High expectations greet the Golden Gopher hockey team as they began another season tonight at Mariucci Arena with an exhibition game against the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns from Alberta, Canada. In a lopsided affair, Minnesota trounced Lethbridge by a score of 7-0, outshooting the Pronghorns 65-16.
After a slow start from the Gophers, they began to resemble the team that won the WCHA last season, and went on to win the West Regional and compete in the Frozen Four. Mind you, it’s just an exhibition game, but the ingredients were there as they blocked shots and played physical, unselfish hockey. The Freshman saw a lot of ice time, and opportunities to get on the ice on the Power Play and Penalty Kill, as Don Lucia spread the minutes around to everyone.
Christian Isackson scored the natural hat trick with the first three goals of the game for the Gophers, while Mark Alt, Sam Warning, Seth Ambrosz and Ben Marshall each added a goal. In the nets, Junior Michael Shibrowski got the start for Minnesota, and Freshman Adam Wilcox came on in relief about halfway through the second period, as the two combined for the shutout.
The #1 Gophers will host the Michigan State Spartans next weekend at Mariucci Arena. Game time is 6:00 PM (Central) on Friday evening, and 8:00 PM (Central) on Saturday night. Friday night the Gophers will also raise their 2011-2012 WCHA Championship banner. Both games are scheduled to be broadcast on Fox Sports North.