Lucia: Gophers need to come back with same intensity, energy

"We did a lot of things we wanted to tonight," Gophers coach Don Lucia said after his team's 2-1 loss to Denver on Friday, "specifically trying to hold them to two goals. ... I looked [it] up and they hadn't won a game when they scored two or less and tonight they were able to make two stand up.

"I thought their goaltender [Sam Brittain] played well. They did a good job blocking shots. But I thought we created some good chances tonight and the guys played pretty darn hard and I feel bad for them.

"We had tips and I thought some [pucks] were laying around there. And I thought we attacked the net hard and did all the things that you want them to do. And the kids were denied. They are obviously frustrated, but we have a quick turnaround and we can't let that get us down.

"I thought we moved the puck well. I thought we had some real good looks tonight but, again, we couldn't get that second goal."

The second game of the series Saturday starts at 5 p.m., two hours earlier than normal because of Hockey Day in Minnesota. FSN will televise two high school games, the the Gophers-Denver game and finally the Wild-St. Louis NHL game.

"[We need] to play with the same intensity and energy [Saturday]," Lucia said. "At some point you think they will get their just reward. But you have to be mentally strong. That's the biggest thing for the turnaround right now. You can't be down after tonight. You should feel good about a lot of the things that they did and build on that and hopefully we will have a little bit more success offensively [Saturday]."

* Forwards Jay Barriball (lower body injury) and Nico Sacchetti (flu) missed Friday's game and won't play Saturday either, Lucia said.

* On Jason Zucker, DU freshman forward who scored winning goal: "Zucker played two years for Ann Arbor and played in two World Junior Championships so it's not like he doesn't have a lot of experience. He has been in a lot of big game environments. He is a really good player.

"He can get up and down the rink, there is no question. He had great speed and he can push the defense back. ... And Zucker made the play on the second goal. I am sure Kent [Patterson] would have liked to have that one back, but he played really well. When your goaltender gives up two. He has done his job."

* On DU goalie Sam Brittain: "Brittain played really good tonight. He looked in control. He looked big in the net."

RECRUITING CHOICES CRUCIAL

There is a recent quote from Denver Pioneers coach George Gwozdecky that leaps out.

"There's no question of all the teams in this league, they have been hit hardest by the exodus of players leaving early," Gwozdecky said. "That's tough. It's tough for continuity when you're relying every year on younger players."

OK, but then Gwozdecky goes on to say:

"You're in a state where you've got high school hockey everywhere and a lot of good players, and you pretty much habe the pick of the crop, but to pick the right crop is tough. It's really tough. You have to pick the right six, seven or eight players every year. That's a real science."

For the last three, four years, the Gophers have struggled to score. They can't find scorers. For the second season, they won't have anyone with 20 goals.

The best teams -- Denver, UMD and North Dakota -- all have those guys.

Denver has rallied from deficits to win or tie 12 games; on Friday, the Pioneers trailed 1-0.

The Pioneers lost four of their top five scorers, a goalie in Marc Cheverie who was the WCHA MVP. He left early and so did a top forward [Joe Colborne] and defenseman [Patrick Wiercioch] and six players graduated off a team that was the conference regular-season champion.

But Gwozdecky has plugged in freshmen and DU has kept rolling.

DU CLASS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD

Inside College Hockey rated the Pios' freshmen class the nation's best with forward Beau Bennett, goalie Sam Brittain and defenseman David Makowski. Jason Zucker, who has 18 goals, was not mentioned among the top three freshmen.

Other top 10 classes were St. Cloud State at No. 7, UMD at No. 8 and Colorado College at No. 9.

EARLY SHOTS ALL DU'S

Gwozdecky said earlier this week the Pioneers were going to stress putting pucks on net early. Last Saturday, they fell behind Colorado College 2-0 in the first couple of minutes. The Tigers scored on their first shot on net. The Pioneers were missing the net.

So it is not all that surprising on Friday that DU had a 6-0 edge in shots before Erik Haula of the Gophers finally tested Brittain at about 8:15 in. Until then the Gophers had shot wide four, five times at least and had a couple shots blocked.

The Gophers had the next eight shots. And the opening period ended with DU holding a 10-9 edge.

Zucker at 7:15 of the opening period

Dustin Jackson was stopped on a short-handed rush at 7 minutes of the second period

Beau Bennett goes one-on-one with Patterson a minute later in the second period after Gophers defenseman Mark Alt falls

Gwozdecky said there was a fourth breakaway, too. Missed that one.