#mario lucia

[theamericanhockeyleague]

(via 815A1234.jpg | Rockford IceHogs | Flickr)

[theamericanhockeyleague]

F13A6621 by Chicago Wolves

[sregnarkroywen]

vs Chilliwack Chiefs, 03.02.2012 | Credits: x / x

[theamericanhockeyleague]

B38Q7693 by Lehigh Valley Phantoms

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B38Q7704 by Lehigh Valley Phantoms

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(via F13A0035 | Iowa Wild | Flickr)

[greathockeywriting]

Minnesota Wild prospect Mario Lucia is working to become the State of Hockey's next homegrown NHL hero.

[fightingirish-blog]

The Weekly Zamboni: Minnesota Week

Anna Gonzalez '16 (@NDBlogGonzo)

11.5.2014

Bryan Rust '14 scores against Minnesota on Nov. 8, 2013. The Irish won 4-1.

Minnesota is to college hockey as Alabama is to college football. They're always ranked (currently #1), they're fast, they're strong, and they're just good.

This week, the Notre Dame Hockey team finds itself traveling for the first time this season to the home state of 7 men on the team. Last year, the Minnesota Golden Gophers came to the Compton and split the series with a 4-1 Irish victory and a 4-5 Irish loss. (If you didn't know already--but at this point, most people do--the Gophers are coached by Don Lucia, a 1981 Notre Dame grad and father to junior left wing Mario Lucia.) This year, Mariucci Arena provides the ice. Here's what we're facing this week.

For starters, in the overall national poll the team jumped from #20 to #15 in the nation.

In Hockey East, we moved from 11th of 12 teams to 5th out of 12.

Mario Lucia is 5th (10 points), Robbie Russo is T-6th (9 points), and Thomas DiPauli is T-16th (8 points) in individual scoring. However...

Lucia, alone, is ranked 2nd in the nation for goals with 8. He's one goal short of Kevin Dufor, a So. Forward from Bowling Green. Mario also won Hockey East Player of the Month for October.

Cal Petersen fell from 8th to 11th in the nation under goaltending leaders. However, he's the only freshman in the top 20.

Petersen is T-9th for best save percentage (0.950), and he's now T-5th in shutouts.

In terms of team scoring, our offense is 6th in the nation with 3.75 average goals per game (AVG/GM), and our defense is 17th (2.12 AVG/GM).

We're 44th on the Power Play (3/34) and 30th in Penalty Killing (27/32).

Now where's Minnesota ranked?

The Gophers are #1 in the nation.

Their scoring leader is Kyle Rau who's tied with Robbie Russo (among several others) for 6th.

Their offense is ranked 7th and their defense is T-24th.

They're #4 in Power Play goals (7/23) and 44th in Penalty Kills (22/28).

Now let me bring out the Zamboni: The only places that Minnesota outright beats us are in the national rank and on the power play...soooo that's interesting. Saying we're up against #1 sounds much scarier than it is, but I honestly think that if our guys stay focused and disciplined on the ice, we have a good chance at beating them--at least a much better chance than people seem to give us credit for. 

As for the Lucia family matchup, it's run its course. Coach Lucia said in a press conference this week that the media makes it out to be a much bigger deal than it is, and, "as far as I'm concerned, [Mario's] number 22." (You can listen to the entire clip here.) And judging from how Mario talks about things, it's just another game for him and another weekend on which to score a goal or two. This will probably look to be a nice weekend for all the guys from the Twin Cities, though, because the Irish play the Gophers on Friday and Sunday, which means Saturday will provide a chance for them possibly to go home. I'm sure they'd all like that along with a few "upsets" against the Golden Gophers.