Serratore, Student in Gophers' lineup

The Gophers have gone with a pretty set lineup all season, but there are some interesting tweaks for Saturday's game against Notre Dame.

At left wing on the fourth line is Tom Serratore. That is good news for Gophers' fans. Serratore suffered an upper body injury last Saturday in the first period of the Gophers' 3-2 loss to Northeastern in the Mariucci Classic championship game.

He did not return to that game, missed practice on Monday and Tuesday and practiced wearing a "no-contact" jersey on Wednesday.

Even more interesting perhaps is Chris Student's name in the lineup. The sophomore transfer from Northeastern has not played yet this season.

So here are the lines:

1st/ Kyle Rau-Nick Bjugstad-Zach Budish. ... Rau and Bjugstad returned Thursday from the World Juniors.

2nd/ Sam Warning-Erik Haula-Jake Hansen ... Hansen just needs one more goal to reach 10. Warning seems stuck on three goals. Haula did not have one of his better games against Northeastern. He took a couple of penalties that gave the Huskies five-on-threes that they scored on.

4th/ Tom Serratore-Travis Boyd-Nick Larson ... There will be two Nick Larsons in this game. The Irish have one too. the Gophers' Nick Larson has three goals and four points, the Irish's Nick Larson, who played at St. Thomas Academy and Eastview, has three goals and five points. Both are wingers.

Defensive pairs

1st/ Seth Helgeson-Justin Holl .... Biggest pair of D-men for U at 6-4 and 6-3.

2nd/ Ben Marshall-Mark Alt ... The most penalized pair with 11 and 10 minors, respectively.

3rd/ Nate Schmidt-Chris Student ... Student is a 5-9, 173 sophomore who went to Benilde-St. Margaret's in high school. Schmidt has 22 assists, more than any other D-I player.

Kent Patterson ... This is his 44th start in a row going back to last year

THREE KEYS TO WIN

1. Crash the net. Too often the Gophers settle for perimeter shots. They need to go the net more if for no other reason than to force opponents to commit penalties. Last game the Gophers had only five power plays, Northeastern 12. Too much of a disparity

2. Capitalize on opportunities. Two, three times last Saturday, the puck was lying near the crease and Gophers players swung and missed it or shot wide on good scoring chances. This team should be able to score goals. D-men seem to be getting more involved in the offense, even skating deep into the offensive end at certain times

3. Eliminate the dumb penalties. And there certainly were some last game. Especially don't take a penalty when short-handed. Northeastern had three five-on-threes. That's ridiculous.