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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!

Watching the game the images that kept coming to my mind were from the 2007-2008 team, particularly those last two games of that season, the WCHA final in Duluth and the NCAA first round at Ridder.

Opponent both times? Wisconsin.

In the first of the two in Duluth Minnesota often appeared to be the better team but an important question appeared early and loomed over the entire game. Who the heck is going to score for the Gophers?

I clearly remember the final sequence as the Gophers pulled the goalie to go for the tie. Ross, Graft, McKenzie, Marvin, Gagnon, Drazen.

One of team captains batted one into the net with her glove in the waning seconds but not even the most ardent Gopher supporter thought that one was going to stand up.

But even having lost the WCHA final the Gophers hosted the NCAA first round game the following week.

Minnesota changed goalers, going with the senior. This time the teams were absolutely dead even, playing to 2-2 in regulation. A classic blunder allowed Zaugg to score at 1:29 of overtime to send Wisconsin on to the semi-finals. Even though the Badgers were two time defending national champions they dropped the final to UMD (in Duluth).

The Gophers of that season were the Gophers I kept seeing this weekend, talented, good skating, strong defense, but who, oh who, is going to score?
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ManBehindTheCurtain said:
But even having lost the WCHA final the Gophers hosted the NCAA first round game the following week.

Minnesota changed goalers, going with the senior.
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The first loss to UW was in the WCHA semifinal; UMD took that final as well. In the NCAA quarter, Lura started as a rookie.

ManBehindTheCurtain said:
The Gophers of that season were the Gophers I kept seeing this weekend, talented, good skating, strong defense, but who, oh who, is going to score?
Click to expand...
That UM team had three players with 20-goal seasons, so they weren't quite as offensively starved as you think. With the pace Brandt and Cameranesi have set, each should get there as well, and hopefully, beyond.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

McMillen's also on a pace to break 20 goals. As for secondary scoring, I'll go with Menefee, Ramsey, Schipper, Bona, Piazza, and Lorence. Stecklein and Pannek will rack up assists.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ARM said:
The first loss to UW was in the WCHA semifinal; UMD took that final as well.
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Thanks for having a better memory than mine. With my memory enhanced by your comment though I now specifically remember hanging around Duluth the next morning and then heading on home because we just were not up for Wisconsin v. UMD for a title that was now out of reach for the Gophers.

ARM said:
In the NCAA quarter, Lura started as a rookie.
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I remember that the players seemed to support starting Lura, my memory is faulty in that I thought it was because she was the vet. I do remember that Lura was occasionally spectacular as a frosh while Hanlon was coming off a knee injury. Hanlon was never again quite as good for the rest of her career as she was in that sensational run at the end of her freshman year after the starting goalie abruptly left the team.

ARM said:
That UM team had three players with 20-goal seasons, so they weren't quite as offensively starved as you think. With the pace Brandt and Cameranesi have set, each should get there as well, and hopefully, beyond.
Click to expand...
I didn't mean to imply that over the season the team lacked scoring. Ross, McKenzie, Marvin. Are those the three? Certainly they were the team's best players.

I just meant that in that game in Duluth especially but also the following week in Ridder it just didn't seem likely that the Gophers were going to find a way to get the puck behind Vetter.

That's the way I felt this weekend.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ManBehindTheCurtain said:
I just meant that in that game in Duluth especially but also the following week in Ridder it just didn't seem likely that the Gophers were going to find a way to get the puck behind Vetter.
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Got it. I often felt that way when we played against Vetter, no matter who we had on the roster. :(
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

I have a question -- when was the last time the Gophers were shut out?
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

TonyTheTiger20 said:
I have a question -- when was the last time the Gophers were shut out?
Click to expand...

KTDC said:
Dec 3, 2011 UND 3-0
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Yes, the answer to all the "when was the last time" questions seemed to involve North Dakota. I believe that the nameless ones still hold the last sweep of the Gophers. Sorry, pgb, but a shootout win and a regulation win is not a sweep. ;)
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ARM said:
Sorry, pgb, but a shootout win and a regulation win is not a sweep. ;)
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Agreed.

sweep - n - The act of taking all standings points from an opponent across multiple games. :p
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ne7minder said:
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!
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I'm asking this just to be clear. Are you thinking that I am implying that the issue is a coaching problem?
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

There are still only four players on the roster that have ever lost a game to a team that doesn't wear green.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

FiveHoleFrenzy said:
I'm asking this just to be clear. Are you thinking that I am implying that the issue is a coaching problem?
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Nope - I was just being a smart ***. I have an ax to grind with the ***hole that wrote the column who knows zero about much of anything but pretends to be an expert on everything (and publicly attacked my 18 year old kid on air & would not allow him to respond when he called up). Plus I like to tweak Frost, the guy coaches a team that has lost 2-3 games the last couple of years and thats just not up to our high standards! :) Not that he reads this stuff but its an outlet.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ARM said:
Yes, the answer to all the "when was the last time" questions seemed to involve North Dakota. I believe that the nameless ones still hold the last sweep of the Gophers. Sorry, pgb, but a shootout win and a regulation win is not a sweep. ;)
Click to expand...

In January 2011 the Gophers only managed 1 point on the weekend, not a sweep but its the worst weekend till this past one. Those who cannot be named did get a sweep a few months before that.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ARM said:
Got it. I often felt that way when we played against Vetter, no matter who we had on the roster. :(
Click to expand...

There was a stretch there where it seemed MN just felt they would lose to WI. That last year the Gophers really did have the better team but could not find a way. I felt the exact opposite a couple weekends ago, WI may be a bit better but they couldn't even steal a point. For the record I sort of enjoy that more than the previous monkey/back situation.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

ne7minder said:
Nope - I was just being a smart ***. I have an ax to grind with the ***hole that wrote the column who knows zero about much of anything but pretends to be an expert on everything (and publicly attacked my 18 year old kid on air & would not allow him to respond when he called up). Plus I like to tweak Frost, the guy coaches a team that has lost 2-3 games the last couple of years and thats just not up to our high standards! :) Not that he reads this stuff but its an outlet.
Click to expand...

Ok thanks. I kind of figured as much but wasn't sure.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

March/April are a long ways off so who knows how good this team will be, but if they have any character at all this stretch of games should make them hungry and realize that whatever they achieve in the end will have to be earned. No reason that can't be just as exciting as a 1 or 0 loss season.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

The lack of Gopher games this weekend gives me a chance to catch up on a couple of things.

Every once in a while, a third brain cell flickers to life in my skull and I then remember to check for notes you may have left me. By that time, any note has been there too long for me to gracefully reply. I offer my apologies to those of you who left me notes for not at least acknowledging them. I’m not ignoring you, I’m just distracted.

My take on the games last weekend was that once Hannah left, the Gophers had no one on the roster who had played center at this level beyond a random game or three and the 10 games so far this season. Skill is always better when seasoned with experience, so they should be in good shape come February.

What do we have to do to get the Four Nations tourney here in MSP? We’ve got enough venues so that scheduling should not be a factor, and I would love a chance to see world class players in action (beyond those that I see at Gopher games).

That's all I got. See you in Ridder in a couple of weeks.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

I'm gonna be at y'all's airport tomorrow for an hour. Preemptive hello!
 
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