Gophers Return to WCHA Play vs. High-Scoring Bulldogs

Coming off a disappointment split against the Bemidji State Beavers, the Golden Gophers get back into WCHA play this weekend by taking on another in-state rival in the form of the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, who return to the place where their brilliant late-season run from a season ago ended in the NCAA West Regional final against Miami.

Prior to the Sunday night 6-2 meltdown against the Beavers, it appeared as though things were heading in the right direction for Minnesota. They had won four of their previous five games, the right names were showing up on the scoresheet, and the goaltending of junior Alex Kangas was well above average. And though the Gophers outchanced the Beavers on Sunday night, Minnesota was unable to finish, and that’s been a common occurrence for this program for several years now.

Sophomore Jake Hansen scored a meaningless power play goal late in the game on Saturday via a tip-in, but it’s becoming clear that a core group of players on this team that were recruiting to score goals and be offensive threats at the college level aren’t going to be able to fulfill said roles. Hansen is a prime example of a kid that scored all the way up through high school and junior hockey, was highly thought of by NHL teams and drafted accordingly, but then has fallen flat at the U.

Fellow sophomore Nico Sacchetti (10 points in 45 games), junior Patrick White(32 points in 91 games), and senior Mike Carman (50 points in 106 games) are all kids who have the same “pre-Gopher” resume as Hansen but have yet to contribute. Sacchetti has recently found himself playing on a line with Mike Hoeffel and Jordan Schroeder, so hopefully he benefits from playing alongside two of the Gophers better forwards. White, meanwhile, has shown signs of improvement in recent weeks, as he had a four-game point streak snapped as he went pointless against Bemidji State.

On defense, the losses of Nick Leddy to a head injury and Sam Lofquist to the Ontario Hockey League have left the team with just six healthy blueliners for the foreseeable future. Senior David Fischer continues to be a border-line train wreck on a nightly basis. He has just two points in ten games after seeing time on the power play before he was removed from the second unit on Sunday night vs. Bemidji after a horrendous turnover led directly to BSU’s first goal. He’s tied for a team-worst minus four and has zero confidence with or without the puck. Fellow junior Kevin Wehrs play has been better this season, but his seven penalties leave him only behind Carman in that department. Freshman Seth Helgeson leads the team with a plus five rating and hasn’t been noticeable too often, which is what you’d like out of a defense-first player.

For the second year in a row, it appears as though Head Coach Don Lucia is botching the goaltending situation. Prior to the season, Lucia admitted that he should have played Kent Patterson more often during the 2008-09 season when Alex Kangas struggled and was pulled on several occasions in favor of Patterson, who was a fourth round pick by the Avalanche in 2007. So, Lucia said that Patterson would play more this season and started the year off by having Kangas start Friday nights and giving Patterson the nod on Saturday. Kangas, who went 0-2 over that stretch, had slightly better numbers than Patterson, who went 0-1-1, has started the last six games and played reasonably well, with only his hiccup coming in the first game against Wisconsin where he let in a pair of soft goals in the 4-2 loss.

Regardless, Patterson seemingly did nothing to lose his spot in the rotation. Lucia pulled Kangas in the Sunday night loss to BSU after he allowed two goals on four shots, with neither goal being any fault of his. Patterson was put into a game in a though spot and didn’t respond well in allowing four goals before Kangas was put back into the game.

Moving forward, it would appear that Kangas is the clear No. 1 as Patterson must be pretty fried mentally after his experience at the U so far, despite not really being put in a position to succeed.

Now, Minnesota turns their attention to the Bulldogs, who are 4-3-1 in WCHA play and sit in a three-way tie for third place in the league with nine points, two ahead of Minnesota who has also played eight conference games.

UMD is coming off a home split against Michigan Tech where they put an amazing 98 shots on goal in the two games. Michigan Tech freshman goalie Kevin Genoe put on a show on Friday night in making 48 saves in the 3-2 win. The Bulldogs high-powered offense was able to crack Genoe early and often in the Saturday night rematch, as he was chased from the game early in the second period after allowing three goals, and UMD went on to put up a snowman in the 8-1 win.

Prior to their split against MTU, the Bulldogs went out to Colorado Springs and split with the first place Colorado College Tigers. They also have a home sweep of Clarkson, a loss and a tie at St. Cloud State, a home sweep of Minnesota State, and a win and a loss at home against Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan, respectively.

The Bulldogs top four scorers all have more points than Minnesota’s top scorer. Junior Justin Fontaine (11 G, 7 A), sophomore Jack Connolly (7 G, 11 A), junior Rob Bordson (3 G, 14 A) and sophomore Mike Connolly (5 G, 8 A) are four of the highest-scoring forwards in the country and it will be a tough task for Minnesota’s defense to contain that group this weekend. Last week against Tech, the Connolly’s (not related) played on a line with Cody Danberg, while Fontaine and Bordson played the wing on a line centered by Travis Oleksuk.

In WCHA play, UMD is averaging 3.62 goals per game to Minnesota’s 2.38, thanks in large part to its power play, which is clicking at an impressive 32.7 percent of the time compared to Minnesota’s league-worst power play (5.7 percent). Prior to Sunday’s game against Bemidji, the Gophers had killed off 24 of their previous 25 penalties, though the Beavers scored a pair of goals while on the man-advantage on Sunday. Minnesota must stay out of the penalty box this weekend if they hope to emerge from the series with points.

The Bulldogs lost a pair of key players off last year’s team in the form of senior captain MacGregor Sharp, who led them in scoring a year ago, but more importantly than Sharp was the departure of junior Alex Stalock, who was the top goalie in the WCHA a year ago. He was red-shot down the stretch and helped UMD become the only team in history to win the WCHA Final Five after having to play in the Thursday night play-in game, where he made 39 saves in UMD’s 2-1 win over the Gophers.

With Stalock gone, a pair of sophomores has split the goaltending duties for Scott Sandelin’s team. Brady Hjelle, who played two games last season as a freshman, and Pittsburgh native Kenny Reiter taken up the tough task of replacing Stalock, and while they haven’t replaced his stellar numbers yet, both have done an admirable job. Hjelle is 5-2-1 with a .903 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.97, while Reiter is just 2-2 but has a save percentage of .907 and a goals against of 2.33. The last three weeks, Reiter has started on Friday while Hjelle has been the man on Saturday, so look for that to continue this weekend against the Gophers.

Traditionally, Bulldog teams have struggled on Olympic-sized ice sheets since their home rink – the DECC – is smaller than ever the traditionally 200’ x 85’ NHL-sized sheets, so naturally they build their team and gear their style of play to that type of rink. However, this version of the Bulldogs has a lot of speed and skill up front, which are two characteristics that they usually don’t have and also generally bode well for teams playing on a big ice sheet.

If the weekend comes down to a battle of special teams, which it often does, UMD is going to have the edge. Minnesota must play disciplined hockey and stay out of the box and make UMD beat them playing five-on-five hockey. For the Bulldogs, they will likely apply a strong forecheck and look to pressure the Minnesota defensive core to hopefully cause turnovers and penalties. Kangas is going to have to be on top of his game, as on paper, Minnesota should have the edge in net.

Bemidji Blasts Gophers 6-2 In Series Finale

It appears as though the Golden Gophers may have been turning the corner after their 0-3-1 start to the season, as Minnesota had won four of their previous five games heading into Sunday’s series finale against the Bemidji State Beavers. However, the Gophers were unable to build on their Saturday night victory and were embarrassed by the tune of a 6-2 defeat at Mariucci Arena.

The Beavers were able to take a 2-0 lead into the second period thanks to a pair of first period goals, both of which came directly from Minnesota giveaways. Senior defensemen David Fischer’s attempted pass went right to the tape of BSU’s Shea Walters in the neutral zone, and Walters broke in alone on Alex Kangas and beat him clean to make it 1-0. Later in the first period, Gophers forward Jordan Schroeder gained the Beavers zone and pulled up, but was checked off the puck and that resulted in a four-on-two. Both Minnesota defensemen backed far into their own zone, and allowed BSU’s leading scorer, Matt Read, to carry the puck deep into the offensive zone, and he beat Kangas with a high wrist shot.

“We’re not good enough to turn pucks over,” Gophers Head Coach Don Lucia said. “

That would be the end of Kangas’ first stint in net on this night, as sophomore Kent Patterson started the second period in net after Kangas allowed two goals on four shots.

Lucia said he considered starting Patterson, but opted to go with Kangas, who had won four of his past five starts. It’s still a bit unclear as to why Lucia went away from the rotation of Kangas and Patterson, as they had equal numbers after two weeks but Patterson, who Lucia said would play more this season, had rode the pine up until Kangas was yanked tonight.

Minnesota was able to cut BSU’s lead in half early in the second period, when Schroeder one-timed an Aaron Ness pass past BSU freshman goalie Mathieu Dugas. This was Schroeder’s second goal of the season – and the weekend.

However, the game would change later in the second period, as Minnesota freshman Zach Budish was called for a checking from behind penalty, which gave the Beavers a five minute power play and bounced Budish from the game in the process.

