First victory smooths bumpy start by Gophers hockey

The optimistic fans at Mariucci Arena had something to cheer about Friday night. The Gophers ended the three-game losing streak that spoiled the first two weekends of the season and proved they can score goals.

A year ago, a 4-0 shutout victory over unranked Northeastern would have been a no-brainer. That automatic thinking has stalled for the moment after the worrisome 0-3 start in which the Gophers scored just once.

The last time a Don Lucia-led Gophers hockey team opened the season so poorly was in 2009-2010. They started 0-3-1 that year, were eventually ousted in the first round of the WCHA playoffs, and failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

This year's group restored some hope with win No. 1, although the doubt and early disappointment were arguably evident in the thousands of empty seats at Mariucci Arena. Those in attendance kept the Gophers motivated after their hot start with three goals through the first 12 minutes of the game from Tommy Novak, Jack Glover and Tyler Sheehy. And the crowd's loud praise for freshman goalie Eric Schierhorn throughout his first career shutout (23 saves) drowned out the empty seats.

Sheehy and Hudson Fasching finished with two points, a goal and an assist, apiece.

"We didn't feel like things were ever spiraling out of control," Fasching said. "It's like building a house if you want to think of it that way. You got to build brick by brick and you have to start at the lower tier, and we're just building up right now."

If history repeats itself, the slow start could mean a down year for the Gophers hockey program, its first since the downturn from 2008-2011. Since then they've won four consecutive conference championships and appeared in two Frozen Fours.

Many of those same feelings resurfaced after the Gophers were swept by in-state rival Minnesota Duluth last weekend. Questions began to swirl about why the experienced junior class was struggling to lead and why a highly touted freshmen class was underachieving.

The easy answer is they had only played two weeks of the season and just 180 minutes to get comfortable in their new roles. Lucia appeared irked by the early-season doubt surrounding his team after Friday's game.

"Hey, we are what we are," he said. "This is our team. I don't worry about all that. Our job is to bring them along as much as we can this year. … It's all part of the process. We're three weeks into this six-month marathon."

Last week, Lucia said this was probably the least comfortable he's been with a group in terms of what they can and can't do and who should be where in the lineup. The coaching staff has had to show more video, teach more, and even with the extra study time the team still forgets step A once it progresses to step C, Lucia said.

However, the freshmen looked more comfortable in Game 4 and their impact will likely be the biggest factor in determining how this season progresses. Per team rules, freshmen aren't allowed to speak to the media until a month into the season. But their effort on the ice Friday spoke loudly enough for now. Along with Novak, Sheehy and Schierhorn's contributions, freshman defenseman Jack Sadek added an assist in his first collegiate game.

The Gophers hope that this weekend is that start of calming any fears that this has the makings of the dreaded rebuilding season. How they respond Saturday night will be important.