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Tables turned when Bemidji State visits U
The Beavers are playing well following their Frozen Four appearance, while the Gophers are trying to reach .500.
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Maybe there is a parallel universe, where everything is upside down. And sometimes for unknown reasons -- eerie "Twilight Zone" music, please -- part of one dimension slips through.
Skeptical? Then check the scouting reports on the Gophers and Bemidji State, two college hockey teams playing at Mariucci Arena this weekend.
One team is unbeaten, ranked No. 7 in the country in two polls, coming off a run to the Frozen Four and would be the top seed if the NCAA tournament field was set today.
The other team has a losing record and is 25th in the PairWise Ratings, which mimics the selection process.
The first team is Bemidji State. The second team is the Gophers.
"On paper, they are better than us," Gophers co-captain Tony Lucia said. "We need to go out and prove ourselves."
The PairWise has the Beavers (7-0-1) at No. 1.
"As it turns out, it's good for us we are playing Bemidji because of their record," said Gophers coach Don Lucia, Tony's father. "That is certainly going to help our strength of schedule."
Last season, the Gophers started 7-0-4 and, for two weeks, were ranked No. 1 before stumbling the second half and missing the NCAA field.
The Beavers, on the other hand, shocked the college hockey world by thumping Notre Dame and Cornell in the NCAA regionals to make the Frozen Four, where they lost to Miami (Ohio).
"A goal for ourselves is always to be in the top five, always to be the team to beat," Gophers defenseman Aaron Ness said, "and now [the Beavers] almost are, with their ranking."
Ness grew up in Roseau, two hours north of Bemidji, so he knows the Beavers' history.
"There is a great tradition there," Ness said. "You look at their records, it's phenomenal how many games they have won. We know it is going to be a big test."
Bemidji State won 13 small college national titles and has a 950-458-83 record in 54 seasons. It became an NCAA Division I program in 1999 but is 0-6 against the Gophers, whom the Beavers last played in February 2004.
"When you hear Minnesota, you think of hockey," Bemidji State captain Chris McKelvie said of the Gophers (3-4-1). "They're proven, a premier team in the country."
But last year, the But the Gophers missed making the NCAA field for the first time in nine years. What's worse, the West Regional was at Mariucci.
Meanwhile, Bemidji State made the 16-team field as champion of College Hockey America, a conference that is folding after this season, and became the first 16th seed to advance to a Frozen Four.
Next season, Bemidji State will become a member of the WCHA and play in the new Bemidji Regional Events Center. Beavers players got a tour of the 4,300-seat facility on Wednesday. By Thanksgiving, it will be fully enclosed so inside work can continue.
"It will be one of the top buildings in the WCHA -- a little snake pit," said Beavers coach Tom Serratore, who rarely talks about the WCHA with his present team, saying: "It's premature. We have a lot of work to do this year and it would not be fair to the seniors."
Serratore has built his team by finding and signing gritty 20-year-olds throughout Canada and the Midwest. "Most have played 150 games of junior hockey," he said. "They play the game hard and with passion."
Only one Beavers player has been drafted by an NHL team: senior defenseman Chris Peluso, a seventh-round pick by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2004. The Gophers have 20 draftees, although two are injured.
"They have a lot of great players, including four first-round draft picks," Serratore said. "Playing at Minnesota is a difficult place. It will be a great challenge."
Even as the, uh, favorite. Time to cue the "Twilight Zone" music.
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