The apothetic blogger's guide to Gopher Hockey in 2014

Welcome back to all six of you who who are still looking forward to the Gopher Hockey previews.  After a long month off, the Gopher Hockey team is still the #1 ranked team in the nation, and will begin the second half of their season this weekend at home hosting the Mariucci Classic.   The Gophers will play Colgate Friday night, and then will face either RPI, or in what most hockey fans hope happen, #2 Ferris State on Saturday.

The Gophers lead the Big Ten standings with 10 points, however they have played four Big Ten games while all of the other conference teams have only played two.  The Gophers will restart their Big Ten season next weekend with the "much anticipated"  inaugural trip to Happy Valley to play Penn State.  Which makes this series even better is the surely to be audience grabbing Sunday/Monday night schedule for these games. 

Then the Gophers get into their "gimmick" portion of the season, with the outdoor on the "frozen tundra" Hockey City Classic at TCF Bank Stadium against Ohio State, the early face-off Saturday game against OSU on Hockey Day in Minnesota, and then the following week, the North Star College Classic at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

After that weekend, its all about getting down to business as the Gophers will end their season with six straight series against Big Ten Conference foes.  They will finish off the season with the Big Ten Tournament at the X, and barring a major collapse in the next few months, the NCAA West Regional at the X as well.  If all goes well, and they can advance, the Frozen Four is in Philly this season.

So far in this season, the two teams that appear to be actual threats to the Gophers run for a Big Ten title are Michigan and Wisconsin.  The Gophers took care of the Badgers at home after Thanksgiving, but Wisconsin is 8-0-1 at home and with a quirky Thursday/ Friday series in Madison, The Gophers will need to be on their A game.  The Gophers still have both home and away series's left against the Wolverines.  Michigan comes to Mariucci Valentine's Day Weekend, and the Gophers will end the regular season in Ann Arbor in a two game set that may determine the regular season champion.  

The story of the Gopher's season so far, and one that hopefully will continue to broaden in 2014 has been the performance of the freshman class for Minnesota. Justin Kloos leads the Big Ten freshman in scoring with 17 points, and has been an anchor on the second line along with Taylor Cammarata.  Hudson Fasching, who is gaining great attention with his outstanding performance for the US Junior National Team currently has been a surprise on the first line for Minnesota, and has played great on both the power play and penalty kill for the Gophers.  On the defensive side, both Micheal Brodinski and Jake Bischoff have proven themselves ready to play at this level, and have brought an offensive spark to the blue line. 

This weekend's games will be a bit of a challenge for the Gophers due to the fact that they will not have the services of Fasching or Brady Skeji, both of whom are playing on the US junior National Team in Malmo, Sweden currently.  Don Lucia is also the coach of the US squad who are undefeated so far with a game this morning against Canada to finish up pool play.  The US will either be the #1 or #2 seed after pool play when the knock-out rounds start on Thursday.

The lack of Skeji is what will hurt the Gophers the most, coupled with the injury to Jake Paranteau, as Minnesota will only have five active defensemen for the tournament this weekend, instead of the usual six.  The Gophers have said that they will just play with five and an extra forward this weekend rather than move a forward to defense. 

Colgate comes into the game on Friday night with a 7-9-2 record on the season.  They split a series with Ferris State to open the year, and were also swept by St. Cloud State.  The Gophers have never lost to the Raiders, with a 6-0 record all-time including a 9-0 win in their last meeting in 2001.  Their leading scorer is #21 Mike Borkowsi, a sophomore forward who has 17 points on the season.  Colgate has played three goalies this season with Freshman Charlie Finn and Senior Erik Mihalik splitting most of the time.  Finn is 4-4-1 on the season and Mihalik is 3-4-1.


The Gophers will either play RPI or Ferris State in the second game of the weekend.  RPI is 8-6-4 this season with a notable 7-2 loss to Boston College.  The Gophers have a 9-2 record all-time against the Engineers. Ju nior forward Ryan Haggerty leads the nation in goals with 18.

Ferris State is currently the #2 ranked team in the county and comes in with a 14-2-3 record.  They hold the nation's longest unbeaten streak having gone 12-0-2 in their last 14 games.  They are the seventh highest scoring team in the nation at 3.58 goals per game.  On offense they are lead by forward Garrett Thompson who has 20 points on the season.  Junior Goalie C. J. Motte is the star of the Bulldog squad who is 14-0-3 and has a 2.03 goals against average and a 93% save percentage.  The Gophers are 3-1-1 all-time against the Bulldogs including a 2-2 tie in the third place game of the Mariucci Classic on January 1, 2011.


Both games will face-off at 7:00 for the Gophers this weekend.  Friday night's game will be on FSN, and Saturday night's game will not be televised.  Plenty of tickets will be available as the students are still on break, so if you want to see #1 vs #2 in the nation, you are going to have to be there in person. I see a 5-2 win Friday night, and due to the lack of Fasching and Skeji a 3-2 loss on Saturday.

Big Ten Beat Down

Kyndell Harkness

Welcome to December in Minnesota!  Suck It Bucky!  Sweep, Sweep, Sweep!    The Gopher Hockey team started off the Big Ten Conference right with a two game sweep of the evil red menace, and now looks forward to its first Big Ten road series, and last two games in 2013 at Michigan State.

Friday night's game looked a lot like last Friday's game against UMD.  Once again the Gophers got off to a slow start as Joe LaBate put the Badgers up 1-0 early in the first period.  However, the Gophers struck back quickly on the power play as Mike Reilly scored his Big Ten Defenseman high sixth goal of the season to knot the game at 1.  Four minutes later Seth Ambroz scored his first goal of the season off the back of Badger sieve Landon Peterson's skate and into the net to make it 2-1 Gophers.  For Ambroz, it was just the start of a very productive weekend.

The second period went by scoreless as neither team dominated play.  Adam Wilcox made several nice saves for the Gophers in net, and Peterson returned the favor for the Badgers. In the third Connor Reilly made it two times in which he and his brother have scored in the same game this season to put the Gophers up 3-1.  After Peterson was pulled with about two minutes left in the game, Ambroz got a nice pass off the halfboards from Ben Marshall and he hammered home toe empty netter to complete the 4-1 Gopher win.

Saturday's game got off to a familiar start, as Frankie Simonelli put Wisconsin up just four minutes into the game 1-0.  The Gophers countered back immediately less than a minute later when Kyle Rau found himself all alone in front of Joel Rumpel with the puck and went top shelf to tie the game.  Unlike Friday, the Badgers had more than one goal up their sleeves however, and Nic Kerdiles scored with five minutes left to make it 2-1 Badgers into intermission. In the second the only goal was scored by Ambroz, who recieved a pretty pass from behind the net from Tom Serratore and put away his second shot attempt after Rumpel stopped the first one.