Unlike Friday night’s second period, where Bemidji State had an extended power play and failed to score, they capitalized tonight. After Tony Lucia hit a pipe on a short-handed breakaway, BSU gained the Minnesota zone, setup, and the end result was sophomore Jamie MacQueen first of two goals on the night.

At 19:59 of the second period, Schroeder would take a stupid cross-checking penalty to partially negate a UM power play, and that penalty gave the Beavers a power play just seconds into the third period.

“I thought it was a weak call,” Schroeder said. “That’s referees for you these days.”

That ‘weak call’ proved to be costly, as BSU defensemen Brad Hunt scores his second goal of the season to make it 4-1 Beavers. Hunt walked in from the point and went high on the blocker-side to beat Patterson.

Just 14 seconds later, McQueen would beat Patterson on a breakaway to make it 5-1, and then Aaron McLeod would walk in all alone from behind the UM net and beat Patterson on a soft backhand to chase Patterson from the game (Kangas came back in) and send thousands of Gopher fans heading towards the exits.

Sophomore Jake Hansen would add on a power play goal later in the game, but by then it was all but decided.

“We had some guys who had bad weekends,” Lucia said.

BSU Head Coach Tom Serratore had a much happier view on the two games.

“A monumental win,” Settatore said. “It’s an exciting time for us.”

The Gophers are now 4-5-1 heading into next weekend’s series against Minnesota-Duluth. The Bulldogs are 7-4-1 on the season and have some of the best forwards in the WCHA, including Jack and Mike Connolly (no relation) and Justin Fontaine.

It’s a critical series for Minnesota, as they currently sit in a tie for sixth place in the WCHA having played two more games than St. Cloud State, who they are tied with.

Special Teams Key In Gophers 4-1 Win Over Beavers

The Minnesota power play has been anything but an asset this season, but thanks to a pair of timely power play goals and a key second period penalty kill, the Golden Gophers were able to upend the Bemidji State Beavers by a 4-1 score in front of a capacity crowd at Mariucci Arena.

The Beavers got on the board first as freshman Jordan George picked up a loose puck after a Minnesota turnover and broke in alone on Gopher goalie Alex Kangas. George made a nice move and went to the backhand to give Bemidji a 1-0 lead early in the first period.

It wouldn't take long for the Gophers to answer, as Nico Sacchetti would finish a play stared be defensemen Aaron Ness, who threaded a point shot on net, and Sacchetti was able to bang home a loose puck to knot things up at 1-1.

That would be the score early in the second period when the Gophers found themselves with almost a full two minutes of a five-on-three advantage after a pair of BSU penalties. The top power play unit for the Gophers didn't waste any time, as junior Mike Hoeffel parked in the high-slot and tipped in a pass from Farichild to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead. Ness had the other assist.

The game would effectively be decided in the next few minutes, as the Gophers were called for three straight penalties over a 55 second span, giving the Beavers several minutes of a four-on-three and then an extended five-on-three advantage. As is usually needed to kill off those types of situations, a team's goalie needs to be its best penalty killer, as Minnesota's Alex Kangas was stellar during this stretch. He had several key saves as BSU controlled the puck -- mainly because they won almost every draw while on the power play -- and got the puck on net. But Kangas and the Gopher penalty killers were able to keep the Beavers off the board, and in the process brought the Gopher faithful to their feet for a standing ovation.

The game would remain 2-1 until late in the third period, as neither team had many 'grade A' chances, though Hoeffel did hit a pipe late in the second. A BSU penalty with about seven minutes left gave the Gophers a chance to ice the game, and they did just that as a Sacchetti wrap-around attempt landed on Jordan Schroeder's stick, and he had a wide-open net and didn't miss this chance to score his first goal of the season at 13:35 of the third. Sacchetti and Fairchild had the helpers.

Senior Mike Carman would add on an insurance goal a few minutes later to make it 4-1, with freshman Zach Budish getting the lone assist.

Earlier in the game, Minnesota lost senior wing Ryan Flynn to a hamstring injury, leaving the lineup further depleted.

Overall, it was a solid 60 minutes for Minnesota, as their defense did a good job of limiting BSU's chances and the offense took advantage of scoring chances when they were presented. The Gophers have now won four of their last five games after dropping three of their first four games to start the season.

The Gophers will go for the sweep on Sunday at 6 p.m.

Gophers Kickoff Non-Conference Schedule With Bemidji State

Coming off a successful road split in Madison against the Wisconsin Badgers, the Golden Gophers will look to put another off-ice distraction behind them as they heading into a key non-conference series against the Bemidji State Beavers this weekend at Mariucci Arena.

On the heels of the two-point weekend against Wisconsin, sophomore defenseman Sam Lofquist quit the team on Monday and will head to the Ontario Hockey League to continue his career. The loss leaves Minnesota with just six healthy defenseman, as freshman Nick Leddy continues to recuperate from a broken jaw and is aiming for a late-November return.

Lofquist, who played in 35 of 37 games as a freshman, wasn’t a superstar by any means, but his loss leaves the team very thin on the blueline, but more than that, it’s the fourth year in a row where a player has left the team during the season, which is a very disturbing trend. Last season, freshman Michael Dorr and Grant Scott both left midway through the season, with Scott going back to juniors while Dorr transferred to Minnesota State. In 2007-08, the most notable in-season departure took place with sophomore Kyle Okposo bolting for the AHL in December. Finally, in 2006-07, senior Tyler Hirsch was essentially kicked off the team after the Mariucci Classic.

On the positive side, the team is certainly used to dealing with things like this, which will hopefully help them focus in on Bemidji State. The Beavers are undefeated at a mark of 7-0-1 and come in as the No. 7 team in the nation according to USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll. The Gophers are unranked in the same poll.

Bemidji State’s program has been gradually trending in the right direction over the last several years, but really made its mark last season when they advanced to the NCAA Frozen Four after upsetting Notre Dame and Cornell in the Midwest Regional before succumbing to Miami in a Frozen Four Semifinal contest.

Up front, the Beavers are led by junior forward Matt Read, who is one of the nation’s leading scorers with 14 points in eight games. Recently, he has centered a line between freshman Jordan George (nine points) and fellow junior Ian Lowe (three goals). Sophomore defenseman Brad Hunt, who had an amazing 32 points as a freshman last season, has picked up where he led off as the British Columbia native already has nine points this season.

Sophomore goalie Dan Bakala has started seven of the Beavers eight games this season and figures to get the nod in both games this weekend in Minneapolis. He didn’t play at all last season, but with both of BSU’s netminders from last season having moved on, he has stepped in and performed at a high level. He is currently 6-0-1 with a goals against average of 1.40 and a save percentage nearing 95 percent. BSU’s scoring defense is No. 1 in the nation right now as they are allowing just 1.25 goals per game, so they will certainly post a tough test for the less-than-potent Minnesota offense.

They also have the nation’s fourth best penalty kill at 90 percent.

As is usually the case, the Beavers roster features mainly kids from Canada and Minnesota. Of the 26 players on roster – including just one NHL drafted player in the form of senior defenseman Chris Peluso – 14 players come from north of the border while the eight hail from the State of Hockey. The team also has to North Dakotans, one Wisconsinite, and junior Emil Billberg from Sweden.

The Beavers, who will join the WCHA next season along with Nebraska-Omaha, started off the season with an impressive sweep of Air Force in Bemidji, and followed that up by winning and tying a pair of games at Northern Michigan against the Wildcats. They then go into conference play and swept both Alabama-Huntsville and most recently Robert Morris.

None of those teams have the talent level of the Gophers however, though that level is certainly not what it once was, and rest assured nobody in the BSU locker-room is going to be intimidated by stepping onto the ice at Mariucci Arena this weekend.

The Gophers have won three of their last four games and seem to be playing better after a 0-3-1 start to the season against North Dakota and Denver. Last weekend against the Badgers, Minnesota got off to a very poor start on Friday night, allowing UW to take the lead just 24 seconds into the game. The Gophers had just 18 shots but actually were down by just a goal late in the game before ‘Sconnie tacked on a late goal to win 4-2.

Saturday night was a different story, as the Gophers scored two goals in the first seven minutes to take a 2-0 lead. Junior goalie Alex Kangas, who was shaky in Friday night’s loss, was very good in this game, as he turned away 45 Badger shots in the 5-2 win.

Offensively, senior captain Tony Lucia again carried the mail for Minnesota, as he had four points on the weekend. He assisted on one of Zach Budish’s two goals on Saturday, as those two teamed with Patrick White to form a very solid second line. White, like Budish, had a two-goal weekend. Minnesota was forced to shuffle its lines right before game-time thanks to Mike Hoeffel having an allergic reaction before the game that forced him out of the lineup.

These are Minnesota’s only two games against a College Hockey America opponent this season, so from a PairWise Rankings/ making the NCAA Tournament perspective, they are very critical contests.

Aside from that though, Minnesota cannot afford to lay an egg at home against the Beavers. Yes, BSU is a much-improved team, but given the direction the Gopher program has been heading in recent years, coupled with the off-the-ice issues that seemingly plague the team every few months, a sweep by the Beavers could really bring out the boo-birds at Mariucci and make Head Coach Don Lucia’s seat that much hotter than it already is in the eyes of alumni, boosters, and fans.

