Gophers head to East Coast for NCAA tournament matchup with Bulldogs
MINNEAPOLIS -- With a win in Saturday's Big Ten championship, the Gophers hockey team knew it would be playing in the NCAA tournament. Minnesota just didn't know where it would be playing or who the opponent would be.
As it turns out, the Gophers will heading to the East Coast -- to play another team from Minnesota.
They'll face Minnesota-Duluth in the Northeast regional in Manchester, N.H. The Gophers and Bulldogs will square off on Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT. The two in-state rivals were formerly conference foes as recently as two years ago in the WCHA before the Gophers left for the Big Ten.
Minnesota enters the tournament with a 23-12-3 overall record, while Minnesota-Duluth is 20-15-3. The Gophers and Bulldogs played each other four times during the 2014-15 season, with Minnesota-Duluth winning three of those four matchups. The last game between the two was back on Jan. 24 in the North Star College Cup, a 2-1 win for UMD. Since that game, though, the Gophers posted an impressive 12-3-1 record to close out the season.
Minnesota secured its berth in the NCAA tournament by defeating Michigan 3-2 in the Big Ten championship game Saturday in Detroit. Before the conference tournament began, Minnesota was on the NCAA tournament bubble. The Gophers cast any doubts aside by winning the automatic bid with the Big Ten championship -- Minnesota's first conference crown since 2007.
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