Sometimes I wish a head coach would say his next opponent is no good, that it will be an easy weekend. They never do. Leaving you to wonder what they are really thinking.

This weekend, for instance, the Gophers host the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves.

So Coach Lucia, what about those ‘Wolves? “They are off to a real good start. They are 3-2-3. They’ve had some injuries on the blue line. I think they are a much improved team from last year. They are more skilled than they were. They are a good-sized team. They skate well. And they have points every weekend in the league. That’s something we haven’t done.”

Nice zinger at the end. Bet Coach Lucia mentioned that to his players, too. And he’s right. The Gophers lost their first two WCHA series to CC and Denver in sweeps before sweeping Minnesota State Mankato.

The ‘Wolves? They had a tie with MS-Mankato and St. Cloud State in their first two WCHA series. Senior defenseman Luke Beaverson (ankle) and sophomore defenseman Nils Backstrom (ankle) are both probable for this weekend. Sophomore defenseman Trevor Hunt (elbow) is out.

This is the third season for Dave Shyiak as head coach. “We got to do better on the road,” he said in a preseason WCHA teleconference. “Our specialty teams have to get better. And on offense, we got to get more pucks in the nets. We want to get out of the basement.

“There is always a surprise team or two, like Michigan tech last year. The league is so tough and there is no mercy. Everybody is out to win hockey games.”

The Wolves’ with only two points are sitting in 10th place again right now. Their power play and penalty kill are both better than the Gophers so far. Alaska Anchorage is 6-for-32 on the power play (.188), Minnesota is 7-for-50 (.140).

On the penalty kill, the ‘Wolves are 37-for-44 (.841), the Gophers 32-for-41 (.780). The higher percentage is better there.

Preliminary blueprints for a new $150-million arena in Anchorage have been drawn, Shyiak said, “but nothing is laid out in concrete.” It would be a multi-complex building, he said, used for hockey, basketball, etc. A setup similar to Denver’s.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 10:32 pm and is filed under Gophers men's hockey. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.