The U of M is eliminating half a section of student seats this season. The top 10 rows of Section 2, behind the Gophers' net in periods one and three, will be sold to the public this season instead of students. That's about 150 seats.

Section 3 on the same end, and sections 13 and 14 (with the band) on the opposite end, will remain student sections.

"What we found, much like with football, not all the students come to games," said Mike Chandler, the Gophers assistant ticket manager. "We always sell as many tickets as we can, but we don't need as many sections. We always oversold a little bit."

A college hockey reporter's observation: Despite all the student tickets being sold, there often were empty seats, especially for nonconference games or teams who were not big rivals.

With just three sections this season, instead of 3-1/2, there will be seats for about 1,100 students, Chandler said, adding that only Wisconsin in the WCHA has a much larger student section.

In 2012-13, when Mariucci Arena is reseated, all three student sections will be on one end. Section 3 will be swapped for Section 12 for student seating, Chandler said, adding that "Sections 12 and 3 are almost mirror images."

Sections 12, 13 and 14 are all behind the net on the west end, where the visitors' goalie can hear the heckling easier in the first and third periods when the Gophers shoot at him.

The student section will also have a name soon, by Fri., Oct. 8 when the U opens the season at home against UMass.

Name suggestions can be submitted to sportsmanship@umn.edu until Wednesday. Students will vote on a list of names from Sept. 17-24.

The student section at Williams Arena is called The Barn Yard and students sometimes come dressed like barn animals.

"The more students we have, the better," Chandler said. "The public gate probably drives the train financially, but nothing is better than having students at games."

Students can buy tickets for either Friday nights (the Maroon package) for $143, or for Saturday nights (the Gold) for $156, but not both. Maybe the U figures they need one of those nights to study.

My suggestions for a student section name is Ucci Goochies or Ucci Poochies or something more clever with Ucci.