gophers

St. Cloud State University handed out its postseason awards on Wednesday night.

The usual suspects got them:

MVP and outstanding senior, three stars award  --  forward Drew LeBlanc. ... He is also one  of five finalists for Sports Illustrated's male college athlete of the year in any sport

Most improved -- junior forward Nic Dowd

Most determined -- junior defenseman Nick Jensen

Outstanding rookie -- freshman forward Jonny Brodzinski

Outstanding goalie -- sophomore Ryan Faragher

Outstanding student-athlete -- sophomore forward Brooks Bertsch

The Huskies tied with the Gophers for the MacNaughton Cup and reached the Frozen Four in the NCAA tournament.

Six goalies from Minnesota -- four boys and two girls -- are participating in the Warren Strelow national goaltending camp, which began today in Ann Arbor, Mich., and runs for four days.

The boys there are Vaughan Ahrens of Wayzata High School, Zach Driscoll of Eastview, Ryan Edquist of Shattuck-St. Mary's and Drew Scites of Compuware Midgets. Scites is from Maple Grove.

There are 25 boys and 12 girls at the camp.

The two girls, both from Minnetonka High School, at the camp are Hannah Ehresmann and Sydney Rossman.

Ahrens and Rossman were at the goaltending camp last year, too.

The Gophers will play 36 games -- the Ice Breaker does not count against the maximum of 34 games the NCAA permits -- including 20 conference games.

Minnesota will be in three tournaments, the Icebreaker and the Mariucci Classic, both on its home ice, and the as-yet unnamed tournament of four Minnesota teams at the Xcel Energy Center.

The Gophers will play two Sunday games -- one at home, one away --  one on Thursday and one on Monday. Otherwise, it's a normal Friday-Saturday routine.

The list of nonconference opponents outside of tournaments: Bemidji State (WCHA), Boston College (Hockey East), Notre Dame (Hockey East), Minnesota State Mankato (WCHA) and Minnesota Duluth (NCHC).

2013-14 Gophers Hockey Schedule

Date    Day               Opponent

Oct. 11  Friday          Ice Breaker Tournament
Oct. 12  Saturday    Ice Breaker Tournament

Comments: Other teams in the field are

Oct. 18   Friday         @ Bemidji State
Oct. 19  Saturday     @ Bemidji State

Comments: Gophers played last regular-season series at BSU last season and then met Beavers in first round of WCHA playoffs. Went 4-0 against them.

Oct. 25   Friday          Boston College
Oct. 27   Sunday       Boston College

Comments: Legendary coach Jerry York and junior forward Johnny Gaudreau, one of three finalists for Hobey Baker. Quality foe, but only Sunday game of season at home. The Big Ten Network influence.

Nov. 8     Friday         @ Notre Dame
Nov. 9    Saturday     @ Notre Dame

Comments: Coach Don Lucia returns to his alma mater to play the Irish, with Mario Lucia, his son playing left wing on one of top lines.

Nov. 15   Friday          Minnesota State Mankato
Nov. 16   Saturday     Minnesota State Mankato

Comments: Nonconference matchup against former WCHA opponent. Mavericks, under second-year coach Mike Hastings, will be one of the favorites in that conference.

Nov. 22   Friday         Minnesota-Duluth
Nov. 23   Saturday    Minnesota-Duluth

Comments: First series against a team from the new National Collegiate Hockey  Conference. UMD is another traditional WCHA foe.

Nov. 29    Friday         Wisconsin
Nov. 30    Saturday    Wisconsin

Comments: First series against a Big Ten Conference opponent. Gophers' fifth and sixth games in a row at home.
 

Dec. 6      Friday        @ Michigan State
Dec. 7      Saturday   @ Michigan State

Comments: Spartans coming off a down season, which included two early blowout losses at Mariucci.
 

Jan. 3      Friday          Mariucci Classic
Jan. 4      Saturday     Mariucci Classic

Comments: The other three teams in the field have not been announced yet.

Jan. 12   Sunday       @ Penn State
Jan. 13   Monday      @ Penn State

Comments: First really different weekend, with games Sunday and Monday in Happy Valley.

Jan. 17   Friday           Ohio State
Jan. 18   Saturday      Ohio State

Comments: Buckeyes have new coach, Steve Rohlik. He was an assistant at UMD for 10 seasons before joining OSU staff. This will be his fourth season in Columbus.

