Gopher Women's Hockey 2023-24

[Timothy A]

I liked Halverson from the time she was an 8th grader at Breck; I'm not sure she picked the right college team, because I could see her getting buried on that roster. Awards aside, I was impressed by Lindzi Avar of Minnetonka. How does Cornell keep winding up with top end MN HS kids? I suppose, by recruiting.

Would you consider Halverson being buried at Tosu or the U of M?

 

[ARM]

Would you consider Halverson being buried at Tosu or the U of M?

Being buried or not at the top teams tends to be a lot about timing. E.g., Heise was buried at times as a rookie and got shuffled to the 4th line, albeit a 4th line that played. I think for a player with star potential, you at least want a shot at being in the top six forwards. At UM, she'd likely start out behind Murphy, Huber, Hemp, Bouveng, and maybe A. Lindsay. You need another center in the mix, so she'd likely have to work her way up from the 3rd line. For UW, she's going to start out behind Sims, O'Brien, Eden, Edwards, Wheeler, and probably Picard, and Hall. Throw in Gorbatenko and Wozniewicz, any other high-profile forwards that you have coming via the portal or rookie class, and she's looking at the 4th line. It's not a problem for the kids who can hit the ground running, but for a player who struggles a out of the gate, maybe doesn't find the net immediately, confidence can take a hit. I'm not going to try to figure out the revolving door in Columbus.

I think she'd be top six for the Gophers, and she'd have a good shot at top line as a rookie in Duluth or St. Cloud. I see her as a top 6 for the Badgers eventually, but she'll have to be patient and seize her chance when it comes.

 

[Bonzo]

Being buried or not at the top teams tends to be a lot about timing. E.g., Heise was buried at times as a rookie and got shuffled to the 4th line, albeit a 4th line that played. I think for a player with star potential, you at least want a shot at being in the top six forwards. At UM, she'd likely start out behind Murphy, Huber, Hemp, Bouveng, and maybe A. Lindsay. You need another center in the mix, so she'd likely have to work her way up from the 3rd line. For UW, she's going to start out behind Sims, O'Brien, Eden, Edwards, Wheeler, and probably Picard, and Hall. Throw in Gorbatenko and Wozniewicz, any other high-profile forwards that you have coming via the portal or rookie class, and she's looking at the 4th line. It's not a problem for the kids who can hit the ground running, but for a player who struggles a out of the gate, maybe doesn't find the net immediately, confidence can take a hit. I'm not going to try to figure out the revolving door in Columbus.

I think she'd be top six for the Gophers, and she'd have a good shot at top line as a rookie in Duluth or St. Cloud. I see her as a top 6 for the Badgers eventually, but she'll have to be patient and seize her chance when it comes.

Both O'Brien and Wheeler went through Senior Day activities so until they announce they are coming back, we have to assume they aren't. That leaves only 7 returning forwards that saw the ice this year (2 others who were injured didn't play at all this yr but there is no guarantee they will be on the top 3 lines). They couldn't play a 4th line due to lack of players so Halverson will most likely get a good opportunity to see the ice along with other talented freshman Maggie Scannell and Finley McCarthy. Obviously transfers could shake that up, but as of now they will only have 12 forwards next year and I think MJ would like to give the 4th line some time.

 

[PuckLover]

Halvorsen's 144 career penalty minutes at Edina put her #1 all-time, in front of second place Taylor Williamson by 40 minutes (and ignoring the 31 she had as an 8th grader at Breck). That is Murphy-level lack of discipline. Murphy is a conundrum because of how good she is. Someone with much less talent and a similar lack of discipline - it will be interesting to see the role she earns at Wisconsin.

 

[Timothy A]

Being buried or not at the top teams tends to be a lot about timing. E.g., Heise was buried at times as a rookie and got shuffled to the 4th line, albeit a 4th line that played. I think for a player with star potential, you at least want a shot at being in the top six forwards.

If she has potential star, she'd slot into the top 8 no problem with Simms, Eden, Scannell, Edwards, McCarthy, Hall and Gorbotenko. The next level players are Picard, Woz, who are known commodities, with Enright who looked promising as a Fr, but not a star (at this point) Vasseur who we really don't know much about (could be a star?). Hall as a Fr hasn't left the top 2 lines all year.

 

[robertearle]

Halvorsen's 144 career penalty minutes at Edina put her #1 all-time, in front of second place Taylor Williamson by 40 minutes (and ignoring the 31 she had as an 8th grader at Breck). That is Murphy-level lack of discipline. Murphy is a conundrum because of how good she is. Someone with much less talent and a similar lack of discipline - it will be interesting to see the role she earns at Wisconsin.

Maybe she's hoping MJ retires before she gets here. Because otherwise....

 

[Timothy A]

Halvorsen's 144 career penalty minutes at Edina put her #1 all-time, in front of second place Taylor Williamson by 40 minutes (and ignoring the 31 she had as an 8th grader at Breck). That is Murphy-level lack of discipline. Murphy is a conundrum because of how good she is. Someone with much less talent and a similar lack of discipline - it will be interesting to see the role she earns at Wisconsin.

4th line it is then.

 

[Hockeybuckeye]

I wasn't able to watch your game last night but was following the score keep changing so I guess my question is what happened?

