#Gophers coach Bob Motzko responded to some of the criticism he's getting right now about his program on not solving roster issues through the portal and lack of right shot defensmen. podcasts.apple.com Gopher Hockey Weekly 02-09-26 Podcast Episode · Golden Gopher Podcast · 02/09/2026 · 29m

Tough weekend for #Gophers getting swept by the Buckeyes, but biggest loss could be an injury to LJ Mooney as Minnesota tries to find traction in their season. gopherpucklive.com/news/ohio-st...

Pre #GPLPodcast Parm! We welcome @ToddMilewski tonight at 9 PM to talk #Gophers #Badgers. Join us! www.youtube.com/live/ChRWMtb...

#Gophers Bob Motzko admitted they're in unfamiliar territory right now sitting at 8-12-1. "We've got to make sure we're ready to go in the playoffs.. we want to win this weekend too, but we've got to make sure we're one of those teams no one wants to play at the end of the year."

Here's the #GPLPodcast from this week as we had Nick Angell on to talk about the #Gophers, his experience going through a 15-19-9 freshman season and leaving as an NCAA Champion. www.youtube.com/live/wH9tfum...

#Gophers John Mittelstadt admitted that the team is very different this year compared to last year and he thinks the identiy is going be just working.

#Gophers Leo Gruba shared this week that he's lost 10 lbs from last season and 6.5% of body fat. He said he feels faster out there and hopes it translates towards generating a little more offense this season.

Motzko said the departures really hit him when filling out the pre-season all-league ballots -- 'In a normal situation he'd be writing Rinzel, Moore, Snuggerud, Kurth... but it's onto the next group of guys and we have a different look about us right now.'

First #GPLPodcast of the year in the books — we had Frank Mazzocco join us for a bit as he’ll be doing pxp on TV(!) this weekend, we talked about the newcomers, what the Top Twenty looks like across the country and lines for the series with Michigan Tech. Check it out: youtube.com/c/GopherPuck...

The last 30 seasons of Badgers men's hockey: 15 winning records, 15 losing records. Today's recruits have lived through more losing UW seasons than winning ones. As things change around them in the B1G, the Badgers are at a crossroads. badgerextra.com/sports/hocke...

Check out our season opening #GPLPodcast on #Gophers hockey as they get going on Friday with a series against Michigan Tech! gopherpucklive.com/podcast/288-... Lines I've seen lately: Lamb-Clark-Moore Ziemer-Ludtke-Mooney Hendrickson-Pahlsson-Pritchard Harris/Begley-Mittelstadt-Falloon

We are about an hour away from going live for the #GPLPodcast #288 Season 15 Premiere www.youtube.com/live/eyudkfu... via @YouTube Join us in the chat to talk #Gophers Hockey!

It was hard to tell if #Gophers coach Bob Motzko was more excited coaching his team's first official practice or seeing #Vikings JJ McCarthy take his first snap against Chicago yesterday, but here are a couple takeaways from 3M Arena at Mariucci. gopherpucklive.com/news/gophers...

Join us tonight at 9:30 as we pour one out for the 24-25 season. Join the chat to let us know your questions/thoughts or send #GPLPodcast a note here. www.youtube.com/live/gA9dJTP...

Critical goal scored by Connor Kurth making it 3-1 14:07 into the second period. Jimmy Clark made a pass out of the corner to Kurth on the far side of the crease, Kurth dragged it back across the grain and tucked it home for his 18th goal of the season.

Key here was that Rinzel and Snuggerud got some depth to the top of the circles, got enough room between them that Hrabal had to push across instead of shuffle and there was some traffic. No pressure by UMass.

Minnesota without Huglen doesn't have any righty centers going tonight -- expect to see Matthew Wood and Brody Lamb take draws every once in a while when it's an advantage.

We've got puck drop for #Gophers around 8:41 PM tonight from Fargo after the double overtime win for Western Michigan. Minnesota can't fall into the trap of trying to stickhandle through UMass tonight during the first period. Both teams will have rust to shake off though.

#Gophers Bob Motzko said traffic and throwing pucks on goal is key tomorrow, but highlighted that 'their ground game has to find a way to get itself going quickly tomorrow so we get the feel, get the blood flowing and get the intensity going in our game.'

Mason Nevers told Oliver Moore that he couldn't remember if the seats were black or not from his last trip to Fargo because so many #Gophers fans made the trip filling the building with Maroon and White.

#Gophers Sam Rinzel said that his team is fast, but they need to do the right things like, getting pucks in deep, being hard nosed and being hard to play against, "that's when our skill comes out."

Mike Koster said this week that everything gets really hard this time of the year and a lot of goals comer right around the net. "They're just greasy, gritty goals. You've got to put the work in and let your talent come out."

Bob Motzko said this week that his team can't shoot themselves in the foot early in the game. "You have to be cautious, but you've got to play your game and your top guys have to feel it."

#GPLPodcast has had a bit of a break just like #Gophers men's hockey, but we're back tonight at 9:30 PM. We've got Mike Carman on the show tonight to get you prepped for Fargo and UMass. Let us know what you want us to cover and/or join the chat live. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qzX...

No #Gophers hockey this weekend, but we had a therapy session with Pat Micheletti this week on the #GPLPodcast. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/2... youtu.be/j6y5216P2Dg Also the beer of the week was a fitting choice that fans might want to crack open if they're still raging furious over the week.

