Gophers open non-conference play

The Gophers men’s hockey team will play its first non-conference opponent this weekend but don’t expect a drop in competition come Saturday night.

Minnesota, 3-4-1, will host No. 7 Bemidji State (7-0-1 overall, 4-0-0 College Hockey America) in a two-game series, and while the Gophers have dominated the Beavers in years past, Minnesota enters this series as the underdog.

“On paper, they’re better than us,” senior Tony Lucia said. “We need to go out and prove ourselves, and if we’re going to do that, we need to do that against top-10 teams, and right now they’re ranked seventh.”

Bemidji State enters this series with an eight-game unbeaten streak , top in the nation. The hot start follows a deep run last year, which culminated in an appearance in the NCAA Frozen Four.

“They’re used to winning right now,” head coach Don Lucia said. “You look at the end of last year, the success they had and the run they had, then they start out the year and they haven’t lost yet; winning breeds winning.”

Minnesota last played Bemidji State in 2004. Starting next year they will meet much more frequently, as the Beavers will join the University of Nebraska-Omaha as Western Collegiate Hockey Association members beginning in the 2010-11 sea son.

“Obviously we petitioned hard and fought hard for Bemidji to be a member of the league,” Don Lucia said. “I think it was the right thing to do, and I think you see that with their on-ice success … they’re going to be tremendous members of the WCHA.”

While Bemidji State will join the WCHA next year, this year they are still a non-conference opponent for the Gophers, meaning this series could go a long way in helping Minnesota’s postseason aspirations in terms of improving their pairwise rankings, which determine which teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

“As it turns out, it’s good for us that we’re playing Bemidji because of their record,” Don Lucia said. “They’re going to have a good record this year, and that’s certainly going to help strength of schedule and all those things.”

Minnesota enters this series on a hot streak of its own, winners of three of its previous four games. However, the Gophers are dealing with the losses of two key players in freshman Nick Leddy and senior Jay Barriball to injury and the sudden departure of sophomore Sam Lofquist .

Tony Lucia thinks having a veteran team helps deal with the changes the Gophers’ roster is experiencing so early in the season.

“You know how to cope with it,” Tony Lucia said. “The coaching staff recruits players every year to step in and play roles; they’re getting roles and opportunities a little bit earlier than maybe they expected.”

One newcomer making an immediate impact is Zach Budish . The freshman has scored four points on the year, including three in last Saturday’s win over Wisconsin.

“I felt like I’ve played well in the first couple of games, contributing more offensively now,” Budish said. “I’d just like to continue to do that and do what I can to make the team win.”

On the defensive end, after a career best 45-save effort last Saturday, junior Alex Kangas has started to regain the form of his freshman year, and the sharp play between the pipes by both Kangas and sophomore Kent Patterson has stood out to Don Lucia as one of the team’s strengths early in the season.

“Overall, they’re playing at a pretty high level,” Don Lucia said. “Now we’re starting to score some goals, and that’s what you have to do if you’re going to win; you just can’t rely on your goaltender to win you a 2-1 game every night.”

While pleased with Kangas’ performance, Don Lucia said Kent Patterson has a “good chance” of playing this weekend, so look for the Kangas-Patterson platoon to return after a two-series absence.

Filling in for the injured Barriball on the first line, sophomore Nico Sacchetti will likely remain on the right wing following a solid — if not spectacular — two-game series.

The Gophers will play Saturday and Sunday at Mariucci Arena, with the games pushed back from their usual slate due to the opening of the men’s basketball regular season Friday. The Saturday game will be at 7:30 p.m., and the Sunday contest will start at 6 p.m.