Mike Hoeffel (top) gets tangled up with an opponent

Freshman wing Mike Hoeffel is one of the bigger players on the Gophers’ hockey team. And recently he is playing big.

“Mike is starting to come on,” coach Don Lucia said. “Mike is playing well and that’s what you have to have. He is on a pace to have a 10-goal season or more. And, when you do that as a freshman, you have had a heck of a season.”

BARRIBALL SLUMPING

Sophomore wing Jay Barriball led the Gophers with 41 points last season. Points are coming a lot harder a year later.

“We are all scratching our heads” over him, Lucia said. “He is a guy we need to score. Jay is a guy, in the position he is in and playing on a top line and on the power play and four on four — if we can get Jay to score every weekend, a goal, it is going to go a long way to helping us win a few more games.

“I would have never dreamed we would be sitting in mid-January and Jay would have three goals at midseason. But that is kind of how our year has gone. From an offensive production standpoint, all the guys are below the pace they were at a year ago.”

Let’s check the numbers:

Last season, halfway through the WCHA schedule, the Gophers had seven players with 20 points or more. This year they have one, although Ben Gordonis close with 19points.

Gone are Alex Goligoski (8 goals, 20 assists — 28 points) to the pros; Kyle Okposo (15-9-24) to the pros, Mike Vannelli (4-19-23) to graduation, Tyler Hirsch (4-18-22) who left the team.

So 11 skaters and one goalie, Jeff Frazee, remain. Here are theirnumbers …

2007 2008 Difference

Blake Wheeler 11-16-27 12-10-22 -5

Jay Barriball 12-14-263-11-14 -12

Ben Gordon 8-12-207-12-19 -1

Ryan Stoa 8-6-14 1-1-2 -13

(injured in second game of season)

Ryan Flynn 4-5-93-6-9 same

Mike Carman4-5-9 0-1-1 -8

(only played in two games, ineligible before)

Tony Lucia 5-3-8 4-4-8 same

Mike Howe 3-2-5 4-7-11 +6

Brian Schack 0-5-5 0-0-0 -5

Derek Peltier 2-2-4 1-9-10 +6

R.J. Anderson 0-4-4 4-6-10 +6
Dave Fischer0-3-3 0-2-2-1

Justin Bostrom 1-1-2 2-2-4 +2

Summing up, the returning players, minus Stoa and Carman who have played so little, are just a minus-five from their total points halfway through last season.

And Frazee’s numbers:

2007/ 8-1-1 605 min. 1.98 gaa, 180 saves, .900 save pct.

2008/6-77982.93 317 .890

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 17th, 2008 at 7:09 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.