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2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

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Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

The other thing that hasn't been mentioned is the long lineage their family has at UND...brothers, father, even grandfather I believe all played there. I very much doubt the twins would have ever committed to Minnesota had the Sioux women's program been more established at the time. Some also cite the Olympic year that may have influenced their decision to go to Minnesota for a year, knowing they could possibly better prepare while also not having to sit out a year when transferring back to North Dakota to play as sophomores. There's no way to be sure if this was all pre-planned, or if the transfer back was made sometime later, due to the strong family history at UND combined with the coaching change and the prospect/challenge of leading the way in getting the UND women's hockey program firmly established. Whatever the case I don't think there's any doubt that on that front it was "mission accomplished".
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Well the twins were hacks and cheap shot artists so the ND fans had that right. I found them irritating their year in maroon. They often took stupid penalties and were not great team players. I'm not convinced there would have been 2 championships and an undefeated season had they stayed. It's not surprising that a Lam saw the winning goal go into the net in OT from the penalty box in both theri last playoff game and the gold medal game.

brookyone said:
No...I don't think so and didn't at the time. It was a surprise. Maybe some were shocked and I think Frosty mentioned being caught off guard. That was about the extent, or intensity for the most part. I suppose some fans might have been more upset. After that freshman season they had I believe most GWH fans were not real happy about their departure. Far from despondent though.

Myself, I've been more unhappy with other departures. Departures of players who genuinely wanted to wear the Maroon & Gold.

I have no problem admitting that under those circumstances...it was especially sweet ending NoDak's and the twin's season a time or two. Too bad for them they ended their careers minus any hardware while the team they left collected a few pieces themselves.

I ultimately have quite a bit of respect...or came to have respect for Mo & Jo. I think they knew full well what they were risking as far as being a part of a team with a better chance at a NCAA championship and sacrificed that in order to help build a program that they cared about and wanted to be a part of making it better...putting it on the map. They both mentioned that, and I believe them. Pretty selfless...IMO. GWH did alright without them. If you never watched them play as Gophers...they often had one rather glaring issue during that time. It seemed anyone that played on their line was often invisible to them. They put up the points anyway.

There were some aspects I found amusing as well. When they committed to Minnesota folks in Grand Forks were none too happy and didn't hide the fact. First trip to The Ralph and there were "Traitor Twins" signs. The online disgust...like in the Sioux Sports Forum was pretty brutal and after a couple games at The Ralph there was a lot of talk about how fans were glad they didn't commit to UND because they were "dirty" cheap shot artist" "hacks" etc. etc. The twins were the target of quite a bit of abuse among NoDak faithful at the time. Then the transfer...and the same people in the Sioux forum were thrilled...they're the greatest players on the planet and anyone who said otherwise was torn a new one. There was a quick attitude adjustment in Grand Forks and the Traitor Twins signs were swiftly discarded.
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Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Undisciplined at key moments in games, especially Monique, you bet. But on the other hand their stats don't lie. They seemed to have a special sense of knowing where each other were on the ice at all times and maybe that was because they are twins. Their passing and shooting ability at times was extraordinary. They were both fun and at times very frustrating to watch. I remember being very upset when they left because I had wanted to see if they would improve over the next three years and maybe develop a little more control with maturity. I don't know if they became more disciplined or not by the time they were seniors. I remember we sat a couple of seats from one of the ND students at the Ralph and he would hold up a "Traitor Twins" sign whenever they came on the ice. I also remember the next year at Ridder one of the twins pumping her fist a couple of times after the final buzzer rang when they had defeated the Gophers. I did not notice any "Traitor Twins" signs at Ridder that day or any other for that matter. Minnesota Nice, I guess. The Lams were definitely a mixed bag as far as this Gopher fan goes. My wife is still upset with them for leaving and thinks they just used the Gophers to get what they wanted, national recognition.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

bluffrinkrat said:
I don't know if they became more disciplined or not by the time they were seniors.
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No, they did not. End of story.

Switching gears...

Interesting stats from Bemidji State, as they have 17 players with 2+ points this season. They have 6 juniors leading the team in scoring, three with 5 points apiece and three with 4 points each. They've outscored the opponents 21-15, but most their damage was in non-conference play; they've been outscored 12-5 in their four WCHA games. Former Gopher Stephanie Anderson leads the team with 3 goals.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

CrazyDave said:
Interesting stats from Bemidji State ... they've been outscored 12-5 in their four WCHA games.
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BSU's last three WCHA losses have been by a single goal. We have to expect a tough series.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Jo Lam had an eye popping 97 penalties in her first two years and 59 in her final two, so some improvement there, but 156 penalties is really an amazing number. Mo had 70 for the first two years and 67 for the last two for a total of 137 and fairly evenly distributed in each year. As much as I hate to admit it, Crazy Dave is right, the sisters did not reduce their undisciplined play much by the time they were seniors.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

I know we sent players to Four Nations but did we send the rink crew, too? The timekeeping waspure comedy in the first period and there was way too much water dumped on the rink before the second. The Gophers didn't look good but I don't think it was a coincidence that they picked it up for the second half of the period once there was no longer any standing water.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

at least they had the sense to wait a bit for the start of the third.
so Minnesota beats Wisconsin
Wisconsin Beats Bemidji
Bemidji beats Minnesota
:confused:
by my math, the Gophers hold a 1 point lead over the Badgers
yes, the point is important
but if it ends up that way, I'll be as disappointed as Badger fans
I'd prefer they extend the overtime
after all, aren't they keeping everyone there for ~ 5 minutes of game time?
 
