"North Dakota's strength is they are a really good defensive team," Gophers coach Don Lucia said. "They ended up --[for] the year they led the league in goals against.

"We ended up third or fourth so we kind of quietly had a real good year defensively. Anytime you are in the playoffs, especially on the road, the goals are at a premium," Lucia said. "They are a team that are healthy now other than [defenseman Chay] Genoway. They have [Brett] Hextall back."

North Dakota's goals-against average, in all games, is a league-best 2.14. The Gophers are fourth at 2.72.

"They've got good balanced lines right now," Lucia said. "We have to make sure we have good puck management. Make sure we don't turn pucks over. We are going to have to defend our crease because they will come hard to the net.

"We have to make sure we are getting sticks up and not giving them second-chance opportunities. We have had good games. They have been close games. We have great respect for them and their program and what they have been able to do year in and year out."

Actually, two of the four games between the Sioux and the Gophers have been 3-3 ties, the other two games were decided by four goals. North Dakota won the first game 4-0 at the Ralph, Minnesota won the most recent 5-1 at Mariucci.

"[The Ralph] is certainly not an easy place to play, but it is a fun place to play," Lucia said. "For me, it's a great gauge to see where some of our guys are. Not just our seniors but more importantly the younger guys. How are they going to respond in that environment?

"The way we have played on the road this year. I think we have played very well. I think we will play very well up there this weekend."

The Gophers are 7-8-1 on the road.

Lucia said the Gophers went through a tough stretch the past three weekends and went 4-2 against three quality opponents. "Easily we were in a position to win those other two games," Lucia said. "We feel good about that."

Tale of the overall stats

Gophers Sioux

goals for 2.81, t-7th 3.19, 6h

goals against 2.14, 1st 2.72, 4th

pen minutes 13.5, 9th 19.3, 2nd

pp goals 27, 8th 40, 4th

pp pct. 17.8, 8th 20.3, 4th

pen kill 82%, 5th 87%, 2nd

goals 101, t-7th 115, 6th

The Sioux's best period for goals has been the second. They have scored 44 goals in the middle period, 35 in the first and third.

The Gophers score more goals as the game goes on. They have 28 in the first period, 34 in the second and 39 in the third.