Halfway through their schedule, the Gophers have 10 power-play goals and three short-handed goals or 13 special team goals total. That's 10th out of 10 WCHA teams.
Gophers at bottom of WCHA in special team goals
Lack of special team scoring is one of U's big problems.
December 28, 2009 at 8:45AM
CC leads in special team goals, 27-4-31, UMD is next, 27-2-29 and North Dakota is third, 25-2-27. CC and UMD are both among the WCHA's top team while the Sioux are struggling, in sixth one point ahead of the U.
Michigan Tech, 12-2-14 and Alaska Anchorage, 10-4-14, are just ahead of the Gophers in special team goals.
Last season Ryan Stoa had eight special team goals alone, four on power plays, four short-handed. He is gone, leaving a year early for pro hockey.
Nobody on the present team has more than two. Especially quiet are forward Mike Hoeffel and defenseman Cade Fairchild, who had six and five, respectively, last season. Hoeffel had two pp goals so far, Fairchild none.
SCHROEDER ON SECOND LINE
Sophomore Jordan Schroeder, who is playing on his third U.S. junior national team, is on the team's second line and is playing right wing, not center.
Schroeder had a goal as the U.S. team beat Slovakia 7-3 in its first game on Saturday but did not have a point as the U.S. edged Switzerland 3-0 on Sunday. After a day off, the team plays Latvia at 3 p.m. on Tuesday and then the true test comes. The U.S. plays tournament favorite Canada at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Schroeder, one of the assistant captains, has nine shots on goal, which ties him with two other players for the third most on the team.
First line center Derek Stepan, a Wisconsin sophomore, is the U.S. team captain.
BADGERS DROPPING HOLIDAY TOURNAMENT
Wisconsin is holding its last Showdown tournament on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament, started in 1989, will be replaced by a nonconference series.
For the last Showdown, the Badgers have a strong field. No. 9 Yale plays No. 11 Ferris State in one semfinal while the Badgers face high-scoring Merrimack in the other.
WHAT ONE PLAYER CAN MEAN
Senior defenseman Chay Genoway, North Dakota's team captain, has played in nine games for the Sioux and has been out for nine games with a concussion.
The team has fared a lot better with him, 7-1-1. Without Genoway, the Sioux are 2-5-2 and all five losses have been by one goal.
CC ADDS EX-BENILDE GOALIE
Mike Shibrowski joined Colorado College on Saturday for his first practice. CC had only two goalies after one left to join a junior team in Canada.
Shibby played for Benilde-St. Margaret's in high school and this season was playing for the Owatonna Express in the NAHL. He had a 14-4-2 record, a 3.09 gaa and a .895 save percentage.
No. 3 CC plays No. 4 Cornell on Tuesday in a tournament in Esterbo, Fla. Cornell has the top power play in the country, 32.1 percent, CC is fifth at 26 percent even after going 1-for-17 in its last three games.
In Atlanta, the refrains praising Kirk Cousins' leadership are familiar. But the longevity of his connection with the Falcons is already in doubt as he prepares to play the Vikings.