In the third period, Minnesota took their first lead of the game when Brady Skjei slid a seeing-eye wrist shot past Rumpel to make it 3-2.  Micheal Mersch countered for the Badgers halfway through the third with a redirection goal to tie it at three, and that how it stood until 26 seconds were left in the game.  Travis Boyd redirected a puck toward the front of the Badger net where Ambroz put the puck past Rumpel for his second of the game, and fourth of the weekend to put Minnesota ahead 4-3.  Wisconsin pulled Rumpel, but never got a good shot on Wilcox, and the Battle Hymn rang out through out Mariucci.

Ambroz quite deservedly was named the Big Ten First Star of the Week, after his four goal weekend.  The streak of having a Gopher player named a star every week so far this season continues on.  Unfortunately Sam Warning's point streak came to a close. Warning was kept off of the score sheet all weekend long.   The Gophers continue to be the #1 national ranked team for the seventh consecutive week.  Also, two Gophers were named to the preliminary roster for the US World Junior Team this past week.  Both Hudson Fasching and Brady Skjei were named to the team that Gopher coach Don Lucia will head in Malmo, Sweden after Christmas.  Both players and Lucia will miss the Mariucci Classic.

Big Ten Road Battle #1

Once again the hockey team will look to avenge the football team a week after its loss to a tough Michigan State squad.  It will be the first Big Ten Road games for the Gophers, and the first ever series for the Spartans.  The Gophers played Michigan State in a home series last season, and easily swept the Spartans 5-1 and 7-1.  Rau leads the Gophers with four points in four games against the Spartans in his Gopher career.  The Gophers have not been as god at Munn Arena in East Lansing lately however.  The Gophers tied MSU and lost in a two game series in a post-Thanksgiving series in 2011.  The Gophers are  4-2-4 in their last ten against MSU and are 103-43-12 all time against the Spartans. 

Michigan State is coming off an impressive sweep of Princeton last weekend.  The Spartans won 4-2 Friday and then came back Sunday and put up 8 goals in an 8-2 win.  Senior forward Greg Wolfe scored two goals in Sunday's tilt for the Spartans.  He leads the team in scoring with ten points and seven goals on the season.   Sophomore Jake Hildebrand leads MSU in goal.  He is 4-5 with a 2.5.57 goals against average.  Senior Will Yanakeff has played in three games this season for the Spartans and is 1-2.  Other players to watch for MSU will be  Senior Defenseman Jake Chelios, son of long time NHLer Chris Chelios.  Freshman forward Mackenzie MacEachern is also scoring at a decent clip, with eight points in twelve games.

The Gophers should have no problem sweeping this weekend if they play on their game.  The Spartans have some talent, but not enough o keep up with Minnesota if they are playing at their peak.  I see the Gophers winning 5-2 Friday and 4-3 Saturday.  The Friday game will face-off at 6:00 central and will be broadcast on FSN +.  Saturday will face-off at 3:00 so Michigan State fans can watch their football team get killed by Ohio State that night and will be broadcast on FSN North.  Both games will be streamed on BTN2Go.  Friday night's game will be on AM1500 on radio, and Saturday afternoon's game will be on 107.1 FM.

What they are saying on the Twitters

 

Michigan State hockey team is coming in to eat at my work tonight! #oohlala ;)
— Jules Boyden (@Juelz_boy) December 5, 2013

Food poisoning in play??

Alright Kids. who wants to see the first B1G Hockey game in MSU History? I have a pair for tomorrow night. Respond by 5:00pm. Random draw.
— Scott Moore (@ScottMoore32660) December 5, 2013

Hmm...think these seats would be more popular

Extra tickets to the msu hockey game tomorrow, holla 👌
— Nolan Arendt (@thattonekiid) December 5, 2013

Seems to be a trend....

Does anyone want to go to the MSU hockey game tomorrow night?
— Annette Stromberg (@a12r22s) December 5, 2013

I'm pretty sure you can easily find tickets

@MSU_Hockey @B1GHockey looks like another sweep
— jd melvin (@jdmelvin1990) December 5, 2013

Yep...for the Gophers

HATE WEEK PART DEUX!!! IT'S BIG TEN TIME!

Marlin Levison

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  The Gopher Hockey team is coming off of a home split against UMD at Mariucci, and is gearing up for the post-turkey holiday fest everyone has been anxiously waiting for....BIG TEN HOCKEY!!!  That's right, the Big Ten Hockey Conference will officially begin on Friday at 4:03 when Minnesota and Wisconsin face-off for the 267th time.

The Gophers got off to a slow start against UMD last Friday night as Charlie Sampair put the Bulldogs up 1-0 early in the first period.  However, the Gophers struck back quickly and fiercely as A.J. Michaelson took a eautiful pass from Taylor Cammarata and put it in the net to tie the game at one.  Two minutes later, after the Gophers controled the puck for almost a full minute in the UMD zone, Tom Serratore whipped a beautiful wrist shot past UMD goalie Aaron Crandall to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead.  Thirty-six seconds later, Cammarata hia a streaking Justin Kloos heading to the net who went top shelf over Crandall and put the Gophers up 3-1 after one period.

The second period was more Gophers as Sam Warning tried to slam a wraparound home and was stopped, but Kyle Rau was right in front to put the rebound home and put Minnesota up 4-1.  Travis Boyd ended Crandall's night early after he took a beautiful wrist shot and put the puck in the upper corner to make it 5-1.  UMD's other goalie Matt McNeely did not have any more luck as Micheal Brodzinski put home a power play goal to make it 6-1 a few minutes later.  Adam Wilcox made 36 saves as the Gophers got outshot 15-5 in eh third period, but no additional goals were cored and the game ended in a 6-1 final. 

Sunday afternoon's game did not go so well for Minnesota.  After not scoring on a 5 on 3 power play midway through the first period, UMD forward Dom Toninato beat Wilcox shorthanded to give UMD a 1-0 lead.  Unlike Friday night, the Gophers would not respond, and UMD who was 4-1 on the second game of the series this season kept the pressure on adding two more goals to make it 3-0 after one period.  The Gophers struck back in the second period as Mike Reilly scored on the power play to cut the lead to 3-1.  However, any momentum gained would not last as UMD scored their second and third powerplay goals on the afternoon to make the score 5-1 after 2 periods and send Adam Wilcox to the showers early.  Mike Shibrowski did not do any better as UMD scored thier fourth power play goal of the game to make it 6-1 before the Gophers added a late power play goal from Brodzinski to make the final 6-2.

