Minnesota Golden Gophers Aim for Three-Peat in WCHA Race
Sept. 21, 2007
By Kevin Kurtt
The 2007-08 edition of Golden Gopher hockey will, once again, feature an explosive lineup with exceptional depth throughout the roster. Under ninth-year head coach Don Lucia, the defending WCHA and WCHA Final Five Champions will boast 16 NHL Draft Picks, including four first-rounders (Patrick White, Blake Wheeler, Kyle Okposo, David Fischer), an All-WCHA Second Team forward (Okposo), a USHL Player of the Year (Mike Howe), a USHL Rookie of the Year (Okposo), one Minnesota Mr. Hockey (Fischer), four Minnesota Mr. Hockey Finalists (R.J. Anderson, Fischer, Ben Gordon, White) and five U.S. National Junior Team members (Mike Carman, Jeff Frazee, Okposo, Ryan Stoa, Wheeler).
Minnesota will return 68 percent of its points and 81 percent of its goals from the 2006-07 campaign. The Maroon and Gold's top returning scorer will be Jay Barriball who ranked fourth in the nation in scoring among rookies with 20 goals and 23 assists for 43 points. Kyle Okposo (19-21-40), Blake Wheeler (18-20-38), Ben Gordon (12-19-31), Ryan Stoa (12-12-24) and Mike Carman (9-11-20) represent Minnesota's other returning players with 20-plus points from a season ago.
Strength of Schedule: The 2007-08 schedule for Minnesota will, once again, be one of the toughest in the nation. The Golden Gophers will take on six teams that competed in the 2007 NCAA Tournament - Air Force, Boston College, Michigan, Michigan State, North Dakota and St. Cloud State. In addition, the Maroon and Gold will face six teams ranked in the final 2006-07 USA Today rankings - No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Boston College, No. 3 North Dakota, No. 8 St. Cloud State, No. 10 Michigan and No. 15 Denver.
Rank and File: Minnesota has been ranked in the nation's top 15 for 92 consecutive weeks during the hockey season. UM has not fallen out of the top 15 since the week of Dec. 15, 2003. The Golden Gophers have been ranked in nation's top 10 for 57 of the last 58 weeks during the hockey season. UM was No. 1 for 11 weeks in 2006-07.
Milestone Watch: With Minnesota's 3-1 win over Wisconsin on Nov. 19, 2006, Don Lucia moved into second place on UM's all-time coaching wins list. He currently owns a 220-96-29 (.680) record at Minnesota. He moved past the legendary John Mariucci (197-138-18 from 1952-66). Doug Woog (1985-99) leads the list with a 390-187- 40 (.665) career record at Minnesota. With his 499-251-58 career record, Lucia stands in fifth place on the active Division I coaches wins list. Boston College's Jerry York leads the chart with 778 career victories. The March 2 game vs. Michigan Tech was Lucia's 800th as a collegiate head coach.
20-Win Plateau: In 2006-07, Minnesota reached the 20-win plateau for the eighth consecutive season. In the last 33 seasons, the Golden Gophers have failed to reach 20 wins only three times (1976-77, 1997-98, 1998-99). During the Don Lucia era (since the beginning of the 1999-2000 season), Minnesota has averaged 27.5 wins per season. This season, the Maroon and Gold reached the 30-win plateau for the first time since the 2001-02 team finished with a 32-8-4 record. The Golden Gophers have notched 30 wins in a season 14 times, including a school-record 35 wins in 1985-86 (35-13-0).
Another Year, Another Banner: The University of Minnesota men's hockey team is making a habit under head coach Don Lucia of raising banners to the Mariucci Arena rafters as the Golden Gophers captured the 2006-07 WCHA Regular Season Championship and the 2007 Red BaronTM WCHA Final Five Championship to hang their seventh and eighth banners in the last six seasons. The Maroon and Gold finished the season with a 31-10-3 overall record and an 18-7-3 mark in WCHA play. Minnesota captured the MacNaughton Cup on the last weekend of the regular season, finishing four points ahead of second-place St. Cloud State.
After a topping Alaska Anchorage in three games in the first round of the WCHA Playoffs, the Golden Gophers downed their top two arch-rivals to capture the WCHA Final Five and the Broadmoor Trophy. From there, Minnesota earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth consecutive season and made its nation-leading 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament, including its seventh in a row. After a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Air Force in the first round of the 2007 NCAA West Regional in Denver, the Maroon and Gold's season came to an end in heartbreaking fashion as North Dakota edged Minnesota 3-2 in overtime.
Minnesota finished the 2006-07 season with its most wins (31) since the 2001-02 National Champion Golden Gophers went 32-8-4. The Golden Gophers' senior class of Kellen Briggs and Mike Vannelli finished their careers as one of the most productive classes in the history of Minnesota's Pride on Ice. Together, the two seniors won two WCHA titles, two WCHA Final Five crowns, appeared in four NCAA Tournaments and one Frozen Four, and won nearly 70 percent of their games in the last four years. The Golden Gophers were the nation's top-ranked team for 11 weeks of the 2006-07 season.
Hanging Banners: With the 2006-07 WCHA Championship and 2007 WCHA Final Five title, Minnesota has now risen at least one banner to the rafters of Mariucci Arena in five of the past six seasons. The Golden Gophers hung an NCAA Championship banner in 2001-02, WCHA Final Five and NCAA Championship banners in 2002-03, WCHA Final Five banners in 2003-04 and 2006-07, and WCHA Championship banners in 2005-06 and 2006-07. The last time Minnesota has had as productive a stretch in terms of numbers of banners was from 1973-74 to 1975-76 when the Maroon and Gold claimed two national titles, two WCHA regular season crowns and three WCHA playoff championships. This season, Minnesota recorded its first MacNaughton Cup/Broadmoor Trophy season since 1980-81. The Golden Gophers have not won WCHA Regular Season, WCHA Playoff and NCAA Championships in the same season in the 85-plus history of Minnesota hockey.
| Key Losses | |||||
| Name | Pos. | G-A-Pts | Honoros/W-L-T | GAA | SV% |
| Alex Goligoski | D | 9-30-39 | First Team All-American | ||
| Mike Vannelli | D | 10-29-39 | Second Team All-WCHA | ||
| Erik Johnson | D | 4-20-24 | WCHA All-Rookie Team | ||
| Kellen Briggs | G | 17-7-2 | 2.13 | .917 | |
| Key Returnees | ||||||
| Name | Pos. | Yr | G-A-Pts | Honors/W-L-T | GAA | SV% |
| Jay Barriball | F | sophomore | 20-23-43 | leading returning scorer | ||
| Kyle Okposo | F | sophomore | 19-21-40 | Second Team All-WCHA | ||
| Blake Wheeler | F | junior | 18-20-38 | 3rd leading returning scorer | ||
| Ben Gordon | F | senior | 12-19-31 | 4th leading returning scorer | ||
| Jeff Frazee | G | junior | 14-3-1 | 2.35 | .903 | |
| 2007-08 Rookies | ||
| Name | Pos. | Hometown-Previous Team |
| Stu Bickel | D | Chanhassen, Minn. - Sioux Falls, USHL |
| Cade Fairchild | D | Duluth, Minn. - USNDT |
| Drew Fisher | F | International Falls, Minn. - Sioux Falls, USHL |
| Mike Hoeffel | F | North Oaks, Minn. - USNDT |
| Alex Kangas | G | Rochester, Minn. - Indiana, USHL |
| Kevin Wehrs | D | Plymouth, Minn. - Cedar Rapids, USHL |
| Patrick White | F | Grand Rapids, Minn. - Grand Rapids HS |
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