Bemidji State (9-13-0) – Bye Weekend

At the conclusion of the weekend, Bemidji State holds second place in the CCHA standings with 25 conference points and is No. 38 in the PairWise Rankings. In their second consecutive road trip to Michigan, the Beavers will square off against Michigan Tech (9-10-4), a team that Bemidji split within their first series this season, with puck drop at 6:07 PM CT on 1/19 and 1/20. 

No. 12 Minnesota (12-6-4) vs. Robert Morris (6-15-3)

Before facing six straight Big Ten opponents, the Gophers had one final non-conference matchup against the No. 62 PairWise-ranked Robert Morris Colonials, a team whose hockey program was inactive for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. 

Game one saw the Colonials strike first with a tipped shot beating goaltender Nathan Airey. Still, the Gophers dominated the rest of the period, outshooting Robert Morris 28-6 and leading 2-1 at the first intermission off goals from Jaxon Nelson and Brody Lamb.

Minnesota continued to apply pressure in the second and extended their lead to 3-1 off freshman Oliver Moore's third goal this season. Both teams added a goal in the third period to end in a 4-2 Minnesota victory, with the Gophers outshooting the visitors 57-21 

In Saturday's rematch, the Gophers significantly outshot the Colonials in the first but were only able to beat the goaltender once, as Mason Nevers recorded his first goal of the season. In the second, the Gophers converted on a power play 4:53 into the period to make it 2-0 before Aaron Huglen extended the lead to 3-0 midway through the game. With 4:22 remaining in the period, the Colonials took advantage of an odd-man rush and scored to make it 3-1 heading into the second intermission.

Jimmy Snuggerud continued his impressive scoring pace by recording his seventeenth goal of the season for the lone goal in the third period, leading to a 4-1 Gophers win and series sweep. 

The Gophers will remain home and face the last-ranked team in the Big Ten standings, Ohio State (9-9-4), with puck drop at 7:00 PM on 1/19 and 1/20. 

Minnesota Duluth (7-10-4) vs. No. 17 Colorado College (11-8-1) 

The Bulldogs' first official series of the new year came against Colorado College in what begins an important stretch against eight conference opponents to close out the regular season. 

Outshot 13-7 in the first period of game one, Minnesota Duluth was the first to light the lamp, with Jack Smith scoring 4:42 into the second. Both goaltenders turned aside all shots on net the rest of period two, with the Bulldogs' Zach Stejskal making 24 saves through two. Only 2:23 into the third, Owen Gallatin extended the lead to 2-0, scoring from the point for his fifth goal of the season. Shortly after, the Tigers stormed back and made it 2-1 off a goal from Stanley Cooley, with Cooley later tying the game at 2-2 off a nice tip in front with 1:45 remaining in regulation.

The game headed to overtime and a two-on-one opportunity for UMD was buried by Ben Steeves, marking his fifteenth goal this season, which places him third in the NCHC goal-scoring standings. 

In game two, the first period was almost goalless before Carter Loney opened the scoring with only 11 seconds remaining in the period. Colorado College opened the second with a quick response, but the tie game only lasted 34 seconds, with Kyle Bettens quickly putting UMD back in front 2-1.

Unfortunately, The Bulldogs could not carry their lead into the third as the Tigers narrowly beat the clock, scoring to make it 2-2 with only one second remaining in the period. In the third, Colorado College's Kaidan Mbereko made 17 net saves and helped force a second night of overtime, with the Tigers reversing roles and winning it off a goal from Noah Laba. 

After the series split, the Bulldogs sit in the No. 31 spot in the PairWise rankings with a lot of work to do and a trip against No. 10 Western Michigan (14-5-1) on the horizon.

No. 14 St. Cloud (11-6-3) at No. 6 Denver (15-5-2)

The Huskies opened the second half of their season on the road against the highly ranked Denver Pioneers. St. Cloud closed out an evenly matched first period in game one with a goal by Ethan AuCoin to head into the first intermission ahead 1-0. From that point forward, it was all Denver, as Massimo Rizzo scored to tie the game 1:39 into the second before the Pioneers added four additional goals in the period to lead 5-1 after two.

Burnsville native Jared Wright scored the go-ahead goal before Rizzo tallied his second of the night, with Rieger Lorenz and Miko Matikka scoring the final two of the five unanswered goals.

