The University of Minnesota men's hockey team scored seven goals in two games en route to victory at the season-opening Ice Breaker Tournament in South Bend, Ind., two weeks ago, taking 56 shots on goal.
That wasn't enough for junior defenseman Mike Reilly.
"We didn't get as many scoring chances as we should have," he said.
In this weekend's two-game home series against Bemidji State, Reilly said the Gophers are focusing on "going to the net (and) getting shots."
Despite Reilly's concerns, Minnesota (2-0) did showcase a balanced scoring attack at the Ice Breaker, getting points from 11 players.
With so many talented scorers on the roster and two weeks of down time since beating Minnesota-Duluth 4-3 and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 3-0, sophomore forward Justin Kloos said practice has been especially competitive.
"That's kind of expected at a program like this -- that people are going to be competing every day just ... to get a shot on the ice," he said.
As a freshman last season, Kloos led the team in goals with 16. But even he said he never was particularly comfortable with his status on the team, citing the talent.
Minnesota was sixth in the nation last season in scoring offense, averaging 3.49 goals per game. Much of that offense has returned from a team that reached the Frozen Four final.
Last season's top scorer, Kyle Rau, is off to a quick start, recording four points in the first two games.
With Rau leading a more experienced offense, coach Don Lucia said the Gophers won't need to be as reliant on their freshmen.
But that doesn't mean the group won't have a chance to make its mark.
"We've tried to explain to them that nothing's really given here," Kloos said. "You come in a highly touted recruit, (and) it doesn't matter. You've got to earn your spot here."
Leon Bristedt is one freshman with a chance to make his mark this weekend. He was forced to sit out the two Ice Breaker games as the penalty for a professional athlete playing on his amateur team in Sweden last season.
Lucia said Bristedt has looked good in practice and will play this weekend against Bemidji State.
"Obviously, he's a good player, and he's going to be thrown right into, certainly, our top 12 forwards, and we'll see what he can do," Lucia said.
Lucia said Wednesday that he didn't know exactly where Bristedt, who is from Stockholm, will play.
That goes for everyone else, too.
"We moved our lines around from Friday to Saturday" in the Ice Breaker Tournament, Lucia said. "Basically, they've been different every day this week in practice."
Though Lucia said there were pairs he wanted to keep together, the team has flexibility.
"I think our lines are fluid right now," he said.
Lucia will have the opportunity to continue mixing and matching lines based on performance and said that he won't hesitate to do that in the middle of a game.
"I don't like to say we've got a first line, second line, third line," he said. "If you're (on) one of our four lines, you're expected to play, and I don't care who you're playing against. You've got to perform."
