U-18 U.S. team beats Gophers in overtime

Minnesota and USA Hockey have always had a special relationship, and for so long the country's success in the sport has depended on the state's talent.

Eight Minnesotans played on the 2014 U.S. Olympic team, five current Gophers are products of the U.S. national developmental team program, and Gophers coach Don Lucia led the U.S. team as head coach in the World Junior Championships a year ago.

However, Friday night's exhibition at Mariucci Arena portrayed a possible shift from that dependency.

The U-18 U.S. national team rallied for a 5-4 overtime victory against the No. 4 Gophers with a roster built from growing talent pools outside of Minnesota.

Arizona's Auston Matthews scored two goals, including the overtime winner, and had an assist. Missouri's Matthew Tkachuk scored a goal and assisted on two. Texas' Caleb Jones sparked a rally for his team that featured a lineup with players from 12 states but none from Minnesota.

"You see a lot more players coming out of the Southwest states like California, Utah, Idaho and Texas. So I think it's a really big part of USA Hockey and growing the game," Matthews said. "I'm really looking forward to the future of players coming up from those types of places."

U.S. developmental program alumnus Jack Glover scored for the Gophers. Freshman defenseman Steve Johnson, junior forward Ryan Reilly and senior forward Kyle Rau also contributed goals for the Gophers. Freshman goaltender Nick Lehr made his first start and recorded 35 saves.

It appeared Rau's go-ahead goal late in the third period would avoid another upsetting weekend for the Gophers, but Tkachuk scored with 1:30 left in regulation to force overtime.

The Gophers mixed up line combinations and played 14 forwards and four defenseman for the exhibition matchup.

"You see the growth of hockey in the United States where some of the players are coming from nontraditional areas and some of the really elite players are from nontraditional areas," Lucia said leading up Friday's exhibition. "I think that is a tribute to both the growth of hockey at the NHL level and the grass roots that you see whether it's on the West Coast or Texas or Arizona."

It's unusual for Minnesota not to have someone on a developmental team roster, but Lucia said sometimes the top talent in the state elects not to join the program.

There are also no Gophers recruits currently on the U.S. developmental team roster.

Glover and teammate Ryan Collins played for the U-18 team last season. Hudson Fasching, Travis Boyd and Brady Skjei are also alumni.

"Every year it seems to be a new state coming into the equation and really good players increasing the competition for guys that make the [developmental] team," Glover said. "You can see the growth of hockey that's been huge over the past few years, and it's only going to continue to grow."