Hansen: Gophers can play with best teams in country

"We knew after a rough weekend against Duluth, we knew we needed some big wins," Gophers junior winger Jake Hansen said after his team's 5-2 victory on Saturday over Michigan Tech.

The Gophers are 4-0-1 in their last five games, their longest unbeatent streak of the season. The month of February didn't start out that well, though. The U tied UMD 2-2 and then lost to the Bulldogs 6-4 on Feb. 4-5 in Duluth.

Next up is Bemidji State, tied for 10th in the conference with Minnesota State at 8-14-4.

"We know going up to Bemidji it's going to be a tough battle," said Hansen, who scored two power-play goals on Saturday. "They are a pretty good team. Our goal is to go up there and win four points and get the home ice."

"We feel like we can beat anyone in the country. We've proven that against some of the better teams in the country. Something that hurt us in the PairWise rankings and the WCHA is we've found ourselves not showing up on Friday nights and even Saturday nights against teams that we really should be beating.

"And that obviously has hurt us. Mankato We didn't show up against UNO, they are a good team. But there is no question about it. We are all confident we can play against any team."

In early December, the Gophers lost 3-2 and 2-1 to the purple Mavericks in Mankato. Another loss hard to understand was the one on Jan. 29 to Alaska Anchorage 1-0 after dominating the Seawolves 5-1 the night before.

" We have had guys speak in the locker room. Joey Miller is a great addition to the lineup. His leadership skills are pretty impressive. He gets the guys going. And that is something huge to have, that energy in the locker room on Friday night to get the weekend off to a good start."

GOPHERS TOUGHER THAN BEFORE

There were 30 penalties for 101 minutes and two game DQs on Saturday as the Gophers beat Michigan Tech 5-2 for the second night in a row. The biggest scuffle came at the end of the second period.

"Frustration obviously comes into it," Hansen said. "This is a team that has six points in the WCHA. They went 26 games without a win -- that has to be tough on everyone, there coaches and players. A lot of teams in the past thought they would be able to push us around. And now they see at the end of the year -- we want our guys to be in the lineup, we don't want fights and stuff -- but it shows we have our teammates' backs and we will do anything and not let guys throw us around like it has been in the past couple years.

"A lot of teams -- you hear in on the ice and you hear it in the papers and everything -- [say] that the Gopher hockey team has been soft in the past and all it is is skill players and stuff. It started up in North Dakota when we knew we needed to have a good second half of the year. And we had a nice little brawl up there. The importance of having your teammates' backs, it shows the fans and it shows your players that we are a family and we are not going to take crap from anyone.