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Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

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  • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

    Originally posted by FiveHoleFrenzy View Post
    It's not just last night's game. They have come out flat in a number of games recently.
    I don't know if it is flat, or if they are like a big diesel engine that takes a while to get warmed up, but you're right that they are a slow-starting bunch. That seems to be true both within games and especially in the first game of the weekend. In Columbus, Duluth, Nashville, and the starts of recent series versus Yale and St. Cloud were rather sleepy. I would understand it more if this was a team that was bored with winning, but outside of Sarah P, this senior class has only hung two banners, and one of those was largely thanks to OSU. I'd be more despondent about their chances, but when I look around the country, everyone seems to have some issues.

    We know that a team coached by three former Gophers is going to be motivated every time that they come to town. What can the Maroon & Gold bring to match it for a rare TV game?
    "... And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;" -- Rudyard Kipling

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    • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

      Originally posted by ARM View Post
      I don't know if it is flat, or if they are like a big diesel engine that takes a while to get warmed up, but you're right that they are a slow-starting bunch. That seems to be true both within games and especially in the first game of the weekend. In Columbus, Duluth, Nashville, and the starts of recent series versus Yale and St. Cloud were rather sleepy. I would understand it more if this was a team that was bored with winning, but outside of Sarah P, this senior class has only hung two banners, and one of those was largely thanks to OSU. I'd be more despondent about their chances, but when I look around the country, everyone seems to have some issues.

      We know that a team coached by three former Gophers is going to be motivated every time that they come to town. What can the Maroon & Gold bring to match it for a rare TV game?
      What indeed...Would like to see some small adjustments try and make it so they can get the puck out of their own end and put more pressure on OSU. I know they have more effort in them than what they showed last night.
      At the outset, we could hang with the dude...

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      • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

        Feet are moving better but they are still having some issues getting out of the zone. No score so far.
        At the outset, we could hang with the dude...

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        • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

          OMG...Stop the presses. there is a penalty against OSU!
          At the outset, we could hang with the dude...

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          • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

            Originally posted by FiveHoleFrenzy View Post
            OMG...Stop the presses. there is a penalty against OSU!
            Apparently, they did.

            Both BTN Plus video and Minn internet radio streams died just after the penalty stoppage. (I came here to prove my internet connention didn't die.)

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            • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

              Originally posted by FiveHoleFrenzy View Post
              What indeed...Would like to see some small adjustments try and make it so they can get the puck out of their own end and put more pressure on OSU. I know they have more effort in them than what they showed last night.
              I think there's some bad analysis going on. The problem last night wasn't that they started slow. They did, to some extent, but they got out of the first period tied, and probably had as many missed chances as Ohio State did. The problems really arose in the second period. The Buckeyes scored 22 seconds in, on what was really a power play goal despite the penalty having expired. And it was less than a minute later when the parade of bull**** officiating marched past again. Between the 18:18 mark of the first and the 13:53 mark of the second, Minnesota spent 8 minutes killing penalties. That was the stretch where the game got away from them, and it had nothing to do with starting slow.

              ARM's list of other recent slow starts comes with an equally long list of caveats. The game against BC in Nashville had nothing to do with a slow start; it was the result of two breakdowns on the power play, combined with running into a hot goalie who otherwise hasn't been able to stop a beach ball in two months. Against Yale, they struggled in the first period they'd played in a month, against a team that was using a defensive tactic that, according to Joel Johnson, they'd never seen before and that Yale hadn't used before; it took exactly one intermission to get things sorted out. And in St. Cloud, the early struggles were entirely about the size of the rink, and, again, as they got acclimated, they took over.

              Lack of effort also wasn't really the problem. They may have started slow, but they also worked their asses off in the first period and didn't give up as many good scoring chances as the tilted ice would lead you to expect. OSU's first period goal wasn't the result of not playing hard; it happened because Wethington got the puck on her backhand and flubbed her clearance attempt. It was clearly an error, as she really should have pushed the puck to the boards, which she had a clear lane to do, but that's not an effort problem. If anything, Wethington was trying too hard. Earlier in the period, she got herself out of position by diving to try to block a pass.

