Gophers coach Don Lucia has received a lot of criticism the past few seasons about his recruiting. Critics have said he needs to bring in older players with junior hockey experience.

It appears Lucia has landed one in 6-3, 180-pound Jared Larson, the team captain of the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. His hometown is listed as Apple Valley. He played for Eastview in high school and, as a senior in 2007-08 had 26 goals and 24 assists for 50 points, according to MaxPreps, a national high school sports web site.

This is Larson's second year with the Ice Dogs. He turns 21 Aug. 28, so he will be one of the older players as a freshman next season.

L:arson is the third leading scorer on the Ice Dogs with 20 goals and 21 assists for 41 points in 46 games. He is a plus-4. What stands out most is his stats on the power play: 10 goals and 10 assists, so almost half his points are on the power play, a Gophers' weakness much of this season.

Fairbanks is 27-17-3 in the West Division of the North American Hockey League. That's good enough for second place. The NAHL is a four-divsion, Tier II Junior A hockey league.

The Ice Dogs competed in the Noreth Americn Hockey League Showcase in mid-September in Blaine and on their long 10-game road trip in Minnesota and Michigan toured seven college campuses.

They met head coaches from five Division I schools and two Division III, visited locker rooms and weight rooms and practiced at home rinks.

General manager Rob Proffitt, who said he was trying to help his players get exposure, called it a great experience. Not sure if the U of M was one of the colleges the Ice Dogs visited, but my guess it was.

Only Minnesota State Mankato and Lake Superior State are mentioned in the story on the NAHL web site.

"On the bus trips between schools, we talked about the pros and cons of each school," Jared Larson is quotes as saying. "I don't think that anybody made any final decisions about where they want to go, but it sure gave us more information to help with that process."