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Play-in game is Minnesota affair
Josh Linehan
- Staff Reporter
You'll have to forgive Minnesota men's hockey coach Don Lucia if he sounds like a broken record.
Question: Coach, can Adam Hauser, fresh off a bout with mono, play three games in a row at the Final Five this weekend?
Answer: "I know he'll play Thursday."
Question: Coach, can Aaron Miskovich play three games this weekend without aggravating his strained knee?
Answer: "There aren't three games to play. I know he'll play Thursday."
Question: Coach, what do you think your club has to do to make the NCAA tournament? Can you get in without winning the whole thing at the Target Center?
Answer: "I have no idea. I know we have to win Thursday."
There, in a nutshell, is Lucia's playoff hockey philosophy. Focus on the next game, because a loss means there is no tomorrow.
Lucia practiced his theory last weekend when he started Adam Hauser in the second game of the playoff series with Colorado College. Had the series gone three games, backup Pete Samargia would likely have started the rubber match. But true to form, Lucia played for the sweep -- and won.
But there may be more to the team's mindset than meets the eye.
No team has ever won the Final Five after playing the play-in game. Conventional wisdom says winning three hockey games in three days against top-quality competition is just too much to ask.
So Lucia and his troops are looking at this year's WCHA tournament as a chance for redemption against conference opponents who have given them problems this year, starting with Minnesota State.
"They came into our rink and beat us earlier this year. If that's not a wake-up call, I don't know what is," senior captain Nate Miller said. "And if we can beat them, you're looking at Wisconsin and there's definitely a revenge factor there."
Minnesota and Minnesota State split the season series, with both games played at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers prevailed 3-2 Friday night before pulled out a 6-5 overtime win the following evening.
The Mavericks have been one of the best teams in college hockey since then. Minnesota State went 8-2-2 down the stretch, much to the delight of 32-year coach Don Brose, who is retiring at the end of this season.
"We're very pleased to be here," Brose said. "This is a goal the kids set, and I don't think many people expected us to be here, but the kids always believed."
They have made a believer of Lucia as well.
"People may not want to hear it, but we're the underdog. Mankato is a veteran team with a lot of speed and great goaltending," Lucia said.
Both teams are on the NCAA bubble, with the Mavericks two spots ahead of Minnesota in the Pairwise rankings. Brose said he thinks his team needs a strong Final Five showing to make the 12-team tournament.
"I don't think we can get in, even if we take third. I think we'll have to win tomorrow and then knock off Wisconsin," Brose said.
Despite having to play an extra game, both teams are confident heading into the weekend. Minnesota State has split with all the teams in the tournament. The Gophers, meanwhile, lost the season series to all the teams but the Mavericks.
But that matters very little in a one-and-done tournament format.
"It's one-game, playoff hockey," Gophers junior Erik Westrum said. "I think the biggest thing is to get on the board first. If it's scoreless after one, that's fine, but whoever loses is out, so we have to put them on their heels."
After a season when Minnesota has shown flashes of brilliance surrounded by clouds of mediocrity, maybe the simple approach is best.
One goal at a time. One game at a time.
Josh Linehan covers men's hockey and welcomes comments at jlinehan@daily.umn.edu.
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