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.

-Gophers reps who watched Rodney Williams and Royce White at the Sabes Invitational tourney last weekend were hoping that the latter wouldn’t be the only local prep to sign with the Gophers. Williams, an athletic prep forward from Robbinsdale Cooper, said he’s still weighing his options. But he told me that he’s narrowed his choices down to three schools: Kansas (no official offer yet), Minnesota and another school that he didn’t name. “I’m still deciding,” he said.

-White sported an “M” in the back of his head during the Sabes tournament. As soon as he walked into the gym, some of the Howard Pulley coaches pulled him aside to talk to him about drawing too much attention to himself, especially in light of the scrutiny he’s already endured. But at least the Gophers - White’s hairstyle honors them - know he’s devoted.

-I talked to Minnesota recruit Devoe Joseph last week. He told me that he’s excited about joining the Gophers soon. He’s going to work out with the Canadian national team this summer, which will affect his arrival date. Although he wants to move to Minneapolis next month with Minnesota’s other recruits, he might have to wait until September.

Joseph also said that he wants to play whatever guard position that Tubby Smith wants him to play. But he also said that he wants to be more than just a shooter. He said he’s comfortable with either the one or the two.

-Colton Iverson also expressed a desire to display his versatility when I talked to him last week. He said he’s a legit 6-10, which has forced him to play the five in South Dakota throughout his high school career. But at Minnesota, he wants to play the four next season. With the extra muscle he’s already added to his frame, he’ll be equipped to play that spot for the Gophers, who will also rely on undersized power forwards like Paul Carter and Damian Johnson if Iverson’s not ready to play as a freshman.

-Mike Broghammer impressed me during the Sabes tourney. He’s a bit undersized to play power forward in the Big Ten, but with a year or two in the weight room, I think he would be a good addition to a Gophers squad that needs a guy like that. He has a nice touch around the basket, and I think playing with White next season will help him improve.

Frank Rajkowski of the St. Cloud Daily Times reports that Mike Guentzel, the former Gophers hockey assistant, has applied for the St. John’s University job.

Rajkowski said Guentzel was going to be in Collegeville today interviewing for the opening.

ST. CLOUD STATE AWARDS

Three players from the state of Minnesota received awards on Sunday during St. Cloud State’s postseason banquet.

Forward Nate Dey of North St. Paul was named the Outstanding Senior, sophomore defenseman Jon Ammerman of Moorhead was named the Outstanding Student-Athlete and freshman forward Aaron Marvin of Warroad was named Most Improved.

Sophomore forwwards Ryan Lasch and Andreas Nodl were named the co-MVPs. Freshman forward Garrett Roe was named the Rookie of the Year.

The much-discussed “plus-one” mini-playoff won’t be coming to college football anytime soon. At least not until after 2014.

The BCS commissioners met this week in Florida and basically said no thanks.

I was in favor of the plus-one because I think it would move closer to establishing an undisputed national champion, although even that format was not perfect.

What do you think? Do you like the way we have it now or would you like to see the plus-one model. I think a lot of people would like to see a full-blown playoff, but that is never going to happen. I think a plus-one was the best bet.

– Now that spring ball is finished I’ll be on vacation for a few weeks but I’ll check in here if anything develops. Talk to you soon.

Boston College, with the nation’s winningest coach in Jerry York, and a diminutive talent in Nathan Gerbe, one of the 10 Hobey Baker finalists, will be the Gophers’ first obstacle on the road to the Frozen Four.

BC was in the Twin Cities twice this season with a chance to play the Gophers but the two never met. They were in separate brackets for the Icebreaker tournament at the Xcel in mid-October. But BC lost while the Gophers won in the first round and didn’t meet.

BC was back for a holiday tournament at Mariucci and this time the Gophers lost to Rochester Institute of Technology in the first round while BC won its first game. Again no meeting.

Also in that holiday tournament was Air Force, another team in the Northeast Regional. The Gophers and AFA tied 2-2 in overtime.

Air Force is the fourth seed and meets top seed Miami (Ohio) in its first game.

Here is the story I filed for the Star Tribune’s website:

The Gophers men’s hockey team will be heading East for the NCAA Division I tournament. Minnesota will play Boston College at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in Worcester, Mass., in the Northeast Regional.

The Gophers are the third seed in that region; BC is seeded second. The other two teams in that regional are top seed Miami (Ohio) and fourth seed Air Force Academy. They play at 4 p.m. Saturday. The two winners meet at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, March 30.

The 16-team field for the NCAA tournament was announced at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at ESPN. It includes a record six WCHA teams, including surprising Wisconsin which edged out Minnesota State Mankato for a spot.

The other four WCHA teams in the field are Denver, which beat the Gophers 2-1 on Saturday in the championship game of the Final Five, reguar-season conference champion Colorado College, North Dakota and St. Cloud State.

North Dakota is one of the four No. 1 seeds. The others are Michigan, the No. 1 seed overall, Miami in the Gophers’ regional, and New Hampshire.

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