Gophers coach Don Lucia said Tuesday that his program is much better prepared this year for the surprise loss of players like Stu Bickel than in other recent seasons.

Bickel, who would have been a sophomore defenseman, signed with the Anaheim Ducks this week.

“We’ve recruited enough guys,” Lucia said. “We still have 27 players.”

Indeed, the Gophers are bringing in 12 freshmen, including three defensmen. That has to be one of the U’s largest recruiting classes. At least two are walk-ons. (more…)

Defenseman Stu Bickel of the Gophers signed with the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL on Tuesday.

“I thought about it long and hard,” said the 6-3, 210-pound Bickel who had one goal and six assists last season as a freshman. “In the end, I thought it was the best decision [to sign]. I thought it was the right decision.

“I really enjoyed my time [at the University of Minnesota]. I liked the coaching staff. Obviously, the hardest part for me, by far, was leaving the guys on that team because of the relationships I had developed with those guys.”

He signed a three-year, two-way free agent contract with the Ducks and will probably be assigned to Des Moines of the AHL.

“It’s a big blow,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said.

Gophers head coach Don Lucia, with help from assistants John Hill and probably Mike Hastings, will run his Model hockey camp next week. Hastings was recently hired and starts work June 9.

Enough players for 12 18-player teams have signed up to practice and play games from Monday thru Saturday at Mariucci and Ridder arenas. Many of the state’s best will be there. Some are committed to colleges, but it gives Lucia a good look at those who are not while he tries to give them tips to be better players.

Here is a look at the teams, named after colors, and some comments:

Red team: Has future Gophers Nick Leddy, a defenseman from Eden Prairie, and Zach Budish, a forward from Edina. Both have committed to the U and are expected to sign for the 2009-10 season. Budish at 6-2, 211 is hard to miss. Also on the team is forward Nick Oliver of Roseau, whose father coaches the Rams, and Roseau goalie Mike Lee.

Gold team: Has forward Ben Arnt who played for Omaha of the USHL this past season and forward Ben Hanowski who played on a high-scoring line at Little Falls.

White team: Has forward Josh Birkholz of Blake, another player who will join the U for the 2009-10 season.

Black team: Has defenseman Jake Gardiner of Minnetonka who has signed with Wisconsin.

Maroon team: has three other ‘09 Gopher recruits, 6-3 1/2, 200-pound Seth Helgeson, a defenseman from Faribault;  forward Jake Youso of Int’l Falls, and forward Nate Condon of Wausau (Wis.) West.

Blue team: Has Roseau defenseman Aaron Ness, probably the top prospect joining the Gophers for the ‘08-09 season and foru player from Edina, including goalie Derrick Caschetta.

Red team: Has forward Nick Nagel of Totino-Grace, one of the biggest player in camp. He is 6-2 1/2, 207.

Gold team: Has defenseman Grant Fahnhorst of Wayzata. He is 6-4, 208. Also on the team is his Trojans teammate, goalie Joe Howe.

White team: Has two forwards from Class 2A state champion Hill-Murray, Tyler Zepeda and Dan Cecka.

Black team: This team also has two Pioneers, goalie Joe Phillippi and defenseman Dan Sova, 6-2 1/2, 207.

Maroon team: Has three forward from Burnsville, Tyler Barnes, Jake Hendrickson and Adam Perisic.

Blue team: Has four players from St. Thomas Academy, including forward Ryan Walters who has committed to the U for 2010-11. 

 The Gophers have completed recruiting for the 2008-09 season. They are bringing in 13 new players, including walk-on goalie Jake Kremer and Hill-Murray center Nick Larson who sat out this past season recovering from a back injury.

Anybody remember a class this big?

Kremer, who turned 20 on May 5, played for the Bismarck (N.D.) Bobcats of the NAHL last season and was the team’s MVP. His numbers were not too impressive. Then again, the Bobcats finished sixth out of six teams in the Central Division of the North America Hockey League, which is a step below the UHSL.

Kremer was 17-24 with five overtime losses and had two shutouts. He had a 3.30 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. He played in 49 games, was second in the league in minutes played and had a league-high 1,475 saves.

“I’m real excited for Jake,” Bobcats coach Byron Pool is quoted as saying on the team’s web page. “I think he will make it real hard for the Gophers not to play him.”

Kremer is coming in to fill the spot of the Gophers’ practice goalie Brent Solei, who played in only one game in four seasons.

“I grew up loving the Gophers and I watched them every time they were on, this is a dream come true,” Kremer said in the same web story. “The university is great; it’s a tough school to get into and it’s an added bonus that it’s so close to home.”

