The line of Jimmy Clark between wingers Connor Kurth and Matthew Wood was listed fourth. That had been one of the Gophers’ hottest lines entering the weekend and proceeded to combine for two goals and six points in a 7-1 victory over the Tommies on Friday at Mariucci Arena. A night later, it was first line winger Brody Lamb who scored three goals, all on the power play, in a 6-2 victory over St. Thomas at Xcel Energy Center.

Bob Motzko, in his seventh season as the Gophers’ coach, was asked about having such an embarrassment of scoring riches.

“The only problem we have is we have to start a line, that means one line has to be fourth,” Motzko said. “We’re trying to build it into how we have to play selfless hockey and one line after another with the attack. I love how hard they’re working. I love their compete (level) and we have four lines that can get after it.”

This comes as no surprise — at least from a talent perspective.

Talent, compete level have Gophers off to strong start
The Gophers might no longer get all of the top players in the state, but recruiting top-level talent from both inside and outside the state isn’t an issue. The challenge for Motzko is getting that talent to jell into a cohesive unit that wants to grind as much as they want to score.

This is what makes Motzko so happy about a 5-1-0 start in which his team has outscored opponents 33-12, including having seven goals three times, six goals once and five in another.

“If you’re going to win big, the compete in this sport has got to be number one,” Motzko said. “You recruited the talent. They all have a history of having that. But playing with that tenacity and grit and a ground game (forechecking) and being selfless, that’s a learned skill as well. It’s a short snapshot (of the season). I was asked how many games does it take? I said that I usually like the month of October.”

Motzko said this last Friday and the Gophers won’t play again until opening the Big Ten season against Penn State this weekend.

Spend time around the Gophers and the fact they embrace the grit and grind isn’t a surprise. Players talk about how many of them stuck around this offseason to work in the weight room and bond away from the rink. This type of talk can be cliched, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“It started in the summer,” defenseman Sam Rinzel said. “All the guys being in the weight room competing, trying to outlift each other or whatever it is. But we can get on each other and we can kind of hold ourselves accountable. I think that’s important for our team … we’re like glue together. So, our team is pretty close.”

The closeness of a team is important, in large part because of what Rinzel said. It enables players to hold each other accountable, without creating division.

“I think everyone on the team has good chemistry,” Wood said. “Everyone loves each other, and that’s a big part of it. Off ice, everyone is just a really good person and I think that really helps.”

Motzko has taken the Gophers to the NCAA tournament in each of the past four seasons, and two years ago his team fell short with an overtime loss in the Frozen Four championship against Quinnipiac. These Gophers are seeking their first title since 2003.

Minnesota’s four lines aren’t the only ones who can produce goals.

High-end defensemen contributing offense
Last season, the blue line combined for only nine. This season, that number is at eight through six games, thanks to four goals apiece by Rinzel, a sophomore, and Ryan Chesley, a junior. Mike Koster’s decision to return for a fifth season after missing the first month of last season because of injury was a big boost to the blue line.

“We really thought in the offseason that our d-corps was going to be much higher-end offensively,” Motzko said. “Obviously with Mikey (Koster) back, but then the three juniors, or upperclassmen, with much more confidence. And Luke Mittelstadt is playing as good as any defensemen I’ve seen in a long time. He’s not being rewarded offensively yet. And (Leo) Gruba is yet to come. So offensively we’ve got a d-corps that can push it and be led by a couple of guys right now. We felt that could happen.”

The biggest question mark is in goal, where sophomore Nathan Airey and transfer Liam Souliere split the St. Thomas series.

Souliere, who was the primary starter for Penn State the past two seasons, is the best bet to take over the full-time role. Souliere had his goals-against average rise from 2.43 to 3.38 from 2022-23 to 2023-24 and his save percentage sank from .917 to .874. Airey was the backup to Justen Close as a freshman but only played in three games.

Close and the Gophers got to the final game of the NCAA Sioux Falls Regional before losing to Boston University. This team is hoping that talent combined with work ethic can take them to a place this program hasn’t been since 2003.

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That wasn’t the case for the St. Thomas men’s squad Saturday night at the Xcel Energy Center. After getting handed a 7-1 defeat Friday at the hands of No. 5 Minnestota, the Tommies were looking to bounce back, but a costly major penalty by Matthew Gleason in the second period led to two Golden Gophers goals and Minnesota ended up cruising to a 6-2 victory to complete the series sweep.

