The University of Minnesota men's hockey team is off to a start reminiscent of better times for a Gophers program that won back-to-back national titles in 2002 and 2003 but has failed to reach the NCAA tournament the past three seasons. I talked with Gophers coach Don Lucia on Wednesday about his team and its 5-1 start.
BS: Are you back?
DL: It's premature. It's early. I like our kids. They want to work. They want to get better. They're going to make some mistakes, like Sunday we made some mistakes (in a 5-4 loss to Vermont). But hopefully we'll learn from it. It's a long year. We're going to have our ups and downs. We're going to have our good moments, and we're going to have our bad moments. I think we've learned some things about our team. We're thin in some areas, but I think we have some guys (who are sophomores) who have improved, which is important. We're getting some good play out of some of our seniors. And our freshmen are contributing. We need our freshmen to contribute.
BS: What question are you getting asked the most with this 5-1 start?
DL: I get a kick out of some people. They automatically think we're going to have this record or that record. It doesn't work that way.
BS: You can't extrapolate it out?
DL: No, you can't. Look around our league right now. A team gets swept, then they go home and sweep. That's our league. There's so little difference between teams. Ten or 15 years ago, there was a huge gap between teams in college hockey and in our league. Now it has been so compressed. There's not that much difference anymore.
BS: So you're not going to be 25-5 after 30 games?
DL: No. No, we're not. We want to get better. Obviously, there are some goals at the end of the year, but it's one baby step at a time.
BS: Seven of your top eight scorers are freshmen or sophomores. As the season progresses, these freshmen and sophomores should make quite a leap, shouldn't they?
DL: You hope so. At the end of last year, we made a lot of progress. Last year, our top two centers were freshmen, and that's a lot of responsibility for a freshman. They improved a lot at the end of last year. We need to continue to do that. Let's keep the big picture in mind. Obviously, we're trying to win every game. We've learned some things the first six games. We've changed our lineup, not necessarily because some guys didn't deserve to play as much as we had to see other players in certain situations to see how they would do.
BS: You beat (defending national champion) Minnesota-Duluth in two games up there. That had to be a confidence boost for your players. Did the loss to Vermont on Sunday chip away at their confidence?
DL: No. I don't think it chipped away at their confidence. I think it was a terrific learning experience. I like Vermont. They get around the rink. I knew Sunday would be a much more difficult game (than when the Gophers beat Vermont 6-0 on Friday night). We did some things that weren't too bright that take you out of an opportunity to win a game. That was a great teaching point. That was a great lesson for our guys. We did our video review and said: "Here's what happened, guys. These are some of the reasons we wound up losing the game." The thing you try to get across is: "You want to give yourself a chance to win every night you play. There are three or four things you need to do as a staple to give yourself a chance."
BS: What gives you the biggest reason for hope this season?
DL: Certainly, (goaltender) Kent (Patterson) is going to give us a chance every night he plays. And I think we have some good skill up front. As long as our 'D' can continue to come around and (those players) play within themselves and keep improving, I think we'll be fine.
BS: What's most likely to give you night sweats?
DL: We're thin in some areas. I think we have to remain injury free in a couple of areas. I'm hoping we're due. It seems like the last few years we've lost some key players early in the year for good. So hopefully, we can have a year where we don't have injuries.
BS: Where are you thinnest?
DL: Probably in the back line. We're young. We don't have a senior. We have a junior, and the rest are freshmen and sophomores. We have a couple of blue-chip recruits coming in next year, and we don't lose anybody.
BS: It's probably good that Patterson is a senior if you're worried about your defensemen.
DL: Yes. It's good to have a veteran there.
