Don Lucia's Gophers team have been very successful playing games at Alaska Anchorage. They are 13-3-2 in nine trips there in Lucia's time at the 'U'.
"We have had good teams, it starts there," said Lucia, in the middle of his 13th season as the Gophers coach. "But what happens in the past has no bearing on the present. We've got very few players who have even played up there or even made the trip when you look at our roster because we didn't go there last year.
"None of our freshmen or sophomores have been there. We only have one junior [defenseman Seth Helgeson] and a handful of seniors, so this will be the first trip for a lot of these kids."
The Gophers' leading scorer against UAA is senior winger Jake Hansen with two goals and one assist for three points. Four other players have two points against the Seawolves, four one point.
Kent Patterson had a solid 2.04 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage against the Seawolves last season but was 1-3-0.
BEAUTIFUL SPOT
"It is obviously a beautiful place, but we don't have time to go on sightseeing trips," said Lucia, who was the Alaska Fairbanks head coach from 1987-93. "I enjoyed my week [vacation there] this summer fishing and getting around the state in July. I had a great time. But we get in Thursday afternoon, we play Friday and Saturday nights and come back Sunday morning. It is a quick trip,"
Lucia said the biggest problem playing games in Alaska is the three-hour time change. "You have the [six-hour] flight, but even that it is a direct flight for us. So it is not a big deal. The hard part for us is just the time change. ... The games are starting at 10 [p.m. CDT] and then you get up and your clock is a little bit off."
