Schroeder brings gold to Gophers

With all of the success and accolades the Gophers men’s hockey program has had historically, it’s hard to find any new record or trophy that has yet to go unclaimed.

But international competition success on the junior level had eluded the Minnesota program for 33 years until a sophomore from Prior Lake, Minn. etched his name in the record books.

Jordan Schroeder had twice before competed in the World Junior Hockey Championships as a member of Team USA. In 2009 the team lost in the quarterfinal round to Slovakia and fell to a disappointing fifth place. The finish outside of medal contention helped motivate Schroeder to prepare even harder for this year’s international competition.

“It was frustrating last year, especially losing in that quarterfinal game,” Schroeder said. “The three of us that were returning, we had a mindset coming into this year that we wanted to share with the rest of the team. We knew that we could do it, and it showed.”

Team USA underwent major changes after the 2009 finish. Of the 22 players on the 2009 roster, just Schroeder and two others made the 2010 team that competed in Canada. For the first time, a training camp was held in North Dakota. Instead of just getting named to a spot, players had to compete and earn their way onto the roster.

“I think that’s what helped with the training camp up in North Dakota; before they’d never done anything like that,” Schroeder said. “Guys had to earn their spots, and I think they did a good job with that.”

Team USA was hoping to earn its second World Juniors Championship ever, the first coming in 2004 when they won the gold medal in Finland.

This time they would have to earn the gold medal by beating a Canadian team that was hosting the tournament and had already beaten them earlier in the games, when they won a shootout victory on New Year’s Eve, 5-4.

In the championship game Schroeder scored the second goal for Team USA, giving them the early 2-1 lead. After taking a 5-3 lead later, Team USA looked poised to earn its second gold medal, but team Canada stormed back.

The Canadian team tied the game at 5 and forced overtime, but John Carlson’s goal four minutes into the extra period gave Team USA the championship and Schroeder his first gold medal in three years of international competition.

“You can’t explain it in words,” Schroeder said. “A gold medal at that level, at that tournament, you’ll remember the rest of your life. It’s probably one of the top moments in my life so far.”

Schroeder became the first Gophers hockey player to earn gold at the World Junior Hockey Championships. He also joined the Gophers players from the 1960 and 1980 Olympic hockey teams as the only Minnesota players to win international gold medals .

The head coach of Team USA was former Gophers player Dean Blais . Schroeder said he saw similarities between his international coach and Gophers head coach Don Lucia.

“I think the main thing him and Don Lucia both try to get across to me is just competing,” Schroeder said. “He said when I’m competing, there’s not too many guys that can compete with me at that level; I’m just trying to keep that work ethic up.”

Schroeder returned to the Minnesota hockey team in time for the non-conference series against Harvard, and the team has played some of its best hockey since his return, going 3-0-1 since his return .

Schroeder sees one major similarity between the team that won gold and the Gophers team that is currently riding a 7-1-1 streak over its last nine games: hard work.

“You look at Canada’s lineup, they have a ton of skill up there, but I think they overlooked our guys and how hard we worked,” Schroeder said. “I think if we do the same thing … if we work hard, finish our checks and make simple plays, it’ll turn out well.”

Just three days after winning gold, Schroeder jumped back into collegiate competition playing in the Harvard series. The short turnaround was easy to deal with for the soft-spoken associate captain for one reason: he wants a chance to help this Minnesota team achieve the same success he experienced with Team USA.

“I love the game of hockey, playing every weekend; it’s a lot of fun out there,” Schroeder said. “I just want to bring that confidence and that high that I had from the world juniors back, and I think it’s helped so far.”