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Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

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Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

Stauber1 said:
We all can sense the lack of scoring by the top-6 forwards, but looking at the stats it is really striking.
In the past 8 games, the top-6 forwards have scored 4 even strength goals; 2 pp goals.
- Rau has 3 goals in the last 8 games
- Kloos has 2 in the last 8 games
- Cammarata has 1 in his past 9
- Fasching has none in his past 8
- Condon has none in the past 13
- Warning has none in the past 15 (his last goal was Oct. 19, the 4th game of the season)
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And, of course, Warning gets two last night, and Condon and Kloos each get one... ;)

Not taking anything away from your underlying point, though, just funny how things work out.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

Driftryder said:
And yet here we are 15-2-3 and #1 in the pairwise. :)
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Ultimately the problem is that right now we could be 13-6-2 or just below WI's record...if we just didn't face Colgate (at home), RPI (at home) and Penn State. Last night, there were no less than 3 quality shots that should have gone in against Wilcox when the score was 1-0, but Penn State just didn't have the finishers.

This team is strong. Yet the good news for message boards is that there's always room for improvement with every team. When fans are saying this team is bad, then it doesn't make sense.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

5mn_Major said:
Ultimately the problem is that right now we could be 13-6-2 or just below WI's record...if we just didn't face Colgate (at home), RPI (at home) and Penn State. Last night, there were no less than 3 quality shots that should have gone in against Wilcox when the score was 1-0, but Penn State just didn't have the finishers.

This team is strong. Yet the good news for message boards is that there's always room for improvement with every team. When fans are saying this team is bad, then it doesn't make sense.
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Oh I agree, I was just having some fun with "the sky is falling" crowd that are not necessarily even on this message board.

I think our weakness shows when we play bigger stronger teams who can go to the net hard and fore check the hell out of us, we get pushed around a little in our zone when that happens. If we go up against a skilled offensive team that can do this that will probably be our downfall.

But I will enjoy the season in the mean time.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

5mn_Major said:
Ultimately the problem is that right now we could be 13-6-2 or just below WI's record...if we just didn't face Colgate (at home), RPI (at home) and Penn State. Last night, there were no less than 3 quality shots that should have gone in against Wilcox when the score was 1-0, but Penn State just didn't have the finishers.

This team is strong. Yet the good news for message boards is that there's always room for improvement with every team. When fans are saying this team is bad, then it doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. This same team has played top competition this season and won. All teams throughout the season play down to the level of their competition once in a while. It's impossible to stay "up" and ride out a 6 month season without some lulls.

The big thing will be if Lucia, Guentzel, and Potulny can get the boys to flip the switch at the right time and once it's flipped to keep it open.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

I know the expectation was that PSU would be a cake walk, but UW had a tight game with them in their series, and they played them at home. They got much better goaltending this series than they have in previous series.

Many of us also thought the Colgate game would be a lot easier than it was, but I'm guessing Ferris State fans thought that too.

I absolutely agree that we have plenty to work on and lots of room for improvement, but seasons ebb and flow. We need to start building momentum, but not peak too early.

We're also getting some valuable experience on NHL sheets that will be invaluable in the post season.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

mnstate0fhockey said:
Harley - Not trying to discount your points on Cammarata, but my only question is where would you play him? He doesn't have the skillset to play a bottom line checking role.
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Bingo. Cammy is a guy that pretty much has to be in a top 6 role or sitting out. His game simply is not cut out for the more defensive minded roles that you tend to see in 3rd or 4th line guys. He would be a fish out of water in those spots.

I can understand the occasional frustration in his case. But he is what he is. They knew what they had in him coming into it. He's a finesse guy with excellent vision. I'd personally like to see him shoot the puck more... hopefully the coaches will get on him to do that. But he's never going to turn into a grind it out type of kid. That's just what his game is. He could add some strength and grit in time but I wouldn't expect to see his game change drastically. You live with the flaws because he has other traits that a lot of guys simply don't possess (especially rink vision).
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

ScoobyDoo said:
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda. This same team has played top competition this season and won. All teams throughout the season play down to the level of their competition once in a while. It's impossible to stay "up" and ride out a 6 month season without some lulls.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have to say I find such hypotheticals to be a tad narrow. Let's be honest, EVERY team has some softies at opportune times in the schedule. Using UW is prime example considering how pathetic their schedule was in the weeks leading up to Michigan last weekend.

