After the Gophers fell 2-1 to St. Cloud State on Friday in a hard-fought game, there was almost an air of muted acceptance.
The Gophers played well, already far better than a frenzied opening-series display last weekend against Mercyhurst, but taking this first loss of the season against an in-state rival still felt unavoidable. Because while the Gophers did mostly everything right, St. Cloud had one obvious and invaluable advantage: experience.
The Huskies fielded four fifth-year players plus another six seniors in front of an announced crowd of 8,190 at 3M Arena at Mariucci. In fact, upperclassmen occupied all but five spots on their lineup.
For the Gophers, seven underclassmen took the ice, including four freshmen forwards playing in just their third collegiate game while shouldering key roles on scoring lines and power play units.
"They're obviously a lot more experienced than we are, going to the national championship last year," Gophers sophomore defenseman Brock Faber said of No. 2 St. Cloud. "With the environment we played in, that was probably the first time where a lot of us played in front of a packed house and a lot of the young guys, especially. So it's tough."
And it will only be tougher 5 p.m. Saturday, when the rematch happens at St. Cloud's Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.
But the No. 4 Gophers don't really have much to improve on before making that drive. Coach Bob Motzko observed a lot of good play from his team, like how it didn't give up too many chances to St. Cloud while still creating scoring opportunities for itself until the very end.
The only bad was the two glaring turnovers that a veteran Huskies team knew exactly how to exploit.