Jan. 24   Friday           Minnesota Tournament vs.  St. Cloud State at X
Jan. 25   Saturday      Minnesota Tournament vs. UMD or Minnesota State Mankato at X

Comments: This tournament, with four Division I teams from state each year, needs a good name.

Jan. 30  Thursday      Michigan State
Jan. 31  Friday            Michigan State
Feb. 1    Saturday       Michigan State

Comments: Three games are listed because series could be either Thurs.-Fri. (33 percent chance) or Fri.-Sat.

Feb. 6   Thursday      @ Wisconsin
Feb. 7   Friday            @ Wisconsin
Feb. 8   Saturday       @ Wisconsin

Comments: Three games are listed because series could be either Thurs.-Fri. (33 percent chance) or Fri.-Sat.

Feb. 13  Thursday      Michigan
Feb. 14   Friday           Michigan
Feb. 15   Saturday      Michigan

Comments: Three games are listed because series could be either Thurs.-Fri. (33 percent chance) or Fri.-Sat. ... Bottom line is one of these series -- vs. MSU, Wisconsin or Michigan -- will be Thurs.-Fri., others will be Fri.-Sat. as usual.

Feb. 28    Friday        Penn State
March 1   Saturday   Penn State

Comments: Nittany Lions played an independent schedule last season and were surprisingly competitive. PSU's plunge into Division I hockey is reason there is a Big Ten Conference.

March 7   Friday        @Ohio State
March 8   Saturday   @Ohio State

Comments: Gophers finish regular-season with four games on road.
 

March 14   Friday        @Michigan
March 15  Saturday    @ Michigan

Comments: Wolverines' season ended early last season. They lost in the CCHA championship game, missing NCAA tournament for first time in more than two decades. Should be a motivator throughout season.

March 20  Thursday    Big Ten Quarterfinals at X
March 21  Friday          Big Ten Semifinals at X
March 22  Saturday     Big Ten Championship at X

Comments: Six team field, everybody advances to tournament.

March 28   Friday        NCAA West Regional at X
March 29   Saturday   NCAA West Regional at X

 

The Gophers baseball team won two of three baseball games over last-place Penn State last weekend on the road, but the one loss -- 4-3 in10 innings on Sunday -- tightened up the Big Ten race.

Minnesota, 28-15, 11-4 in the conference, now has a one-game lead, which will shrink to one-half game after Indiana plays at Nebraska on Monday afternoon. Both those teams are 12-5, tied for second.

The Gophers have only six games left in conference play -- all at home. They play Nebraska next weekend, then finish with Illinois, 9-9 in conference play.

Then the U of M hosts the Big Ten tournament at Target Field May 22-25.

TICKETS FOR TOURNAMENT

All-tournament passes and group tickets to the Big Ten tournament are on sale now.

All-tournament passes are $30 each, while group tickets (minimum 20) are available for $7 per ticket by calling the Target Field Box Office at (612) 338-9467 or (800) 338-9467.

Single-game tickets will be available day-of-game only at the Target Field Box Office and are $10 each for adults and $7 each for youth, senior citizens and students.

The tournament bracket will be announced on the evening of Saturday, May 18, which is the final scheduled day of regular-season competition.

The Big Ten tournament is a double-elimination event that awards byes to the top two teams. The Big Ten champion is the team or teams that finish atop the regular-season standings, while the Big Ten tournament champion receives the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
 

The U.S. team beat Latvia 4-1 on Sunday in the IIHF Men's World Championship in Helsinki, Finland.

For the second game in a row, the U.S. fell behind but rallied. The U.S. beat Austria 5-3 in its first game after trailing 2-0.

This time, Latvia took a 1-0 lead in the second before the U.S. team scored two goals in the second period and two in the third.

"It was a tough game," said Joe Sacco, head coach of the U.S. team in a news release. "I give our guys credit. They battled hard. We had solid goaltending and got better as the game wore on. It's difficult to win in this tournament. We've been able to come away with victories in our first two games and we'll look forward to a day off before we face Russia on Tuesday."

That could be a big test. The Russians beat Latvia 6-0. The U.S.-Russia game is 12:15 p.m. Tuesday.

Forward Tim Stapleton, a former UMD player, had a goal and an assist againat Latvia. He plays for Dynamo Minsk now. Defenseman Erik Johnson, of Bloomington, also had an assist. Johnson plays for the Colorado Avalanche.

The U.S. team outshot Latvia 26-20, 14-3 in the third period.