Mason Nevers on #Gophers Big Ten Tourney run ending: It's our last lesson. There's no more lessons now. So you just got to learn from it. We've got to wear it as a team, as a group together, like we've been doing all year and come out ready in two weeks to compete for the big one.

Motzko on playing frustrated: You press versus just playing. It's been one of our things this year. When you press, it gets hard. It's when you miss the net. You should shoot and you pass. You should pass and you shoot. It kind of gets in your head a little bit.

#Gophers Bob Motzko after loss tonight to Notre Dame: When we get into NCAA play, you can't make the mistakes we made to get down 2-0. We were doing fine, we were pretty much in control of what we wanted to do, and we made two system mistakes and then we're chasing the game.

We will get a game three at 3M Arena at Mariucci on Sunday as the #Gophers close this one out to win 4-2 with an ENG goal by Brodie Ziemer. Nice possession plays by Sam Rinzel and Jimmy Snuggerud to create the opportunity for Ziemer -- no panic with the puck.

Matthew Wood gets his 16th goal of the season by beating his check to a loose puck in front of the Notre Dame goal, putting it top shelf and extending the #Gophers lead to 3-1. The grade A chances have been a little rare tonight, but Minnesota gets two and converts them both.

Patient play by Jimmy Clark on an odd man rush to wait for a window to open up to make a pass across the royal road to Connor Kurth and Kurth puts it away for his 17th goal of the season to make it 2-1 #Gophers 4:16 into the third.

Quite the weekend in Big Ten Hockey -- Penn State looks like they'll sweep Michigan to advance and get into at-large status in the PWR. Ohio State nearly got swept by UW, but the Badgers missed an ENG and give up an extra attacker goal to force OT. Minnesota tied 1-1 with ND headed to 3rd!

Thanks Jack Ramsey for joining the #GPLPodcast this week. Beer of the Week for the show was Lupulin Brewing BA Cinnamon Coffee Shop Assault Vehicle -- this one delivers a lot of flavor in this big beer and I know they are in the midst of their BIG BEER week as we start big boy hockey week.

#GPLPodcast returns tonight at 9:30 PM. Jack Ramsey is coming on the show tonight so I'm sure we'll talk a little HS Tourney along with college puck. Here's my top 20 headed as the #Gophers head into the conference tournament. gopherpucklive.com/vegoes-top-2...

Well written story, but we also had one of the better winters for outdoor ice in 24-25 after last year’s abbreviated season. Getting some outdoor refrigerated rinks across the city or better yet, outdoor covered refrigerated rinks would be a great solution.

#Gophers men's hockey is only streaming tonight, but it looks like Liam Souliere is going to get another Friday night start against the Wolverines. Motzko said on Tuesday that the staff had not yet talked about who would start this Friday, but he had plenty of praise for Souliere's experience.

John King @pulltabsports.bsky.social joined the #GPLPodcast last night. #Gophers are out of the bye week and are off to Ann Arbor. Beer of the week was Fulton's latest BA RIS Very Worthy Adversary -- seemed like a fitting pour considering the matchup ahead. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J7L...

Liam Souliere took a chance at the empty net, it was going wide, but Jimmy Snuggerud's effort gets the icing waived off. The next scramble leads to a Connor Kurth ENG making it 4-1 with 2:15 to go.

Badgers get the extra attacker goal with 3:56 to play and it's 3-1.

Oliver Moore given a clean look at the net on the rush and he goes up top on the short side making it 3-0 #Gophers.

#Gophers announce a new record attendance for a series with 21,641 tickets distributed for the Border Battle.

#Gophers get a second goal on what seemed like a pass to the net by Kurth that found it's way through. Certainly feels like two could be enough tonight, but Badgers will be looking to put on the pressure now.

#Gophers have been missing the net frequently tonight, they finally get their goal on a shot that gets partially blocked and gets to the stick of Matthew Wood just outside the crease -- Wood buries it and it's 1-0 Minnesota 9:16 into the third period.

#Gophers last power play chance was the second period of the Saturday Michigan State game when Luke Mittelstadt scored -- Minnesota just got one here midway through the second, but don't convert.

#Gophers have struggled in games like this where the offense doesn't come easily -- it almost seems like they get bored when they can't win shifts. I'm sure Wisconsin is happy to have a 0-0 game going as we start the second.

August Falloon just took his first shift of the game after being held out of the lineup. The freshman forward battled a little bit in the corner.

Luke Mittlestadt gets away with a hit along the wall on Simon Tassy at 14:32 and then Christrian Fitzgerald's hit on Jimmy Clark at 12:56 doesn't draw any attention from the officials. Looks like this game could get intersting as the players figure out what the line is for calls.

Here with go with Souliere in back to back starts for the #Gophers as we get underway for game two with the #Badgers. During the pre-game radio Coach Motzko noted Aiery is one of the Minnesota players under the weather.

While the weekend may have seemed rough to #Gophers men's hockey fans, they did get a tie on Saturday where it matters with the Pairwise Ranking and it's hard to see any movement in my top nine this week. gopherpucklive.com/vegoes-top-2...

#GPLPodcast going early this week with Jack Ramsey tonight at 9:30 PM. Join us to talk some #Gophers after their split with The Buckeyes. www.youtube.com/live/WQXT2xB...