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Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Five things:

1) Bemidji is a good team. How they got swept by Ohio State I have no idea. You couldn't offer me the odds that would get me to bet that they'll finish behind the Buckeyes in the standings at the end of the year.
2) Bemidji also played really well. We haven't faced that aggressive a forecheck in a long time, even against Clarkson last March.
3) We didn't play well.
4) Missing the Team USA players, and having Ramsey at well below full speed, hurt us.
5) We couldn't buy a bounce in front of the net either game. Well, we got one but the refs waved it off incorrectly. (No crying about the refs, though, because they did their best to hand us today's game; we just refused to take it.) Bemdiji's first goal last night was a shot from the boards that hit Kelsey Cline's skate, somehow popped straight up in the air, off the chest of a Bemidji player who had no idea it was there, and past Sydney Peters.

Unlike the last couple of years, we're not good enough for all of those things to be true and yet still find a way to win anyway.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Eeyore said:
How they got swept by Ohio State I have no idea. You couldn't offer me the odds that would get me to bet that they'll finish behind the Buckeyes in the standings at the end of the year.
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We haven't seen Ohio State, so it is hard to say how good the Buckeyes are. My guess is that the Beavers played better this weekend than they did in Columbus.

Credit to Bemidji State. They played well and deserved the points that they got this weekend.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Eeyore said:
There was way too much water dumped on the rink before the second. The Gophers didn't look good but I don't think it was a coincidence that they picked it up for the second half of the period once there was no longer any standing water.
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Glad to see that most of you are giving Bemidji credit. Because otherwise, it means "standing water" is Minnesota's kryptonite, and there will be a lot more water than usual coming out of Gopher opponent's Zambonis for the rest of the season!
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

PuckRush said:
Glad to see that most of you are giving Bemidji credit. Because otherwise, it means "standing water" is Minnesota's kryptonite, and there will be a lot more water than usual coming out of Gopher opponent's Zambonis for the rest of the season!
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That's hilarious. I had a similar thought after reading Eeyore's post :p
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.
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They aren't alone. Without Brandt, the junior class of skaters didn't do much yesterday. Seniors? They were a big part of the problem all weekend. May as well throw the freshmen under the bus as well. It takes a lot of people to win, and a lot of people bear some of the blame when a team loses.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.
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I've been impressed with Cline; she'll never be a big scorer but her defensive play has been very nice. Schipper has been a part of an outstanding penalty kill and has had chances. Wolfe seems to be having some trouble adjusting to being back at forward and we'll have to see. Flug has only had one game all year (yesterday) where she got any real amount of ice time and I think she's earned more. Paige Haley didn't look very good but, again, has hardly had enough playing time to really judge. Oh, yeah, and that Stecklein kid does okay.

The one player that I think has struggled a lot, and not just this weekend, is Garzone. She looks lost a lot of the time and is getting beaten badly to the outside. She had a horrible play against North Dakota where she took a bad shot that was blocked high and then stopped skating, forcing Cline to take a penalty on the ensuing breakaway. Something to keep an eye on.

Also, the only goal yesterday was on a 4-on-3 power play that started with a PK unit of Menefee/Garzone/Cline. They got stuck on the zone, eventually managing to clear the puck far enough only to change Garzone for a hobbled Ramsey. My guess is that you won't see that particular penalty killing group again this year.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Eeyore said:
My guess is that you won't see that particular penalty killing group again this year.
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There weren't many options for forwards on that one with 21/22 gone and Bona and Lorence in the box. Ramsey and McMillen were both on the ice for the four on four before Lorence took the second penalty. At that point, they probably tried to go with the most veteran group that they had available. The trio had at least three chances to clear, and couldn't get the puck out until the clear to center ice that you mentioned. That inability almost always proves costly on the PK.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
Minnesota's sophomore class is really underperforming aside from Cameranesi. It's really causing the lineup to have some glaring holes. The coaching staff has some work to do.
Click to expand...
Gopher fans got spoiled over the last 3-4 years pretty badly. Those teams will go down as something special, something we may not see again on any hockey team. This current bunch is very good, those other kids were superheros, it is unfair to compare them. As they showed in Madison and against ND this group is more than capable, they just may not be invincible. Thats great news for womens hockey, painful reality for the old maroon and gold.

Several years ago one of the knuckle draggers that wrote for the Strib sports page said that people don't demand coach firings in womens sports because they don't respect the sport or the coaches. This may be the sort of logic one acquires from overexposure to carbon monoxide, spending too much time in a garage I suppose. But just in case I guess I have to now demand Frost be fired in order to show that I have respect for him and womens hockey. I don't want to but I have to. I will have to dye my gold pants black now in mourning, the whole season is a catastrophe!
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Kate Schipper is -2 on the year in plus/minus. That is worst on the team. A lot of the decisions she has made haven’t worked out, she has whiffed on a bunch of shots, and hasn’t taken advantage of some good scoring opportunities.

But she is so fast and she plays so hard. She has good hands and good moves. I think if a few things go her way, she could be right on the cusp of flipping a switch and really making some things happen. That could impact her confidence. It would really be cool if we could see her blossom and I think if that happens she could carry Rachael Bona and Meghan Lorence along with her and transform some frustration into a really good line.
 
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