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Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

D

D2D

Minnesota Golden Gopher Hockey
Gophers open the 2013-14 season Friday night against Mercyhurst, which looks to have a solid nucleus of returning players.

http://www.uscho.com/2013/10/06/mercyhurst-appears-to-have-the-tools-to-again-finish-near-the-top/

In the other semi No. 13 New Hampshire would appear to be the favorite against unranked but traditionally strong Clarkson.

With four different conferences being represented in a tournament setting, it's a great way to start the season for all these teams, and should be very interesting.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

A good way to start the season and see where we matchup against other conferences.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

Gopher sweep?
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

D2D said:
Gopher sweep?
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Anything short of four points... lol. Mercyhurst is the only school to return three 36+ point scorers from last season, so they should have at least one line.

I expect Brodzinski to have a spot over Bischoff, and Warning to come in for Michaelson or Isackson. Scratches: Michaelson/Isackson, R. Reilly, Horn, Guertler, Bischoff. We'll see.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

Bonin21 said:
I expect Brodzinski to have a spot over Bischoff, and Warning to come in for Michaelson or Isackson. Scratches: Michaelson/Isackson, R. Reilly, Horn, Guertler, Bischoff. We'll see.
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Can't disagree with any of those, at least for the first night. Anyone who underperforms against Mercyhurst will sit on Saturday, with Isackson and then Michaelson probably having the best shot of getting into the lineup. Would like to see the Gophers play No. 12 New Hampshire for the championship but first they need to get by Mercyhurst.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

Skidding back in town to see my 'Cats play in Mariucci (first time for me!). Very fired up, and nice to have a reason to pop out of work a little early on Friday. Would love to see a Gophs/Cats final (two big-sheet teams!), but I think each team will have its challenges in the semi's.

Don't sleep on Clarkson... undefeated on the road this year and they are carrying a 0.50 GAA into this tournament!! ;-)

In all seriousness, sounds like UNH had its share of difficulties in our exh v. Acadia, so getting thru to the finals would be a nice result in and of itself.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

SanTropez said:
That would be nice but you never know what you will get playing a bunch of freshman, we'll see.
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The freshmen did look good last weekend. But it was Lethbridge.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

Big PWR weekend right from the get go. Not sure if I will go Friday, but I'm definitely considering heading to Mariucci for the Saturday game.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

Lots of scoring unknowns with this years team. It's questionable whether the Gophers will have a 20G scorer this season. My feeling is as Rau goes, so the Gophers go. We need at least a 20G season from him...a mark that has eluded him in his two previous seasons. He has a history of scoring ability around the net, but also a scoring history of disappearing in his two previous seasons for long stretches in the second half. Nate Condon showed moments of stellar play last season, but he's not a natural goal scorer and tends to have massive scoring droughts as well. Past experience indicates the freshmen transition to D1 from HS or the USHL usually results in a significant drop in individual scoring. This could be a tough, roller coaster season...
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

HarleyMC said:
Lots of scoring unknowns with this years team. It's questionable whether the Gophers will have a 20G scorer this season. My feeling is as Rau goes, so the Gophers go. We need at least a 20G season from him...a mark that has eluded him in his two previous seasons. He has a history of scoring ability around the net, but also a scoring history of disappearing in his two previous seasons for long stretches in the second half. Nate Condon showed moments of stellar play last season, but he's not a natural goal scorer and tends to have massive scoring droughts as well. Past experience indicates the freshmen transition to D1 from HS or the USHL usually results in a significant drop in individual scoring. This could be a tough, roller coaster season...
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Historically the Gophers Achilles heel has been its inability to get the puck in the net. So yes, Rau...and also the question to whether Cammy can turn into a top rate college level natural scorer.
 
Guertler and Lettieri, in addition to Cammy, have been great finishers. I don't forsee scoring goals being the Gophers biggest issue this season.

With the freshman class we have, I anticipate they will help pick up a big piece of what we lost after last year. Question is, will the Gophers (who finished #5 in the nation in defense last year in addition to #1 in offense) be as good defensively with so many freshman?
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

mnstate0fhockey said:
Guertler and Lettieri, in addition to Cammy, have been great finishers. I don't forsee scoring goals being the Gophers biggest issue this season.
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Hope you're right.

Generally though, most teams that have late season success ride their upperclassmen into post-season play. Not saying we can't, having a goalie get really hot and solid play by the D at the end of the year can go a long way as well.

Go Gophers!
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

SanTropez said:
Hope you're right.

Generally though, most teams that have late season success ride their upperclassmen into post-season play. Not saying we can't, having a goalie get really hot and solid play by the D at the end of the year can go a long way as well.

Go Gophers!
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As usual San the man is right. THE GOOD NEWS: THREE COX (formally Two Cox, +1 from last year).
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

wildcatdc said:
Skidding back in town to see my 'Cats play in Mariucci (first time for me!). Very fired up, and nice to have a reason to pop out of work a little early on Friday. Would love to see a Gophs/Cats final (two big-sheet teams!), but I think each team will have its challenges in the semi's.

Don't sleep on Clarkson... undefeated on the road this year and they are carrying a 0.50 GAA into this tournament!! ;-)

In all seriousness, sounds like UNH had its share of difficulties in our exh v. Acadia, so getting thru to the finals would be a nice result in and of itself.
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I wouldn't say that UNH had a lot of difficulty vs. Acadia, some in the third I guess (I left after the second to watch the Sox). They did give up three goals but they scored five, moved the puck well, for the most part were attentive defensively and got decent goaltending. Of course, I didn't think Acadia was much. Probably the weakest showing by a Canadian team that I have seen. Would like to think UNH will beat Clarkson and make the final, at least then I can see them on TV!
 
SanTropez said:
Hope you're right.

Generally though, most teams that have late season success ride their upperclassmen into post-season play. Not saying we can't, having a goalie get really hot and solid play by the D at the end of the year can go a long way as well.

Go Gophers!
Click to expand...

Late season pushes into the post season is a bit different. I tend to agree with you there. Our youth and inexperience could definitely be a factor in big games. Generally speaking, thru-ought much of the season, I don't think potting goals is going to be the biggest issue. I'm more concerned with our play in our own zone and minimizing turnovers that lead to odd-man rushes. Those are mistakes that take experience to minimize.

Good news is we have an excellent goaltender and some good experience on the back end. However, that was only part of the reason we were the #5 defensive team in the land last season. We lost some pretty good two-way forwards.

I'm also interested in seeing how our power play and penalty kill units develop. Those could play a big factor in our success as well.
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

Look forward to watching them finally play and I'll reserve judgment on predictions until after this weekend. I think it's a bit early to pull out tArrogance. :)
 
Re: Ice Breaker Tournament: Clarkson vs. New Hampshire & Mercyhurst vs. Minnesota

Slap Shot said:
Look forward to watching them finally play and I'll reserve judgment on predictions until after this weekend. I think it's a bit early to pull out tArrogance. :)
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You should know better than that.... it's NEVER too early for tArrogance.
 
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