The special teams were not kind to the Gophers this weekend as UMD went 4-7 in Sunday afternoon's finale on the powerplay, and the Gophers were 3 for 15 on the weekend.  The Gophers also gave up their first shorthanded goal of the season.  None less, one positive out of the weekend was the play of Brodzinski.  The freshman defenseman was named the Big Ten Third Star of the Week, continuing a streak of having a Gopher player named every week so far this season.  Also still going is Sam Warning's incredible point streak.  He has scored a point in every single game so far this season, and added an assit in each of this weekend's games.  The Gopers even clung to thier #1 national ranking after the past weekend.  St Cloud State picked up one more first place vote than the Gophers in the USCHO poll, however, Minnesota still had one more point in the total rankings to remain on top for at least another week.

HATE WEEK PART DEUX IS UPON US!!!!

After the football team unfortunately could not win back Paul Bunyon's Axe last weekend, it is time for the hockey team to defend Minnesota's honor this weekend as the hated Wisconsin Badgers come into town for the first two Big Ten  Conference games for either team.  In fact, by way of the early 4:00 faceoff on Friday afternoon, the Gophers and Badgers will beat Michigan and Michigan State by about two hours in being the first official Big Ten Conference game ever. The Gophers took three points from the Badgers last November at Mariucci, tying 2-2 Friday and winning 3-1 on Saturday.  In Madison last season, the Gophers beat the Badgers 3-2 on Friday, and then lost 3-2 in the Hockey City Classic at Soldier Field on Sunday.  The Gophers have a 24-15-7 record against the Badgers in the Mike Eaves era, but just 15-13-6 since 2005.  Wisconsin is also 3-2 against the Gophers when they are ranked #1 in the nation under Mike Eaves.

The Badgers come into town ranked #12 in the nation after beginning the season ranked #2.  Wisconsin had it season go off on a bad foot on a road trip to the Boston area where they were destroyed by BC 9-2 on Friday and BU 7-3 on Saturday.  Wisconsin was without goalie Joel Rumpel on that trip, and it showed.  Rumpel who had an ankle injury is back in action, but is splitting time with the other junior goalie, Landon Peterson.  Peterson was announced as starting Friday night's game against the Gophers, and it would be expected Rumpel will see the ice on Saturday. 

Last weekend, Wisconsin split a non-conference series against Miami, OH.  The Redhawks won 2-0 Friday night, and Wisconsin won 3-2 on Saturday.  The Badgers got late goals by Senior forward Micheal Mersch and  junior forward Joe LaBate.  Mersch leads the Badgers in scoring with nine points on the season  and five goals.  Nic Kerdiles, the sophomore forward who was suspended for the first portion of last season leads a group of four players with eight points that includes Tyler Barnes, Jake McCabe, and Mark Zengerle.   All five players are a threat to score, and form the core of the Badgers team.  The Badgers also have gotten some production from freshman Grant Besse, the 2013 Minnesota Mr. Hockey from Benilde St. Margaret's.

In what should be a hard-fought battle against two rivals, I see the Gophers splitting this weekend.  I see Minnesota winning the first even Big Ten Conference game on Friday 3-1, and then losing 3-2 on Saturday.   The Friday game will face-off at 4:00 and will be broadcast on ESPNU.  Saturday will face-off at 5:00 and will be broadcast on FSN North, and streamed on BTN2Go.  Both games will be on AM1500 on radio.

What they are saying on the Twitters

I wanna see a Wisconsin Badger hockey game. #Disappointment
— Kaitlin Conroy (@BballGalKaitlin) November 27, 2013

 #Disappointment....good way to describe Badger Hockey

So excited to go to the Badger-Gopher hockey game at Mariucci Arena over thanksgiving break with my dad #badgerpride #familytime
— Katelyn Jewell (@KatelynJo10) November 26, 2013

I think you meant #Badgerssuck....but its ok

In the words of the late Bob "Badger" Johnson, it's a great day for hockey. #NHL
— C. J. Martinez (@Nighthawk72) November 27, 2013

Cough..."Badger" Bob was a Gopher...Cough

Got them Badger/Gopher hockey tickets! See ya Friday and Saturday Mariucci!
— Meghan Bergman (@Meghan_Bergman) November 26, 2013

Yes..lets hope we see more of you.....

Remember folks, if anything bad happens to you this week, it's wisconsin's fault. #BetterDeadThanRed
— Billy Brew (@BillyBrew) November 26, 2013

#TRUTH!!!!!

Shibby Saves + Little Brother Comes to Town

Kyndell Harkness

The Gopher hockey team and crowd got to hear the Battle Hymn for the first time this season after a sweep of Minnesota State-Mankato this past weekend, and look ahead to another former WCHA foe, UMD this weekend at Mariucci.

Friday night, the Gophers cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Mavericks.  Adam Wilcox stopped 34 shots, and got contributions from two of the Reilly brothers.  Justin Kloos started off the scoring half way through the first period when Nate Condon slipped an amazing pass through several defenders from the sideboards to the middle of the ice right onto Kloos stick who snapped the wrist shot past Mankato goalie Cole Huggins for the opening tally.  Eight minutes later, Condon again set up the goal with a pass back to Mike Reilly  who let his wrist shot fly past Huggins to make it 2-0 after one period.  Mankato became much more physical in the second period, and in doing so got called for a couple of penalties.  The Gophers made them pay when Connor Reilly ripped a one-timer off of a pass from Sam Warning to put the Gophers up 3-0.  The Reilly's became the first set of brothers to score in the same game for the Gophers since the Potulny's, current assistant coach Grant, and his brother Ryan did in in March of 2004.  In the third period, Mankato would not go away.  Adam Wilcox made several insane saves, and allowed only one goal to his former high school teammate Zach Palmquist.  Seth Ambroz would tack on an empty net goal with less than 30 seconds remaining, and Minnesota completed the 4-1 win.

