dec 21 - Campbell (H)
Dec 29 - Fairleigh Dickinson (H)

So we have 1 true road game, against a solid SEC program. We have three neutral site games against decent mid-majors and Standford. And then we have scheduled seven games against teams that should be very beatable.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS

Missouri is an outlier game - This is truly a challenging game for Minnesota. Mizzou was a 6-seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, finished 19th in KenPom’s rankings and Dennis Gates appears to have his program trending in the right direction. They lost three starters but return their leading scorer and added a dynamic scorer from the portal. This team should be good and will be at home.
Heading to Sioux Falls - A game back at The Pentagon and facing the San Francisco Dons out of the West Coast Conference. They finished in third place last season, behind Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga who top the conference every year. A solid team but they lost their leading scorer to the portal and two other starters to graduation. Chris Gerlufsen has improved in all three seasons after replacing Todd Golden, but he may have a lot to replace this year.
Acrisure Invitational - Here is a chance to face ACC powerhouse, Standford on a neutral court just outside of Palm Springs. Medved’s Colorado State club played out there last year, taking third place. Stanford finished in the upper half of the ACC last year, missing the NCAA Tournament. They have lost three of their double-digit scorers from last season and this might be an opportunity for a P5 win. Of the possible second game opponents, I would expect St. Louis to win and they would be a challenging opponent. They should be a potential NCAA Tourney team.
Best of the Rest - It is so hard to say. Gardner-Webb, Campbell and Texas Southern were the highest ranking teams from last season, but turnover is so high for everybody that it is impossible to judge who is likely to be competitive next year.
The Fighting Camels - First of all, this is an all-time great nickname. Secondly, Campbell had a decent year last season but they lost their leading scorer to Charleston and a few other key pieces to graduation.
Fun Fact - Way back in the day, when I was holding on to the dream of becoming a college basketball coach, I had a couple of phone conversations with Rick Skuggs who was the Gardner-Webb head coach.
Prediction - I see Minnesota going 9-2 with this non-conference schedule. Losing to Missouri and Saint Louis.

Minnesota Gopher Hockey Seasons Ranked 2000-2025

2025-06-27T12:16:41-05:00

We all know what year will be #1 but what about the rest of the list?

Next up on our series of the Top 25 of the last 25 years of Minnesota Golden Gophers athletics is our ranking of the past 25 seasons of Golden Gopher Hockey from 2000-2025. There have been some historic seasons that ended with the Gophers on the top of the college hockey world. There have been some historic seasons that ended with heartbreak. There have been some seasons that were very much in the middle of the pack, and then a few that I think we all wish we could forget about. See how we ranked them 25 to 1 below, and let us know in the comments if you agree.

#25 2009-10 18-19-2 7th in WCHA

The only season in the last 25 years where the Gophers finished below .500. The Gophers started the season with a loss and a tie in Grand Forks and came home to be swept by Denver. Minnesota looked to possible salvage something taking three of four points from UMD at Mariucci in January but would finish 5-7 to finish in 7th place in the WCHA Standings, and then lose in three games in the First Round of the WCHA Playoffs in Grand Forks. Tony Lucia and Jordan Schroeder shared the team lead with just 28 points each.

#24 2010-2011 16-14-6 5th in WCHA

The third of three consecutive seasons of missing the NCAA Tournament and nearly got Don Lucia fired. Minnesota was decent on the road going 7-4-3, but for some reason stunk on home ice going 9-10-3. Minnesota could beat the good teams going 2-1-2 against the two teams that would face off at the Xcel Energy Center for the NCAA Championship in Minnesota-Duluth and Michigan, but stunk against the bad ones including being swept in the First Round of the WCHA Playoffs on home ice by Alaska Anchorage. Little remembered Bowling Green transfer Jacob Cepis led the team in scoring with 29 points.

#23 2017-18 19-17-2 5th in Big Ten

The final season of Don Lucia behind the Gopher bench did not end well. In nearly an opposite to the 2010-11 season the Gophers were near unstoppable on home ice going 13-5-1. But they were beyond brutal on the road going 4-12-1. Penn State absolutely owned Minnesota that season going 5-1 against the Gophers including winning four straight to end the season at Pegula Ice Arena and ending Lucia’s career behind the Gopher bench. But even after that Minnesota still looked like they would sneak in the NCAA Tournament. Heading into the final day of the college hockey season Minnesota had a 63 out of 64 chance of making the NCAA field. Guess what happened. UMD got in as the last at large berth after everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong for the Gophers and they trailed UMD by 0.001 in the Pairwise rankings. The ultimate gut punch. Scoring was an issue as Minnesota averaged just 2.7 goals per game. Rem Pitlick scored 31 points and Casey Mittelstadt in his lone year as a Gopher added 30. It would be the start of another three year run of missing the NCAA Tournament.

#22 2008-2009 17-13-7 5th in WCHA

Minnesota got off to a good start in the 2008-2009 season going 7-0-4 to start the year. They didn’t pick up their first loss until mid-November at Denver. Then the holiday break hit and something went wrong. Minnesota ended the regular season on a 5-9-2 slump sinking them to a 5th place finish in the WCHA. They would sweep St. Cloud State to reach the WCHA Final Five, but would lose in the Thursday night opener to Minnesota-Duluth ending their season. Ryan Stoa led the way with 46 points and 24 goals, but the team struggled to get any scoring from anyone not on the top line, and the string of three straight NCAA i Tournament misses began.