Kremer had 49 saves in a 1-0 shutout in his last game for the Bobcats.

Larson was injured in the last game he played in the 2007 state tournament. He had two cracked vertebrae and spent about six months in a back brace.

“He was in school all year but had health issues,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said.

He came in near the end of the season, Lucia said, and said he still had the passion for hockey and was anxious to play again.

“He’s working out with the team and he’s excited,” Lucia said, “and he can help us. He was a center and that’s something we were short on last season. We’ll be young. We will probably have three freshmen centers.”

Larson was taken by the Washington Capitals in the seventh round of the 2007 NHL draft with the 185th pick. He had 28 goals and 30 assists going into the 2007 Class 2A state tournament and was a Mr. Hockey finalist.

With 13 new players, and junior Ryan Stoa coming back after missing all but two games this season, half of the Gophers’ 28-player roster will be new.

Lucia splits 18 scholarships among those 28 players. Because of players leaving and injuries, the Gophers were down to 22, 23 players this past season. “We were too thin,” Lucia said.

Here is the complete list of new Gophers for next season:  

Class of 2008

Forwards (7)

Name                 ht., wt.                          last team       

Michael Dorr   5-10, 180, wing              Des Moines, USHL

Jake Hansen     6-1, 182, wing                Sioux Falls, UHSL

Nick Larson         6-2, 185, center             Hill-Murray, ‘06-07

Taylor Matson  6-0, 185 center              Des Moines, USHL

Joey Miller             5-11, 195                       Sioux City, USHL

Nico Sachetti            6-0, 186, center     Omaha, USHL

Jordan Schroeder   5-8, 165, center       nat’l dev. team

Defensemen (4)

Sam Lofquist           6-1, 190                     nat’l dev. team

Brandon Martell     6-2, 195                    nat’l dev. team

Aaron Ness               5-10, 170                  nat’l dev. team

Grant Scott               6-3, 205                    nat’l dev. team

Goalies (2)

Jake Kremer          6-1, 190              Bismarck, NAHL     

Kent Patterson     6-1, 180              Cedar Rapids, USHL         

His teammates have elected junior wing Ryan Stoa, a Bloomington native, the captain of the 2008-09 team. That’s quite an honor for him, especially considering he played only two games last season, the first game and part of the second.

He suffered a knee injury against Michigan in the title game of the Ice Breaker Invitational at the X and had knee surgery on Nov. 13. At the time, he was skating on the Gophers’ first line.

He was skating with the Gophers near the end of the season, but the coaches did not want to risk the chance of him re-injuring the knee. He was a second round draft choice of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2005 NHL Draft.

He will probably be granted an extra year of eligibility as a medical redshirt.

He scored 12 goals and had 12 assists for 24 pionts as a sophomore.

He has 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points in his career.

The assistant captains will be named in the fall.

COACHING SEARCH UPDATE

Coach Don Lucia said the search to find an assistant coach to replace Mike Guentzel is going great. “We have it open until the job is filled,” Lucia said about the posting which went up April 30. “But we can not do anything until May 14.”

That’s when the two-week window for applying — which is the norm on most jobs — is over.

Lucia said he still hopes to have somebody hired by June 1.

He said whether the candidate is a former Gophers player will be a consideration but not an eliminator.

“It is a consideration,” Lucia said, “just like recruiting ability, coaching ability, administation skills. It’s a piece of the puzzle. We are not considering people just because they are U of M grads. We want the best fit for the program, so we are cohesive as a staff. And we’d prefer somebody who can coach defensemen, all things being equal.”

Former Blake goalie Kent Patterson, who has played for Cedar Rapids of the USHL the past two seasons, has committed to the Gophers for this upcoming season.

He had hernia surgery last fall and did not play until early December this season, but had solid numbers. He was 10-6 with a 2.49 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage.

The previous season, he was considered one of the USHL’s top rookie goalies and had a 2.91 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.

The Colorado Avalanche took took him in the fourth round of the 2007 NHL draft. He was the 113th pick overall and the youngest player taken. His B-Day, 9/15/89, was the age cutoff date.  

He will turn 19 this September.

Patterson played at Blake, a private school in Minneapolis, as a freshman and sophomore before leaving for the USHL.

“He has top-end potential in the view of many,” Blake coach John Hamre said. “When he played for me he was a special high school goaltender. I have not seen him for two years in the USHL, but he had an outstanding World Juniors team tryout.”

He suffered a groin injury on the last day of that tryout last summer. Later it was discovered he had a hernia and needed surgery.

“He’s a tremendous athlete, very focused,” said Hamre, who had lunch with Patterson on Tuesday. “He is committed to hockey and he is a great kid.”

