University of Minnesota Athletics
Weekend Preview: Alaska Anchorage
1/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
On Saturday, the Gophers took a 1-0 lead when Mark Alt scored his first collegiate goal at the 8:54 mark of the first period. However, five first-period penalties doomed the Gophers and UND led 2-1 after the first stanza. North Dakota added two third period goals to win 4-1. On the weekend, the Gophers allowed six goals, but only two (a breakaway and a deflection) at even strength.
Minnesota vs. Alaska Anchorage: Minnesota is 49-16-7 all-time against Alaska Anchorage and is 6-2-2 in their last 10 games. The Gophers were 3-1-0 against the Seawolves last season, winning both home games and earning a split in Anchorage. Last year's games were typically high scoring for Minnesota. In the three games that the Gophers won they scored seven, five and four goals respectively. The third game was a 2-1 decision that Alaska Anchorage won. The Gopher senior class has had some success against the Seawolves during their career. Jay Barriball has 15 points (9g-6a) in 12 career games versus Alaska Anchorage, while Mike Hoeffel (2g-5a) and Cade Fairchild (1g-6a) both have seven career points against the Seawolves.
About The Seawolves: Alaska Anchorage visits Mariucci Arena this weekend after being swept on a road trip to Denver last week. Prior to their series against the Pioneers, the Seawolves opened the New Year with a home sweep of their own against Colorado College. UAA never trailed against the Tigers and only spent 14:41 without the lead, defeating then No. 17 Colorado College 4-1 and 2-1. The Seawolves have struggled away from home this season, posting only two wins in eight road games, and have historically had difficulty beating the Gophers in Minneapolis, winning only five games in 29 attempts at Minnesota since joining the WCHA in 1993. This season, UAA, like Minnesota, has ten freshmen on its roster. Alaska Anchorage is led on offense by senior Tommy Grant (10g-10a), who leads the team in goals in points and freshman Jordan Kwas (3g-13a) who leads the team in assists. Freshman Rob Gunderson has seen the hefty majority of time in goal this season, going 6-9-2 with a goals-against average of 2.58 and a .896 save percentage. The Seawolves have been in Minneapolis all week, as they elected to come to the Twin Cities right after their games at Denver. They have been practicing at Ridder Arena.
From Alaska, With Love: Minnesota assistant coach John Hill was born in Virginia but did a lot of growing up in Alaska. He went to high school in Alaska and graduated from Alaska Anchorage in 1988. Hill is a former captain and assistant coach of the Seawolves and was the head coach of his alma mater from 2001-05. Gopher head coach Don Lucia also spent some time on the Alaska Anchorage staff, serving as an assistant coach of the Seawolves from 1985-87.
Killed It Last Year: The Gophers penalty kill has struggled this year, killing off 73.5 percent of its opponents' power plays, but in four games against Alaska Anchorage last season, Minnesota's penalty kill was much more formidable. Last year's Gophers killed of 17 of 20 UAA power plays (85.0%) and scored three of their four shorthanded goals on the season against the Seawolves. Minnesota has not recorded a shorthanded tally at home this season. Erik Haula and Cade Fairchild notched the team's only two shorthanded goals in separate games at Colorado College in October.
Put It On Repeat: Minnesota scored 10 or more goals against four different opponents last season, but they scored more goals against the Seawolves than any other team on their 2009-10 schedule. The Gophers racked up 17 goals in four games against Alaska Anchorage, nine of which came in an early-season sweep at Mariucci Arena. Minnesota had been shutout in three of its first four games prior to beating the Seawolves 5-1 and 4-1.
A Look Ahead: Minnesota has 12 WCHA games left this season and six of those games are against teams ranked in the top eight in the USCHO.com poll. The Gophers play at No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth on Feb. 4-5. Minnesota then hosts No. 3 Denver on Feb. 11-12 before traveling to No. 8 Wisconsin on Feb. 18-19.
Kangas Out: Senior goaltender Alex Kangas will miss the remainder of the season with a labral tear in his left hip. The assistant captain will undergo surgery on Friday morning. He has played 108 career games for the Gophers (third most in school history) en route to a 47-41-16 record. His .912 career save percentage is a school record and his 2.56 goals-against average is fourth-best all-time. Kangas has 2,802 career saves to join Adam Houser (3,777 saves) and Kellen Briggs (2,968 saves) as the only Minnesota goaltenders to post more than 2,800 career saves. He set single-season records during his freshman year (2007-08) with a .930 save percentage and a 1.98 goals-against average in 31 games. Kangas is 2-5-0 in eight games this year. His last win was a 3-1 home victory against Michigan on Nov. 28.