#21 2019-20 16-14-7 Tied 2nd in Big Ten

This season and the next one on the list are nearly identical. But due to COVID ending the season, this one has a few more bad memories and is lower on the list. The Gophers were about as average as a team can be. They split a majority of their conference series earlier in the year except for a crushing sweep at home by Penn State. Minnesota would head up to Grand Forks over Thanksgiving Weekend and get destroyed by the Fighting Hawks. A mid-season push against conference opponents saw them jump up in the standings but a 1-3-3 finish taking just two of their final 12 points against Penn State and Michigan was not a great omen headed into the playoffs as they still tied for 2nd, but in actuality were the #4 seed. The Gophers lost their Big Ten playoff opener at home to Notre Dame, but came back to win the next two to advance to the Semifinals at Penn State.....and then the season was over thanks to COVID. Sammy Walker led the Gophers with 30 points on the season. (Starting to see a trend with low point totals and low win totals aren't we...)

#20 2018-2019 18-16-4 3rd in Big Ten

Year one of the Bob Motzko era in Minneapolis was pretty blah. Minnesota was wildly inconsistent in the first year under a new staff never having longer than a three game winning streak or a two game losing streak. The Gophers closed out the season on a roll winning their last three regular season games and then sweeping Michigan in the Big Ten First Round, but they would lose an OT heartbreaker 2-1 at Notre Dame in the semifinal after a controversial penalty was called on Tyler Sheehy just 35 seconds into OT for hooking...when replays showed all he did was lift the Irish player’s stick. Notre Dame would score and end Minnesota’s season. Rem Pitlick would lead the Gophers in scoring with 45 points.

#19 2015-16 20-17-0 1st in Big Ten

The last of the seasons where the Gophers did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. They won the Big Ten Regular Season title, but missed the NCAA Tournament. How did that happen? Well going 6-11 in the non-conference including an embarrassing 1-7 against other Minnesota schools will do that. Minnesota went down to the last game in their regular season to clinch a 5th straight regular season conference title, and after losing the night before, the Gophers came back to defeat Wisconsin 4-1 at Mariucci Arena on Saturday night, the party was on. Minnesota still needed to win the Big Ten Tournament to get the auto bid to the NCAA Tournament after their awful non-conference season, and after defeating Ohio State in the semifinals it was the Michigan Wolverines standing in their way. It didn’t go well—-(also seems to be a trend in that game) and Michigan picked up a 5-3 win to end the Gophers season.

#18 2007-2008 19-17-9 7th in WCHA NCAA 1st Round

The 2007-2008 season was the last one before the Gophers went off the rails to miss three NCAA Tournaments in a row and the cracks were allready showing. It would be the opposite of the season we just discussed. Minnesota struggled mightily in WCHA play going just 9-12-7 to slide to a 7th place finish. But their 10-5-2 non-conference schedule kept them afloat in the pairwise and snuck them into the NCAA Tournament. They opened the season winning the Ice Breaker at the Xcel Energy Center with wins over RPI and Michigan, but also lost star Ryan Stoa to a torn ACL in the Michigan game. Minnesota headed to Minnesota State for the Opening Round of the WCHA Playoffs and it became one of the most epic playoff series in Gopher history. Minnesota lost Game one 1-0 in 2 OT, would win Game two 2-1 in OT, and then won Game three to keep their season alive 3-2 in 2 OT. They advanced to the WCHA Final Five in St Paul where in the Thursday night opener they knocked off St. Cloud State and then upset #1 seed Colorado College 2-1 in OT on Friday. Their luck would run out in a 2-1 loss to Denver in the Championship game, but it was enough to get them in the NCAA Field. There Boston College easily took care of them 5-2 en route to their NCAA Championship.

#17 2005-2006 27-9-5 1st in WCHA NCAA 1st Round

The Gophers were dominant in 2005-06. Minnesota cruised to their first of back to back MacNaughton Cups as WCHA Regular Season Champions. Ryan Potulny put up one of the most impressive seasons of the past 25 years with 38 goals and 63 points. The Gophers ha their lone year of Phil Kessel. Kellen Briggs was a star in goal. Minnesota easily swept Alaska Anchorage in the opening round of the WCHA Playoffs and then headed to the X for the Final 5. Small cracks started appearing in the armor as Minnesota lost an epic 8-7 OT game to St. Cloud State in the semifinals. The Gophers trailed 7-5 with less that two minutes to play before Danny Irmen and Potunlty scored to force OT. Minnesota then dropped a 4-0 third place game to Wisconsin the next afternoon. Minnesota was the #1 seed in the West Region and headed to Grand Forks for the NCAA Regionals the next weekend. Then two little words ruined it all. Holy. Cross.

#16 2014-15 23-13-3 1st in Big Ten NCAA 1st Round

The 2014-15 season was a season that game the early impression that the Big Ten was considerably weaker than the NCHC—and they were probably right. The Gophers dominated the Big Ten winning both the regular season and Tournament Championships, but due to some slips in the non-conference portion of the schedule including being swept by UMD, and losses to Northeastern and Merrimack, Minnesota was just a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament where they found themselves matched up with their in-state rival Bulldogs four the fourth time that season. UMD jumped out to a 3-0 early lead and Minnesota never had a chance and ended their season with a 4-1 loss. Mike Reilly led the team in scoring with 42 points—the only defenseman to lead Minnesota in points in the past 25 years.

#15 2024-25 25-11-4 1st in Big Ten, NCAA 1st Round

The most recent season of Gopher hockey was another one where the end of the season didn’t feel like it matched with the vibe of the season. The Gophers beat most of the weaker teams they needed to beat, but against good teams like Michigan State the Gophers looked outmatched at times. Minnesota did not get the consistent goaltending them needed with some shaky appearances from both transfer Liam Souliere and sophomore Nathan Airey, and the bad games showed up at the wrong time at the end of the year. After clinching a tie for the Big Ten title with the Spartans the Gophers would lose in three games to Notre Dame in the opening round of the Big Ten Playoffs after a horrible game from Souliere, and then would lose to UMASS in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in overtime.

