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2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

Slap Shot said:
I'm seeing two extremes regarding Ness. imho unfair criticism but also a, "woe is me" feeling regarding his leaving. Ness wasn't going to make or break this season and they have far more things to worry about. Consistent play up and down the lineup, aggressive play, PP, defensive pressure away from the puck and mental fortitude won't be significantly impacted with or without Ness. This is a team that should improve to the point of joining the NCAAs but probably not considered a serious title contender and I am ok with that given the past 3 seasons. If that improvement is followed by another proper F class and lack of talent flight the program should be back where they belong.
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I prefer to wait until I see how the team is doing before I declare success, or an improvement. Last year's team looked a lot better coming into the season than it performed in the majority of the games. The way they played against Mich and some of the better teams was more of what I expected from last year's team than what most of the season looked like. This year's is a very young team without any upperclassmen that I would expect to perform the way I expected guys like Hoeffel, Barriball, Schroeder (ok- LC), Fairchild and White to have played with improvement over the previous year, at this time lat year. So while this team has some good talent on paper, and we want to believe that having Guentzel instead of Hill will mean more consistent effort by the players, you really don't know if there has been an improvement until you see the list of NCAA entrants (or of course, if they are so on fire that they lock up a spot earlier.)

And I don't think Ness would have been the savior for the team, just a consistent D who could have offered leadership, stability and maybe helped a lot on the always critical PP. I am more intent on pointing out the fallacy in the argument that he was worthless and won't be missed than being on the other extreme, as I think is the case for most of his supporters here.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

Koho said:
I prefer to wait until I see how the team is doing before I declare success, or an improvement.
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I am confident going into this season. Not in a, "They're a sure Top 3 WCHA team" kind of way but because I truly believe this could be a, "the sum is more than the whole of the parts" type of year. As I said time will tell, but I right now do not anticipate stagnation nor regression.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

4four4 said:
Coach Ikola had a house on the east side of town and I believe Goldy lives on the west side of town.;)
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Coach Ikola is the winningest HS hockey coach in Minnesota history (probably the nation). An amazing coach and a real classy guy too.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

HarleyMC said:
Coach Ikola is the winningest HS hockey coach in Minnesota history (probably the nation). An amazing coach and a real classy guy too.
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any one know for sure when hockey scholarships were first used? As far as I know Ikola went to Michigan because he would get a scholarship there, and not at Minnesota. and John Mayasich went to Minnesota because he was given a football scholarship.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

Happy said:
any one know for sure when hockey scholarships were first used? As far as I know Ikola went to Michigan because he would get a scholarship there, and not at Minnesota. and John Mayasich went to Minnesota because he was given a football scholarship.
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Hell, half his Eveleth team went to Michigan on scholly.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

HarleyMC said:
Coach Ikola is the winningest HS hockey coach in Minnesota history (probably the nation). An amazing coach and a real classy guy too.
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1. Bill Belisle* Mount St. Charles (Woonsocket, R.I.) 897

2. Edward Burns Arlington, Mass. 695

3. Ron Baum Kentwood East (Mich.) 623

4. Roy Nystrom* Albert Lea 617

5 Willard Ikola Edina 616

6. Lorne Grosso* Rochester Mayo 610

* Still active (records as of late January 2011)
 
hockeynut said:
1. Bill Belisle* Mount St. Charles (Woonsocket, R.I.) 897

2. Edward Burns Arlington, Mass. 695

3. Ron Baum Kentwood East (Mich.) 623

4. Roy Nystrom* Albert Lea 617

5 Willard Ikola Edina 616

6. Lorne Grosso* Rochester Mayo 610

* Still active (records as of late January 2011)
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I'd be curious to see the number of championships won too. As an Eden Prairie alum, I'm usually not quick to stand up for Edina hockey, but what Ikola did while he was there was truly remarkable.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

JDUBBS1280 said:
I'd be curious to see the number of championships won too. As an Eden Prairie alum, I'm usually not quick to stand up for Edina hockey, but what Ikola did while he was there was truly remarkable.
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Ikola had 8 state championships.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

hockeynut said:
1. Bill Belisle* Mount St. Charles (Woonsocket, R.I.) 897

2. Edward Burns Arlington, Mass. 695

3. Ron Baum Kentwood East (Mich.) 623

4. Roy Nystrom* Albert Lea 617

5 Willard Ikola Edina 616

6. Lorne Grosso* Rochester Mayo 610

* Still active (records as of late January 2011)
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Grosso passed both Nystrom and Ikola last winter.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

hockeynut said:
1. Bill Belisle* Mount St. Charles (Woonsocket, R.I.) 897

2. Edward Burns Arlington, Mass. 695

3. Ron Baum Kentwood East (Mich.) 623

4. Roy Nystrom* Albert Lea 617

5 Willard Ikola Edina 616

6. Lorne Grosso* Rochester Mayo 610

* Still active (records as of late January 2011)
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Interesting...I was working off of the official Minnesota State High School League SITE that has Ikola at #1 in MN. I did read somewhere though that he was actually second (now third I guess). Wow, Belisle is still active too, that's a hell of a lot of HS wins.
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Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

So I heard the Islander were pleased with what they saw of Ness at mini-camp this summer. Very poised and mature. Of course he would have looked horrible in a Gopher uniform and not contributed anything to the team.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

Koho said:
So I heard the Islander were pleased with what they saw of Ness at mini-camp this summer. Very poised and mature. Of course he would have looked horrible in a Gopher uniform and not contributed anything to the team.
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100% correct.
 
Re: 2011 Minnesota Offseason Thread

Suze said:
I noticed that the USCHO didn't list Guentzel as the asst. coach on the Minnesota page:

http://www.uscho.com/team/minnesota/mens-hockey/

So I visited the U of M website, which does list him with his picture. However, if you click on his name you get this:

http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-hockey/mtt/hill_john00.html

Wow. Pretty big screw up!!
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That link error was almost like watching a Saw movie...
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ScoobyDoo said:
100% correct.
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Nonsense, I thought he looked ok in a Gopher uniform.
 
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