2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

[robertearle]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

Was surprised that UW looked like a different team than last week...maybe they just don't show up against Minnesota, as recent results prove out.

You have it backwards. Minnesota shows up when they play Wisconsin, and then occasionally disappears against Bemidji or North Dakota (or Clarkson).

I swear, if you put the Badger players into other uniforms, the Gophers would "let" them win by three goals. And if you sent the Harvard players out tomorrow in 'motion W' uniforms, Minnesota would win 5-0.

Will Minnesota 'disappear' again tomorrow? Who knows.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

You have it backwards. Minnesota shows up when they play Wisconsin, and then occasionally disappears against Bemidji or North Dakota (or Clarkson).

I swear, if you put the Badger players into other uniforms, the Gophers would "let" them win by three goals. And if you sent the Harvard players out tomorrow in 'motion W' uniforms, Minnesota would win 5-0.

Will Minnesota 'disappear' again tomorrow? Who knows.

You have it wrong. The only way I'm worried is if Harvard comes out tomorrow in their new special occasion green jerseys.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

You have it wrong. The only way I'm worried is if Harvard comes out tomorrow in their new special occasion green jerseys.

Let me draw that into a very fine point for you. The ONLY games MN has lost in the last 39 months have been to teams wearing green uniforms. If I were Katey Stone I'd be having a brand new alternative jersey made for tomorrows game, in bright Kelly Green.

 

[ARM]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

Was surprised that UW looked like a different team than last week...maybe they just don't show up against Minnesota, as recent results prove out.

I certainly wouldn't accuse UW of not showing up yesterday. Based on the first 20 plus minutes, I don't think they could have been expected to start any harder.

Minnesota shows up when they play Wisconsin, and then occasionally disappears against Bemidji or North Dakota (or Clarkson).

Minnesota has lost five games in three years. Most teams would glad take a season of five losses and go from there. Of those five losses, I don't know how many I'd describe as not showing up or disappearing. The Gophers started slow against UND when the streak ended, falling down 3-0 after a period. So they didn't show up with the fire needed out of the gate. Clarkson beat them in the third period; credit the Golden Knights for a great game. Some players didn't show up in the first loss to Bemidji State -- literally. And I think history demonstrated that the Beavers were a team that could cause anyone problems if they were missing three of their best players. North Dakota was playing great and was desperate and got the key goal to end a stalemate. The Gophers weren't terrific in that game, but they really weren't that bad. The second loss to Bemidji was another case of one team clearly wanting it more. Not tons more, but they definitely had more incentive.

One key for Minnesota is that its best players like Brandt, Cameranesi, and Stecklein don't take games off. So that helps keep the team playing pretty steadily.

I'm more concerned that Harvard will play just great than I am that Minnesota doesn't show up. I expect a top game from both teams.

 

[Hux]

Very well said D2D....I concur, as I loved both games! Was surprised that UW looked like a different team than last week...maybe they just don't show up against Minnesota, as recent results prove out. Was very impressed with Harvard's D, and Mashmeier ( sp).....I'm not sure if Harvard can do it vs Minne though because I'm not sure they can score 4 goals like Clarkson did! It'll be some great hockey either way....
Thoroughly enjoyed the Patty Kaz broadcast today! Looking forward to attending next years in Durham.

Actually, the Patty Kaz will be held in Portsmouth, most likely at the Sheraton as it was in '05.

 

[zoofer]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

Even better! Was thinking that Durham didn't have a large enuf room......

 

[Eeyore]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

One thing that makes me a bit more confident is that while Harvard plays great defense, they didn't seem to play the same kind of defense that has given Minnesota so much trouble. Bemidji forechecks very aggressively and is trying to take away your time and space for all 200 feet. Last night I thought Harvard played a more conservative kind of defense, laying back in the neutral zone and then clogging things up. I still think that that's not as effective to beat the Gophers, who can be very patient (sometimes to a fault) in how they run their breakouts, moving the puck around trying to pry an opening in the defensive coverage.

Harvard is good enough that they could make it work anyway, but as a style match-up, if my observations are correct (I await word from ARM on that) it gives an advantage to Minnesota.

 

[Leather helmet]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

One thing that makes me a bit more confident is that while Harvard plays great defense, they didn't seem to play the same kind of defense that has given Minnesota so much trouble. Bemidji forechecks very aggressively and is trying to take away your time and space for all 200 feet. Last night I thought Harvard played a more conservative kind of defense, laying back in the neutral zone and then clogging things up. I still think that that's not as effective to beat the Gophers, who can be very patient (sometimes to a fault) in how they run their breakouts, moving the puck around trying to pry an opening in the defensive coverage.