Patterson is 6-1, 180. So his frame is similar to that of Alex Kangas, the freshman goalie who played so well for the Gophers this season.

Patterson will come in as Kangas’ backup, but will probably get a chance to show what he can do.

He is the 11th recruit in the 2008-09 recruiting class, which already was rated the nation’s best by the Red Line Report. He just makes it stronger.

Gophers coach Don Lucia had said recently he wanted to add two goalies, one on scholarship [that has to be Patterson] and one as a walk-on.

So the Gophers, if they haven’t found him already already, may still add another goalie to fill senior Brent Solei’s role. He was the team’s practice goalie for four seasons. Filling that spot is not nearly as critical as finding a back-up goalie. Looks like the U did well on that task. 

On Wedneday, the U of M posted a job opening for a Gophers’ assistant coach. Ever wonder what is required. Keep reading. This job isn’t for everyone.

Required Qualifications: Bachelor’s Degree; knowledge and expertise in the sport of ice hockey; 5 years of men’s ice hockey collegiate or junior level coaching experience; good organizational, communication, and public relations skills; ability to identify and recruit highly skilled student-athletes; and a commitment to high standards, sportsman like conduct, and fairness.

Preferred Qualifications: Experience working with video equipment and computers.  

My comments: You have to do a little of everything. But only five years of coaching experience. That does not seem like a lot. On the other hand, you might want a young up and coming coach.

Duties/responsibilities: Primary responsibility for assisting in the development of all phases of a NCAA Division I Men’s ice hockey program. This position reports to the head men’s ice hockey coach. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Assist in identification, evaluation, and the recruitment of student-athletes; assist head coach in the planning and on-ice implementation of daily practices; assist in developing game plans; specific coaching responsibilities to be matched with candidate’s areas of expertise; work closely with support staff (athletic medicine, equipment, communication, academics) regarding student-athletes; utilize video for teaching and motivational purposes; commitment to and responsibility for adhering to all rules and regulations of the University, WCHA-Men’s League, and NCAA; work compatibly and cooperatively with the staff and personnel of the athletic department; assist in all areas as they relate to the operation of the men’s hockey program; other duties as assigned by head coach.

My comments: What are my off days? How many weeks of vacation? Do I get coffee breaks?  Not sure how long I would last on this job.

Program description: The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, will be hiring an Assistant Coach, Men’s Hockey. Gopher Athletics offers 25 NCAA sponsored Division I sports and participates in the Big Ten and WCHA conferences. The Department’s mission reads: To serve as a window to the University in an environment of integrity and equity that enables student-athletes to achieve excellence in their academic and athletic pursuits. Gopher Athletics’ vision is to be the model Division I program in the country and has adopted four core values that guide decisions and behaviors in ongoing efforts to fulfill the mission and vision: (1) a confident and humble pride, (2) integrity in our words and deeds, (3) respect for the dignity of ALL stakeholders, and (4) loyalty built on honest and trusting relationship.  

My comments: The U wants to be the No. 1 model program in the country. Quite a lofty goal.

Application instructions: Annual renewal appointment dates are May to April. Submit a cover letter, current resume, and names and contact information of three references.

Applications will be reviewed beginning May 14, 2008, and will be accepted until the position is filled.

My comments: Lucia wants to fill the position by June 1, which gives him two weeks time from the beginning of interviews. Now, what I want to know is, do I get a finders’ fee if somebody reads this blog, applies for the job and gets it. I think that would be only fair. So would-be coaches out there, please apply and remember who sent you to U.

Disclaimer: This post is mostly taken off of www.umn.edu. The qualifications and responsibilities are just the same as on the real job posting. None of that was tampered with. But I had to insert my comments because we like to look at most things in a light-hearted manner. Good luck job hunters.

Gophers men’s coach Don Lucia said he is glad Bemidji State and Minnesota Duluth are getting new hockey arenas for the 2010-11 season.

“It’s great,” he said. “Anything we can do to make hockey strong. Certainly Bemidji needed [a new arena] and the DECC is getting old, although it’s a great place to watch a game.

“This is a big year for hockey arenas. It’s great those schools are all in a position to make their facilities and the [hockey] experience better.”

As far as the Gophers’ rink, Mariucci Arena, Lucia is not complaining “We’re pretty happy, although we’d like to redo the downstairs area,” Lucia said. “Just change things around. We want a players’ lounge. But that is not something we are going to ask the state for money for.”

FLORIDA TALK

Lucia was at coaches’ meetings in Florida all of last week. And part of the time there, representatives of the coaches, the NHL and the NHL Players Association talked about players leaving college hockey early.

