University of Minnesota Athletics
Men's Hockey Media Day Recap
9/30/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
The Minnesota men's hockey team held its annual media day this afternoon at Mariucci Arena. Here are a few notes to preview the season.
Heading Into The 2010-11 Season
Feel Good (Story) Coach - Coach Don Lucia was diagnosed with sarcoidosis in January 2009 and was forced to miss four games during the 2008-09 season. After receiving treatment and medication, Lucia enters the 2010-11 season fully healthy after receiving a clean bill of health from his doctors in July 2010.
Call Him Captain - Jay Barriball returns to the Gopher lineup after missing all but five games last season because of an injury. The senior captain had two goals and two assists last year before suffering a season-ending knee injury in practice on Nov. 3, 2009. Barriball, who was granted a medical redshirt for this season, became the 78th player in school history to reach 100 career points last year. He has 102 career points (39g-63a) in 124 games.
Full Year For Cepis - Jacob Cepis, a transfer from Bowling Green, will be with the Gophers for the entire season. He joined Minnesota's lineup at mid-season last year and skated in all 21 games for the Gophers during the second half of the year. Cepis, who finished fifth on the team in scoring (7g-12a), had a 10-game point streak (team's longest streak of the season) and received the team's Unsung Hero award.
Who Are You Again? - There will be plenty of new faces in Mariucci Arena this year as 10 freshman join the Golden Gophers for the upcoming season. The talented class includes Mark Alt, Minnesota's Mr. Hockey Nick Bjugstad, Nate Condon, Max Gardiner, Erik Haula, Justin Holl, Jared Larson, Jake Parenteau, Nate Schmidt and Tom Serratore.
Fresh Import - Freshman Erik Haula, who hails from Pori, Finland, will become the first European-born player to play for the Gophers since Thomas Vanek (Graz, Austria) in 2003-2004. Haula joins Vanek as the only European to play for Minnesota under coach Don Lucia. Haula, who played for Shattuck-St. Mary's High School in Faribault, Minn., racked up 28 goals and 44 assists in 56 games for Omaha (USHL) in the 2009-2010 season. The Minnesota Wild selected Haula in the seventh round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft with the 182nd overall pick.
You're Not From Around Here - With the additions of freshmen Nate Condon (Wausau, Wis.), Tom Serratore (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Erik Haula (Pori, Finland), the Gophers now have four players (joining senior Jacob Cepis who is from Parma, Ohio) from outside the state of Minnesota. The last time Minnesota's roster featured at least four players from outside the state was during the 2005-06 season when six non-Minnesotans played for the Gophers.
Minnesota Nice - The Gophers will play 26 of their 34 regular-season games in the State of Hockey this season. Minnesota does not have consecutive road trips this year and does not travel to Alaska. The Gophers leave the state only four times all season to play WCHA road contests at Colorado College, Michigan Tech, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
We Like This Place - For the first time in 46 years, Minnesota will open the 2010-2011 men's hockey season with six straight home games. It also will be the first time since 2005-2006 that the Gophers will play their first game of the season at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers were 10-8-1 at Mariucci last season, but were 7-2-1 at home after Jan. 1.
Gracious Hosts - The University of Minnesota will host the 2011 NCAA Men's Frozen Four from April 7-9 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. The last time the Frozen Four was held in Minnesota was 2002, when current Gopher assistant coach Grant Potulny scored the overtime game-winning goal against Maine to give Minnesota its first national championship since 1979. Minnesota will also host the 2012 West Regional at Xcel Energy Center, which will be the fourth straight year that the Twin Cities will play host to the NCAA's premier hockey event.
Everyone Is Welcome - Teams from four of the five major ice hockey conferences will visit Mariucci Arena this season. In addition to 14 WCHA home games, Minnesota will host Massachusetts of Hockey East, Union of the ECAC and the CCHA's Michigan State, Michigan and Ferris State.
Back On Track? - The Gophers look to finish the season with a winning record after ending last year with an 18-19-2 mark. It was Minnesota's first losing season since 1997-98 and only the 16th losing season in the 89-year history of the program. Minnesota also aims to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the 2007-08 season. The Gophers have missed the last two NCAA tournaments and have not missed three straight tournaments since 1997-2000.
King Kangas Moving Up - Alex Kangas enters his senior season third all-time in program history for games played by a goaltender. He played 33 games last year and has guarded the crease in 100 career games for Minnesota. Kangas has a chance to pass Kellen Briggs (132 career games) and move into second place on the list if given a heavy workload. Even if Kangas played every game this year he cannot break Adam Houser's record of 151 games played. Kangas is also third on the Gophers' career saves list with 2,571 but should move into second this year. Briggs is second on the career list with 2,968 saves while Hauser is first with 3,777 saves.
Let's Make It Official - Minnesota will play Bemidji State and Nebraska-Omaha for the first time in WCHA play this season. In 2003, the Gophers beat Nebraska-Omaha 7-3 in the only meeting between the two schools when the Mavericks were a member of the CCHA. Minnesota holds a 7-1 all-time record against former College Hockey America power Bemidji State, with its only loss to the Beavers coming last season in the second game of a weekend series at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers will host Nebraska-Omaha in October in the Mavericks' first-ever WCHA series and will travel to Bemidji State's brand new Regional Events Center for the teams' final conference series of the season in March.
Getting A Little Drafty - The Gophers roster includes 19 players who have been drafted by NHL teams. The junior and freshman class each have six draftees, the senior class has five and both of the team's sophomores have been drafted. Incoming freshmen Nick Bjugstad, Mark Alt, Justin Holl, and Max Gardiner were selected in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, with each of them going in the first three rounds (and top 74 picks overall). Other than Bjugstad, senior Patrick White (No. 22 in 2007) is the only other Gopher taken in the first round.
Keep It To A Minimum - Many of the Gophers' wins and losses last season were contingent on how well they did at keeping the puck out of their own net. Minnesota was 16-1 when allowing two goals or less and 2-18-2 when allowing three or more goals. Two of the outliers came in a series at Alaska-Anchorage where the Gophers took the first game 7-4 and fell the next day 2-1. Both ties were 3-3 stalemates with North Dakota.