#14 2016-17 23-12-3 1st Big Ten NCAA 1st Round

Another season where a dominant Big Ten regular season run didn’t help much at the end of the season. The Gophers ran though the rest of the Big Ten with a 14-5-1 record, but went just 9-7-1 in the non-conference getting swept by St. Cloud State and losing to Northeastern and Minnesota State. The post season would be an epic dumpster fire of tow and done as the Gophers lost in the Big Ten semifinals to Penn State 4-3 in Double OT, and then would face Notre Dame in their last season before joining the Big Ten in the NCAA Tournament. They Gophers took a 2-0 lead but would give up three unanswered goals and be eliminated 3-2. Tyler Sheehy had an All-American year leading he Gophers with 53 points, but it just wasn’t enough.

#13 2023-24 23-11-5 3rd Big Ten NCAA 2nd Round

The 23-24 season would be one of change for the Gophers. Gone was Logan Cooley, Mathew Knies, Brock Faber, Jackson LaCombe, and more. But the Gophers still had a stud goalie in Justen Close and a group of offensive talent between Jaxon Nelson, Bryce Brodzinski, Rhett Pitlick and Jimmy Snuggerud. The Gophers were not dominant, but they were not patsies either. After a third place finish in the Big Ten the Gophers would sweep Penn State in the opening round of the Big Ten Playoffs before another heartbreaking loss at home to Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament—this time a 2-1 loss in the semifinal. The Gophers earned the #2 seed in the Sioux Falls Regional and knocked off Omaha 3-2 in the opening round, but would fall 6-3 in the Regional Final to Boston University. The Frozen Four would come back to St. Paul, but no Minnesota teams would join for the first time since 1991.

#12 2000-2001 27-13-2 3rd WCHA NCAA 1st Round

The next two seasons both were similar. They both were a year before a big breakthrough. They both ended in excruciation fashion with a painfully bad overtime goal in the NCAA Tournament. In 2000-01 the Gophers would take their first big step forward under Don Lucia. In his second year behind the bench the Gophers jumped to third in the WCHA and got off to a 6-0-1 start. After a bit of a midseason swoon the Gophers closed out the regular season on a 10-3 run. They swept Michigan Tech to get to the WCHA Final 5, but lost in the semis to St Cloud State and lost the third place game to Colorado College. The Gophers were given the #4 seed in the east regional and would face the #5 seed Maine in the opening round. The Gophers and Black Bears traded the lead through the third period, but Maine would tie toe game with 2.4 seconds left to force OT. They would win on a weak goal given up by Adam Hauser ending the Gophers season——but setting up a rather large redemption arc in 2002.

#11 2012-13 26-9-5 1st WCHA NCAA 1st Round

The 2012-13 season was a bit more dominant that the 2000-01 season but it did set up an even better season to come the following year. The Gophers were fairly dominant in the final season of the WCHA though they didn’t clinch a share of the title with St. Cloud State until a win over Bemidji in the final game of the regular season. One highlight of the year was an 8-1 demolition of #1 Boston College in the Mariucci Classic Championship Game. Minnesota would again end the season on a downhill trend after losing 2-0 to Colorado College in the WCHA Final Five Semifinal, and then entered the NCAA Tournament as the #2 overall seed. The Gophers would face Yale in the opening round of the tournament. The Bulldogs umped out to a 2-0 lead and Minnesota made a furious comeback to force overtime. But, that OT session would not last long as Yale scored the game winner just 9 seconds into OT. Ben Marshall turned over the puck directly behind the Gopher net, and the Bulldogs jumped on it and found a man right in front of Alex Wilcox for the game winner. Unfortunately it would not be the last quick OT loser for the Gophers...

#10 2003-04 27-14-3 4th WCHA

After back to back NCAA Championships, the Gophers finally hit the wall. Minnesota still had stars in Thomas Vanek and both Potulny brothers and Keith Ballard, but its tough to win with a freshman goalie. Kellen Briggs would be come a great Gopher goalie, but he had a bit of a learning curve as well. The Gophers got off to a very slow start beginning the season 2-7-1. Minnesota went from Preseason ranked #1 in the nation to out of the rankings in 6 weeks. Midseason the Gophers figured it out. They turned a 13-2-1 stretch to jump back into the national rankings and climb back up the WCHA standings. The Gophers closed out the regular season by sweeping St. Cloud State to clinch the #5 seed and the final home ice spot, and then did the same the following weekend in the WCHA Playoffs against the Huskies. Minnesota got lucky and with other upsets avoided the Thursday ight game at the Final Five and played UMD in the Semifinals. After a 7-4 win there they would knock off North Dakota 5-4 in the Championship Game to win the Final Five title. Minnesota earned the #1 seed in the Midwest regional and defeated Notre Dame in the opening game before they rematched against UMD once again in the Regional Final. There they could not get past the Bulldogs to try for the threepeat and UMD ended the Gophers run 3-1.

#9 2020-21 24-7 2nd Place Big Ten NCAA 2nd Round

The 2020-21 season was a weird one in the world that was COVID protocols and bubbles. There was no non-conference portion of the schedule and Arizona State played as a Big Ten affiliate for one season, but their games didn’t count in the standings. The Gophers and Wisconsin Badgers dominated the conference only schedule with the Badgers kicking the Gophers butts in Minneapolis in February that sent a message to this team. Minnesota ended the season on a 5-1 run and then entered the Big Ten single elimination tournament as the #2 seed. Minnesota knocked off Michigan State and Michigan in OT in the first to games before getting their revenge over the Badgers to win the Championship title 6-4. The Gophers earned the #3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and crushed Omaha 7-2 in the opener before running into the brick wall that was Minnesota State and their star goalie Dryden McKay. They shut out the Gophers 4-0 to end their season.

#8 2021-22 26-13 1st Big Ten Frozen Four

The Gophers started the season splitting most of their conference series before they finally figured it out at the end of the season. Minnesota closed out the regular season on a 9-1 tear their only loss at Notre Dame in overtime to clinch the Big Ten Regular Season title. They defeated Penn State 3-2 in the Big Ten semifinal before setting up an epic Big Ten Championship Game against Michigan at Mariucci. The Wolverines would get the 4-3 win as a Minnesota furious comeback could not find the tying goal. Minnesota was the #2 seed in the Northeast Regional and knocked off UMass in OT 4-3 in the opener before a dominant 3-0 shutout of Western Michigan to get to the Frozen Four. There the Gophers again ran into the brick wall that was Dryden McKay and Minnesota State and would fall 5-1.

