2022–23 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey season

The 2022–23 Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey season was the 102nd season of play for the program and 33rd in the Big Ten. The Golden Gophers represented the University of Minnesota in the 2022–23 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey season, were coached by Bob Motzko in his fifth season, and played their home games at 3M Arena at Mariucci

Talented recruits
Minnesota lost several key players from their Frozen Four team of '22, however, coach Motzko brought in a highly regarded batch of freshmen as replacements. Of the eleven newcomers, six had been selected in the NHL Entry Draft, two were first-round selection with the biggest prospect being #3 overall pick Logan Cooley. Cooley centered a line with fellow first-rounder Jimmy Snuggerud and US Olympian Matthew Knies that turned into one of the top offensive units in the nation. On the defensive side, to a corps that already included top prospects Ryan Johnson, Brock Faber and Jackson LaCombe, Minnesota added a trio of talented blueliners. Coach Motzko would call the collection of seven players the 'Best I’ve ever had and will ever have'. On top of that, Minnesota also retained Justen Close in goal who had finished the year as the team's starter and produced stellar numbers as the most critical juncture of the team's season.

Sorting out
With all that going for the Gophers, Minnesota was ranked #2 in the preseason polls, only behind defending National Champion Denver. The Gophers began well enough, winning their first three games, but they also went through a gauntlet of teams during the first month and a half of the season. Minnesota was only able to earn a split in three consecutive weekends but, because all of their opponents were ranked, the Gophers were still #3 by the beginning of November. Even after beginning their conference schedule, Minnesota continued to face very stiff opposition. However, by then the team was beginning to grow accustomed to one another and the Gophers won three out of four to start the month.

Just before Thanksgiving, Minnesota was set to face off against Michigan in a battle between top 3 teams. In what could possibly determine the conference champion, the high-anticipated matchup was derailed when an Adenovirus outbreak swept through both locker rooms. While Minnesota was without the services of Aaron Huglen and Justen Close, Michigan was much harder hit as several players, including star forward Adam Fantilli were ruled out while one, Steven Holtz, was so severely affected by the illness that he was placed on a ventilator and nearly died. Unsurprisingly, the Wolverines' hearts were not in the game and Minnesota managed to sweep the series.

Slow climb to the top
After Thanksgiving, Minnesota took a break from its conference slate and travelled down to Tempe to take on Arizona State. While the team seemed to have recovered from their viral issues, they seemed a bit off in the series and were only able to manage a split. The loss dropped Minnesota down to #4 which, while hardly a bad thing, was not up to par for a team that had pretentions for a National Championship. The team responded with four convincing wins to finish out the first half of the season and sat squarely at the top of the Big Ten standings.

Once the Gophers returned from the winter break, they had one final chance to prove their non-conference mettle against St. Cloud State. Unfortunately, the team's offense still appeared to be on vacation and was only able to score twice in the series. Fortunately, that was enough to earn a split and keep Minnesota at #3. A couple weeks later, the Gophers got their rematch with Michigan, who by then was completely recovered from the health scare. The two teams fought hard in the series and proved to be the equal of the other as both games went into overtime with each earning one win.

Minnesota regained their spot at #1 at the beginning of February after sweeping their season series over Michigan State, however, the Gophers dropped back down to #2 when a down Wisconsin team was able to eek out a 1–3 win. Minnesota was back on top of the polls a week later after taking down a sliding Penn State and finished the regular season as the top team in all three rankings.

Conference tournament
As the #1 team in the Big Ten, Minnesota received a bye into the semifinals. The team was able to sit at home and practice while they awaited the lowest-seeded survivor of the quarterfinal round. Michigan State ended up arriving in Minneapolis a week later and the time off seemed have negatively affected the Gophers as the team surrendered the first goal to the Spartans on the power play. After that, however, Minnesota took over the game and scored the next 5 markers to skate to a comfortable victory.

Minnesota hosted Michigan for the championship. While both teams were already guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament, Minnesota had already secured the top overall seed regardless of the game's outcome. With both teams playing for pride, the game was a seesaw affair that saw both clubs skating up and down the ice. The Gophers scored first but the two then exchanged leads three times with Michigan finishing out ahead by a narrow 3–4 score.

NCAA tournament
Though the loss in the conference championship was disappointing, Minnesota still had a chance to achieve their ultimate goal; winning the program's first national championship in 20 years. Minnesota began their tournament run in the best possible position. Not only was the team close to home at the Fargo regional, but they were set against Canisius in the first round. While the Golden Griffins were one of the final 16 teams, their national ranking was in the 40s. However, even with all of those advantages, Minnesota got off to a slow start. While the Gophers were able to get the first goal of the game on the power play, sloppy play afterwards enabled Canisius to tie the score less than three minutes later. The subpar performance continued into the second and Nick Bowman gave the Griffins their first lead of the match after just three minutes. While Minnesota was hardly in danger at the time, with more than half of the game left to play, the now-trailing team began to clean its play up and demonstrate that it was the superior club. Minnesota scored twice before the end of the second to regain the lead but Canisius was not going down without a fight. Despite being vastly outgunned, the Griffins were just one shot away from tying the game and had 20 minutes to work with. Luckily for Minnesota, Stefano Bottini got a bit overexcited at the start of the third and took a match penalty just 27 seconds into the period. Minnesota scored twice on the ensuing major penalty and opened the floodgates. With Canisius having to abandon its defensive effort to throw everything at Justen Close, Minnesota had a much easier time scoring and posted seven goals in the third period, turning what had once been a nail-biter into a runaway victory.