Saturday’s series-opening game will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, with the rematch coming at 6 p.m. on Sunday. Both games will air live on Fox Sports North.

Lofquist Reportedly Quits Team, Heading To OHL

According to sources, Gophers sophomore defenseman Sam Lofquist has quit the team and will head to the Ontario Hockey League, according to multiple online reports. GPL poster Hammy was the first to break the news.

The University has yet to comment on the matter and Lofquist is still listed as an active member of the team’s roster on the University’s website. Head Coach Don Lucia didn’t address the situation on his weekly radio show on Monday night.

The Somerset, Wis. native played in 35 of the team’s 37 games as a freshman last season, scoring one goal and adding on four assists. This season, a foot injury sidelined him early on, but with the injury to freshman Nick Leddy, Lofquist was forced back into the lineup and has played in three games. Most recently he was replaced last Saturday against Wisconsin by senior Brian Schack.

Lofquist committed to the Gophers at a very young age and came to Minnesota from the U.S. Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. He did okay last season as a fifth or sixth defenseman on a non-NCAA Tournament team last season, and was so-so in his limited play so far this year. Lofquist accelerated his schooling and came to Minnesota as a 18-year-old freshman, which in hindsight probably was the main reason for his downfall as a Gopher and is an perfect example of the kind of kid – and defensemen in particular – that Lucia should probably shy away from in favor of an older, more mature player.

This loss coupled with the injury to Leddy leaves the Gophers with only six healthy defensemen. Schack will be forced into the lineup on a nightly basis now and will be the only extra defenseman once Leddy returns near the end of November or early December.

From an on-ice perspective, this loss isn’t devastating; Lofquist was a solid player but didn’t appear to be on the verge of becoming a top-four guy. But when you have yet another player leaving midway through a season on the heels of a downward trend in on-ice play and more negative off-the-ice news than positive over the last several years, rest assured that this isn’t going to help Lucia’s seemingly dwindling support among fans and program supporters.

Minnesota returns home this weekend to take on the undefeated Bemidji State Beavers in a non-conference series on Saturday and Sunday at Mariucci Arena.

Huge Kangas Effort Leads Way To Gopher Split

Schack two point night highlights team workmanlike effort

You’re not going to win many games giving up almost 50 shots on net, so hopefully the Gophers all thank their goalie on the bus ride home tonight. Alex Kangas, a last minute addition to the lineup by coach Lucia, makes his coach look good in leading the Gophers to their first road win of the season, a 5 – 2 win at the Kohl Center in Madison.

The Gophers actually came to play tonight. In a rare change of events this season, the Gophers actually took a lead – and built on it by playing strong hockey all over the ice.

Tony Lucia continued his strong season by lighting the lamp just 17 seconds into the game. He took a cross neutral zone pass into the Badger zone, and flipped a shot over Badger goalie Brett Bennett’s shoulder. As a bonus on the play, senior defenseman Brian Schack had the second assist on the play, his first point in quite some time in his first game action of the season.

Lucia helped up the lead to 2 – 0 with a great individual play. He grabbed another cross neutral zone pass, and this time flipped the puck by a Badger defenseman. He skipped around him on the other side, and threaded a perfect pass to freight train Budish, and Zach deflected it home; the Badgers were probably just as surprised as most Gopher fans were to see the scoreboard at this point.

13 Minutes into the game, the Gophers had scored on 2 of their 3 shots, but were being out-shot 15 – 3. And halfway through the game, the Badgers had 30 shots. But it was the Gophers who left the ice after two periods with a 3 – 0 lead.

After playing seemingly the entire period on the penalty kill and otherwise in their own zone, Kevin Wehrs got his own rebound in the slot, and put the weakest shot in the history of shots on net, yet it found Pat White’s stick in the crease and went in.

The third period, as you could guess, got a little hairy at points, but in the end each team pots two goals. The Gophers never lost a two goal lead but they did get their fair share of bounces, including Schack’s second ever career goal (both coming at the Kohl Center oddly enough) and the Badgers missing on a lot of close in chances.

The Gophers really came up with a huge win tonight. They played really hard in the corners and worked all night. But in reality they were outplayed for a majority of the last 40 minutes and without Alex Kangas’s best effort (45 saves) in more than a year, there’s little chance we get out of Madison with a split. There is a lot to take from this weekend, hopefully they can continue their hard work if nothing else.

On to next weekend. Bemidji State visits for their last ever non-conference series at Mariucci. It’s a Saturday – Sunday series, Saturday starts at 7:30, Sunday at 6 PM. Both games live on FSN.

Turnovers Costly In 4-2 Loss to Badgers

The Golden Gophers fell back into some old habits as the competition level went back up in Madison against the Badgers, as Minnesota fell to Wisconsin by a 4-2 score in the first of two contests at the Kohl Center this weekend.

It didn’t take long for the Badgers to get on the board, as senior Blake Geoffrion scored his first of two goals on the night just 24 seconds into the game. He tipped a point shot by Ryan McDonagh past Minnesota goalie Alex Kangas to put Wisconsin in the lead by a 1-0 score.

Early in the second period, Minnesota would answer thanks to a four-on-one rush that was capped off by a beautiful pass from Jordan Schroeder to Mike Hoeffel, who tapped it in for his fourth goal of the season at 1:31 of the second period.

However, the game would not be tied for long, as the Badgers regained the lead for good thanks to a horrendous Patrick White turnover near the blueline in his own end. Defenseman Cody Goloubef took advantage of the gaffe and made the score 2-1 Badgers.

Geoffrion would get his second of the night and in the process, the Badgers scored another goal thanks to a turnover by a Minnesota forward. This time, Tony Lucia tried a cross-ice pass in the UW end but it was picked off. Geoffrion beat Kangas with a low slapshot that probably should have been stopped by Kangas.

White would redeem himself a bit midway through the third period as he scored his second goal of the season, this one coming on a power play. He, along with Lucia and Mike Carman, crashed the Badger crease and eventually got the loose puck past Badger goalie Brett Bennett.

Minnesota would play pretty well down the stretch and had a few chances to knot the game up, but Bennett stood strong in net for the Badgers and backstopped them to the win. Senior Ben Street capped the game off with a late tap-in goal during an odd-man rush by the Badgers.

Look for Kent Patterson to start in net on Saturday for Minnesota, who will need to generate more than just 18 shots if they hope to come out of Madison with a victory.

Barriball out for season

Gopher Senior Jay Barriball suffered what looks like a season ending knee injury in practice on Tuesday. According to reports, a collision with Sam Loftquist late in practice appears to be the culprit. This is a huge blow to a team that has struggled getting their offense going this season. Jay was expected to be one of their leading scorers and his talent will be greatly missed. Jay will be eligible to get a medical hardship since he has only played in a few games. So he can come back next season if he wishes. Good luck on your recovery Jay, we hope to see you back on the ice soon!

Gophers, Badgers Set To Renew Border Battle

After a pair of winless – and nearly goal-less – weekends to start the 2009-10 season, the Golden Gophers did exactly what they needed to do in a near-perfect sweep against Alaska Anchorage last weekend and now have momentum heading into this weekend’s Border Battle with the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, Wisc.

The only downside to last weekend for the Gophers was the loss of freshman defenseman Nick Leddy to a broken jaw after he was crushed by UAA forward Jade Portwood coming across the offensive blueline on Friday night. There was no penalty on the play and after the game, coaches and players from both sides said that it was a clean hit and that while the result was unfortunate, Leddy had to learn a lesson the tough way.

However, Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia said on Monday that, after giving the incident more thought, he was going to talk to WCHA officials about it since Portwood hit Leddy in the head with his shoulder, and hits to the head are prohibited by the rulebook.

Regardless, Leddy is expected to be out about six weeks, so he could return for the team’s home-and-home versus Minnesota State or the games at Michigan Tech on Dec. 11-12, though if he’s not 100 percent, the team’s next games aren’t until Jan. 2-3, and one would think he’d surely be 100 percent by then.

Aside from the loss of Leddy, there were many positives from the weekend:

• Junior goalie Alex Kangas played well enough in Friday night’s 5-1 victory to earn another start on Sunday for the rematch, despite sophomore Kent Patterson not doing anything on the surface to make Lucia go away from the goalie rotation he had talked about using before the season. Kangas was even better on Sunday in the 4-1 win, making several big saves in picking up his second win of the season.

• The team scored goals! Sounds basic, but with the team putting goose-eggs up on the scoresheet in three of their first four games, they had to get the offense going this weekend against a lower-tier WCHA team, which is exactly what they did. And more importantly, Jordan Schroeder had a four-point weekend after being held off the scoresheet the first four games of the season. The sophomore had four assists on the weekend playing between Jay Barriball and Mike Hoeffel, who combined for two goals and three assists on the weekend.

• Despite that trio’s good play, the best forward on the ice for Minnesota was senior captain Tony Lucia. He had two short-handed goals on Friday night, another tally in Sunday’s win, and was noticeable on both ends of the ice in blocking shots and doing “the little things” that have made him a valuable asset over his time at the U.

• Speaking off both ends of the ice, the Minnesota forwards really committed themselves to backchecking and playing good positional hockey in the defensive zone, which was not often the case in the first two series against North Dakota and Denver.

