The Gophers play St. Cloud State at the National Hockey Center on Friday. Last time those two teams met there in mid-January, Minnesota’s 2007-08 season changed around.

That was the game junior goalie Jeff Frazee of the Gophers let in two long, long shots in the first period. The first shot counted as goal, it was from mid-ice.

The second was from even further out. Near the Huskies’ blue-line as I remember. This, too, went in as Frazee took a swipe at the puck and missed.

Fortunately, St. Cloud State was offsides. But Don Lucia had seen enough. He pulled Frazee and he would never play again.

 

Alex Kangas became the regular goalie. That night, the Gophers squandered a 4-1 lead but Kangas got better the more he played. His play even enable the offensively challenged Gophers to make a late run in the playoffs.

They beat Minnesota State Mankato in the first round of the WCHA playoffs and made it to the title game of the Final Five. That earned the Gophers an NCAA tournament spot, but the hockey gods were not kind. They met eventual national champion Boston College in the first game in their home state.

HUSKIES FAST STARTERS

St. Cloud State scored seven goals in each game last weekend in sweeping Mercyhurst.

“If we don’t hold them under seven goals,” Lucia said, “I don’t like our chances of winnnig very well.”

Last year Mike Hoeffel scored two goals for the Gophers and Garrett Roe two for the Huskies.

TIDBITS

* Freshman defenseman Aaron Ness’ sister, Abby, is a sophomore on the Roseau girls’ tennis team which last Friday qualified for the Class 1A state tournament.

She also plays hockey. “Keep a watch out for her,” said Jay Ness, Abby’s and Aaron’s father. “She might be a Gopher someday too.”

* There has to be a better name for the Minnesota College Hockey Showcase which will be held for the first time at the Xcel on Nov. 1. UMD plays St. Cloud State at 4 p.m., the Gophers face MSU Mankato at 7:30 p.m.

It’s modeled after a tournament in Boston which brings four colleges in that metropolis together. That tournament is called the Beanpot. So maybe we should call the event at the X, the Hot Dish, doesn’t that sound Minnesotan?

 Â

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 7:42 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.