Harvard is good enough that they could make it work anyway, but as a style match-up, if my observations are correct (I await word from ARM on that) it gives an advantage to Minnesota.

If you want to build a team to beat the Gophers, you would...wait, Bemidji already did that. If BSU and UM played 10 times, they would all be 1-0 and Bemidji would have won 3-4 of them. The problem for other teams trying to emulate that is that, for Bemidji, that is their system and they have the discipline to play it for all 60 minutes. If that aggressive defense is not in your DNA, it is nearly impossible to maintain it for an entire game, and suddenly the Gophers are up by 3 and you need to start playing offense.

 

[pokechecker]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

V Was surprised that UW looked like a different team than last week...maybe they just don't show up against Minnesota, as recent results prove out.

idiotic statement of the year

the typical MN/WI game the last two years during this win streak is that WI controls play for the first 30 minutes and MN controls it the last 30
usually, the team that plays best the last period wins

since Bemidji beat MN twice this year and WI went 0-5 vs. MN you could conclude Bemidji is better than WI, yet, results prove otherwise

 

[ARM]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

... if my observations are correct (I await word from ARM on that) ...

ARM doesn't know jack. He only objects when you start ranting after six-goal wins and trying to throw half the team under the bus.

As for another of my pet peeves, the Gopher faithful were much better yesterday about making noise without requiring the team to score before they felt it was worthy of receiving vocal support. Way to support.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

Minnesota has lost five games in three years. Most teams would glad take a season of five losses and go from there. Of those five losses, I don't know how many I'd describe as not showing up or disappearing.

The only game I was disappointed in Gopher play was the Friday night tie against the Beavers, they had the full roster but I didn't sense the effort, I thought they played harder on Saturday when they were badly shorthanded owing to the national team.

One key for Minnesota is that its best players like Brandt, Cameranesi, and Stecklein don't take games off. So that helps keep the team playing pretty steadily.

I have said for years the reason we go to every women's game but only 1 or 2 men's games was because I know when we go to the women's game we know we will see great hockey but also 60 minutes of real effort. I love te way those kids play - it can't be easy because I know there have to be nights they hurt, are tired & banged up, have a paper due on Monday and all the other things that happen in life yet it all seems to disappear at the gate

As for another of my pet peeves, the Gopher faithful were much better yesterday about making noise without requiring the team to score before they felt it was worthy of receiving vocal support. Way to support.

Yup! We are terribly spoiled. But I have found that the womens crowd is almost as stade as the moneyed crowd at the mens. We often get dirty looks from people for cheering too loudly or doing the hockey cheers like "yer outta here ya hack" (I don't do the "sieve" one for reasons I hope would be obvious) and even caused 3 women to change out their season tickets to move to the other side of the arena. The crowds are often too "polite" But that is getting better. Norwood himself commented on my cheering but at least he did it in a positive manner.

 

[Blackbeard]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

As for another of my pet peeves, the Gopher faithful were much better yesterday. Way to support.

I'm kind of surprised there has been virtually no discussion about all the Elvis impersonators who attended the first game. Maybe it's time for the FF not to be held in a location where there are too many excuses for most of the fans to not arrive before and stay for, BOTH games.

Is that even possible? And if so, where?

Many here are expressing their disappointment at these games not having been televised. What kind of impression would that give when the camera pans a 50-75% vacant building in, of all places, the "state of hockey"? I think the impression and resulting conclusion gleaned by the tv concerns/ncaa would be...we ain't doin' this again... because it makes them look like fools to their audience. Maybe this is why the NCAA, or whomever they've given the rights to, can't be bothered. Build it and they will come...well, at least that's the saying.

 

[ARM]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

Is that even possible? And if so, where?

I don't think so. It's hard enough to fill a building with people who care about the teams, let alone finding a place to play where you can fill it with casual observers.

I think that one of the problems on Friday was that scalpers ate some of the tickets. There were a lot of seats that weren't ever occupied. People who may have bought a ticket through the ticket office gave up when they learned they weren't available, and most of those aren't going to spend an evening hanging outside of the arena in the hope of buying a ticket at an inflated price. The demand for the sport is fragile and can't handle greed of scalpers added to the price.

Some people left early but it was far, far better than it was two years ago, when just about everybody left.

