59 Teams in 59 Days Minnesota

The 59 Teams in 59 Days tour continues with a three day trip to one of the best hockey states in the country in Minnesota. Day one of this trip is in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota Golden Gophers are featured.

After suffering from the biggest upset in NCAA tournament history last year, head coach Don Lucia and the Gophers will be ready for this years version.

The bad news for the Gophers is they lost four underclassmen to the pros. Leading scorer Ryan Poltuny, the top Freshman scorer in the country Phil Kessel, Danny Irmen, and Kris Chucko all left to sign with their teams. Between them they combined to score 76 goals and 79 assists for 155 points.

The good news, more talent is coming. Minnesota who is known for having one of the best recruting classes in the country. And this year, they might have the top class in the NCAA. Eight newcomers are coming this year including the number one pick from this years draft in Defensmen Erik Johnson. Also coming from the first round are Kyle Okposo (picked seventh), and another first rounder David Fischer (picked 20th).

On offense the leading scorer returning is a defensemen Junior Alex Goligoski (11 goals, 28 assists, 39 points). Also returning are forwards Alex Gordon (12 g, 17 a, 29 p) Ryan Sota (10 g, 15 a, 25 p), Former first round pick Blake Wheeler (9 g, 14 a, 23 p) and Mike Howe (13 g, 6 a, 19 p). Expect all of those players to improve this year to pick up where the Kessel's, the Irmen's and Chucko's left off.

Defensively the Gophers return four. The defense was a little shaky at the end of the year. In the last three games they gave up 16 goals including eight in a WCHA semi-final game against St. Cloud State. But with Johnson coming the defense will improve over time. Kellen Briggs should be the number one goaltender, however Junior Jeff Frazee will challenge for that spot. But expect Briggs to hold the fort for his Senior year, and expect Frazee to start more in 2007-2008.

Overall this could be Don Lucia's best recruting class in his eight years at Minnesota. The question is which upperclassmen will step up this year? Only time will tell between now and April if the Gophers indeed get back to the Frozen Four in hope to make their fourth Frozen Four in six years.

The predicted ceiling for Minnesota is first in the WCHA, while their gutter is third.

Tommorrow we will continue with our three day tour of Minnesota as the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs will be featured in the 59 Teams in 59 Days tour.