Saturday night, Coach Don Lucia surprised the Gopher fan base in giving Senior goalie Mike Shibrowski a start.  Shibrowski's last start had been at Michigan Tech in October of 2012, 393 days prior. He did not disappoint stopping all 25 shots he faced getting his first career shutout in a 3-0 Gopher win.  Great play from the Gopher freshmen class continued Saturday as Grant Bischoff scored the first goal for Minnesota.  Bischoff crashed the net and fellow frosh Hudson Fasching found his with a great pass to make it 1-0.  Mankato thought they had struck back two minutes later when Bryce Gervais put the puck past Shibrowski, however upon replay it was obvious that he had used his hand to put the puck in the net, and the goal was disallowed.  The second period was an up and down affair, however both Shibrowski and Huggins stood tall and kept the puck out of the nets.  In the third period the Gophers broke through.  Justin Holl made a nice play behind the net to create a turnover and put the puck to the front of the goal. Tom Seratorre was standing right in front as the puck slid onto his stick and he popped it over Huggins' shoulder for his first goal in 17 games.  Two minutes later the Gopher's #1 line made it 3-0 when Warning from behind the net found a streaking Fasching in front who hammered home his team leading sixth goal of the season to complete the sweep.  As the Battle Hymn was being played by the band, the team mobbed Shibrowski and proved that the Gophers do have two viable goalies for the rest of the season.

For Shibrowski's game, he was named the #2 Star of the Week by the Big Ten.  A Gopher has been one of the three stars every week so far this season.  Sam Warning had three assists on the weekend and currently has 17 points to lead the Gophers.  he has tallied at least one point in every game so far this season.  He is currently leading the Big Ten and is 7th in the nation in scoring, however he has played two less games than the national leaders above him.  Fasching's 13 points on the season lead all freshmen in the Big Ten. 

Little Brother's Back in Town

This weekend former WCHA foe Minnesota-Duluth comes to tow for a two game series against the Gophers.  The #19 ranked Bulldogs are now in the NCHC where they have a 2-2 record, and an overall 5-4 record.  The Gophers and Bulldogs have played over 200 times as Minnesota has an all-time record of 132-74-16 against UMD. Minnesota is 5-2-3 in their last ten meetings, with their last loss to UMD at Mariucci coming in 2009.    Nate Condon leads all Gophers in scoring against the Bulldogs with 9 points in 8 career games. 

Last weekend UMD split a series in Grand Forks against North Dakota.  The Bulldogs are led in scoring by freshman forward Alex Iafallo.  His ten points on the season are nearly double anyone else on the squad.  In goal, UMD has used senior Aaron Crandall in seven games and sophomore Matt McNeely in three games.  McNeely has the better stats of the two with a 1.64 goals against average and a 92.3 % save percentage. UMD as a team likes to play a low scoring game, averaging only 2.8 goals per game this season.  Other Bulldogs to watch for this weekend include highly touted freshman Dom Toninato, senior forward Joe Basaraba, and sophomore forward Tony Cameranesi, brother of Gopher Women's freshman and 2013 Ms. Hockey Dani Cameransei.  

The Friday night game will face-off at 7:10 and will be broadcast on FSN+ , and on 1500 AM on radio.  The Sunday game (which was postponed due to the MN/WI football game on Saturday) will face-off at 4:00 PM and will be broadcast on FSN and 1500 AM.  Both games will be available to stream on BTN2go.com.    Coming off of last week's sweep, the Gophers will continue to play well in the non-conference portion of the season before finally beginning Big Ten play next weekend.  Gophers win 5-2 Friday and 4-3 Sunday.

What they are Saying on the Tweeters:

Today I'm sporting UMD hockey sweatpants with a U of M hockey sweatshirt. Bout to get beat up
— Megan Flaherty (@mega_flare1) November 21, 2013

Didn't know Maroon and Gold were gang colors....

Gonna kill some rodents this weekend ARFARFARFF!!! @KaylalalaF @osterberg22 @Osterberg19 @UMDHockey #bulldogsgophers #ARFARFARF
— Heather Ann Felix (@AnnFelic) November 20, 2013

 Worst Bulldog Impression Ever.....

The hockey players at UMD as such huge douchebags!
— Tyler Peterson (@TPeterson_11) November 20, 2013

No comment

Just got asked if I play hockey for UMD. Ummm I wish....
— Zach McCleary (@ZMcCleary) November 19, 2013

Dream bigger son....dream bigger

I miss bulldog hockey #UMD
— anyssa houck (@anyssahouck10) November 19, 2013

 I miss....umm

UMD's hockey team looks so cute with the #19 next to their name 😂😂😂
— Cody Komorouski (@CodyKomo6) November 19, 2013

 tGopher Arrogance!

Irish Split + Purple Cow Party!

Robert Franklin, South Bend Trib

Welcome back to your weekly dose of Gopher Hockey.  The Gophers are coming off of their toughest weekend of the season so far.  The #1 Gophers went into South Bend, Indiana to take on the #3/#4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish.  After a tough Friday night where Minnesota lost their first game of the season, and frankly did not look good at all, they battled back using their outstanding freshman class to split the series with a 5-4 win Saturday night.

Friday night the Compton Family Ice Center was rocking as the Gophers had not made the trip to South Bend since 1980.  The first period was a back and forth affair, but no one could get the puck past either of the two outstanding goalies, Adam Wilcox for Minnesota and Stephen Summerhays for Notre Dame.  After Tom Serratore picked up a roughing minor early in the second period, Byran Rust made the Gophers pay as he slid a backhand past Wilcox on the power play to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.  Five minutes later Ben Marshall would even the score for the Gophers with a nifty wrist shot from the top of the left circle.  Unfortunately, that would be the lone Gopher goal of the evening.  With three minutes left in the period, Sam Herr scored on another power play for Notre Dame and gave them a 2-1 going into the third.  Notre Dame would add a third goal three minutes into the third, and an empty netter with under a minute left to cap off their 4-1 victory, and give the Gophers their first loss of the season.

It would be a mystery how the Gophers would react Saturday night after their worst played game of the season the night before, and it would be Minnesota's outstanding freshman class that carried them that evening.  The Gophers started the scoring with Taylor Cammarata would score his third goal of the season on the power play about seven minutes into the game.  The freshman onslaught continued three minutes later as Hudson Fasching went to the wrap around on a nifty play and put Minnesota up 2-0 ten minutes into the game.  Notre Dame would answer a minute and a half later to cut the Gopher lead to 2-1, but Justin Kloos would come through at the 15-minute mark to once again extend the lead to 2 goals at 3-1.  With 17 seconds left in the first period, the Gophers were victimized by an Irish player they know well.  Mario Lucia, Gopher coach Don Lucia's son scored his first of two goals on the night and make it 3-2 Gophers after one period of play.

