St. Thomas and the Gophers are building a cross-town rivalry in hockey. This weekend, another small step is being taken in growing the rivalry in a home-and-home series between the two schools.

Game one on Friday night is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis. Saturday’s game two is at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, hosted by St. Thomas. Game two is scheduled to start at 8:07 p.m.

***Click the video box above to hear full comments from Rico Blasi, Lucas Wahlin, and Matthew Gleason of St. Thomas.***

Rico Blasi is entering his third season as the head coach of the Tommies.

“I think you want to be on some sort of an edge,” Blasi told KSTP’s Chris Long. “I think having played them in the past, and these guys know each other so well, it’s just a matter of getting out there and play,”: Blasi said about facing the Gophers.

St. Thomas is fresh off an early season bye week after taking a home series from the Vermont Catamounts. Their Friday night game will be their first away from Saint Thomas Ice Arena. Sophomore defenseman, Mason Poolman is the Toms’ leading point scorer with four points and three goals.

The Gophers are coming off a clean sweep of the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs 7-5 and 5-1 up at Amsoil Arena in Duluth. Their one loss on the season was a 2-1 overtime defeat to nationally ranked Omaha in Las Vegas at the 2024 Ice Breaker.

(Minnesota and St. Thomas athletic departments contributed information to this article.)