Golden Nugz 10.16.09

I want to use this morning's Nugz to highlight some of this week's TDG content.

Hockey season starts tonight.  I am not a huge hockey guy but I LOVE that the Gophers don't pussy-foot into the season.  Last year I believe they kicked off the season with a Wisconsin series and this year isn't any easier with a trip to North Dakota.  JG has a North Dakota series preview here, and below are his other season previews.

• A brief WCHA preview.
• Gopher hockey's "offenders"!
• Gopher defenders.
• Gopher goalies.

And let's not forget about basketball season.  This promises to be a very successful season for the Gophers who have an outside shot at a Big Ten title and a realistic shot to win a few games in the NCAA Tournament.

• Tubby's Tip-Off will tip-off tonight at the Barn.  First game is a few weeks away but practice gets into full swing tonight.
• I put together a brief look at the Gophers being a team on the rise (note this was featured on CBSSports.com tyvm).

And now back to some regular Golden Nugz!

• The Gopher Hole hosted an interview with former Gopher QB, Bryan Cupito.  Potentially, Cupito is working on his coaching skills and will one day be working on the Gopher staff.  He and Tony Brinkhouse are coaching the 7th graders in Bloomington and dominating the metro.
• This Gopher blogger predicts a 2nd place finish for the Gopher hockey team this year. 

• The Philadelphia Inquirer knows that Decker can be a difference maker in Saturday's game.
  

  Once the 100,000-plus blue-clad Penn State fans watch Eric Decker catch his first couple of passes for Minnesota tomorrow at Beaver Stadium, they're going to wish that he had decided to go play baseball with the Twins when presented with the chance.

  True that he is outstanding, but I'm expecting big numbers from him.  It is the other guys (Weber, Stoudermire, RBs) who can be the difference makers.
• Zombie Nation provides us with TV coverage maps for this weekend's Penn St game.  Basically the Midwest gets to see us on ABC and the rest of the country will see us on ESPN.  Getting national TV exposure like this is nice, getting a win on national TV would be nicer.  Zombie Nation also has their game preview up.  He predicts Decker will catch fewer than 5 passes, good luck with that.