Alaska Anchorage no patsy, but weak on special teams

The Gophers lead the all-time series with Alaska Anchorage 48-15-7 and are 15-2-2 in the past 19 games. The series started in 1986. Around Halloween, the Gophers beat the Seawolves twice, 5-1 and 4-1.

Minnesota will practice at home on Thursday morning before flying out at midday. Coach Don Lucia expects the team to arrive in Anchorage around 2:30, 3 p.m. Alaska time, which is 3 hrs. earlier than CST.

Lucia said the flight, depending on headwinds, can take from 5 to 6 hours.

"We are not going to worry about practicing up there because of the legs and all that," Lucia said on his weekly radio show on Monday. "We will just get in, eat and try to keep them up. That's the big thing. We don't want them because of the time change -- you know 7, 8 o'clock at night [there], is 10, 11 o'clock our time.

"You start to get tired. So we will probably send them out to a movie and get back 9 or 10 and then try to get back on schedule. I know, I myself, I will be waking up at 5 o'clock on Friday morning because I am used to getting up at 6, 6:30 here. You are just laying in bed, trying to get back to sleep.

"When we play at 7 there, it is 10 o'clock here. The hardest part, it seems when you go up there, you have one game you have really good energy and one game you don't have great energy. So the trick is trying to find a way ... and it can be Friday, it can be Saturday it just depends from year to year with your group.

"[The Seawolves] are playing well," Lucia said. "It is a good trip. It is whether we bus Houghton for six hours or we get on a plane ... But I would rather bus six hours, at least you can move around the bus a little more than being cramped up in a middle seat on a flight.

The Gophers did not play the Seawolves in Alaska last season.

"We usually play pretty well up there," Lucia said, "and this is an important weekend. We are a point up. We do have a couple games in hand on them. But we want to put this team behind you for the rest of the year. It will be good games. Hey, welcome to the WCHA, they all are."

Lucia said the Seawolves are a veteran team which was hurt by injuries earlier this season. "I see they get [senior forward Josh] Lunden back, who was one of their top goal-scorers," Lucia said. "He missed 10 or 11 games right now. They always play pretty well at home. They don't give up a lot. We have to be patient with the puck.

"CC didn't have a five-on-five goal all weekend, believe it or not. On Friday, they win 6-1, four power plays, two shorties. And on Saturday they had one power-play goal, getting beat 2-1. They had 27 shots on goal one night and 18 or 20 the next [17 actually]. Shots are difficult to come by. They play a different style, they play left wing lock. They always have three guys back and so you are not going to get that odd-man rush.

"You are going to have to fight and chip pucks in and go to work in the corners and try to have some net presence and score goals that way because you are not going to have a lot of clean opportunities against them."

Alaska Anchorage leads the nation in penalty minutes per game, averaging 22.1 minutes. So the Gophers might get a few power plays. The Gophers average the fewest penalty minutes among WCHA teams, 12.8 minutes per game. Minnesota has had five penalties or fewer in 17 of the past 21 games.

The Seawolves also struggle on the power play, scoring only on 11.6 percent of their chances. That puts them 56th out of 58 teams. They have given up 10 shorthanded goals.

ON RECRUITING

Lucia said the Gophers, like other programs, have to make sure they get the good kids in their region and, if need be, they once-in-a-while reach outside to supplement them.

"The most important thing is to know what your recruiting niche is," Lucia said. "Even in our program, when we have a real up-tick in great Minnesota kids, guess what, our program is going to be better.

* On players U is looking for: "You want kids that learn how to win. I think that is a really important element. That you learn to win no matter what sport because it is contagious if you learn how."

ONLY WAY TO SEE GAMES IN ALASKA ...

Here is the link to view video streaming of the Gophers-Alaska Anchorage games on your computer this weekend:

http://portal.gci.net/gcisports/uaa_hockey