MINNEAPOLIS — Twenty minutes.
That's all the experience that the University of Minnesota men's hockey team is returning in net this season. The Gophers used three goalies last year, but it was senior Kent Patterson playing between the pipes for all but 20:44. Fellow senior Jake Kremer saw action for all of 44 seconds, while sophomore Michael Shibrowski played the third period of Minnesota's game against Wisconsin in March.
Shibrowski is back for his junior year, and the Gophers also have three freshmen goalies on the roster: Ryan Coyne, Matt LaPrade and Adam Wilcox. Early on, it appears as if Minnesota will use a rotation of Shibrowski and Wilcox, a draft pick of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning, in net this season.
"I think if you asked me today, more than likely we'd probably split the first three weekends and then head to November and see where we're at," Gophers coach Don Lucia said Wednesday. "I think it's important to see your goaltenders at home. It's important to see how they react on the road. If they both play well, we'll continue to play them both."
For the entire 2011-12 season, Shibrowski had to watch and learn from Patterson, who posted a 2.32 goals against average and a 28-14-1 record. That included seven shutouts in 43 games as he helped the Gophers advance to the Frozen Four.
As tough as it was to not be on the ice, Shibrowski made the most of the situation by picking up things from Patterson in practice.
"It was a great experience to be able to watch Kent," Shibrowski said. "I could go on for days about all the things he does, but I think his biggest thing is he controlled games for us. There were times last year when things got out of hand and felt chaotic, and Kent was always back there to kind of calm things down and keep control of the game."
It's not uncommon in college hockey for a team to ride one goalie all season, and it's happened at Minnesota before. But last year's usage of Patterson for all but 20:44 is on the extreme end of what the Gophers have done in previous years.
When Patterson assumed the starting job during his junior year, he played in 30 games (28 starts) while then-senior Alex Kangas saw time in just nine games (eight starts). The year before that, the playing time was reversed, as Kangas was in net for 33 games and Patterson made just six starts.
At least for now, the split for Minnesota's goalies should be pretty even between Shibrowski and Wilcox.
"I've had teams where we rotated goalies all season long, every game, right to the end," Lucia said. "And I've had other years like last year where our goalie played every night. We'll have to wait and see how that plays itself out."
While Shibrowski only played one period in goal last year, he does have previous college hockey experience. The Andover, Minn., native and former Benilde-St. Margaret's standout played for Colorado College during the 2009-10 season after spending time with the Owatonna Express of the North American Hockey League. At Colorado College, Shibrowski played in two games and stopped 34 of the 38 shots he faced.
After sitting out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Shibrowski finally saw his first action as a Gopher on March 2 against rival Wisconsin. He faced just five shots and turned them all away in Minnesota's 2-1 win over the Badgers at Mariucci Arena.
Growing up in Minnesota, Shibrowski was naturally a Gopher hockey fan. He and his brother would play knee hockey in between periods of the Gopher games, and Shibrowski would imitate former Minnesota goalie Adam Hauser.
Now, Shibrowski has a chance to make a name for himself as the next Gophers goalie.
"Even being here a year, it's a little bit of a surreal experience," Shibrowski said.
Lucia said Shibrowski and Wilcox will each get a start this weekend as top-ranked Minnesota opens the regular season with a home series against No. 16 Michigan State. Shibrowski started the Gophers' exhibition game last Saturday against Lethbridge and made nine saves. Wilcox relieved Shibrowski and added six more saves to combine for the shutout in the 7-0 win.
Whichever goalie (or goalies) end up playing between the pipes for Minnesota this year, they'll have a tough act to follow as they try to replace the production Patterson gave the Gophers last year.
"Any time you lose a guy like that, it's pretty big shoes to fill," said junior forward Zach Budish. "But we're confident with all the goalies we have. I think it's going to be nice to have some competition between them every day in practice, not really knowing who's going to play on Friday and Saturday nights. I think it's good for them to have each other pushing one another."
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