Minnesota's Howe out with a concussion

In what was a very scary scene at Mariucci Arena on Saturday night, Minnesota senior forward Mike Howe suffered a stage two concussion, according to a report in the Star Tribune. However, it appeared for a moment as though Howe's injury could have been much more severe, as he laid on the ice for several minutes after hitting his head / neck / shoulder off the boards after trying to make a hit on a Minnesota State player. Howe was taken off the ice while strapped to a medical board (not the proper name I'm sure). FSN reported later in the game that he was taken off in a such a manner mainly for precautionary reasons.

Mike Howe article in Friday's Star Tribune

Click here to read an article in Friday's Star Tribune by Gophers' beat writer Roman Augustoviz about Minnesota senior forward Mike Howe, who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis during his freshman season, and his relationship with Allie Ray, a defenseman on the South St. Paul under-12 girls' hockey B team, who has had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis for five years.

Eden Prairie defenseman Leddy commits to Minnesota

According to the Gopher Hockey Blog, Eden Prairie High School defenseman Nick Leddy has committed to play for Minnesota. The junior visited Minnesota last Thursday and committed to the Golden Gophers on Monday. He was also interested in North Dakota, St. Cloud State, and Minnesota Duluth.

As the Gopher Hockey Blog points out, Leddy is currently participating in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League, and will play his junior season for Eden Prairie. He's scheduled to join Minnesota in the fall of 2009. He was a first round pick of the Des Moines Buccaneers in the recent USHL draft, so it would appear likley that he'll play in the USHL next year before enrolling at Minnesota.

Leddy's stock has risen rapidly over the last year or so. This past summer, he played very well at the Select 16s Festival in New York and was chosen to play on the U.S. Under-17 Select team that participated in the 2007 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament. Leddy had a goal and two assists in the four games for Team USA.

UM recruit Walters to join U.S. NTDP U-17 for Four Nations tournament

According to the Gopher Hockey Blog, Minnesota recruit Ryan Walters will join the U.S. NTDP Under-17 Team when they travel to Russia to take part in the Four Nations tournament on November 7-11. Walters, who will join Minnesota in 2010 after playing for St. Thomas High School this year and for Des Moines in the USHL the next two seasons, narrowly missed making the team this summer as a full-time player.

Walters will join former Chaska High School defenseman Nick Mattson (uncommitted) as the only two Minnesota-natives on the team.

Gophers land out-of-state recruit in Wausau 's Condon

As the Gopher Hockey Blog first reported, Wausau West's High School's Nate Condon committed to Minnesota late last week. The senior forward will finish out his four years for Wausau and then play a year in the USHL before joining the Gophers in the fall of 2009.

In addition to the Gopher Hockey Blog's coverage, Wisconsin Prep Hockey has some more info, including some quotes.

A 6'0, 180 lb. forward, Condon currently leads the Upper Midwest High School Elite League in scoring while playing for Team Wisconsin, who take on Russell Stover, a midget AAA team, for the league championship today. The Gopher Hockey Blog reported that Condon was also considering Notre Dame, Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State, Dartmouth, and Wisconsin.

He is the first Wisconsin-born player to join the Maroon and Gold since Phil Kessel in 2005-06. US-NTDP member Grant Scott, a forward from Pennsylvania, is the only other current Minnesota recruit not born in the land of 10,000 lakes. This current season and the 1999-2000 season have been the only years under Don Lucia's watch where the Gophers didn't have a out-of-state player on the roster.

Condon was rated an "A" prospect by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau, and was a fifth round choice by the expansion Fargo Force, led by former North Dakota head coach Dean Blais, in the recent USHL Futures Draft.

Star Tribune adds Minnesota hockey blog

Before the season started, word leaked out that the Star Tribune would not be assigning a full-time reporter to cover the Minnesota men's hockey team. However, it seems like those plans have changed, as the Minneapolis-based publication has now established a Gopher hockey blog to compliment their standard coverage of the team. Roman Augustoviz appears to have taken over for Dean Spiros, who had covered the team for the last several years, as the primary beat writer.

You can view the blog by clicking the above link, and I've also added it to the 'WCHA-related Blogs' list on the right side of the page.

NTDP U-18 takes on UM, SCSU this weekend

The U.S. National Under-18 Team comes to Minnesota this weekend to take on the University of Minnesota on Saturday night and St. Cloud State on Sunday night. This is another good chance for WCHA fans to see several high-end kids play against top-notch competition before they play in the NCAA.