As Coach Lucia likes to say though, the speed limit goes up this weekend, as the Gophers head to the Kohl Center for a pair of games against Head Coach Mike Eaves and the Wisconsin Badgers.

The Gophers have traditionally played pretty well in Madison against the Badgers, having gone 8-5-3 since the 2001-02 season in the state of Wisconsin against the Badgers. Last season, the Gophers took three out of a possible four points against the Badgers in Madison, but were later swept at Mariucci Arena by the Badgers despite Minnesota carrying the play for the vast majority of the two losses. Minnesota outshot the Badgers by a 82-53 margin but the Gophers’ goaltending let the down big-time, yielding eight goals and posting a .849 save percentage for the weekend.

Regardless of who is in net for Minnesota, the goaltending is going to need to be a lot better this time around, particularly in the hostile environment of the Kohl Center. Kangas will likely get the nod on Friday night and if he keeps up his great play – he has a .939 save percentage and a goals against of 2.01 – there’s no reason to think Lucia won’t roll him out again in the Saturday rematch.

The Badgers are coming off a sweep as while, though there’s was much more impressive. They won both games against New Hampshire last weekend at the Kohl Center by a combined score of 10-2. Wisconsin, a traditionally defensive-minded team, had a whopping 95 shots in the two games to UNH’s 35.

Prior to that impressive effort, the Badgers hadn’t shown much. They took just one point from Colorado College at home to start the season, and then split a weekend series in Mankato against the Mavericks. However, looking at their roster, it’s logical to assume that this past weekend was more of a true representation of the kind of team the Cardinal and White will field this season.

Much like last season, the strength of this UW team will reside on the blueline. Their top pairing features two Minnesotans who were both first round NHL draft picks over the past few years in Jake Gardiner and Ryan McDonagh. Both are exceptional skaters, have good size, and are a force in both ends of the rink. The team’s leading scorer, junior Brendan Smith, was a first round pick by Detroit in 2007 and has nine points in six games so far. Fellow junior Cody Goloubef was a high second round pick in 2008 as well.

That core has made things much easier on the goaltending tandem of juniors Scott Gudmandson and Brett Bennett. Bennett is a transfer from Boston University after he was essentially kicked off the team following the 2007-08 season. He led the Indiana Ice to a USHL Clark Cup championship last season and it would appear that whatever issues he had in BU are no longer a problem. He and Gudmandson have split the duties on all three weekends so far and both have goals against averages under two and save percentages over 93 percent.

Up front, the Badgers are as deep as any team in the WCHA. Hastings native Derek Stepan, who had 33 points as a freshman last season and is off to a great start and will be a key for the UW offense all season long. Senior Blake Geoffrion is a great two-way player and was a second-round pick in 2006 by Nashville. He is a great faceoff man and will likely go head-to-head with Schroeder all weekend long with Eaves having the last change. Fifth-year senior Ben Street, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, should be a force to be reckoned with as well after being the team’s second-leading scorer in 2007-08.

For the Gophers, one of the biggest keys is going to be matching UW’s intensity. With their home crowd behind them, the Badgers are going to come out swinging, so it will be important for the Gophers young defensive core to not take penalties early on when one would figure the Badgers may control the play for the first five minutes or so on Friday night. With Leddy out, that likely means guys such as Sam Lofquist and Kevin Wehrs are going to be playing extended minutes, and haven’t shown that they can consistently play at a high level, which is going to be required this weekend.

Look for the pairing of David Fischer and Cade Fairchild to play big minutes for the Gophers on the blueline for Minnesota with some potential youth and/or size issues with the other pairings.

Minnesota finally scored a power play goal last Sunday (and scored two quazi-power play goals on Friday – one just seconds after a penalty expired and other on a delayed penalty with an extra attacker) but are going against a very stout UW penalty kill this weekend. The Badgers have killed off 30 of 32 power plays, so it’s not going to be easy for Minnesota to keep whatever power play momentum they have going.

In a way, these programs are at critical states and are similar in many ways. Both have national titles and many other banners to their credit in the last eight years, but on the flipside, neither team made the NCAA Tournament last season and have seen their overall success levels drop over the last three years or so, creating unrest among the fanbases for both teams. Both Lucia and Eaves are two of the highest paid coaches in the nation, get verbal commitments from high-end talent at a very young age, and have historic Big 10 programs behind them. Rest assured that neither fanbase will be too accepting of another NCAA Tournament taking place without their team in the field of 16.

Both games will air live on Fox Sports North on both Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. both nights.

Gophers Sweep in Convincing Fashion

Solid Special Teams, Hard Work in Own Zone Carry the Day

“It felt good to get around that circle” said Mike Hoeffel after the game.

A sweep at Mariucci and an ass kicking at Lambeau. Can today get any better?

Alex Kangas kicked aside 31 of 32 shots, taking advantage of the “carrot” that was given to him by coach Lucia on Friday, leading the way in a 4 – 1 Gopher win on Sunday evening.

A good sized crowd for what was going on in Green Bay, the fans tonight watched a fairly fast paced game that Anchorage coach Dave Shyiak said “I actually thought that was one of our best games of the year”.

The Gophers were simply stronger in all areas of the game tonight, aside from going 25 of 59 in the face-off circle.

The Gophers got on the board first, ending two long droughts. Pat White scored his first of the season and on the power play no less!

David Fischer got the play rolling downhill by wristing a shot off the post. Most players on the ice were a bit confused and thought the puck may have gone in, but Tony Lucia made a real heads-up play by passing the loose puck across the crease to Pat White, who tapped in the first Gopher power play goal in seemingly a year.

Goldy took a 2 – 0 lead into the locker room with just seconds left on the clock. Barriball, Schroeder and Hoeffel rocketed out of the zone on a three on one over the red line. Barriball set up Schroeder cross-ice and if not for a great save by Anchorage goalie Bryce Christianson, Schroeder would have his first of the year. Mike Hoeffel saved the play by wisely crashing the net, overpowering his way to the puck and tapped it in.

“[Tony Lucia] and Taylor were so effective tonight” said Hoeffel. He couldn’t have been more right. Lucia pretty much put the game out of reach with his third goal of the weekend, putting home a nice wrist shot from the slot off a nice pass from Taylor Matson at the half wall.

There were a few moments in the third period when it seemed like the Gophers were falling asleep a bit, but they answered Mickey Spencer’s first career goal just 19 seconds later with Jay Barriball’s second of the season.

“It was a bounce-back weekend for us” said coach Lucia, summing up the sweep. “I thought Alex was really good tonight; we scored the power play goal, and we got some guys that needed to be involved offensively, this weekend, get involved.”

Pretty succinct summary; they’ll need to keep improving, however if they are going to take any points home from Madison next weekend.

Lucia Leads Offensive Charge As Gophers Win 5-1 vs. UAA

Held in check by a pair of the nation’s top teams over the first two weekends of the season, the Golden Gophers played their best game of the young season on Friday night en route to a 5-1 win over Alaska Anchorage in front of their home crowd at Mariucci Arena.

Senior captain Tony Lucia's two shorthanded goals spearheaded the offensive outburst for the Gophers, who of course were shutout in three of their first four games. Two other Gophers – junior Kevin Wehrs and freshman Zach Budish – got their first career goals wearing the Maroon and Gold, while defenseman Aaron Ness scored his first goal of the season to get the scoring started on the night for Minnesota.

Ness’ goal would knot things up at 1-1 after the Seawolves got on the board first, thanks to a power play goal by junior wing Nick Haddad. Defensemen Nick Leddy and David Fischer failed to tie him up in front, and Haddad tipped a point shot past Gophers goalie Alex Kangas for his second goal of the season at 8:09 of the first period.

“I thought we started off great,” said Seawolves Head Coach Dave Shyiak.

The Gophers would answer back though, thanks to Ness’ quazi-power play goal, though it didn’t come easy. The Seawolves took three straight penalties midway through the first period, giving the Gophers a five-on-three power play that they couldn’t capitalize on, due in large part to UAA doing a great job of blocking Minnesota shots and getting sticks in lanes. However, that would end up being their downfall. After a UAA forward blocked a Jordan Schroeder shot from the point, the puck ricocheted to Ness, who one-timed it past Christianson for his first score of the season at 13:25 of the first period, just seconds after a Minnesota power play expired. It was Minnesota’s first goal since their first game of the season and ended a scoreless drought of more than 146 minutes.

One of the main negatives for the Gophers on this night was the loss of Leddy to a head and/or knee injury. Late in the first period, he came across the UAA blueline with his head down, and after he got rid of the puck, he was leveled by the Seawolves Jade Portwood. There was no penalty on the play and the teams were in agreement afterward that the hit was clean and that Leddy could have handled things better.

“Any time a kid comes across the blueline with his head down, he’s going to get hit,” Shyiak said.

Tony Lucia agreed.

“Hopefully he learned a lesson,” Lucia said. “You cringe when a guy goes across the middle like that.”

Head Coach Don Lucia noted that Leddy should be fine, but his status for Sunday’s rematch is up in the air.

