The reports kept coming in last Friday from my tormentors at work: The Gophers women’s hockey team, the team you wrote about, the team you jinxed that morning, was trailing Robert Morris 1-0, then 2-0, then 3-0.

I had not planned to go to the game, figuring blowout. The Gophers were No. 3 in the country, playing at home at Ridder … Robert Morris was a 12-win team the year before.

I went over for the third period to see what would happen. Bobby Morris, as one of my colleagues in the newsroom called them, hung on to win 3-2 despite being outshot 65-10. Unbelieveable. Not a good way for the Gophers’ weekend to start. Next night, it was 7-1 Gophers, a truer indication of the strength of both teams.

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Senior goalies started for both the Gophers and Robert Morris in a women’s hockey season opener Friday at Ridder Arena.

One goalie had a tough night, one was sensational.

Unfortunately for Brad Frost, making his debut as Gophers head coach, he was the one who had to switch goalies. Frost was the interim coach last season.

Robert Morris, a fourth-year program out of Pittsburgh, upset the Gophers, rated No. 3 in the preseason national polls, 3-2 after taking a 3-0 lead early in the second period.

The Gophers outshot the Colonials 65-10, including 24-1 in the third period.

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Gophers freshman goalkeeper Cat Parkhill of Apple Valley was named to the under-20 U.S. women’s national team a training camp last week in Sunrise, Fla.

The team will play in 2008 FIFA under-20 women’s World Cup in Chile next month.

“When the coaches and I decided I would redshirt this season,” Parkhill said, according to a U of M release, ” it gave me a great opportunity to pursue this opportunity with the U20 national team. It would have been difficult to travel with the team, do well in school, and also to travel with the national team all at once.”

The under-20 U.S. team will open World Cup play with a match against France on Nov. 19, followed by matches with Argentina on Nov. 22 and China on Nov. 26.

Gophers hockey captain Ryan Stoa, who missed  all but four periods last season with a knee injury, can’t wait for the men’s hockey season to start.

The Gophers start practice at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. But on Friday, his sister Maria Stoa, a sophomore, will have the advantage over him and play first. She is one of the top forwards for Robert Morris which visits Ridder Arena this weekend to play No. 3-rated Minnesota in a season opening series.

This two-game series will be the first meeting between the Colonials and Gophers. The Colonials were 12-22-1 overall and a 2-10-0 in the CHA last season. Robert Morris faced WCHA teams Wisconsin, St. Cloud State, Bemidji State and Minnesota State and was 2-5-1 against them.

The Griak Invitational, which was held for the 23rd time last Saturday, is a marathon for spectators. It has 10 races, which start at 9 a.m. and keeps going.

I came only for the two Division I college races and four high school races but, even though I was only there for six of the 10, my feet ached at the end of the day.

When Gophers sophomore Hassan Mead started jogging away — and I wanted to ask him one more question — there was zero chance I could catch him.

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On Sunday, there was an interesting matchup between the U.S. national team and the Gophers women’s hockey team at Ridder Arena.

Fans were scarce, the game coincided with the Vikings-Tennessee on TV and the Twins vs. Kansas City at the Dome.

But the U.S. team looked real fast. And the Gophers played three goalies, who all looked capable. In the end, the U.S. team, which will provide the nucleus for the 2010 Olympic team, won 3-2 in OT.

There were 20 penalties called. Seemed odd in a matchup of teams who knew each other pretty well.

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Last fall the Gophers went into the NCAA meet hoping for a top four finish so they could bring home a trophy. For some reason, the top four teams get trophies, not the top three or top five or top 10.

They finished 12th after placing ninth — their best ever — and 11th the previous two years.

So it was interesting when the this week’s first in-season rankings came out. The Gophers, fresh off a feel-good repeat title in the Griak Invitational on Saturday were ranked No. 4, moving up five spots from their No. 9 ranking in the preseason polls.

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The Gophers women’s hockey team, which has high hopes this season as usual, will show the public what it can do for the first time on Friday.

The Gophers play the University of Saskatchewan at 7:07 p.m. Friday at Ridder Arena in an exhibition game.

The Huskies, coached by Steve Kook, have been practicing since the first week of September and have played three exhibition games already in the Icebreaker Tournament. It was held in Saskatoon, so Sakatchewan was the host team.

The Huskies, who were 12-9-3 a year ago, lost the first game on Sept. 19 to the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns 2-1 but came back to win the next two, beating the SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology) Trojans 5-3 and the NAIT Ooks 3-1.

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The women’s and men’s cross-country teams were both ranked No. 9 in the first U.S. Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association national polls of the season.

The Gophers women’s team won the Big Ten and Midwest Region titles a year ago for the first time and placed 12th in the NCAA meet.

“Our team has lofty goals for the season,” said Gary Wilson, starting his 24th year as head coach.

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Gophers senior forward Jamal Abu-Shamala will try out for the Jordanian national team next month, according to Gophers spokesman Matt Slieter.

Abu-Shamala’s father, Subhy Abu-Shamala, is a native of the country, which makes him eligible to play for Jordan this summer, as the team seeks an Olympic bid.

According this site, Abu-Shamala is one of only two Jordanians playing for an American college.