This year, there are fewer kids on the U-18 team that are committed to play in the WCHA than in year's past. Defenseman Sam Lofquist (Minnesota - 2008), forward Grant Scott (Minnesota - 2008), and Nick Pryor (Wisconsin - 2009), forward Jordan Schroeder (Minnesota - 2008), and forward Danny Kristo (North Dakota - 2008) are the WCHA-bound players on the team.

Two weekends ago in Colorado, Minnesota recruit Aaron Ness, who is currently a junior at Roseau High School, joined the team for the weekend. No word yet on if Ness will play in more games with the U-18 team, but it obviously wouldn't be too tough to make the drive down from northern Minnesota to partake in this weekend's games.

Some players to keep an eye on aside from the aforementioned kids are Vinny Saponari, a forward who recently committed to Boston University and was rumored to be interested in Wisconsin; forward Robbie Czarnik, who is a Michigan recruit and was probably the best player I saw on the ice when the team played in Blaine, Minn. at the NAHL Showcase back in September; and Jimmy Hayes, a 6'4", 205 lb. forward who is committed to Boston College.

Patrick Gaul (Notre Dame) recruit stood out to me at the Select 17 festival this past summer in St. Cloud. Defenseman David Warsofsky, who is a BU recruit, is also a fun player to watch.

UM's Stoa out for the season

Minnesota junior forward Ryan Stoa will miss the rest of the 2007-08 season with a knee injury he suffered in the Gophers 4-3 win over Michigan on Saturday night. The Bloomington-native had 12 goals and 12 assists last season for the Gophers.

WCHA Blog's Take: This is certainly a big blow to a Gophers. Stoa was inconsistent his first two years, but figured to be a key player during his junior year. He played wing on Minnesota's top line during most of his freshmen and sophomore seasons.

Ryan Walters commits to Minnesota

St. Thomas Academy forward Ryan Walters has verbally committed to Minnesota, The Scouting News confirmed after rumors starting circulating last night on the Minnesota High School Hockey message board. Walters, a sophomore, is considered by many to be one of the top recruits in the nation for the class of 2010. He briefly played in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League this fall before playing for Des Moines in the USHL. He will play there before and after this upcoming season, and then, according to a report in the Pioneer Press, will play full-time for the Buccaneers the following two seasons before enrolling at Minnesota.

This past summer, after participating in the University of Minnesota's Model Camp, Walters performed well at the Select 16s in Rochester, N.Y. He finished the event with seven points in five games. After the Select 16s, the U.S. Hockey Report gave Walters an "A" rating. Fellow Gopher recruit Josh Birkholz also received an "A."

Walters, who is originally from Rosemount, followed with an impressive performance in the 2007 Under-17 Five Nations Tournament in the Czech Republic, scoring four goals and registering one assists in four games.

Here's a brief video clip of Walters playing in the Elite League from last month.

Top AJHL goalie spurns WCHA schools, picks RPI

According to the U.S. Hockey Report, Camrose Kodiaks (AJHL) netminder Allen York has committed to RPI for the fall of 2008. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Denver, and Michigan Tech were among the schools that York was considering. The Gophers and Badgers reportedly wanted York for the fall of 2009. His final two choices, however, were RPI and Denver, and when US-NTDP goalie Adam Murray committed to Denver for 2009, that helped convince York to commit to RPI.

UM recruit Larson to take year off

About a month ago, it was reported that Minnesota recruit Nick Larson was planning on redshirting this year, as opposed to playing in the USHL after graduating from Hill-Murray High School last year. However, rumors started circulating last week that Larson would take the year off from hockey entirely and not be a part of the Gopher program in any way (i.e. practicing with the team). The Pioneer Press' Bruce Brothers confirmed this in a report in Saturday's paper. From the story:

"As of right now, at least at this time, he's not going to play hockey this year," Gophers coach Don Lucia said Friday, adding that Larson has enrolled at Minnesota but has not been participating in early team workouts.

Minnesota recruit Ness to accelerate to 2008

Roseau High School defenseman Aaron Ness -- a Gopher recruit -- will accelerate his schooling to enroll at Minnesota in the fall of 2008, according to Brad Schlossman's blog. Minnesota is slated to lose only one defenseman after this season (senior Derek Peltier) and the only other flight risk is sophomore David Fischer, who is likely to stay in school for his junior season unless he makes major strides this upcoming season.

