There are problems, and then there are good problems to have.
Count Gophers men's hockey coach Don Lucia as having the latter when it comes to his goaltending situation.
When the ninth-ranked Gophers play host to Michigan on Friday and Saturday, Lucia can choose between Eric Schierhorn, the two-time Big Ten goalie of the year, and newcomer Mat Robson, who just shut out the nation's top-ranked team at the time.
"Right now, we feel that we have two good goalies who can play," Lucia said.
As for how he'll use his goalies this weekend, Lucia has not announced his starters. In the past three series, Schierhorn has started the opener and Robson took the finale. That, however, could change.
"If somebody gets hot, we may ride them for a while and kind of go back and forth," Lucia said. "We're not necessarily in a situation where we'll split every weekend. Somebody might play a weekend, somebody else might play the next weekend. It'll be, from here on out, more merit-based, like it is for everybody."
If Lucia goes with the hot goalie, that would be Robson. The sophomore from Mississauga, Ontario, is coming off a 34-save shutout in a 2-0 victory over St. Cloud State on Sunday, which earned him Big Ten First Star of the Week honors. Though Robson's sample size is small — he is 2-1 in three games — he has a 1.01 goals-against average and a .964 save percentage.
"He plays such a quiet game," Lucia said. "He's steady, he never gets too rattled, and he's shown that in the three starts he's had so far."