The players on the Gophers men’s hockey team were up early on Saturday morning. Not to get the best student seats at TCF Bank Stadium, but to practice.

They were on the ice sometime around 8 a.m. Not sure exactly because I didn’t get to the arena until about 8:15, 8:20.

Practices are not among my favorite things to go to. Besides I had to stop at the Strib to pick up my binoculars. Had to have them to see the little black numbers on the back of the yellow helmets.

Those numbers were the only way I could identify the players. Their practice jerseys did not have numbers.

Oh, I could figure out who some of them were without numbers. Saw Jordan Schroeder, smooth skater, smooth passer.

Saw Seth Helgeson, he’s 6-5. A few others.

Here were the line combinations Saturday morning:

* First line, Maroon: Jordan Schroeder at center and Jay Barriball on his right wing and Mike Hoeffel on his left wing. Schroeder and Barriball were together all last season. Hoeffel replaces Ryan Stoa, who signed with Colorado.

Hoeffel is 6-2, 197 so he resembles Stoa in size. And that line needs a big body. So it looks like he will get the first chance to replace Stoa although on Friday, Tony Lucia was playing on that line.

* Second line, Gold: Mike Carman at center with Patrick White and Ryan Flynn on the wings. This is a key line. Last season Schroeder’s line often was relied on too much to carry the team. The Gophers need more goals from their second line this season.

* Third or fourth line, White: Nico Sacchetti centering Tony Lucia and Josh Birkholz.

* Third or fouth line, Green: Taylor Matson at center, Zach Budish and Jake Hansen at the wings. Budish is 6-3, 229, Hansen 6-2, 182. This line could bounce some people around. Matson showed a lot of potential last season as a freshman, especially on penalty kills. But he got injured in the 13th game and had season-ending knee surgery.

* Fifth line, Blue: Nick Larson, Joey Miller and Jacob Cepis. Not sure who the center is on this line. Cepis, who transferred in the middle of last season from Bowling Green, won’t be eligible until midseason.

We’ll see if coach Don Lucia sticks with these line combinations for the Gophers exhibition game at 4 p.m. on Sunday against British Columbia.

He said he hopes to have his lines set two Mondays from now, the week his Gophers play at North Dakota.

Lucia has 15 forwards, so three will sit each game.

On defense, the Gophers have eight players. Six played last season.

The pairings Saturday morning on D:

* First pair: Cade Fairchild and Nick Leddy. … Fairchild could have a breakout season, Leddy is coming in with a big reputation as a freshman.

* Second/third pairs:

 Aaron Ness and Seth Helgeson. … Seth is 6-5, 220, a nice compliment to Ness, a more finesse player.

Sam Lofquist and David Fischer. … Fischer is the seasoned vet, in his fourth year. Lofquist was a bit disappointing as a freshman. He has a big shot but couldn’t find the net.

 * Fourth pair: Brian Schack and Kevin Wehrs. … Wonder how much ice time Schack will see? This is Wehrs’ third season. Coaches were real high on him at one time but he has been unspectacular.

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