The schedule calls this one a marquee series, and that's earned. The No. 2 Gophers play at No. 13 Minnesota Duluth on Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31 at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth. It's the first of 2 weekends against the Bulldogs this winter. Duluth comes to Ridder Arena on Jan. 15 and 16.
This is also a new chapter for the rivalry on the Minnesota side. For the first time since 2006-07, the Gophers aren't coached by Brad Frost. Greg "Boom" May runs the bench now. The program built his first schedule around 34 games, including a 28-game WCHA slate and 18 home dates at Ridder. Duluth is one of the bigger road trips on it.
May wasn't a hire from outside. Athletic director Mark Coyle promoted him from associate head coach, a job he'd held since 2023. In that time the Gophers made the NCAA tournament in 2024, 2025 and 2026 and reached the Frozen Four in 2025. He mostly worked with the forwards and ran the power play. Before that, he went 41-15-2 in 2 seasons coaching the Augsburg men, and took them to the Frozen Four in 2022.
So far, May's group looks ready for a weekend like this. The then-No. 3 Gophers hosted top-ranked Ohio State and won the opener 6-2. Adrianna Milani scored 14 seconds in and finished with 2 goals and 2 assists, a career-high 4 points. It was her third multi-goal game of the season.
Saturday went the other way, and it was wild. The Buckeyes went up 3-0, and Minnesota answered with 4 goals in the second period to tie it. Sarah Paul scored twice, including the go-ahead goal early in the third, but Ohio State scored twice in under a minute and won 6-5. Emma Kreisz had a goal and an assist, and Julia Schalin had 3 assists. "The fact that we didn't give up and fold up our tent today was huge," May said.
First comes a weekend at home against Lindenwood on Oct. 22 and 23. Then it's up I-35 to finish the month. The Bulldogs come in at No. 13, so they're ranked well below the Gophers. Still, AMSOIL on a Friday-Saturday in late October is no place to take a weekend off, and anyone who follows this rivalry knows it.