“Obviously, the better team won tonight,” said Tommies coach Rico Blasi. “I thought we played hard. I thought we came out really well again. Our emotions got the best of us, and we took a couple of undisciplined penalties. You can’t do that against a good team.”

When asked if tonight was a learning experience for his team in regard to physical play, Blasi said that playing hard and physical was part of the Tommies’ identity, but they didn’t make better decisions.

“Obviously, we’ve got to keep our hands down and be smart about it, and we didn’t do that tonight,” he said. “So, we’re going to have to continue to focus on that. I think it’s just a mindset in making sure that we do that. We know that. Our guys know that. We got caught up in the emotion tonight, and it’s unacceptable.”

For the Gophers, it was another strong victory as they’ve now won four games in a row with impressive offensive showings. Coach Bob Motzko said that their power play unit needed to step up, and it did as they picked up three goals.

Cooper Gay (No. 20) scored his third goal of the season on Oct. 26 to give St. Thomas a 1-0 lead over the Gophers in the first period at Xcel Energy Center. (Photo courtesy of Shannon Stieg)

“There was a lot of 50-50 hockey last night, and then tonight was special teams,” Motzko said. “Our power play needed to answer the bell, and you have to do that in the season. We needed to get our power play going and got three of them tonight, and that was big. I didn’t like the shorty we gave up at the end, but I also liked some maturity in our team. We kept our cool. We tried to stay out of it and just play hockey and get through it. We got pucks deep at the end, and we made smart line changes and some things you probably don’t want to hear about. But we played with some maturity tonight with a lead, and I liked that.”

Motzko also said that he and his staff emphasized the importance of taking all of the games against the fellow Minnesota schools like UST seriously, since the smaller schools see it as a big event.

“We addressed it this year with our guys at the start of the year,” he said. “There’s been some years that hadn’t been great for us at times, and we kind of challenged our guys. It started with our exhibition game with St. Cloud. That we wanted to really be on top of our game and take our nonconference against in-state teams seriously because they take it seriously against us and they want to come after us. We’ve got great leadership and great veterans that have taken hold of that, and I’m proud of them.”

Lamb takes advantage of Gleason’s major penalty
Just like Friday’s contest, UST struck first. At the 4:19 mark, Tommies defenseman Mason Poolman sent a pass from the point to forward Cooper Gay and he tapped it past Gophers goalie Liam Souliere to make it 1-0.

However, the Gophers weren’t deterred and continued to put pressure on the Tommies and goalie Aaron Trotter. Minnesota caught a break at the 10:42 mark as Trotter made a save on a Ryan Chesley shot, but the shot trickled through his pads and into the back of the net, tying the game 1-1.

Minnesota got on the scoreboard again less than two minutes later while on the power play. A Sam Rinzel shot was saved by Trotter, but the puck was free by the left post and the Gophers’ Brody Lamb tapped it into the open net to put them up 2-1 heading into the second period.

That’s when the Gophers broke the game open. Gleason was whistled for a contact to the head major penalty and a game misconduct. Lamb took advantage, scoring two goals on the lengthy power play to complete his natural hat trick. His second goal of the game came at the 6:43 mark when he one-timed a pass from Luke Mittelstadt into the back of the net, and then his third came at 8:36 when he beat Trotter to the right post to push Minnesota’s lead to 4-1. With less than a minute left in the period, the Gophers’ Aaron Huglen made it 5-1 going into the third.

UST got a goal back while trying to kill another major penalty early in the third as forward Liam Malmquist slid past the Gophers’ power play unit and scored on a shorthanded breakaway at the 4:02 mark. However, any hopes of a Tommies comeback were squashed at the 6:57 mark when Minnesota’s Connor Kurth scored his sixth goal of the season.

Next weekend, the Tommies host CCHA foe Augustana for the first time, while the Gophers open Big Ten play against Penn State.

The post Gophers Sweep Tommies appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

The problem is Perbix doesn’t, because he didn’t. Motzko’s triumphant return to the “House that Herbie built” Saturday night did not come without a little outside help.

In the opening moments of overtime, Minnesota’s Blake McLaughlin tugged hard on the back of the puck-carrying Perbix’s sweater, yanking him to the ice just to the left of Husky goaltender David Hrenak. So convinced of his guilt, McLaughlin stopped skating as he passed the NCHC official in the corner who watched the play unfold right in front of him. The Huskies did the same but Sammy Walker did not and once McLaughlin realized he had been spared a penalty, he picked up the loose puck and fed his Gopher co-captain who went in alone on Hrenak, burying the game winner 36 seconds into the extra session.

