Minnesota Hockey: 2009-10 Season Preview

The Gophers return 10 of their top 11 scorers from the 2008-09 squad and bring back 81.4 percent of their scoring. Minnesota returns all but 60 of its 322 points from last year and 46 of those points came from the team's leading scorer, Ryan Stoa, who left for the National Hockey League after his junior year.

Sophomore Jordan Schroeder is the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Year and finished third in the nation in scoring with 45 points in 35 games played.

He earned National Rookie of the Year honors by Inside College Hockey and College Hockey News. He was the only freshman to rank among the nation's top 40 scorers. Schroeder's 45 points marked the 10th-highest single-season total by a freshman in Minnesota history and his 32 assists ranked sixth in a single season by a freshman.

Defensively, the Gophers return all but one player from a unit that allowed just 2.84 goals per game last season. Junior Cade Fairchild earned third-team All-American honors from Inside College?Hockey last season after ranking third in the country in scoring among defensemen with 33 points in 35 games. Sophomore Aaron Ness added 17 points and senior David Fischer contributed 13 points a year ago.

Junior Alex Kangas returns in goal after posting a 2.79 goals-against average and .901 save percentage in 2008-09. Kangas had shutouts in two of his last three games last season, which does not include the WCHA Final Five play-in game when he left with an illness after the first period. Kangas has been outstanding during the postseason in his first two years with a 1.49 goals-against average and .951 save percentage in 10 career postseason games.

Special teams were a key component of the 2008-09 Gophers' squad as Minnesota ranked second in the country with success on 54.7 percent of their combined special teams situations. The Gophers led the WCHA?and ranked fourth nationally on the penalty-kill at 88.8 percent. They were second in the WCHA and eighth nationally on the power-play at 20.1 percent.

Minnesota's penalty-killing unit set a single-season school record with its 88.8 percent success rate, surpassing the previous mark of 88.5 percent in 2000-01. The?Gophers led the nation in penalty-killing for much of the season after allowing just seven power play goals over the season's first 18 games.

Gophers' head coach Don Lucia enters the 2008-09 season ranked fifth among active Division I head coaches in victories with a 535-281-74 record in 22 seasons as a collegiate head coach. His .642 winning percentage ranks fifth among active coaches.

Minnesota will have a new face on the bench this year as former Gophers' standout Grant Potulny has replaced Mike Hastings as assistant coach.

Potulny was a three-year captain for the Gophers during his career from 2000-04, captaining a pair of national championship teams in 2002 and 2003.

Potulny played professional hockey the past five years.

Minnesota will host the NCAA West Regional for the second straight year when the event takes place March 26-27 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Minnesota hosted the regional this past season at Mariucci Arena and will be conducting a regional at the Xcel Energy Center for the first time.

The Gophers' 17-13-7 record in 2008-09 marked the 10th consecutive year and the 30th time in the past 32 years that the Gophers have been above .500.

The only times during that span the Gophers were below .500 were in 1997-98 and 1998-99.

The Gophers have six players on this year's team that have been part of the U.S. National Development program. Mike Carman, Cade Fairchild, Mike Hoeffel, Ryan Flynn, Sam Lofquist and Jordan Schroeder all competed for the USNDT.

Sophomore forward Taylor Matson returns after missing most of the 2008-09 season with a knee injury suffered in the first period of the Gophers' loss to Michigan on Nov. 28. Matson had one goal and played in each of the Gophers' first 13 games. Matson underwent surgery on Dec. 15 and returned to non-contact skating late in the season.

Jordan Schroeder was one of five Minnesota players drafted in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, including one of two first round choices. Schroeder was the 22nd player taken overall by the Vancouver Canucks. All four of Minnesota's incoming freshmen were drafted, led by Nick Leddy, who was taken 16th overall in the first round by the Minnesota Wild. Zach Budish was selected in the second round by the Nashville Predators, while Josh Birkholz was taken in the third round by the Florida Panthers and Seth Helgeson was a fourth-round choice of the New Jersey Devils. Of the Gophers' 26-player roster, 20 players have already been chosen in the National Hockey League draft.

Minnesota's top player from last season, Ryan Stoa, departed after his junior year for the National Hockey League to join the Colorado Avalanche.

Stoa was a first-team All-American and All-WCHA performer while ranking sixth in the nation in scoring. Minnesota has now had 12 players leave early to join the professional ranks since the end of the 2005-06 season.