 

[KTDC]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

I don't know, man, that building last night has got to be considered a major success. Sold out way in advance. For the first game most of the seats were occupied and the crowd was really loud and into it. I bet it was pretty high up the list on the DB meter in history for a women's hockey game outside the olympics.

The BC and Harvard sections were pretty open at the start of the game. But of course all their fans didn't show up for all of both games. Just like of course all the MN and Wisconsin fans didn't stay for all the second game. But I still say there were a lot of people there at the start of the second game. I think it was in the high teens at least. And as Eeyore said they didn't all suddenly leave. They filtered out and so by the end of the game most were gone. But that can't be too big of a surprise or a shame.

We're not going to find a neutral site that's going to do thousands of people that are going to sit through all of all the games. The State of Hockey hosted a successful and exciting event.

 

[ARM]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

I bet it was pretty high up the list on the DB meter in history for a women's hockey game outside the olympics.

The Olympics and Canada. Our neighbors to the north do support the game.

 

[Eeyore]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

I'm kind of surprised there has been virtually no discussion about all the Elvis impersonators who attended the first game. Maybe it's time for the FF not to be held in a location where there are too many excuses for most of the fans to not arrive before and stay for, BOTH games.

As I said, for most of the second game there were more people there than showed up for the Beanpot or HE finals. There isn't any evidence that there is anywhere that will draw a big crowd for teams that aren't local.

 

[ManBehindTheCurtain]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

Personally, I stayed

Game one we had Gopher fans left right front back. It was crowded, it was intense, it was great.

Game two?

Gopher fans right stayed for two periods.

Gopher fans behind? Two stayed, two left. After a period all were gone and people without tickets for those seats started filling in behind us. Towards the end of period two there were two guys behind us and one of the two says to the other, "Want to leave now?" And they did. The game score was still 0-0. We stayed.

The seats were then filled for the third period by either 4 or 5 (I don't know for sure, they were behind me) mothers of BC players. I know they were mothers, everyone who has gotten this far knows that you can tell by the sorts of comments that mothers make when their daughters are playing hockey on the ice sheet in front of you that the commenters are mothers.

They were, needless to say, intensely interested. We enjoyed the atmosphere. With that much emotion clearly evident just behind us we had no problem at all staying interested in the game.

And, heck, it was an exciting third period, and overall a very interesting hockey game.

Go Gophers!

 

[Nowheresville]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

I'm kind of surprised there has been virtually no discussion about all the Elvis impersonators who attended the first game. Maybe it's time for the FF not to be held in a location where there are too many excuses for most of the fans to not arrive before and stay for, BOTH games.

Is that even possible? And if so, where?

I don't think there has been much discussion, because I was actually impressed at the number of people who stuck around for both games. Of course a lot of people left, but that was made up for in part by the fact that the BC and Harvard sections, that had been pretty empty during the first game, were packed full. I think the wristband allowing you to leave and come back probably helped keep the crowds up for both games.

The only slight disappointment for me was the number of people who decided to leave after the 2nd period of the 2nd game, but even there, there was still a pretty good amount of fan energy for the 3rd period.

And no, I don't think it's possible for it to get better, and if you think that's an argument for no tv coverage, then you wouldn't see tv coverage of the Mens Frozen Four or even the early rounds of the Mens NCAA BB tourney. The 1st round of the BB tourney was in Milwaukee last year, and Wisconsin was one of the teams. It was sold out, and a packed arena for Badger games, but the other games, including some Michigan games, were basically empty. You really can't help it - people want to see their team, but they generally don't want to be trapped inside an arena for 5 or 6 hours.

The only real surprise to me on Friday was the number of people who didn't show up at all. There were a good handful of seats around us that were never used during either game. And the strangest thing was the person who had the seats directly to my left didn't show up until the 3rd period of the 1st game, and didn't stick around for the 2nd. Maybe he just moved seats for the second game (as I suspect a lot of people in the corners did), but I kind of doubt it.

 

[ARM]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

The only real surprise to me on Friday was the number of people who didn't show up at all. There were a good handful of seats around us that were never used during either game.

I think the scalpers were holding more tickets than they could sell, having overestimated the demand on the street.

 

[KTDC]

Re: 2015 Women's Frozen Four Championship: Who Wins?

You bring all these people from Boston to town, well of course it's going to start snowing

By the way, Twin Cities folks, did you know our record snowfall is 1983-84 with 96 inches, and Boston got 108 this year? Hardly feels right.