Minnesota Looks To Knock Off Men's Hockey in Mariucci Classic Championship

MINNEAPOLIS—Alex Kerfoot has gotten his wish.

After the Harvard men’s hockey team knocked off Ferris State in the opening game of the 25th annual Mariucci Classic on Friday, most members of the Crimson stuck around for the nightcap between Minnesota and UConn, waiting to learn their championship game opponent.

But before the the Gophers and Huskies could even make it to the ice, Harvard’s top-line center made it clear who he wanted to see in the final.

“I want to play Minnesota. I mean we came all the way out here. I want to play at 7:00 in front of a packed house,” Kerfoot said.

“It’s not every time you get to come to Minnesota to play in the finals of the Mariucci against them,” he added. “That’d be pretty special.”

Surely enough, the Gophers (8-8-0, 3-1-0 Big 10) pulled through. Just 31 seconds after UConn (5-11-1, 3-7-1 Hockey East) tied the game at two early in the third period, junior forward Hudson Fasching answered with a goal of his own to launch the hosts into the finals for the first time since 2013.

Minnesota will be chasing its 14th Mariucci Classic title Saturday night (8 p.m. EST), but standing in the way of the current Big 10 frontrunners might be the best team the Gophers have seen all year, according to head coach Don Lucia.

“They’re very talented,” Lucia said of the Crimson. “It’s going to be one of those games where we better have everybody play well tomorrow to give ourselves a chance. We can’t have a couple lines not play well [against] as good a team like Harvard.”

The No. 7/7 Crimson (7-1-3, 4-1-3 ECAC) steamrolled Ferris State (8-9-4, 7-7-2 WCHA) in its first game of the tournament, as seven different players found the back of the net in a 7-3 victory. All four lines got in on the action, as Harvard received goals from all three members of the fourth line, co-captains Jimmy Vesey and Kyle Criscuolo on the first, the newly-returned Colin Blackwell on the second, and sophomore Seb Lloyd on the third.

“Our coach compared them to Michigan,” Fasching said. “They’ve got skilled forwards, [and] they’ve got guys that have ability and could come at us hard, so we’ve just got to be prepared for that.”

The comparison revolves around the two sides’ explosive offenses, as Harvard and No. 10/10 Michigan both rank among the top 10 nationwide in scoring. Nonetheless, as part of their recent string of success, the Gophers beat the high-flying Wolverines, 3-2, in Ann Arbor on Dec. 12. After getting out to a disappointing 4-7 start, Minnesota has now won four of its last five and can move above .500 for the first time this season with a win over the Crimson.

Fasching, an alternate captain playing on the second line, has played a big role in the Gophers’ tear. The Burnsville, Minn., native has scored in three straight games and four of the last five, putting him in the team lead with nine goals on the year.

Joining Fasching on the second line is sophomore left winger Leon Bristedt, who is tied with Fasching for the team lead in points with 15 (eight goals, seven assists). And centering the line is freshman Tommy Novak, a Nashville Predators draft pick who leads the Gophers with 10 assists on the year.

Including Novak, five freshman forwards were featured in Minnesota’s lineup on Friday, with at least one appearing on each line. The Gophers also have a rookie between the pipes in Eric Schierhorn, who has started every game for Minnesota this year.

In fact, only three players on this young Gopher roster were with the team when it last won the Mariucci Classic in 2013, and only one—senior fourth-liner A.J. Michaelson—received playing time that season. Thus, just about everyone taking the ice Saturday night will be chasing their first title in the historic holiday tournament.

This is the fourth time Harvard has participated in the Classic, but prior to Friday, the Crimson had been winless through six games at the tournament. Harvard will be chasing its second consecutive title in a holiday tournament, after having won the Shillelagh Tournament in South Bend, Ind., in November.

“If you can point out a couple big games or tournaments to highlight and get excited for, it helps with motivation and consistency throughout the year,” junior forward Devin Tringale said. “To win two tournaments in a row like this—it would be great, and it’s kind of what we expect out of ourselves with the caliber of team we have this year.”

A near-capacity crowd is expected for Saturday night’s championship bout at Mariucci Arena, which is capable of holding 10,000 people. But even in a hostile road environment, coming off its seven-goal outburst on the Olympic-sized ice, the Crimson enters its final game in Minneapolis as the likely favorite.

“We want to play good teams, I think our fans want to see us play good teams, and certainly Harvard’s one of those teams that’s going to be there right at the end of the year,” Lucia said. “The way they looked [last night], they look like a team that can win a national title.”

—Staff writer Jake Meagher can be reached at jake.meagher@thecrimson.com.