The 2024–25 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey season was the 104th season of play for the program and 35th in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers represented the University of Minnesota in the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, played their home games at 3M Arena at Mariucci and were coached by Bob Motzko in his seventh season.
Season Minnesota entered the season as one of the favorites to compete for the national championship. The Gophers lost few players from a battle-tested group that made the national quarterfinals the year before and they were augmenting the core with slew of talented prospects. Five of Minnesota's incoming players were selected in the NHL draft with Matthew Wood having already proven himself at the collegiate level at Connecticut. While Wood would help make up for the loss of the previous season's leading scorers (Bryce Brodzinski and Rhett Pitlick), the bigger question was in goal. Justen Close, who had been the starter ever since the departure of Jack LaFontaine in 2022, had graduated and the Gophers would now need to find his replacement. Nathan Airey was already on the team, having filling in with sport work as the backup, but Minnesota didn't yet know if he was capable of serving as the full-time starter. Liam Soulière was then brought in as a graduate transfer from Penn State. While he was a much more experienced netminder with more than 80 starts in his career, his record as of late had been a bit spotty.
The team was set to begin the season in the Ice Breaker Tournament and the Gophers began by rotating their two goaltenders. While they were able to succeed in the season-opener, the offense had a bit of a hiccup in the tournament final when they were stymied by Omaha despite outshooting the Mavericks 54–18. While the team was unhappy with the loss, their early performance continued for several weeks with the Gophers' offense dominating the competition. Even when their goaltenders had an off night, Minnesota was usually able to outscore the opposition. Minnesota was so dominant in the first half of the season that they hardly suffered a loss and managed to earn the #1 ranking by mid-December. The attack was being led by Jimmy Snuggerud, who was able to score in virtually every single game. He was not alone, however and six of his teammates joined in on the party by recording double-digit goal totals for the year. The Gophers averaged nearly 4 goals a game for the year and finished as the third best scoring team in the nation.
Just before the winter break, the team was able to test out its top ranking by facing off against #3 Michigan State at home. Both teams held serve in the first game, which ended in a shootout loss for the Gophers. The second looked like Minnesota was setting up for a triumphant win when Brody Lamb's power play goal gave Minnesota a 2-goal lead early in the third. However, the Spartans took over the game in the latter part of the period and scored 3 goals in under 4 minutes to completely stun the partisan crowd. Minnesota tried to regain its footing but time was already short and they were unable to get their offense back in gear. After pulling Soulière for an extra attacker, MSU nabbed an empty-net goal, sending Minnesota into their vacation with missed opportunity.
The loss seemed to strike a nerve with the team and Minnesota was not the same juggernaut that they were during the first half of the season. After returning from the break, the Gophers were not getting the same consistency out of their goaltenders and the team started slipping from their perch. When the team had their rematch with Michigan State, Airey posted a woeful performance and surrendered 5 goals before being pulled in the second period. Soulière gave up a further 4 in the third to give Minnesota its worst outing of the season but the graduate was back in goal for the start of the rematch. Soulière recovered well for his start, holding the Spartans back long enough for the team to earn another shootout loss. That weekend was the deciding factor in Minnesota handing the starting job to Soulière for the rest of the season. That choice appeared to stabilize the position in goal and Minnesota was able to reassert itself as one of the top teams in the country. The Gophers ended the regular season tied with Michigan State atop the conference standings, however, due to MSU dominating the season series the Gophers missed out a bye into the semifinal round.
Postseason By the start of the Big Ten tournament, Minnesota was already guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament. Possessing the #4 position in the PairWise, it was mathematically impossible for Minnesota to fall out of the top 10. Perhaps taking this to heart, Minnesota was less than impressive when they opened their playoff run by allowing Notre Dame to build a 2-goal lead in the first period. While Wood cut the leas in half just before intermission, the Irish regain their edge with a third goal just 78 seconds into the second period. Soulière was pulled in favor of Airey and the sophomore did everything he could to keep Minnesota in the game. The Gophers didn't surrender another goal but they found it difficult to weave their way through a staunch Notre Dame defense who was doing yeoman's work in stifling Minnesota. Sam Rinzel finally managed to break through midway through the third but that was a close as the Gophers could get and they fell in the first match.
After that rather stunning defeat, the team regrouped in the rematch and came out firing. With Airey in goal, the offense assaulted the Irish goal, trying to overpower the visitors. Notre Dame was able to weather the storm for the first half of the match but eventually the dame broke and Minnesota began pouring goals into the cage. Four of the team's top scorers found the back of the goal and allowed Minnesota to even the series. The team entered the rubber match with the same idea in mind. While they were able to outshoot Notre Dame to the tune of 39–21, the scoring never materialized. The Fighting Irish were able to get a pair past Airey in the first two periods and then put up a defensive wall much in the same way they had in the first game. Wood halved the lead on the power play but that was the only offense Minnesota could muster. Two goals in the final 10 minutes gave the Irish enough of a cushion to win the match comfortably and banish the Gophers with a massive upset.