Coming into the game and even after the first period, the UM penalty kill was very shaky and had been taken advantage of at an alarming rate. However, the unit buckled down at the start of the second period and held a string of UAA power plays in check, and then, they built on that momentum by scoring a short-handed goal, thanks in large part to a great play by senior captain Tony Lucia, who both started the play and finished it. Lucia blocked an attempt by the UAA defenseman to keep the puck in the zone and helped force an errant pass, which was picked off by sophomore Taylor Matson, who fed it back to a streaking Lucia for a breakaway. He would notch his first score of the season as he went high on the blocker-side – and area the Gophers shot at all night long – to make it 2-1 Minnesota 4:47 into the second period.

“That shorty really stung us,” Shyiak said. “We lost momentum and composure and they gained it.”

At the 10:00 mark of the second period, Kangas made, as Don Lucia said, “a game-changing save,” as he robbed freshman Alex Grant by moving quickly from his left to his right. Grant was camped out on the side of the net and appeared to have his second goal of his career, but Kangas got a pad on it to preserve the one goal Gopher lead.

Lucia would get his second point of the evening later in the second period as he assisted on defenseman Kevin Wehrs’ first collegiate goal. Wehrs, a junior, took the pass at the point from Lucia and got a shot on net. Before it found its way past Christianson, it hit off a UAA forward and changed direction. Regardless, it extended Minnesota’s lead to 3-1.

Don Lucia credited Wehrs, who didn’t play in the team’s first game of the season but stepped into the lineup for an injured Sam Lofquist, after the game for his improved play this season.

“He’s playing within himself and doing a good job in his own end, which were things he didn’t do at times last season,” Lucia said.

Wehrs was a pretty big point-producer prior to coming to the U (he had 40 points in 57 games his final season in the USHL) and admitted that it’s been tough at times not scoring at that same rate in the WCHA.

“It’s been a frustrating first two years,” Wehrs said. “I hope to help out more offensively this year and it’s good to get back on the scoresheet.”

Less than two minutes later, another Gopher would get his first even goal in Maroon and Gold, as this time Budish would finish a flurry of Gopher activity in the UAA zone. Kangas left the Minnesota net due to a delayed penalty call on the Seawolves, giving the Gophers a six-on-five advantage. The puck made its way to Budish’s stick on the doorstep, and he tapped it in to extend the lead to 4-1.

Even though the Gopher power play remained 0-for the season, they generated more chances tonight than any other game and between Ness’ goal just after a man-advantage expired and Budish’s goal with the extra attacker on the ice, they are confident their funk will end soon.

“We had some good looks and some good setups,” Don Lucia said.

A miscue by UAA defenseman Curtis Leinweber and a fortunate non-call, which was pointed out by Shiyak after the game, by the referees lead to Lucia’s second “shorty” of the night. Leinweber fanned on a point shot and got tied up with Lucia and Jay Barriball, which resulted in a two-on-one break for the Gophers. Barriball dished the puck to Lucia, who showed great patience before letting a perfect shot go, again high on the blocker-side, to make it 5-1 Minnesota. The assist was Barriball’s 100th career point as a Gopher.

“I’m no sniper,” said Lucia, who admitted he didn’t pick a corner or anything, but just knew he wanted to shoot it high.

Kangas was solid all night but wasn’t tested too much. He turned away 21 shots to get his first win of the year.

The rematch will be Sunday at 4 p.m. and will air live on FSN.

Notes: Barriball was sporting a mustache on this night, and said he did it as a result of a phone call with former Gopher Alex Goligoski, who suggested his former teammate give it a try to attempt to turn the team’s offensive fortunes in the right direction … Lucia, Schroeder, and Budish were the three stars of the game … Minnesota won 38 of the 60 faceoffs on the night … It was Lucia’s first ever two-goal game as Gopher … The Gophers attempted 58 shots on the night, with 34 making it to the net … UAA had just seven power play shots in their eight attempts.

Gophers Look To Jump-Start Offense vs. Seawolves

Minnesota Head Coach Don Lucia has often said in the past that while you can’t win the WCHA in the first part of the season, you can certainly lose it. And, after another winless weekend of league play, Minnesota is certainly facing the possibility of the league title being out of reach by the time the calendar rolls over to November as Minnesota remained winless on the young season after losing a pair of games – both by scores of 3-0 – to the Denver Pioneers at Mariucci Arena this past weekend.

Including the team’s season-opening 4-0 loss to the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, the Gophers have now been shutout in three of their four games, a worrisome trend for a team that returned the bulk of its scoring from last year’s team.

It should be noted that both North Dakota and Denver are teams that were picked by the coaches and media to be the class of the WCHA and are both currently in the top three in the major national polls. However, unless the standards have really changed in Dinkytown, being a national power is still the goal of the Minnesota hockey program, and being shutout in back-to-back games at Mariucci Arena is unacceptable, regardless of the opponent. The last time they were held scoreless in consecutive games was in 1930.

Going into the weekend, it appears as though Minnesota’s forwards, a veteran and (at least on paper) talented group, should have had the edge over Denver’s young (but skilled) defensive core. For both games this weekend, DU had five underclassmen playing on their blueline, but they were able to dominate Minnesota’s forwards in forcing poor play and turnovers.

It certainly helped DU’s youthful defensemen to have junior netminder Marc Cheverie behind them on both nights. Cheverie, who is now 4-0 on the season with three shutouts to his credit, has shutout the Gophers in his last three outings against the Maroon and Gold.

On Friday night, Minnesota lost senior Jay Barriball, one of the team’s top scorers, to a injury that kept Barriball out of the lineup on Saturday but doesn’t appear to be a long-term concern for the team. Defensemen Sam Lofquist (foot) and Brian Schack (knee) are still out of the lineup as well, though neither figure to be vital cogs on the Minnesota blueline this season.

With the loss of Barriball, Lucia shuffled his lines again on Saturday in hopes of finding some combinations that could generate offense. Among the highlights, sophomores Nick Larson and Jake Hansen bounced back into the lineup, Jordan Schroeder moved back to center from the wing, and junior Patrick White was moved to the top line with Schroeder and Mike Hoeffel. The team had 30 shots on goal both nights, but no line really stood out on Friday or Saturday as a group to keep together for the long-haul.

Like UND, Denver has owned the Gophers in recent years. Including their sweep last weekend, the Pioneers are 8-3-1 against Minnesota in the team’s last 12 meetings.

The road would – in theory – get a little easier for the Gophers this weekend as they play host to the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves at Mariucci Arena. The Seawolves are 3-3 and have split on all three of their weekends of play so far, most recently against North Dakota in Anchorage. These games will be UAA’s first away from the state of Alaska. In addition to the games against UND, the Seawolves hosted the Kendall Hockey Classic to open the season in beating Mercyhurst and then losing to Michigan. The following weekend, they traveled north to Fairbanks to play in the Brice Alaska Goal Rush where they beat Rensselaer and then lost to Robert Morris.

As per usual, the Seawolves are a much older team than Minnesota. No player on their team is under the age of 20, and the average age of their players is 21.7. Conversely, the average Minnesota’s player age is 20.6. The talent on Minnesota is far greater, but if that talent isn’t willing to put in the hard work both nights, the experience and size of the Seawolves could come into play.

Much like the Pioneers, UAA has one main scoring line that Minnesota will need to contain if they hope to come out of this weekend’s series with points. The team’s three leading scorers – seniors Kevin Clark and Josh Lunden and junior Tommy Grant – have combined for 16 points this season and all play on the same line. Those three are all proven scorers as they were three of the team’s top point-getters last season as well.

That line is much better than anything Minnesota has been able to roll out up to this point, and Lucia will likely continue to tinker with his forward group in trying to find the right mix, both at regular strength and while on the power play. After Saturday’s game, Lucia said he may mix different guys into the power plays units if the struggles continue.

Special teams are an area that the Gophers have lost by a pretty one-sided margin vs. both UND and DU. They have yet to score a power play goal and their penalty kill is at just 71.4 percent. The Seawolves haven’t been as bad as Minnesota in either category but haven’t excelled either, so hopefully things won’t be as uneven this weekend as the last two.

In goal, senior Jon Olthuis has started four of UAA’s six games, though he split last weekend with junior Bryce Christianson. Both have save percentages well south of 90 percent and goals against averages above three, so Minnesota should have a decided advantage between the pipes with the duo of Alex Kangas and Kent Patterson. Both have save percentages at or above 90 and have played very well this season against elite groups of forwards.

Anything less than a sweep this weekend is really unacceptable for Minnesota. Yes, it’s early in the season and this isn’t the same doormat edition of the Seawolves from four or five years ago. But with some very tough games on the horizon (two at Wisconsin, two vs. Bemidji State, two vs. Minnesota-Duluth, and one at both Michigan and Michigan State) and three losses already against them in WCHA play, the Gophers need to get some momentum going heading into the Kohl Center next weekend or they could be in for a much longer dry spell than anyone could have predicted to start the season.

Friday's game will air on FSN but will be tape-delayed and will come on the air at 10 p.m. The second game of the series will not come until Sunday but will air live on FSN at 4 p.m.

Pioneers Sweep Gophers... Again
Cheverie Shutsout Gophers... Again
Minneapolis, Minn—The Gophers came into Saturday struggling to score goals, and despite their effort there has been no reward, as the team lost to Denver 3-0 in front of a paid attendance of 9,840.