Fons In: With the loss Kangas, coach Lucia and his staff decided to add goaltender Alex Fons to the roster to serve as the team's third goaltender. Fons, 19, is from Minnetonka, Minn., and played high school hockey at Hopkins last year. He was 11-12-1 for the Royals with a 3.02 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. Fons has played five games this year for the Alexandria Blizzard in the North American Hockey League. He was 1-2-0 with the Blizzard. Fons, who was 1-0-0 in two games with the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede last year, will wear No. 31 for the Gophers.
Patterson Starting: Junior goaltender Kent Patterson will get the start for the Gophers this weekend, like he has 14 previous times this year. Patterson is 8-4-3 on the year with a 2.56 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. Patterson has played in 31 games in his career, but has never faced Alaska Anchorage. He is at his best when seeing a lot of shots, as the Gophers are 4-1-1 this year when Patterson makes 30 or more saves.
Rough Stuff: Minnesota was averaging 5.5 penalties a game and 12.6 penalty minutes a game through its first 20 games of the season. The most penalties that Minnesota had taken in one game were eight, which they did twice. Then the Gophers played North Dakota and racked up 13 penalties (26 minutes) on Friday and 11 penalties (22 minutes) two weeks ago (UND also had 13 and 11 penalties, respectively). Entering tonight, Minnesota now averages 6.1 penalties per game for an average of 13.1 penalty minutes a game.
Protecting A Lead: The Gophers are pretty good when leading at the end of a period. Minnesota is 9-1-1 when leading after one period and 10-0-1 when they take a lead into the final 20 minutes. The last time the Gophers lost when leading after two periods was Nov. 21, 2009. Minnesota was up 2-1 after two periods, but fell 3-2.
First Period Goals: Minnesota usually finds success when it scores a first-period goal. The Gophers are 10-3-3 when scoring a first period goal this season and 9-2-2 when scoring the first goal of the game.
Three or More: Three seems to be the magic number for the Gopher offense this year. Minnesota is 9-1-1 when scoring three or more goals in a game this year and is 1-8-2 when failing to light the lamp three times.
All Tied Up: Minnesota has scored 67 goals this year and allowed 67 goals this year. The Gophers have scored 26 first-period goals, while allowing 24. Opponents have outscored Minnesota 27 to 22 in the second period, but the Gophers hold the upper hand in third period goals 19 to 15. Minnesota has been outscored 1-0 in overtime.
Minnesota Nice: The Gophers have 12 regular-season games left on their schedule and they will play 10 of them (six at home) in the state of Minnesota. The Gophers will not leave Minnesota again until they head to Wisconsin for a pair of games on Feb. 18-19.
Building Blocks: Minnesota blocked a season-high 31 shots in a 3-2 win at North Dakota on Jan. 14. It was the third time this season that the Gophers blocked 20 or more opponent shots, as they turned aside 29 shots in a win against Massachusetts on Oct. 9 and 24 shots in a loss to St. Cloud State on Oct. 22.
Alt-ernative Defense: Freshman Mark Alt has developed into a dependable presence on the Minnesota blueline this season. Alt did not play in the Gophers' first game of the season, but has played in all 21 since then. Alt is third on the team with 26 blocked shots (Fairchild 41, Ness 34) and has only taken two penalties for four minutes this year. He has been on the ice for only 18 goals against (10 at even strength), which is the second fewest on the team for any of the five defensemen who have played at least 20 games (Wehrs has been on the ice for 17 total goals against). Alt is +2 on the season and has only had four minus games all season. He has been an even or plus player for 11 straight games and is +5 during that span.
Just One: Senior forward Jay Barriball needs one more assist to reach 75 for his career. His next point will also be the 125th of his career. Barriball registered the 50th career goal of his career on Jan. 1 at home against Ferris State.
11 Shots: Minnesota lost 4-1 to North Dakota on Jan. 15, but allowed only 26 shots to UND (third fewest the Gophers have allowed all season). However, only 11 of those 26 shots came at even strength. UND took 17 shots in the first period, which is the same period that Minnesota was in the penalty box for 10 minutes. North Dakota was held to four shots in the second period and five in the third period, which are the fewest amount of shots that Minnesota has allowed in each of those periods respectively.
Utility Player: Freshman Nate Schmidt has played in nine games this season, which includes a season-high four straight after sitting out nine games in a row. He played defense his first six games (his sixth game the team dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen), but has played left wing the previous three games. In his first true game at left wing (Jan. 1 vs. Ferris State) he earned his first career point (an assist) as a Gopher.