The controversial finish gave No. 4 Minnesota a split in its home-and-home series with No. 2 St. Cloud State and put a damper on SCSU’s homecoming celebration. Motzko improved his record at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center to 146-73-29 (.647) overall and 1-0-0 on the visiting bench.

“I eventually knew that it was gonna happen, you know; it’s different,” Motzko said of his return. “I have great memories here and then to see a crowd like this and the intensity. I’ve lived through this. This is a special place and … it was special tonight too.”

Considering Motzko’s contribution to the program, his “homecoming” might have been a bittersweet moment for some Husky fans under normal circumstances. However, things turned ugly as the standing-room-only crowd pelted the ice with beer cans, seltzer cans and anything else within its reach.

Amid all of it, players and coaches shook hands while St. Cloud State coach Brett Larson took a detour to berate the official responsible for ignoring the infraction. 

The explanation?

“No explanation,” a seething Larson said. “We just watched on video, it’s impossible, you can’t explain it. That’s why there’s no explanation; it’s impossible to explain.”

One observer, who I shall not name but it rhymes with Ryan, initially agreed with Motzko immediately after watching it in real time from behind the top row of Section 207, where students absolutely respected the area’s no-alcohol policy without exception.

His first instinct was, and I quote, “Elite dive.”

He even stood across from Motzko as the coach offered his opinion which seemed to confirm what the naked eye witnessed. Moments later, however, his son pulled out his phone and revealed the smoking-gun video proving otherwise and tarnishing his opinion of an otherwise phenomenal night of hockey.

“I’m embarrassed that that happened and that non-call really ruined a great hockey game,” Larson said. “Two teams that I thought played great tonight gave our fans just a treat, a back-and-forth game with two really good hockey teams. Unfortunately, that situation really left a tough taste in our mouth.”

2021 Minnesota Mr. Hockey Award recipient, Jack Peart, scored his first collegiate goal in Saturday night’s 4-3 OT loss to Minnesota. (MHM Photo / Rock Olson)

Decked out in retro uniforms resembling those worn in the 1985-86 season, Motzko’s final season playing for SCSU, the Huskies tilted the ice in their favor early on and jumped out to a 1-0 lead near the halfway point of the first period on a fluky goal credited to Sam Hentges. But Minnesota scored twice in the second on goals by Aaron Hulgen and Bryce Brodzinski to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead entering the third. 

In a reversal of Friday night’s contest, St. Cloud State wasted no time tying the score on freshman Jack Peart’s first collegiate goal just 19 seconds into the final period. This time, however, it was the Gophers who answered, with Walker quickly restoring the lead.

“We needed to do that,” Motzko said. “I wasn’t happy with a couple of those goals that we gave up, last night, especially. When you get in games like this, you know, with playoff intensity, you are going to make mistakes this early. Sometimes you’ve got to live through those mistakes to get to the other side, a learning experience.

“So, we’re learning.”

The Gophers were less than five minutes away from a regulation victory but a cross-checking call on Minnesota’s Ben Meyers with 4:16 to go put the Huskies a man up and Nolan Walker tied it just seven seconds later. Motzko felt, at worst, it should have been a 4-on-4 situation. 

“It shouldn’t have been in overtime, the guy was hooking Meyers and Meyers retaliated,” Motzko said. “You can’t do that but he let that go. So I felt we deserved to win that game and I know it’s going to be controversial how it played down, but it played the way it was supposed to tonight.”

That’s not exactly how Nolan Walker saw it, especially after his experience in the post-game handshake line.

“Even their own guy came up to everyone and said, ‘That’s horrible. It should have been a penalty,'” SCSU’s Walker said. “So that’s when you know, right there, that we got screwed.”

The post Unhappy Homecoming appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

In a record-breaking year for success, all five Division 1 college teams in Minnesota made the 16-teams selected by the NCAA to play in four regionals, with two-time defending champion Minnesota-Duluth forced to play in Fargo at the Midwest Regional where No. 1 ranked North Dakota was top seed, while Big Ten playoff champion Minnesota was the No. 1 seed at the West Region in Loveland, Colo., where WCHA season champ Minnesota State-Mankato was also positioned and won the final. In the Northeast Region, Bemidji State earned the right to play from the WCHA, as the fifth team from Minnesota.

The only interloper is Massachusetts, better known as UMass, in a return to the Frozen Four where they lost a 3-0 final to UMD two years ago in the last Frozen Four before the pandemic shut things down a year ago.