#7 2004-05 28-15-1 3rd WCHA Frozen Four

The Gophers had to deal with the loss of Thomas Vanek and Grant Potulny and needed to find some scoring from different places. Tyler Hirsch would lead the team in scoring with just 44 points ad the Gophers went all in on defense. Kellen Briggs stepped up large in his sophomore season recording four shutouts. Minnesota won their last five regular season games of the year and then swept Minnesota State in the opening round of the WCHA Playoffs. They faltered at the Final Five losing to Colorado College and North Dakota but still entered the NCAA Tournament as the #4 overall seed, and #1 in the west playing at home. Minnesota would use the home crowd to their advantage pulling out a pair of tight games in overtime 1-0 over Maine and 2-1 over Cornell to send them back to the Frozen Four. At The Frozen Four the Gophers ran into North Dakota who would knock them out 4-2 to end their season.

#6 2006-07 31-10-3 1st WCHA NCAA 2nd Round

The most dominant non NCAA Championship season of the last 25 years, the Gophers were a machine in 2006-07. The Gophers lost their season opener 3-1 to Maine and then did not lose again until January 12th. Minnesota clinched the WCHA Title and the MacNaughton Cup with a win over Michigan Tech at home in their second to last game of the regular season, and then headed into the playoffs. But small cracks in the armor were spotted. It took the Gophers three games to get past Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA First Round, but the Gophers then headed to St. Paul for the WCHA Final Five. After defeating Wisconsin in the Semifinal, the Gophers faced North Dakota in the title game. The Gophers and UND traded goals and headed to overtime tied at 2. Then...well we all know what happened.

Minnesota picked up their Final Five title and headed to the NCAA tournament as the #1 seed in the West region. They needed a huge third period comeback to knock off Air Force 4-3 in the opening round before North Dakota got their revenge. Chris Porter put a wrap around past Jeff Frazee in overtime to end the Gophers season 3-2.

#5 2011-2012 28-14-1 1st WCHA Frozen Four

The Gophers jumped from the start getting out to a 10-1 start to the season. The biggest win in that stretch was a 3-2 win over North Dakota where Kyle Rau scored his famous “dice roll” goal with 43 seconds left to knock off UND. Minnesota struggled midseason getting swept in the Mariucci Classic by Northeastern and Notre Dame before back to back road splits at North Dakota and Colorado College. After getting swept by Denver the Gophers jumped into first place in the WCHA sweeping Omaha and Bemidji State to set up a final weekend series at home against Wisconsin. Minnesota lost the opener 4-1 to the Badgers setting up a must win on Saturday to clinch the MacNaughton Cup. Wisconsin took a 1-0 lead before an Erik Haula shorthanded goal tied the game at 1 in the third period. A few minutes later the Gophers went on the power play and one of the most famous goals of the last 25 years came off the stick of Nate Schmidt.

Minnesota swept Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA First round before falling to North Dakota in the Final Five Semifinal 6-3. Minnesota was the #2 seed in the West Regional that was held at the X. Minnesota dominated over Boston University 7-3 in the opener before getting their revenge on North Dakota 5-2 in the Regional Final to advance to the Frozen Four in Tampa.

Unfortunately the run would end there as a dominant Boston College Team took out the Gophers 6-1 in the Frozen Four on their way to a NCAA Championship.

#4 2022-23 29-10-1 1st Big Ten NCAA Runner-up

The 2022-23 season was one that got away. It was the year. Minnesota had one of the most prolific scoring lines in program history with Logan Cooley, Mathew Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud. They had three defensemen that would soon play in the NHL in Brock Faber, Jackson LaCombe, Ryan Johnson. They got to the NCAA Championship Game. And then....disaster.

Minnesota dominated the Big Ten this season going 19-4-1. They defeated Michigan State in the Big Ten Semifinal and then hosted Michigan yet again for the Big Ten Championship game at Mariucci. Yet again it was an epic that Minnesota would just fall short in losing to the Wolverines 4-3. Minnesota entered the NCAA Tournament as the #1 overall seed and headed to Fargo for the West regional. They easily dispatched Canisius and St. Cloud State to advance to the Frozen Four. They dominated Boston University 6-2 in the Semifinal setting up the Championship Game matchup against Quinnipiac. And then.... Minnesota had a 2-1 lead with three minutes left in the game, but went into a shell and could not hold off the Bobcats. They tied the game with 2:47 left in play in the third and the game would head to overtime. We all know what happened then. Minnesota lost the faceoff, fell asleep and just ten seconds later lost the game. Undoubtedly the biggest missed opportunity in the last 25 years.

#3 2013-14 28-7-6 1st Big Ten NCAA Runner-up

The Gophers were a dominant offense and defensive force in the 2023-14 season. They outscored opposing teams 3.5- 1.2 on the season. Kyle Rau, Justin Kloos and Travis Boyd all had big seasons along with Mike Reilly winning the first of his second straight All-American honors. Adam Wilcox was a brick wall in net and allowed just 1.97 goals per game with a save percentage of .932. The Gophers went 14-3-3 in the Big Ten season and cruised to the title. Minnesota was unbeatable at Mariucci Arena going 16-1-3 on the season. Minnesota lost in the Big ten semifinal to Ohio State, but still entered the NCAA Championships as the #1 overall seed. They hosted the West regional at the X and had no issues taking out Robert Morris and St. Cloud State to advance to the Frozen Four in Philadelphia.