Ness will join U.S. NTDP member Sam Lofquist as Gopher freshmen blueliners next year. Lofquist is also accelerating his schooling to enroll next fall. Fellow NTDP member Grant Scott, who was at one time penciled in as a defenseman, shifted to forward at the Select 17s this past summer and will play the position full-time for the NTDP this year, so it appears as though his move to forward will carry over to into career at Minnesota.

Here is some recent video of Ness playing in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League last weekend.

WCHA Roadtrip Town No. 4 – Minneapolis

About one month ago, the WCHA Blog kicked off its list of which WCHA towns make for the best roadtrips. For my list, I’m basing this off five criteria (Access, Bars, City Experience, Hotels, and Ticket Cost / Availability). For a detailed list of what these five items mean to me, click here.

Here is a list of the cities the preview has previously covered up until today:

10. Houghton
9. Grand Forks
8. Mankato
7. St. Cloud
6. Madison
5. Anchorage

This week, its city No. 4: Minneapolis, Minn., which is home to the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Access

This review as a whole is a bit different for me since I’ve lived in the Twin Cities area my whole life and therefore have never had a chance to ‘visit’ the area. However, as I’ve stated before, I’ve been to all the other WCHA towns, so I feel that I can compare the Minneapolis area to these towns.

Minneapolis is probably the easiest city to get to in the WCHA. It’s about an hour away from St. Cloud and Mankato, two hours from Duluth, and a little over four hours from Madison and Grand Forks. The drive from most of these areas is pretty painless, although the Twin Cities area can certainly generate its share of traffic as you get closer to either downtown.

With the 35W bridge disaster, it’s a little tougher to navigate the area around the Minnesota campus, but it’s still manageable, especially at night (when hockey games generally are) as opposed to rush hour.

The Twin Cities also features an international airport with several flights a day to the Denver / Colorado Springs area, among others.

Bars

As is the case with most big schools in major cities, there are plenty of options for having some fun before and after the games. There are obviously many bars in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area, but I think you’ll find that you won’t need to leave the U of M campus to find a good time.

Before the games, there are three places that most fans venture to that are all in the same general area. Sally’s Saloon and Eatery is the biggest hangout of the three. Like the others, it’s just a few blocks from Mariucci Arena and is a typical sports bar. It gets very busy before the games but is big enough to accommodate the hockey crowd. However, it can get very packed if the campus has another event going on that day. The menu is limited on gamedays but is still very solid. It’s a tad spendy, but the atmosphere is what keeps people coming back over the years.

Down the street a bit you’ll find Big Ten Restaurant & Bar. This place gets packed as well, but mainly because it’s very small compared to Sally’s. Big 10 is known for their subs, which are excellent. They have a much better selection of beer on tap, if that’s your thing.

Stub and Herbs is the other of the mainstays for pregaming. Featuring both an upper and lower level, there’s nothing overly special about it, but they have a lot of room and your traditional bar food.

If you’re looking to have some fun at night, The Library is the most popular bar on campus after dark. It gets very packed with the ‘hip and trendy’ crowd, but they have good specials on the weekend and the “scenery” is nice. And yes, it’s about two blocks away from the infamous Blarney Pub and Grill.

Finally, if you’re looking for a late-night snack after your do some bar-hopping, Burrito Loco, which is adjacent to The Library, is where you’ll want to go. They are open well past bar close and it is the place to go for after hours food.

City Experience

There are quite a few things to do in the Twin Cities area. In the fall, Viking and Gopher football games could kill some time on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. The Wild start up in early October, which would make for a good time in St. Paul on a Thursday or Sunday. Out-of-towners like to frequent the Mall of America as well if they’ve never been to the Twin Cities area.

Click here to visit the official visitors guide to the Twin Cities.

Hotels

There are not too many options near Mariucci Arena. The best bet for visitors is the Radisson that is right by the three bars / restaurants I mentioned earlier. It’s well over $100 a night though, which could be problematic.

There is a Days Inn down the street a bit that could be a more viable option for the money-conscience.

If readers have other suggestions here, please feel free to chime in via the comments section, since this is one area that I don’t deal with too often in Minneapolis.