“Our goaltending was decent tonight, and I thought that defensively we only gave up the one goal five-on-five,” said Minnesota coach Don Lucia. “I thought the guys battled, and did the things we needed to do, but there was absolutely no reward this weekend.”

The Gophers had eight power play attempts and outshot Denver 30-26, but could not find a way past Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie, who earned his third consecutive shutout.

“We’ve got to find ways to score some goals. We had guys that scored some goals last year, and you could just see them start to grip it too much and pucks would bounce over sticks,” said Lucia. “For three straight games, I think we’ve played pretty darn hard and there hasn’t been a reward--that’s sports. You can do the right things, but that doesn’t mean you are going to win.”

Two of their leading returning scorers Mike Hoeffel, 23 goals and 18 assists in 84 career games, and Jordan Schroeder, 13 goals and 32 assists in 38 career games, sill have yet to find a linemate and Schroeder has yet to find a point. Freshman Zach Budish, freshman Nick Larson, and junior Patrick White all got auditions on the top line Saturday night.

“I thought that Budish made some progress this weekend, and I noticed Nick Larson because he can get up and down the rink a bit,” said Lucia. “So we have to look at that so maybe we get some guys ice time who can get around the rink a bit better.”

The Pioneers were predicted to win the WCHA in the 38th annual Grand Forks Herald’s preseason coaches poll and Madison.com media poll, and their performance at Mariucci appears to affirm those accolades by sweeping a roster with 20 NHL drafted players. The Pioneers now have two consecutive sweeps at Mariucci after 5-1 and 4-1 victories last November.

Denver got on the board first when Pioneer forward Luke Salazar found his line mate Kyle Ostrow in front of a trailing Hoeffel on the back door for a easy tap in at 10:15 of the first period.

Denver added to their lead 4:27 into the second when Rhett Rakshani received a pass from defenseman Patrick Wiercioch, and then the senior forward was given time at the top of the circle to put one past Patterson.

Aaron Ness might have had the best opportunity to get a goal for the Gophers midway through the second period while on the power play. Ness got a pass from Schroeder between the circles, but was stoned by Cheverie.

Ostrow got his second of the night 4:12 into the third period on the power play as he received a pass from Drew Shore, walked to the middle, and his shot deflected off the stick of Seth Helgeson.

“All the answers are in our locker room, we have plenty of talent and plenty of skill, we just have to work a little bit harder,” said captain Tony Lucia. “Eventually the hockey gods will pay off, but the work ethic has to be there.”

Notes: Barriball was held out of the game with a hip injury, is day-to-day, and will remain at 99 career points for another week… The faceoff circle is one spot where the Gophers had been struggling, after going the first three games at .455, they picked it up a bit going .615 on Saturday… Minnesota was shutout for the third time this season, they were shut out only twice last season…. Minnesota is 0-20 on the power play on the season… Minnesota attempted 59 shots, but 17 were blocked and 12 missed the net.

Offense Sputters Again in 3-0 Loss to DU

For the second time in three games, the Golden Gophers failed to score a goal as they dropped their home-opener to the Denver Pioneers by a score of 3-0 on Friday night and dropped to 0-2-1 on the young season in the process.

The common thread in comments by both Gopher coaches and players after this game was the lack of pressure applied by Minnesota’s forwards, and in particular, they were unable to consistently put shots on net and generate chances after the initial save.

“Scoring three goals in three games is not acceptable,” said senior co-captain Tony Lucia. “We were shooting off the glass or missing wide too much.”

Fellow senior co-captain Ryan Flynn agreed.

“We need to get more second-chance opportunities,” Flynn said.

The sentiments of those two were echoed by Gophers Head Coach Don Lucia.

“It’s hart to win if you don’t score goals,” Lucia said. “We missed the net far too often.”

On the night, Minnesota attempted 65 shots, but just 30 made their way to DU net minder Marc Cheverie, who pitched his second shutout of the season and second in a row against Minnesota.

“I hate losing to that team,” Cheverie said after. “We did a great job of blocking shots and they had no traffic in front of me.”

DU took the lead early in the second period shortly after a Pioneers power play expired, as senior forward Tyler Ruegsegger tipped a shot from freshman defenseman Matt Donovan that just trickled through Gophers goalie Alex Kangas and made it's way just over the goal-line at 3:36 to put DU in front 1-0.

It appeared as though fellow senior Rhett Rakhshani put DU up by a 2-0 score via a shorthanded tally just minutes later, but after a review, it was ruled that contact was made with Kangas, which caused the puck to go into the net.

However, later in the period, Rakhshani would notch his second goal of the season, as he took a cross-ice pass from Ruegsegger and blasteda one-timer past a somewhat screened Kangas to increase the DU lead to 2-0.

"Roller hockey hands," DU Head Coach George Gwozdecky said of Rakhshani, a California native who grew up playing street hockey on the beach.

The Minnesota power play was just as bad on this night as it was in North Dakota last weekend. They were 0-3 on the night but gave up good chances to DU and never were able to apply consistent pressure or get good puck movement going. Sophomore Jordan Schroeder was very average (at best) again, and he is the key to Minnesota's power play. On the night, the Gophers had just three shots while on the man-advantage.

"Our group of forwards have to be better," said Lucia. "We have to finish good chances and need players to stet up."

One player the team was looking to score more this season was senior Jay Barriball, but he left this game with a muscle injury and is questionable for the Saturday rematch.

The Pioneers, who scored an empty-net goal with just a few seconds left after Minnesota pulled Kangas for the extra attacker but didn't put up much of a fight in the dying seconds, have yet to win the second game of a series so far this season, and Minnesota player much better on Saturday last weekend, so that would seem to give the Gophers a better chance on Saturday night.

Gwozdecky, who has rotated Cheverie and freshman Adam Murray for both series so far, said his team would review the film and it wasn't a given that the 0-2 Murray would get the nod on Saturday.

For the Gophers, it appears that sophomore Kent Patterson will get the start on Saturday after playing well in last Saturday's 3-3 tie vs. North Dakota. Unless the Minnesota offense gets clicking, Patterson is going to need to bring his "A" game and likely will have to hold the Pios under two goals to give his team a decent chance to get their first win of the season.

Home-Opening Series vs. DU on Tap for Gophers

Despite being nearly run out of Ralph Engelstad Arena yet again on Friday night, the Golden Gophers were able to bounce back with a much better effort on Saturday night and take one point home with them from Grand Forks after losing 4-0 on Friday and tying a hard-fought 3-3 game on Saturday night, and now look ahead to another tough WCHA series against the Denver Pioneers this weekend at Mariucci Arena.

Last Friday was almost a replay of the series last January which was the Sioux outclass the Gophers by a wide margin on both nights. North Dakota had twice as many shots as Minnesota, dominated in the faceoff circle, scored two power play goals, added a short-handed tally, and held the Gophers to just a few solid scoring chances.

Saturday was a different story. Minnesota shuffled all its lines and brought a much better effort from start to finish, and nearly won the game in the third period with most late pressure. The Sioux still outshot the Gophers by a pretty fair margin, but the ice was not tilted nearly as much as it was the previous night.

One of the main reasons the Gophers only came home from Grand Forks with one point was their special teams. Only two of the Sioux’s seven goals on the weekend came during five-on-five play. Their power play was two for six on both nights against a Gopher penalty kill that set schools records a season ago and was fourth in the nation as well. Sioux senior defenseman and reigning WCHA Defensemen of the Season Chay Genoway scored three power play goals on the weekend. Given the experience the Gophers have up front, the seemingly beefed up and improved defensive core, and two solid goalies, expect the penalty kill to improve over the coming weeks.

Conversely, the Minnesota power play was very poor all weekend, mainly because the Sioux did a terrific job of disrupting the Gophers’ attempts to gain the zone and setup shop. It was clear the Minnesota was trying to gain the blueline with the puck and then go from there; however, the Sioux took this option away by stacking the blueline, and the Gophers seemed unwilling to dump the puck in and then go after it. The second power play unit, which featured the likes of Tony Lucia and Mike Carman last weekend, could have issues all season due to the lack of high-end skill and playmakers, but the top unit should get things going, as there’s just too much talent for that unit to remain stagnant for very long.

They straw that stirs the drink on that top power play unit is Jordan Schroeder, and he was virtually invisible against the Sioux. He often went head-to-head against senior center Chris VandeVelde, and also had big sophomore defenseman Ben Blood giving him a hard time for most of the weekend. Things aren’t going to get any easier for Schroeder, the preseason WCHA Player of the Year, as all teams are going to key on him and play their best defenders and two-way players against him. Hopefully this past weekend was a bit of a wake-up call and he can use his speed this weekend on the big ice-sheet at Mariucci Arena to make better use of the increased time and space.

One area where Schroeder will really need to improve is the faceoff circle. Most of the draws he took were against VandeVelde, who is one of the WCHA’s biggest and best centers, so that is something that certainly factored into things, but Schroeder took the most faceoffs of any Gopher center over the weekend and won just 35 percent of them. He will be the team’s top center for the rest of the season and will likely go against the other team’s top center more often than not, and while he doesn’t need to dominate in the faceoff circle, it’s unacceptable to lose 65 percent of the time.

