Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

[Happy]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

More whining and excuses from Lucia. And most of the Minnesota fans STILL eat it up.

Waaah, the internetz are stupid!

the game is changing, it's not like back in my day!

I tell you, kids these days!



He sounds more like a bitter fan, than a head coach. The article, as a whole, sounded like two Gopher fans sitting at the bar, thanks to Wodon.

Everybody wants an easy answer. Maybe if every player(and coach) worked a little harder, the Gophers wouldn't be such suckwads. That might be the easy answer that you all are looking for.
But no, its always somebody else's fault with the Gophers: The NHL, Garth Snow, fate, anti-Gopherism, prima donnas, Hill, the new CBA, the internet, etc.

I guess it would be a whole lot better to have a coach who never wins a national championship, that way he would never have to be questioned about the down years. like und.

 

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

As Bill Guerin so eloquently stated...." I have the rest of my life to earn a college degree but only a short time to play in the NHL"

It's a fair point, but it's worth noting that the guy has been in the league since 91-92 and he's still playing.

 

[Bronzebacks]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

More whining and excuses from Lucia. And most of the Minnesota fans STILL eat it up.

Waaah, the internetz are stupid!

the game is changing, it's not like back in my day!

I tell you, kids these days!

He sounds more like a bitter fan, than a head coach. The article, as a whole, sounded like two Gopher fans sitting at the bar, thanks to Wodon.

Everybody wants an easy answer. Maybe if every player(and coach) worked a little harder, the Gophers wouldn't be such suckwads. That might be the easy answer that you all are looking for.
But no, its always somebody else's fault with the Gophers: The NHL, Garth Snow, fate, anti-Gopherism, prima donnas, Hill, the new CBA, the internet, etc.

Simpletons like your self seem to be produced in mass numbers in the Grand Forks area. Laugh it up dirty UND. What goes around comes around. Anyone who thinks their program is immune to the types of struggles the Gophers have experienced in recent years is out of touch with what is going on in college hockey.

While I am by no means a Gopher fan, I am a college hockey fan. A strong Gopher program is good for college hockey and the WCHA.
I am quickly loosing patience with the arrogance of many UND fans. News flash for you….you live in the ***** crack of America. Get over yourselves and try to act civilized when you follow your team.

I have met decent fans from UND. But I wish that was a more frequent experience.

Good Luck to the Gophers this year. I will be cheering for your team except for two games my team faces you. Hopefully the low expectations of you critics will allow your young players to play with an edge and rise above.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

If I understood Lucia correctly, he wants a rule where if a guy wants to leave early, but doesn't make the NHL roster...they couldn't be sent to the AHL. That player would then be allowed to go back to college. Is that right?

 

[LynahFan]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

If I understood Lucia correctly, he wants a rule where if a guy wants to leave early, but doesn't make the NHL roster...they couldn't be sent to the AHL. That player would then be allowed to go back to college. Is that right?

Sounded more to me like he wanted a rule that if a player signed early, the NHL club had to pay him his NHL salary even if he really wasn't good enough to play with the big club. Once a player signs, the NCAA will definitely not let him play in college again.

Neither of these interpretations would be at all in touch with reality, though, so I'm not sure what he was really getting at.

 

[Dirty]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

I am quickly loosing patience with the arrogance of many UND fans. News flash for you….you live in the ***** crack of America. Get over yourselves and try to act civilized when you follow your team.

Why should we get over ourselves when we're obviously so much better than plebs such as yourself?

 

[brianvf]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

Simpletons like your self seem to be produced in mass numbers in the Grand Forks area. Laugh it up dirty UND. What goes around comes around. Anyone who thinks their program is immune to the types of struggles the Gophers have experienced in recent years is out of touch with what is going on in college hockey.

While I am by no means a Gopher fan, I am a college hockey fan. A strong Gopher program is good for college hockey and the WCHA.
I am quickly loosing patience with the arrogance of many UND fans. News flash for you….you live in the ***** crack of America. Get over yourselves and try to act civilized when you follow your team.