Ticket Cost / Availability

As anyone who has visited the Twin Cities to watch a Gopher game, you know that this is a potential issue. Gopher games are all essentially sold out before tickets go on sale to the public. Scattered single seats and standing-room tickets can be had when tickets go on sale in mid-September each year.

However, buying tickets from scalpers out front has always been a popular route of attack, and now that scalping tickets is legal in Minnesota, this is likely to be an increased course of action for folks looking for seats. The standard ticket is $30, but unless the Gophers are playing someone like North Dakota or Wisconsin, you can likely pay under face-value from scalpers to get in if you play your cards right.

As with any roadtrip though, it’s nice to have tickets in-hand before leaving.

Summary

As I said before, I’ve never “visited” Minneapolis since I live here, but I think it has all the ingredients to be a great roadtrip town: the hockey will almost always be good because of the quality of Minnesota’s teams each year, it’s easy to get to the area and it’s centrally located, and there are plenty of places to hangout around Mariucci. Lodging could be a slight issue if you don’t want to have to drive at all, but finding a decent place isn’t an issue at all. And finally, tickets to Gopher games aren’t going to fall into your lap, but with some many resources online to find tickets, it really shouldn’t be too tough to have them with you before you depart.

Overall Grade: B

Birkholz commits to Minnesota

The Gopher Hockey Blog is reporting that Blake forward Josh Birkholz has committed to the University of Minnesota for the fall of 2010. Birkholz, who stands a 6', 170 lbs. and is from Maple Grove, Minn., could come in a year earlier if the Gophers are hit hard with pro departures.

Lucia interview with PA and Dubay

Minnesota head coach Don Lucia joined PA and Dubay on KFAN 1130 AM yesterday to talk a little bit about the Gophers' offseason losses and to also look ahead to the 2007-08 season. You can listen to and/or download that interview by clicking here and scrolling down a bit.

Nate Hagemo to attempt a return?

The Gopher Hockey Blog is reporting that former Gopher defenseman Nate Hagemo may attempt a comeback with Minnesota this fall. He suffered a shoulder injury early in his freshman season (2004-05) and that plagued him the rest of his freshman year. He played in three games during his sophomore year before deciding to take a medical redshirt and to use that season to fully recover from the injury. Finally, after attempting to rejoin the team last fall, he was unable to play and announced that his hockey career was over.

WCHA Blog's Take: Even though this is still in the early stages and nothing is finalized, this would certainly be a great story if Hagemo was able to return to the ice and contribute in any form. That being said, I wouldn't hold my breath on him contributing in a meaningful fashion. The injury he had was obviously severe, and he's played three games over the last two-and-a-half years.

Good luck to Nate, and hopefully he can prove me wrong.

UM recruit Larson to red shirt this season

As the Gopher Hockey Blog first reported, it appears as though Minnesota recruit Nick Larson will red shirt this season for the Golden Gophers. He was slated to play with Omaha in the USHL after wrapping up his senior year at Hill-Murray last season. However, he is now listed on the official roster on the U of M's athletic website.

Larson was a seventh round pick by the Washington Capitals in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

WCHA Blog's Take: As the Gopher Hockey Blog points out, this is kind of an odd move, since red shirts are rarely used in college hockey and it appears as though Larson will lose out on lots of game action by red shirting as opposed to playing a full season in the USHL. Regardless, I'd suspect there is a legit reason behind this choice and hopefully it turns out for the best for all involved.

Minnesota freshman White featured on NHL.com

Minnesota freshman forward Pat White is featured in an article on NHL.com that talks about some of the Vancouver Canucks' top prospects. The Canucks took White with the 25th overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

WCHA Blog's Take: White has a chance to be one of the higher-impact freshmen in the WCHA this season. Minnesota brings back all of their forwards from last season except for Jim O'Brien, but White's talent and ability to play center should help him slide into a spot on a scoring line sooner rather than later.

Minnesota's Fischer featured on NHL.com

Golden Gopher sophomore defenseman David Fischer is featured in an article on NHL.com that talks about some of the Montreal Canadiens top prospects. The Apple Valley, Minn. native was Montreal's first round pick (20th overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Click here to read the article.

Frazee and Tallackson featured on NHL.com

Current Minnesota junior goalie Jeff Frazee and ex-Golden Gopher Barry Tallackson are featured in an article on NHL.com that highlights some of the New Jersey Devils' top prospects. Click here to read the full article.