MINNEAPOLIS — The University of Minnesota hockey team wasn’t hiding its desire for revenge this weekend against Alaska-Anchorage in the first round of the WCHA tournament.
Last season, the Seawolves came to Minnesota and swept the Gophers out of the playoffs. A little payback is definitely on the minds of the Minnesota players.
"Absolutely," said Gophers sophomore Nate Schmidt, who was scratched for the two playoff games last season as a freshman. "Taking the loss the way we did last year at our place, it really kind of stings. It still does. Obviously they’re coming back, same situation, same time of the year and hopefully we come out a little better this time around and obviously getting a couple wins this weekend."
Minnesota (24-12-1, 20-8-0 WCHA) won the regular-season conference title outright last weekend by splitting a series with Wisconsin to earn the top seed in the WCHA tournament. The No. 5-ranked Gophers host Alaska-Anchorage (9-23-2, 5-22-1) for the second straight season in the best-of-three first round.
Minnesota-Duluth ended up as the second seed and will host Minnesota State. Third-seed Denver will face Wisconsin. North Dakota, the fourth seed, hosts Bemidji State. Michigan Tech will travel to fifth-seed Colorado College and sixth-seed St. Cloud State plays host to Nebraska-Omaha.
The Gophers ended up winning the MacNaughton Cup, the regular season trophy, by three points over Minnesota-Duluth, but just four points separated the top three teams. Nine points separated the teams four through 10.
"Let’s be honest, if we played the 28-game schedule again, there would probably be a different winner and different order in the standings," Minnesota coach Don Lucia said. "We won the games that we needed to win. We did pretty well against the top half of the league. Finishing 5-1 in the last six is ultimately what won the league as well as that first weekend of the year. We played Duluth and won, but if they were to beat us one game, they would have been on top of the league standings."
With limited separation between teams, Lucia noted there is little difference from one team to the next. No one needs to remind the Gophers of the potential for upsets. As the fifth-seed last season, Minnesota was ousted from the tournament by the eighth-seeded Seawolves.
Alaska-Anchorage won 4-3 on Friday last season, breaking a 3-3 tie with power play goal by Mitch Bruijsten with 6:42 left in the third period. The Seawolves then won 2-0 on Saturday to end Minnesota’s season.
"We’re a little bitter about last year, the guys that are returning, with Alaska-Anchorage," Gophers leading scorer Nick Bjugstad said. "So we’re definitely going to give it everything we’ve got this weekend."
Minnesota believes it overlooked Alaska-Anchorage last season. An extended run in the WCHA tournament last year might have given the Gophers an NCAA tournament bid. But the early-round exit had them watching the rest of the playoffs.
"I thought we maybe looked a little past them," Schmidt said. "But this year it’s a little different. We can’t look past a team like this. They proved last year that’s what happens when you try and overlook a team. They come in here and beat you in your own barn. It’s one of the worst things that can happen, especially as a home-ice team."
Minnesota knows it must solve its Friday woes to advance to next week’s Final Five at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The Gophers are 10-8 on Fridays and 14-3-1 on Saturdays. They were only 7-7 on Fridays in WCHA play. They know they can’t afford any early deficits or a poor performance this weekend.
"I think we’ve kind of figured out a little bit here at the end of the season that we can win on Friday nights," Bjugstad said. "So hopefully it’s not a problem this week. We’ll buckle down and we realize how big this weekend is. Friday night we’ll be a big determining factor on how the weekend will go."
Tied for seventh in the Pairwise rankings, Minnesota is likely going to qualify for the NCAA tournament later in the month for the first time since 2008. But the Gophers want to reach the Final Five after missing it the past two seasons. A year prior to being upset by Alaska-Anchorage, Minnesota was the seventh seed in 2010 and lost in three games at fourth-seed North Dakota. Previously, they had made the Final Five 11 straight times, including the first 10 years under Lucia.
To reach the Final Five, the Gophers need to get past the Seawolves.
Bruijsten returns this season and is tied for team lead in points with 16 (eight goals, eight assists). Three other players that scored in the playoff series also return with Mickey Spencer, Jade Portwood, and Alex Gellert back. Goaltender Chris Kamal, who won both playoff games last year, is back and again splitting time with Rob Gunderson.
Minnesota beat both goaltenders while sweeping the season series on the road earlier this season. Gophers goaltender Kent Patterson stopped 48 of the 49 shots he faced in the two games, to help Minnesota win by a combined 8-1 margin.
Now the Gophers want retribution, playoff-style.
"I think that we have one that we’ve been looking forward to the whole year," Schmidt said. "It just so happens that we play Alaska again in the first round and it’s one of those things that the stars were aligned to play these guys again."
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