In an amazing display, all five Minnesota teams won their opening regional semifinal games, including Bemidji State’s huge 6-3 upset over Big Ten regular-season champion Wisconsin. The game was 5-1 midway through the third period before the stunned Badgers got two late goals. That sent the Beavers into the Bridgeport, Conn., region final, where they were struck down 4-0 on a pure hat trick by Carson Gicewicz and the shutout goaltending of Filip Lindberg.

In a cruel twist, Gicewicz and Lindberg were among four UMass players ruled out of the Frozen Four by positive tests for COVID-19, so they will be unable to help their team against UMD.

In the West regional, Minnesota jumped to a 3-0 first-period lead and cruised past Nebraska Omaha 7-2 behind two goals from Mason Nevers, while MSU-Mankato needed a sensational finishing rally to squeeze past Quinnipiac 4-3 in overtime in the other semifinal. Mankato trailed 2-0 after one, cut it to 2-1 on a goal by Jake Jaremko in the second, but fell back behind 3-1 midway through the third. Nathan Smith cut it to 3-2 with a goal for the Mavericks at 14:54 of the third, and with star goaltender Dryden McKay pulled for a sixth attacker, Cade Borchardt tied it with 1:02 remaining. The game went to overtime, and after 11:13 had elapsed, Ryan Sandelin — son of UMD coach Scott Sandelin — battled to the crease to score after spotting a loose rebound, for a 4-3 triumph.

On Sunday, MSU-Mankato, the pride of the WCHA, took on Minnesota, the last remaining hope of the Big Ten, which has yet to convince other college leagues that it has reached parity. That quest remains, because Mankato completely squelched the Gophers in Loveland, Colo., scoring two minutes apart in the first period as Ryan Sandelin set up Sam Morton’s opening goal, then scored himself for the 2-0 jump-start. There was no scoring in the second period, but goaltender Dryden McKay kept the Gophers off the board, and goals by Nathan Smith and Dallas Gerads in the third carried the Mavericks to a shocking 4-0 triumph.

It’s fitting, in a way, that the proud WCHA and all its 37 NCAA champions since 1951 will end its days as the top men’s conference in the country with one last representative heading for the Frozen Four. The league will cease to operate men’s hockey next season as a third uprising will see the formation of the “new” CCHA, following departures that started the Big Ten and NCHC operations.

Minnesota Duluth’s Kobe Roth (10), Hunter Lellig (8), Jackson Cates (20) and Matt Anderson (3) rejoice in what was thought to be Roth’s game-winning goal in the first overtime of the Midwest Regional Final. The joy was short-lived as the goal was reversed upon review. But the Bulldogs would have the last laugh, however, on Luke Mylymok’s winner four overtimes later.
Photo by Russell Hons

The NCHC, won by North Dakota in both regular season and playoffs, will have great camaraderie as well as solid representation from UMD and St. Cloud State. Scott Sandelin takes his UMD Bulldogs to their unprecedented fourth straight Frozen Four, in quest of their third consecutive championship. St. Cloud State is coached by Brett Larson, who twice assisted Sandelin in building two of those UMD champions.

The Huskies went to the East region and earned their way to the Frozen Four by dispatching Boston’s top two rivals in Albany. St. Cloud State spotted Boston University a 1-0 second-period lead before Micah Miller and Nick Perbix scored retaliatory goals, and after BU tied it 2-2, Easton Brodzinski broke the tie with a goal for a 3-2 St. Cloud lead. In the third period, the Huskies finished off the Terriers with precision, as Finnish imports Jami Krannila and Veeti Miettinen scored goals, sandwiching the second goal of the game by Brodzinski for a 6-2 victory. BU threatened, getting a major power play, but Krannila got hauled down on a short-handed breakaway and scored on the ensuing penalty shot.

That victory sent St. Cloud State back to Times Union Center to face top seeded Boston College, which took a 1-0 first-period lead on a goal by Matt Boldy, who was to sign an NHL contract with the Wild a few days later. The Huskies facilitated that move by burying the Eagles under a 3-goal barrage in the second period. Luke Jaycox, Will Hammer and Nolan Walker connected for a 3-1 lead, and Micah Miller scored his second in two days in the third period to clinch a 4-1 victory.

That will send St. Cloud to its first Frozen Four, where the Huskies will face off against Mankato, its biggest rival through the years in all sports, especially basketball and football, until hockey took both programs to Division 1.

