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I don't "need" them to be, otherwise I wouldn't be such a big Gopher football fan, too. Gopher football hasn't been the end all and be all for a very long time, since before I was born.
But when it comes to hockey, they simply always have been the end all and be all, depending on your point of view, and in my US hockey centric view, they are. Oh, they could have 2 or 3 more Natl titles, but otherwise,
#1 in # of players sent to compete in the Olympics, by a 2 to 1 margin over Wisconsin for example (73 to 34)
#1 in # of players who have won Olympic medals, by an almost 3 to 1 margin over UND for example (33 to 12)
#1 in # of players who have won Olympic Gold Medals, by over a 3 to 1 margin over MSU for example (13 to 4)
#1 in # of players sent to the NHL (115 total)
#1 in # of players sent to the US Hockey Hall of Fame.
#1 in # of players sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
#1 in # of NCAA Tourney appearances
#1 in # of NCAA Tourney wins.
They won the very first intercollegiate hockey game ever played. A Gopher won the first ever Hobey Baker Award and a Gopher was a finalist for having the trophy named for him, and at least a couple of years ago, had the most former players who had won the Hobey Baker Award. UMn was the first team ever invited to represent the US in the Olympics in Men's Hockey. Can't remember why they didn't or couldn't go, but they turned down the invite so no team got sent.
No school was more of a contributor to the greatest sports upset of the 20th Century, the Miracle on Ice, than the Gophers. And this was all because of the efforts of the Hall of Famer John Mariucci, insisting on recruiting only Minnesotans/Americans, when everyone else was selling out and bringing in mostly bigger and older Canadians. So yes Michigan and Denver and UND have more Titles, because they did sell out and go after those Canadians. UND can almost be forgiven seeing as they are located so close to Canada. His doing this forced the issue, and helped hockey grow in Minnesota, and MADE programs like UMD and SCSU and BSU into Div 1 programs, because without his efforts to grow the sport at home in Minnesota, hockey would be far more of a niche sport than it is now and it would be even more ignored by the vast majority of people out there than it already is and programs like SCSU and UMD and BSU would not have been able to move up to Div 1.
It was the genius of a former Golden Gopher, one of Mariucci's players, that led to the belief that American college players could compete in the NHL, and it was a former Gopher Neal Broten who became the first American to score 100 pts in a season that showed everyone that a young college kid could succeed in the NHL. And another former Gopher, Bob Johnson who was the first American to coach an NHL team to a Stanley Cup Title. If you don't see the significance of these things, that's too bad for you, because The US Hockey Hall of Fame DID already recognize the significance of these things as did the regular Hockey Hall of Fame, and why John Mariucci, a guy with ZERO Natl Titles and ZERO Gold Medals to his name as a coach, got inducted into that venerated place along with both his former players Brooks and Johnson.
And I haven't even started up talking about the Gopher Women's Hockey program.
But I'd root for the Gophers even if they sucked all throughout history, like their Tennis teams have and like their women's soccer team did, until just recently. I don't root for the Gophers because they were good. My father did that back in 1940 & 1941. I root for the Gophers simply because I was raised up to. And when I became an adult I chose to continue to do so even though I went to school elsewhere. It is the flagship University of my home state and AFTER choosing to continue following them, I've learned that I made a great choice!!!
But I don't "need" them to be good or bad.
SCSU could replace my Gophers as the #1 college hockey team in Minnesota and the nation for the rest of time, and I'd be happy for SCSU, and I'd be happy not to call them JBSU anymore and I'd still root for my Gophers!!!
How dare you question JDUBBS! Plus, who cares about Hopkins and Yale? The Gophers have been playing with themselves for centuries!!