Gopher Hockey: Condon, Rau named 2013-14 captains

The hockey crazed town of Eden Prairie added another notch to its belt Monday. The town that produced Stanley Cup champion Nick Leddy is the home to the next captain of the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team as Kyle Rau will wear the letter “C” on his chest for the 2013-14 Golden Gophers.

Joining Rau as co-captain is senior forward Nate Condon. The Wausau, Wis. native is the first captain from the “Badger State” in Gopher hockey history. The combo will lead the Maroon and Gold into the team’s first season in the new Big Ten Hockey Conference.

Entering his junior season, Rau has put together back-to-back 40 point seasons and has ranked in the Top 25 nationally in scoring in each of his first two seasons. His 83 combined points over the last two years is second to only Erik Haula.

Condon is one of five seniors on the squad for the Gophers this year. In three seasons with Minnesota, he has scored 31 goals to go with 47 assists. The two captains return as the top two scorers on a fairly young team with 16 underclassmen.

The Gophers were set to be loaded with high-end talent for the year, but head coach Don Lucia lost five would-be seniors to early departure. Along with Haula, Minnesota had Mark Alt, Nick Bjugstad, Zach Budish, and Nate Schmidt all leave for professional hockey.

With the help of leaders like Condon and Rau, the team is still expected to be one of the top teams in the new hockey conference.

In Other News…

• Philip Nelson and the Gophers football team open their season on Thursday against UNLV. Leading up to the game, Nelson will be bunking up with his teammates like they have done most nights this summer. According to Marcus Fuller of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Nelson and five other offensive starters are at home with each other on campus under one roof. The comradery the six-pack has built together is looking to pay dividends on the field this fall.
• Former Golden Gopher men’s basketball player Devoe Joseph has been named to the FIBA Americas Championship squad for Team Canada. The Toronto native is joined by younger brother Cory on the team that will begin tournament play Friday in Caracas, Venezuela. The younger Joseph currently plays in the NBA for the San Antonio Spurs. The older Canadian guard left Minnesota in the middle of his junior season and headed west to play with the University of Oregon Ducks.

Tweet of the Day

The east end zone of TCF Bank Stadium will be blanketed in maroon this fall. Are you proud to live in #JerrySota?

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