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Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Slap Shot said:
I actually had higher expectations of Patterson before he ever played a minute than I had of Kangas before he had ever played a minute.
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Interesting. I did not. The talk about Kangas was pretty good coming in and the way Frazee was playing I expected Kangas to take the job pretty fast.

Patterson not so much.

Friday Kangas had happen to him what happened last year. He either gets no D-Zone support, or no offensive support. Patterson suffered that on Sat. as well when they couldn't hold a lead for more than a couple of minutes in the third and the goal wasn't his fault.

Minnesota is weird lately. Goaltending is the least of the issues.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

I am looking forward to seeing if the Gophers can bounce back.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Goalies are a huge crapshoot. Just some observations about some former college goalies and their NHL careers.

Cornell's Ken Dryden was the 14th overall pick in the 1964 draft (3rd Round). He spent less than 1 season in the minors before making the Canadiens roster. Won the Stanley Cup in his first playoff after being called up and didn't win rookie of the year until his first full season the next year. Probably the goalie that made it fastest to being a regular in the NHL from college. What can you say about Dryden that hasn't been already said. He is the gold standard that all other goalies are measured against.

Just prior to Dryden making a splash in the NHL was MTU's Tony Esposito spending a season and a half in the minors before playing for Montreal and getting traded to Chicago for his Hall of Fame career. Tony was undrafted.

Michigan's Marty Turco (124th pick, 5th round) spent two seasons in the minors before making the NHL with Dallas. Has had a pretty good run.

Wisconsin's Mike Richter (28th pick, 2nd round) spent two and a half seasons in the minors before making the Rangers. Stellar career.

Michigan's Al Montoya was the 6th overall pick in the 1st round by the NY Rangers. He has spent 6 seasons in the minors and has played a total of 5 NHL games. Now in the Phoenix organization and is probably considered to be a bust.

Maine's Jimmy Howard (64th pick, 2nd round) has spent 4 seasons in the minors and fianlly made the Red Wings this season. has played a total of 11 NHL games and the jury is still out on him as an NHLer.

MSU's Ryan Miller (138th pick, 5th round) spent 3 seasons toiling in the minors before winning the Sabres job. He is the backbone of the Sabre's team and has many years left in front of him. Will probably be the starting US Olympic Team goalie in Vancouver this winter.

BU's Rick DiPietro (1st Pick, 1st Round) by the New York Islanders. As an Islander fan it still pains me that the Isle's took a goalie with the 1st pick in the draft in 2000. He probably could have been picked much lower in the draft. Rick spent 3 seasons in the minors before finally making the Isles. While he has had moments of brilliance, his NHL career has been marred by injury. To add insult to injury, Isle's ownership signed him to a 15-year contract of which 11 years remain. He basically hasn't played in the last 2.5 seasons. A bust in my books so far but hey he still ahs at least 11 years to prove himself if he ever gets healthy.

I think basically what this tells us is that very few goalies are ready to make the jump directly from the campus to the NHL. I am sure there are others that I have missed but I think their stories are pretty similar.
 
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Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

du78 said:
Goalies are a huge crapshoot. Just some obserevations about some former college goalies and their NHL careers.

Cornell's Ken Dryden was the 14th overall pick in the 1964 draft (3rd Round). He spent less than 1 season in the minors before making the Canadiens roster. Won the Stanley Cup in his first playoff after being called up and didn't win rookie of the year until his first full season the next year. Probably the goalie that made it fastest to being a regular in the NHL from college. What can you say about Dryden that hasn't been already said. He is the gold standard that all other goalies are measured against.

Just prior to Dryden making a splash in the NHL was MTU's Tony Esposito spending a season and a half in the minors before playing for Montreal and getting traded to Chicago for his Hall of Fame career. Tony was undrafted.

Michigan's Marty Turco (124th pick, 5th round) spent two seasons in the minors before making the NHL with Dallas. Has had a pretty good run.

Wisconsin's Mike Richter (28th pick, 2nd round) spent two and a half seasons in the minors before making the Rangers. Stellar career.

