The Gophers have been amazingly consistent on offense so far. They have scored at least one goal in all 13 periods they have played this season, including a five-minute overtime.

They have seven goals in the first period, nine in the second, eight in the third and one in overtime.

Sophomore center Erik Haula is tied for second in the nation in goals with five and in points with nine. Jeremy Langlois of Quinnipiac is first in both stats, with seven goals and 11 points, but his team has played six games, two more than most other teams, including the Gophers.

Haula is tied for second in goals with six other players. In points, Haula is tied for second with one other player, sophomore T.J. Tynan (2-7--9) of Notre Dame.

* Goalie Kent Patterson started this season without giving up a goal the first 144 minutes and 35 seconds. That streak ended in the third game when Caleb Herbert of UMD scored at 5:12 of the second period.

Patterson and the Gophers beat Sacred Heart 9-0 and 6-0 the opening weekend of the season. He is the first Gophers goalie to shut out the same opponent on consecutive nights since Adam Hauser beat Alaska Anchorage 4-0 and 1-0 in the WCHA playoffs on March 12-13, 1999.

CATAMOUNTS TALK

Vermont played in the 2009 Frozen Four in Washington, D.C., and led top seed Boston University 4-3 in the middle of the third period in the semifinals before losing 5-4. The Catamounts were 22-12-5 that season.

The seniors on this season's team, like goalie Rob Madore, were freshmen on that Frozen Four team.

The next season, the Catamounts were in the West Regional at the Xcel Energy Center. This time theu lost to Wisconsin 3-2 in the regional semifinals. Madore had 39 saves. Vermont finished the season 17-15-7.

* The Gophers are 80-47-7 all-time against Hockey East teams. They have played all the HE teams except Vermont.

* The Catamounts have two Minnesotans on their roster, sophomore forward Anthony DeCenzo of Hibbing and freshman defenseman Blake Doerring of Chanhassen.

* College Hockey News recently listed the team's with top nine recruiting classes for 2011-12 season, in no particular order, and the Gophers and the Catamounts both made the list.

* Junior forward Sebastian Stalberg is the younger brother of Viktor Stalberg, a former Catamount who plays for the Chicago Blackhawks. Viktor was a Hobey Baker finalist at Vermont.

POLL CLIMBING

The Gophers began the season ranked No. 19 in the uscho.com preseason poll, then moved up to No. 14 and now to No. 8.

In USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll, the Gophers went from unranked to No. 14 to No. 10.

The last time the Gophers were a top 10 team was two years ago. They were No. 8 in the preseason 2009-10 ratings.

Since the 2004-05 season, the Gophers are 11-3-1 against defending NCAA champions counting their sweep of UMD last weekend.

The Gophers are 4-0-0 for the first time since 2001-02 wthen they won their first six games and started 11-0-2. They finished that season with a 32-8-4 record and an NCAA title.

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