Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Agreed. Goal #1: take care of business in the NCAAs; Goal #2: win the B1G

What this really means is win every single game from now on...

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

A good hard fought win for the Gophers. I thought MN controlled play for the majority of the game with offensive zone time and excellent puck movement. But I wasn't impressed the Gopher Ds lack of physicality in front which allowed OSU far too many inside scoring chances.

OSU definitely has some wheels and were strong on the walls. Burying two goals almost immediately after the Gophers scored sent a clear message that they came to play. They missed some good scoring chances. Greco fanning on a breakaway is always a little embarrassing for a player.

But overall the Gophers looked poised and played Gopher hockey last night. Brilliant NHL execution off the marker board on the two tip ins by seniors Rau and Ambroz...it doesn't get any better than that. Last road game of the regular season tonight. Let's finish 'em off.

Congrats to Don Lucia on his 391st win as the winningest coach in Gopher men's hockey history. Must have been quite an honor for Kyle Rau who grew up as a MN kid watching Lucia coach the Gophers and be the one to present him with the game winning puck. LOCKER ROOM VIDEO

[Slap Shot]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

OSU is not terrible and only someone not paying attention would make that claim. I however would concede they are not good.

[The Rube]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

I do care about the Big Ten because if we're not hanging the banner someone else is.

What a great hockey mind....

[4four4]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

So mystery solved. cross cheque = Brad Malone!

Nice to see Brad Malone has two accounts.

[4four4]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

I heard Kevin Wehrs bleached his hair after I blew the doors off of him so that no one would notice who he was but he forgot to cut away the wristband the hospital gave him so he was the only guy on the club with bleached hair and everyone still knew who he was, CBS was going to do a survivor series in Wehrs' corner but Kevin wouldn't go back. About a month later they got swept at home by Anchorage first round of the WCHA playoffs.

Cross Cheque I mean Brad Malone did you call Don Lucia and congratulate him on passing the Wooger?

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

I do care about the Big Ten because if we're not hanging the banner someone else is.

The Gophers better win tomorrow because OSU is terrible and no tournament team should split with them.

If MN had stayed within the top-12 of the PWR through the regular season the Big 10 would have taken care of itself.
Really, it's a 6 team league filled with mediocre teams. Winning a championship in it isn't something I'm going to be all that emotional about.

To be frank, this team doesn't deserve to hang a banner. The level of inconsistency and number of missed opportunities against marginal opponents speaks for itself. You could make the argument that none of the other teams in the conference "deserve" to hang a banner either, but that is of little consolation.

I'm crossing my fingers that the team plays a banner-worthy postseason, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Koho]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Officially on the ledge again. This team can't put together back-to-back solid performances. That doesn't bode well for playoff time. Giving up 4 breakaways in a single game is ridiculous. 3 shots in the first period is completely unacceptable. When they had a few shots from close in, they missed the net. Not very confident this team will even make it. When Penn State hands you the B1G season title on a platter and you are still a bubble NCAA team, playing a middle of the pack team, and you can't come out with a better effort, there is something wrong. Seems too late to right the ship at this point.

[Greyeagle]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

The Gopher continue their bi-polar ways. Frustrating.

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

This team can't put together back-to-back solid performances. That doesn't bode well for playoff time.

This is exactly what I concluded sometime ago now...

Giving up 4 breakaways in a single game is ridiculous.

Scary, you are reading my mind. As I was watching yesterday the question I was asking myself went from "Are you kidding me?" to "WT*?" If Ohio State gets four breakaways, how many would a North Dakota get?

When Penn State hands you the B1G season title on a platter and you are still a bubble NCAA team, playing a middle of the pack team, and you can't come out with a better effort, there is something wrong. Seems too late to right the ship at this point.

More like that Malaysian airliner, it sunk and they'll really never know what caused it to go down.

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

Interesting responses here from a psychological point of view. From my seat, I'm still very hopeful the Gophers can make a postseason impact for a few reasons. Let's take a Gopher helicopter ride and try to get some perspective on this thing, shall we?

Flash back to 2012-13 (Bjugs, Haula, Schmidt, Condon, Budish...), the Gophers were ranked #2 in the poles, pohls...ahhh polls and the PWR going into the postseason. How many weekend series did they sweep during the regular season and who were they? They swept 4 mediocre teams ALL season: Michigan State, Vermont, UAA, and Bemidji State. How many weekend series did they sweep this season and who were they? They swept the same number of teams, yet slightly better than those in 2012-13: Bemidji State, Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame.

What about goal scoring? In terms of total goals at 34 games, the Gophers are currently only 2 total goals behind last season 120/(2013-14) - 118/(2014-15). Last season the Gophers had 5 players in double figures in goals scored. This season the Gophers have 6, although unfortunately it looks like C. Reilly is done for the season.

Looking at the last 12 B1G conference games here are the standings:

1) Michigan State: 9-3-0
2) Minnesota: 8-3-1
3) Penn State: 6-5-1
4) Michigan: 6-6-0
5) Ohio State: 5-7-0
6) Wisconsin: 2-9-1

Before the Gophers about face turnaround after the NSCC, they were 4-6-2 in their previous 12 games inc. the two NSCC loses. Since then they've won twice as many and lost only half as many games. How does that compare to last season? At 34 games played and over the same last 12 games against the same B1G opponents last season they were 8-2-2.

Now, the B1G title showdown is next weekend. Michigan State is the only team in the B1G this season that has not been swept by another B1G opponent. The Gophers are second having been swept once by Michigan.

