Frozen Four Field Reveals Just How Unusual Gophers' 2025-26 Season Was

The 2025-26 season was one of the worst in the recent history of Gophers men's hockey. To make things even more unusual, they had at least one regular-season win over all four teams in this year's Frozen Four.

Minnesota's 22 losses were the most in program history since the 1997-98 season, and they missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017-18. They parted ways with longtime head coach Bob Motzko, and they conducted an entire coaching search to hire St. Cloud State's Brett Larson as their new head coach. In that time frame, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Denver and Michigan earned their way to this year's Frozen Four in Las Vegas.

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Oct. 17: 5-2 W at North Dakota

The 2025-26 season was originally expected to be a rebuilding year for Minnesota, but they still began the year with plenty of expectations. Despite a slow start, they picked up one of the most impressive wins of the regular season when they went into Grand Forks and knocked off rival North Dakota 5-2 on Oct. 17. They were only one of four teams to beat the Fighting Hawks in regulation at Ralph Engelstad Arena this season.

Nov. 29: 6-5 (OT) W at Denver (Ball Arena)

After beating North Dakota on the road, the Gophers went 4-6 over their next 10 games. They responded with a 6-5 overtime win over No. 4-ranked Denver at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Game, which was played at the Avalanche's Ball Arena. Minnesota showed it could still hang with anyone in the country.

Jan. 30 and 31: Series sweep vs. Wisconsin

Minnesota went 1-7 over its next 8 games after the upset win over Denver. The season began to fall off the rails before a series sweep over rival Wisconsin at home on Jan. 30 and Jan. 31. The Gophers had a lot of confusing results, but sweeping the Badgers with a combined 12-5 score after a six-game losing streak was near the top.

Feb. 26: 4-2 W at Michigan

The Gophers' season was seemingly over by late February, but they went into Ann Arbor and handed the No. 2-ranked Wolverines a 4-2 loss to open their final road series of the season. Every time it seemed like Minnesota could be checked out, they delivered a statement result.

The 2025-26 season was one that any fan of Gophers men's hockey would like to forget. It's not often that an 11-22-3 team can say they have a win over every team at the Frozen Four, but this year's field reiterates how much of a roller coaster campaign it was in Dinkytown.