The Gopher hockey team, No. 1 in the nation and working on a school record 22 consecutive wins, will see its streak end soon, according to coach Don Lucia. The Gophers are in first place in the WCHA with an 11-0-3 record, 19-0-3 overall, despite working their way through injuries.
Lucia said on WCCO Radio Sunday night the Gophers are looking at a difficult schedule the next several weeks including games against Wisconsin in Madison this weekend. “I think the big thing right now is we can’t have any more injuries. …We want to try and get as many points as we can. … Obviously we have put ourselves in great position for home ice and probably in the top three in the league. … The next four weeks with Wisconsin, Denver, North Dakota and going up to Alaska before the week off is going to be a critical stretch and we’re going to lose some games in there. We know that. If we can just continue to get points every weekend we’ll be in good shape.”
The Gophers were able to win 5-1 over Minnesota State Mankato on Friday, overcoming injury and the absence of five players who were in Sweden for the World Junior Championship. Those players returned for Sunday’s 1-0 win, following a 20 hour or so flight.
With a young team that includes freshmen playing key roles, it will be interesting to see how the Gophers perform from now through February 3 when they will play their last game against Alaska Anchorage before having the next weekend off. The Gophers host Denver, now in second place in the WCHA, on January 19 and 20.
The team’s two leaders in goals scored are freshmen, Kyle Okposo with 15 goals and Jay Barriball with 12. Defenseman Erik Johnson, the No. 1 draft choice in the NHL draft last year, is also part of the heralded freshmen group. Any freshman who can score more than 10 goals in the WCHA is having an exceptional season.
The Gophers have been ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams 45 of the last 46 weeks. Minnesota has been ranked No. 1 for nine weeks this season.