Michigan's Al Montoya was the 6th overall pick in the 1st round by the NY Rangers. He has spent 6 seasons in the minors and has played a total of 5 NHL games. Now in the Phoenix organization and is probably considered to be a bust.

Maine's Jimmy Howard (64th pick, 2nd round) has spent 4 seasons in the minors and fianlly made the Red Wings this season. has played a total of 11 NHL games and the jury is still out on him as an NHLer.

MSU's Ryan Miller (138th pick, 5th round) spent 3 seasons toiling in the minors before winning the Sabres job. He is the backbone of the Sabre's team and has many years left in front of him. Will probably be the starting US Olympic Team goalie in Vancouver this winter.

Rick DiPietro (1st Pick, 1st Round) by the New York Islanders. As an Islander fan it still pains me that the Isle's took a goalie with the 1st pick in the draft in 2000. He probably could have been picked much lower in the draft. Rick spent 3 seasons in the minors before finally making the Isles. While he has had moments of brilliance, his NHL career has been marred by injury. To add insult to injury, Isle's ownership signed him to a 15-year contract of which 11 years remain. He basically hasn't played in the last 2.5 seasons. A bust in my books so far but hey he still ahs at least 11 years to prove himself if he ever gets healthy.

I think basically what this tells us is that very few goalies are ready to make the jump directly from the campus to the NHL. I am sure there are others that I have missed but I think their stories are pretty similar.
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Excellent rundown. The one other guy that comes to mind is Dan Blackburn. Talk about a guy who was thrown into the gauntlet way to soon.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

du78 said:
Maine's Jimmy Howard (64th pick, 2nd round) has spent 4 seasons in the minors and fianlly made the Red Wings this season. has played a total of 11 NHL games and the jury is still out on him as an NHLer.
Click to expand...

As a Wings fan, I would say that the jury is leaning towards calling Howard a bust. Expectations for him were simply far too high, and even in the AHL he didn't completely live up to the level of a second round pick. Detroit now has two other legit prospects in Grand Rapids who are expected to reveal the future of the club's goaltending, and I think Howard's chance came and went during the 2008 training camp when the Wings signed Conklin to the backup role instead. I predict Jimmy is traded or put on waivers by the end of this year.

Oh yeah, this series...umm...go refs! :p
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

johnnypohlfan said:
Excellent rundown. The one other guy that comes to mind is Dan Blackburn. Talk about a guy who was thrown into the gauntlet way to soon.
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I agree with you about Blackburn except he didn't play in college but a huge mistake by the Rangers to keep him as an 18 year old and throwing him to the wolves for 31 games. He certainly could have used seasoning in the WHL rather than being a sacrificial lamb in that first season. Went past that magical 10-game limit and couldn't be sent back to the WHL and couldn't be sent to the minors. Unfortuantely he suffered that career ending shoulder injury the next season and his career ended before it even started.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Game notes.

Minnesota (0-1-1, 0-1-1) vs. Denver (2-2, 0-0)
Date: Friday-Saturday, Oct. 23-24
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Mariucci Arena (10,000)
Series History: Minnesota leads 91-64-12
Radio: KYCR 1570 AM (tape on Sat.) - Wally Shaver and Glen Sonmor
Television: Fox Sports North (tape on Sat.) - Frank Mazzocco and Doug Woog

Minnesota takes the Mariucci Arena ice for the first time in the regular season this weekend when the Gophers host Denver in a two-game series. For the second straight week, the Gophers take on an opponent ranked in the top five of the national rankings. It is the second of four conference series to open the season for Minnesota.

Last Time Out
Minnesota rallied for a 3-3 tie on Saturday at North Dakota after dropping the opening game of the series 4-0 on Friday. Mike Hoeffel scored two goals, including a shorthanded goal, and Jay Barriball also scored for the Gophers. Kent Patterson made 31 saves in goal for Minnesota. The Gophers got 39 saves from Alex Kangas in Friday night's loss.

