Clash(es) of the Titans

The Golden Gophers will make the turn into the new year with two big holiday tournament games this weekend and another against a top-ranked club soon after.

The Gophers host the Mariucci Classic this weekend, opening against Air Force Saturday night. It's a family feud of sorts, although Gopher junior forward Tom Serratore and his dad, Air Force head coach Frank, aren't at odds. Except on the ice.

One thing both Serratores have in common in addition to their last names is intensity. Frank was a goaltender at Bemidji State and Western Michigan during his playing days and has done an outstanding job in Colorado Springs. I once asked Frank the difference between coaching any other athletes and those enrolled at a U.S. military academy, where standards of discipline are as high as those of academics. His response: "With these guys, when I say 'come here' and 'be quiet', that's exactly what they do." Other coaches, I'm sure, are envious.

Top-ranked opponents back-to-back: The second tilt of the Gophers' Mariucci Classic weekend is one that fans have been awaiting since the puck dropped in October: top-ranked Boston College. A sour taste lingers for many players and fans after last spring, when the Eagles ousted the Gophers in the NCAA tournament. B.C. has been the top-ranked team in the country on all the polls since the season began, a spot Minnesota briefly shared before some uneven outings dropped them down to fourth.

Then, on January eighth, Minnesota hosts yet another top-four team: Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have been quietly decimating their CCHA opponents all season. Gopher head coach Don Lucia's alma mater swings in for a single game, the last non-conference affair before a return to WCHA play and what should be a memorable stretch drive.

Missing man: The Gophers will play this weekend without their top-scoring rookie defenseman, Mike Reilly (pictured), who has made the roster for the U.S. entry in the World Junior Championships. Reilly, the number two-scoring freshman blueliner in the WCHA, will compete in Ufa, Russia, in the tournament that runs through January 5.

Assistant coach Grant Potulny will be behind the bench, helping head coach and former South St. Paul and NHL star (not to mention almost-Gopher) Phil Housley.

Reilly and Potulny continue a long run of Gopher players and staffers who have carried the maroon-and-gold to the international stage. Only once since 1977, when the World Junior Championships began, has Minnesota not been represented in the tournament.

Join Kevin Gorg and me – and the rest of our Gopher hockey mob -- Saturday and Sunday nights for the Mariucci Classic as the Gophers host Air Force and Boston College on Fox Sports North!