Tonight at Mariucci Arena, the No. 1 ranked Gophers face off against the No. 2 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
The Gophers are coming off an 8-1 win Dec. 30 against Boston College to win the Mariucci Classic and overtake the Eagles for No. 1 in the nation. Notre Dame has not played in 24 days and once since Dec. 8. The Irish has won six in a row.
The game will also feature Don Lucia going up against his son, Notre Dame freshman Mario Lucia, for the first time. Here is the feature I wrote on them today.
Lucia, Gophers assistant coach Grant Potulny are just back from Russia, where they won gold with the U.S. at the world juniors. The team will be honored before the game.
Don Lucia flirted with not dressing defenseman Mike Reilly, but he is listed as an extra skater on the line chart. So I'd assume that means Lucia monitors his ice time and energy level.
Erik Haula is out with a finger injury. Nate Condon takes his spot.
Here are the lines
Gophers
Forwards
Kyle Rau-Nick Bjugstad-Christian Isackson
Sam Warning-Nate Condon-Zach Budish
Tom Serratore-Travis Boyd-Seth Ambroz
XXXXXXXXXXX-A.J. Michaelson-Justin Holl
Defensemen
Seth Helgeson-Mark Alt
Jake Parenteau-Ben Marshall
Brady Skjei-Nate Schmidt
Mike Reilly
Goalies
Adam Wilcox
Mike Shibrowski
Notre Dame
Forwards
Jeff Costello-Anders Lee-Bryan Rust
Mario Lucia-T.J. Tynan-Mike Voran
Nick Larson-David Gerths-Austin Wuthrich
Thomas DiPauli-Steven Fogarty-Peter Schneider
Defensemen
Shayne Taker-Stephen Johns
Kevin Lind-Robbie Russo
Eric Johnson-Sam Calabrese
Goalies
Steven Summerhays
Mike Johnson