Jake Youso is on a short vacation to Florida. His hockey season ended April 10 when Alexandria beat his team, the Owatonna Express, 5-2 that night to win a first-round NAHL series three games to one.

Youso had a good year. He had 23 goals and 26 assists for 49 points in 62 games. He was second on the Express in scoring and was a plus-11.

He hopes to talk to the Gophers coaching staff soon about their plans for him. There does not appear to be a forward spot open for him this season but his father, Brian, said Jake would be willing to play a third year of juniors if Gophers coach Don Lucia asked him to.

Youso, who turns 20 on June 8, has one more year of junior eligibility left.

"He did what they asked him to do this season," Brian Youso said.

And that was to get out of bad situation in Des Moines in 2008-09, to go to a team where he could be on one of the top two lines and play a lot.

At Des Moines, little went right for Youso. He wasn't playing much there in 2008-09 and for the final third of the season then coach J.P. Parise moved him to the blue line. "He had to go somewhere else," his father said.

Youso committed to the Gophers in April between his junior and senior hockey seasons at The Falls. And then played like a Division I recruit should. As a senior, he had 33 goals and 36 assists for 69 points leading the Broncos to a conference title.

After the high school season, he played 15 USHL games for the Green Bay Gamblers and had one goal and one assist.

But the Gamblers traded him and several other players to Des Moines for 2008-09. It turned out to be a disaster. He had one goal and four assists for five points in 54 games and was a minus-27. Early in that season, he signed with the Gophers but little else went right.

This season at Owatonna, the left-handed shooting Youso mostly played right wing instead of left wing or center, the positions he has usually played. The 6-1, 187-pound Youso also dropped about 10 pounds, so he was a bit faster with the Express.

Was his much improved scoring and slightly better speed enough to impress the Gophers coaches to still want him for this season or next? That's the question swirling around Youso.

His father said Jake is still excited about playing for the U sometime.