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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!

I think Cara Piazza has a lot of upside to get much more effective than she is so far…but already I love the way she grinds and hustles all the time!
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

The first half, and what I might have anticipated or expected beforehand vs. the actual results.

The first four weeks on the conference schedule, I would not have expected a record of 6-0 after road trips to Duluth and Madison and a home series vs. NoDak. The sweep in Madison on just the 3rd weekend of play the biggest bonus per what I was expecting...or at least, prepared for with all things considered. Bottom line...early sweeps in Duluth and Madison...a sweep of NoDak at home made for a fine start.

Then came the Beavers. Would I have anticipated just one conference point out of the series? No...I didn't. Maybe I should have. By all accounts BSU was playing good hockey...inspired hockey from the start. Had lost four straight coming into the series against two good teams. Three of the four losses were one goal losses, apparently still playing well and competing. New coach and the Beavers responding to the change quickly in a positive way, not necessarily better than I expected, but sooner than expected. A series that illustrates another unexpected aspect. I think Minnesota rattled off about 85 SOG in the series with just 2 finding the back of the net. Prior to the SCSU series...overall something like 69 goals on 704 SOG. More good scoring chances that aren't ending up on the scoreboard than I would have expected throughout the first half. Seems they've struggled a little with finishing. A few forwards I anticipated would have better numbers after the first half. More points than they ultimately accumulated. Some signs that's trending in the right direction towards the conclusion of the first half. Scoring: I anticipate greater success in 2015.

And Lee Stecklein...certainly anticipated a new level of play as one would expect from added experience and a year spent with Team USA and an Olympic Games tournament on her résumé. The advancement of her skills and game on the whole have surpassed those expectations. Pretty comforting to remember she's just a sophomore. Clearly a leader and anchor on the blue line for the balance of her career.
 
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Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

I think Cara Piazza has a lot of upside to get much more effective than she is so far…but already I love the way she grinds and hustles all the time!
Yep...I agree.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

The first half, and what I might have anticipated or expected beforehand vs. the actual results.

Seems they've struggled a little with finishing. A few forwards I anticipated would have better numbers after the first half. More points than they ultimately accumulated. Some signs that's trending in the right direction towards the conclusion of the first half. Scoring: I anticipate greater success in 2015.

And Lee Stecklein...certainly anticipated a new level of play as one would expect from added experience and a year spent with Team USA and an Olympic Games tournament on her résumé. The advancement of her skills and game on the whole have surpassed those expectations. Pretty comforting to remember she's just a sophomore. Clearly a leader and anchor on the blue line for the balance of her career.

Thanks Brooky. As I've said before, I think it's good they've gotten to play for a while without the #1 monkey on their back, which I think is beneficial for developing the freshman, and to try to get the sophomores rocking' a little more (not Dani obvi!). I'm with Brooky on I was maybe hoping for a little more from some of the forwards throughout much of the half. But, overall I'm pleased with the way they competed, particularly based on the UW and UND series, series they probably considered the biggest of the half, UW for sure. They looked strong in those series.

I think Stecklein, Ramsey and McMillan are a serious trio on the blue line, and I'm extremely pleased with the way Baldwin looks. Beautiful skater, looking confident and sure of herself. I like Wolfe back at defense. It's been fun to watch Paige Haley play some at forward. To me she has looked more comfortable since the move and she finally got that first goal. She can live with that for the next month and come back smoking!

Gotta mention Hannah Brandt and Dani Cameranesi, kudos to both of you!!
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Didn't get the sweep in Duluth.
Ah right. I don't know how I could not have remembered the celebration of that magnitude by the hosts.
 
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Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Thanks for posting the Teddy Bear Toss video KDTC. I see my first toss reached a height of the very bottom of the 2002 banner. Since my wife was on the DL with a sore shoulder my second toss must have made it to at least the 02 of the banner, but, alas with no video it's only a guess. Only one faulty throw that I saw this year and that hit the netting behind the St Cloud goal earlier in the first period.
 