I have met decent fans from UND. But I wish that was a more frequent experience.

Good Luck to the Gophers this year. I will be cheering for your team except for two games my team faces you. Hopefully the low expectations of you critics will allow your young players to play with an edge and rise above.

I like how you call most UND fans "Simpletons" and then proceed to make about 12 spelling/grammatical errors in your post.

In regards to the Lucia article, I think he makes a lot of valid points. He also clears up (or at least attempts to) some of the latest "situations" surrounding the Gopher program, which should lessen the calling for Lucia/Hill's head by some Gopher faithful.

Well, maybe not Hill.

 

[Bronzebacks]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

I like how you call most UND fans "Simpletons" and then proceed to make about 12 spelling/grammatical errors in your post.

In regards to the Lucia article, I think he makes a lot of valid points. He also clears up (or at least attempts to) some of the latest "situations" surrounding the Gopher program, which should lessen the calling for Lucia/Hill's head by some Gopher faithful.

Well, maybe not Hill.

Making a spelling error is one thing. Not being able to grasp the concept of a well written article is another.

 

[scsutommyboy]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

If I understood Lucia correctly, he wants a rule where if a guy wants to leave early, but doesn't make the NHL roster...they couldn't be sent to the AHL. That player would then be allowed to go back to college. Is that right?

If he wants the same rule Major Junior has then you are correct. We all know that isn't possible for many reason's. I would assume he wants to force the NHL team to keep him on their roster all year if they sign a player. Of course if they do that and the player isn't ready then that player will just sit every game and how will that help them develop?

In my opinion Lucia hasn't done a good enough job handling players and now he is backtracking to make himself look better. The fact is other big name schools have players leave early and haven't slid back as far as his team has. Is it all his fault? Probably not, but it is his job to win games and when you are the coach of the Gophers you know what you are getting into. That article will not change how most Gopher fans feel about him. If he wants to keep his job he needs to stop making excuses and win.

 

[Skeeterman]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

If he wants the same rule Major Junior has then you are correct. We all know that isn't possible for many reason's. I would assume he wants to force the NHL team to keep him on their roster all year if they sign a player. Of course if they do that and the player isn't ready then that player will just sit every game and how will that help them develop?

In my opinion Lucia hasn't done a good enough job handling players and now he is backtracking to make himself look better. The fact is other big name schools have players leave early and haven't slid back as far as his team has. Is it all his fault? Probably not, but it is his job to win games and when you are the coach of the Gophers you know what you are getting into. That article will not change how most Gopher fans feel about him. If he wants to keep his job he needs to stop making excuses and win.

What Tommyboy said, and he doesn't care about the gophers.

 

[dggoddard]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

Not only did the Gophers lose 11 or 12 players early but they probably lost a combined 20-30 years of college eligibility. With scholarship limits no school could sustain those loses.

If you look back at the last decade Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin (among others) played a dangerous game recruiting 16 year-olds. These recruits were exceptional prospects, but they either went pro early or were busts. Now Lucia is left holding the empty bag.

Should he have expanded Minnesota's recruiting footprint earlier? Yes.

Should he have gone after more players who's families valued the education AND the hockey? Yes.

 

[Stauber1]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

Not only did the Gophers lose 11 or 12 players early but they probably lost a combined 20-30 years of college eligibility. With scholarship limits no school could sustain those loses.

If you look back at the last decade Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin (among others) played a dangerous game recruiting 16 year-olds. These recruits were exceptional prospects, but they either went pro early or were busts. Now Lucia is left holding the empty bag.

Should he have expanded Minnesota's recruiting footprint earlier? Yes.

Should he have gone after more players who's families valued the education AND the hockey? Yes.

I think you are 100% correct in that last statement, and what is frustrating is that for the past 2 seasons many Gopher fans who have criticized the coaching staff and it's recruiting strategies have said the same thing. Yet when Lucia made recruiting decisions this offseason that were in line with this new approach to recruiting, he was criticized for it.

What I was most grateful for in this article was an explanation to the Ambroz situation.

