Minnesota enters this weekend as the USCHO.com #1 team in the land, with forty-eight of fifty first place votes. Minnesota State is fourteenth in the poll this week, and the two teams get ready for a home and home series to air on Big Ten Network (Friday from Minneapolis) and Saturday (FOX Sports North PLUS from Mankato). Let’s take you inside some important series numbers.
1: When these two teams split a series back in the first part of November, Minnesota and Minnesota State each had differing styles of victory. Minnesota won 3-2 on November 2, with Minnesota State winning 5-3 the next night.
16: In twenty-two starts, Minnesota freshman goaltender Adam Wilcox has sixteen wins, compared to the twelve wins for Minnesota State goaltender Stephon Williams.
1.71: Adam Wilcox’s goals against average of 1.71 is good enough for sixth best in the nation, and it also puts him solidly in as the best in the WCHA.
1,166:25: The timeframe that Minnesota State goaltender Stephon Williams has seen in net over his twenty starts. That’s equivalent to just under nineteen and a half hours.
6: Minnesota State owns a 6-4-0 advantage over Minnesota in the last ten games between the schools. Minnesota leads 3-2-0 in games at Mariucci Arena.
7: Minnesota’s Seth Helgeson, at seven games, has the most experience of any current Gopher, but with only two points to show for it (both assists), don’t assume that experience is king.
5: Minnesota’s Nate Condon and Erik Haula each have five points in twelve combined games versus the Mavericks.
10: An appropriate number to leave the column with, ten is the number of goals Minnesota once scored in a game versus Minnesota State. A 10-3 win on January 17, 2004 saw Keith Ballard score twice, Thomas Vanek score twice, and current Gopher assistant Grant Potulny have a three point night.
Geoff Discher is Examiner.com's Minnesota Golden Gophers Hockey Examiner as well as the National College Hockey Examiner. Leave a comment below, or feel free to reach him at Disch61@hotmail.com with comments, story ideas, or any general talk surrounding college hockey. You can find him on Facebook as well by clicking here as well as here and joining the conversation from the social media side as well. He's always chock full of fact and opinion. I’m also on Twitter @GophHkyExmnr. Check it out!
Until next time, I'll see you at the rink!
Comments