In Philly the Gophers faced North Dakota in the Frozen Four semifinals. The teams had played some epic post season games before, but arguably none that would go down as famous as this one would. The goalies were dominant and kept the game scoreless through two periods. Minnesota finally struct first as Sam warning put in a rebound of a Kyle Rau shot with 10:41 left to go up 1-0. Only 31 seconds later North Dakota would tie the game at one. With 1:39 left in the game, Mike Reilly was called for holding, and things looked dire for the Gophers. For 90 seconds Adam Wilcox stopped shot after shot, trying to force overtime and give the Gophers a chance to pull it out. With 10 seconds left in the game the Gophers won a defensive zone faceoff and turned up ice. Rau took a shot but it hit off a North Dakota skate and bounced right to defenseman Justin Holl. Holl kicked the puck to his stick and took a shot that slid past UND goalie Zane Gothberg and former will be known as 0.6.

Minnesota would face Union two nights later for the National Championship...and it didn’t go well. The Dutchmen would win 7-4 and continue the Gophers NCAA drought.

#2 2002-03 28-8-9 2nd WCHA NCAA Champions

A year after winning their first NCAA Championship in 23 years, the Gophers decide twice is just as nice. While the Gophers lost two huge pieces in Johnny Pohl and Jordan Leopold from the year before, they added an Austrian by the name of Thomas Vanek who would help the team to the top once more. The Gophers opened the season with a series at New Hampshire with a tie and a loss—but they would get their revenge. A 2-1 OT win over Boston College to clinch the Mariucci Classic set the tone for the second half of the season. The Gophers swept Michigan Tech in the WCHA Playoffs and then took out Minnesota State and Colorado College to win the WCHA Final Five Crown. The Gophers earned the #4 overall seed and the #1 seed in the west help at Mariucci Arena. Minnesota stomped Mercyhurst and Ferris State by a combined 16-6 score and headed to Buffalo for a Frozen Four semifinals tilt vs Michigan for the second consecutive season.

For the second year in a row, the game once again went into overtime. Michigan was the aggressor and took a 2-0 lead on Minnesota midway through the second period. The Gophers finally got on the board when Troy Riddle knocked in a rebound of a Vanek shot to cut the lead to 2-1 after two periods. Gino Guyer tied the game early in the third period. Michigan had a chance to take the lead in the third period but Paul Martin made the biggest save by a non-goalie in Gopher history. He laid out blocking a shot on a wide open net and and that’s how it would head to OT. Vanek won the game for the Gophers with a spin out of the corner beating Wolverines goalie Al Montoya and sending the Gophers to the title game yet again.

Minnesota faced New Hampshire in the title game and took an early lead on a power play goal from Matt DeMarchi, before the Wildcats tied the game late in the first period. Midway through the third period Vanek made it 2-1 on a gorgeous goal where he outwaited two New Hampshire defenders and the goalie before sliding a backhand into the open net. Jon Waibel scored on a feed from Vanek two minutes later, and a Barry Tallackson pwoer play goal another two minutes later put the game on ice. Minnesota added an empty netter but would win their 5th NCAA Championship 5-1.

#1 2001-02 32-8-4 3rd WCHA NCAA Champions

There is no other choice for #1. The Gophers started the season 11-0-2 and flat out dominated teams. The Gophers did not lose until Thanksgiving weekend to St. Cloud State. After a less dominant middle of the season the Gophers closed out the regular season on a 8-1 run and finished in third place in the WCHA standings behind Colorado College and Denver. The Gophers swept North Dakota in the opening round of the WCHA Playoffs befoe heading to the Final Five at the X where they would defeat St. Cloud State in the semifinal before a loss to Denver in the Championship Game.

Minnesota entered the NCAA Tournament as the #2 seed in the West Regional in Ann Arbor. They defeated Colorado College 4-2 in their lone regional game and headed back home to St. Paul and the X for the Frozen Four. The Gophers would face Michigan in the Frozen Four semifinal. Minnesota jumped on the Wolverines and scored a goal in the first five minutes of all three periods. A Michigan clearing attempt bounced off Jeff Taffe’s skate and right to Grant Potulny who put the first goal of the game in the back of the net. Potulny would make it 2-0 in the second as he redirected a Jordan Leopold shot into the net. Taffe added a breakaway early in the third to put the Gophers up 3-0. Michigan stormed back late scoring a pair of goals in the last seven minutes of the game, but Adam Hauser and the Gophers hung on and got a 3-2 in to advance to the NCAA Championship game against Maine.

Keith Ballard gave the Gophers a 1-0 lead on a power play goal in the first period and the X exploded in noise. Maine would tie it up on the power play just under five minutes into the second period on a goal by Michael Schutte, and he should then hold up a finger to shush the partisan Minnesota crown at the X. Less than a minute later Johnny Pohl picked up a loose puck at the Gopher blue line and skated through the neutral zone, crossed the blue line and whipped a nasty wrist shot top corner to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead. Maine tied the game 1:17 into the third period, and then took the lead with 4:33 to play. Things looked dire for the Gophers and especially the fans who had memories of 1989 running through their heads.

The Gophers pulled their goalie with 58.3 seconds left and a faceoff in the maine end. Potulny won the draw and the puck got caught in the wash until it bounced back onto the stick of Matt Koalska. He ripped a wrist shot past the Black Bear goalie and took off for his infamous ”Polish Leap” into the Gopher bench as the game was tied with 52.4 secnds to play in regulation.

The game headed to overtime where both teams had great chances to end it. With 4:02 left Schutte who shushed the crowd was called or tripping on Koalska. It was the break the Gophers would need. With 3;14 to play the Gophers won an offensive zone faceoff. The puck went back to Leopold who ripped a slap shot that was blocked. Taffe got the rebound and passed it back to Leopold who shot again. Pohl corralled the first rebound and it was blocked. Then Potulny found the next rebound in front and became a legend.

