Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Is it Gopher propaganda that caused your own season thread to also go silent, Puffy?

[UMICH]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Looks like this UMICH has tried to pick up where alfa left off. Can't really tell the difference between them at all but I can see that big zero for MI on the scoreboard tonight.

I wonder if any of them will be seen in this thread again...

Why should we come back? It's not like there was any actual discussion here. Just a bunch of gopher-propaganda...

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Great write-up as usual, Harley. But I have to ask, weren't you really pessimistic about the Gophers' chances of making the NCAA's just two weekends ago? Like, practically no chance based on the PWR? I know it's still far from a done deal, but wouldn't you say that the odds now are at least pointed in the Gophers' favor?

When the Gophers were sitting at PWR #20 with a huge RPI gap between the top 16, I said they needed to win nearly every game AND absolutely needed help from other teams to climb into the 16 team field or they wouldn't make it. A team can't just win games and expect to climb if they're sitting at 20+ in the PWR surrounded by lost comparisons and huge RPI gaps unless they receive help from other teams. The Gophers could have never climbed back in with just a sweep over lowly OSU last weekend. They needed the massive upsets last week in college hockey to help lift them from 20th to 14th. Fortunately for the Gophers they got it and the result was quite a PWR jump in one week!

Notice even though they swept a higher PWR ranking team they only jumped last night from 14th to 13th because they didn't get the extra help from other teams. If Penn St. would have swept Sparty as expected, we may have had another good chance for PWR traction next week. As it turns out the sweep this weekend was huge and in retrospect could very well have been the turning point that will allow them into the tourney at a low seed if they keep winning.

Circumstances can change drastically in the PWR system primarily because of the RPI weighting on the opp win% and opp-opp win%. So at this point, the Gophers are still vulnerable because of the volatility in the PWR at this point in the season, but they're in a much better position for an at-large bid than two weekends ago. But there are still multiple PWR permutations that could either hurt or help them.

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Great write-up as usual, Harley. But I have to ask, weren't you really pessimistic about the Gophers' chances of making the NCAA's just two weekends ago? Like, practically no chance based on the PWR? I know it's still far from a done deal, but wouldn't you say that the odds now are at least pointed in the Gophers' favor?

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Haha...time to step away for the ledge and take a deep breath Gopher fans. How critical was this weekend sweep for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers? It probably just saved their season. Tonight, the Golden Gophers played with some desperation again, managing to find some juice left in the tank and basically out gassed the Corn and Blue for the 2-0 shutout and the series sweep. The pace of the game was much slower tonight than last night, as both teams seemed to run out of fuel as time winded down.

But another strong dose of forechecking, backchecking, puck control, and Adam Wilcox proved to be enough to send the highest scoring team in the nation back to Ann Arbor shelled shocked with only 2 goals on the weekend for their lowest scoring output in any series this season. The Gopher D were not as sharp as last night, but boxed out to keep the Wolverine's big guns like Larkin, Hyman, Copp and Compher SOG down. Michigan had most of their scoring chances in the third period outshooting the Gophers 11-8. But Adam Wilcox, who gets my vote for the #1 star of the game, played stellar again between the pipes and made some game changing saves in the 3rd for his 11th career shutout.

Nice to see Seth Ambroz playing with confidence again scoring his 9th goal. And how fitting was it for Kyle Rau to slam in the ENG to cap off perhaps his best weekend performance of the season with 4 Gs. Another player who has transformed his game in leaps and bounds from a role player a couple seasons ago, into whom I believe is one of the most exciting playmakers in the NCAA is senior Travis Boyd. As a true team player, Boyd's full ice vision, stick work, rocket shot accuracy and energy has helped propel the Gophers back into contention. With 8 games left, the Gophers are now in a position to contend for the B1G title and seize an at-large bid for the national tournament. Overall, a rewarding and exciting weekend of hockey...Gopher style! Go Gophers!

[Bonin21]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Going to be hard to shut down Larkin and Hyman again tomorrow. Hopefully Werenski is scarred for at least 24 hours by that brutal mistake.

Completely shut down Larkin and Hyman. Wow.

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Keep your pants on, young man.

(Way too soon)

IALTO.

PSU is slumping. Swept by MSU.

But still, I hope they get swept under the rug, just like that scandal. Crap, I did it again.

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

F 'em. Too soon?

Keep your pants on, young man.

(Way too soon)

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Now onto pedo state

F 'em. Too soon?

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

So that was fun.

[SanTropez]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Now onto pedo state

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Just keep winning. It'll work out.

This.

[state of hockey]

And after checking BC, Providence, Yale and Harvard go 3-0-1 on the night.

Just keep winning. It'll work out.

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

And after checking BC, Providence, Yale and Harvard go 3-0-1 on the night.

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota hosts Michigan: 2/13 & 2/14

Nice weekend sweep of Puffy Chest U. They needed that - now hope for losses near them in the PWR.