With a trip to Tampa on the line, Minnesota had to get past NCHC champion, St. Cloud State. After the slow start in the previous game, Minnesota made sure they didn't have a repeat and outshot the Huskies 14–6 in the first period. While they only managed to score once, the Gophers still held the lead going into the middle frame. St. Cloud tied the score on the power play but Minnesota regained the lead a few minutes later and never relinquished that advantage. Minnesota's fast and physical defensive corps stopped the rest of the Huskies' opportunities and carried the Gophers to a 4–1 win.

In the program's second consecutive trip to the Frozen Four, the Gophers took on Boston University for the fifth meeting between the two in the National Semifinal. With the historical record sitting at 2–2, the Terriers got off to a good start, scoring the first goal around the midway point of the first. After that, however, BU got into penalty trouble and Minnesota made them pay; the Gophers scored twice on the man advantage to take the lead before the start of the second. The Terriers got their own power play goal in the second to tie the game but Luke Mittelstadt scored twice in the first four minutes of the third to put Minnesota ahead for good. A pair of empty netters at the end extended their lead and ensured that Minnesota reached the championship game for the first time in 9 years.

National Championship
With just Quinnipiac left in their way, Minnesota was hoping to be the first #1 seed to win the championship since Denver in 2017. The Gophers began with a defensive front and counterpunched. While that may have played into Quinnipiac's hands, as the Bobcats were the top defensive team in the country, a fanned clearing attempt was intercepted by Connor Kurth and, after drawing Yaniv Perets out of position, he slipped the puck in front of the cage where John Mittelstadt knocked in his fourth of the season for the game's first goal less than six minutes into the game. The defensive struggle resumed afterwards and neither team got much in the way of scoring opportunities for the rest of the period.

Early in the second, after a faceoff win in the Bobcat's end, Brock Faber purposefully fired the puck from the blueline wide. The rubber bounced off of the end wall right to Jaxon Nelson who chipped the puck into the top corner of the net for a 2–0 lead. At this point, Minnesota was in full control of the game and it appeared that the Gophers were going to glide to the program's 6th National Championship. However, while Quinnipiac was the #1 defense, they also possessed the #3 offense and the Bobcats began leaning a bit more on the gas and were finally able to solve Justen Close a few minutes later. Minnesota pulled back and played defense for most of the rest of the game, trying to win with their 2–1 lead.

While they were widely outshot in the final half of the game, Minnesota did get several opportunities to extend their lead but bouncing and rolling pucks ended up causing all chances to miss. With about five minutes to play, Logan Cooley got into a scuffle with one of the Bobcats. While one referee signaled that he would give matching minors to both players if they continued, the other had already called Cooley for a high-sticking penalty. The Minnesota faithful were up in arms about the controversial call but the Gophers still had to slow down a strong Quinnipiac power play. The Bobcats ended up getting several good look at the net but Minnesota was able to stop everything, allowing Cooley to return to the ice. Unfortunately, just as he was getting into the play, Collin Graf fired a low shot on goal that sneaked between the legs of Close and bounced into the net. Suddenly, Minnesota found itself having to restart its offense but the Gophers seemed able to get back on their horses. Almost immediately after the ensuing faceoff, Minnesota broke in on the Bobcats' goal and had a chance to regain their lead but a strong defensive effort stopped the Gopher attack. The two teams continued to test one another for the remainder of the period but ended up needing overtime to decide the game.

Jaxon Nelson won the opening draw of the 4th period but did so too strongly and the puck ended up sailing into the Quinnipiac bench. On the ensuing draw, also at center ice, the Bobcats took control of the puck and, using a set play, engineered a quick 2-on-1 that resulted in the winning goal by Jacob Quillan. While the Bobcats celebrated, Minnesota desperately hoped that the play was offsides. When those faint hopes were dashed, the team could only watch as the championship, which had been within their grasp only minutes before, was captured by another team.

Roster
As of August 19, 2022.

Schedule and results
!colspan=12 style=";" | Regular Season

!colspan=12 style=";" | Big Ten Tournament

!colspan=12 style=";" | NCAA Tournament

Rankings
Note: USCHO did not release a poll in weeks 1, 13, or 26.

2023 NHL Entry Draft
† incoming freshman