The University of Minnesota’s 30-8-5 Golden Gophers do not have any 30-goal scorers. In fact, nobody has scored more than 23 goals.

But the swift-skating Gophers do have 10 players who have racked up 31 or more points and that balance is something the University of Maine Black Bears are going to have to deal with in this weekend’s NCAA quarterfinal series in Orono.

“That’s the way we play,” said sixth-year Gopher coach Doug Woog. “We skate four lines. We play everybody. If you look back at all of our records, that would be the case. We usually don’t have any Hobey Baker Award leaders with the exception of the year our goalie won it (Robb Stauber, 1988).”

However, Woog admitted that it would be “nice to have a shooter. That’s the one element we miss: the snipers.”

“That’s the difference between (WCHA regular season and tournament champion) Northern Michigan and Minnesota,” added Woog, whose team finished second in both. “Northern Michigan has more pure goal scorers. When you get into the 30-goal range, that’s when you’re talking about pure goal scorers. Any player who plays on the first or second line on a good team and is on the power-play unit should get 20-plus goals.”

Still, the Gophers have 10 players with 10 or more goals.

“Minnesota is a powerful team coming up the ice,” said Providence Coach Mike McShane, whose Friars extended the Gophers to three games before bowing in their NCAA first round series last weekend. “They get everybody involved in the play. And they come at you pretty hard on the forecheck. Everybody can skate.”

Minnesota’s most consistent line of late features converted defenseman Larry Olimb (19 goals, 38 assists) between left wing Ken Gernander (23 & 19) and right wing Trent Klatt (16 & 27). That line combined for 5 goals and 9 assists against Providence. Gernander had four of the five goals.

“That line has carried us the last two weeks,” said Woog. “They’ve been our steadiest line. Ken is the shooter, Klatt is the mucker, and Olimb is the finesse player.”

The Gophers have also received steady production from an all-senior line comprised of Jason Miller (15 & 24) between LW Grant Bischoff (22 & 23) and RW Ben Hankinson (19 & 19). The line of Craig Johnson (13 & 18) between Cory Laylin (12 & 13) and Jeff Nielsen (11 & 14) combined for 7 goals and 6 assists against PC.

The mobile and offensive-minded defensive corps is anchored by sophomores Travis Richards (9 & 25) and Doug Zmolek (3 & 15), junior Tom Pederson (11 & 20), and senior Luke Johnson (7 & 24).

“Our defensemen want to be part of the offense,” said Woog. “It’s fun and it’s entertaining, but it can be risky at times.”

The Gophers average 36 shots on goal and 4.9 goals per game while surrendering an average of 26.4 shots and 3.1 goals.

Junior Jeff Stolp (18-7-3 record, 2.77 goals-against average, .893 save percentage) and sophomore Tom Newman (12-1-2, 3.33, .860) have been solid in goal. Stolp had the lowest GAA in the WCHA (2.69).

“Stolp is a good one,” said McShane.

Minnesota is 44 for 214 on the power play (21 percent) and has given up 37 PPGs in 226 chances (84 percent). The Gophers have racked up 918 penalty minutes and have scored 12 shorthanded goals.