The Gophers start preseason practices on Saturday with two of them, one at 8 a.m., another at 3 p.m. The hockey players will almost have enough time in between to take a shuttle bus to the U-Indiana football game if they wanted to.

The Gophers’ schedule starts with three of four games, all in the WCHA, on the road. They have a home and home series with Minnesota State Mankato — I’m sure the Mavericks remember losing two OT games to the Gophers in the first round of the WCHA playoffs last season — and then the U goes to Wisconsin.

 “We have a difficult schedule,” coach Don Lucia said. “We have 34 games [in the regular season] and 20 of them are against teams who were in the NCAA tournament.”

Six WCHA teams made the NCAA field and a seventh, Minnesota State Mankato, just missed.

“Add four games with Mankato, the odd team out, and that’s two-thirds of our schedule. And in nonconference games we play New Hampshire, Michigan and Michigan State. But playing a demanding schedule makes our team better.”

Playing early games at St. Cloud and Wisconsin, Lucia said, will quickly get his 12 freshmen used to playing in tough arenas.

That’s a plus. There were lots of minuses early last season.  

“When you look back to last year, so many things happened,” Lucia said. “From guys leaving in the summer, to Ryan Stoa blowing out a knee, to [Mike] Carman not being available for the first half of the season to Kyle [Okposo] leaving in the middle of the season.”

The Gophers, who went through one midseason stretch during which they scored 10 goals in eight games, finished a disappointing seventh in the WCHA.

“We did not finish where we wanted, but the returning players learned a lot about mental strength and perseverance,” Lucia said. “In the second half, we found a goalie [Alex Kangas] and were a good defensive team in the end. We battled through a lot of adversity and finished the year real strong and that was a high note.”

There was only one unexpected loss this offseason. Defenseman Stu Bickel, who would have been a sophomore, signed with the Anaheim Ducks.

Blake Wheeler leaving one year early was planned for, Lucia said. He signed with Boston.

Goalie Jeff Frazee also left, skipping his senior year but he probably would not have played much this season. Frazee signed with New Jersey.

Lucia is moving 6-3, 219-pound freshman Grant Scott from wing, where he played last season for the U.S. national team, back to defense his former position. That could help make up for Bickel’s loss. Bickel was the most physical defenseman last season and led the team in penalties. I’ll miss his big hits.

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