Warning, Sacchetti in Gophers' lineup for Saturday

Searching for offense, Gophers coach Don Lucia put two new players into the lineup and moved one back to his former line.

January 21, 2012 at 10:40PM
Minnesota Duluth's Drew Olson (8) checks Minnesota's Nico Sacchetti (13) during an NCAA college hockey game on Friday, Feb. 4, 201, in Duluth, Minn.
Minnesota Duluth's Drew Olson (8) checks Minnesota's Nico Sacchetti (13) during an NCAA college hockey game on Friday, Feb. 4, 201, in Duluth, Minn. (Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Gophers have 14 healthy forwards right now, which limits coach Don Lucia a bit on the moves he can make. But he did bench two little used forwards for Sam Warning and one other player who hasn't played much.

Will it pay dividends? Who knows with this up and down team.

Here are the Gophers lines:

Forwards

1st line/ Kyle Rau-Nick Bjugstad-Zach Budish ... Bjugstad got his 20th goal and had nine shots on net Friday. He was a beast but too many of his teammates were lambs.

2nd line/ Sam Warning-Erik Haula-Jake Hansen ... Hansen may have been the Gophers' second best player the first night. He was hustling and had five shots in the opening period. Had several good scoring chances. Has to converent one. Warning sat on Friday. He's fast and should be motivated. ... Haula was the only minus-2 player in Gophers lineup the first night.

3rd line/ Nate Condon-Taylor Matson-Seth Ambroz ... Condon almost had his fourth short-handed goal on Friday. Ambroz is back with his usual line after playing on the second line the first night.

4th line/ Tom Serratore-Travis Boyd-Nico Sacchetti ... There's an opening in the lineup with Nick Larson out with a broken wrist. Sacchetti could seize it if he can produce. He had zero points in seven games, but he is a senior who has played in 111 games. He sat Friday but has replaced Joe Miller.

Comments: Christian Isackson and Joe Miller, the right wings on the third and fourth lines, had no shots on goal Friday.

D-pairs

Seth Helgeson-Justin Holl

Ben Marshall-Mark Alt

Jake Parenteau-Nate Schmidt

Comments: Blue line corps did a great job on the Schwartz brothers, Rylan and Jaden. They had no points and three shots on net. Rylan has 18 goals and 27 points, Jaden was the captain of Canada's team in the World Juniors and has 24 points.

Goalie

Kent Patterson

Comments: He will make his 26th start of the season, and 47th in a row going back to last season.

CC LINEUP

Forwards

1st line/ Jaden Schwartz-Rylan Schwartz-Jeff Collett

Alexander Krushelnyski-Nick Dineen-Scott Winkler

Archie Skalbeck-David Civitarese-William Rapuzzi

Charlie Taft-Tim Hall-Andrew Hamburg

D-pairs

Gabe Guentzel-Joe Marciano

Aaron Harstad-Mike Boivin

Peter Stoykewych-Arthur Bidwell

Goalie

Josh Thorimbert

THREE KEYS

For a split the Gophers need to:

1) Show a sense of urgency from the start. Scoring, taking a lead in the opening period is OK. It's easier to play with the lead, too. The Gophers nearly got shut out for the first time this season on Friday.

2) Own the special teams battle. The Gophers were great on their only two-minute power play on Friday with five shots on goal. But when they had the luxury of a five-minute power play they were awful. Just four shots, only one that was somewhat tough for the CC goalie and they gave up a two-on-one chance.

In fairness, their penalty kill was super. CC had only two shots on four power plays and the Gophers had a short-handed breakaway.

3. Do the little things right. Don't allow the Tigers to get chances near the net with under a minute left, for instance.

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