More fans can see Gophers at Target Center this Friday

The Gophers are playing Wisconsin this weekend. But the sites and times are a little different.

Friday's game is at the normal time, at 7 p.m., but it is at Target Center. The second game is not Saturday. Instead, it is at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mariucci.

"It is kind of strange," Lucia said on Monday on his weekly radio show on WCCO. "Unfortunately, there was a little bit of a scheduling snafu. Somebody looked at the schedule -- and we ended with Wisconsin this year at home and then the schedule was we finish with Wisconsin on the road next year.

" So, looked at the wrong schedule and throught we were on the road this weekend, so booked in a figure skating event all week at Mariucci," Lucia said. "Unfortunately, a contract was signed and the rest is history.

"We are trying to make a negative into a positive," Lucia said.

The Gophers practiced at Ridder Arena on Monday and will be there again on Tuesday. Then, they will be practicing at Target Center on Wednesday and Thursday.

"The good thing is, more people can come to the [Friday] game," Lucia said. "So, hopefully, we can get a great crowd on Friday night at Target Center. We will have a day off on Saturday and come back and play the 1 o'clock game at Mariucci because we can't get into Mariucci until Sunday.

Since all this happened, the 2010-11 schedule got changed, so the Gophers don't finish the season at Wisconsin. "We have an all different schedule next year," Lucia said, because the WCHA is expanding from 10 to 12 teams. "I think we finish at Bemidji next year.

"It is one of those things," Lucia said. "Somebody made an honest mistake. They didn't do it on purpose. It is an unfortunate deal."

BADGERS TOUGH

Lucia said Wisconsin has a veteran team. "They have seven seniors forwards playing in their lineup, six or seven," Lucia said. "They have been through the wars. They got the veterans. Their power play has been real good. [Blake] Geoffrion has a dozen power play goals himself.

"The strength of their team is still their D-corps. They got good skills. They are mobile. They have really good size. They are a really good transition team. What we did there [in an early season split at Wisconsin] real well is we protected the puck and tried to get pucks behind them.

"But they are really playing well the second half of the season. We will have our hands full."

PLAYOFFS COMING INTO FOCUS

The Gophers most likely will play either at North Dakota or UMD in the first round of the WCHA playoffs. Both have small, NHL-size rinks.

"The good thing is, we have played a lot of games in small rinks recently," Lucia said. "We are 1-1-2 with North Dakota, we are 1-3 with UMD but all of the games have been really, really close. So I don't really care one way or the other. Right now we can finish sixth or seventh and play UMD or North Dakota.

"UMD has got two points in hands, but North Dakota has got the tiebreaker. North Dakota plays [Michigan] Tech this weekend. UMD goes up to Alaska. You don't know what you are going to get. There is a good possibility we will know before our Sunday game who we are going to be playing.

QUOTES FROM THE DON

* Lucia said he was disappointed with the loss on Saturday because the Gophers had moved up a little in the PairWise ratings after winning Friday at UMD. "Another win would have kept propelling [us]," he said. "What you have to remember is, in the first round, a lot of people are going to knock each other out. So you do have room to move.

"Obviously, if we could win a couple games this weekend [against Wisconsin] that would help because we are playing a top team. And then there is no question you have to win the first round of the playoffs and then you try to sit and see where you are at that point in time. All we can do is worry about this weekend and the following weekend, we know we will have to win that weekend if we are going to have any chance of moving on [in the NCAA tournament].

"And then if we can get to the WCHA Final Five. Again, you take it one game at a time and see what you have to do at that point in time. But that's a long ways off right now."

* A number of WCHA teams can get to the Frozen Four this year, Lucia said.