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Gopher Women's Hockey 2023-24

Still Eeyore said:
It probably has a lot to do with an overcrowded roster. The Gophers return every forward that dressed last year, and are bringing in two more. They have only three forwards (A. Wethington; P. Hemp; and Huber) that will be out of eligibility after next year. Goettl likely looked around and decided that there wasn't much playing time in her future.

They do lose three defensemen this year, and two more next year, but they have four coming in. So, Josie Hemp's situation wasn't as dire, but she, too, could easily have assumed that she wouldn't see the ice much.
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Current roster for next season, though I'm sure there will be a couple of transfers up front:

F: Wethington (Gr.), Hemp, Murphy, Huber (Sr.), Bouveng, Franco (played more F than D last year), Conner, Kaiser (Jr.), Lindsay, Kreisz, O'Hara (So.), Distad, Puppe (Fr.)

D: Nicholson (Gr.), Zumwinkle (Sr.), Laitinen (Jr.), Klepinger (So.), Graham, Humphrey, Kosobud, Primerano (Fr.)

G: Vetter (Sr.), Johnson (Jr.), Clark (Fr.)
 
As with most modern era refrigerators the one in my house has an automatic defrost cycle. This is a real improvement from the refrigerators of my youth. An automatic defrost is a good thing.

Just sayin'.
 
Per Ian Kennedy: Natalie Mylnkova is officially heading to the University of Minnesota via the transfer portal.

Gophers just got way more dangerous. That was the best player in the portal after how well she played at Worlds.
 
ManBehindTheCurtain said:
As with most modern era refrigerators the one in my house has an automatic defrost cycle. This is a real improvement from the refrigerators of my youth. An automatic defrost is a good thing.

Just sayin'.
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If they defrost the fridge, everybody knows who's going to take his place......
 
The defense looks better with the additions of Parkkonen, Primerano, and Graham and the further progression of Laitinen. Clark will platoon with Vetter or Vetter will return to her 22-23 form. But I still don't like the depth up front.
 
eastcoastgopher said:
The defense looks better with the additions of Parkkonen, Primerano, and Graham and the further progression of Laitinen. Clark will platoon with Vetter or Vetter will return to her 22-23 form. But I still don't like the depth up front.
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It feels strange to say that I kind of like seeing some optimism out of Gopher fans!

:-)
 
robertearle said:
It feels strange to say that I kind of like seeing some optimism out of Gopher fans!

:-)
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rest assured, we'll be back in nuclear meltdown panic mode the first goal an opponent scores.

But seriously, I am feeling pretty confident in our lineup and in the coaching staff. Winning a natty on our own (presently being replaced) home ice would be extra sweet this coming season (can it be end of August yet, please??).
 
eastcoastgopher said:
The defense looks better with the additions of Parkkonen, Primerano, and Graham and the further progression of Laitinen. Clark will platoon with Vetter or Vetter will return to her 22-23 form. But I still don't like the depth up front.
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They should be fine. Here is what I think is a reasonable expectation:

1) The Bouveng/Huber/Murphy line, or its components if they get broken up, don't regress much from last year. I doubt that they will be as good, because there just aren't many lines you can expect that much out of, but the dropoff could be small.

2) Ml?nkov? is as advertised, and her games translates well to the WCHA. Having never actually watched her play, I'm just going by what others have said, but they make that sound like a reasonable assumption.

3) Maybe two other forwards step up their scoring ability from last year. One of them ought to be Peyton Hemp. I can come up with several candidates for a second.

If those three things happen, each likely enough that the combination is well within possibility, they'd have two solid scoring lines. A third line could be a checking line. That should be good enough, especially if #4 happens:

4) With the various additions on the blue line, and growth from Laitinen, I think that they're going to get substantially more scoring from the defense.
 
I'm kind of shocked signing a couple players off the 5th place HE squad is moving the needle as much as it is. I watched quite a bit of the UMD/UConn tilt and the 4th place WCHA team would have won HE. St. Cloud might have won HE. I think C-Prime will revolutionize your team. I can see her leading your team to 2nd place behind UW. KK was 13/26 her Fr year.
 
Timothy A said:
I'm kind of shocked signing a couple players off the 5th place HE squad is moving the needle as much as it is. I watched quite a bit of the UMD/UConn tilt and the 4th place WCHA team would have won HE. St. Cloud might have won HE. I think C-Prime will revolutionize your team. I can see her leading your team to 2nd place behind UW. KK was 13/26 her Fr year.
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Meh, I don't know how much the needle is moving, but adding Mlynkova and Parkkonen is better than getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick...
 
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