Gopher hockey, FOX 9 announce partnership for 2026-27 season

Joining us now is the head coach of the Golden Gophers, Brett Larson. And, Brett, a big weekend for your club, heading up to Duluth, playing an old-time rival of the program. There's got to be a lot of excitement amongst your players for this weekend. There is. It almost feels like we're starting the season over again. You know, we had the first two games at Tech, then a weekend off. Obviously a lot to work on and learn from, but this one's going to be a playoff deal for sure. There were two teams coming off weekends that they weren't happy with. I have a feeling it's going to be a battle up there. And how about for yourself going back home? You've done it before as a college coach, but now you get to bring this program into town, and both of us are from there, so we know what it's like when that big M comes rolling into the Twin Ports. We know the rivalry, and I just told my mom to plug her ears when they start booing. I know it's going to be fun the fans are going to be getting after us and getting after me it's such a great rivalry I mean I enjoyed it ever since I was a little kid I love those series so I'm really excited to be on the bench and be a part of it and Gopher fans there's going to be ways to watch it this is going to be part of the package we have for Gopher Hockey this series we're taking the Duluth feed so you'll be able to they'll be talking more about the Plant Brothers than about Brett's guys but still, this is a way for you to see the games, and then we'll start with the North Dakota series. How important is it, Brett, to have your games on free TV where people don't have to subscribe and download and all that rigmarole that you have to do for a lot of sports teams right now? Well, it's huge, and obviously you know I'm familiar with the product and what you put together, and I just think it's first class. I think it represents the program so well. And the one area I always think about is recruiting. You know, we're recruiting the top players out of the state of Minnesota. I think that having them on Fox 9 just really showcases our program in a great light, and it's a really important piece for us. It's important for us to be in front of these kids and for them to see the Gophers and grow up wanting to be a Gopher. You know what, there's probably a lot of kids out there that are going to be watching Brody Ziemer and Mooney and Whipple and Luca and all these guys, and, you know what, they're going to be playing ball hockey and they're going to be pretending they're them in some alley, and they're going to grow up wanting to be Gophers because they're watching them here. So I think it's a huge part of our program. And it also, I'm assuming, helps the current situation with the fans. They see your team. They get interest. Kids see it. They go, hey, let's check this out. They'll want to swing into 3M Arena at Mariucci. I agree. I think especially the way I believe this team can play, we're going to be an exciting team to watch. We're going to be fast. We're going to be sharp. We're going to be making a lot of plays. And I think it's going to be a really exciting brand of hockey. So I really think it's going to drive people to come to the rink, too. They're going to see it on TV. They're going to want to see it in person. And I think it's just going to continue to drive, you know, an interest in a program that already has a ton. But you know what? Having us on local TV is going to help even more. All right. Back to this series. You know Scott Sandlin very well. You were on his staff. What kind of series will this be, do you think? What will he try to do to combat the speed that you probably will try to come at him with? Well, they're going to try to play on our end a lot. They're going to try to create ozone time. Their message is going to be try to make Minnesota's top players have to defend and not let them go on the offense. So I think you're going to see a heavy forecheck from the Bulldogs. I think you're going to see them try to really bottle us up on our end and make our guys play in the zone that they don't want to play in. So for us being crisp on our breakouts and clean through the neutral zone, we want to turn the tables on them. We want to see the Gophers have to play in their defensive end. We want to see their top players have to play in the end that they don't want to. And I think that's going to be kind of the matchup, two teams really fighting to gain that territory. You know, if we get the puck in the O-Zone, it's an old saying, there's no shot clock like in basketball. We want to hang on to that thing. We want to extend O-Zone shifts and create momentum for us and stack offensive shifts on top of each other. So I think it's going to be two teams with kind of a similar game plan that way. All right, and lastly for you, health-wise, how's your team with this week off? How did that help things? You know what, I do think the bye week helped. We're still day-to-day on a couple guys, but they're certainly farther ahead than they were a week ago, so we're going into the weekend hopeful maybe we can get a guy or two back. All right, Brett Larson, head coach of the University of Minnesota men's hockey team, now part of the Fox 9 family once again. Thank you so much for all your help for doing things like this and making your program so available to us. It's a great honor and privilege to carry your games. Well, Jim, you know how much I enjoy working with you and what a great job you do. So let's go on a run together this year. Sounds like a plan. Thanks so much, Coach. Appreciate it. Thanks, Jim.