“[NHL representatives] understand we are an important feeder system and they want to protect us, too,” Lucia said.

At least a dialogue was started, he said.

INTERVIEW TIME

Lucia started interviewing candidates on Monday for two goalies openings the Gophers have on their roster for next season.

A job posting for the open assistant job on Lucia’s staff was supposed to be on the U’s web site on Tuesday [www.umn.edu] but I couldn’t find. Will try again today. I’m just curious how it reads.

Lucia said he wants to fill the job by June 1.

One of the esteemed sports columnists from that other daily paper on the east side of the Mississippi suggested the other day that Bemidji State’s Tom Serratore could be the next Gophers’ hockey assistant, replacing Mike Guentzel.

Let’s take a look at his resume: He was born in Coleraine, Minn., a long slap shot away from Grand Rapids where Don Lucia is from.

He played college hockey at Mankato State for two years and finished at Bemidji State (1985-87).

He was a high school assistant at Brainerd from 1987-91, and head coach at Henry Sibly from 1991-93.

He was an assistant at St. Cloud State from 1993-98 and was the Huskies’  recruiting coordinator most of those years.

He was a BSU assistant for a couple years, then became the head coach.

His teams at BSU have had winning records for six years in a row, although this year the Beavers were only 17-16-3.

They did with the College Hockey America regular season title for the third year in a row, though.

He was there when BSU made the jump to Division I and the Beavers played in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 2005, then again in ‘06 after winning the CHA tournament.

Seems like he is a committed hockey guy, knows the state and the WCHA pretty well, is still young (in his early 40s.)

Reason he might want to go: The CHA is crumbling. It will be down to four teams next season with Wayne State dropping its program. So scheduling and getting a berth in the NCAA tournament could be harder in the future. The CHA tournament champion had an automatic spot.

A reason to stay: BSU could have a nifty new arena to play in by 2010. The 2008 bonding bill appropriated $20 million to the project, which will actually be an events center with a rink which will have 2,100 more seats than Glas Fieldhouse which was built in the dark ages, actually the 1960s.

Serratore is not an ’M’ man and that might bother some program supporters because then none of the three coaches, counting Lucia or John Hill, are ‘M’ men either. Only volunteer goalie coach Robb Stauber is.

Guentzel was, of course. He and had a passion for the maroon and gold.

Personally, I don’t think Lucia necessarily has to hire an ‘M’ man, somebody who played for the Gophers, but if he has two candidates and one is an ’M’ man and the other is not, and both are otherwise equal, I would go with the ‘M’ man every time.

He would have U memories and stories to share with his players and — hopefully I am not getting too mushy — probably would have a special place in his heart for the U.

One Gophers hockey web site is taking a vote on this issue and, in early returns, voters are saying 4-1 it doesn’t matter if an ‘M’ man is hired.

It does to some people, though. I know ex-coach Doug Woog would like to see an ‘M’ man hired.

Trouble is, there are not too many in coaching.

Woog said most of his former players are in investments or pharmecutical sales or commercial real estate, and not coaching hockey.

Lucia has been out of town the last week, but the American Hockey Coaches Convention in Naples, Fla., ends on Sunday with a golf tournament at 1 p.m.

Finding a couple of goalies for next season and hiring an assistant will probably be two of Lucia’s top priorities when he returns. 

My spies in Naples, Fla., report that the American Hockey Coaches Association and NHL folks — NHL Deputy Commish Bill Daly and NHL Players Association executive director Paul Kelly — are putting their heads together this week to discuss what to do about the growing number of underclassmen leaving college hockey for the pros.

So far this offseason, 16 players with eligibility left have said bye-bye to college hockey. And the offseason is really only two, three weeks old for teams which played in the NCAA tournament.

Seven of those are WCHA players, including junior goalie Jeff Frazee of the Gophers.

Minnesota also lost a player, sophomore Kyle Okposo in midseason to the N.Y. Isles.

Coaches, according reports from sunny Florida, also are concerned about NHL teams urging undrafted players to leave.

There has been talk of some sort of a development fee NHL teams might have to pay for signing college players early.

Pro teams are going more to younger players to keep costs down and young players want to get to the NHL as soon as they can so they can sign the cheaper entry level contracts, and then move on quicker to better contracts later.

Seems the NHL and NHLPA are sympathetic to college hockey’s concerns but a quick fix is unlikely.

I plan to follow up with WCHA officials next week — when they return from Florida — on what happened in these meetings.

Frankly, I’m surprised a few more WCHA players have not signed with pro teams. Junior Blake Wheeler of the Gophers still has not made a decision. Phoenix drafted him.

And North Dakota has a handful of juniors who might be tempted to turn pro.