The #8 toughest strength of schedule right now and only 2 losses. I sometimes wonder if a certain percentage of fans think every game should be a runaway victory. :confused:
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

Hammy said:
Yeah, I have to say I find such hypotheticals to be a tad narrow. Let's be honest, EVERY team has some softies at opportune times in the schedule. Using UW is prime example considering how pathetic their schedule was in the weeks leading up to Michigan last weekend.

The #8 toughest strength of schedule right now and only 2 losses. I sometimes wonder if a certain percentage of fans think every game should be a runaway victory. :confused:
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We did score 8 goals this weekend (7+ENG) on the road. Not sure what else someone could want.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

ScoobyDoo said:
BOOM-SHAK-A-LAK.

Time to update the glass.
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Scoobs, you do realize this isn't CO? You might be drawing a little too much attention to your hobbies with this wild, abnormal optimism. Only possible explanation.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

On Cammi - I agree a little with Harley, but not to his extreme. With a guy a couple compared to Goudreau in Juniors, I expected more. He does show vision beyond many players with a few of the passes he has made. And I don't expect much grinding along the boards from him. But he does seem to dish the puck too quickly at times to avoid some contact and he completely ignores the shot sometimes when he has a lane. I realize he can't plow guys over, but there are times where he has enough of a lane to the net that the D might get some body on him, but aren't close enough to lay him out where I'd like to see him drive the net in those situations. Or to go a little harder after a free puck that is in the open. With just a few adjustments, I think he could be noticeably better. Kloos isn't a giant, but he makes plays happen.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

Kloos is considerably more solid than Cammarata. Same with Rau. That being said, Cammarata doesn't need to be as physical or gritty as Rau, he just needs some degree of grittiness or willingness to take contact. He's not really showing either of those at all.

As I've said before, I have no doubt that he will turn into a great college hockey player, but to me this seems like a case where he probably should have played another year of juniors to give him the chance to mature a bit physically. I don't think he was/is ready, physically, to make the jump. To put it another way, I think someone like Connor Reilly could offer pretty much the same production in that role right now, and probably more in terms of being a 2-way player and in forechecking pressure.

Hammy and MSOH have pointed out that he isn't going to have success in a 3rd/4th line role. And history shows us that Lucia isn't one to sit his highly-touted finesse players early in their careers. The bed has been made, for better or worse. That's why I like to see him skating with Rau. He needs to start being willing to take a hit, and probably just as important he needs to learn how to take a hit. Rau is a good guy to learn that from. He doesn't need to match Rau in the grit department, he just needs to learn a few of the finer points.

At the end of the day, though, this team has the ability to take home some hardware. So if things aren't working out I'd like to see Rau put on a line that allows him to perform to his potential offensively. In my opinion, we haven't hit that crossroad just yet.
 
Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

My only wish for Cammy is to see a few more shots. Another take on him here is utter hogwash.

5mn - you could argue some of the wins could be losses, but so could some of the losses have been wins.

This is the 3rd best start in the program's history I don't know what some people want.
 
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Re: Gophers 2013-14 B1G Things To Come!

Slap Shot said:
My only wish for Cammy is to see a few more shots. Another take on him here is utter hogwash.

5mn - you could argue some of the wins could be losses, but so could some of the losses have been wins.

For eff sake this is the 3rd best start in the program's history I don't know what some people want.
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If you're winning it means there's nothing that could be improved upon, and nothing that could cause problems down the road? :confused:

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I'm pretty sure EVERYONE who has been posting in this thread has expressed how pleased they are with the team's success. That doesn't mean there aren't things that could be better, and players that can improve. People are going to discuss those things. That seems pretty obvious to me.
 
Slap Shot said:
My only wish for Cammy is to see a few more shots. Another take on him here is utter hogwash.

5mn - you could argue some of the wins could be losses, but so could some of the losses have been wins.

This is the 3rd best start in the program's history I don't know what some people want.
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All true.

That said, I'd like to see this team start to step on the throats of the opposition.

Show no mercy.

Not take entire chunks of periods off.

Yes, they swept Penn State.

They also got outshot and outplayed for long stretches by a team one year removed from club status.

I'd like to think that would get their attention.

But I doubt it.
 
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