Jacob Cepis, who finished as the Gophers' leading scorer, has signed with the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League.

"They called me right away," said Cepis, who practiced with the Monsters on Tuesday. "They are 10 minutes away from my home. I am super excited to play some games this weekend."

Cepis is from Parma, Ohio. The Monsters' arena is in Cleveland.

Lake Erie has three games this weekend and 13 left total in the regular season.

"Their head coach [Dave Quinn] recruited me when I went to Minnesota," Cepis said. "He was an assistant at BU."

That's Boston University. This is Quinn's second season at Lake Erie coach.

Cepis finished with 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points for the Gophers. He wore No. 17 as a Gophers, but that number was taken on the Monsters so he is No. 38.

One of his new teammates is ex-Gopher Mike Carman.

"The reason I got this chance was because of Minnesota," Cepis said. "I'm thankful."