Fasching would add his second goal of the night and fifth of the season seven minutes into the second go put the Gophers up 4-2.  However, the Irish were not going to go down that easily.  Lucia scored his second of the game to cut the lead to 4-3, and with the Gophers down two men late in the second period, Stephen Johns scored with two second left in the period to send it to intermission knotted at 4.  In a back and forth third period, the only tally was scored by another freshman, Jake Bischoff.  His second goal of the year was enough, as Wilcox held strong down the end and Minnesota hung on for a 5-4 victory.

Hudson Fasching was rewarded with the Big Ten's Third Star of the Week after his weekend against the Irish where he had two goals and an assist.  He currently leads all Big Ten Freshmen in points (11), goals (5), and =/- (+12).  A Gopher player has been named one of the three starts each week so far this season.  The Gophers also kept their #1 national ranking after the split as all of the teams on their heels also lost at least one game this weekend. 

Purple Cow Party!!!

It will feel like the old WCHA the next few weeks for the Gopher hockey team as they will host three familiar foes the next three weeks.  This weekend's series is against the Minnesota State- Mankato Mavericks.  For those wondering why this is a purple cow party, this is the Mavericks Logo:

Makes you think Mankato huh.....

The Gophers and Mavericks are of course former in-state rivals in the old WCHA.  MSU-M is still currently in the "new" WCHA, and are 2-2 in conference play and 4-4 overall this season.  The Gophers are 33-10-6 all-time against the Mavericks and have a 16-4-6 record at Mariucci Arena.  However, MSU-M has had recent success against the Gophers as the teams are 5-5 in their last ten games.  The Gophers will also see a familiar face on the Maverick bench as their coach Mike Hastings is a former Gopher assistant.  He has a 2-2 record against his former team.

The Mavericks are led in scoring so far this season by Senior Forward Johnny McInnis. His six points are the most on the squad and his three goals are tied for the team lead.  Sophomore Bryce Gervais is another player with a high-scoring potential.  he is tied for the team lead with three goals as well.   Much of the Maverick's recent success has been on the shoulders of Sophomore Goalie Stephon Williams.  Williams was one of the best goalies in the NCAA last season until he self-destructed in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Since them he has struggled to regain his form giving up 3.4 goals per game this season, with only an 87% save percentage.  This has made Hastings have to rely a lot more on Freshman Cole Huggins, who in portions of four games this season has only allowed three goals and has a 96.4% save percentage.  It would be expected that the Gophers will most likely see both goalies this weekend. Being back home will be a recharge for this squad, so I forsee a Gopher sweep, with a 5-2 win Friday and a 4-3 win Saturday to hear the Battle Hymn!

Both games this weekend will face-off at 7:10 at Mariucci Arena.  Both games will be broadcast on Fox Sports Plus, and will be streamed via BTN2go.com.  The Friday night game will be on AM1500, and the Saturday night game will be on 107.1 due to a conflict with Gopher Basketball.  

What they are saying on the Twitters:

Go to MSU Mankato? Why don't I just shoot myself.
— Brad Davern (@DadBravern) November 13, 2013

No don't do that....it could be worse you could go to St. Cloud?

Anyone down for Gophers vs. Mankato hockey on Friday?
— Tyler Johnson (@TJohns1720) November 14, 2013

Yes Please!

Lets go to the Mankato vs U of M hockey game somebody plz
— Evan Mulville (@evanmulville) November 11, 2013

Umm....A bit whiny if you ask me...

So that guy thinks the packers are a winning team. Sort of like how he probably considers Mankato a real college.
— GOPHERgossip (@GOPHERgossip) November 10, 2013

 Ouch......it burns so good.

 

 And Now for Some Dancing....

 

 

 

Taking Away the Luck of the Irish

Gophersports.com

After a week to relax and recoup, and probably party a bit, the Gopher Hockey Team will play its toughest road series of the season this weekend when they visit the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame for a two game series.  The Irish were ranked #2 in the country going into their first ever series in Hockey East at Vermont last weekend, and Gopher fans were hoping the Irish would play well enough to set up a #1 vs #2 match-up in South Bend this weekend.  Unfortunately, Vermont had other ideas, and spoiled the match-up beating Notre Dame 2-1 on Friday night, and taking the Irish to the brink Saturday night before Sophomore Wing Sam Herr scored two goals in 1:02 of the third period to send the Irish home with a 3-2 win and a series split.  The Irish dropped a few spots in this week's polls to #3 in the USA Today poll, and #4 in the USCHO poll.


The Gophers of course are the #1 ranked team in the country in both polls, and are one of only two undefeated teams left in the NCAA, the other being St. Cloud State.  The Gophers and Irish played one game last season, on a Tuesday night in January.  The Irish football team had lost the National Championship game to Alabama the night before, and the Gopher fans reminded the Irish of this fact multiple times during the game with Alabama-clap-clap-clapclapclap chants echoing from the student section.  The Gophers would come out hot against the Irish when Nate Condon scored on the first Gopher shot of the game.  Sam Warning would add another in the first period before the Irish scored their only goal of the game to cut the Gopher lead to 2-1 after one period.  Christian Isackson scored in the second, and Zach Budish added an empty-netter in the third to cap off the 4-1 Minnesota victory, and cement their ranking as the #1 team in the country. The Gophers are 23-13-3 all-time against Notre Dame, and 5-4-1 all-time in South Bend.

The Irish have several potent playmakers on their team, and are lead by their Senior Goalie, Stephen Summerhayes.  He is 6-1 on the season thus far and has a goals against average of a minute 1.49.  The Gophers potent scoring machine will need to be hot this weekend, as the most goals the Irish have allowed in a game this season is 3. 

As for the scorers, Notre Dame has plenty of them as well.  Their most feared sniper is Senior center TJ Tynan.  He is tied for the team lead with 8 points so far this season and was the team's offensive player of the year in 2012.  Sophomore left wing Sam Herr leads the team with five goals on the season.

However, probably the most well known Notre Dame player would be Sophomore winger Mario Lucia.  The son of Gopher coach Don Lucia, and Minnesota Wild draft pick, is off to a bit of a slow start this season with only three points in eight games.  However, you can be sure that he will pick his game up against his dad's team.

This game will also be interesting for people interested in the future of these squads.  Notre Dame has several high profile recruits from Minnesota, and specifically Edina coming in the next few seasons.  Dylan Malmquist and Connor Hurley are the two most notable names.  Many Gopher fans were hoping that the two of them would become Gophers, but instead they followed former Hornet and Irish player Anders Lee to Notre Dame.  Hurley is expected to be a freshman next season, while Malmquist will be a freshman in 2015-16.  

