Gophers gave up recruiting only Minnesotans, and only Americans back around the turn of the century? *** are you talking about???
Part of that was in response to Woog's never winning a title, and Minnesotans feeling a few non-Minnesotans would be ok. Another part was that the work of making THE State of Hockey, into what it is, and the hard work of guys like John and Cliff paying off, was for the most part, DONE. UMn's women's program was up and going and doing very well, because of women in THE State of Hockey also being awesome. Former Gophers had led the Gophers to multiple Titles, and Wisconsin to multiple Titles and UND to multiple Titles in men's hockey and had even led a team to a Stanley Cup Title. The NHL was now a believer in collegian hockey players being ready for the NHL, and UMD, SCSU, Mankato St and even little Bemidji St were all now Div 1 programs, and were all in the Mighty old WCHA, so what else was needed to be done for college hockey in the US, or for US Olympic hockey???
So the fact that you are bringing this us as if it's significant, is kind of funny.