Schroeder's and defensemen's scoring has really dropped off

There are 15 players -- 10 forwards, five defensemen -- who were on the Gophers team last season who are on it again.

With time on my hands, because I'm not making the trip to Alaska, I thought I'd run some numbers and compare their scoring from last season when the Gophers finished fifth in the WCHA, to this season when they are one loss away from the 13 they had a year ago, and reside in seventh place.

After 26 games in 2008-09, those 15 skaters had scored 56 goals and had 107 assists for 163 points. This season the same players have 52 goals and 93 assists for 145 points.

Biggest gainers: G A Pts

Tony Lucia, +8 7 12 19

5 6 11

Nico Sacchetti, +7 4 8 12

Mike Hoeffel, +4 11 7 18

8 6 14

Patrick White, +4 6 6 12

5 3 8

Kevin Wehrs, +3 2 5 7

Comments: Lucia had a real fast start, beginning with the Alaska Anchorage series when he had five points. ... Sacchetti has quietly improved his numbers. ... Hoeffel played most of the first half of the season on the top line before Jacob Cepis became eligible in January. He is out with mono now. ... Wehrs, a defenseman, is tied for team lead in goals on blue-line corps with two. None of the D-men are scoring goals.

Biggest sliders:

Jordan Schroeder, -11 5 14 19

10 20 30

Cade Fairchild, -8 2 12 14

David Fischer, -8 0 4 4

1 11 12

Mike Carman, -7 4 5 9

8 8 16

Aaron Ness, -6 1 8 9

Ryan Flynn, -6 1 7 8

4 10 14

Comments: Schroeder, who was picked the preseason Player and Co-Player of the Year, got off to a slow start as did the team. He chips in a goal and an assist but, for an elite player, he never seems to have a big game, with three, four points. Coach Lucia keeps saying he should shoot more, but goals are not coming for him.

What is alarming is that three of the top four defensmen -- Fairchild, Fischer and Ness -- have big drops in offensive production. Freshman Nick Leddy is the other top D. Also three seniors are on this list. That's not good.

Status quo

1 1 2

Jake Hansen, +1 6 2 8

2 5 7

Brian Schack, +1 1 1 2

0 1 1

2 0 0