Well, the Gophers go another year without winning the big one. It's a disappointment because back in October I really thought this could be the year. Unfortunately, things just didn't come together. There was that stretch where they started winning everything despite not playing as well as they could; then came January where they really did look like they could beat anyone. In retrospect, I don't think they were ever as good as they looked in that stretch. I don't even mean that in the normal, cliched way that's used. In hindsight, the teams they were playing (notably Denver and Duluth) probably began their slides about the time Minnesota played them. A lot of us forgot that scoring production was coming from people who had never shown it before (Dan Woog with a hat trick?) and that it wouldn't continue. In the end, Minnesota finished with a good weekend of hockey, playing very well after the first period against Providence. Michigan was a better team and just plain beat us, though we made it really close at the end. (If Turco had just kicked that puck in behind him, the game was all set for overtime.) If the season didn't produce everything I was hoping for, at least Minnesota went out with their heads up. At first glance, I won't be going into next year with the same kind of expectations. We'll only have three defensemen with real experience (and godbout spent most of this year up front). More worrying is trying to figure out who is going to take Bonin's place as the centerpiece of the offense. Rasmussen and Berg had good freshmen campaigns, but a couple of the elders are going to have to step forward with consistent scoring. Nick Checco and Ryan Kraft now have to live up to their billing; solid backchecking is no longer going to be enough. These are the guys that need to take charge. Oh, well. I'll be in Cincinnati this week, wearing my michigan jersey and remembering that at least my #2 team is still alive. J. Michael Jackson HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey; send information to [log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.