Two things that make this Gopher Hockey team scary good this year is their scoring depth and their back-end. The Gophers are almost always potent offensively, but unlike the past few seasons, they have a wealth of scoring depth. They have 9 players with at least 5 goals, 6 players with at least 7, and 11 players who have double-digit points this season. They are second in the nation in scoring, and this is with a power play that has been less than Gopher like (at just over 16%). Their power play has been heating up (two goals tonight), and if it keeps improving, watch out.
They are also a really, really strong team defensively. That starts with Wilcox, of course. He's been absolutely outstanding this season. But their defensemen (and entire team for that matter) have played very well defensively in front if him as well. You have to go back to Thanksgiving weekend to find a game where the Gophers have given up more than two goals. So unlike years past, they don't need to put up a ton of goals to win.
This d-corps the Gophers have is special. The freshmen have been fantastic, but man are Mike Reilly and Brady Skjei special players. If Reilly stays another year, he could be a very strong Hobey contender.
If the Gopher's 18-2-3 record to start the season wasn't impressive enough, they've done it against the nation's second most difficult schedule. Lots of hockey left to play, and certainly still stuff they need to work on, but this team could end up being very special when all is said and done.