MICHIGAN VS MICHIGAN STATE: MSU recently swept PSU, and PSU recently swept Michigan, so therefore ??? Well, perhaps the syllogism doesn't work because it's a home and home next weekend for the Mich./Sparty headbang, and it looks more like a split.

GOPHERS VS PENN STATE: MN swept Ohio State five weeks ago, and OSU recently swept Penn State, so therefore ???. This one just might work for senior weekend and the Gophers last home series. I'm going with the Gophers sweeping Penn State at Mariucci next weekend, Mich/MSU splitting their home and home series and the Gophers laying claim to the B1G title and a first round bye in the B1G tourney in two weeks for the second consecutive season.

[D2D]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

I do hope you're right, Harley, but after the last three weekends - sorry to say - I'm just not feeling it.

[Stauber1]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

I'm not sure 2012-2013 is the best season to compare to. MN went out in the first round of the NCAA's. Yeah yeah, they took the Nat'l Champ to overtime, but that was a game the Gophers really should have won. They also went into the stretch in a pretty commanding position in terms of PWR. Not so this year.

Maybe a better comparison would be 2011-2012. That year, after getting swept in Denver in early Feb., they finished out the stretch with sweeps against Bemidji and @UNO before splitting a rivalry series with Wisconsin.

I agree with you that as it sits heading into the final week of Big 10 play, MN is probably in the best position to win the regular season title. That doesn't mean much to me. This team has been in must-win type games for the past 3 series and has managed to go 3-3 against some very average competition. That's what I'm looking at.

I echo D2D's sentiments. I really hope you are right, Harley, but I just haven't seen much from this team down the stretch to show me they are going to make much noise when/if they play the stronger teams in the NCAA. Hope I'm wrong.

[HarleyMC]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

I'm not sure 2012-2013 is the best season to compare to. MN went out in the first round of the NCAA's. Yeah yeah, they took the Nat'l Champ to overtime, but that was a game the Gophers really should have won. They also went into the stretch in a pretty commanding position in terms of PWR. Not so this year.a

Maybe a better comparison would be 2011-2012. That year, after getting swept in Denver in early Feb., they finished out the stretch with sweeps against Bemidji and @UNO before splitting a rivalry series with Wisconsin.

I agree with you that as it sits heading into the final week of Big 10 play, MN is probably in the best position to win the regular season title. That doesn't mean much to me. This team has been in must-win type games for the past 3 series and has managed to go 3-3 against some very average competition. That's what I'm looking at.

I echo D2D's sentiments. I really hope you are right, Harley, but I just haven't seen much from this team down the stretch to show me they are going to make much noise when/if they play the stronger teams in the NCAA. Hope I'm wrong.

Well, just trying to encourage the brethren a little here Staub. The comparison to 2012-13 was only for effect to generally point out that very good Gopher teams are not always prolific in sweeping opponents either. Yeah, the OT against Yale stills stings a little thinkin' about it...that errant pass by Marshall and then the lazy block by Bjugs, ugh...I don't wanna go there.

In retrospect here's how I see the last three B1G series (PSU, MSU, OSU): Penn State is a very good offensive team with strong chemistry on their home ice all season, and they had just been swept by MSU prior to the Gopher series. Chances of the Gophers coming out of that weekend with a road sweep were not high, but we almost pulled it out in OT. MSU like I mentioned is the only team that hasn't been swept by a B1G opponent and have swept more B1G teams than any other. They've had an excellent second half and with the way they run their systems are the toughest match up against the Gophers out of any B1G team this season. OSU had just swept Penn State and were ramped up with a full team back from injuries. A road sweep against a fired up Buckeye team on senior weekend is tough. But on Sat. we still dominated in zone time, but we simply didn't bury our chances and hit 3 pipes (not 2 as I wrote in another post), 15/54 shot attempts were wide, 12 were blocked and we missed 4 excellent scoring ops.

The regular season is almost behind us. All that matters now is their most recent trend, and the mentality and momentum they'll carry into the postseason. I think we'll see a very strong effort from the guys with their backs against the wall in a MUST sweep in their final home series at Mariucci for senior weekend.

If they sweep this weekend and at the most Mich/Sparty split (there's actually a couple scenarios that work), we take the title and draw Penn State or the Buckeyes in the semis. Gophers have only won 3 LTs in the last 18 years, the last one being 2006-07. But I like our chances at the Joe against Penn or OSU, and if we advance I'm guessing we see MSU for the championship game. At this point we're favored to capture the LT and an autobid which we won't need IF this scenario plays out.

[5mn_Major]

Re: Minnesota Gopher Season Thread: 2014-15 (Continued)

I'll still watch the games. But the real backbreaker was MSU (still is and will end up being our worst game of the year). OSU just took away the belief that the Gophers, if they somehow manage to get into the NCAAs, will accomplish anything.

In the end, our age old nemesis of not scoring will kill us. Reason for both of the above Ls and the North Star cup. We get boatloads of criticism for our defense. But our defense doesn't cause us to not score...and in fact, helps as much to score or more than any hockey team in the NCAAs. Hence a big reason why we do so poorly in shoot outs. As mentioned in the game thread, we often just run out of steam and can't score. In Friday's over the last month plus, we're 6-0-0. On Saturday's, we're 2-3-1.

Again, I'll continue to watch. But I'm starting to transition to off season thinking. It will likely be too bad that probably the most talented group on campus since our back to back went out this way. While pretty good, I don't see our group of recruits next year as being among the best we've had. Our defense should remain solid. But with questions about our recruiting class's ability to score goals and with the likely forwards remaining (esp vs. that of Michigan) and its hard to be optimistic. Sorry about the downer Monday