This article also made it sound like Birkholz left entirely of his own accord, when I have read in other places that he was suspended by the team and subsequently left because of that suspension. Does anyone have any solid information regarding this?

 

[Slasher7]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

Jerry York realized this trend ten years ago and molded his team around it. No surprise at BC's success. I'm more surprised more schools haven't tried to emulate how they recruit and whom they offer scholarships to.

 

[J.D.]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

Jerry York realized this trend ten years ago and molded his team around it. No surprise at BC's success. I'm more surprised more schools haven't tried to emulate how they recruit and whom they offer scholarships to.

Agreed. BC still loses some guys early, but not nearly as many as some other top programs. That's a huge difference.

Although, next offseason could be rough for BC...

 

[goldy_331]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

If he wants the same rule Major Junior has then you are correct. We all know that isn't possible for many reason's. I would assume he wants to force the NHL team to keep him on their roster all year if they sign a player. Of course if they do that and the player isn't ready then that player will just sit every game and how will that help them develop?

In my opinion Lucia hasn't done a good enough job handling players and now he is backtracking to make himself look better. The fact is other big name schools have players leave early and haven't slid back as far as his team has. Is it all his fault? Probably not, but it is his job to win games and when you are the coach of the Gophers you know what you are getting into. That article will not change how most Gopher fans feel about him. If he wants to keep his job he needs to stop making excuses and win.

Making a spelling error is one thing. Not being able to grasp the concept of a well written article is another.

.

 

[brianvf]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

Making a spelling error is one thing. Not being able to grasp the concept of a well written article is another.

No worries. I completely understand your point, just poking some fun.

 

[Bronzebacks]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

No worries. I completely understand your point, just poking some fun.

Fair enough.

 

[Puck Swami]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

All coaches search for the elusive balance between talent and character.

As coaches, I think there is a tendency to fear not having enough talent - injuries and defections can rob a team of it's talent and most coaches would rather stockpile as much talent as they can to mitigate such losses. Unfortunately, there is usaully a higher correlation between the talent of a player and his ambition to play a key role, but there are only enough top six forward /top four d spots for some and not all to develop they way they imagined when they signed.

That's where character comes in.

It's not the pure talent that makes a coach so much as it is the ability to get players to thrive in different roles to help the team be more than the sum of its parts. It sounds so simple, yet it's so difficult in practice. Having teams with as many highly drafted players, as great as it is to have the Tomas Vanek's of the world who can beat you with pure skill and brilliance, you also need the Gino Guyers of the world who can beat you with their grit and tenacity.

Minnesota will be a great program again when Don (or his successor) finds the right balance...

 

[HarleyMC]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

What I was most grateful for in this article was an explanation to the Ambroz situation.

I felt his comment regarding Seth Ambroz was the most unfortunate comment of the entire interview. Don Lucia's comment clouded, rather than clarified, the issues surrounding Seth Ambroz's return to the USHL. According to Seth's mother, Lucia told him that he probably would not receive adequate ice time with the Gophers and it would be in his best interests to return to the USHL where he could get lots of it.

IIRC Hammy reported that Seth did have some academic issues but his understanding was they were minor.

Lucia, according to Sue Ambroz, Seth's mother, told her son and her that another year of juniors would probably be best for Seth in his draft year. At Omaha, he could be the team captain, play on power plays and penalty kills, get lots of ice time.

Lucia told Seth he wouldn't play him on the fourth line, that he is better than that. So he had to make one of the top three lines or he would sit him. He told Ambroz he needs to play and play a lot and the best place for him is Omaha.

Retrieved from http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/blogs/53164417.html?ic=368

 

[Happy]

Re: Excellent Interview with Don Lucia

Jerry York realized this trend ten years ago and molded his team around it. No surprise at BC's success. I'm more surprised more schools haven't tried to emulate how they recruit and whom they offer scholarships to.

it's a lot easier to do that in the East, where there is only one elite team that first round talent wants to play for, as opposed to the west, where there are many more choices.

Some of you may have missed that fact that more Gophers played in the NHL than any other school, so He knows how to recruit, he just can't keep them away from the cash.