The Huskies were able to shut down the Pioneers' high-flying offense in the third but could not capitalize themselves, losing 5-1. 

In game two, the Pioneers scored 12:40 into the game, but the Huskies responded before the period closed, with goals by Josh Luedtke and Zach Okabe in the final 35 seconds of the period, making it 2-1 after one. Like game one, period two of game two also saw five goals scored, but this time, they were not all Denver. A power-play goal tied the game at 2-2 before St. Cloud answered with two goals to take a 4-2 lead.

However, the Huskies took a five-minute major penalty to close out the period, and the Pioneers stormed right back, scoring two quick goals with a man-advantage to tie the game at 4-4 after two. In the third, the Huskies outshot Denver 18-3 but could not beat goaltender Matt Davis, sending the game into overtime. Neither team won it in the extra session, and St. Cloud won the shootout to secure the extra conference point, with goaltender Isak Posch making 33 saves in the tie. 

With two conference points earned, the Huskies remain atop the NCHC standings with 24 points, but another tough test looms as St. Cloud will return home to play No. 4 North Dakota (15-6-1) on 1/19 and 1/20. 

Minnesota State (11-8-3) vs. Ferris State (6-16-1)

Beating Ferris State in their five previous meetings, Minnesota State continued their domination against the Bulldogs with a sweep at home this weekend. 

The Mavericks took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission after outshooting Ferris State 16-4 in the opening period with a power play tally from Josh Groll. With 4:05 to go in the second, Minnesota State made it 2-0 off a shorthanded Lucas Sowder goal before the Bulldogs responded with one minute remaining in the period. Leading 3-1 with only minutes remaining in regulation, Ferris State scored to make it 3-2, and a tense end to the game ensued, but the Mavericks held on and won 4-2 after scoring a late empty netter. 

For the second straight night, Josh Groll started off the scoring with his fourth goal of the season only 2:12 into the game. The Mavericks did not rest on their laurels and scored two more goals from Luc Wilson and Sam Morton before the period closed, with Morton's goal marking his team-leading sixteenth goal this season. Minnesota State extended their lead to 4-0 in the second off a goal from Willmar native Kaden Bohlsen, with that score ending up being the final. Alex Tracy made 24 saves in the shutout win, marking the first shutout for Minnesota State this season. 

Moving slightly to No. 28 in the PairWise, Minnesota State will look to continue their hot streak on the road against Bowling Green (7-15-0) on 1/19 and 1/20. 

St. Thomas (11-10-1) vs. Michigan Tech (9-10-4)

Michigan Tech is a team that St. Thomas has notoriously struggled against, winning only one of their previous 10 meetings. However, there was no sight of that poor form this weekend as the Tommies swept the Huskies with 4-3 and 3-1 wins. 

Game one kicked off on Thursday with a hot start by St. Thomas, who jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the game. Assisting on the first goal was recent midseason callup Chase Cheslock, who was last year's Reed Larson award winner and who joined St. Thomas from the Omaha Lancers.

The 2-0 score held until the waning minutes of the second period when a flurry of goals occurred, with Luc Laylin scoring to extend it to 3-0 before Michigan Tech's Alex Nordstrom scored two goals in a span of 43 seconds to make it 3-2 heading into the third. Freshman Mason Poolman scored his first career collegiate goal and St. Thomas' first goal from a defenseman this season to extend it to 4-2. Michigan Tech made things interesting by scoring with 7:02 remaining, but the Tommies held on for a 4-3 victory, with Aaron Trotter making 32 saves in net. 

The rematch Saturday evening was scoreless through one before Maple Grove native Kyle Kukkonen scored 5:46 into the second, which surprisingly marks the first goal of his sophomore season after recording 18 goals his freshman year. The Tommies Lucas Wahlin responded shortly thereafter to tie the game before St. Thomas took a 2-1 lead late in the period off a quick shot from Cooper Gay.

St. Thomas extended their lead to 3-1 early in the third on a power play, and that would be the final, with the only negative to the weekend being that goaltender Jake Sibell left the game late with an injury. 

The Tommies will now hit the road to face Northern Michigan (7-11-2) on 1/19 and 1/20 and will hope to gain another six conference points to retain their top spot in the CCHA.