University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Host East/West Showcase This Weekend
9/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Sept. 28, 2011
The Golden Gopher women's hockey team will open the 2011-12 season with the East/West Showcase, featuring Minnesota, Union, St. Cloud State and Syracuse. On Friday, St. Cloud State will face Syracuse at 4 p.m., followed by the Gophers against Union at 7 p.m. On Saturday, St. Cloud will play Union at 4 p.m. before Minnesota plays Syracuse at 7 p.m.
Live stats for all four games this weekend will be available on gophersports.com, with webcasts for the University of Minnesosta games. Providing play-by-play for the Gophers again this season is Dan Hamann. Audio broadcasts will be available free of charge all season, with video available to Gopher All Access subscribers.
Minnesota's first opponent of the weekend, Union, finished 2-29-3 last season, with a 1-19-2 record in the ECAC. Their lone conference win was again Brown on Feb. 5, when the Dutchwomen won 3-2. Their leading returning scorer is Lauren Hoffman who tallied 11 points on four goals and seven assists last season. Union is coached by Claudia Asano Barcomb, who is in her fifth season leading the program. Two of Union's players hail from Minnesota in sophomore forward Elsa Bruestle and senior goalie Kate Gallagher. Minnesota will face Union for the first time this weekend.
Saturday's opponent, Syracuse finished at 14-16-6 last season, and was 7-6-3 in CHA play. Top returning scorers for the Orange include sophomore defenseman Akane Hosoyamada, who had two goals and 16 assists for 18 points and senior forward Megan Skelly who had 17 points on seven goals and 10 assists last year. Syracuse is led by head coach Paul Flanagan, who is in his fourth season with the Orange. Seven players on the Syracuse roster are from the state of Minnesosta, including Allie and Christina LaCombe, former teammates of Kelly Seeler and Nikki Ludwigson at Eden Prairie High School.
Minnesota is 2-0 against the Orange coming into this weekend. The last time the Gophers faced Syracuse was in the 2009-10 season opener. Minnesota won both games, winning 4-3 the first night and 4-1 the second night.
Minnesota is listed at No. 4 in both the USCHO.com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine preseason national polls. The two polls agree, the Gophers are among four WCHA teams listed in the top 10, with defending national champion Wisconsin earning the top spot. Minnesota Duluth is listed at No. 6 in both polls, with North Dakota coming in at No. 7. In the 14-year history of the USCHO.com women's hockey poll, the Gophers have begun the season among the top 10 in each year. In the preseason poll, Minnesota has been ranked in the top four in 11 of 14 seasons, and has never been listed lower than No. 7 in the preseason poll.
The WCHA announced its preseason coaches' poll last week, and Minnesota is listed No. 2. The Gophers tallied 44 points in the poll and received two first-place votes in the survey of the leagues' eight head coaches. Not surprisingly, defending NCAA Champion Wisconsin is listed at No. 1. "As the defending national champions with many top players returning, there's no question Wisconsin is the favorite heading into the season. They are the team everyone else is chasing," explained Gopher head coach Brad Frost. "Top to bottom, our league is the strongest in the country. There are no nights off in the WCHA, we will definitely be battle tested by the time our conference season ends."
The coaches also voted for Preseason Player of the Year and Preseason Rookie of the Year. Two of Minnesota's freshmen received votes in the poll, with forward Meghan Lorence getting two votes while defenseman Rachel Ramsey earned one vote.
With the games against Union and Syracuse being the first for Minnesota this season, it makes sense to look at how the Gophers have performed in season openers. Minnesota has been dominant in season-opening games, with a 12-1 record in season openers. The Gophers have played at home to open the season in 10 of 14 years, and have played non-conference opponents in nine of 14 openers. Under coach Brad Frost, Minnesota is 3-1 in season openers.
Brad Frost returns for his fifth season as the Golden Gophers' head coach, his 12th season overall with the Minnesota program. In four seasons as the Gophers' head coach, Frost has compiled a 111-31-14 record.
Minnesota returns 19 letterwinners from the 2010-11 squad, including All-Americans Noora Räty and Anne Schleper and WCHA Rookie of the Year Amanda Kessel. The Gophers compiled a 26-10-2 record last season, and Minnesota returns most of its firepower from a year ago, as 96 percent of last season's scoring returns for 2011-12, including the top 11 scorers from last year's squad. Every game-winning goal from last season was scored by a player returning to the team this season.
In addition to the 19 returning players, five freshmen join the squad this season, including three forwards in Stephanie Anderson, Rachael Bona, and Meghan Lorence, a defenseman in Rachel Ramsey and a goaltender in Shyler Sletta. All five freshmen hail from the state of Minnesota.
