There are times Justin Fontaine feels a little claustrophobic in a Wild locker room that includes former Gophers Thomas Vanek, Erik Haula, Jordan Leopold, Jordan Schroeder and Keith Ballard.

But the former Minnesota Duluth national champion hopes to get a little breathing room this weekend if his Bulldogs can knock out the Gophers in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Manchester, N.H. The winner Friday plays the winner of Boston University-Yale on Saturday.

"So far UMD has had the upper hand this season, so hopefully that continues," Fontaine said of the Bulldogs' 3-1 record against the University of Minnesota. "I've got a couple friendly bets going. It's a tough region. It's never easy. Pretty much all of us have been in the tournament. Single elimination, so anything can happen."

Including the injured Ballard, Nate Prosser, Ryan Carter and Jason Zucker, there are 13 former college players on the Wild roster (Charlie Coyle, Ryan Suter, Christian Folin and Zach Parise are the others). So during tournament time, it makes for a fun locker room with lots of banter.

"When I grew up there were not a lot of college hockey players in the NHL," said Leopold, 34, who played four years for the Gophers and won a national title in 2002. "Maybe a couple handfuls, and now there's quite a few North American-born college hockey players. We take pride in it. College hockey over the years has gained a lot of respect.

"I was one of those American kids who was always going to choose college. It ended up working out where there's a platform now to go further than just play college."

Leopold hopes the Gophers, who lost in last year's championship, game, are starting to peak at the perfect time after winning the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles. One player who firmly believes in the chances of his alma mater is Carter, who gave Minnesota State Mankato, a pep talk before its WCHA title last weekend. The Mavericks play Rochester Institute of Technology in the first round on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.

"They're going into the tournament with the No. 1 seed," Carter said. "I don't think they garner enough respect, but they're putting themselves on the map."