Two Gophers Win Big Ten Weekly Honors

MINNEAPOLIS (GopherSports.com) – Following Gopher Hockey’s weekend sweep over No. 12 Michigan to move into a tie for first in the Big Ten, Minnesota’s Kyle Rau and Adam Wilcox have been honored with weekly accolades from the Big Ten Conference.

An Eden Prairie, Minn., native, Rau was named the Big Ten Second Star of the Week after registering a four-goal weekend against the Wolverines. The senior forward and team captain tallied his second career hat trick in Friday’s 6-2 win with a power-play goal, an even-strength goal and a short-handed goal before adding an empty-net insurance goal in Saturday’s 2-0 win to complete the sweep. Rau’s first tally on Friday night marked the senior’s 150th career point as he now ranks 27th all-time at Minnesota with 153 points. Minnesota is 79-13-8 all-time when Rau tallies a point and 39-3-0 when the All-American records multiple points in a game.

A native of South St. Paul, Minn., Wilcox held the nation’s top offense to just two goals on the weekend as the defending Big Ten Player and Goaltender of the Year posted a 1.00 GAA and a .959 save percentage for the weekend with 47 saves. Wilcox allowed just one even-strength goal in Friday’s 6-2 win and followed up with a 26-save shutout on Saturday as the Gophers finished off the sweep with a 2-0 victory. Wilcox now leads the Big Ten with 16 wins and four shutouts this season while the All-American’s 11 career shutouts are second most in school history – two away from tying Kellen Briggs for the school record.

Michigan State’s Mackenzie MacEachern picked up Big Ten First Star of the Week honors.

Minnesota returns to Big Ten action this weekend with a two-game series at Penn State.