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