UMD got an unexpected boost in Fargo, when Michigan was forced to drop out of the tournament with an outbreak of COVID-19 — leaving UMD without an opponent in the semifinals. North Dakota, meanwhile, crushed American International 5-1 in the semis and stormed back to Scheel’s Arena in Fargo for the showdown against UMD.

The game was called by many the best-played game of the season, and it took on legendary proportions when UMD broke a scoreless tie in the third period with goals by Jackson Cates and Cole Koepke barely a minute apart. Goaltender Zach Stejskal made the 2-0 lead stand until the closing two minutes, when the Fighting Hawks pulled their goalie and scored twice for a 2-2 tie that forced overtime. Make that “overtimes,” because they played into the fifth overtime before little-used freshman Luke Mylymok raced end to end up the left boards and sent a pinpoint shot between the legs of a screening defenseman and through the legs of goaltender Adam School for a 3-2 victory that ended the longest game in NCAA tournament history — 142 minutes and 13 seconds, spanning 6 hours and 12 minutes.

For more storylines, Stejskal made 57 saves before severe cramps knocked him out in the fourth overtime, and fellow-rookie Ryan Fanti stepped in to make six more saves in 17:36 to close out the game.

St. Cloud State teammates Kevin Fitzgerald, Nick Perbix and Seamus Donohue congratulate junior forward Sam Hentges on the Minnesota Wild prospect’s third period goal in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff championship game on March 16, 2021 in Grand Forks, N.D.
Photo by Russell Hons

In St. Cloud’s victory, scoring leader Easton Brodzinski was carrying the puck when a BC player delivered a hard, legal, but blindside hip check that dropped Brodzinski to the ice. He was helped to the bench and the dressing room, and then an Albany hospital where the injury was diagnosed as a fractured leg, to end his senior season on the sidelines. The Huskies vowed to keep going in the name of their fallen senior leader, and whipped BC as evidence.

“The toughest part is for him,” said coach Larson. “Here’s a guy who has poured his heart and soul into our program, and now he can’t be part of it. Our guys all know we want to do it for Easton, and all have bought into it a little bit more.

“Nobody picked us to be in the top 20 at the start of the year,” Larson added. “We knew it would be tough, because the NCHC is the toughest league in college hockey. We played North Dakota when we had our first nine games in the pod, and we played Duluth seven times. All of that helped prepare our resilience, and we didn’t ever get rattled.”

MSU-Mankato’s victory over Minnesota was its seventh in a row against the Gophers, spanning the years when the WCHA teams branched off and now the five Minnesota colleges play in three different conferences.

UMass goaltender Filip Lindberg was the seventh-round draft pick of the Wild in 2018, and he finished his senior year with a 9-1-4 record in Hockey East, where he led the league with a 1.33 goals-against average, and he led the league and the nation with a .946 save percentage. Gicewicz, a senior who transferred to UMass from St. Lawrence, wound up with 17 goals and 24 points after his hat trick against Bemidji State. The loss of the quarantined players leaves only senior Matt Murray as a goaltender. He went 9-4 in 13 of the first 15 games, with a .913 save percentage.

Coming out of the NCHC’s season-opening pod in Omaha, UMD faced St. Cloud State in four consecutive games, with UMD winning 4-3 in overtime and losing 3-1 at St. Cloud, then heading North, where St. Cloud State swept, winning 4-3 and then 1-0 in an overtime classic. The teams concluded the regular season with another series, with the Bulldogs winning a 5-1 blowout at AMSOIL Arena before St. Cloud State blew a 3-0 lead but won 4-3 in overtime at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. They weren’t done yet, as they collided again in Grand Forks in the NCHC playoff semifinals, with Chase Brand’s short-handed goal standing up to give the Huskies a 3-2 victory.

They could meet one more time, if St. Cloud State gets past Mankato and UMD can beat UMass, and that would pit coach Sandelin against former assistant Larson. Of course, if UMD beats UMass and Mankato gets past St. Cloud State, the Bulldogs and Mavericks would meet with coach Sandelin against his son, Mankato sophomore Ryan Sandelin.

The post Making a STATEment appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Nathan Burke heats up as Gophers earn split

Nathan Burke addresses the media. (Photo by Declan Goff)

MINNEAPOLIS — Its gold paint may be chipping away revealing its all-white origins and its maroon “M” logos may have seen better days, but the hard hat, emblematic of the University of Minnesota men’s hockey team’s Player of the Game, fit Nathan Burke perfectly on Saturday night.

