UND set to play one last series on 'the ocean' at Mariucci

Oct. 20—MINNEAPOLIS — When UND players step onto the ice surface at 3M Arena at Mariucci, one thing enters their minds.

"It's an ocean," UND captain Mark Senden said.

The ice surface at Mariucci is one of college hockey's largest. It is 100 feet wide. NHL-sized ice sheets, like Ralph Engelstad Arena, are 85 feet. The corners in Mariucci are deep, too.

"It's huge," alternate captain Ethan Frisch said. "You get out there and it's like an ocean. You have to get used to passing across the width of the rink and all that sort of stuff. It's a big sheet, for sure."

In 1980, a group of college hockey players stunned the world by upsetting the Soviet Union and winning gold in the Olympic Games, spawning a boom of Olympic-sized ice sheets in college hockey.

In 1983, Anchorage's Sullivan Arena opened as an Olympic sheet. A bunch followed — St. Cloud State's National Hockey Center in 1989, Fairbanks' Carlson Center in 1990, New Hampshire's Whittemore Center in 1995, Minnesota State-Mankato's Verizon Wireless Center in 1995, Colorado College's World Arena in 1998 and Northern Michigan's Berry Events Center in 1999.

Mariucci was right in the middle of the boom — 1993.

When Ralph Engelstad Arena was constructed at the end of the boom in 2001, it was built with a second ice sheet, Olympic sized, so UND could practice on it to prepare for road weekends like this one. The Fighting Hawks will play the Gophers at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Minneapolis.

But this will be UND's last time playing on Mariucci Ocean.

By the time UND makes its next trip to Minneapolis to take on the Gophers in the rivalry series, Minnesota will have joined the latest trend of teams ditching their Olympic-sized ice sheets for NHL-sized or hybrid-sized rinks.

Minnesota's plan is to go down to 89 feet by the start of next season. It won't be quite an NHL sheet, but it will be close enough.

The Gophers will join MSU-Mankato, Alaska Anchorage and Colorado College as programs that have ditched their Olympic-sized sheets.

UND probably won't shed many tears.

It has not had a lot of good fortune in Mariucci. In fact, it has only swept two series in the building since its opening — in January 2007, Ryan Duncan, T.J. Oshie and Jonathan Toews ripped through a loaded Gophers team, and on Thanksgiving weekend 2019, Jordan Kawaguchi and Co. hung nine on the scoreboard in the series opener and edged Minnesota 3-2 in the series finale.

"Last time, we just got after them," said Frisch, who was a freshman during the 2019 series. "I don't think it had anything to do with the Olympic sheet. We just had that mentality of going in there and getting after them right away. It was a home game for us, basically, probably over half the fans were North Dakota fans. That was absolutely incredible for us."

It's unclear when UND will next play in Mariucci, but it won't be the next two seasons.

Next year, Minnesota will come to Grand Forks for a series on Oct. 20-21. That is the last game between the rivals of this contract.

They will not play during the 2024-25 regular season. UND's schedule is almost full for that season. It just needs to finalize one more two-game series in Grand Forks, but it will likely be a money-guarantee game that doesn't require a return trip.

The earliest UND and Minnesota could start a new series would be 2025-26. Both coaches sound optimistic that they'll get a new contract signed in the future.

"We always try to build it in," Berry said. "We talk about things we like to do every year. Bemidji is one. They're two hours down the road, and I have tremendous respect for them. It's situation like that where we want to restore these rivalries. . . even Mankato that's coming up here in the next year or two. We're playing against good, hard teams, but it sharpens you when you play against good teams."

Minnesota coach Bob Motzko said: "We're going to keep playing. We do have one year off we have to take."

For now, UND is focused on this trip to the Olympic rink.

"It kind of changes the game a little bit," Frisch said. "You have a lot more space. It changes some of the specialty teams things — the penalty kill, the power play. There are a lot of different things we talk about throughout the week, watching video and seeing how we've had success in the past or how other teams have had success and it's something we have to work together. Thankfully, we have the Olympic sheet here to practice on as well."

UND will only practice on the big sheet one other time this season — ahead of a December series at St. Cloud State.

The only Olympic rinks left in college hockey are St. Cloud State, Alaska (Fairbanks), New Hampshire and Northern Michigan. Wisconsin's Kohl Center isn't a true Olympic sheet — it's 97 feet wide — but it's nearly there.

Soon, Mariucci's will be history, too.

"Colorado College went away from the big rink," Berry said. "Minnesota is going to contract their rink next year. A lot of venues have shaped into NHL rinks."

When: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Where: 3M Arena at Mariucci.

Records: UND 2-1-1, Minnesota 3-1.

TV: Bally Sports North Extra (GF Ch. 339, 639 HD) on Friday; Bally Sports North (GF Ch. 28/623 HD) on Saturday.

Radio: The Fox (96.1 FM) on Friday, Cat Country (100.3) on Saturday.

Stream: Big Ten Plus.