The Gophers men's hockey team's 3-1 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday took a bigger toll than a mark in the standings. Coach Bob Motzko's squad will be without two of its top six defensemen for at least one week.
Gophers men's hockey defense to be without injured Brock Faber, Ryan Chesley
Both defensemen will miss this weekend's series against No. 7 Penn State because of injury.
February 15, 2023 at 10:10PM
Captain Brock Faber and freshman Ryan Chesley both suffered upper-body injuries against the Badgers and were ruled out for second-ranked Minnesota's series on Friday and Saturday at No. 7 Penn State.
Motzko said the status of Faber, one of the team's three Hobey Baker Award candidates and the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, is week-to-week. "Hopefully, it's going to be a pretty short time that he's going to be out,'' Motzko said.
Chesley's injury will require a longer recovery, likely into March. "Ches will come back in the playoffs sometime,'' Motzko said.
The Gophers lead the Big Ten standings with 46 points, 11 more than second-place Michigan. If the Gophers gain one more point in the standings or the Wolverines fail to gain 12 points in the final two weekends, Minnesota would win the conference regular-season title and an automatic berth into the conference tournament semifinals. That could be important for the recovery of Faber and Chesley because the Gophers would avoid playing in a best-of-three, first-round playoff series.
Faber, a junior from Maple Grove whose NHL rights are held by the Wild, has three goals and 17 assists this season and is considered one of the nation's top shut-down defensemen. He was a member of the 2022 U.S. Olympic team, along with teammate Matthew Knies and former Gopher Ben Meyers. Joining Faber as Hobey Baker candidates are Knies and defenseman Jackson LaCombe.
Chesley, a Mahtomedi native who played at the U.S. National Team Development Program and Shattuck-St. Mary's, has two goals and five assists this season and has been a steady performer.
Neither Faber nor Chesley participated in Wednesday's practice. With those two out, junior Carl Fish moved into the top six, joining Jackson LaCombe, Mike Koster, Ryan Johnson, Cal Thomas and Luke Mittelstadt.
"We've leaned heavily on our seven 'D,' but we have eight, nine, 10 guys that can go,'' Koster said. "That's why we're so deep back there, for times like this.''
Close, Bischel named Richter semifinalists
Gophers senior Justen Close and Notre Dame senior Ryan Bischel of Medina were named two of the nine finalists for the Mike Richter Award, given annually to the top goaltender in men's college hockey.
Other finalists are Denver's Magnus Chrona, Ohio State's Jakub Dobes, Harvard's Mitchell Gibson, Northeastern's Devin Levi, Maine's Victor Ostman, Quinnipiac's Yaniv Perets and Michigan Tech's Blake Pietila.
Gophers add two to football staff
Gophers coach P.J. Fleck announced the addition of two members to the team's staff. Eric Koehler will be senior offensive analyst, and Chase Gallagher will work as director of recruiting management.
Koehler spent the past nine seasons at Miami (Ohio), including the past two as assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Gallagher was director of player personnel and NFL pro scout liaison at Memphis during the 2022 season.
The Gophers gave UMD goalie Eve Gascon a 48-save workout in the first of back-to-back meetings.
