Hockey Team Sweeps SCSU

Congratulations to Don Lucia's team for sweeping St. Cloud State University this weekend to advance to a WCHA Final Five. The Gophers will meet Minnesota-Duluth Thursday.

I found this stat, from Roman Augustviz of the Star Tribune amazing.

There are certain things a Minnesotan can count on: snow in the winter, mosquitoes in the summer and the Gophers winning in the opening WCHA playoff series.

The Gophers have won 35 of those series in 36 years. Their latest victim was St. Cloud State.

The Gophers won 4-3 Friday night and 3-0 Saturday night behind a strong performance from Alex Kangas. But beating SCSU was no real surprise for this Gophers team. This sweep marked the third time this year the Gophers swept the Huskies.

But the task gets more difficult from here. GopherPuckLive explains.

Now, the Gophers will turn their attention to another in-state rival in the form of UMD. The Bulldogs won a pair of games at Colorado College to advance to St. Paul. The two teams played just two games this season, both at Mariucci Arena just a few weeks ago, with the Gophers taking three out of a possible four points from the Bulldogs.

However, UMD is much more comfortable playing on an NHL-sized ice-sheet and should try to use their physical brand of hockey to their advantage over the Gophers.

The winner of that game will take on North Dakota on Friday in one semi-final, while Wisconsin and Denver will tangle in the other semi.

And in other Gophers hockey news, the Minnesota women took care of Boston College 4-3 on Saturday to earn a spot in the NCAA Frozen Four. The Gophers will face Mercyhurst in the semifinals and would play the winner of Wisconsin and MInnesota-Duluth in the national championship if they win.