Keep It On Ice: Seven Gophers have been on the ice this year for at least 20 of Minnesota's 67 total goals. Jay Barriball leads the bunch by being on the ice for 33 goals this season. He is followed by Erik Haula (31), Mike Hoeffel (30), Aaron Ness (28), Cade Fairchild (28), Jacob Cepis (24) and Jake Hansen (20).
Rank'em: Minnesota is 6-4-3 (3-1-1 against top-10 teams) against teams ranked ahead of them this year. Using the USCHO.com rankings (rankings at time of game), the Gophers were unranked against No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth and earned a win and a tie. Minnesota was also unranked when it earned a split with No. 2 North Dakota. Minnesota was No. 15 when it defeated No. 8 Michigan and was ranked No. 20 when they won both games at No. 19 Colorado College. Minnesota was ranked No. 20 when it split a series with No. 14 St. Cloud State and the Gophers were No. 17 when they lost to and tied No. 15 Wisconsin. The Gophers were No. 19 when they tied No. 18 Ferris State and lost 3-2 in overtime to No. 12 Union.
Going Deep: Every Gopher (except goaltender Jake Kremer) has played in at least four games this year and only six (Jay Barriball, Jacob Cepis, Jake Hansen, Taylor Matson, Aaron Ness and Seth Helgeson) of 24 skaters have played in all 22 games. Twenty-two players (including goalie Kent Patterson) have at least one point this year and 19 players have scored at least one goal. The five skaters who do not have a goal this year are defenseman Aaron Ness (nine assists in 22 games), defenseman Nate Schmidt (one assists in nine games), forward Jared Larson (zero points in seven games), defenseman Jake Parenteau (zero points in five games) and forward Joe Miller (zero points in three games).
O From the D: The Gopher defense has been helping out the offense this year. The six defensemen who have appeared in the most games this year have combined for 39 points (7g-32a) and each has at least two points. Cade Fairchild leads the group with 11 points (3g-8a). Next is Aaron Ness (9a), Kevin Wehrs (1g-7a), Seth Helgeson (1g-4a), Justin Holl (1g-2a) and Mark Alt (1g-2a).
Fresh Idea: There are 10 freshmen on the Minnesota roster this year and all 10 have played in at least five games. Eight of them have at least one point and have combined for 42 points (14g-28a). Erik Haula leads the group with 16 points (3g-13a) and is followed by Nate Condon (5g-5a), Nick Bjugstad (2g-2a), Justin Holl (1g-2a), Tom Serratore (1g-2a), Mark Alt (1g-2a), Max Gardiner (1g-1a) and Nate Schmidt (1a).
Free Hockey: Minnesota went to overtime only once in its first 17 games this season, but has gone to overtime in three of its last five games. The Gophers tied Wisconsin 3-3 on Nov. 6 after playing 65 minutes in their tenth game of the season. That was the team's lone foray into the extra five-minute session until recently. The Gophers tied Minnesota-Duluth (2-2) on Dec. 12 and Ferris State (2-2) on Jan. 1 after a five-minute overtime period. Minnesota also lost 3-2 to Union in overtime when the Dutchmen scored 42 seconds into the additional frame.
Bjugstad, Haula Play Well at WJC: Freshmen Nick Bjugstad and Erik Haula missed the Dec. 31-Jan. 1 Mariucci Classic because they were representing their respective countries at the World Junior Championship in Buffalo, N.Y. Bjugstad played for the United States, while Haula played for his native Finland. The event began on Dec. 26 and ended on Jan. 5. The two Gophers faced one another in their first game on Dec. 26. Haula assisted on Finland's game-tying goal with seven minutes left in the contest. Bjugstad, who was the youngest player on his team, then scored the overtime game-winning goal to give Team USA a 3-2 victory. In six games, Bjugstad had two goals and two assists for the bronze-winning U.S. squad. In addition to scoring the game-winning goal against Finland, Bjugstad also scored the goal that secured the bronze medal for the U.S. against Sweden (1/5). Haula had four goals (including two shorthanded strikes) and three assists in six games for Finland.
Outside the WCHA: Minnesota wrapped up its non-WCHA part of the schedule at the Mariucci Classic. The Gophers played six games this season against non-conference opponents and were 3-2-1 in those games. Minnesota defeated No. 8 Michigan (CCHA) and earned two wins against Massachusetts (Hockey East). The Gophers tied No. 18 Ferris State (CCHA) and lost to No. 12 Union (ECAC) and Michigan State (CCHA). Minnesota collectively outscored its opponents in non-WCHA games 19-18.
