The Wake

Take a look up and down the roster of the Gophers men’s hockey team this year and you’ll notice that all 25 players have one thing in common: each and every one of them is from Minnesota. Should we be surprised? After all, this is the “State of Hockey.”

That motto should ring true to anyone who has attended a game at Mariucci Arena, which was ranked by Sports Illustrated this summer as the No. 8 college sports venue in the country. While that undoubtedly has a lot to do with the fact that Gopher men’s hockey has achieved far more success over the past decade than any other major sports team at the University of Minnesota, you don’t have look any further than the attendance records for the Wild and the impressive popularity of Minnesota high school hockey – both boys and girls – to comprehend the tremendous following the sport has in this state.

Last season has to be viewed as a success for the Gophers. They finished with the best record in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) for a second consecutive season by posting a 31-10-3 mark, and went on to capture a WCHA Final Five Championship for the first time since 2004. Their magical season came to an end in the NCAA Tournament, where the Gophers suffered an overtime loss to North Dakota in the second round.

This year, the Gophers will look to carry their success from last season forward in pursuit of a national championship. Last year’s team was a high-powered one offensively, and this year they should only be improved in that department. The Gophers return most of their top scorers from a year ago, including forwards Kyle Okposo and Jay Barriball, who will both look to build on impressive freshman seasons.

“Returning all of our forwards is definitely nice and all of the freshmen that joined the team as forwards are really good players as well,” says senior forward and assistant captain Evan Kaufmann.

Offense will not be the issue with this year’s Gophers team. That issue could be defense, where there are big questions after some significant off-season losses.

Defenseman Mike Vanelli and goaltender Kellen Briggs were seniors last year, and standout defensemen Erik Johnson and Alex Goligoski elected to leave early for the NHL. That leaves a young and inexperienced defensive corps that will be hard-pressed to keep up with the team’s explosive offense.

“In a season that is as long as ours, we are bound to have some ups and downs,” Kaufmann says. He and his Minnesotan teammates are just hoping this one ends on a high note.