Bringing down a giant: Gopher hockey’s achilles heel

Apr 5, 2012; Tampa, FL, USA; Boston College Eagles forward Paul Carey (22) attempts to shoot as Minnesota Gophers goalie Kent Patterson (35) defends in the third period during the semifinals of the 2012 Frozen Four at Tampa Bay Times Forum. Boston College won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the nation’s number one Division 1 college hockey team – your Minnesota Gophers!”

Go ahead, read that in an announcer’s voice. Picture fancy graphics and screaming fans filling Mariucci arena beneath that big, beautiful new scoreboard.

No, never mind. Actually, let’s be realistic and start over.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, your 2013 NCAA champions, the Minnesota Gophers!”

Add screaming fans among the yellow and black banners of CONSOL Energy Center, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Gophers have just won the Frozen Four.

Let me be clear. This is not an unrealistic expectation, lofty goal or some post-game locker room talking point. This year’s Gophers are so deeply talented, that expecting anything less than a Frozen Four appearance (at the least) should be on every Gopher fan’s mind.

The team’s absolute steamroll of Michigan state last weekend leaves no doubt that the Gophers deserve to be number one on all of ranked polls and have the depth and talent to skate right into the national championship.

I won’t go into too much depth, – feel free to check the post-series recap if you’d like – but the team scored a combined 12 goals, nabbed by eight different goal scorers.

For Pete’s sake, even the fourth line was scoring goals!

That means injuries can’t really be expected to be a factor. Even if last year’s big star, Nick Bjugstad, went down on IR, there’s guys to back him up all the way to the end of the bench. So what is the only thing that has the potential to spoil this team?

Bad locker room chemistry. If  infected with bad chemistry, a good team can be ripped apart and left a shredded jumble of guys resembling like mere memory of the powerhouse they once were. While it should be noted that  this kind of collapse is much more likely when a team is mediocre or less than so, a top-notch team like the Gophers is not immune by any means.

Ideally, no one starts slacking at practice. Everyone on this team needs to be putting in 100 percent at practice, to push themselves and help their teammates excel – all of the teammates.

First liners have to be pushing third and fourth liners. This mentality needs to be extended throughout the entire season. The last thing we want is a bunch of prima-donnas running the first and second lines, causing bad blood with the third and fourth lines, hence creating bad chemistry.

Sure, if it happens, the Gophers could count on their first and second lines, but the strength of the team would be seriously checked.

As for the goalie situation, both netminders, Adam Wilcox and Michael Shibrowski are splitting ice time equally for the first month, per head coach Don Lucia, which I think is great. Both have demonstrated solid goaltending abilities under pressure and having them work for the top spot will encourage growth and maturity between the pipes.

It’s worth noting that Michigan State didn’t provide a difficult test for either of these guys, but  from what we did see things are looking well. Hopefully, this first month of competition will set the tone for their attitudes at practice and in the locker room for the rest of the season, beyond the point where a permanent starter is chosen.

Beyond having some bad chemistry, I really can’t see any reason not to be putting on our party hats. Personally, I’ve been debating buying my tickets to Pittsburgh right now. But I won’t. Admittedly, I’ve always been a “glass-half-empty” person and I’m working on it.

Here’s the bottom line: It’s all systems go here for this hockey team. The season is very young and there’s a lot of hockey to be played.

Hopefully captain Zach Budish steps up and becomes an example for this team and encourages everyone to push  each other  and finish the season with a national championship.