Only one faulty throw that I saw this year and that hit the netting behind the St Cloud goal earlier in the first period.
Several pep band members had bears and were trying to clear the net behind Leveille, without success. I helped them out and ran the stuffed animals over to where there was no netting.
 
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Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Thanks for posting the Teddy Bear Toss video KDTC. I see my first toss reached a height of the very bottom of the 2002 banner. Since my wife was on the DL with a sore shoulder my second toss must have made it to at least the 02 of the banner, but, alas with no video it's only a guess. Only one faulty throw that I saw this year and that hit the netting behind the St Cloud goal earlier in the first period.
Plus one on the thanks to KDTC for the video. Did the faulty throw occur on the goal that was waved off? I had a "here we go again" moment on that one.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Yes the faulty throw was on the one with the scramble in front of the net. I did not see the puck go in and it was not reviewed. I had the same here we go again moment. The guy threw the bear from about the back row and it bounced off the net and landed by or on a woman in the 2nd row and she tossed it back up to him. I don't know if his second attempt was successful or not. My wife said doesn't he realize there's a net there? I thought he probably did and was being funny maybe?
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

FWIW, the Gophers may have had problems scoring against the Beavers this year, but it looks like a future Gopher didn't have a problem

what's this about 5 D?
I count 6, and every game except the last one, what has transpired isn't terribly surprising, Wolfe has not scored at forward (IMO a blessing in disguise, makes the decision of where to play her easy, Garzone played D last year because of all the inexperienced freshman and did a good job of it, but with Kelsey Cline playing well and the addition of Baldwin, who obviously will one day be a very very good blueliner, may as well put Wolfe at D and return Garzone to forward. Injuries are never a good thing but it opens up an opportunity for Haley to show what she can do at forward. Seems like a win-win-win-win to me.
 
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Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Only if you have a color set -- do they still make black and white? On Monday night I was looking through the guide for BTN and they showed a rebroadcast of one of the SCSU games Tuesday morning. So I set it up to record on my DVR, but when I checked it last night, it was a rebroadcast of the football championship game. :( I don't know if the GWH game was moved to a different time, or if they just kept showing the football game over and over. Maybe they figured all blowouts are the same.
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

This is very good news.

But it is better news for people in Madison than it is for me.

I was and am going to see the game live and in living color anyway, by being in attendance at the actual game.

But, still, always good news when any game gets on actual cable TV.
I think an agreement of reciprocity is needed with The BTN and BB combatants for the series in Madison too. ;)

Let's work on that eh?
 
Re: 2014-2015 Minnesota Women's Hockey: The Maroon & Gold Strike Back!

Random comments, pending the resumption of games:

In the pregame interview last Friday night, Dan and Brad discussed injuries. They mentioned Kessel (no change), Flug (healing after her surgery), and Garzone (not available this weekend but no word why). In the Saturday interview, Dan asked why Cline and Haley were getting extended looks at F, and Brad said that Garzone might not be available after the break and he wanted to audition potential replacements. He said the best case was that Brook would be back, but he needed to be prepared with St Laurence and Wisco coming up right away in Jan.

Good news for those doomsayers who worry the bench is too short to survive any injuries: the incoming commitments for the next two years exactly match the outgoing seniors by position (not taking Amanda into account). At this point, there will be no players watching the games from the bleachers until October, 2017, when they will have four goalies. I very much approve suiting up the entire roster.

Speaking of commitments, the Gophers have announced their incoming recruits before the end of November in eight of the last nine years (2012’s announcement did not come until Dec 14). I’m hoping this year’s delay is just a matter of everyone being busy and not a harbinger of unexpected news.

Last week I Googled a local restaurant, hoping to discover their hours of operation. Google added the phrase “This site may be hacked” to the listing. I wasn’t sure if it was warning me or giving permission.

I hope all of you will have the very best holiday ever!
 
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