The games will be a bit of a challenge to find on tv and radio this weekend.  Friday night's game will face-off at 7:00 PM Central, and will be broadcast on the NBCSports Network.  The Radio broadcast will be on 107.1 FM instead of the usual 1500 AM due to Gopher Basketball.  On Saturday, the game will face-off at 6:00 PM Central, and is not on TV.  The game will be live streamed on NBCSports.com, as will Friday night's tilt.  The radio will be back on 1500 AM for Saturday's game. 

What they are saying on the Twitters:

Notre Dame is the reason for all the problems in college hockey @Cbeck34 @BPoli19 #confirmed
— Alex Quirk (@aquirko) November 5, 2013

I'd like to think its North Dakota...but to each their own

Already looking forward to watching the Minnesota v. Notre Dame hockey game this weekend 😈
— murray (@knmurray24) November 4, 2013

Yes, I am as well but probably not for the same reason

And for the ladies of "Our Lady"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beaver Recap and a Chance to Shut Boston Up

Kyle Rau scores against BC last season at Mariucci

Welcome back to week three of your recap on everything Gopher Hockey, and a look ahead to this weekend.  The Gophers did not find much resistance in sliding past the Beavers of Bemidji State last weekend.  This weekend the Gopher will have their toughest test of the season as they will host the fifth ranked Eagles of Boston College.

The Gophers continued their successful start to their season with a series sweep of the Beavers in Bemidji.  The Gophers had to deal with a physical Beaver squad to pull away late in the third period to win 6-3 Friday night, and then had a bit easier of a time in winning 5-1 Saturday.

Bemidji jumped out in front less than four minutes into the game Friday night as Danny Mattson scored on the power play. However, the Gophers did not waste any time as Travis Boyd scored 61 seconds later to knot the game at 1.  Ben Marshall added a power play goal for the Gophers later in the first and they took a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.  The two teams traded goals in the second period with Sam Warning tallying for the Gophers as they took a 3-2 lead into the third period.  After freshman Hudson Fasching banged home a rebound for his second goal of the season to put Minnesota up 4-2 less than a minute into the third, it appeared like the Gophers were going to ease into a victory.  However, Bemidji had other thoughts, as all-name team member Radoslav Illo ripped a power play shot from the point to once again bring the Beavers within one goal.  Once again, the Gophers immediately responded, as Senior captain Nate Condon scored his first goal of the season 52 seconds later to put Minnesota up 5-3.  Connor Reilly would add an empty netter late and Minnesota took a hard fought 6-3 victory.


In Saturday night's rematch once again the Beavers struck first.  Jeff Jubinville struck just 2:37 into the game staking Bemidji to a 1-0 lead.  The Gophers took almost a period to respond to a much more physical Beaver squad in the second game of the weekend.  Warning scored his second of the weekend late in the first to send the game to the first intermission knotted at 1.  The Gophers would add two more in the second period as Taylor Cammarata scored his first collegiate goal on a rebound of a wide shot off the back boards and right onto his stick midway through the period.  Three minutes later Warning added his third of the weekend to make the score 3-1.  Mike Reilly and Justin Kloos would add goals in the third, and the Gophers cruised to a 5-1 victory and the sweep.

Sam Warning whose three goals and two assists on the weekend led the way was named the Big Ten's #1 Star of the Week.  He is tied for the NCAA lead in points so far this season with 9.  In two career games against Boston College Warning is tied for the team lead with Kyle Rau with 3 points each, and both will have to play very well this weekend in what will be by far the toughest task for the Gophers so far this season. Kloos was also rewarded by the Big Ten for his five point weekend with the #3 Star of the Week.  

In non game related news this week, Christian Horn, a Junior forward from Benilde St Margaret's,  who had yet to play for the Gophers in his first two seasons left the program to go play in the USHL.  There is a possibility Horn could rejoin the team next year, but it is more likely he will go to a different team similar to what Max Gardner did when he left the Gopher program four years ago to go back to the USHL for the season.  Gardner will see his former teammates later this season as he is now the Senior captain for Penn State.

On to this weeks series: Take Boston Down a Peg!

The national poll voters once again were impressed with the Gophers performance (and coupled with previous #1 Miami of Ohio splitting with the evil Whioux, and #2 Wisconsin getting absolutely slaughtered in Boston by BC Friday night 9-2 and BU Saturday night 7-3)  Minnesota moved from #3 to #1 in both national polls this week.  They welcome in the #5 ranked Boston College Eagles to Mariucci Arena for a two game series this weekend Friday night, and Sunday afternoon after taking Saturday off for the MN/Nebraska football game.

The Gophers played Boston College once last season in the Championship Game of the Mariucci Classic.  The Gophers came into that game ranked #4 in the nation and BC was #1.  The Gophers jumped all over the Eagles scoring three goals in the first period and cruising to a 8-1 victory.  Kyle Rau and Nick Bjugstad both had two goals for the Gophers. The Gophers were enacting a bit of revenge on BC who ended Minnesota's season in 2012 with a 6-1 thrashing of the Gophers in the NCAA Frozen Four Semifinals.  BC would go on to win the National Championship that season. 

Boston College last weekend only played one game, hosting Wisconsin Friday night.  The Eagles absolutely destroyed the Badgers.  BC scored four goals in the first period in a span of four an a half minutes enroute to a 9-2 victory.  Junior Johnny Gaudreau added three points to go over the 100 career point milestone.  He is the biggest threat for the Eagles.  Fast, small, and able to score at will Gaudreau will be a tough task for a Gopher defense that has looked penetrable at times to keep contained this weekend.  Boston College will play two goalies this weekend, as it appears Freshman Thatcher Demko will play Friday night, and Junior Brian Billett will play on Sunday.  Demko is 1-0 after getting the win over RPI during the first weekend of the season. Billett is 1-1 after the victory over Wisconsin and was in goal for BC's lone loss of the season in their season opener at Michigan.  The Wolverines won 3-1 beginning a string of games in the Inaugural Big Ten/ Hockey East Challenge.  Eleven different teams are playing in thirteen games to determine the conference winner.  Unfortunately for the Big Ten with only the MN/BC series remaining, Hockey East is winning 9-4. 

The Gophers will look to build off of last season's thrashing of the Eagles this weekend.  While Minnesota leads the all-time series 15-12-2, Boston College is 6-1 in their last seven games against the Gophers. However, the Gophers have an all-time record of 9-1 against BC in Mariucci Arena, so something will have to give this weekend.  It is going to be a true test for a young Gopher squad.  Adam Wilcox will have to have a great weekend for the Gophers in goal to get a sweep.  Unfortunately, I don't see it all coming together ads BC is a very good team, and the Gophers are due for a not so good performance. I see the Gophers winning 5-4 Friday night and losing 5-2 on Sunday. Friday night's game will begin at 7:00 and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.  Sunday afternoon's game will start at 1:10 and be on FSN.

