There have been some incredible Gopher hockey teams in the University of Minnesota’s history, but the 2020-21 team is off to a start that has Dinkytown faitful dreaming of another national championship.
Minnesota’s 6-4 victory over Arizona State Monday night has the Gophers 10-0-0. It’s the best start to a season for Minnesota since the 1939-40 team finished 18-0-0 and won the national title.
In their 10 wins, the Gophers have outscored the competition 37 to 13 while sweeping every series of the season thus far against Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Arizona State.
“Moe made a couple monsters saves for us,” head coach Bob Motzko said of sophomore goalie Jared Moe, who made 20 saves in his first start of the season in place of Minnesota’s No. 1 goalie Jack LaFontaine.
“He’s been awesome,” Motzko continued about Moe. “We’ve won some big games, and he’s the first guy out to congratulate LaFontaine. He really had a good week of practice…we had to get him in there.”
LaFontaine, by the way, is one of only seven players on the roster who aren’t Minnesota natives. There are 20 players from the State of Hockey helping fuel the best start to a season in more than eight decades.
The Gophers’ run for perfection will continue in Madison against the 12th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers Saturday and Sunday.