The biggest bright spot for the Gophers last weekend was their goaltending. Despite losing 4-0 on Friday, junior Alex Kangas was very good. He looked confident in net, controlled his rebounds for the most part, and had a saves percentage over 90 percent. On Saturday, Head Coach Don Lucia switched gears and gave the start to sophomore Kent Patterson, and he was almost equally as good. He stopped 31 of 34 shots and two of the goals he let in deflected off teammates on the way to the net. Look for the rotation to continue this weekend against the Pioneers.

One of the keys to the Saturday night turnaround was the play of Minnesota’s fourth line, which consisted for most of the night of sophomore Joe Miller, sophomore Taylor Matson, and freshman Zach Budish. Miller, who played sparingly as a freshman last season, was inserted into the lineup on Saturday, replacing freshman Josh Birkholz. Miller brought the type of energy you’d want out of a fourth line winger, as he hit anything he could get to, was strong the puck and forechecked very hard. If he can play like that on a nightly basis, it’s going to be tough for the coaching staff to keep him out of the lineup. Matson was solid on both nights but really stood out on Saturday. Like Miller, he was tenacious, hitting guys, and was incredibly tough to play against. Budish used his size well and helped maintain the forecheck by keeping the puck along the wall and cycling it low in the UND zone.

The Sioux are now 8-2-2 against the Gophers over the last 12 contests between the two teams. Minnesota will took to turn the tide in this rivalry come January when the Sioux visit Minneapolis for a pair of games.

Minnesota now turns its attention to the Denver Pioneers, who were the preseason pick by nearly everyone to win the WCHA. And by looking at their roster, it’s easy to see why.

Much like the Gophers, DU’s roster is littered with NHL draft picks. Minnesota catches a break, pardon the pun, this weekend, as sophomore center Joe Colborne, who had 30 points in 41 games as a freshman, is going to miss some time due to a broken finger. Colborne is a huge body (6-5, 200 lbs) that plays center and was a first round NHL draft pick in 2008, so DU will miss his presence up the middle very much.

Including Colborne, the Pioneers return their top seven scorers from last season. Names such as Rhett Rakhshani and Tyler Ruegsegger, who are DU’s two top scorers so far, are at this point very familiar to WCHA fans, and this will be as deep of a forwards group the Gophers will go against all season.

On the backend, DU is led by super-sophomore Patrick Wiercioch, who had an astonishing 35 points in 36 games as a freshman. He nearly turned pro this summer, but turned down a deal from the Ottawa Senators to return for another year of seasoning in Denver. He is very dynamic with the puck and quarterbacks what should be a very explosive power play unit, though its struggled so far at just 15 percent.

Defensively though, DU may need some time for their young defensive core to gel. They brought in three very talented freshmen defensemen, but playing that position as a first-year player in the WCHA is a tall-task, and it’s showed over the first two weekends as DU has gone 2-2 while giving up 14 goals over that stretch.

Junior netminder Marc Cheverie has both wins, while highly-touted freshman Adam Murray has struggled. Murray has played the second night of both the Pios series against Vermont to open the season and then again last week at Ohio State, and has struggled. He’s 0-2 with a 4.72 goals against average and a .836 saves percentage. Now that DU is going into conference play, Head Coach George Gwozdecky may be more apt to go with Cheverie if he continues to play well, despite saying before the season he would rotate both of his goalies.

Denver has more skill than the Gophers up front, so it’s going to be key for the Gophers to try to be physical with DU’s smaller forwards all weekend long and not let them get into a flow. If the Gophers’ special teams are as poor as last weekend, they could easily be winless two weeks into the season. However, if they can shore up those areas and continue to get good goaltending by the Kangas / Patterson combo, then they have a chance to do some damage at home over the next two weekends before heading back out onto the road against Wisconsin.

Friday’s game will air live on Fox Sports North at 7 p.m., but the Saturday rematch, which is Saturday at 7 as well, won’t air until Sunday at 3 p.m. on tape-delay.

Gophers Settle For Tie

Up And Down Game Had Fitting Ending

Not the results most Gopher fans wanted from the rematch from last night; there were long periods of them standing around and watching, not to speak of the really ugly power play. But if nothing else, there was at least a little fight in the Gophers tonight - something we haven’t seen, quite frankly, for a long time, in a 3 – 3 tie with North Dakota.

Certainly, it was a much better first period for the Gophers than last night. The intensity wasn’t there for either team as it seemed each team was kind of settled in a little more off the bat. Both teams struggled on the power play in the period, and it was very evenly played.

But finally, the Gophers worked to make a play, and scored their first goal of the season.

A face-off in the Gopher zone was brought back to Ben Blood at the point. His shot was blocked by Jay Barriball, and he jumped all over it, racing past a flatfooted Blood. With some hustle from his teammates, they created a three on one. Jay was seemingly trying to pass, to Jordan Schroeder, but after a nice sliding play by Chay Genoway, he had no choice but to shoot – and he roofed it for the 1 – 0 lead which would last through the intermission.

Kent Patterson was excellent for the Gophers all game. Two of the goals were deflected in by Gophers and he certainly had his share of highlight saves, capped by stoning Danny Kristo on a breakaway.

Chay Genoway took advantage of two questionable penalty calls to put the Sioux in front. After a shot from the point deflected in off of Aaron Ness, Genoway crashed the net and put in his own rebound (which hit off the post), lying just inches off the goal line.

Mike Hoeffel and Taylor Matson quickly made the Sioux pay for another brutal tripping penalty call on the Gophers. Matson worked the puck out of the zone – and used his speed to draw the defender closer to the outside. Mike Hoeffel outraced everyone and banged home a one time pass from Matson, evening up the score while shorthanded.

The Gophers really evened up the face-offs after two periods, however they were still being out-shot 25 – 11.

The third period was ten minutes of two teams playing for a tie. Then two goals, and a frenzied finish and overtime worthy of this rivalry.

Mike Hoeffel scored his second goal of the game, crashing the net after Brad Eidsness got himself out of the crease chasing a dump in by Pat White. Hoeffel scooped in the loose puck and it seemed like the Gophers may take two points yet. But that lasted about a minute as Jake Marto used at least two Gophers as pinball posts, getting a timely final deflection past Patterson to tie the game.

The final few minutes of the third period were all played in the Sioux zone, with a couple of very close calls, highlighted by Aaron Ness’s shot that hit the post under Eidsness’s outstretched stick. But nothing was going to solve this deadlock as the teams split the points and will head separate directions until the middle of January.

There are still far too many players on this roster that can’t bring it very consistently; but hopefully, the Gophers can take this effort, and apply it more consistently. They will need to with Denver and Wisconsin on the schedule in the next three weeks.

At Least For One Night: New Season, Same Result

Stop if you’ve heard this before: a punchless Gopher team rolled into Ralph Engelstad Arena and was outworked and outplayed by a much more motivated North Dakota Fighting Sioux team en route to another Minnesota loss. That was the case yet again on this night, as the Sioux had no trouble with the Gophers in their 4-0 shutout victory in front of a capacity crowd.

This game could have been as bad or even worse than the pair of six goal performances the Sioux put on display last January. But, on this night, Gophers junior goalie Alex Kangas was the only player who stood out in a good way for the Gophers, turning away 39 of 43 UND shots. Without Kangas’ stellar play, things could have been much worse for Don Lucia’s bunch on this night.

The Sioux came out with a hard forecheck per usual, and that paid dividends early, as Gopher freshman defenseman Seth Helgeson took a hooking penalty in his own zone, and the UND power play wasted little time as sophomore Jason Gregoire took advantage of a fortunate break in front of the Gopher net to slam home a loose puck at just 2:17 of the first period.

Minnesota played a solid game for about the first five minutes or so, but after that, it was literally all Sioux for the remainder of the contest. Yes, the Sioux had the advantage of having played two regular season games last weekend, but that doesn’t account for the apparent lack of effort on Minnesota’s part. From the middle of the first period on, you could count on one hand the number of solid scoring chances the Gophers had.

The Sioux extended its lead to 2-0 after Andrew MacWilliam, a freshman defenseman, took a penalty early in the second period. The Minnesota power play, which was anemic all night, coughed up the puck in their own end, and junior Derrick LaPoint wound up with the puck on his stick heading in towards Kangas, and he scored his first goal of the season after suffering a horrific foot / ankle injury last season to make the score 2-0 Sioux.

North Dakota would put the game out of reach in the third, thanks to a power play blast by senior defenseman Chay Genoway and a hustle / effort goal by sophomore Mario Lamoureux. Both goals came in the first 8:18 of the period, and the Sioux put things in cruise control after that.

As noted in the series preview on GPL, the Sioux appeared to have the edge in the faceoff circle coming into the weekend, and did they ever flex their muscle in that department on Friday. UND won 26 of 42 draws on the night, making the Gophers, who traditionally have liked to play a puck-possession game, chase the puck all night as opposed to having it on their sticks.

Saturday is a new night, but if there’s not a substantial increase in effort and ‘want to’ by the Gophers, it will likely lead to the same result. The Sioux clearly are in the Gophers’ heads, as they have now won nine of the last 12 meetings between the teams, and many by a large margin. Conversely, the Gophers know they are going to get the Sioux’s best shot yet again on Saturday night, and whether they can match that intensity remains to be seen.

