National Championship Notebook: Gopher Keys to the Game

A half hour lies between the Gophers and the start of the NCAA Championship Game.  Here are some keys to the game for Minnesota:

• The best players need to play like it: Don Lucia talks about this all the time.  At this time of year, your best players need to step up.  That obviously includes Adam Wilcox, but forwards Kyle Rau, Nate Condon and Sam Warning need to be engaged in the game and show up on the scoresheet for the Gophers tonight.
• The freshmen need to not play tentatively: In the Robert Morris and North Dakota games, Minnesota's highly-vaunted freshman class played nervous.  In the St. Cloud game, they played like upperclassmen.  Minnesota has relied on their stellar freshmen Hudson Fasching, Justin Kloos and Taylor Cammarata to provide scoring all season long, and these players will need to play like they're not scared of the grand stage.
• The third line needs to win their shifts: The Gophers' third line of Seth Ambroz-Travis Boyd-Tom Serratore is the consummate shut-down checking line that also happens to boast a couple solid goal scorers in Ambroz and Boyd.  Because of their defensive prowess, they're often paired up against the opposing team's top line.  One big matchup of today's game is the Gopher third line against Union's scoring lines - if the Boyd line can shut down Union's potent offense, it will bode well for Minnesota.
• Minnesota's defensemen need to play with poise: One of the strengths of this Gopher team is the solid, steady defensive unit.  All six members of Minnesota's D-corps need to play heady, steady hockey and not turn the puck over.
• Gophers need to dictate the pace: Minnesota has struggled this year when it sits back and lets the opposing team dictate the pace of play.  We saw that in the North Dakota game, when UND had the puck for the majority of the game and forced Minnesota to the outside / to dump and chase, when their strength is carrying the puck into the zone and swarming puck.  If the Gophers can take it to Union, expect good things.
• Stay out of the box: The Gophers are one of the least penalized teams in the nation.  Stay that way.  They'll need to play a clean game and use their five on five advantage to win.

Here we go.  Half an hour away.  Let's Go Gophers!  I think this is going to be a very close game that could go either way, but I'm not here to hedge my bets.  Prediction: Gophers win 3-2 to claim their sixth national title.

Go get it!