Gopher Hockey: Top 25 Players 2000-2025

2025-06-25T09:50:53-05:00

This list was so hard to cut down to just 25

We kick off our Top 25 of the last 25 years of Minnesota Golden Gophers athletics with The Top 25 Gopher Hockey Players from 2000-2025. Cutting down this list to just 25 players was insanely hard. You have All-Americans who did not make the final list. You have school record holders who did not make the final list. You have some of the players who had some of the best statistical seasons in Gopher hockey history not make the list. It was incredibly competitive. I’m sure many of you will disagree on both the order of this list, and think some that were left off deserve spots over those that were placed on it. Let us know in the comments how you feel.

A reminder that this list only takes into consideration their Gopher hockey career. No national team or professional results were considered. Additionally if a player played for a different collegiate squad prior or after the Gophers, that was also not considered. Just because the list was so long, here are few honorable mentions that did not quite make the final 25 for one reason or another.

Honorable Mention:

Sammy Walker- C 2018-2022

Walker was great for the Gophers playing in 144 total career games and scoring 48 goals and adding 62 assists in the maroon and gold. He was consistent recording between 26 and 30 points all four seasons, but never had that huge breakout year fans clamored for.

Kellen Briggs- G 2003-2007

Briggs played in the second most games in Gopher history at 132, is the all-time career wins leader with 84, ranks #5 all-time with a 2.45 GAA and is tied for the most shutouts in program history with 13. How did he not make the Top 25 over a few other goalies who did? His save percentage lacked behind some of the others ahead on this list at just .906, and while it may not necessarily be his fault, the furthest Briggs ever took the Gophers was to the Frozen Four semifinals. He was consistently good for four years, but it just wasn;t enough to sneak into the Top 25.

Phil Kessel- F 2005-06

Jordan Schroeder- F 2008-2010

Both Kessel and Schroeder did great things for the Gophers in limited time. But the key here is limited time. Kessel scored 18 goals and recorded 51 points in his lone season with Minnesota while Schroeder averaged a point per game with 73 points in 72 career games as a Gopher. Has they each played one more year at Minnesota, they were on this list, but because the Gophers have so many three and four year players with amazing careers wearing the M, they just won’t quite get into the Top 25. There will be one exception to this as you will see.

Blake Wheeler- F 2005-2008

Nate Schmidt- D 2010-2013

These two would go on to even greater things in the NHL once leaving Minnesota, but both had good Minnesota careers. Both have memorable goals as a Gopher—which is a different list yet to come. Wheeler played 127 games, scored 42 goals, added 54 asists and averaged .75 points per game. Schmidt played just 13 games in freshman season before breaking out with great sophomore and junior years. Again, great Gopher careers, but this list is that stacked that they don’t make the Top 25.

Jackson LaCombe- D 2019-2023

The final cut. LaCombe was #26 on my list and was a painful cut. In four seasons with Minnesota he played 140 games and recorded 99 career points. A second team All-American in 2021 he nearly helped the Gophers to a NCAA title in 2024. Both a decent offensive defenseman and a great defensive defenseman. He’s now showing off in the NHL as well.

The Top 25:

#25 Adam Hauser- G 2000-2002

Hauser was a goalie that was both maligned and loved in Minnesota history. He played four seasons for the Gophers and is their all-time goalie games played leader at 151, but only his junior and senior seasons count for this list.

Luckily for him and for Minnesota fans he got better every single season. He won 49 games his final two years with a 2.41 goals against average which would be 4th best in Gopher history if that was just his career. His senior season he went 23-6-4 with a GAA of 2.40, a save percentage of 9.12, and oh yeah just happened to backstop the Gophers to their first NCAA Championship in 23 seasons. The main reason he sneaks on this list ahead of Kellen Briggs.

#24 Mathew Knies- F 2021-2023

Knies is another what if he had just stuck around one more year. He played two seasons with the Gophers and was electric, especially his sophomore season. For his career he played in 73 games and scored 75 points, split nearly evenly between 36 goals and 39 assists. Nine of his goals were game winners. His sophomore year he was a Hobey Baker finalist scoring 42 points in 40 games and helped Minnesota to the NCAA Championship Game. A great Gopher in just a bit more limited action that kept him from rising further up the list.

#23 Rem Pitlick-F 2016-2019

Pitlick was a player who spanned both the end of the Don Lucia era and the start of the Bob Motzko era, but kept producing for both coaches. In three seasons in the maroon and gold, Pitlick played in 112 games and recorded 108 points on 47 goals and 61 assists. He had four game winning goals in his career. He exploded in a junior season that saw him score 45 points in 38 games and a career high 21 goals and earn a First Team All-American honor.

#22 Grant Potulny-C 2000-2004

Potulny was a leader, and of course goes down as the goal scorer of one of the most memorable, if not the most memorable goals in Minnesota history. He was a consistently good player for the Gophers, and was a Grand Forks native. He loved sticking it to his hometown team. In four seasons he played 146 games scoring 116 points on 68 goals and 48 assists. He was a three-time captain for the Gophers and would go onto being a Gopher assistant coach for a long time before getting hired at Northern Michigan. But he is not even the top family member on this list.

#21 Brock Faber- D- 2020-2023

Faber was a shutdown defenseman for the Gophers for three seasons, and finally picked up the offensive portion of his game in an All-American Junior season. In 97 career games Faber scored 53 points and had just seven goals as a Gopher. His junior year in 2023 where he helped the Gophers to the NCAA Championship Game he recorded 27 points and earned First Team All-American honors. He was a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year winner in 21-22 and 22-23. He obviously is now off to great success with the Minnesota Wild and is showing off more offensive prowess than he did as a Gopher.

