Both Don Lucia and Richard Pitino have bigger issues to deal with than boosting the Big Ten brand in the Big Apple.
Gophers men's hockey and men's basketball teams arrive in NYC needing victories
January 20, 2018 at 2:25AM
Lucia, the men's hockey coach, needs his team to keep winning, after finally ending a five-game conference losing streak on Thursday night in East Lansing, Mich. Lucia's Gophers take on those same Michigan State Spartans in the nightcap of a "Super Saturday" doubleheader with the men's basketball team at Madison Square Garden.
Pitino, the men's basketball coach, is not happy about losing a home game to play in Manhattan, part of the Big Ten's attempt to gain a larger foothold in NYC. But some of the hockey players are not down on the idea.
"It's a game all of us had circled in our calendar at the beginning of the year," senior defenseman Steve Johnson said.
Johnson and the Gophers desperately need another 'W' vs. MSU. Minnesota (14-12-1, 5-9-1-1 Big Ten) held off the last-place Spartans (9-15-1, 3-11-1-1) in winning 5-4 on Thursday night to move the Gophers into a tie with Wisconsin for fifth place in the Big Ten.
Winning the conference title is nearly impossible for Minnesota, so the Gophers need to keep winning to improve their NCAA at-large tournament hopes.
"We need two wins this weekend no matter what,'' forward Casey Mittelstadt said earlier this week.
The Gophers and Spartans will play at 7 p.m. Central time Saturday, finishing the twin bill that starts with men's basketball team playing No. 22 Ohio State at 11 a.m.
"You just live solely into the next game and the next moment," Lucia said earlier this week. "It seems like any normal trip, other than we're playing on Thursday. … Until we're actually getting into New York, it won't seem like it's happening."
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The Nittany Lions converted on three fourth downs while protecting a one-point lead to keep the Gophers from getting the ball back.
