Gophers

Gophers draw Minnesota Duluth in NCAA hockey first round

The in-state rivals will meet for the fifth time this season.

By Jason Gonzalez

March 23, 2015 at 2:25PM

Minnesota State Mankato players celebrated after winning the WCHA tournament, a victory that secured the No. 1 overall NCAA seed. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Gophers rested well Saturday night knowing that their spot in the NCAA tournament was secure and waited patiently during Sunday morning's selection show to learn that they'll face a very familiar opponent in the first round.

Minnesota Duluth (20-15-3) and the Gophers (23-12-3) will meet at 4:30 p.m. Friday, more than 1,000 miles from their home state in a Northeast Regional semifinal in Manchester, N.H.

It'll be the fifth time the rivals have played this season, with the Bulldogs holding a 3-1 series advantage.

The overall top four seeds are Minnesota State Mankato, North Dakota, Boston University and Miami (Ohio). With St. Cloud State also in the 16-team tournament, Minnesota programs account for a fourth of the field.

"We're excited to play Duluth. It wasn't a shock at all [to draw them]. There are only 16 teams in the tournament, so we knew there was a good chance we'd play someone we knew," Gophers senior captain Kyle Rau said. "With our seed [10th overall and No. 3 in the region] we couldn't really get picky where we were, but we know that our fans will be supporting us wherever we go."

The Gophers entered last weekend on the NCAA tournament bubble but secured their spot by sweeping the Big Ten tournament with a 3-0 shutout against Ohio State and a 4-2 championship victory over Michigan on Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. They'll have to play in another unfamiliar venue this week at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. Boston University is the region's top seed and Yale the fourth seed.

The last time the Gophers played in an eastern regional was 2008, when they lost to Boston College in the first round. They won the West Region last year, beating St. Cloud State at Xcel Energy Center for a spot in the Frozen Four and eventually losing in the national championship game to Union. The defending champion Dutchmen failed to make this year's tournament.

"[Our draw] shows the selection committee's commitment to avoid first-round matchups with teams from the same conference. So when Harvard went west, we knew it would be ourselves or St. Cloud going east," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "Some years you get to play close to home and other years you don't. That's just how the process works. … We haven't been out east since 2008, but we're in the same boat as UMD; a team, obviously, we know. We know their players and they know us. They play a very similar game."

The Bulldogs also have played a better game than the Gophers in three of their four meetings this season. Minnesota Duluth lost 4-3 to the Gophers in the season-opening Ice Breaker Tournament in South Bend, Ind., but went on to win the next three games by a combined score of 7-2, including a 2-1 victory the North Star College Cup consolation game in St. Paul.

The rivals have a long and heated history but have met only once in the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs beat the Gophers 3-1 in the 2004 Midwest Regional final to advance to the program's third Frozen Four.

Mavericks are No. 1 overall

A Minnesota program is the overall No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year, this time MSU Mankato earning the top honor for the first time. The Mavericks face Rochester Institute of Technology in Saturday's Midwest semifinal in South Bend, Ind.

MSU Mankato is riding the momentum of its best season in program history in which it earned a No. 1 ranking first time, won a WCHA regular-season title for the first time, won a conference tournament championship, and capped it off by earning the top seed for the first time.

The Mavericks celebrated their top seed with the community at a viewing party in Mankato on Sunday morning.

"That's special. Because without them, what do we have? … They make the engine kind of go," Mavericks coach Mike Hastings said about the chance to celebrate with fans. "The names might change at the top of the board, but it's nice to be there. The depth of programs throughout the state is outstanding. We have some pretty good programs, and we think we're one of them."

MSU Mankato is the only program in the state that hasn't played in a Frozen Four and is hoping this year's top seeding will help pave the way to Boston, the site of the national championship.

St. Cloud State off to Fargo

St. Cloud State was the fourth team from Minnesota to make the tournament and plays Michigan Tech in the West Region semifinal on Friday in Fargo, N.D.

The Huskies and Bulldogs are two of six teams from the eight-member NCHC to make the NCAA tournament field. Regular-season champion North Dakota and conference tournament champ Miami (Ohio) are No. 1 regional seeds, with Nebraska Omaha and Denver rounding out the two-year-old conference's postseason presence.

Hockey East and the ECAC each earned three spots, and the WCHA two spots.

Conference tournament champions RIT (Atlantic Hockey) and the Gophers (Big Ten) are their respective conferences' only representative. Lucia was disappointed that the Big Ten would only get one spot in the tournament, arguing the competition in the six-team conference was much better than the PairWise could calculate.

"I just wish [Michigan was] in the NCAA tournament because they are deserving and they would have been a great representative from the Big Ten in the tournament," Lucia said. " … And I would not have wanted to play Michigan State if I was somebody next week."

The Wolverines were 19th in the PairWise Rankings, missing an NCAA bid by four spots. Michigan State finished tied for 31st in the PairWise.

The Gophers’ Justin Kloos, shooting against Michigan earlier Saturday, scored the winning goal in the third period of the Big Ten title game. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)