MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesotan one-third of the Gophers’ dynamic top line was honored by the Big Ten this week, after playing a starring role in his team’s home sweep of Michigan State.
Jimmy Snuggerud, a freshman from Chaska, Minn., posted six points in the two games against the Spartans — which ended as 8-0 and 6-3 wins. Snuggerud leads the team with 37 points after scoring three goals and setting up three more last weekend. He was named the Big Ten’s second star of the week.
He is also the Big Ten’s scoring leader with 26 points, and has had multiple points in 13 of the 28 games he has played as a collegian. Snuggerud played for current Michigan State coach Adam NIghtingale last season with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program in suburban Detroit, and admitted after Saturday’s game that playing versus his former coach was meaningful.
“He was one of the biggest (influences) in my game. He created a lot of talents in my game that I have today,” Snuggerud said of Nightingale, who took over the MSU program last spring. “A lot came from him, so it was really cool to play against him.”
Snuggerud has spent much of his rookie season playing right wing on the team’s top line, with Logan Cooley at center and Matthew Knies on left wing. People in the know, such as Arizona State head coach Greg Powers, have called that trio the best line they have seen in college hockey.
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It was the second week in a row that the Gophers had a Big Ten honoree. Defenseman Jackson LaCombe was named the conference’s first star a week earlier after his role in a home split with Michigan.
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