The college football season kicks off Saturday with a handful of Week Zero games, and do you know what that means? The college hockey season is just around the corner.
With only 6½ weeks until his team opens exhibition play at St. Cloud State, Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko took stock of his squad Tuesday, and he likes what he sees. A deep and talented group of defensemen, forwards with offensive flair and youngsters with grit have the coach optimistic for the season.
Here are a few story lines to watch:
The defensive trio of Brock Faber, Jackson LaCombe and Ryan Johnson — two second-round NHL picks and a first-rounder — helped the Gophers earn back-to-back NCAA Frozen Four trips and come within a whisker of winning the 2023 national championship before embarking to the pro ranks. Motzko said he believes he might have a better group of defensemen this season.
“I hate to say it, but I don’t think we’re going to miss a beat,” said Motzko, whose team last season advanced to the Sioux Falls Regional final and finished 23-11-5 in their first year since 2000 without Faber, Johnson and LaCombe. “That’s a compliment because of how outstanding that group was. This is the strongest defensive corps in a cycle that I’ve ever been through.”
The group that Motzko praises includes sophomore Sam Rinzel, a first-round Chicago Blackhawks pick; sophomore Luke Mittelstadt, a seventh-round Montreal selection; senior Mike Koster, a fifth-round Toronto pick; and junior Cal Thomas, a sixth-round Arizona pick.
Add in freshmen John Whipple, a fifth-round Detroit pick from the U.S. National Team Development Program, and Leo Gruba, a 6-2, 209-pounder who had 22 goals and 35 assists with Fargo of the USHL last season, and the Gophers will be stacked on the blue line.
“This one’s actually got a little more size, little more nastiness,” Motzko said of his ‘D’ corps.