Burke, the first Arizona native to ever suit up for the Gophers, had just scored scored the first two Minnesota goals — the first points of his collegiate career — in a 3-0 win over St. Lawrence at Mariucci Arena. The freshman’s performance helped  Minnesota salvage a split with the Saints after a devastating 4-3 overtime loss in Friday night’s series’ opener.

“After last night it was definitely cool to bounce back and help my team out,” Burke said. “I have great linemates, (Sammy) Walker and (Blake) McLaughlin, and they did all the work. I just happened to go to the right places.”

The all-freshman line’s six-point night included Walker’s second of the season and a pair of assists by McLaughlin.

“It’s a good statement for him,” Motzko said of Burke who played just his third game of the season after sitting out Friday night. The Gopher coaching staff has been cautious with Burke’s recovery from a bout with mononucleosis which cost him much of the preseason and the beginning of the regular season.

“We can see Burkie’s skill in practice and he got a shot and did his thing,” said goaltender Eric Schierhorn who shut out the Saints with 12 saves. “His second one should probably be on SportsCenter.”

(Brace Hemmelgarn/University of Minnesota Athletics)

Schierhorn was referring to the play in which Burke received a pass from Walker toward the bottom of the right circle, spun away from a St. Lawrence defender, drove to the net and buried his second career goal behind Saints netminder Emul Zetterquist at the the 7:43 mark of the second period.

“I don’t know about that,” Burke said when told of Schierhorn’s SportsCenter suggestion. “But I mean, if it happens, it happens, that’d be cool for sure.”

The well-traveled Burke grew up in Scottsdale, Ariz.where he sandwiched two stints with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes around stops with the Los Angeles Jr. Kings and the Cleveland Barons before moving on to the North American Hockey League’s Aberdeen Wings for the 2017-18 season.

“It’s definitely cool to represent my state a little bit,” Burke said. “I know (Toronto Maple Leafs star) Auston Matthews is doing a great job at the pro level so I’ll do what I can at the collegiate level.”

When a reporter playfully asked if he was crowning himself the Auston Matthews of college hockey, Burke was quick to refute that assertion.

“No, definitely not,” Burke said with a laugh. “Don’t put those words in my mouth.”

In Aberdeen, Burke led his team and the NAHL in goal scoring with 32 goals in 60 games last season and his 56 points ranked first on the Wings and seventh in the league. The All-NAHL Second Team and All-NAHL Rookie First Team honoree’s 16 power-play goals in the regular season also led the league.

“He’s a hard worker, loves to play around the net,” Motzko said. “That’s where he’s best, right around the goaltender.”

Burke, who originally committed to St. Cloud State back in February, decommitted from the Huskies when coach Bob Motzko departed for Minnesota at the end of last season and brought assistant coach Garret Raboin with him.

“Rabs recruited me really hard and I just felt comfortable,” Burke said. “My mom always said when you know you’d know and I just felt right with them. Frankly, if they went anywhere else, I think I’d follow them there too.”

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Lucia, 59, had one season remaining on a contract that was scheduled to pay him $612,500 next season.

A native of Grand Rapids, Minn., who played hockey at Notre Dame University, Lucia has overseen a program with declining success both in wins-losses and gate receipts over  the past few years.

Home attendance was announced at 8,724 per game this season — more than 1,200 short of a sellout — and crowds frequently numbered fewer than that because of no-shows.

Lucia’s teams won NCAA championships in 2003 and 2004 and he posted a record of 457-248-73 at Minnesota, including 11 regular-season conference titles, four league playoff titles and five appearances in the NCAA Frozen Four.

The 457 wins rank first in Gophers’ history.

This season, however, his team went 19-17-2, lost its final four Big Ten games to Penn State and was knocked out of the NCAA field because of the success of other teams after that.

Lucia issued the following statement through the University of Minnesota: 

“I am proud of the 14 banners that have been added to the rafters of 3M Arena at Mariucci. I am forever grateful to all the coaches, staff and most importantly the players who have worked so hard to accomplish this over the years.

“Most importantly to me, we did it the right way. Our players all graduate and have always represented themselves to the high standards of Gopher hockey on and off the ice. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to be the head hockey coach at the University of Minnesota.”

The big question is who will follow Lucia to try to resurrect a program that formerly was considered one of the best — if not the best — men’s hockey programs in the United States. Among the expected candidates will be Gophers assistants Mike Guentzel and Scott Bell and Northern Michigan coach Grant Potulny, all former players in the system.

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