The Gophers hockey team practiced for one hour on Wednesday afternoon at Mariucci. And all three coaches where there, head coach Don Lucia and his assistants John Hill and Grant Potulny.
NCAA rules allow teams two hours of ice time with the coaches this week and the next two before official practices open Sat., Oct. 2.
"It was great," Lucia said. "I was excited to get back out there. I am sure the guys were a little sore and tired from what we did the previous couple days [off ice]. The young guys are nervous as always when you go through that first time.
"It is just nice to set the season in motion."
Unlike normal practices during the regular season, each line was not wearing a separate color on Wednesday. Everybody was either in maroon or gold. Usually, the top two lines are maroon and gold, the others white, green and blue and the defensemen wear black jerseys.
"Normally we have our guys in [different colored] lines," Lucia said, "but early on we didn't want anybody saying I am on this line or that line. So we are mixing and matching and because we had eight forwards with each group, it was hard for me to tell who was who to be honest with 10 freshmen."
Lucia said he is not in any hurry to set lines.
"I want to get on the ice, three, four times, five times," Lucia said. "With so many news guys, there is so much that has to go in. Five of our nine defensemen are new. Chris [Student of Northeastern] is a transfer, He can't play this year, but still, so four of our eight [are new]."