#20 Justen Close-G 2019-2024

Justen Close is the ultimate underdog story in this list. He came in as the #3 goalie in 2019 and saw action in just four games in his first two years as a Gopher. Then Jack LaFontaine decided he was going to leave mid-season to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes. Close was thrown into the fire of a Big Ten Championship race in January and responded better than anyone could have expected. Close would go 14-5 with a 1.95 GAA his junior season and heading the Gophers to the Frozen Four. His senior season he got Minnesota to the NCAA Championship Game going 26-10-1 with a 2.02 GAA and a .927 save percentage—the 4th best in program history. He finished his Minnesota career with one more Covid season going 22-10-5 and helped Minnesota to the NCAA Tournament yet again. Close finished his Minnesota career ranked #1 all-time with a 9.24 save percentage, tied for #1 all time with 13 shutouts, and #2 all time with a 2.18 GAA. He just is missing that one biggest win of his career.

#19 Adam Wilcox- G 2012-2015

Wilcox going right after Close is fitting as their stats are nearly identical. He finished his Gopher career with 115 games played in three seasons—third most all time. He won 73 of them—good enough for a tie for third all time with Robb Stauber. His 2.09 GAA is the best in Gopher history. HIs 13 shutouts are the best in Gopher history tied with Briggs and Close. His .922 save percentage third behind Close and Mat Robson. His 1.88 GAA in his sophomore season in 2012-13 is the second best in a single season. Same with his .932 save percentage his junior year—which ended just like Close’s did with a trip to the NCAA Championship game, but no ring. If either one of them had just won that game—they would be top 10 for sure. But instead, they are where they are.

#18 Ben Meyers -C 2019-2022

Meyers came to the Gophers after blowing up in the USHL with Fargo and then he didn’t stop scoring in Minneapolis either. In a three year career he played in 102 games and scored 95 points got a 0.93 points per game average. He scored 39 goals in his career with seven of them being game winners for the Gophers. He earned Big Ten Player of the Year Honors and First Team All-American honors with his junior season in 2021-22 where in 34 games he recorded 40 points and a career high 17 goals to lead the Gophers to the Frozen Four.

#17 Nick Bjugstad- F 2010- 2013

Bjugstad came to the Gophers after a great high school career in Blaine and after a few struggles his freshman year became one of the Gophers best offensive threats in his next two seasons in the maroon and gold. In 109 total games he scored 54 goals and 98 points, good for a .9 points per game average. His sophomore year he broke out and earned Second Team All-American honors scoring 25 goals and 40 points to help Minnesota to the Frozen Four.

#16 Jeff Taffe-F- 2000-2002

Taffe played three seasons as a Gopher, but only his final two count for our list. Luckily for him, they were by far his best two years including a senior season in 2001-02 where he scored 34 goals and recorded 58 points in helping he Gophers win the NCAA Championship. Taffe’s final two years as a Gopher he played in 81 games, scored 46 goals and ended with 93 points. Somehow he did not earn any All-American honors for his blowout junior year, and was only a third team All-WCHA award winner.

#15 Paul Martin- D 2000-2003

Martin was a three sport star from Elk River in a time where Minnesota high school sports was loaded with them—see Mauer, Joe. Bu he came to the U to play hockey and that seemed to work out will for him. In three seasons Martin played 127 games and recorded 97 points with 20 of them being goals. He made one of the biggest saves by a non-goalie in the 2003 Frozen Four semifinal to keep the Gophers alive. His junior season in 2002-2003 he was a Second Team All-American and had his best offensive season with 9 goals and 39 points. He had a pretty good NHL career too before becoming a Gopher assistant coach the past four seasons.

#14 Justin Kloos- C 2013-2017

Kloos was a scoring machine in the final years of the Don Lucia era. In four seasons he played in 155 games and recorded 150 points, a .97 points per game average. His 63 career goals place him 7th in the most goals scored by a Gopher in the last 25 years. Kloos put up matching 43 point seasons his final two years as a Gopher earning Second Team All-Big Ten honors in one season and First Team in the other.

#13 Tyler Sheehy- F 2015-2019

Sheehy was a four year star for the Gophers. He played in 149 career games scoring 49 goals and recording 149 career points. He ended up with eight game winning goals. His sophomore season in 2016-17 would go down in the record books as he earned Big Ten Player of the Year and First Team All-American honors after recording 53 points in 38 games Unfortunately it would end with a phantom hooking call against Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament which would result in the Irish ending Minnesota’s season.

#12 Troy Riddle- F 2000-2004

Riddle does not get the same heralds like several other Gophers on the two NCAA Championship teams from 2002 and 2003, but he was as productive if not more so that many on this list—even some ahead of him on this list. In four seasons as a Gopher Riddle played in 171 games, scored 82 goals—the most in the last 25 years and finished with 178 points for his Minnesota career. He is the Gophers #13 scorer all-time in program history and is tied for the #10 goal scorer in Minnesota history. He earned WCHA Third Team honors in 2002-03, but no other awards. But he does have two rings.

#11 Logan Cooley -C 2022-23

Why is Cooley so high many of you are now asking, especially after I penalized Kessel and Schroeder for their short Gopher careers. Because Logan Cooley had one of the best single seasons in a Gopher uniform the past 25 years, and the best since the mid-2000’s. Cooley scored 22 goals and recorded 60 points playing on a line with Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud his one season with the Gophers. That 60 point total is the most in a season for a Gopher since 2005-06. The next closest in the last 20 years was 53 by Tyler Sheehy in 2016-17. He dominated and earned First Team All-American honors and was a Hobey Baker Finalist, and the only reason he lost to Michigan’s Adam Fantilli is that he and Knies split votes. Unfortunately Cooley’s lone season as a Gopher ended on a low note in the NCAA Championship game loss to Quinnipiac. But, his season up to that game still can not be ignored on this list.

And Now for the Top 10

#10 Keith Ballard-D 2001-2004

Ballard was a defensive stalwart on the blue line for the Gophers two NCAA Champions in 2002 and 2003. In three seasons Ballard played in 123 games, and as a defenseman averaged 0.81 points per game. He earned 36 points in 37 games, and First Team All-American honors his junior season but was even better his sophomore year in helping the Gophers win their second of back to back NCAA titles. Ballard put up 41 points in 45 games that season and earned Second Team All-WCHA honors.

