This weekend, college hockey’s best will descend on St. Paul and the Xcel Energy Center for the first time since 2011, with that year’s champion making a return trip to the capital city. 

Minnesota-Duluth topped Michigan 3-2 in overtime in the 2011 national championship, and a rematch could be in store for the Bulldogs and Wolverines if both teams can get past their semifinal opponents on Thursday night.

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 11 in the latest United States College Hockey Online poll, are back in the Frozen Four this season after a runner-up finish in 2017. 

The Minnesota-Duluth roster features 17 Minnesota natives, including the team’s top seven leading scorers. The overall leader in points is former Hibbing/Chisholm star defenseman Scott Perunovich with 11 goals and 36 points. Blaine product Riley Tufte paces the Bulldogs (23-16-3) with 16 goals, and Grand Rapids goaltender Hunter Shepard has posted a save percentage of .924 and a goals-against average of 1.95 in 39 starts this season.  

Another familiar face on the St. Paul collegiate playoff hockey scene is Notre Dame’s Jeff Jackson, as the Fighting Irish head coach won his second national title with Lake Superior State in 1994 at the St. Paul Civic Center. 

Jackson, who has guided the No. 2 ranked Fighting Irish to a 27-9-2 record and a Big Ten Conference championship this season, was honored with the Spencer Penrose Award earlier this week as the national coach of the year.

Five Minnesotans dot the Fighting Irish roster, with the leading scorer of the group being a senior defenseman and Maple Grove product Jordan Gross with 10 goals and 28 points.

Three skaters from the State of Hockey will suit up for Ohio State on Thursday night, with John Wiitala and Wyatt Ege combining for eight goals and 36 points this season for the No. 5 Buckeyes (26-9-5). Former Edina standout Miguel Fidler, the older brother of two-time state champion Hornet girls’ hockey star Lolita Fidler, is also on the Buckeyes’ roster. 

Rounding out the crop of teams is No. 10 Michigan (22-14-3), which features just one Minnesotan in Dellwood native Jack Becker, who played at Mahtomedi before leaving early for the United States Hockey League. Becker has scored eight goals and totaled 14 points for the Wolverines this season. 

Michigan carries with it the aura of nine national crowns, the most in NCAA Men’s Division I Hockey history. The most recent of these titles came in 1998.