              As the game wore on, the effort did flag, and they stopped really challenging OSU. But this is the other way the officiating really affected the game. The Buckeyes were relentless about hitting the Gopher defensemen as they tracked back to get the puck. None of it qualifies as dirty, but a lot of them were at least borderline penalties. None of them were called. And yet, Gophers paraded to the box for pretty much the same plays. I have no problem with Amy Potomak's hook being called late in the first, except that an OSU player did the exact same thing to Wethington a couple of minutes earlier with no call.

              By the time A.P. picked up her second penalty, moments after almost having her season ended by a knee-to-knee hit (that one was dirty), they were frustrated and gunshy about engaging. They tried to do everything with finesse plays, and the results were about what you would expect. It's easy to say that they can't let the bad calls (and non-calls) get into their heads, but that's not so easy in practice. And the evidence that we have is that doing anything else would only have resulted in more penalties being called against them. And a team that isn't putting in the effort doesn't look as good on penalty kill after penalty kill as they did.

              Despite all of that, I agree that they didn't play well. But it wasn't any sort of epically bad performance. I do think that they'll be better off if the seedings line up such that someone else takes out Ohio State. For several reasons, it's just not a good matchup for us. But everyone's got problems.

              And, hey, what do you know. When Ohio State actually gets called for penalties, good things happen.

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              • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                Originally posted by robertearle View Post
                Apparently, they did.

                Both BTN Plus video and Minn internet radio streams died just after the penalty stoppage. (I came here to prove my internet connention didn't die.)
                BTN saving me any angst. It dies at 0-0 and didn't come back until it was 1-1.

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                • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                  Originally posted by robertearle View Post
                  BTN saving me any angst. It dies at 0-0 and didn't come back until it was 1-1.
                  I experienced the same thing. Didn't see either goal. In the case of the 2nd goal probably a good thing for my sanity.
                  At the outset, we could hang with the dude...

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                  • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                    Originally posted by Still Eeyore View Post
                    I think there's some bad analysis going on. The problem last night wasn't that they started slow. They did, to some extent,
                    You lost me there dude...
                    At the outset, we could hang with the dude...

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                    • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                      Originally posted by Still Eeyore View Post
                      I think there's some bad analysis going on. The problem last night wasn't that they started slow.
                      It took half the first period - right about the 10 minute mark - before they registered their second shot on goal! Most hockey observers would say that is starting slow.
                      Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey

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                      • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                        Originally posted by robertearle View Post
                        BTN saving me any angst. It dies at 0-0 and didn't come back until it was 1-1.
                        The collegehockeystats.net live feed also runs into loooooooong stretches without updating. So, I'm guessing the problem is the insistence on having the game at an underqualified facility in the middle of winter.

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                        • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                          Originally posted by D2D View Post
                          It took half the first period - right about the 10 minute mark - before they registered their second shot on goal! Most hockey observers would say that is starting slow.
                          This would be why I said that they did start slow. What I said that starting slow wasn't really the problem.

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                          • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                            Originally posted by Still Eeyore View Post
                            The collegehockeystats.net live feed also runs into loooooooong stretches without updating. So, I'm guessing the problem is the insistence on having the game at an underqualified facility in the middle of winter.
                            Where is it, in relation to TCF or Williams, etc? I know there's a softball (?) diamond back away from other stuff. I was guessing somewhere out there?

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                            • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                              Minnesota would be dangerous if they could receive passes in the neutral zone.

                              And just like that a nice neutral zone play results in a rebound goal for Minnesota.
                              At the outset, we could hang with the dude...

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                              • Re: Minnesota Gophers 2019/2020 Season Thread

                                Originally posted by robertearle View Post
                                Where is it, in relation to TCF or Williams, etc? I know there's a softball (?) diamond back away from other stuff. I was guessing somewhere out there?
                                It isn't anywhere near, and has no connection to, the university. It's a rec football and soccer field, and also where Augsburg University plays their baseball games. In other words, it's a terrible place to be having these games. Then again, the whole idea of playing these games outdoors in Minnesota in January is really stupid.

                                Edit: The live stats haven't updated since the end of the first period.
                                Last edited by Still Eeyore; 01-18-2020, 05:43 PM.

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