Minnesota Hockey: 2008-09 Season Preview

• Minnesota forward Ryan Stoa returns after suffering a season-ending injury in the first period of the second game of the 2007-08 season against Michigan. Stoa, who was selected as team captain for 2008-09, underwent ACL surgery in November and resumed skating on his own in March. He has 22 goals in his first two seasons with the Gophers and was a second-round draft choice of the Colorado Avalanche in 2005.
• Sophomore goaltender Alex Kangas made quite an impression in his first season as the Gophers' netminder, taking over the starting role at midseason and starting the final 21 games of the year. Kangas set single-season school records with a 1.98 goals against average and .930 save percentage. He was just the third freshman in school history to earn team Most Valuable Player honors.
• There will be plenty of new faces on the Gophers' roster in 2008-09 as Minnesota has added 12 players to the lineup. Headlining the incoming class are Aaron Ness, who was Minnesota's Mr. Hockey in 2007-08 at Roseau High School, and Jordan Schroeder, who was the youngest player on the U.S.-under 20 national team and led all players at the world junior championships with seven assists. The incoming group includes seven forwards, three defensemen and two goaltenders.
• Minnesota has added three players who competed for the U.S. National Development team last season in Jordan Schroeder, Grant Scott and Sam Lofquist. The Gophers will have eight former USNDT players on this year's team as the trio joins Mike Hoeffel, Ryan Flynn, Mike Carman, Ryan Stoa and Cade Fairchild.
• Of the Gophers' 27-player roster, 16 players have already been chosen in the National Hockey League draft. Six of the team's 12 newcomers already have been selected by NHL teams, while Jordan Schroeder is among the top draft-eligible prospects for the 2009 NHL draft.
• Minnesota lost four players from the 2007-08 squad to early departures to the National Hockey League. Sophomore Kyle Okposo left in December to join the New York Islanders, while junior Blake Wheeler signed with the Boston Bruins and Jeff Frazee signed with the New Jersey Devils following the season. Freshman Stu Bickel also signed a free agent deal with the Anaheim Ducks. Minnesota has now had 11 players leave early to join the professional ranks since the end of the 2005-06 season.
• The Gophers return just one of their top five scorers from 2007-08 as Jay Barriball is the lone returning high scorer with six goals and 15 assists. Overall, Minnesota returns 45.9 percent of its scoring (50 of 109 goals). The returning players also combined to score seven of the team's 25 power play goals last season.
• Defensively, the Gophers return two of their top blueliners in WCHA all-rookie selection Cade Fairchild and junior David Fischer. Fairchild was also named to the Inside College Hockey Freshman All-American team. Minnesota ranked 16th in the country on defense at 2.42 goals allowed per game and did not surrender six goals in a single game for the first time since 1941-42.
• The Gophers penalty kill unit is coming off its second-best season in school history as Minnesota ranked ninth in the country at 87.0 percent in 2007-08. The 25 power play goals allowed in 45 games was also the second-best performance in school history.
• Gophers' head coach Don Lucia enters the 2008-09 season ranked fifth among active Division I head coaches in victories with a 518-268-67 record in 21 seasons as a collegiate head coach. His .647 winning percentage ranks fourth among active coaches.
• Minnesota will have a new face on the bench this year as Mike Hastings has replaced Mike Guentzel as assistant coach. Guentzel was on the Gophers' staff for the previous 14 seasons. Hastings is the winningest coach in USHL history with 529wins and led the Omaha Lancers to the 2007-08 USHL Clark Cup title. He never had a losing season in 14 years as Lancers' head coach.
• Travel won't be a major issue for the Gophers this season as they play all six of their non-conference games at home and 20 of their 34 games overall. Minnesota also will host the NCAA West Regional at Mariucci Arena March 27-28 and will not travel to Alaska for the first time since 1990-91.
• The defending champions from college hockey's top three conferences will all visit Mariucci Arena in 2008-09 as the Gophers host New Hampshire from Hockey East on Nov. 7-8 and take on defending Central Collegiate Hockey Association champion Michigan on Nov. 28. Minnesota will also face defending Western Collegiate Hockey Association titlist Colorado College on Dec. 13-14.
• In 2008-09, Minnesota will play 20 of its 34 games against 2007-08 NCAA tournament qualifiers. In fact, the season gets off to a challenging start with 12 of the 16 games before the holiday break coming against teams that made last year's postseason.
• A unique night for Minnesota hockey will take place on Oct. 31 when the state's four WCHA teams take part in a Minnesota college hockey showcase at the Xcel Energy Center. Minnesota Duluth will play St. Cloud State at 4:05 p.m. and the Gophers face Minnesota State at 7:35 p.m. in a rematch of last year's WCHA first round playoff series that featured three overtime tilts.
• Minnesota has made eight consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, which is the second-longest current streak behind Michigan's NCAA-record 18 straight appearances. Minnesota's streak is the ninth longest all-time. The Gophers have made more NCAA tournament appearances than any other school as they have appeared in the field 32 times.
• The Gophers are looking to bounce back from a seventh place league finish, which was their lowest since 1976-77. It marked only the fourth time since beginning conference play in 1951-52 that the Gophers have finished seventh or lower in the standings. However, the Gophers became just the second No. 7 seed to reach the title game of the WCHA Final Five and earned an NCAA tournament berth by virtue of their postseason run.
• Minnesota has been no stranger to close games after playing 17 one-goal games during 2007-08 and setting an NCAA record with 16 overtime games. Of the Gophers' 45 games, 35 were decided by two goals or less. Their nine ties matched a school record.