Series History
The Gophers lead the all-time series over the Pioneers 91-64-12. The teams split their two games last year in Denver with Minnesota winning 5-2 and Denver taking a 4-0 victory to snap the Gophers' 11-game unbeaten streak to open the season. The Pioneers are making their first regular season visit to Mariucci Arena since Nov. 2-4, 2007, though they did participate in the NCAA West Regional at Mariucci last March, losing 4-2 to Miami (Ohio). Minnesota's win over Denver last November snapped a five-game winless streak against the Pioneers as Denver is 6-3-1 in the last 10 meetings.

About the Pioneers
The preseason WCHA favorite opens its conference season this weekend after splitting a pair of non-conference series to open the season. The Pioneers played Vermont at home to open the year, rallying with three third period goals for a 5-4 win the opening night before falling 6-4 in the second game. Last weekend, Denver exchanged shutouts at Ohio State, getting 36 saves from junior Marc Cheverie in a 2-0 win in the opener and then losing 4-0 to the Buckeyes in the second game. Denver has put an average of 37.0 shots on goal per game. The Pioneers are also one of the nation's least-penalized teams with just 42 penalty minutes in four games. A pair of senior fowards lead the team in scoring as Rhett Rakhshani has a goal and four assists for five points, while Tyler Ruegsegger has two goals and two assists for four points. Cheverie has split time in goal with freshman Adam Murray. Cheverie, a second-team all-WCHA selection in 2008-09, has been in net for both wins and has a 2.00 goals against average with a .931 save percentage, while Murray has posted a 4.72 goals against average and .836 save percentage.

Twice as Nice
Gophers' forward Mike Hoeffel recorded his fifth career two-goal game in Saturday's 3-3 tie at North Dakota. Hoeffel also had two goals in a win at North Dakota in 2007-08. He's also done it twice at St. Cloud State and once in the WCHA Final Five as all five of his multiple-goal games have been away from Mariucci Arena.

Milestone Marker
Senior Jay Barriball needs one point to become the 78th player in Minnesota history to record 100 points for his career. Barriball picked up his 99th point with an unassisted goal in Saturday's 3-3 tie. He would become the first Gopher player to reach the 100-point mark since four players accomplished the milestone in 2005-06. Danny Irmen was the most recent, netting his 100th point against Minnesota Duluth on March 3, 2006. Chris Harrington, Ryan Potulny and Gino Guyer also scored their 100th points that season.

Quality Starts
Sophomore  Kent Patterson made his second career start in Saturday's game against North Dakota and stopped 31 of 34 shots. Both of Patterson's starts have resulted in ties as Minnesota tied Minnesota Duluth 2-2 in Patterson's lone start in 2007-08. In just eight games played, he's seen some of college hockey's top teams. Patterson has faced North Dakota three times, Minnesota Duluth twice, Michigan, Minnesota State and Michigan Tech.

Saving the Day
Junior Alex Kangas turned in a solid performance in his 2008-09 season debut last Friday with 39 saves in the Gophers' 4-0 loss at North Dakota. It marked Kangas' third-highest career saves total and his most in a regulation game. Kangas made 44 saves in each of Minnesota's double overtime games against Minnesota State in the 2008 WCHA playoffs.

Back in Action
Sophomore Taylor Matson returned to the Gophers' lineup last weekend after missing the final 34 games of the 2008-09 season with a knee injury suffered in the 13th game against Michigan. Matson made an impact with his first career assist, coming on Mike Hoeffel's shorthanded goal in Saturday's 3-3 tie. He also nearly netted a go-ahead goal with a minute left in the third period, but was denied on a sprawling stick save by Sioux goaltender Brad Eidsness.

Streak Stopper
Sophomore forward Jordan Schroeder finished the 2008-09 season with an eight-game scoring streak, but saw it end last weekend. He was held scoreless in both games of a weekend series for just the second time, having it also happen on Oct. 24-25, 2008 at Wisconsin.

Fresh Faces
All four of Minnesota's freshmen made solid debuts in the Gophers' lineup last weekend. Defensemen Seth Helgeson and Nick Leddy each posted plus-one ratings for the series, while forward Zach Budish put three shots on goal in the two games and forward Josh Birkholz fired two shots on goal in Friday's game. The four freshmen marks the fewest total on the Gophers' roster since the 1984-85 season. That year consisted of three incoming freshmen and one redshirt freshman. In the last 11 years, the Gophers' lowest total was five newcomers in 2003-04. Minnesota had 12 freshmen on the preseason roster last year.

