Three Gophers under consideration for World Juniors

Jordan Schroeder is a lock to be named to the U.S. team which will play in the IIHF World Junior Championships in Regina and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan from Dec. 26-Jan. 5.

Schroeder has played in the previous two World Junior Championships.

And he will play this season, too, Gophers coach Don Lucia said on Thursday.

Two other Gophers also are under consideration for the team, Lucia said, referring to sophomore defenseman Aaron Ness and freshman forward Zach Budish. Nick Leddy, a freshman defenseman, would be, too, Lucia said, except for the broken jaw he suffered on Oct. 30.

That injury probably means Leddy is out, Lucia said.

Tim Taylor, director of player personnel for the U.S. team, will watch the Gophers play at Michigan and Michigan State next weekend to evaluate Ness and Budish.

Twenty-eight candidates for the U.S. team will be named the week of Nov. 30. They will be invited to a three-day camp at Ralph Engelstad Arena Dec. 17-19. The camp will include an exhibition game against the Fighting Sioux.

The Gophers who are on the U.S. team will miss the Dodge Holiday Classic at Mariucci Arena on Jan. 2-3 and the Harvard series Jan. 8-9.

2010-11 WCHA SCHEDULE OUT

The Gophers have received their conference schedule for next season, although it hasn't been released to the public.

The number of conference games remain unchanged, there are still 28, and so does the U's main rival, it's still Wisconsin. What that means is that every season, the Gophers will play the Badgers four times, one series will be at Mariucci, one at the Kohl Center.

Next season the Gophers will also play North Dakota and Michigan Tech four times, again one series at home, one away. That's 12 games against those three teams.

Don't know much about which series will be at home, which away except this:

* The Gophers will close the WCHA at Bemidji State, which will have a new 4,300-seat, state of the art arena called the Bemidji Regional Events Center, BREC for short.

* Minnesota will not go to Alaska Anchorage -- meaning the Gophers won't be able to schedule an extra two non-conference games like this season. The NCAA rule allows that to encourage teams to play in the 49th state. Bottom line, the Seawolves will come to Mariucci.

* The Gophers will have home and home series with Minnesota State Mankato and St. Cloud State sometime during the season.

* Who is left? Series with UMD, CC and Denver. One or two of those will be at Mariucci. My guess, Gophers will go to CC since Tigers play here this season and Minnesota does not go there.

Bemidji State and UNO, the two newest WCHA members, will also be paired in the schedule as rivals, meaning they will play four times each season.

Still no word on a new name or format for the Final Five for 2011. But it's almost inconceivable it will be anything but this: two quarterfinals on Thursday, two semifinals on Friday and a championship game on Saturday. No third-place game. That way the name doesn't even have to change. The X will host the final five WCHA tournament games.

SCATTERED SHOTS

* Senior forward Ryan Flynn, who played only one period of the Bemidji State series last weekend, is probable for the UMD series starting tonight. He is recovering from a pulled muscle in one of his legs. "He is a valuable member of our penalty kill," Lucia said.

UMD has the sixth best power play in the land.

One year the showcase has been hosted by Minnesota and Wisconsin -- each plays Michigan one night, Michigan State the other. Next year the showcase is at Ann Arbor and East Lansing, Mich., like this year.

* Lucia said there was a lot of talk about a Big Ten Conference this summer, but it is going nowhere at least until a sixth Big Ten school adds men's hockey.

Right now Minnesota and Wisconsin have teams, so does Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State of the CCHA. Five teams aren't enough for a viable conference.