It is just one game into the season, but after having back-to-back subpar seasons and tough tests against Denver and Wisconsin on the horizon, it would be safe to say that this Gopher team is a bit fragile, and a tough start could mar this season before it really gets going.

Gophers Hoping To Change Fortunes vs. Sioux

After a long offseason that came on the heels of their first non-NCAA Tournament berth season since 2000, the Minnesota Golden Gophers will get the 2009-10 campaign underway this weekend by taking on the North Dakota Fighting Sioux at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

As both Gopher and Sioux fan bases remember, the teams met in Grand Forks last season as well, and the result was disastrous for the Gophers, as they were run out of the building by the Sioux on both nights by scores of 6-3 and 6-1. The series proved to be a turning point in both team’s seasons. The Gophers had only three losses on their record heading into that weekend, but ended up going 7-8-2 from then on and missed the NCAA Tournament. On the other hand, the Sioux were 11-10-1 heading into those games but finished the season going 11-5-3 and won the MacNaughton Cup as regular season WCHA champions.

Even though this is just the first series of what is a very long college hockey season, you could find out a lot about this year’s Gopher team this weekend. On his radio show this week, Gophers head coach Don Lucia downplayed the significance of “paying North Dakota back” for the whooping they put on his team last year, but several Gopher players talked at media day about wanting to right some wrongs from their performance last January, where the Sioux intimidated the Gophers physically and in return Minnesota didn’t show a lot of resolve.

Both Lucia and senior Ryan Flynn spoke at media day about the need to be a tougher team to play against and about having to win one-on-one battles, particularly in front of both nets. This Gopher team is much more experienced than North Dakota, which hasn’t always been the case in recent years. The Sioux have ten freshmen on their roster with just three seniors. Conversely, Minnesota has just four freshman this season and 12 upperclassmen, including seniors Flynn, Mike Carman, Tony Lucia, Jay Barriball, and David Fischer, all of whom have been through many heated WCHA battles.

The Gophers don’t have to come out of this weekend with four points or a couple of dominating performances, though that certainly would be nice. But, if they are hit all over the ice by the Sioux and don’t show any vigor in return, that would certainly be a red flag and indicate that they are still in search of that toughness they addressed on media day.

Up front, Lucia said on his show that junior wing Mike Hoeffel will get the first crack at replacing the departed Ryan Stoa on the Gophers’ top line with center Jordan Schroeder and Barriball, the right wing. Stoa was one of the best players in college hockey last season and led the Gophers with 46 points, so they aren’t going to be able to replace his production with just one player. However, Hoeffel is very talented, has a monster shot, and playing with a true play-maker in Schroeder should really benefit the former Hill-Murray standpoint. Hoeffel had 20 points as a sophomore and if he can get more pucks on net and get into the “high contact” areas that will require him to get his nose dirty, he could push the 40-point mark this season.

Last season, the Gophers top line was really the only unit that the team could rely on each night to score, but in theory they should have much more depth this season. Talented players such as Patrick White, Nico Sacchetti, and Jake Hansen all of yet to show they type of scoring prowess they displayed at one point in their junior careers, but hopefully they start to show what made all of them high NHL draft picks this season. Despite their youth, the Sioux have great depth as usual and have some solid role players such as Brett Hextall and Darcy Zajac mixed into their lines, and those players will make it very tough on the Gopher forwards.

On the blueline, it’s likely that a pair of freshmen – Seth Helgeson and Nick Leddy – will both make their collegiate debuts this weekend. As Lucia noted on his radio show, there’s not a tougher place in the country to play your first college game than The Ralph, so those two in particular will likely need to absorb some forechecking pressure early on and make smart plays with the puck as they adjust to the speed and tempo. Experienced puck-movers Cade Fairchild and Aaron Ness should be able to help the Gophers break out of their own end against what’s sure to be an aggressive UND attack. Senior David Fischer, who was hurt in the first game of the UND series last season, will be looked upon to be more physical in his own end and be a leader for a talented group of blueliners that was pushed around a good amount last season, though another summer in the weight room should aide their cause.

Despite that fact they were hit around last time out against UND, the main issue in that series was the goaltending, or lack thereof for the Gophers. The duo of Alex Kangas and Kent Patterson had a combined save percentage of just .836 in that series, and though they were hung out to dry a few times, there were several savable goals that made their way into the back of the net. Kangas started both games and was pulled on each night, and at media day, Lucia admitted he should have used Patterson more often last season. Look for Kangas to get the start on Friday night, and if he plays well he could also get the nod on Saturday as he does have the edge in experience, but Patterson will play more games this season, that much is for sure.

The Sioux already have a pair of non-conference games under their belts after sweeping Merrimack in Grand Forks last weekend. Sophomore goalie Brad Eidsness played both games and of course got the W on both nights, but only had a .886 save percentage. Still though, he was very solid last year as a freshman, but the defensemen in front of him this season are much less experienced thanks to the losses of seniors Joe Finley and Zach Jones. Those two were both very physical and made life miserable for the Gopher forwards, and without their size and experience, things may not be as easy for Eidsness as they were a year ago.

Up front for the Sioux, the go-to guys will include senior Chris VandeVelde, who centered the top line flanked by sophomore Jason Gregoire and freshman Danny Kristo last weekend. Both wingers have a ton of talent, and if that line sticks together and clicks, it could be the best in the WCHA. Freshman Michael Cichy was one of the top scorers in the USHL last season, and he should make his impact by season’s end. Senior defenseman Chay Genoway is silky-smooth with the puck and will quarterback the team’s top power play unit.

One of the “little things” to keep an eye on this weekend is the faceoff numbers. Overall, the Sioux are bigger and more experienced up the middle than the Gophers; VandeVelde, a senior, is 6-2, 207, Zajac, another senior, is 6-1, 196 lbs., and Brad Malone is a 6-2, 210 lb. junior. For the Gophers, Carman was their best faceoff man last season at 52 percent, but things dropped off from there. VandeVelde on 55 percent of his draws last season and will likely take all key faceoffs this weekend for the Sioux. Schroeder and Sacchetti both won just 48 percent of his draws last season and neither player is a physical monster, which usually helps in the faceoff department.

Both games will air live on Fox Sports North, with the Friday tilt starting at 7:30 p.m. and the Saturday rematch coming on the air at 7 p.m. On the radio, Friday’s game will air live on KYCR 1570 AM, while Saturdays game will be tape delayed on AM1570 due to NDSU Football.

Season Preview: Goaltenders

Alex Kangas
No. 33 – Junior – Goaltender
2008-09 Stats
36 GP – 17 W – 11 L – 6 T – Save Percentage: .901

It’s difficult to believe that Alex Kangas is only a junior. Because of the attention he received for his stellar play in the playoffs as a freshman, and the constant critiquing he received for his less-than-stellar play last year, it seems like he doesn’t have two years of eligibility left.

This year, the same stress as last year should not apply, at least at the beginning. Coach Lucia seems intent to give more playing time, at the start of the season at least, to Kent Patterson. At this point, it’s pretty hard to argue that this would be a bad thing for Alex. On several occasions last year, he was almost begging to be taken out of games, yet Lucia rarely pulled the trigger.

Alex is a big goalie, but his slow lateral movement and maybe even slower glove hand really may prevent him from carrying this team like he did in March of 2008. Gopher fans can only hope he rediscovered his confidence over the summer and will capture at least a bit of that magic throughout this season.

Kent Patterson
No. 35 – Sophomore – Goaltender
2008-09 Stats
7 GP – 0 W – 2 L – 1T – Save Percentage: .925

It’s tough to comment on Kent at this point. He arrived on campus as a player whom people were confident would fill a #2 goalie role very well, until he could take over later in his Gopher career.

The problem is that he went so long without game action, and didn’t even start his first game until the end of February. He relieved Alex Kangas on six other occasions, but that was usually when the Gophers were down and weren’t exactly lighting the world on fire with their defensive play.

Kent is an older sophomore that has played in many environments; he shouldn’t be intimidated by places like Grand Forks, Madison, and the like. This season we should get a much better look at what he is going to bring to the table. On most weekends to start, Kent and Alex will probably split the starts unless one of them really struggles.

Jake Kremer
Sophomore; Goaltender
2008-09 Stats
DID NOT PLAY

Unfortunately for Jake, we’ll probably never get to see him play much, if at all, outside of exhibition games. Even though Don Lucia, in the past, has shown a willingness to split time between goalies, (and will most likely do just that this year) Jake is essentially a reserve goalie and won’t be seeing the ice this season without injury to both Kangas and Patterson.

He’ll more than likely become a poor man’s Brent Solei by the time his career is over.

Live Chat with David Fischer this Wednesday @ GopherSports.com
Get an inside look at the upcoming Gopher hockey season on Wed., Oct. 14 at noon (central time) in a live chat with senior David Fischer. Questions can be submitted during the chat by clicking "submit a question" on the chat page. Otherwise, questions can also be submitted prior to the chat by e-mailing stric085@umn.edu. The chat will be open for about a half-hour and will be archived for fans unable to follow it live.
Go to GopherSports.com for Chat on Wed.