Expect WCHA games to be a little longer this season. The league recently said out an explanation of its new timeout policy.

This season there will be three official one-minute timeouts per period in all exhibition and regular-season games and in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The timeouts will come at the first stoppage of play 5, 10 and 15 min. into a period.

But there are exceptions. There won’t be timeouts during a power play and the league is discouraging them during four-on-four situtations.

There won’t be official timeouts after icing or in overtime.

During these timeouts, players will be able to go to the bench for words of wisdom but, with 15 seconds left, they have to start skating back to faceoff positions. So coaches will have to talk fast.

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The Western College Hockey blog recently rated the top freshmen coming into the CCHA and WCHA.

Three young Gophers were among the top 10.

Defenseman Nick Leddy of Eden Prairie was rated No. 4. WCH wondered if he would get a lot of ice time with all the veteran defensmen the Gophers have. Don’t think that will be a problem. A D-man that can move the puck and has the skating skills Leddy have will get his ice time.

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Preseason WCHA predictions are starting to come out. Here are a couple of the first:

examiner.com … which calls itself the “insider souce for everything local” in Minneapolis:

1. North Dakota

2. Denver

3. Gophers

4. St. Cloud State

5. Minnesota State Mankato

6. Wisconsin

7. Colorado College

8. UMD

9-10. Alaska Anchorage and Michigan Tech

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Bruce McLeod, the commish of the WCHA, said he is meeting with Xcel Energy Center administrators on Friday to discuss the future of the Final Five.

The Final Five, of course, is the three-day, five-team conference tournament held at the X.

The format of the tournament undoubtedly will chance after this season because, starting in 2010-11, the WCHA will have 12 teams with the addition of Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha.

“We’re going to work out the logistics,’ McLeod said.

He said six teams will be advancing to the tournament in 2011, and there probably will be two games on Thursday, two semifinals on Friday and a championship game on Saturday, with the third-place game eliminated.

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In the Gophers’ first volleyball match at home, the U stomped Auburn 25-11, 25-17, 25-6 at the Sports Pavilion before a boistrous crowd of several thousand.

The match, the second of two on the first day of the Diet Coke Classic, took 61 minutes. Not sure if the 10-minute break between the second and third sets was included in the total time.

You get the point, though. No. 13-rated Minnesota (4-1) dominated. As did Iowa State which earlier beat George Washington 25-18, 25-18, 25-15.

Especially effective early for the Gophers last night was middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer. She had 11 kills in 15 attacks for a gaudy .667 hitting percentage.

Teammate Brook Dieter, an outside hitter, was a force in the third set with eight kills. She finished with 12 kills on 27 attacks and a .370 hitting percentage.

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There were all kinds of rumors about Jordan Schroeder, the Gophers sophomore center, possibly signing with Vancouver last month, especially out there.

Turns out they were not true.

I e-mailed Jordan and asked him this:

     Are you still planning to play this season at the U? Has Vancouver offered you a contract and tried to sign you?
   Your dad is quoted in a Vancouver Sun story that you could join the Canucks or their farm club at the end of the Gophers season. Is that your plan right now, to sign when the season ends?

His reply by e-mail:  

Those are all just rumors that you heard. I will be here this season with the Gophers. I want to just focus on this season and when the time comes then make a decision. So there are no set plans as of right now.

So that’s that on Jordan. Another rumor had sophomore defenseman Aaron Ness possibly signing with Brandon (Manitoba) Wheat Kings, who recently acquired his Western Hockey League rights.

But the U called Ness and he said he was coming back, too. “Why would Ness want to play in the WHL rather than for the Gophers?” a U official said increduously.
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Jenny Potter of Edina scored two goals and former Gophers star Natalie Darwitz had an assist on Julie Chu’s  game-winner as the U.S. women’s national team beat Canada 4-2 Thursday in the Hockey Canada Cup at GM Place in Vancouver, B.C.

The U.S. team is now 2-1 in the tournament and will face Finland at 2 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals. Remember the Finns beat the U.S. 3-2 on Aug. 31, so it could be close again.

The Gophers’ first practice will be Saturday, Oct. 3, that’s only 30 days away.

Of course, team members have been working out all summer. So it’s not too surprising the Gophers play their one and only exhibition game on Oct. 4 against British Columbia at 4 p.m. at the Maroosh.

UND NAMES CAPTAIN

North Dakota recently named a captain for this season, defenseman Chay Genoway. The Fighting Sioux’s assistant captains will be forwards Chris VandeVelde of Moorhead and Darcy Zajac.

Those threee are the only three seniors on the team.

HUSKIES GOALIE SWITCHES

Senior goalie Jase Weslosky of St. Cloud State has transferred to Bemidji State. He will have to sit out this season before being eligible for one more season in 2010-11.

Weslosky was 37-27-4 in his three years with the Huskies. He had a 2.43 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.

He also battled academic problems and would have been academically ineligible at the start of this season.

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A day after losing to Finland 3-2, the U.S. women’s national team routed Sweden 7-0 on Tuesday in the Hockey Canada Cup at GM Place in Vancouver, B.C.

Natalie Darwitz, the Gophers assistant coach and former college star at the U, had one goal and two assists. Hilary Knight had two goals.

The U.S. outshot Sweden 43-12 and held the Swedes without a shot in the first period.

The U.S. plays Canada on Thursday in its final preliminary round game.

U18 WOMEN LOSE

In the U18 women’s hockey series in Calgary, Alberta, Canada beat the U.S. team 3-1. The U.S. team finished 1-2-0 against Canada in the series.

Five Minnesota players were on the U.S. team: defenseman Milica McMillen of Breck, and forwards Stephanie Anderson (North St. Paul) of the Minnesota Thoroughbreds, Rachael Bona of Coon Rapids, Dana Gallop of Grand Rapids, and Taylor Kuehl of Mound Westonka.

The under-18 national development team based in Ann Arbor, Mich., will only have two Minnesotans on its roster this season.

They are defenseman Justin Faulk of South St. Paul who was on the under-17 national team last season and Derek Forbort, who played for Duluth East last season.

Faulk has committed to UMD, Forbort to North Dakota.

The under-18 national team will play 25 games against USHL teams this season and 17 against NCAA schools.

It has four players from Michigan and three from New York and California. Seventeen of the players on the team have committed to NCAA Division I schools, none to the U.

Kurt Kleinendorst of Grand Rapids, Minn., is the team’s head coach.