Boston College Notable Names:

#9 Brendon Silk (Son of 1980 Olympian Dave Silk) So-F
#14 Adam Gilmour (Son of NHL player Doug Gilmour) FR-F
#17 Destry Straight Jr-F
#30 Thatcher Demko FR-G

Here's What They Are Saying on Twitter:

Pretty slow week with everyone in Boston watching the Red Sox and not the Eagles...

My grandma just said "why don't you just go play hockey at Boston College" #WhyDidntIThinkOfThat
— Matt Robinson (@MattRob19) October 22, 2013

Yes...why didn't you think of that??

Hockey Banter, Week II: On To The Next Rodent #wearebc http://t.co/usJRxcgpSf
— BC Interruption (@bcinterruption) October 22, 2013

 

Something tells me these rodents will put up more of a fight...

 

  The Girls of BC:

 

Icebreaker recap + We're about to go on a Beaver Hunt!

Welcome back to your weekly recap on everything Gopher Hockey.  Hopefully some of you are return customers and not random people trolling for shaved ladybits.

The Gophers began their season last weekend on a high note by winning the Icebreaker Classic at Mariucci Arena.  The Gophers kicked off their season with a 6-0 plastering of Mercyhurst on Friday, and followed that up with a 3-2 come from behind win over New Hampshire on Saturday night.

The Gophers got on the board first Friday night as junior captain Kyle Rau put away a rebound on the power play.  They added three additional tallies in the second as Seth Ambroz scored what may go down as the goal of the season in the first game of the year.  Ambroz ripped a shot off the right goalpost, and caught the carom in midair, dropped the puck and swatted it between his legs in midair off the back of the Mercyhurst goalie and into the net.  Trust me, it looked a hell of a lot cooler then I described it...in fact take a look:

 

With thanks from @GoAUpher on twitter

Junior wing Sam Warning added his first of the weekend as did freshman Justin Kloos to make it 4-0 after two periods.  In the third, Mike Reilly and Micheal Brodzinski added goals to round out the 6-0 final.  Adam Wilcox picked up the fourth shutout of his career.

In Saturday night's game against #12 New Hampshire, the Gophers fell behind for the first time on the season when the Wildcat's Eric Knodel scored on the power play less than 30 seconds into the second period.  The Gophers responded back quickly as Hudson Fasching, a freshman from Apple Valley scored his first goal in the maroon and gold.  New Hampshire responded, scoring their second goal with about 9 minutes left in the second period, and once again the Gophers had to strike from behind.   Warning scored his second goal on the weekend after a Gopher flurry of activity in front of the Wildcat net a minute later to tie the game at two.    With just over two minutes left in the second, the Gophers got another freshman, Vinni Letttieri on the score sheet as he came from behind the net to the left faceoff circle, spun around and pushed his shot past New Hampshire goalie Casey DeSmith.  Wilcox and the Gopher defense held, and the Gophers collected the hardware with a 3-2 victory.  Warning was named the MVP of the tournament, and was joined on the all tournament team by Rau, Fasching, and Wilcox. The Big Ten also named Warning their second star of the week, and Rau their third star.
Of some concern is the Gopher power play which after going 2-6 in the Friday night game went 0-6 against the Wildcats.  This is something that will need to change as the Gopher's opponents continue to improve.   Both of New Hampshire's goals also came on the power play Saturday night, so Minnesota cannot be happy with its non 5 on 5 play Saturday.

On to this weeks series: Shave the Beavers!

The national poll voters were impressed with the Gophers performance (and aghast at preseason #1 UMass-Lowell losing to the worst team in the NCAA in 2012-13, Sacred Heart) as Minnesota moved from #5 to #3 in both national polls this week.  They will make their first road trip of the season this week as they hop onto the busses for a ride up to the Sanford Center and a series with the Bemidji State Beavers.

The Gophers played the Beavers four times last season.  The first two games ended the WCHA regular season in Bemidji as Minnesota swept the series by 4-3 and 5-1 scores.  The Gopher win on Saturday, coupled with St Cloud State's 3-2 loss to Wisconsin clinched the Gophers tie of the top spot in the WCHA.   The teams met the next weekend in Minneapolis in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs as once again the Gophers swept the Beavers by scores of 2-1 and 4-3.

Bemidji State and St Cloud State played a series in St Cloud last weekend, with the Huskies winning 3-2 on Friday and the teams skating to a 2-2 tie on Saturday.  The Beavers are still in what is left of the WCHA this season, and the coaches in the league predicted them to finish in seventh place.  Junior goalie Andrew Walsh played both games last weekend, and is expected to play both games in goal this weekend as well. Bemidji does not have any notable offensive players to watch out for, however they are a well coached team with Tom Serratore, the uncle of Gopher forward (and also named) Tom Serratore behind the bench.

The Gopher's young roster will be tested on their first games away from Mariucci.  However, one would expect a good contingent of Gopher fans to make the trip up north as it is one of the favorite road trips of the season, and outside of Wisconsin is the only true drivable road trip this season with the switch to the Big Ten. The Gophers have won eight of the last ten against the Beavers, and are 14-1-1 all-time.  Their only loss to Bemidji took place in November of 2009. I see it being close, but I predict that the Gophers will sweep with scores of 4-2 Friday night and 5-1 Saturday night. Friday night's game will begin at 7:30 and will be broadcast on FSN.  Saturday night will start at 7:00 and be on FSN+.

Bemidji Notable Names:

#5 Carter Struthers Fr-D
#7 Matt Prapavessis Jr-D
#18 Radoslav Illo Sr-F
#25 Ruslan Pedan  Fr-D
#33 Reid Mimmack Fr-G

Here's What They Are Saying on Twitter:

Green and white tutu is complete. Bring on the hockey. #bemidjistate #BeaverNation #beaverpride
— Emily Malterud (@emilyTHEaverage) October 16, 2013

I'm sure its perfectly pretty....

I call for the suspension of any @BemidjiState student found to be wearing #Gopher apparel this or any other week.
— John Andringa (@beaverbandit) October 15, 2013

 Beaver bandit eh......I bet you're a real pelt stealer

Press credentials have arrived. Ready for hockey season. #BemidjiState #WCHA http://t.co/IKGoOit1lH
— Jack Hittinger (@jackhitts) October 15, 2013

Only at #BemidjiState would I be ending my night eating a #Porcupine pic.twitter.com/5P7cPr4Ftb
— kevin ness (@kev1nness) October 6, 2013

Ummm...ok?