While the loss to Notre Dame didn't hurt Minnesota's tournament hopes, it did drop the team down to No. 5 and prevent them from earning a #1 seed. The slight decrease didn't affect the Gopher's placement as the team was put in the Fargo regional, giving their fans a short drive, but it did alter the Gophers' first round matchup. Instead of facing off against #14 Minnesota State, they were set against #11 Massachusetts. The game saw Soulière return to the Minnesota crease as the starter but the game was disrupted before it even began. The match was delayed more than an hour and half due to the earlier match going into double overtime and both sides appeared unprepared for the start. However, Snuggerud took advantage of a UMass penalty to open the scoring. While the Minutemen were able to tie the game quickly Lamb restored Minnesota's lead before the end of the first. Minnesota continued their solid play into the third with Connor Kurth scoring the only goal of the period to give the Gophers a 2-goal lead. Massachusetts then turned up the pressure in the third and managed to score two goals in quick succession to tie the game. The Gophers recovered afterwards and began returning fire, turning the game into a see-saw battle. With less than 5 minutes to play, disaster struck when Jimmy Clark accidentally deflected the puck into his own net to give UMass their first lead of the game. Facing the end of its season, Minnesota's leading scorer came to the rescue and Snuggerud knotted the match at 4-all off of an offensive zone faceoff. Minnesota had several chances to score the winning goal in both regulation and overtime but their chances went for naught. Minnesota's season was ended after an apparent missed penalty resulted in a turnover at center ice that ended with a goal off of the rush. Neither the team nor the fans were happy with what they believed was a mistake by the referees but there was nothing the Gophers could do about their fate.
Departures Bryce Brodzinski Forward Graduation (signed with Ontario Reign) Justen Close Goaltender Graduation (signed with Jacksonville Icemen) Carl Fish Defenseman Graduate transfer to Providence Jaxon Nelson Forward Graduation (signed with Boston Bruins) Garrett Pinoniemi Forward Transferred to Omaha Rhett Pitlick Forward Transferred to Minnesota State Charlie Strobel Forward Transferred to Colorado College
Recruiting
August Falloon Forward 20 St. Cloud, MN Leo Gruba Defenseman 20 Lake Elmo, MN Beckett Hendrickson Forward 19 Minnetonka, MN; selected 124th overall in 2023 Erik Påhlsson Forward 20 Landskrona, SWE; selected 213th overall in 2024 Liam Soulière Goaltender 25 Brampton, ON; graduate transfer from Penn State John Whipple Defenseman 18 Morristown, NJ; selected 144th overall in 2024 Matthew Wood Forward 19 Lethbridge, AB; transfer from Connecticut; selected 15th overall in 2023 Brodie Ziemer Forward 18 Carver, MN; selected 71st overall in 2024
Roster As of September 12, 2024.
Standings
Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Exhibition
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!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular season
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NCAA tournament
Game summaryWith the game beginning more than an hour later than expected due to the earlier match going into double overtime, the start was a bit disjointed as the two teams had to shake off the cobwebs. While Minnesota was also having to contend with the absence of a few players due to illness, it was the Gophers who took controlled the game early. The first good chance of the night came when Jimmy Snuggerud broke in on the UMass goal but Michael Hrabal was able to make the save. The Minutemen answered with one of the own a minute later when Cole O'Hara tried to slip around behind Liam Soulière but the puck rolled off of his stick before he could shoot into an open net. The offenses bogged down in the middle of the period but Minnesota was still able to keep the puck in the Massachusetts end for long stretches. With few scoring chances being generated, the players occupied themselves with some pushing and shoving. As the speed of the game increased UMass got a few good chances on goal but Bo Cosman got a little too aggressive on the forecheck and was called for interference. On the ensuing power play, Snuggerud was able to corral the puck near the front of the net and Lucas Mercuri was forced to take a hooking minor to stop a golden scoring chance. Right off of the next faceoff, Matthew Wood was called for a trip to end revert the 2-man advantage back to just 1. With a ton of open ice, Minnesota was able to set up in the Massachusetts end and Snuggerud blasted a 50-foot shot past Hrabal for the opening goal. Just seconds later, Larry Keenan fired a puck in on Soulière who misread the trajectory and ended up deflecting it up into the top corner. The game see-sawed after the two quick goals but both defenses were able to force long-distance shots. Near the end of the period, Minnesota was able to spend some time in the Minutemen end and force an offensive zone faceoff. After Kenny Connors fumbled the draw, Brody Lamb snagged the puck and wired it into the near corner over Hrabal's shoulder. The end of the period saw a little more rough play but not enough to draw a penalty.