Early Showdown
Minnesota's rivalry with Denver is usually reserved for later in the season as this year's series marks the earliest meeting between the teams since they played Oct. 19-20, 1990 in Denver.

Tough Tasks
The Gophers are facing an opponent ranked in the top five for the second straight week as North Dakota was ranked fourth entering last weekend's series and Denver is ranked fourth and fifth in the two national polls this week. The Gophers played only two games against a top five team last year as New Hampshire was ranked fifth when they played. The last time Minnesota played top five teams in back-to-back weeks was Dec. 2-3 and 9-10, 2005 when they were swept by top-ranked Wisconsin, but bounced back to sweep fourth-ranked North Dakota.
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Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Radio: KYCR 1570 AM (tape on Sat.) - Wally Shaver and Glen Sonmor
Television: Fox Sports North (tape on Sat.) - Frank Mazzocco and Doug Woog
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Is their no love in the Minneapolis radio and TV media for the Gophers??? :confused: ;) Not only is the Saturday game being tape delayed on TV but radio also!!!
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

du78 said:
Is their no love in the Minneapolis radio and TV media for the Gophers??? :confused: ;) Not only is the Saturday game being tape delayed on TV but radio also!!!
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Correct. And it's complete and utter BS, and folks at the U hate it, but there is nothing they can do about it. They package the football/basketball/hockey together for radio and the radio station evidently can do whatever they want to bump the Gophers off the dial when the Wild etc. are on.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

For those of you that get Fox College Sports (FCS). Here is the link for all games on that network for this season for DU, MN, UND and WI. It shows Saturday's tape delayed game as TBD.

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/3121084
 
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Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Any chance these two games can be 0-0 ties and since nobody was able to score they both get 0-2 records!!!!!:D
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Slap Shot said:
2nd half of page 2? Where's the Swami? And DU has got a least a few pests that are currently AWOL. Sad. :(
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Swami is in North Africa looking for the next great hockey phenom. He times his vacations when DU hits the road for two weeks.

Flu bug is ripping through DU team according to the Denver Post. 40% of the team has it.

Gophers might pull off the sweep this weekend. I wouldn't be surprised and still wouldn't be too concerned as a DU fan. It certainly explains the Saturday meltdowns the last two weeks. DU had no legs in either game.

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13622781
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

Guess who hasn't even gone to bed yet!

state of ho, that is who.

I'll be trying my hardest to keep awake all day. Plans have changed, and evidently I will be going to the game tonight instead of tomorrow. So, if you see a dude with brown hair with incredibly dark circles under his eyes that is acting a fool in section 19, the would be me.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

It is GAMEDAY

GO DU!!!!!

Colborne did not make the trip to Minneapolis.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

I'm going to go back to the pathetic records Minnesota has against DU and UND lately and say it's time to make a stand. The only sweeps last year were SCSU for Pete's sake. UND last year they got blown out of the building, and this year in weekend number one they tried to duplicate that. Somehow they managed a split against DU last year but that doesn't change the 3-6-1 record in the last 10.

Minnesota, it's time to make a stand.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

It appears the only live broadcast of Saturday's game will be on radio in Denver or the live audiocast (for a fee) on Pioneer Vision at www.denverpioneers.com. I don't know if the Gophers have any live internet audiocasts of their games but their radio broadcast is being tape delayed as is their TV broadcast.
 
Re: Denver Pioneers visit the MN Golden Gophers Oct 23-24

du78 said:
It appears the only live broadcast of Saturday's game will be on radio in Denver or the live audiocast (for a fee) on Pioneer Vision at www.denverpioneers.com. I don't know if the Gophers have any live internet audiocasts of their games but their radio broadcast is being tape delayed as is their TV broadcast.
Click to expand...
Gold Zone (pay) on gophersports.com will have the live audio.
 
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