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Frozen Four, Meet Minnesota

By Minnesota Hockey, 04/08/14, 10:30AM CDT

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In just a couple of days, the city of Brotherly Love will get an infusion of hockey passion from the Land of 10,000 Lakes (or for most of the year, 10,000 frozen ponds). Not only will Minnesota be participating in the Frozen Four but each of the teams carries at least one Minnesota native on their roster.

And if there’s one thing we know about the State of Hockey, it is that fans are just as passionate about the players that have roots here as the teams we cheer for.  We love to hear how players from our local association or its rivals have gone on to have success at the highest levels of hockey.  We love to remember how “back in the day” we played against this college hockey star or that NHLer.  More than anything, we like to share those stats, tidbits and stories with anyone that will listen.

Well, this is your chance to refresh your memory and load up on new stats before tuning into the 2014 Frozen Four.

Team Previews

 

Minnesota

We start with our very own Golden Gophers. They are only Minnesota team left standing, and besides a few people in the Northwest part of the state, it is likely who most of Minnesota will be cheering for when they hit the ice on Thursday, April 10th at 8:30 ET.

The Gophers also lead the field with Minnesota natives.  Out of 25 roster spots, 21 of them belong to Minnesotans, and many of them have played critical roles for the top ranked Gophers throughout the season. 

In fact, Minnesota nearly swept the inaugural B1G individual awards winning four out of five. South St. Paul’s Adam Wilcox claimed Goalie and Player of the Year. The Defensive Player of the Year went to Mike Reilly, one of the three Reilly brothers on the team hailing from Chanhassen. Don Lucia, a Grand Rapids native, was awarded the Coach of the Year honor. JT Compher was the only non-Minnesotan to win an award after edging out former Apple Valley star Hudson Fasching for Freshman of the Year.

Co-captain Kyle Rau leads the team in scoring with 37 points. 2012 Mr. Hockey award winner, Justin Kloos, leads Minnesota with 15 goals as a freshman, and 13 of the 21 Minnesotans on the roster have been drafted by an NHL team.

The bottom line is Minnesota is stacked with homegrown talent, but being from Minnesota, you probably already knew that so let’s dig into some of the other rosters.

North Dakota

Facing Minnesota in the Frozen Four semifinals will be its long-time WCHA rival North Dakota (UND), which has the second most Minnesotans.  Here are the four players in green that you will want to keep an eye on come Thursday night.

  • Nick Mattson, a Chanhassen native, provides a veteran presence on the North Dakota blue line. The NTDP alum and former USHL Defenseman of the Year has 23 points this season, which is tied for 1st among UND defensemen. Mattson has been playing particularly well as the stakes have risen this year, chipping in four assists over the last three games.
  • 2009 graduate of Edina High School, Connor Gaarder, has also been a force this postseason.  After scoring five goals over the course of the regular season, Gaarder has racked up three goals over the last three games.
  • Gage Ausmus has played 21 games in his freshman year. Ausmus grew up across the river in East Grand Forks.  He was a standout athlete in hockey and football, where he led East Grand Forks to the state tournament as a sophomore quarterback. 
  • Manning the net for North Dakota will be another Minnesotan in Zane Gothberg.  The sophomore goalie spent most of the year splitting time with senior Clarke Saunders, but he has completely taken over the duties the last 14 games. During that stretch, the Thief River Falls graduate and Frank Brimsek award winner has given up less than two goals a game and has a .939 save percentage.

In previous games against their home state team, Mattson and Gaarder have combined for two assists in a total of 13 games.  Gothberg has faced the Gophers just once, giving up four goals on 35 shots in a 4-4 tie last season.

Boston College

The first game of the Frozen Four will be Boston College versus Union with the puck scheduled to drop at 5:00 ET on Thursday.  The Boston College Eagles have a dominating first line with three of the top seven scorers in the country, and most of the team’s players hail from the surrounding area, primarily from their home state of Massachusetts and nearby New Jersey.

However, the Eagles do have one Minnesotan on their roster. That player is Edina High School graduate Michael Sit.  The 2010 Class AA State Champion went straight to college after his senior year, skipping the year or two of juniors that has become so common for players.  Sit has played in nearly every game since joining the team and was a key part of the 2012 Boston College team that won the Beanpot, Hockey East and NCAA titles in the same season.

If Minnesota and Boston College were to meet in the title game, Sit may be poised for a big game as his only career multi-goal game came earlier this season in a 3-3 tie at Mariucci Arena.  

Union

The Union Dutchmen may have slipped under the radar for many hockey fans in Minnesota.  Playing in the ECAC, they don’t receive a ton of recognition here in the Midwest.  Here’s a few stats courtesy of College Hockey Inc. that show their success over the past few years and why they are a team to be reckoned with:

  • Over the last four seasons, only Boston College and North Dakota have more wins that Union.
  • Union has won three of the last four ECAC regular season and conference championships.
  • The Dutchmen lead the country with seven players with 29 or more points. Two of them are defensemen.

Sam Coatta, a 2009 graduate of Minnetonka, is the only Minnesotan on Union’s roster.  Coatta has had a strong junior year, setting career highs with five goals and six assists for a total of 11 points, while being asked to play a defensive role for the Dutchmen.  In his three collegiate seasons, he’s yet to face Minnesota.

Quick Hits

 

Bright Future - The Gophers are the only team in the NCAA that has three freshmen with 25 points or more.  All three are Minnesotans: Fasching, Kloos and Taylor Cammarata.

Feeling a Draft – There are a total of 39 NHL draft picks playing in the Frozen Four. 16 of them or a little over 41% are Minnesota natives.

Hockey Hotbed – 27 Minnesotans are on the rosters of the remaining four NCAA teams.  Massachusetts (11) and New York (6) have the next highest number of players participating among U.S. states.

Equal Opportunity – The 27 Minnesotans participating this weekend will be representing a total of 21 different high school teams and communities. 

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