 And On to The Lovely Beavers of BSU:

 

2013-14 Big Ten Hockey + Icebreaker Classic Preview

Howdy folks!  If you are reading this you are probably confused for two reasons.  First you are wondering who the hell this guy writing this is.  Secondly, you are probably wondering what the hell Big Ten Hockey is.  As to the first question, I'm Andy a new writer here and I will be covering Gopher Hockey this season here on the blog.  As for the second...well that's a bit of a longer story involving Jim Delaney, Terry Pegula, Barry Alvarez, Joel Maturi, and probably should not be discussed around children...but I digress.

Yes the Gophers along with the evil red menace to the east, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State have all become inaugural members of the Big Ten Hockey Conference.  The WCHA still exists, but won't have most of its past notable members as not only has Minnesota and Wisconsin headed to the Big Ten, but North Dakota, St Cloud State, UMD and others decided that they wanted to run to another conference as well, so they are now in the NCHC, otherwise known as the Nacho conference.  Mmmmmm Nachos.

So the Gophers will not be playing some of the usual teams you would have recognized in the past.  No Denver, Colorado College, or either most annoyingly or happily, North Dakota will not be seen on the schedule until at least 2015-16.  Instead Minnesota will be playing 20 games (2 each home and away) against its Big Ten Conference foes.  For those who worry about the future of Minnesota hockey, no worries as the Gophers will play each of the other four Division I schools in Minnesota for at least one game, and most for two.  The Gophers will host UMD and Minnesota State for 2 games each in November, and will play 2 games up in Bemidji next weekend.  The last game comes against St. Cloud in the Friday night game of the inaugural North Star College Cup to be played in January at the Xcel Energy Center.  The Gophers/Huskies winner will play the winner of UMD and MSU on Saturday night, and the losers will play Saturday afternoon.
The other big game on the Gophers schedule is the Hockey City Classic which will take place on January 17th against Ohio State outdoors at a rink constructed on TCF Bank Stadium's field. 

The Gophers will round out their schedule with four additional non-conference series, @Notre Dame, at home against Boston College, the Mariucci Classic and this weekend's Icebreaker Classic at Mariucci Arena.

There are plenty of additional Gopher previews that go in depth on the players who have left the program to head to the pro ranks or have graduated, and the freshmen who have come in to replace them, so I encourage you to check them out if you are so inclined.  We shall cover several of the players over the course of the season here, but there is not enough time to do it all today.  I will however quickly attempt to handicap the Big Ten Conference race:

Projected Big Ten Conference Finish

1. Minnesota

The Gophers did lose several notable players to the pros including Nick Bjugstad, Nate Schmidt, and Zach Budish, however they return arguably the best goalie in the Big Ten in Adam Wilcox, the biggest big game player in Kyle Rau, and between Taylor Cammarata, Justin Kloos, Hudson Fasching, and Lou Nanne's grandson Vinni Lettieri should have the best freshman class in the Big Ten.  All this comes together in time for the Gophers to take the inaugural crown.

2. Wisconsin

The Badgers were predicted to finish first by the coaches and many in the media this season, and they return a ton of firepower, so that was to be expected.  However, I don't think Joel Rumpel is quite as good a goalie as many think he is, and Wisconsin's slow methodical playing style will be tested by several uptempo teams like Minnesota and Michigan in the Big Ten. They also got the whole losing to bad teams thing going on as well losing at home to Penn State last February.  They still get the first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament come March.

3. Michigan

The Wolverines missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 22 years last season, but Red Berenson will have them rearing to go to get back this season.  Michigan will miss Jacob Truba who has moved on the the NHL after one season in Ann Arbor, but they bring in three freshmen who just need to move across the town from the US Under 18 Program.  Michigan will be back to the top soon, but not quite yet.

4. Michigan State

The Spartans did not have a very good year last year.  There is no way to put it.  Their two best players are also out for the first month of the season this year after off-season surgeries.  However, MSU coach Tom Anastos has the team bought into his program in his third year and the injuries early may be a blessing in disguise when the backloaded Big Ten schedule comes around after the end of the year.

5. Ohio State

The Buckeyes had a bit of a rough offseason as their former coach Mark Osiecki was fired to the surprise of many in the college hockey world.  His departure made waves as several of his high profile recruits he had coming to Columbus decided to find other schools.  His former assistant, Steve Rohlik has taken over and will have a hard time trying to keep up in a tough conference with a new goalie after Brady Hjelle graduated.

6. Penn State

And now we come to the kids who forced this whole thing in the first place.  Penn State gets a huge donation from alum Terry Pegula, and a few years later a decent club team is playing in a brand new arena at a Division I level.  The Nittany Lions did beat three Big Ten teams last season (Wisconsin Michigan State, Ohio State) so they could be better then many expect in their first year.  They will be led by Gopher transfer Max Gardiner

Icebreaker Classic Preview

Enough of this everyone else crap, lets talk about the Gophers and what they will be dealing with this weekend.  The fifth ranked Minnesota team is hosting the annual college hockey kickoff tournament this season named the Icebreaker Classic.  The Gophers are coming off of a 5-1 exhibition win last weekend over Lethbridge, a Canadian college. The game ended up being more of a wresting match then a hockey game as Kyle Rau played the AJ Pierzynski character to the Lethbridge squad drawing several penalties and causing at least two melees.  Rau will be centering the first line for the Gophers this season, most likely this weekend with Lettieri and Junior Sam Warning who did not play against Lethbridge.  The Gophers will open Friday night at 7:00 against Mercyhurst.  The Lakers are predicted to win the Atlantic Hockey Conference this season, so they most likely will not be a complete pushover, but the Gophers are definitely the better team.  The Gophers and Lakers have meet once in the past, in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament when the Gophers cruised to a 9-2 win at Mariucci en route to their second consecutive NCAA title. 

Mercyhurst Lakers All Namers:

#7 Randy Cure Sr-D
#8 John Mousso  Sr-F
#10 Nardo Nagtzaam Jr-F
#29 Spencer Bacon Fr-G

And of course the girls:

Mercyhurst Dance Team

Mercyhurst Cheerleaders

The other two teams in the Icebreaker Classic, Clarkson and New Hampshire will face off at 4:00 in Friday with the losers playing at 4:00 on Saturday and the winners playing at 7:00 Saturday night.

Since we obviously don't know who Minnesota will play on Saturday, here's some girls for both teams to tide you over under next week:

Clarkson Volleyball