 

[ARM]

I wasn't able to watch your game last night but was following the score keep changing so I guess my question is what happened?

I only listened, didn't watch, so take that for what's it worth.

When a team gives up five goals at even strength in less than 30 minutes of hockey, either the goaltending is porous, the D keeps breaking down, or a combination of both. Listening to Dan, he seemed to be pointing at turnovers and failures in coverage. At a certain point, you need your goalies to be able to save your team when it's struggling to defend. The UM problem seems to be that they ask that of their goalies a lot.

Dan interviews Frost before each game, and last night, Frost said he was happy with how the team has been defending, particularly over the last month. Dan also said that John Harrington loves the matchup versus the Gophers for his team. The Mavericks have some weapons that can exploit holes in UM, so I can understand his thinking. In three games in 2024 between the two teams, UM lost a three-goal lead in the third, a one-goal lead in the third, and a two-goal lead in the second. Defensively, I doubt that the Gophers scare anyone.

 

[ManBehindTheCurtain]

The game box score credits Mankato with 3 goals on 4 shots on goal in the third period.

 

[KTDC]

Please forgive my intrusion, I do my best not to post anymore, but....

The funniest goal was the last one:
-tie game, 1:46 to go, and all 3 of our top line calmly skate to the bench for a line change as 4 Mavs are approaching their offensive blue line with the puck for a 4 on 2....lol

And, of course, both of our defensemen chase the Mav with the puck which leaves the whole left side open. It takes two tries, but they score.


I thought the third goal was the softest for Vetter but 4 of the 5 skaters on the ice for the Gophers made weak plays to set up a breakaway for the Mavs. Emily Zumwinkle had an angle to maybe stop the streaking Mav but she inexplicably slowed down like she was going to start skating backwards and that was all it took to leave it 1 on 1 with Vetter.

I felt that was the only soft goal for Vetter and for me, there is no way I can blame her for the loss.

 

[ManBehindTheCurtain]

I am a bit reluctant to go back to this because considering what happened this afternoon the Friday night game is now a so incredibly 24 hour ago thing but my view of Friday night third period is that the whole team failed. The skaters only gave up four shots on goal but the opportunities that they gave up were all very high quality scoring opportunities for Mankato. To their credit, given only those four chances the Mavericks cashed in three times.

Not a Vetter failure. You want your goaler to be the difference, to come up with the improbable save but if the rest of your team keeps giving up scoring chances . . . goals are going to be scored.

That was yesterday's problem and here's hoping that it is not tomorrow's problem.

 

[Timothy A]

WOW 1-0 deep into the 3rd period. Was it as agonizing to ya'll as it feels in my gut with your Friday performance in the back of your head?

 

[ARM]

WOW 1-0 deep into the 3rd period. Was it as agonizing to ya'll as it feels in my gut with your Friday performance in the back of your head?

I think it may have been more so if MSU had been generating something. Deep into the third the Mavs were barely scratching the surface even on shot attempts.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Please forgive my intrusion, I do my best not to post anymore, but....

Forgive the question, but would you be willing to offer a few words of explanation?

Participation by Gopher fans on USCHO is definitely down, and I'm puzzled. Of course I get that you'd rather be ranked higher than #5 in the Pairwise, or whatever the number currently is. But it feels like there's more than that going on. Or put more accurately, not going on.

If something happened within your ranks that's none of my business, of course I withdraw the question.

 

[StPaulSam]

Forgive the question, but would you be willing to offer a few words of explanation?

Participation by Gopher fans on USCHO is definitely down, and I'm puzzled. Of course I get that you'd rather be ranked higher than #5 in the Pairwise, or whatever the number currently is. But it feels like there's more than that going on. Or put more accurately, not going on.

If something happened within your ranks that's none of my business, of course I withdraw the question.

It's because it took so long to get my account approved that I never bothered to try and post. Also, hello.

 

[Timothy A]

I think it may have been more so if MSU had been generating something. Deep into the third the Mavs were barely scratching the surface even on shot attempts.

Yeah but weren't you one fumbled puck by a d away from a breakaway?

 

[pgb-ohio]

It's because it took so long to get my account approved that I never bothered to try and post. Also, hello.

Well hello!

If you're really back, welcome back. And if you're only back part-time, this is a good time of the year to do that.

 

[ARM]

Yeah but weren't you one fumbled puck by a d away from a breakaway?

For sure. But just as a listener, MSU had much of a 3rd-game-in-3-days feel on Sunday, compared to the jump that they brought to the third period on Friday. Having the lead seems to be more critical in the rubber game after everyone has heavy legs.

 

[ManBehindTheCurtain]

Yeah but weren't you one fumbled puck by a d away from a breakaway?

For sure. But just as a listener, MSU had much of a 3rd-game-in-3-days feel on Sunday, compared to the jump that they brought to the third period on Friday. Having the lead seems to be more critical in the rubber game after everyone has heavy legs.

I think Arlan has nailed it even though as he states he was not in the building. There was a very much present in the arena feeling that MSU had already taken their best shot. In a one goal game the fear of the fluke never completely disappears. This time it seemed even more unlikely than usual. MSU had 11 shots on goal for the entire game which included only one really high quality chance, the ice felt tilted against them.

Of course, anything can happen. Most times it doesn't. This time it didn't.