Senior Joey Miller is in at left wing on the second line, freshman Sam Warning is out.
That is the only certain change that Gophers coach Don Lucia made after his team's 2-1 loss to North Dakota on Friday at the Ralph.
Miller has played in only three games and has one goal. He is considered a high energy player. Warning has been stuck on three goals and had no shots on goal Friday.
There also could be a change among the defensemen. The key there is could. Freshman Blake Thompson is listed as a seventh defensemen. He will play, a source close to the team said, if one of the other six is too ill to skate. Seems like it could be a game-time decision.
Here are the Gophers' lines:
first line/ Kyle Rau-Nick Bjugstad-Zach Budish ... Rau scored the Gophers' only goal Friday. Budish and Bjugstad has assists. But this line was on the ice for both UND goals, too
second/ Joe Miller-Erik Haula-Jake Hansen ... Hansen and Haula both took body-crushing hits on Friday. Hansen skated off gingerly but returned to the game. Haula was leveled in the final seconds of the game
third/ Nate Condon-Taylor Matson-Seth Ambroz ... Ambroz took three minor penalties; can't do that again. Roughing in six-man brawl was one of them. That's understandable, others not so much
fourth/Tom Serratore-Travis Boyd-Nick Larson ... Both Serratore and Larson had goals in first series with UND
Defensive pairs:
Seth Helgeson-Justin Holl
Ben Marshall-Mark Alt
Jake Parenteau-Nate Schmidt
... with Blake Thompson available if one of them can't play
Goalie:
Kent Patterson ... In three games against UND, he has given up zero, two and two goals and Gophers are 2-1 in those games
UND LINE-UP
Coach Dave Hakstol, one victory away from his 200th, has not made any changes:
Lines
Brock Nelson-Corban Knight-Danny Kristo
Mario Lamoureux-Carter Rowney-Taylor Dickin
Brendan O'Donnell-Mark MacMillan-Connor Gaarder
Dan Senkbeil-Stephane Pattyn-Michael Parks
D-men
Dillon Simpson-Ben Blood
Andrew MacWilliam-Nick Mattson
Joe Gleason-Andrew Panzarella
Goalie:
Aaron Dell ... educated guess. why switch?
Roman Augustoviz spends Minnesota's winters covering college hockey, specifically the Gophers, and other University of Minnesota sports. During the summer, he writes about the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, with a dose of U sports sprinkled in. Follow @RomanStrib on Twitter. E-mail Roman.
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