#9 Alex Goligoski- D 2004-2007

As Ballard left, Goligoski stepped right into his shoes and was a very similar player. The Grand Rapids, MN native played in 117 career games and averaged 0.83 points per game. He scored 39 points in both his sophomore and junior seasons and earned First Team All-American Honors and was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year after his junior season in 2006-07.

#8 Erik Haula- F 2010-2013

Minnesota went to Finland and struck gold in getting Haula to come to Minneapolis. In three seasons as a Gopher Haula played in 114 games scoring 42 goals and finishing with 124 career points for a 1.09 point per game total. He exploded his sophomore and junior seasons scoring 49 and 51 points respectively. He earned Second Team All-WCHA honors his sophomore year where he scored 20 goals in helping the Gophers to the Frozen Four.

#7 Kyle Rau- C 2011-2015

Rau came in with high expectations after helping his Eden Prairie team to a Minnesota High School State Championship, and did not disappoint. In four seasons as a Gopher he payed in 160 games scoring 67 goals and 164 career points. Rau’s 67 goals are the 5th most in Gopher history between 2000-2025 and he holds the 18th highest point total in Gopher hockey history. Rau was incredibly consistent as he scored between 40-43 points all four seasons in the maroon and gold. He was named to the All-WCHA Rookie team and then was named All-Big Ten second team twice, and a Second Team All-American his junior season in helping the Gophers to the NCAA Championship Game.

#6 Jimmy Snuggerud- F 2022-2025

Snuggerud just finished his three year Gopher career and rockets up the list. In 119 career games Snuggy scored 66 goals and 69 assists for a career total of 135 points. That averages out to 1.13 points per game. Of his 66 goals 11 were game winners. His 66 goals rank him 6th in goal scoring in the past 25 years. He formed one of the best lines in Gopher history with Knies and Cooley as a freshman in Minnesota’s run to the NCAA Championship game scoring 20 goals and adding 29 assists. Despite not playing with Knies and Cooley the next two years, his performance did not drop off as he scored 21 goals again his sophomore year and a career high 24 in his final season last year. He earned Second Team All-American honors in 2025. and was First Team All-Big Ten the past two seasons, and Second Team All-Big Ten his freshman year.

#5 Ryan Potulny -C 2003-2006

The second Potulny on this list, but the better scorer. Ryan played 99 games in a Gopher uniform and scored 68 goals and added 50 assists for a 1.19 points per game average. His 68 goals puts him tied with his brother for the third most in the past 25 years. He played only 15 games his freshman season before jumping up to score 24 goals his sophomore season. His junior season was one of the best as a Gopher the past 25 years as he played 41 games and scored 38 goals and added 25 assists. He led the nation in goals and was tied for the national points lead. His 38 goals are the most in a season in the past 25 years and you need to go back to 1986 to find a total that matches it. He earned First Team All-American honors and First Team WCHA for that season and added a Third Team All-WCHA for his sophomore season. Incredibly Potulny wasn’t even a Hobey Baker finalist that season.

#4 Mike Reilly- D 2012-2015

Reilly will go down as one of the most dominant defensemen in Gopher history. In 117 career games over three seasons Reilly recorded 89 points. Reilly was a two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a two time First Team All-American. Reilly was one of just two Gophers to earn two First Team All-American nods in the past 25 years. He helped Minnesota to the NCAA Championship Game his sophomore season where he set a career high in goals with nine. His junior year he was a Hobey Baker Finalist and led the Gophers in points with 42.

#3 Thomas Vanek- F 2002-2004

The Austrian played for Sioux Falls in the USHL under Bob Motzko, and when Motzko became a Gopher assistant coach he joined him in Minneapolis—-and it was magic. Vanek played just two seasons for the Gophers but in 83 career games scored 57 goals and recoded 113 points, good for a 1.36 point per game average. He was named to the WCHA All-Rookie Team and Second Team All-WCHA his freshman year in helping the Gophers win their second of back to back NCAA Championships scoring 31 goals and recording 60 points. He scored the OT winner in the Frozen Four Semifinal against Michigan to get the Gophers back to the title game. His sophomore season was slightly less productive at 26 goals and 51 points but he earned Second Team All-WCHA and Second Team All-American honors that season in helping the Gophers back to the Frozen Four.

#2 Johnny Pohl -C 2000-2002

The pride of Red Wing got off to a slow start as a Gopher but then watch out. Only Pohl’s final two years count for our list, but what years they were. In 82 games his junior and senior seasons Pohl scored 46 goals and added 78 assists for 124 points and a 1.21 point per game average. He finished his Minnesota career ranked #5 all-time in assists, #9 all-time in points and #10 all-time in goals. His senior season in 2001-02 he helped the Gophers to their first NCAA Championship in 23 years and scored 27 goals and added 79 points—the 13th highest total in a single season in Minnesota history and the only one in the past 25 years. He would be named a First Team All-American but not a Hobey Baker Finalist. And as good as he was, he might not even be the best Gopher hockey legend in the family...as we will find out on a later list.

#1 Jordan Leopold- D 2000-2002

Our number One Gopher of the past 25 seasons is the only one in the past 25 seasons to win a Hobey Baker Award. Leopold would play 86 games his junior and senior seasons as a Gopher scoring 32 goals and 97 total points. He would finish his career with the 5th and 6th best scoring season by a defenseman in Gopher history, and in total would be the #3 ranked scoring defenseman in program history. Leopold was a First Team All-American in both 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, just one of two Gophers to do that in the last 25 years. He was a two-time WCHA Defensive Player of the Year as well. His senior season in 2001-02 Leopold would become the 4th Gopher to win the Hobey Baker Award by scoring 48 points in 44 games including a career high 20 goals—the most ever by a Gopher defenseman in a season. He helped the Gophers win a NCAA Championship in St. Paul.