Gophers hope to stay hot up north

On the heels of a sweep and suddenly in the hunt for home ice, the Gophers men’s hockey team will have a chance to further its chase of the No. 5 conference spot against a team with a recent history of hurting Minnesota when it matters most.

Minnesota-Duluth ended the Gophers’ season in last year’s Western Collegiate Hockey Association Final Five and more recently swept Minnesota at Mariucci Arena earlier this season.

The Gophers had 2-0 leads against the Bulldogs in both games earlier this season but fell in each contest. With the memory of last year’s playoff ouster looming, this current Minnesota squad is ready for some payback in Duluth.

“They won the past three … so we’re definitely looking to get some revenge out there,” sophomore Jordan Schroeder said.

The Gophers enter the weekend off a sweep of then-No. 7 Colorado College; they outscored the Tigers 10-4. The dominating sweep of one of the WCHA’s top teams gives Schroeder and the rest of the team confidence moving forward.

“After last weekend you can’t play much better than that,” Schroeder said. “Everyone’s moving their feet, we’re scoring goals, [Alex] Kangas is playing well; that’s what you need to win.”

On the opposite side, Minnesota-Duluth enters this weekend on a slump, going 2-6 over its past eight games. While the Bulldogs have struggled recently, five of those eight games were played on the road, and Gophers head coach Don Lucia knows it will be a different team the Gophers will face in Duluth.

“They’re a good team. They’ve played very well at home all season long,” Lucia said. “I’m sure they’re anxious and looking forward to getting back and playing back at home.”

Last weekend Minnesota scored its highest number of goals in a weekend all season. While Lucia knows his team will not likely score 10 goals each series, he does know scoring at least three goals a game is crucial to his team’s success.

“If we can get to three, it gives ourselves a chance to win,” Lucia said. “It’s not easy to win when you only score one or two goals in a night.”

While Mariucci boasts an Olympic-sized rink, Minnesota-Duluth’s current rink is significantly smaller, meaning shots can come from anywhere on the ice and find their way to the back of the net.

“Things happen in a hurry, and you have to be ready for that both offensively and defensively,” Lucia said. “We talked about how quickly things happen, and you have to be ready for them because you can shoot from anywhere and it’s a decent shot.”

Minnesota-Duluth enters this weekend boasting one of the top offensive attacks in the WCHA. Four forwards for the Bulldogs have at least 32 points, led by sophomore Jack Connolly, who already has 40 points on the season.

Keeping such a high-powered attack at bay will be a tough task, but Lucia is confident in his defense, particularly the tandem of Nick Leddy and David Fischer.

“I really like the way that those two are playing together,” Lucia said. “They’re playing off each other, [and] I think that Nick has started to become a little more assertive offensively — something we’ve tried to push him to do.”

The Gophers will play Minnesota-Duluth at 7 p.m. Friday, while Saturday’s game will start at 7:30 p.m.

Injury Notes

After missing four games due to mononucleosis, forward Mike Hoeffel returned for the series at Denver. While his minutes were limited in that series and the two games against Colorado College, Lucia said he feels the junior is fully recovered from the illness and is now back to form.

“I think he’s back to 100 percent right now,” Lucia said. “I think now we’re to the point where we don’t have to manage his ice anymore, and that he can play as many minutes as he’s capable of playing.”

Lucia also said forward Taylor Matson , out due to an ankle injury in the Jan. 2 game against Bowling Green, has been medically cleared to skate and could return in time for the Wisconsin series next weekend.

“If he can get back to practice next week, maybe there’s a chance he can play one of the Wisconsin games and then maybe have a chance to play in the playoffs,” Lucia said. “We’re still probably a week away from having a pretty good indication of where he’s going to be.”